My 5 Wolf Cubs

Sketch Tuesday: Arms!

2008-11-25T07:14:00.000-08:00

Sketch Tuesday's assignment: Draw something with arms. We're getting into this now...I just wish my iPhone took better pictures!

I loved watching this picture of Ginger's develop. The sketching, the inking, the colored pencil...the text was added via Photoshop Elements.

Momo decided last minute to draw something. I was expecting something cuter.

My sketch is a realistic one...

Only I participated in last week's Snow Sport sketch.

If your family participates, let me know!

A dragon, an elf and wolves

2008-11-10T12:30:00.000-08:00

My girls and I decided to participate in Sketch Tuesday's Brr! It's Cold! Assignment this week.

Frost Dragon, by Momo

Snow Elf, by Ginger

Timber Wolves, by Lee

Arizona Morning, a poem by me

2008-10-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

Arizona Morning

The sky is blue, the leaves are green.
The air is deliciously cool.

Now that it's fall, put on your shoes!
Let's go to the park before school.

While walking at the park this morning, I composed this poem in my head. It isn't easy to write good poetry while aerobic walking to songs like Josh Weldon's "Big Time Rocker" or "Sunny Days" by Jars of Clay. But it sure feels good!

Out of the House Schedule

2008-10-02T11:20:00.001-07:00

I like being at home. I'm a home birthing, homeschooling, stay-at-home mom. Still, I seem to be out of the house a lot these days. I was sharing with my mom about what we did last week and it sounded SO busy. I decided to make a little chart. It looks better on paper.

Green is morning activities, blue is afternoon activities, and red is evening activities. Basically we're on a 2 week rotating schedule. One busy week, one not-so-busy week. I like that.

I feel our out-of-the house schedule is full but manageable. We're certainly doing a lot more then last year!

To use an analogy, this amount of activity is like a 3/4 full cup of water. Safe enough for a preschooler to carry to the table, but if they drop it -- big mess to clean up!

Five in a Row Art: How to Make an Apple Pie...

2008-09-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

This weeks Five in a Row book is How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. Instead of writing reports, we're all going to do apple art in different media each day! We started with painting. I said "We're going to paint apples!" And Beanie age 3 took me literally. The apples go in age order from the left Lee (that's me!), Ginger 13, Momo 11, ds 8, ds 6, and Beanie 3.

Last week it was history reports...my 13 stayed up until after midnight on Friday night doing hers. Not making it perfect or beautiful but just getting the words on paper. Not worth taking a picture of, that's for sure! And how like her mother all through school! On a positive note, she did not hesitate to stand up in front of the family to read it (like last week)!

Reports: Five in a Row, Papa Piccolo

2008-09-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

We just finished our 4th Five in a Row book, Papa Piccolo! Dad sat in on the first reading of the book and decided all the children should write a report on something about cats or Venice.
Ginger (13) wrote about Siamese cats and Momo (11) wrote about the Egyptian Mau. Momo drew a picture on the back of her report (see below).

My 8yo ds (current nickname Honda) did his on gondoliers. I did assist him in arranging his sentences into 2 focused paragraphs. My 6yo ds (current nickname Bakura) copied a sentence I typed out. I drew the cat picture and he & Momo colored it together.

This week Dad assigned a report on anything we've covered in Story of the World 2 (we're on Chapter 11). No one has picked a topic yet...but it is only Tuesday.

The Study (before pictures)

2008-08-19T14:10:00.000-07:00

Since I last posted, I have

1. Been washing my hair with baking soda. I love it! No conditioner needed and my hair is so soft!
2. Lost 12 lbs through SparkPeople. If you're a member, let me know! I'm 5wolfcubs there also.
3. Had a large portion of the interior of my house painted a light, neutral color. It turned out beautiful. Plus I love how I've rearrange the furniture.

However, emptying several rooms into one while painting has left a serious problem in The Study.

Care for the tour?

Standing in the doorway -- the closet is blocked by boxes of new blinds waiting to be installed (on Friday). The futon is covered in boxes, the floor is covered in boxes... Boxes of what? Stuff. Stuff with a capital S.

Looking to the left we see the rest of the futon, but not the rest of the Stuff. Oh, no, there is more.

In front of my lovely IKEA cabinet is more Stuff. The cabinet is fairly full also, but it all neat & orderly inside.

And last we come to the desk of Momo (age 11, 6th grade).

Where are the rest of her books? Why they are on the kitchen table waiting to be checked by the teacher...who is apparently on a blogging break.

So, what am I going to do with all the Stuff? And where did it all come from?!

Sometimes I even impress myself!

2008-07-21T18:33:00.000-07:00

As a 1930s wife, I am
Very Superior

Take the test!

Thanks, Lisa, for sharing this!

Poems for the broken hearted

2008-07-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

I came across some Psalms and poems I had copied during a time of great grief years ago. I'm putting my 3 favorite here. Maybe you know someone who needs to hear one today.

My life is but a weaving
Between the Lord and me
I do not choose the colors
He worketh steadily.

Oftimes he weaveth sorrow
And I in foolish pride
Forget he sees the upper
And I the underside.

Not till the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Will God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful
In the Weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.

- Author Unknown

I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chattered all the way;
But left me none the wiser,
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow
And ne'er a word said she;
But, oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me!

-- Robert Browning Hamilton

A Confederate Soldier's Prayer
I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health, that I might do greater things.
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy.
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men.
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for but got everything I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am, among all people, most richly blessed.

You get what you ask for

2008-06-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, you don't always get what you ask for...but if you don't ask, it is certainly less likely that you'll get what you want.

The other night my husband told me I'd spent two times as much as he did last month on the credit card. And if he hadn't bought a piece of software, his only charges would have been gas. So I asked to see what I'd spent (I normally don't do this...I don't like seeing all those charges). In looking over the list and at the history, I discovered that I had 3 ALEKS (online math) charges, even though we'd only used it one month.

I'd thought that signing up monthly billing meant that I'd pay by the month, not I'd be automatically billed every month. Apparently, I didn't read the fine print. I had chosen not to cancel the account because when you do, all records are wiped...and I'd been hoping we might use ALEKS over the summer, picking up where we left off, since my dd enjoyed it as review. But yesterday, I cancelled the account and complained by in my "exit survey" and in an email to customer support that it wasn't clear that monthly billing and automatic billing were the same thing.

And, this is the important part of this post, I requested a refund. I didn't just complain (as I so often due when dealing with a company). I stated exactly what outcome I wanted. And guess what? I'm getting a refund for those two months! I did have to call customer support, explaining my situation and my request again. But I'm getting a refund for the months we didn't use.

I'm impressed, both with myself for actually doing this, and with ALEKS for giving me the refund. My husband is also impressed with me for making the phone call...he knows how much I dislike do that sort of thing.

So remember, don't just complain...tell the other party what you want. They can say no, they can counter offer, or they can say yes!

Week 1: 2008-9

2008-06-20T09:51:00.000-07:00

We started our new school year this week! My plan is to have 10 months of school to go with the 10 Christian Light Education (CLE) LightUnit workbooks.

The first 5 month semester of 2008 is as follows:

1. June/July

2. August

3. September

4. October

5. November/December

The second 5 month semester in 2oo9 will simply be January - May.

I printed out a monthly assignment sheet for each child, 2 weeks on the front & 2 on the back. That way, when the assignment sheet is complete, the month is done and you're on vacation.

8th Grade

Amazingly, Ginger was done with everything from "Week 1" by Wednesday and has done some of next week's work already! Apparently an independent workbook approach is what she needs now...this was not the case for her in 1st grade and I've been trying to stay away from workbooks ever since.

She is using CLE for Language Arts, Reading, Math & Social Studies. In math she has passed 6 pre-tests (meaning she doesn't have to do the lesson). At some point she'll get to new material but this is encouraging for both of us! And yesterday I gave her the first section spelling test in Language Arts -- she got them all right. That has never, ever happened before.

For science she is using Total Health and for writing, Wordsmith. So far, so good on both of those! In fact, she stayed up until 11pm last night working on this coming Monday's Wordsmith assignment with Momo!

6th Grade

Momo only has 4 subjects right now as I haven't been able to order the rest (waiting for the next billing cycle!). She is using CLE for Language Arts, Reading and Science. Yesterday as a part of the science lesson she had to make 10 observations about a tree using as many senses as she could. I never thought that kind of lesson would be in a workbook. I'm learning new stuff this week myself! :)

Momo is also using Famous Men of the Middle Ages with the excellent Student Book and reading Story of the World 2. I still have to order Lively Latin 2, Sentence Composing for Middle School and a few other things to complete her year.

3rd Grade

My 8yo (he needs a new "name") started Minimus for Latin and is loving that. His CLE subjects are Language Arts & Reading -- I'm making him (and his older sisters) write everything in the workbooks in cursive. I can't believe the improvement in all of their cursive in a few short days! He's done a review pages from each MUS Delta chapter he did last year and will start Lesson 5 on Monday. For SOTW we only read, no projects. I still need to buy his My Pals are Here 3 for science and Writing Tales 1.

Our afternoons have been take up with a daily 2 hour chess class! 8yo & Momo both want to join the chess club in the fall. Ginger is enjoying the class but isn't interested in the club. I told her we'd find her something else that involves people. Our family has a serious lack of social interaction and I'm looking to change that in a positive way. We do volunteer weekly at a local dairy. Ginger with the petting zoo animals and I in the organic garden, with the other kids helping us both as we're able. But often it is just our family working alone...which, while pleasant & easy, doesn't develop the ability to interact with others!

Kindergarten

My 5yo (who also needs a new "name") is using The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading and doing excellently. We've just gotten to blending 2 - 3 letter words and he has to work at it. But work he is and I am being 100% positive. No tears over learning to read allowed in this house ever again! Still, it is hard not to compare him to my 8yo who taught himself to read at 4. 5yo is also using Earlybird Math 2A (he did 1A/1B last year) and HWT My Printing Book. His printing is actually quite nice, even though he isn't able to read anything he writes! In August we'll start Five in a Row with 3 other families. I'm very pleased with what I've chosen for his school year. Technically, he would be eligible for 1st grade (late July birthday) this fall but I know I've got great materials for right where he is developmentally!

3 year old

Beanie is just kind of hanging out, nothing formal scheduled for him...yet! He is a talker & a drawer though...he likes to do his "homework" and "reads" to his stuffed animals. This week he and 5yo played a lot of Playmobil together.

He also likes to "play" chess. The other day we had the board set up and were playing...well, I was reading something and occasionally moving one of my pieces. At one point I looked up and all my pawns were lying down on the board. I asked him what happened. He said, "Your pawns got offended and they all died. I win!"

I'm mentally gearing up to potty train him, but keep saying "I'll do it next week."

All in all, it was a relaxed, great start to the new year. And we still have 5 more weeks to complete month 1! Now, I've just got to order the rest of the schoolbooks...

Daily Schedule 2008-9, First Idealist attempt!

