Sorry

I haven't been posting here and now I think it is time to consolidate my blogs.  You can read what is going on with our little family over at Musings By Mommy.  I think it will be much easier to just keep up one blog.  I hope you'll join me over here.  Thanks!

My baby

My precious baby boy

Well, today my baby boy starts his first college class for dual enrollment.  He told me yesterday that he is excited.  I'm glad he is.  Mom on the other hand is sick to my stomach. 

I guess that you need to know that as a kid I always cried the first day of school from day one all the way through college!  I don't like change much and I definitely don't like new things.  I'm a status quo kind of gal.  My kids first days of school, I cried just the same, every year until we started homeschooling.

And now, here we are again.  I wish I could just turn back the clock to those toddler years where my baby boy would sit in my lap and snuggle or come get in bed with me for morning snuggle times.  I miss those days and would run back in heart beat! 

Oh, I know these are exciting days too.  I am so very proud to see my kids grow up and become who they are meant to be.  I'm very proud of how smart and talented they are and they are smart and talented. I love to watch them grow, I just hate how fast it all happened.  I miss those little hands in mine.  I miss those sweet, sweet hugs where they squeezed me so super tight.  They still hug me all time, over and over again all day but not those "I'm going to squeeze you to death" type.  I miss the I love you more, no I love you more game.  I miss my babies.

But I love my teens too and that means college is coming fast and furious!  So, today is the first day of his college class.  Will I cry?  Well, I'm tearing up now as I type.  I just hope I don't tear up in front of him!  I just love that boy!  I am so proud of him.

So, DS, I love you!  Have fun today!  Pay attention, take good notes, sit in one of the first 3 rows, and miss me just a little bit, okay?  I love you!

Busy!

Yes, we have a busy year planned.  Let's see besides "school" we have DS giving guitar lessons twice a week, Monday and Saturday, btw if you are in our area and want guitar lessons give him a call!  Tuesday's are piano lessons for both kids and sewing lessons for DD.  She wants to be a fashion designer!  Wednesday we all have church.  The kids are helpers with the children's program and I'm the Kids Praise Choir director.  Then DD has ballet in the evening.  Oh, and I almost forgot, DS has his class at the Community College on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  So that leaves us Friday's free I think.  Whew!  A busy  year but I think it will be a good one.  DS's class starts this Thursday.  I'm a nervous wreck for him.  LOL  He is very "whaterever"  about it.  Oh, and they are both auditioning for a play in a few weeks! 

Yep, we have a busy year planned but I think the kids are going to have a lot of fun!  Mom may be tired a lot but it will be good for me to stay busy as well.  I can't wait to see my kids grow in all these areas.  They are awesome!

Have a great day!

Today

Well, today was kind of an experiment for us.  This summer I started attending an exercise/Bible study at our church but it is ALL morning, from 8:45 to 11:45, once a week.  I've really been trying to decide if I can continue with it.  I feel like I need to be at home with the kids while they are schooling but I need some time for me too.  So, today was the last day of our summer study and I left the kids home with their assignments and they did it!  They were both done/almost done when I got home.  I still need to go over it but just knowing that they will do their work is a relief. 

So right now, I'm thinking I will be continuing with the fall study and I'm glad.  I really feel pretty good about it too.

First couple of days

Ok, I promised to be back and so here I am!  This year is kind of a busy one. 

DS is taking his English at the local community college.  He is taking Trigonometry this first semester using Life of Fred. 

For social studies he is doing American and World History to include a lot of literature but it's not here yet so for now we are doing an Elections Unit Study and will continue to incorporate American Government in all year. 

He is also taking French this year.  He did a little with it last year but this year we have Rosetta Stone and he is really enjoying it.  I have to make him stop each day and move on to the next subject. 

Chemistry is his science course this year. His course will include a lab as well.  We'll get some of the labs online and I got a neat flash drive from a Chemistry teacher with lots of lecture notes, labs, worksheets, tests and so on.  You check out this guy's website if you are looking at Chemistry. Cavalcade o'Chemistry

DS is also taking music through piano lessons and he will be giving guitar lessons as well.  He has two students so far.  He is also hoping to work at the community theater some this year.  He will at least be auditioning for a few plays. 