2008-06-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

Click on the pictures to see them clearly.

This is my plan...the first of many idealistic attempts at corralling the students into a structured learning routine.

My new & improved scheduling idea for the coming year involves actual time slots (something I've tried to avoid in the past). Although I wish it was more, each child will get 2 individual half hours slots with me in the following order:

K'er
3rd grader
3 yo
6th grader
8th grader

Then we'll all break for a snack. This will be repeated, then we'll break for lunch. The idea is that each child will work on their independent stuff until finished or they reach a point of not understanding/frustration. Then that work will be set aside and the next subject picked up. When they meet with me, I will help them through the trouble spot and give assignments as necessary.

After lunch will be two group times -- one for the K & 3rd grader for history & literature reading. And one will be for the 6th & 8th grader for a discussion of their literature reading.

I think this will accomplish several positive things in our homeschool:

1. allow independence without frustration (or simply lack of working because "I didn't know how to do it")

2. insure dedicated time with mom (something the easy-going students get short changed on)

3. create time off at the end of the week/month because of finishing early!

What this schedule doesn't account for is what exactly the 3yo & K'er are going to be doing for those blank hours each day!

I do plan to do a test run in June, which will help work out some kinks and bring realism, I'm sure!

Chocolate Deluxe Zucchini Cake

2008-06-02T15:13:00.001-07:00

On Friday, we harvest a lot of zucchini from the little organic garden we've been volunteering at lately. Every meal (save breakfasts) has included zucchini -- and I haven't served the same thing twice yet! The favorite so far has been the Chocolate Deluxe Zucchini Cake that my 8yo ds found. I told him to find a recipe for zucchini bread and this is what he came up with!

Chocolate Deluxe Zucchini Cake

9 TBSP unsweetened cocoa
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
4 eggs
3 cups sugar
3 TBSP melted butter
1 1/2 cups cooking oil
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups grated zucchini

In a large bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Gradually beat in sugar. Add, oil, melted butter and vanilla. Mix.
Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt & cinnamon into the wet ingredients. Mix.
Squeeze moisture from zucchini. Add zucchini to batter and mix well.
Pour into 2 greased round 9" pans or a greased 10" tube pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Cake will be moist. Let stand 20 minutes before removing from pans.
Frost when cool if desired!

We frosted it with chocolate frosting. It turned out moist, rich and chocolaty, way better then a box mix! And there was no trace of zucchini in color, texture or taste. I'm not sure why it disappeared completely, perhaps because of the cocoa.

Now, I must go find a new zucchini recipe to serve tonight! Any suggestions?

2008-2009 Plan

2008-05-21T16:58:00.000-07:00

I've been away longer then I intended -- real life and all, you know: the school year ended, curriculum was ordered, several out-of-state family members visited, children lost teeth, more curriculum was ordered, we hit 100 degrees F here in AZ, my "baby" turned 3, more curriculum was ordered...

I have a plan for the new year. A great plan. A mostly-purchased-for plan... And yet, my copy of The Latin-Centered Curriculum is on it's way and just last week I brought up to my husband the possibility of putting at least one of our children into a local prep school. So many avenues, so many options, so many choices! A blessing to be sure, but a weighty one, indeed.

As of today the plan for 2008-2009 is as follows:

8th grade
M-F
Math: CLE
English: CLE
Reading: CLE
Social Studies: CLE
Literature: Logic Stage Middle Ages WTM list
M-Th
Writing: Wordsmith
Science: Total Health (Middle School)

6th grade
M-F
Math: MUS Pre-Alg
English: CLE
Reading: CLE
Latin: Lively Latin 2
Science: CLE
Literature: Logic Stage Middle Ages WTM list
M-Th
Writing: Sentence Composing for Middle School
History: Famous Men of the Middle Ages & SOTW 2

3rd grade
M-F
Math: MUS Delta & CWP 3
English: CLE
Reading: CLE
Latin: Minimus
Writing: Happy Scribe and narrations from history OR WT 1
Logic: Building Thinking Skills 1
Literature: Middle Ages (SOTW AG) and FIAR Vol 1 go-alongs
M-Th
Science: Science Through Children's Literature & My Pals are Here 3
History: SOTW 2 & AG

1st grade
M-F
Phonics: OPGTR
Handwriting: HWT
Math: Earlybird 2a & b
Five in a Row, Vol 1

3yo
Tagging along & nipping at everyone's heels
Listening to lots of stories

As a family:
Daily: Homeschool PE
Friday: Artists and Composers from Middle Ages (WTM lists)
Saturday: Phonics of Drawing CD from Masterpiece Art Instruction
One or two weeknights: Mind Benders & Fallacy Detective

I have been refining a list for Artist & Composers -- trying to choose 8 of each from about 400-1600 AD. I might just buy Harmony Fine Arts 5th grade.
My 1st & 3rd graders will do a FIAR co-op with 3 other families every other Monday. I have been looking through the manual and deciding what we'll cover. I used FIAR Vol 1 when my girls were little and am so glad to be able to do it with my boys now! The off Mondays are going to be for library/nature walks (the library backs up to a Riparian Preserve). I signed the 3 older kids up for a 2 week chess class in June and hope to have them all enjoy it so much that they'll continue w/ the homeschool club in the fall. Also my oldest is volunteering at a nearby organic dairy farm one morning a week.

Oh, and when do I plan to start all this? Maybe all the CLE subjects in June and everything else in July...

A Poem for the Spring: God Help the Boy

2008-03-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

My 8 year old is reading to me from The Christian Liberty Nature Reader Book 1. He reads aloud a section, I narrate. My narrations are getting better -- I no longer say "um, and, um, and..." quite so much. And I'm appreciating insects a wee bit more.

This evening I flipped through the book and came across a poem in the back entitled "The Boy the Never Sees" listed as Author Unknown. I did a Google Book Search and found the poem in a book called Public School Methods, orginially published in 1918 with the title as "God Help the Boy" by Nixon Waterman.

Enjoy!

GOD HELP THE BOY

God help the boy who never sees
The butterflies, the birds, the bees,
Nor hears the music of the breeze
When zephyrs soft are blowing.

Who can not in sweet comfort lie
Where clover blooms are thick and high,
And hear the gentle murmur nigh
Of brooklets softly flowing.

God help the boy who does not know
Where all the woodland berries grow,
Who never sees the forests glow
When leaves are red and yellow.

Whose childish feet can never stray
When nature does her charms display--
For such a hapless boy, I say
God help the little fellow.

Nixon Waterman.

I really need a message board/blog break (not that I've been posting or commenting much lately, but I need an actual, physical break). Leave a comment if you like and I'll come visit you in a month or so!

Charlotte Mason & the Well-Trained Mind: elementary hours compared

2008-03-04T12:31:00.001-08:00

This is a comparison of The Well Trained Mind's recommend weekly hours for 1-3 grade (averaged) and Charlotte Mason's Parents' Union School schedules for the same. It was more difficult then the comparison I did for eighth grade.

I had to make some judgements in order to compare and even then, they just don't line up neatly. Which is, of course, okay, because they are different methods/theories -- but I'm interested in both!

Charlotte Mason advocated hours of outdoor nature study, which is science not shown on the school schedule. Also, the Parents Union School students studied French from the beginning, whereas the WTM starts Latin in 3rd grade. Oh, another thing -- Language Arts for the WTM is comprised of grammar, spelling, penmanship, structured reading, and writing. Language Arts for the Parents Union School schedule were called only reading and writing.

As with my previous comparison, I very well may have a miscalculation in my addition. Adding hours is tricky!

Project 2008 March: The Garden

2008-03-02T07:10:00.000-08:00

The first couple years we lived in this house, I tried to "grow a garden." We did harvest a few things, but then I had a baby (who is now 2 1/2) and gardening fell by the wayside. It is a place for the the children to dig. To get muddy. To create elaborate tunnels and houses for their little Scupley creations. And, on the day I took this photo, to store their not-in-use toys.

My goal for March is get all the stuff out of the garden and work on the soil. To make it look like it could be a garden...even if I don't plant anything this year!

If you want to join in, go to New Mercies Every Day and sign up!
And, if you want to see my previous months projects:
January: Sewing Room
February: Master Bedroom

What's on your desk?

2008-02-26T15:59:00.000-08:00

Audrey @ Opus Dei Academy tagged me with

"What's on your desk? You can tell a lot about a person by the state of their desk and what they keep on it. So, share what's on your desk. You can take pictures, take an inventory, or do both. Don't have a desk? That's okay, just give us a glimpse into the space where you pay bills, write letters, grade papers, study, or work on the computer. When you've finished your photos or inventory, post it on your blog and tag five more people to do the same. Don't forget to share the rules with those you tag and ask them to share their posts with you when they are done."

Well, my desk is remarkable tidy! I cleaned it about 2 weeks ago and have been keeping it that way.

I have a tissue box, my beloved eMac, a router, a new Apple modem, a watering can pen cup, an ink drinking printer, my iPhone, a paper on Greek columns, and the following books: The Well-Trained Mind (revised edition from the library), A Charlotte Mason Education, and The Chemy Called Al. That is it!

Oh, what is that box under the desk? Well, that is where I put everything that was "homeless" from my desk when I cleaned it. I've gotten exactly ONE thing out of the box since I cleaned off my desk. Which means, I really don't need all that stuff. I just can't part with it...yet. So if I was to take the box and dump it on the desk, you'd have a pretty good idea of what my desk would look like normally.

Hmm, whose desk do I want to see a picture of??

Sugar at I Like Pi
Michelle at Our Trio of Children
Jean at Quiver's House
Kel at Voyager Learning Center
Mama Peep at Classical Education Our Way

Come on, girls, let's see those desks!

Got Chemistry?

2008-02-25T18:31:00.002-08:00

We're using The Elements: Ingredients of the Universe by Ellen McHenry and loving it! This is a one semester course designed for grades 4-8, but my 2nd grader is tagging along with ease.
As a read aloud, we have The Chemy Called Al by Wendy Isdell. Not especially well written, this book does have an interesting premise: the Land of Science is inhabited by the "former periodics" such as Aurum (Gold) and Kalium (Potassium) in the form of horses.
Here are some websites we've come across:
Chem 4 Kids
Periodic Table in Pictures & Words
Interactive Chemical Elements
The Wooden Periodic Table
Period Table of Comic Books
Wizzy Periodic Table
Fun Brain Period Table
Science is Fun
Periodic Table ADventure
Visual Interpretation of the Elements

I'm going to try to post a little about each of our curriculum choices this year. This will serve as both records for myself (I'm a terrible record keeper!) and as a mini-reviews. I need a review-system. How about paw prints?
The Elements: Ingredients of the Universe gets 5 out of 5 paw prints! I just need a little picture now...

Project 2008 February: The Master Bedroom

2008-02-24T07:03:00.000-08:00

At then end of January, when I took these photos, my bedroom was Playmobil Central. What you see below on the dresser was the Playmobil Knights Advent Calendar (open a little box a day). The rest of the Playmobil was in a large plastic tub under my dresser. It has all since been moved to the clean sewing room, where there is space to spread out and set up and mom doesn't make you put it away before bed.

This first picture is standing in the doorway, looking straight into the room. Notice no curtains on the window, no pictures on the wall, and laundry in the foreground. That is where the clean laundry goes until it is folded. This is Ginger & Momo's job, which they can't seem to do every single day.
This is standing in the doorway, looking to the right across the room. No curtains, no picture...pile of computer related books on my husband's nightstand, and my ironing board. Usually the ironing board has a pile of clean dress shirts on the end. See that yellow thing on the tree? It's a sunflake! We like the poem "Sunflakes" by Frank Ashe.

This final picture is looking into the master bathroom/closet, with a good view of the TV and its paraphernalia. Oh, and there is some baby stuff there on the floor -- car seat, walker, etc. Stuff that I'm planning to give away.

I'd like to say that by the end of February, the room will be painted, curtains hung, pictures mounted, an entertainment center purchased. But no, I know those things won't be done. I am going to try to get back to ironing all my husband's shirts once a week and then putting the ironing board in the closet. I think I'm ready to move on to March!

Charlotte Mason & the Well-Trained Mind: hours compared

2008-02-21T21:55:00.000-08:00

Tonight, I decided to do a little chart to compare the hourly recommendations for 8th grade age in Susan Wise Bauer's The Well-Trained Mind's to those in A Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison. This little chart doesn't include Logic (only mentioned in the WTM), music, art, or nature study. I found it interesting that at this level, the time involved was almost identical.
It is possible that my figures are slightly off -- adding such big numbers in my head is challenging.

EDITED TO ADD: Thank you, Tami, for supplying me with an online version of Charlotte Mason's Parents Union School schedules located on the Ambleside Online site! These are identical to the schedules in the back of Levison's book. Although she calls Class III 7th-9th grades, I believe (the book is upstairs). When I was making my calculations, I eliminated the "10.20 - 10.50" period, which seems to serve as a break period and didn't fit neatly in my chart. I put Euclid as math and Old & New Testament as history. Another side note is CM's schools met Monday through Saturday...oh, yes, and the hours listed on my chart are weekly totals!

Break for (Neopian) Poetry

2008-02-20T14:26:00.000-08:00

I left Momo & Ginger at home this morning to do their schoolwork while I took Tullius to his Charlotte's Web play rehearsal (he's a sheep). Not only did Momo get her book learning done, she had time to write poetry.

Peaceful, pajama morning in our homeschool

2008-02-19T08:00:00.001-08:00

Time: 8:30am
Location: Family Room floor
Sound: melodious Yanni's Dare to Dream
Scene: Seated inside the Duplo railroad track he built with his 2yo brother, my dark-haired 8yo works a crossword puzzle in The Elements: Ingredients of the Universe. Already completed in this morning's 2nd grade: an egg-boiling experiment in Singapore Start-up Science, the final page in MUS Gamma, the conjugation of celo (I hide) in the future tense in Lively Latin...and breakfast.

Oh, if only the whole day were to be so serene...

Excellent, Dude!

2008-02-15T07:16:00.000-08:00

Tonia at The Sunny Patch and Lisa at Koinonia Academy think I'm excellent. That makes my day! Thanks, ladies! The feeling is mutual.

Now, I'm supposed to pass this award on to 5 bloggers who I think are admirable, distinctive, exceptional, first-class, magnificent, notable, outstanding, priceless, sterling, wonderful...you know, excellent!

So, to
Karen...because I wish to school in a Magic Schoolhouse and
Skeller...because I wish I was Short on Words and
Isabella, Zadok, and Theo...because I wish I my kids had a Cattle Blog and
Paz...because I wish we were a WoW Academy and
Gardenschooler...because I wish I was In the Garden...

I want you to know that I think you're excellent! Now, please, pass it on to five more bloggers that you admire!

Homeschooling Only One

2008-02-14T07:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, three of my four school-aged children were sick. Ginger, the oldest, was in day three of the flu, having missed getting it when the rest of us did, the week before. Tullius and Zamakee, in 2nd grade and kindergarten respectively, both had fevers. Not sure if it was a relapse, a repeat or something new... So my 5th grader Momo got to be an only student.

MATH Math-U-See Zeta, Lesson 21, Practice B Long division with decimals, rounding patterns, remainders as fractions, etc. Boring. Easy. 100% A+.

LATIN Lively Latin, Lesson 11.3 Forming the Future Tense I love Latin, so we did this together. Interesting. Easy. 100% A+.

LOGIC Building Thinking Skills 2, Chapter 10 Verbal Analogies A page of such things as marble:stone :: diamond:jewel. Not sure if it was easy or not, but she got them all right, as usual.

GRAMMAR Straight Forward English Series Verbs, p 13, Spelling Rules for Tense. Adding -s or -es to some verbs and then making sentences with them. Here are some of her sentences:
The eyrie tosses the yooyu ball to the jubjub.
The hissi drinks the morphing potion and changes into a cybunny.
Ah, good old Neopia! Easy. All correct...

CHEMISTRY The Elements: Ingredients of the Universe, Chapter 3 Activity #5 & #6 This involved finding the number of protons in 25 or so different elements and looking at a cool website called Dave's Wizzy Periodic Table This takes awhile to load, but is worth it for looking at how many electrons are in which S & P orbitals. I have a slightly difficult time understanding about the orbitals, but she doesn't. Chemistry really is fascinating! Maybe Momo will be a chemist.

HISTORY Tapestry of Grace Year 1, Week 24 Sigh. We could be doing SO MUCH...but we're not. Her reading is a 2 page spread in The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of the Ancient World. Called "Battles and Battle Formations," it looks really unmemorable so I suggest we read it together. Everyone else is either sleeping or quietly playing.

We read the second page on formations first. Several times she mentions having "read about that" and goes back to find the page. Tomorrow, if everyone is well enough to go outside, we'll model the battle positions. We certainly have enough shields and sticks! Then we look at the list of battles on the first page. We decide to try to find them on our fold-out National Geographic Map of "The Historic Mediterranean 800 BC to AD 1500" that is on the kitchen table under the plastic table cloth.

The descriptions are short and not very specific, such as:
CHAERONEA A town in Central Greece, the site of Philip II of Macedon's decisive victory over the Greek cities in 338 BC. We struggle with the vagueness, but have fun trying to locate them. Not all are on the map.

And that was the school day. Not perfect, but peaceful and productive. I wish I could spend such time with her everyday. I wish I could spend such time with each of my children everyday.

Wordless Wednesday -- Kittens

2008-02-12T20:52:00.000-08:00

Is it Wednesday already? Well, not quite...but close enough.

Wordless Wednesday -- Tattoo Artist in Training

2008-02-06T00:13:00.000-08:00

Project 2008 January: The Sewing Room

2008-02-06T00:11:00.000-08:00

This was my Project 2008 Room. The "Sewing Room" that has never been sewn it. YET. We've lived in this house for about 4 1/2 years. The room has been mainly a dumping ground, but Beanie slept here in a crib until he was 2. Now he sleeps in the crib in the "Boys' Room."

This room is about 10' x 7' if you include the closet. The previous owners used it as an office.

Yes, this is what is looks like AFTER I cleaned it. This is standing in the doorway looking into the closet (huge, doorless). The shelf is all boxes of STUFF I want to keep. Some worth keeping, most not...but I can't decide which is which. Hanging on hangers are large pieces of fabric. Waiting to be sewn into something. On the floor are several large, plastic storage bins of sewing stuff -- miscellaneous fabric, thread, stuffing, half-made fabric dolls and the like.

This is standing in the doorway looking to the left. Ah, ha! One of the closet doors. And lots more stuff -- mostly papers, folders, files, notebooks, school-type stuff that should probably be tossed. And a box or two of miscellaneous stuff. And several empty plastic bins. I really DID clean in this room.

This is standing at the far end of the room looking toward the doorway. Behind the door is the bookcase of homeschool books that I want to keep but am not currently using this year. Oh, and a porta-crib.

And that hanging on the wall is a life-sized Emperor penguin painted on posterboard. There are several species of penguins on the wall and some hiding behind the boxes of sewing stuff. I really do have a hard time throwing things away...

February's project will be the master bedroom! And I know you want to see pictures of that.

Rest of the year: 5th grade & 2nd grade

2008-02-04T16:20:00.001-08:00

Here is the rest of Momo's year. She's in 5th grade, using mostly the same curriculum as Ginger. The only differences are that she is in Math-U-See Epislon and is using Building Thinking Skills 2 instead of a formal spelling program. She does do spelling by using Tapestry of Grace's Vocabulary. I should post about that one day... I bought a poetry workbook and a test prep book for Momo, I just haven't started them with her yet.

I decided to edit this post & add 2nd grade since I just finished the sheet. This is for Tullius, who just turned 8. He really needs to be challenged...I just haven't found anything that does. Even multiplying a 3 digit by 4 digit number only confused him for a week or so. Oh, and he wrote down our milage on January 31st: 66,032 miles.

Thanks for the kind comments about my last spreadsheet. If you don't use/like Excel, a table in Word can be used to accomplish the same thing. I have to say that I did not come up with the idea on my own!! I've seen it on lovely blogs like Narrow Gate Academy and Trivium Academy.

Assessing where we are, so I can see where we're going...

2008-01-31T23:25:00.000-08:00

When I drive some place new, I generally get lost the first few times. I think it might be a gap in my education, since my dad can still remember how to get places he went to years and years ago.

So, speaking of going places, and gaps, and education...I really need to assess where each child is at in their school year. And look ahead to the end of the year. And next year. And then...HIGH SCHOOL.

This 2007-2008 year, I have:

Ginger 7th grade
Momo 5th grade
Tullius 2nd grade
Zamakee Kindergarten

This is week 22 of 36 for us.

Today, while holding my feverish 2yo, I finally started making the colorful Excel spreadsheets that I've been meaning to do for weeks! Here is Gingers:

Clicking on it makes it huge, but readable.

I must buy something new for her for math, I didn't realize how close she was to being done with Key to Decimals! Math is definitely a difficult subject for her. Which makes it difficult for me.

And writing. I've really got to get something for writing. TOG's Writing Aids started out good for us, but I rearranged some things, dropped it for a month during NaNo, then we had 6 weeks off for Winter Break and I can't get back into Writing Aids. I've tried each week, and it has been a flop each time. I need something prepared, precise, and preferably written to the student. Maybe Jump Into Writing...

Wordless Wednesday -- Am I raising geckos or wolf cubs?

2008-01-30T05:43:00.000-08:00

123 Book Meme

2008-01-29T06:19:00.000-08:00

Lisa at Koinonia Academy and Audrey at Home Learning Adventures tagged me!

Step one: Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).

Well, The Boxcar Children is the closest.

Step two: Open the book to page 123.