I am trying to get some information on a co-op in the area that has art and P.E.  I requested information several days ago but haven't heard back on anything yet so we'll see.

DD is doing Decimals and Percents with Life of Fred this year.  We are discovering that she needs some review from last year so we need to work that in the next week or so.

She wants to do lots of unit studies this year, I think I mentioned this before.  She wants to study Japan, WWII, Ireland, Switzerland and more.  So those will cover social studies and we'll incorporate her language arts with that.  She is also participating in the Elections Unit for now.

For science we bought a book about nature and animals and so on and so forth.  We'll be making it a Life Science class.  So far she is having a blast with it.  She made a nature bowl (I don't have room for a table so we just decided to put what she finds in a little dish.) yesterday.  Then today she researched the trees we have in our yard and identified them and then did leaf rubbings. 

She is also taking piano lessons for her music and will be singing in the youth choir at church as well (so is DS).  They will both be helping out with the younger choirs too. 

She of course will be continuing with Ballet for her P.E.  She is moving up to the Pre-pointe class.  She is very excited.  I just hope they don't put her in the pointe shoes too. 

As I said before I'm looking into a co-op for more art and p.e.  So... we have a busy year ahead of us.  I hope there is lots of fun involved and that kids have a great time learning.

Trying

Well, I started a post here on Sunday and never got it finished and so much has changed since then I decided not to post it.  I'm trying really hard to get us organized this year.  We are kind of free spirited homeschoolers.  I won't say unschoolers because well, we do plan our learning and use textbooks some and try to follow a model of learning but... we do it in a very free spirited way.  I don't mind that but I do need more organization though, so I'm working on that as we speak.  I want to start posting here more regularly but I have so much to do at this very moment that I'm going to put it off just a bit more.  I promise to get back to it soon!  Hopefully, later today or tomorrow.  Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Getting ready for the 2010/2011 School year

I know, it's a little late right?  Oh well, we have had so very much going on with our little family this summer oh, heck all year.  So we are talking about it now.  Better late then never.

DS is so textbook oriented.  He likes a plan he can follow.  DD?  Not so much.  She likes to take a topic and go with it.  She loves to research.

I had them write down what they wanted to study this year, today.  She put:

Japan
Ireland

Switzerland
Ballet (history of)
World War II
Butterflies
Animals
Birds
Hand writing
Piano
Ballet
Sewing
Art

WHEW!  What a year she has planned!  DS put on his list:

"Life of Fred" Trig and Calculus
Beautiful Feet History
Chemistry (at local Community College)
LLATL American Lit or British Lit
Music Theory
Piano
Ballet (but no can do, with piano and CC I can't afford it)

I added a unit study on elections for them both since there are mid year elections going on now.  I had planned to do it 2 years ago but lost the curriculum but I've found it now so we will go with it.  DD will also do "Life of Fred" Decimals and Percents.  She just assumed I knew that one.  LOL 

So what do you think?   What are your plans?

Next year

Ok, I've spent the evening looking at curriculum for next year and I have to ask... what is anyone out there using for High School Chemistry?  I'm looking and looking....

For Biology this year we started out with one thing and hated it so we moved on to a thing I found online that is a Biology course through living books and it's working out pretty well for us.  I'd like to find something similar for Chemistry too.  Anyone of know of anything?  I'd love to hear from you!

Trying to finish out this school year...

Boy, this year has gone by much too quickly for me.  So much has happened.  Let's see... We went on a vacation, we moved, we lived in our camper for a month or more and then moved on post, we schooled, we've played, we've had visitors, we visited, we just been busy!  WHEW!

I'm a little worried though that we just might not get all finished this year.  We are trying, though.  We may make it but...  only time will tell.  How about any readers out there?  Do you always finish up your curriculum?  Do you go through the whole thing every time? 

I'm also trying to get some planning done for next year.  What are any of you doing?  I'm considering Beautiful Feet next year.  Have any of you used it?  What do you think of it?  I think someone told me once that it's not enough but I can't remember.  I have another friend who swears by it.  We love reading so I think it just work for us.  I am going to borrow a friends and look it over before I buy it so we'll see.