Since, Tullius is sitting here, I'll have him find page 123.

Step three: Find the fifth sentence.

And I'll have him find the fifth sentence, which is not as easy as it sounds. Does the first sentence end with the first period? We'll go with the first complete sentence being number 1 for our counting purposes.

Step four: Post the next three sentences.

He ran alone up to the boxcar. It seemed like magic that he knew where to go. When Dr. Moore came back, he was carrying Violet in his arms.

Step five: Tag five people.

Let see...whose blog do I enjoy & need to visit?

Twilight and Sunrise
Carr Homeschool
A Bit of Bubbly
Living, Loving, Learning
Redefining Normal

Let me know if you play along!

How many miles do you drive a month?

2008-01-29T05:44:00.000-08:00

I had a brilliant math idea! It is possible that in my case, the pronoun "I" with brilliant and math should not occur in the same sentence. But this seems like a fun, real-life application of subtraction!

My almost 8yo son, whom I call by his Latin name Tullius here, loves to "check the milage" on our mini van whenever we arrive someplace. At the end of each month, I'm going to have him write the number down on a piece of paper and then he can subtract to see how much we've driven that month! I really don't think I drive too much. We've had the van about 10 1/2 years and haven't reached 70,000 miles yet.

So, how much do you drive a month? No calculators allowed!

Wordless Wednesday -- Daddy-Daughter Date

2008-01-23T00:16:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday

2008-01-16T14:30:00.000-08:00

Old Shoes, New Shoes

2008-01-09T21:13:00.000-08:00

My word for the year is GRATITUDE. So I decided to show my hard working dh that I really am grateful for how well he provides for our family...by purchasing some new shoes. Yes, I've needed new shoes for awhile. Those old ones on the left I've had for about 3 years. They're comfortable, and I really don't enjoy shoe shopping at all.

However, this past week the toe finally burst on the left shoe. I even wore them to church like this. But my dh does not feel my gratitude for his provision when I'm wearing the only pair of shoes I have and there is a giant hole in the toe.

Actually, I do own a pair of sandals I got a resale shop awhile back (but I don't like the way they fit, so I haven't worn them in over a year) and I also own a pair of plain black dress shoes back from when I worked and our oldest was baby (but I probably haven't worn those in at least 2 years).

Hopefully I'll get my $14.99's worth over the next three years.

Quote and Confession

2008-01-07T23:24:00.000-08:00

"A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron."
-- Horace Mann

Today is only the first official day of 2nd semester and...um, I'm the teacher in the above quote.

I told my dh last week that I didn't like teaching. I enjoy reading aloud to my kids, I enjoy taking them places like the zoo, I enjoy playing with them in the backyard, I enjoy learning myself and watching them learn things themselves.

But I don't enjoy being the teacher and sitting at the table while then read the instructions aloud and fill out the worksheet, I don't like checking and rechecking math, I don't like saying "Is your schoolwork done?"

And that is my confession for the day.

888 - A book in the hand...

2008-01-01T00:14:00.000-08:00

When I first heard about 888 (reading 64 books, 8 books in 8 categories in 2008), I thought it was too much. But in looking at my shelves, I have so many books that I've bought and never finished...or worse, bought and never started! A book in the hand is worth two on the shelf and so, I'm challenging myself this new year! Here are the beginnings of my lists:

I. Christian
1. The Power of a Praying Wife, Stormie Omartian (30 days -- read daily starting January 1st)
2. The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, Hannah Whitall Smith (20 chapters)
3. Stop Dating the Church, Joshua Harris (7 chapters)
4. The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis (31 chapters)
5. God's Sabbath for Mankind, Richard A. Wiedenheft (7 chapters)
6. The Mischief of Sin, Thomas Watson (7 chapters)
7. The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions (223 pages, read daily starting February 1st)
8. Sister Wendy's Book of Meditations, Sister Wendy Beckett (74 meditations, start when I finish Valley of Vision)

II. Nature & Animals
1. Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv (23 chapters)
2. The Amateur Naturalist, Charles E. Roth
3. Stickeen, John Muir (74 pages)
4. Secrets of the Woods, William J. Long (10 chapters)
5. Keeping a Nature Journal, Clare Walker Leslie & Charles E. Roth (11 chapters)
6. All Creatures Great & Small, James Herriot (67 chapters)
7. All Things Bright & Beautiful, James Herriot (47 chapters)
8. All Things Wise & Wonderful, ames Herriot (48 chapters)

III. Parenting & Homeschooling
1. I Love You Rituals, Becky A. Bailey (10 chapters)
2. Heartfelt Discipline, Clay Clarkson (16 chapters)

IV. Historical Fiction
1.

V. Fun Fiction
1.

VI. Fantasy Fiction I've Never Read (but always meant too)
1.

VII. Read Aloud or Read Together
1. Classic Myths to Read Aloud, William F. Russell (39 stories)

VIII. ???
1.

These are all books on my shelves. Well, now they are in piles on the floor by my feet! I need to gather some more titles from the library...but what I have will sure keep me reading for a good while! If you have any recommendations for me or have a link to your own 888 reading list for 2008 (which, by the way, it IS!), please share!

Lee

Sorry AFK

2007-12-30T20:29:00.001-08:00

Yes, I've been away from the keyboard...for over two months. Lots has happened, life has happened. Sadly, I didn't write for NaNoWriMo, but there is always next year...and both Ginger & Momo were winners! Ginger got a NaNo T-Shirt for her 13th birthday, she still wears it at least once a week. We finished our 2nd semester & 2nd unit of Tapestry of Grace Year 1. We've been on "winter break" since Thanksgiving, and it is back-to-school on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008. So I've been planning-planning-planning. More on that in another post. Here are some pictures from the last few months:

An Athena owl I made of air-dry clay...one of the last hands-on projects we did while studying the Greeks. The kids all made them and I just couldn't keep my hands off so I made one too!

A Dragon-Worthy Hoard...my children collect jewelry and other shiny things -- to pile in their Dragon Hoard. This picture is dated, the hoard now takes up two shelves.

My 7yo son Tullius under the bridge -- the Natural Bridge, the world's largest naturally occurring travertine bridge, located north of Payson, AZ in Tonto National Forest. A wonderful place, especially when Grandpa leads the expedition and ever-cautious Mom & Grandma stay at the top!

Momo's 11th birthday pizza cakes -- thanks to the inspiring pictures and instructions from Smooth Stones Academy!

Gingerbread Nativity -- cute and oh, so crunchy!

2007 is coming to an end...I've been thinking about participating in a reading challenge called 888 . I've been thinking about playing World of Warcraft with my Harley Honey (two level 70 characters) and my 3 older kids (who all have characters in the low 60s). I've been thinking about how to *really* do school daily with my 2 younger kids.

And I've been thinking about being thankful. That is going to be my word for the year 2008: Gratitude. And I'm starting now, I'm grateful that you stopped by!!

GoodSearch

2007-10-26T13:25:00.000-07:00

I love using Google to search for things. However, I just found out about a new search engine called GoodSearch that donates to the charity of your choice! For all the searching this family does, we might as well be donating to a good cause! I chose "The Office of Letters and Light" as my charity, because that is the non-profit organization that operates NaNoWriMo free of charge! Goodbye Google, hello GoodSearch!

NaNo & My Stick Family

2007-10-23T07:48:00.001-07:00

November is fast approaching but it isn't too late to sign up for National Novel Writing Month! You've always wanted to write a novel one day, haven't you? Well, NaNoWriMo is the end of the One Day Novelist! Yes, that is you -- the one who is always keeps saying "One day, I'm going to write a novel."

This will be my second year participating (and finishing, I hope!). So far, I know two people writing this year -- my sister and Robin at My Two Blessings. If you're going to be writing (I know you want to!) and would like to be Writing Buddies, just go to my Author Info page and either send me a Nano Mail or add me as a buddy.

What is a Writing Buddy? Someone who is there to encourage you -- either via email, on the msg boards or just through the word count bar! Everyday you write you upload your word count and the little bar moves a little farther to the right, a little closer to victory!

Now, who are these cute stick families that I heard about at Pheasant Ridge Academy? My family!

This first one I made. That is my Harley Honey, myself, Ginger 12, Momo 10, Tullius 7, Zamakee 5 and Beanie 2.

This second one my daughters, Ginger & Momo, made (without having seen mine).

Funny how we didn't pick the same options! All the kids wanted to know why Daddy was bald in my picture! Well, I couldn't have the beard and hair, it wasn't an option. Nor did they have a motorcycle helmet. So I did the best I could! There is only one thing exactly the same in both pictures -- can you find it? If you make a Stick Family, I'd love to see it!

Mathmagical Monday: Multiplying by 11

2007-10-22T11:49:00.001-07:00

Tullius, who is using MUS Gamma, learned a neat trick for multiplying by 11 last week. Any two digit number (that adds up to 9 or less) multiplied by 11 is that number...okay, I'm not going to be able to explain this. But I think I can show it.
Take 34 x 11, for example. The answer is 374 -- you split the digits 34, like this: 3___4. Then add them together (3+4) and that number goes in the middle: 374. Try it, it really works!

In this same lesson (23), double digit times double digit multiplication was introduced. Tullius does not really "get it" -- this is the first mathematical concept that he hasn't instantly understood. Anyone have any special tips or tricks for this? I'm planning to watch the video with him and do some more block building this week, instead of moving on to the next lesson.

Week 13 Report -- Back-to-School

2007-10-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

Last week was Back-to-School after a week off for Ginger's surgery/recovery. She still couldn't read on Monday, so I did all our TOG reading aloud -- Black Ships Before Troy, Story of the Greeks, Encyclopedia of the Ancient World, D'Alaure's Greek Myths, Spend the Day in Ancient Greece, and Classical Kids. By Wednesday she was wearing her glasses and reading Black Ships Before Troy on her own. I'm glad. Somehow I expected the book to be...happier. But no, not those Greeks and their gods!

By Wednesday, Ginger was able to do her own math -- nothing like attempting to describe a decimal addition problem orally! She is on Book 2 of Key to Decimals. Momo & Tullius continue through MUS Zeta and Gamma respectively. Zamakee continues to be left out. Although he now able to count/recognize/read numbers in the 20's and 30's. This is though no effort on my part, I'm still trying to remember to do the 1-5 pages in his Kumon Numbers book!

We are almost done with God's Design Science Plants! The kids are now reading and narrating the lessons to me. No one wanted to wait for me to do "class." I don't think I'll use the GDS Chemistry books in the spring. Now I'm thinking perhaps Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry would be a better choice. But maybe not...they like reading about science better then they like doing it with me, apparently.

Let's see, anything else of note last week? In Latin we skipped the history readings in Lively Latin -- I decided that we'd just save the "How the Roman Government Works" for when we study the Romans in the spring. My own Latin, using Latin Made Simple continues to go well, although I really need to make myself some flash cards. Its just there are so many words! Which is why I need the flash cards in the first place.

We did several projects -- Ginger made a dolphin Minoan Fresco, Tullius and Zamakee made Greek Stone Pendants and everyone made an Athena clay owl. Even me! I just couldn't keep my hands off the kids clay, so I did one of my own. Speaking of owls, Zamakee recognized that OWL and LOW have the same letters, just in a different order. Hooray! Oh, and he made up some sentences (pictured above), I dictated them to him one letter at a time and he wrote them down. That was during our poetry study of similes, another thing I'd already forgotten about already.

I really must write weekly reports the week they occur, not half way through the follow week! Oh, one last thing -- on Friday we went to a local dairy farm that has an open house/fair every fall. There was lots to see and do, including camel & pony rides and darling baby alpacas. I think I want this one!

Silly Name Tag

2007-10-10T22:29:00.000-07:00

I read this fun tag at Light in the Shadows and since she tagged everyone who read it...I decided to try! I did make one small wording alteration so I could let my kids read it without having to explain certain career options. :)

1. Your rock star name: (first pet, current car) - Fifi Caravan
2. Your gangster name: (favorite ice cream, favorite cookie) - Mint Chocolate Chip Pecan Sandie
3. Your fly guy/girl name: (first initial first name, first 3 letters last name) - Land
4. Your detective name: (favorite color, favorite animal) - Blue Horse
5. Your soap opera name: (middle name, birth city) - Elnora Palatine
6. Your Star Wars name (first three letter last name, first 2 letter of first name) - AndLe (Ooh, I kind of like that!)
7. Superhero Name: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink and add "the") - The Purple Lemonade
8.Nascar name (first names of your grandfathers) - Carl Alvin
9. Dancer Name: (favorite perfume, favorite candy) - Chocolate (I don't know any perfume names, let alone have a favorite!)
10. Witness Protection Name: (mother's and father's middle name) Carlene Preston

Now, that was fun...who should I be today??

Better yet, who will you be? Tag, you're it!

Surgery & Snowflakes

2007-10-10T18:04:00.000-07:00

Ginger's eye surgery went very well! To all who prayed and were thinking of us, THANK YOU! She is only a week out, but the surgeon is pleased with the results.

I enjoyed my time off of message boards and blogs, not because I found other delightful pursuits to fill the time, but because I was not wondering what everyone else was up to...and did I have an opinion to share?? :)

Last night, I did what seemed like a little blog reading for the first time in about 10 days -- my wrist hurt after using the mouse so much! I can't have that! I have NaNoWriMo coming up in three weeks! I've got my general plot and a few character ideas...

Speaking of writing, there is a very cool article about writing called The Snowflake Method. Even if you aren't contemplating writing a novel, the link he gives for The Koch Snowflake (made using fractals) is worth the visit!

And speaking of snowflakes, if you love paper snowflakes but don't enjoy sweeping up afterwards, have I got a website for you! Take a peek at SnowDays when you have a few minutes of free time. After the intro, you can create your own snowflake or even view one we've made. The kids have used different names, but if you search by Fuzzypretzel you'll see some they've done! And if you make some, I'd love to see them!

Oh, I updated our History Project Pictures with the things we've been working on...one of these days, I'm going to update the whole website.

Week 12 Report & more Neopian Fables

2007-09-28T23:35:00.000-07:00

We are one third of our way through 2nd quarter! We'll be taking next week off school -- Ginger (12) has eye surgery on Tuesday. In fact, I have decided to take the entire week off the internet. That way I'll be focused on being mom and nurse. I do plan to dedicate some time moving all my "stuff" from my old eMac to a newer, faster, better Mac...I think it is a G5. So, see you all in a week!

This week we finally mastered the days of the week in Latin! We all made flash cards. Ginger's are first with elves on every card, then mine, then Tullius's, then Momo's in pink -- written both in Dragon and in Latin.

And we studied the Ancient Maya people. They believed the world was flat with a giant tree growing in the middle. The root of the tree went into the underworld. Four jaguars in the four courners of the earth held up the sky. Ginger had fun creating this representation of their "compass." The white jaguar is in the north corner.

Our last week of re-writing Aesop's Neopian Fables! I tried to convice the kids they could use a different theme, but no...Neopia it is!
The Skree and the Bracelet, by Ginger (12)

The Lupe and the Miamouse, by Momo (10)

The Fighting Whoots and the Horus, by Tullius (7)

A few other notes for the record: Ginger finished Book 1 of Key to Decimals! She'll do Books 2 & 3 in the next 6 school weeks, Book 4 in January and then the Key to Percents series. We did not get to the cool leaf project I had planned from Masterpiece Art Instruction. Maybe tomorrow!

Hope you have a wonderful, wonderful week! Let the countdown to NaNoWriMo begin!

ABC Muffins & Broccoli Soup recipes

2007-09-27T22:44:00.000-07:00

I love Cream of Broccoli soup -- this is as good or better then what you can get as the soup of the day at a restaurant!
This recipe feeds our family of 7 with no left overs. And even the kids who don't liked cooked broccoli, love the soup.

I make these muffins once a week or so -- using up whatever slightly mushy apples or bananas I have. You can also add raisins or nuts. If I have apple sauce I'll substitute 1/2 cup oil for 1/2 cup applesauce. They're moister then.
I usually make these in a 9x9 pan & bread pan, I burn muffins too often.

Click on the recipes to see a larger copy. I hope they print out okay for those of you who want to try them!

Oh, to make popsicles, I use a can of pineapple and a banana or two. If we have orange juice, I'll use some of that also. Sometimes I put in a little Vitamin C powder also. I have a couple plastic popsicle molds I got at the grocery store. Mmmm!

Comment troubles

2007-09-27T06:47:00.000-07:00

Are these cute checkboxes the cause of my comment troubles?
No, apparently not.

Maybe it was using a different browser to upload the kids' Neopian fables as pictures...

A Test Post

2007-09-27T06:36:00.001-07:00

Are comments enabled?

Apparently on this post they are! But not on my Weekly Report below! Hmmm, could it be the checkboxes? Or are the blogger gods punishing me for the lateness of my report... Did you know that the Maya people of Mesoamerica had at least 166 gods? I can't wait to move on to the Ancient Greeks!

Week 11 Report & more Neopian Fables

2007-09-26T07:36:00.000-07:00

Ah, the weekly report...the belated weekly report. I love the idea, but I'd rather read about what everyone else has been doing that write up my own.

Look at this great check box Local Homeschooler taught me!! Actually, it looks cute in Safari but not in Firefox. I'm not sure what it looks like in Internet Explorer.

Several of you have asked about the blender. It still works. It never occured to me that it might be ruined or the blades dulled. My blender doesn't get much use -- making bread crumbs, creaming cooked broccoli & potatoes to make my delicious broccoli soup, mixing bananas and a can of pineapple to freeze for popsicles...this is not strenuous use of a blender. But perhaps we won't make more paper until we come back to TOG Yr 1 again!

So what did we do last week...well, we studied Ancient China and um, did school, and the kids wrote their next fables. Click on them to see the text larger!
The Eizzil and the Turtum, by Momo (10):

The Beakadoodle and the Veespa, by Ginger (12):

Two Petpets and Balthazar, by Tullius (7):

Can you guess what the original fable for each of these was? Last weeks winners were: Lisa at Koninonia Academy and The Genie Bottle! I wish I had a prize for you...ummm, I could draw you a picture! :)

To see the kids first attempt at Fable writings, check out the previous blog entry: Aesop's Neopian Fables

Mathmagical Monday: How many seconds old are you?

2007-09-24T16:59:00.000-07:00

I got a book at the library yesterday called Men of Mathematics: The Lives and Achievements of the Great Mathematicians from Zeno to Poincare, by E.T. Bell. I doubt I'll finish all 580 pages of it. However, I did start it...which is more than I can say for some books I spontaneously pick off the library shelf!

Here are some quotes I liked from the beginning of the book:

A mathematical truth is neither simple nor complicated in itself, it is. -- Emile Lemoine

It is easier to square the circle than to get round a mathematician. -- Augustus de Morgan

It is a safe rule to apply that, when a mathematical or philosophical author writes with a misty profundity, he is talking nonsense. -- A.N. Whitehead (1911)

I didn't understand all the quotes, and I probably should have looked up profundity before saying I liked the quote!

********
Now for a fun challenge for those learning to multiply large numbers: How many seconds old are you?
This is VERY approximate!

The formula is:
Age in years x 365 days x 24 hours x 60 minutes x 60 seconds

If you want to be a little more accuate, you can use a decimal after your age (for example 10.75) and 365.25 for the days in a year.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I'm approximately 1,072,224,000 seconds old. To me, that is a meaningless number. However, when I look at days and hours (12,410 and 297,840 respectively), I feel like I could
a) DO something in an hour...I have so many! and b) like I've wasted a lot of time!

Paper Making

2007-09-21T23:33:00.000-07:00

This week's history study focused on Ancient China. In looking through some craft books from the library, the kids picked paper making for their project. I tried to dissuade them...it looked difficult and messy. Turns out, it was fun and simple! And hardly messy at all!

This, of course, is not how the Ancient Chinese made paper. They used things such as old rags, mulberry bark, used hemp fishing line, and eventually, bamboo. We started with scraps of paper. We have lots of scraps of paper in this house.

1. Make a screen. Ours was a piece of old window screen, stapled to a styrofoam tray.

2. Put 1-2 cups of hot water in the blender. Add a large handful of small paper scraps.

3. Blend! Add more scraps if you think it looks too thin. Definitely a trial and error recipe.

4. Pour the mixture onto your screen. The screen must be over a container or in the sink. Lots of water runs out!

5. Press down on the mix with a spoon to remove more of the water. Fill in any holes. See all the paper scraps?

6. Flip the screen onto several folded paper towels.

7. Roll the paper to flatten it and remove more of the water.

8. Carefully transfer the paper to something for drying. We used parchement paper on a cookie sheet at first. After we filled that tray, we went to directly putting the paper onto the tray.

9. Wait. And wait some more. Even in the Arizona sun at 95 degrees, this still took over an hour for the thinnest pieces. I didn't get a picture of this step in the process, but I did come up with a new Chinese proverb: Watched paper never dries.

10. Marvel at your paper! The very white piece in the upper left is the first one we made. The others were made with a more colored scraps. The one in the lower right is supposed to be an ice cream cone...

We haven't attempted to paint Chinese characters onto the paper yet. If we get to that, I'll be sure to post a picture in our History Project Pictures!

Mathmagical Monday: Random 5 from our shelves

2007-09-18T07:58:00.000-07:00

We have lots of children's books about math. Well, lots is a relative term.
To put it mathematically here are two equations:

Math books > Poetry books

Math books < Dragon books

And since it is actually already Tuesday morning, I will simply give you 5 math-related books I grabbed this morning. The first two will appeal to the younger ones and the rest to older kids. Check your library! Oh, and if you have any fun math books to recommend, please share!