We'll still be using Life of Fred.  We love it and the kids are doing well with it.  I need to find a Chemistry course for DS... any suggestions?  (anyone use this one on the left?) We love living book type courses so if any of you know of any, please share!!

Well, I think this is about it for now.  I'll try to share some pictures later of what we've been doing.  Have a great week!!

Don't you just love it....

Don't you just love it when you get to really see and hear that your kids really are learning?  I've had a few of those moments recently and it is AWESOME!!  We are in the Renaissance period right now. We have been reading like crazy the reading list that came with DD's unit.  She has loved it.  She has read so much.  One of the books was called "Nory Ryan's Song".  It's about a young girl in Ireland.  Anyway, last night at dinner as we were eating our baked potatoes, DD started telling us about potatoes and the Irish and before we knew it we were discussing the British and how they weren't really the nicest people (sorry to any Brits who may be reading here) in the past.  She talked about why "we" left there and came here.  She talked about how poorly they treated the Irish (I wanted to talk about how they weren't treated well here either when they first arrived but didn't get the chance yet).  Before I knew it we were talking about the Native Americans and how badly we treated them.  It was just unreal the knowledge she has.  Well, not really unreal but I guess I just didn't realize how much she had learned and retained.  Her thought process was just amazing!  The reasoning that was going on in her little head and so nonchalantly too.

The same thing is going on with DS too.  I don't remember what we were talking about but somehow we ended up talking about WWII and the different countries involved and he was just showing me up with his knowledge and he was right too!  Again, this was all off the cuff and very nonchalant like everyone should know this stuff, MOM.  I asked him how he knew all this because we haven't really studied this yet (that's next year) and he said, "I know you don't believe me but I read A LOT."  LOL  That cracks me up.  I do know he reads a lot but just didn't know he had read much about this subject.  I've not picked out those books for him yet so I just didn't realize he was reading them on his own.  Both of my kids are readers and I LOVE THAT!! 

I've said this before, but it has been a while so I want to say it again.  If you make it available, with little encouragement, they will eventually pick it up on their own.  Really, they will.  I have seen this over and over with my kids and I'm a true believer in it.  I just wish I had the money to make it ALL available to them.  LOL

The funny part of all this is that these were just normal conversations.  We weren't talking about school, we weren't doing school work, we were just driving down the road in one conversation, just chatting and the other was at the dinner table over baked potatoes.  It just amazes me sometimes.  I guess they are doing okay.  (Notice I said THEY.  They do it themselves with me just providing the books and curriculum and being available if needed but really and truly, THEY do it.)  I have AWESOME kids.... well, most of the time anyway.  :o)

Have a great day!

Long time, no write...

I know, I'm sorry.  I promise to get back to it soon.  I have lots to update here and I promise to do it soon!!

We have been reading our little heads off!  Well, DD and I have been anyway...

We are still reading "Do Hard Things" and it is really good.  I like what it has to say.  I know it is written for teens but it speaks to me everyday.  I need to work on all of this too.  I'm glad that we are reading it.  I just hope the kids are getting as much out of it as I am.  I hope they are really listening and taking it all to heart.

We finished reading "The Warhorse" and LOVED IT!  It was so exciting and full of adventure.  It was a little on the easy side but we enjoyed it anyway.    We had a hard time putting it down each day and on Thursday we had two reading sessions and we finished it.  It's a good read.

We are getting ready to start either "Mary, Bloody Mary" or "Nory Ryan's Song".  I can't decide.  They both sound really good.

DD has finished one of her books.  She read "The Midwife's Apprentice" and she enjoyed it.  I need to read it too.  It is short so maybe I could get it read in a day.

DS is still reading "The Pirate's Son"  and so am I.  I was really enjoying it and need to get back to it and finish it. 

We are working on the Renaissance and I'm enjoying it.  I think the kids are too. 

DD is working on Dental Health for Science.  We thought it would be a good time to do so since she has been in the process of getting braces the past few weeks. 

DS has picked his French back up and is enjoying it much more this time.  He is still busy with his Algebra 2 and Biology, music and more.

We are moving right along....  How are you doing?

I have a problem!