*More M&M's Math, Barbara Barbieri McGrath
*Millions to Measure, David M. Schwartz, pictures by Steven Kellogg
*The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat, Theoni Pappas
*Mathematicians are People, Too: Stories from the Lives of Great Mathematicians, by Luetta Reimer
*Math Trek 2: A Mathematical Space Odyssey, by Ivars Peterson

Aesop's Neopian Fables

2007-09-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Ever been to Neopets.com ? My kids love it! I even have an account...although I can't say I've played recently.

Writing this past week was done progymnasmata-style: Read a fable, write 3 or so key words per sentence and then re-write the fable in your own words. The kids all enjoyed this, especially the "own words" part. All the illustrations and the names too are Copyright 2000-2007 Neopets, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission.

Click on each story to read it! Can you guess what each original fable was called?

Illusen & the Xweetok, by Ginger

The Weewoo & the Vase, by Momo

The Gnorbu & the Load of Salt, by Tullius

I can't wait to see what they write this week!

Holy Day Slideshows

2007-09-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, when we studied the Ancient Israelites with Tapestry of Grace, we learned about some of their Holy Days.

The kids made slideshows using Mac's awesome Keynote program.

Ginger's Passover slide show:

Momo's Feast of Tabernacles slideshow:

Tullius' Day of Atonement slideshow:

Week 10 Report & Pictures

2007-09-13T13:48:00.000-07:00

Last week, our September break, didn't prove as restful or as productive as I had hoped! Still, onward!

Here is a page of MY schoolwork for the week! I started Latin Made Simple, making notes and doing the exercises. My goal is one handwritten page a day, which is is far less than a page of the book a day! This is my Martis dies (Tuesday) page.
We are studying flowers this week in God's Design Science Plants. Here is Momo's labelled diagram:

The kids made flowers from the pattern in GDS Plants. The sepals, leaves and petals are paper, the stem (and root) is a straw, the pistel and stamens are pipe cleaners, and the pollen is cornmeal. Behind the flowers are a bit of our Eygptian burial chamber, the My Book House series, and on the wall some elements of design from TOG that we worked on last quarter.

I found a Kumon workbook three pack at Costco with Numbers 1-30, Uppercase Letters, and Cutting. Zamakee already completed that last book and is working on Pasting, but I'll save Cutting for Beanie. This is from Numbers 1-30...I said each number in Latin and then Zamakee drew the connecting line. He does shout "Decem!" at the end every time.

Ginger & Momo started a once a month homeschool art class. Their first assignment was to make an oil pastel drawing showing "things that needed each other." Momo drew a mother bird & her babies and Ginger drew an elf & dragon (friendship).

***EDITED TO ADD*** A page from Tullius' Lively Latin! The dominus is Dr. Sloth and the servus is a pink meepit from his army...apparently, he's learning Latin Neopets-style!

For Tapestry of Grace we have been in the Indus Valley -- I hope to have some project pictures of that soon.

The winner of the week was writing! Instead of doing the TOG assignments, I had the kids re-write fables a la the progymnasmata. They are turning out SO cute. Of course, you probably have to be a Neopets fan to appreciate them fully, but I'll be posting them as they finish typing them up. We're going to re-write fables for three weeks, study/write poetry for three weeks and then all assigned writing (and grammar) will cease & desist for November while we participate in NaNoWriMo! See the left sidebar icon for a link!

Nice does matter

2007-09-12T09:27:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, Barb at Heart of Harmony gave me the Nice Matters Award.

I had thought I'd pass it on to Lisa at Koinonia Academy when I got the icon into my blog's sidebar. Alas, I still haven't discovered the secret to getting it there!

This morning I went to Trivium Academy to see what Jessica was up to...and saw that she had given it to Lisa! At first I thought "oh no!" and then I realized that "it's all good" and I'm going to give it to Lisa too! Because I want her to know that she is a blessing & encouragement to me.

Nice might be an overused word. It might be on some writers' banned word list. Still, nice does matter!

Thanks, Barb, for passing the award on to me!

And, Lisa, thanks for being nice! I pass this award on to you, too!

First Drawing in my Sketchbook

2007-09-12T06:26:00.000-07:00

Here is the first drawing in the sketchbook I bought for myself last week! Are you wondering what it is?

It's a rabbit, drawn from the adorable bunny in the header of Mini Blessings!

Of course, now that I look at the original again, mine looks flattened & windblown.

But as my 7yo son says "It's still cute!"
And I still want one!

Welcome to the redecorated den!

2007-09-11T06:35:00.000-07:00

The fabulous new header, 3 column format & overall new look you see here comes courtesy of the talents of Darcy at Life with My 3 Boybarians!

Isn't the snowshadow blue color lovely? Isn't the little wolf cub adorable?

Thank you all who left a comment before it was "officially" done -- just know that I didn't create this look, all the credit goes to Darcy!

Thank you, Darcy, it is beautiful!

PS I've been fiddling with the post & sidebar fonts...umm...blog designer I am not!!

Top 10: Nature Journal Excuses Edition

2007-09-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was mistaken for a nature journal girl! Doesn't that have a nice ring to it? Someday maybe it will even be true!

Afterall, I own such books as by Clare Walker Leslie's Keeping a Nature Journal, Karen Andreola's Pocketful of Pinecones, and Robert Louv's Last Child in the Woods. I've even read them. And my own sister is the Land Steward at a nature center in Iowa! Obviously, between my books and family relations, I should have notebooks full...

But instead of an inspiring photo of a page in my nature journal, I give you my Top 10 reasons why I haven't done "Nature Study."

10. With photo stories like The Robin's Nest who needs to go outside anyway?
9. I don't live near any cool nature places, just hot-desert-scorpion types.
8. Paper taken outside gets crumply, windblown, dirty, bugs land on it, etc.
7. I never know what to draw, there are just too many choices.
6. I can't draw things from life anyway, especially moving things.
5. Many of those moving choices are bugs...
4. I never know what things are called...in English or Latin.
3. I don't enjoy trailing 5 children on a nature journal hike anymore than I enjoy taking them all to the library (now that could be a post in itself).
2. I don't have a sketchbook of my own.
1. It is too HOT to be outside.

Fortunately, reason #1 will be removed within 2 months or so. And surely by then I'll have bought a sketchbook and #2 will be gone also. Perhaps I'll be able to whittle away at the rest as well...

This is the year we learn Latin

2007-09-05T14:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the Latin materials we own...the binder is Lively Latin, which is currently a pdf download. The Help Your Child with a Foreign Language is from the library. As a side note, the first chapter of this book reads like a how-to homeschool manual, giving all the reasons that parents can make good teachers for their own children.

THIS YEAR'S GRAND PLAN

1. Complete Lively Latin (in Lesson 4 & so far, so good)
2. Learn Numbers, Colors, Days, Months, Greetings, Commands, etc
3. Use Before You Know It Lite to review
4. Complete Minimus (start in January)

And specifically for the magistra (that would be me):

5. Begin Latin Made Simple
6. Create a compilation for #2 that could be shared with other homeschoolers

That is the current plan. Lingua Anglica will be saved for next year when we are studying the Middle Ages. Latin Primer (as well as Latina Christiana I & Latin for Children A, which I also own) will be resources for seeing just what is taught in beginning Latin programs.

I'm excited about all this -- I'm a student, too!

Oh, I must give credit to My Two Blessings for reminding me about Before You Know It!

Mathmagical Monday: Make 10!

2007-09-03T08:37:00.000-07:00

First a funny from my 10 yo, Momo--

Math-U-See Zeta, Lesson 7:
Casey had a piece of string one meter long. Because she was very bored, she cut it into 1,000 pieces. If the pieces were of equal length, how long was each piece?

Momo's answer? Very small and then she had to vacuum.

Pyramid or Make Ten
This is a simple (despite the length it took me to explain) and fun math card game that we've been playing for years. It helps children learn to "make 10" which is a useful skill when adding.

Using a regular card deck, take out the face cards and jokers.

Lay out a pyramid shape with the cards face down. One card at the top, two on the next row, slightly overlapping the first on the bottom corners. Repeat this until you have five cards face down at the bottom of your pyramid. Finally, lay a sixth row, face up.

Can you make any tens? If your child is just learning their addition math facts, it is helpful to have a little chart with 1+9, 2+8, etc on it for reference. Oh, 10s count as ten too. Remove any 10s and any pairs that make ten. Put them aside in a discard pile.

Now turn over any face down cards that have both lower corners empty (no cards on the row below covering them). Can you make any tens? If yes, set those cards aside in the discard pile. Check the next face up card in your hand. Also, turn over any card that has been uncovered in your pyramid.

Once you can't make anymore tens, turn over another set of three from your draw pile. Once you've gone through your draw pile, you can do it again, turning over three cards each time. At the very end we go through it one card at a time.

The game ends when you can no longer make ten. You actually "win" if you no cards left in the pyramid.

We would've played this today, in Latin, but I can't find a deck of regular cards! Yesterday we played Uno (Unus!) and Phase 10 -- in Latin, of course. It naturally led to talking about color words...but that is a post for another day!

Sir Douglas Mawson, Antarctic Explorer

2007-09-02T19:36:00.000-07:00

A while back we learned about Antarctica as part of our "Expeditions" study with Konos. I read the book After the Last Dog Died : the true-life, hair-raising adventure of Douglas Mawson and his 1911-1914 Antarctic Expedition by Carmen Bredeson.

I was so moved by the courage of Mawson and his men, that I decided to do my own report at our Konos co-op. Normally, the kids did presentations of something they'd learned and then the moms led group activities. But I just had to share what I'd learned!

So, I drew this sketch and packed a shoebox with the sledge rations allotted to each man. My voice got a little thick while reading my report to the kids. And when I got the part about the soles of his feet peeling off, I had tears running down my face. I get choked up looking even looking at his portrait.

Why post this now (and it is even already on my defunct Stonewall Academy blog)? Well, I just saw the picture in one of Ginger's sketchbooks. My two bird pictures are in another of her sketchooks. I've got to get my own!

Week 8/9 Report

2007-08-31T21:57:00.000-07:00

D~O~N~E! The day is done, the week is done, the month is done and the 1st quarter of the school year is done! Ah, and tomorrow is a new day.

I had a hard time remembering what exactly we did this week. Monday seems looooong ago. Actually, this week we tried something different with our schedule. I set a time for the two subjects that all the kids do together: Latin (8am) and Science (9am). This eliminated *some* of the "I finished all my independent work. Can we do ... NOW?"

The biggest success of the week (that would be besides finishing it) would be counting in Latin. We started on Monday and it didn't go Optime. But instead of saying "Bah! Forget that!" as I am so oft to do when one or more children whine/don't get it on day one or two, I persevered. Yes, I am proud to say we counted in Latin every day this week! And finally today, we actually had fun. I guess it is true that we typically enjoy what we can do well. Even Beanie got to join in today. We did a sort of ring-around-the-rosie while counting "Unus-duo-tres" while going one way then switched to the other with the next 3 digits, then back and on "decem" we all fell down.

As for staying on schedule, Ginger finished the entire four book "Key to Fractions" series today. She did well and it wasn't too painful. I have already purchased "Key to Decimals" and she'll start that after the break.

As for not staying on schedule, I'm not done w/ the read aloud Tirzah from TOG. This historical fiction book begins in Ancient Egypt during the plagues, the Israelites cross the Red Sea and are in the desert. We just read the chapter with the golden calf idol. I'm very sorry to say that it is not inspirational reading. The author, while sticking well to the Bible story line, seriously lacks the ability to "show, don't tell." I am not in the least bit inspired and will be glad when the book is over.

Ginger, Momo & Tullius each made several slides in Keynote (Apple's version of PowerPoint) on a different one of the Jewish Holy Days. They turned out really nice. I have to get them off a different computer to post though.

Any other highlights to the week? Besides it being over, I mean? Well, I drew another bird picture. A Gambel's quail. It was fatter & cuter in the book, but at least it is done!

I'm all about being done, apparently. Now, off to see what everyone else accomplished this week!

PS I'm still thinking about a new blog for next quarter. After all, Pheasant Ridge Christian Academy did... :)

WHY I want to start over!

2007-08-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate it!

It's not the name...I love the name/address.

Its not the look of the blog...I have a *very* talented friend who has offered to help make it look more "me." And no, I'm not telling you who, lest you beg her to help you before she has a chance to help me. :)

It's the posts...I just want to delete them all and start again! Not that I said anything terrible. I just want to start over!

I could just start a new blog...I really could, except I like the address for this one.

So...if you come to visit me one of these days and there is nothing here...just pretend it is a new blog and you're excited that I finally started one!!

Now back to visiting other blogs...

I think I want to start all over...

2007-08-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about starting a new blog. Another one. Yes, I just started this one this month...but a new month is coming! I feel like I want to to start all over again. Fresh. Clean. Blank slate! But I like the name of this one, sort of -- I feel known at least! I could just delete all my posts. But I like the "weekly reports" record. Maybe I could move them...

This is our last week of school before a one week break. Perfect time to start a new blog! Or, maybe I should just take the next quarter off the internet...now that would be a change!!

Oh, what to do...what to do...

Mathmagical Monday: Count to Ten in Latin

2007-08-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

Math is magical to me. Not the "catching fireflies by the river in the moonlight" sort of magical. Rather, the "HOW did he do that" feeling you get when watching a magician perform the same trick again and again and you never see how he does it. I never have understood math...at all.

Still, I'd like for my children to love and appreciate all good things in life, math included. Actually, I'd like to appreciate math!

So here is a little math:

1/5 of my children think math is a horrid invention
2/5 of my children can add, subtract & multiply faster in their heads than I can (they can probably divide faster as well, however this theory can not be tested because I need paper & pencil for division)
2/5 of my children have not shown a positive or negative reaction to the subject

I'd like to continue tipping the scale in favor of math at our house. But I prefer alliteration to addition. I love blogs like La Scuola d’Argento with "Photo Friday" and Sea Star Academy with "Top Ten Tuesday." Therefore, I give you: Mathmagical Monday.

I wanted to take a picture of all the wonderful math related books we have at our house, but I have to gather them up...certain children like to take them and read them and not return them to their proper shelf.

Instead, I give you my Count to 10 in Latin chart. Which I'm not entirely certain is correct...if you know Latin, can you point out any errors? And why isn't there a feminine form of 3? Is it tres? Those colored objects are eggs...one egg -- unum ovum, two eggs - duo ova? The word egg is neuter...which makes sense since you don't know if the chick inside is male or female!

Anyway, this is part of my new attempt to make Latin a living language at our house. I decided we'd start by learning to count to 10. Because of gender, this wasn't as fun & easy as learn as I had expected.

I hope that I will be making Mondays more magical and more mathematical for all my children, and myself, from now on...after all, docendo discitur -- We learn by teaching ~ Seneca.

Week 7/8 Report

2007-08-25T00:38:00.000-07:00

We just finished week 7/8...next week will be 8/9 and then we're done with First Quarter/TOG Unit 1! This was a rather unusual week because Dad was home all week. Not because he was sick, not because we had a family vacation planned, not even because we wanted to do some around the house projects...no, this was to get his World of Warcraft character to level 70. And he's *almost* there, as of the wee hours of Saturday morning (while I'm typing this up).

See kids, what you can do with a little dedication & perseverance? Reach the level cap in an MMORPG! Actually, Ginger, Momo & Tullius all have characters about level 45 themselves. But I digress...

So, between having dh home and Ginger's eye doctor appointment and trying to fit 1.5 weeks worth of learning in, we had less time and more work...but it's all good.

7th grade~Ginger's studied dictation sheet. We go over the sentences on Monday and then she gets to doodle on it the rest of the week. On Friday I dictate it to her. This has been going well, I'm very pleased...much better then copywork ever did!~

5th grade~Momo's diagram of the Hebrew Tabernacle (from TOG). She can write so neat when she wants to!~

2nd grade~A page from Tullius's Lively Latin (I'm using it for all 3 older kids). I'd say he is doing very well with this. I want to make Latin more fun though, more real, more immersion, more like I read about people doing with, say French at Trivium Academy!~

Kindergarten~Zamakee finished THREE of his workbooks this week! Two were from Critical Thinking Press: Visual Perceptual Skill Building PreK-2 and Can You Find Me? PreK-K, the other was a Dover dot-to-dot of cars and trucks. This is his calendar of the Jewish Year from Old Testament Days. Sometimes he likes to color and sometimes he doesn't!~

~Beanie needs more intentional time from me. Twice this week I've read recent blog entries on this very topic: The Magic School House and Livingstone School...hopefully I'll be able to talk about it soon too! Ginger & Momo made Beanie this baby animal matching game from Kidz Club several weeks ago. We got it out again this week & he can do it all by himself! Oh, and I found a schedule that he could actually follow here: Fanning the Flame

And how am I doing this week? Did I learn anything? Yes, I learned I could stay up until 2-3am every night with my dh & still get up a 6am when the boys do! I think I could go back to college! Seriously, I have been doing a lot of thinking about our weeks & our learning...still searching for the richness!

And you? What did you learn this week?

Surgery on the Schedule

2007-08-23T23:34:00.001-07:00

Yes, surgery. And not being performed by me. Today, I took Ginger (12yo dd) to her pediatric eye surgeon for her biannual visit. She has worn glasses since she was 3, did vision therapy four years, and had eye surgery at age 7.

Amazingly, she has stayed steady since the surgery with her eyes aligned -- and she could finally read to learn instead of focusing on the words! With glasses, her vision is about 20/60. In the last few months, though, I've notice her left eye beginning to stray out. Before it turned in (she had almost no vision in left eye at age 3).
So, surgery it is. The surgeon is confident that because she's used the eyes together for so many years that she can and will continue to use the eye...it just needs to be put back into place, as it is returning to its old lazy habits. I am wondering if there is more going on in her brain then just a break down of vision. Lately, she has had a very hard time answering me -- as if she can't process what I am asking, or simply forgets that I asked a question as the moments go by. I mentioned this to the surgeon but he doesn't deal with such things (he doesn't even think vision therapy works, generally speaking). But I'm wondering if this is more than just a 12 yo thing...

Ginger does not want the surgery. But not only do I want her to be able to see the best she possibly can (which is nowhere near what I can see), I want her to look the best she can too! She says she doesn't care about how her eyes look -- but I think she will when she is 16 or 20 or so. Therefore, surgery is on the schedule...except I haven't looked at my schedule yet! I don't want to either. Next week is our last week of the first quarter, then we're taking a week off...then I'll look at the schedule, then I'll think about all the ideals that seem to missing in our days.

I've seen some darling bunny rabbit pictures lately on blogs like Take a Hike and Mini Blessings and I wanted to draw a rabbit for this post! But couldn't find a single cute rabbit picture in this house to draw! So here is one that Ginger made over the summer in a art class she took. It is in graphite watercolor pencil (or something like that!) on canvas. Actually it seems fitting that the drawing in this post be hers! You can see some more of her artwork at Ginger's Art Gallery.

In which I see a new bird and draw its picture

2007-08-21T00:43:00.000-07:00

After reading Harmony Art Mom's Attracting Birds to Your Yard post, I was feeling sorry for myself. I will never have a yard that looks like that while living in the desert.

Then today I saw a new bird on our ash tree. The kids gathered around and we decided, based on markings and habitat, it was a Gila Woodpecker.

I drew it tonight...well, not the bird we saw but the Gila Woodpecker in the Field Guide to the Birds of North America by the National Geographic Society (page 265 in my copy).

I love the concept of "nature study" but realistically, the field guide is as close as I get...

Arizona, where even the water is humid

2007-08-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

Typically an Arizonian will tell you, if you comment on the unfavorable HOT temperature of our lovely state, "it's a dry heat."

And it is, really. Except during the monsoon season...which we just happen to be in right now. So, instead of standing in front of an open oven at 115 degrees, you are standing in the steam room at 103 degrees.

This afternoon, I took the boys on our usual weekend library/grocery run. When we got back to the car, the first thing my 5yo Zamakee did was grab the water bottle. After a long drink he looked up at me and said, "Even the water is humid."

So it is, son. So it is.

Week 6 Report & Pictures

2007-08-17T23:50:00.000-07:00

This hasn't been the most exciting of weeks at Stonewall Academy. Actually, it has been rather dull. I think the main reason is that the teacher (that would be me) hasn't been engaged with the material.

After deciding that we will indeed compress the next 3 weeks into 2 (see earlier post!) and then take a week off has given me a bit of enthusiasum.

Click the pictures to see the pages!

~Ginger (7th grade) is using Apples for spelling this year. I'm very glad to have found this independent, daily workbook and so is she!~

~Journey Through Grammar Land is Momo's (5th grade) first formal grammar since using First Language Lessons in 1st & 2nd grade.~

~For their Tapestry of Grace project this week, Ginger & Momo are making a "Patriarch Family Tree" -- it is still in process. No names yet, and the children of Jacob & Leah, including Judah who is the ancestor of Jesus, need to be moved up a bit & have their lines added. It is a rather complex family tree and seeing it on the wall has helped us all see who's who! When it is completed, I'll add a picture of it to our History Project Pictures page.~

~Tullius (2nd grade) wanted 7 spelling words, since he is 7. This picking words from Tapestry of Grace's vocabulary list and then studying them has gone well. I wish I had something more colorful to show for him! There is always next week.~

~Zamakee (K) wants to be able to read Garfield comic books and Erin Hunter's Warriors series. He has been doing great memorizing the sounds letters make and recognizing them in different fonts. Below is a picture of an activity we did. First, I laid out the sand paper cursive letters (Morning Star Learning) and then we went through the little cream cards (Stairway to Reading) with me saying them and him repeating. Next, he took the card and matched it to the cursive letter. Finally, he read the large white Spell to Write & Read phonogram cards himself and matched them up.~

I don't have a single thing to post that Beanie made, I'm still not doing Before Five in a Row with Zamakee, we didn't study our "element of design," and there just didn't seem to be any richness to the week. But it is over, the kids ARE learning, and...and...well, that is going to have to be enough!!

Leave a link to what you've been doing this week -- I need inspiration!!

A Kink in the Schedule

2007-08-17T12:13:00.000-07:00

Originally, the schedule went like this:

1st Qtr/Unit 1, 9 weeks -- July 9 - Sept 7
*WEEK BREAK* Sept 10-14
2nd Qtr/Unit 2, 9 weeks -- Sept 17 - Nov 16
*WINTER BREAK* Nov 19 - Jan 4, 2008
3rd Qtr/Unit 3, 9 weeks -- Jan 7 - Mar 7
*WEEK BREAK* Mar 10-14
4th Qtr/Unit 4, 9 weeks -- Mar 17 - May 16
*SUMMER BREAK*

Isn't that nice and tidy looking? Well, my wonderful parents are coming for a week in October! Hooray! Dh is already planning the fix-it projects he & my dad can do... But, the schedule!! No way are we doing school while we have company! That is one of the top 10 reasons we homeschool, so we can take time off when we need/want to! :) So...I'm contemplating my options:

a) Take our break as scheduled on Sept 10th, and take a break the week they are here...then we'll have to do school the last week of November.
b) Take no break the week of Sept 10th, just go into Qtr/Unit 2...our week break will occur when my parents are here, and we'll be done before Thanksgiving.
c) Combine weeks 7, 8 & 9 (the next three) into 2, and take our break a week early which will keep us being done before Thanksgiving.

I presented all this to the kids and they liked option c best. And I think I do too...I really am ready for a break. And I need to plan/buy somethings for Tapestry of Grace Unit 2!!

Oh, I thought this blog entry needed a picture. This is Suede, a newborn Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goat. They're about the size of cats when they're born and so much fun! We used to raise them...someday I'd love to do it again...and have Miniature Horses. Now that would throw the schedule off!

Revising Writing

2007-08-14T10:14:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles with teaching writing! This year we're using Tapestry of Grace's Writing Aids. At first I was unsure about it -- it is in beta right now. All the assignements are complete and integrated into each week of TOG for Year 1, however the Teacher's Notes and Talking Points and Graphic Organizers must be printed off the computer and organized by me. But I decided I would use only Writing Aids for the first 18 weeks (2 units of TOG) and then decide if I needed to add more. We're in Week 6...and just got to polishing the first rough draft paragraphs.

So far it has actually gone well. At first it was putting information into Graphic Organizers, then writing sentences with the information, then writing a rough draft...all that was pretty good. But "polishing" a rough draft? I tried to work w/ Momo yesterday. She had 2 rough drafts, an expository paragraph on plant cells and a descriptive narrative on building the pyramids -- written in the first person.

Other than a few possessive apostrophes, her writing was grammatically correct. However, I would have worded things differently -- stronger, more expressively, etc, especially on the pyramid paper. But I just do not know how to express this without telling her what to change, specifically. And do not want to do that. I want it to be her writing!

Perhaps I'm just not good at revising myself. In fact, I know I'm not! I learned that from NaNoWriMo ...50,000 word novel written in 30 days -- don't edit (lock up your inner editor!) just write, write, write! And I did -- I'm a 2006 NaNoWriMo winner. Hey, I can put that on my sidebar! But have I revised it? NO. I can't. I know there are things that don't sound right, lots of things. But I just don't know how to change it. A huge part of the problem is the storyline changed so dramatically as I wrote -- the beginning doesn't fit. If I can just get the first chapter into a semblence of order, I'm going to send it to Jennifer at I Will Read 10 Pages. I still love my main characters of my story, Stone Scroll Saber, Robin and Meganna. These are their eLouai.com pictures.

Anyway...I haven't even worked with Ginger on her writing yet this week! Although, with hers we can focus on punctuation and capitolization and such! I obviously do better with the concrete.

I am looking forward to NaNoWriMo 2007 and so are the kids! And hopefully, we'll ALL be better writers by November 1st!

Edited to add -- you can be a NaNo winner too! You just have to write 50,000 words in November! And no, according to the official rules, it can't be the same word 50,000 times!

Week 5 Report & Pictures

2007-08-12T21:20:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Jessica at Trivium Academy to post a "weekly report," I give you a single page created by each of my children this past week. To type out what they did would take hours...and I need those hours to create assignement sheet for tomorrow morning!

~A page from Ginger's Botany Coloring Book~

~Momo's Spelling Test of Tapestry of Grace Vocabulary Words~

~One of Tullius's pages from Singapore's Challenging Word Problems 2~

~Zamakee's cut and paste page from his Kumon Book of Pasting~

~Beanie's Dragon picture, the labeling & flame were done by Momo~

There it is -- WEEK 5 of 36! Actually, if you want to see this week's hands on projects of the Ziggurat at Ur, a small Sumerian chariot, and a Babylonian Tile Mosaic, check out our History Project Picture page!

If you stop by, say hi! I want to see your blog too!

Wolf Sketch

2007-08-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

I need a picture for this blog. And since I'm the Mama Wolf of my 5 cubs, I decided a self portrait was in order.

Danger! Deep hole!

2007-08-10T22:50:00.000-07:00

Last night, when I went to say goodnight to my girls, I stopped in my bathroom first. Taped to the faucet, I found this little note.

DANGER!
DEEP HOLE!
Keep toothbrush heads away

As it turns out, Momo's electric toothbrush head had a close call with the drain (which needs a new stopper) and she felt compeled to warn the rest of the family. What a thoughtful girl!

7th Grade Schedule

2007-08-09T22:28:00.000-07:00

Ginger is 12 and in 7th grade -- she'd rather be out-of-doors and doing one of the following: drawing, reading or running! I'll have to share more about her another day. Now I must put some thought into next week's assignement sheets. Oh, and her hair doesn't look quite like this anymore. It's chin length, she donated the rest to Locks of Love in June!

5th Grade Schedule

2007-08-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

Momo is in 5th grade and there was just too much to keep all her assignments on a single page with my new & improved (just this week!) schedule. But now that the week is wrapping, I'm not sure I like this style at all. So next week, I'm trying something new. But as I promised dh & the kids -- I will not add or alter any of the work for the whole quarter. Which we are exactly halfway through, now that I think about it. Momo has always been an academic minded student -- learned to read at 4, loves math, enjoys logic puzzles...basically likes what comes to most minds when they hear the word "school."
And yes, just like in her Christmas picture, she was barefoot in shorts in December!

2nd Grade Schedule

2007-08-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

Since all the children are outside planting their bean seedlings that we sprouted for God's Design Science Plants, I decide to post Tullius's weekly assignment sheet.

Tullius is 7 and in 2nd grade this year. He taught himself to read right after he turned four. I had planned to wait until he was 6 to even start teaching him reading. I'd read enough about boys taking longer to mature, etc then girls. And since I had 2 girls, I didn't want to spend year comparing and frustrating him. However, dh...hmm, he need's an online name too. My 7 yo ds referenced in this post isn't really named Tullius...he chose it for Latin class. His former online name was Moogle (Final Fantasy, anyone?) which I never really liked, so this is better. He doesn't have a nickname at home at all, neither does Zamakee...unlike Ginger, Momo & Beanie!

Anyway, dh played an online computer game called Dark Age of Camelot. Tullius would watch him and ask constantly what was being said, what the text scrolling by said, what the numbers were... And he learned to read. By the time he was four, dh had gone to a new game, Horizons. I made a character and then a few weeks later we let all the kids make characters. His reading just took off AND he could spell too -- well enough to communicate in an online game anyway! We're still an online game playing family but this "reading method" hasn't worked for Zamakee...but that is another post.
Tullius has always been a tagalong schooler -- just doing what his older sisters do...

Here is his eLouai.com Christmas picture! He was still 6 years old.

Kindergarten Week 5

2007-08-07T07:04:00.000-07:00

This is the weekly assignment sheet I created for Zamakee over the weekend. He hasn't had (nor appeared to care) for an assignment sheet before. That is probably the reason that certain things for him have gotten pushed to last, or simply forgotten. When he saw the colorful schedules I was attempting to make for the other children, he wanted one too. So this is what I came up with.

The only thing glaringly missing (to me) is Before Five in a Row. I still haven't gotten to planning that. I could just forget it -- save B4FIAR for Beanie next semester and save myself some guilt. I'm not quite ready to do that yet. Perhaps I need to go back and re-read Kerri's FIAR Planning Post

The other thing that I don't have a formal plan for is math. I decided to focus on phonics this first semester, letting math come through picture books and life (counting the forks, pointing out the page numbers, etc). I try to get a picture math book or two from the library each week. We also have a great many math manipulatives at our house...perhaps I should add that to the sheet! Zamakee does enjoy typing numbers on the computer. He'll take one of each color of the play money in, say, Star Wars Monopoly and meticulously enter each amount into a Word document.

Zamakee's "photo" was created at eLouai.com for our family Christmas 2006 card. He was 4 1/2 years old. Now he's FIVE!

2007-2008 @ Stonewall Academy

2007-08-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

As the Magistra for Stonewall Academy, I've made the decision to start a seperate blog that is just homeschool related. Our family website & blogs, along with our picture pages will remain at
Stonewall Academy Check these out when you have a chance!

This school year began on July 9, 2007 -- today began our 5th week!

**Curriculum Choices for the Whole Family**

Tapestry of Grace Year 1 This covers history, literature, geography, writing, and fine arts.
Lively Latin We will learn Latin this year!
God's Design for Science Plants 1st semester (2nd semester will be Chemistry)

**Curriculum Choices by Grade**

7th Grade Ginger
Math Key to Fractions, Decimals, Percents; Comic Strip Math
Grammar Journey Through Grammar Land
Spelling Apples
Handwriting Evan-Moor Cursive
Science The Botany Coloring Book

5th Grade Momo
Math Math U See Zeta; Figure It Out 5
Grammar Journey Through Grammar Land
Spelling Vocabulary from Tapestry of Grace
Handwriting Evan-Moor Cursive
Logic Building Thinking Skills 2

2nd Grade Tullius
Math Math U See Gamma; Challenging Word Problems 2, Mathematical Reasoning
Spelling Vocabulary from Tapestry of Grace
Handwriting Cursive First

Kindergarten Zamakee
Phonics Stairway to Reading; Spell to Write & Read Phonograms
Skill Workbooks Kumon Pasting; Can You Find Me?; Visual Perceptual Skill Building; Buliding Thinking Skills
Read Alouds Winnie the Pooh; Beatrix Potter books; Before Five in a Row books

Pre-School Beanie
So far, he's just tagging along...trying to learning the phonograms with Zamakee!