 I love homeschooling but one of the hardest things is.... you are going to laugh.... reading ALL the books!  When we do a study, there is usually a list of recommended books.  We are probably only supposed to pick 1 or 2 maybe 3 tops right?  Well, I have a hard time with this.  I want to read them ALL!!  They all sound so good.  We went to the library on Friday and we chose 6 or 7 books with all of them being chapter books except one.  What was I thinking? 

I figure we will try to read 2 of them aloud and then they will each read at least one on their own but I really want to read the others too!!  I guess we will figure it out but they all sound so very good.

This one I've started reading and I am really enjoying it.  I think the kids will love it.

 

We started this one aloud today and it will be a quick read. 

DD just started it and thinks the will be done in a couple of days.

 

This one sounds interesting... may be a read aloud but I'm not sure.

 

DD wants to read this as one of her's but I think we would all enjoy it so...

 

Again, not sure how we will do it or if we will even have time.

See my dilemma?  I run into this with all our studies!  There are just too many good books out there!  What a problem huh?    A good one but a problem still the same.  I'll let you know how we like them.

The Medieval Feast

Yes, we finally had our Medieval Feast that DD has been planning for a week now.  It was wonderful.  She did such a great job on it.  She decorated...

Her Stained Glass

 

Her Cross because every household had to have one in the middle ages

 

Her bow, arrow and cross

 

These clay figures she made with some candles

Praying woman and coat of arms

 

  

Her crests she designed.  She could not decide on which one she wanted to use so she just hung them both up.

The meal was wonderful.  We had 3 courses....

We had bread, lemon salad, cut up apples, and cubed cheese.  YUMMM!!!

 

Venison with a yummy sauce (not pictured) and roasted chicken

 

A Cheese tart and custard

It was all super yummy and she helped with every bit of it.  Then she provided entertainment for us.  She was a jester and mistrel.

 

 

She had planned on us dressing for the occasion but DH didn't get home from this trip the day before as planned.  He actually got home just about an hour before we ate and I had to go pick him up from the airport!  So we just ate in what we had on that day.

She was so funny.  She was totally into it.  At one point during the meal she asked her daddy, "So, Lord ****, tell us how the war in the holy land is going?"  Keep in mind that DH had only been in town for an hour and had been gone for 2 weeks.  He was totally taken off guard.  I told her she should have prepared us better for the table conversation!!  LOL  

It was great fun and we really got to see how much she had learned.  I was very impressed.  I can't wait to see what our next unit has in store for us. 

The Double Helix

DS has been studying DNA so we made DNA models the other day.  They had a great time with it.  Check them out below.

This is DS's first model

This is DD's

They had fun with this one.  I was so afraid that DS would eat all the twizzlers and gummy bears before we got done but it appears that MOM was the one with this issue!  LOL  I ate a ton of gummy bears.  No wonder I don't usually buy them.... well that the fact that there is nothing REAL in them!  There were also safety precautions as they were using pointy tooth picks.  We laughed when we read this and joked about it being silly until we heard DS say, "OUCH!  I'm bleeding."  HAHAHA  We got a good laugh out of that.  He is 15!  I really think he was trying see why they would even bother to put such a silly precaution... he found out.  LOL

 

DS's other model

 

DD's other one

They had fun again. There were safety precautions with this one too... be careful with the scissors... after DS's goof on the other one I did the cutting for them.  LOL  They had fun and learned a lot.

Humility

I think I need to have a few lessons or even a full study on humility for my family.  Yes, there is one that needs it more than others but it would be a good lesson for all of us.

Last night I spent about an hour scouring the internet for lessons, plans, or curriculum on humility.  There is very little out there.   There are books for young children, too young for mine. There are books for parents. I want more than just a book directed at me, the parent, telling me what it is and how we show it.  To lead by example.  Sometimes, you just need more.

Finally, this morning, I found a couple of books that look promising.  There is a curriculum called "Choosing Humility" and I may just use it.  I don't know.  I don't want to humiliate the one that needs this the most by doing this so we may do a different character trait first and just say we are doing a series.  I don't know.  Does anyone out there have any ideas?  Please share if you do!

In my searching I found another interesting book that I think we will read.  I know it is probably just for the teens but I think I want to read it too.  I like to know what my kids are reading and be there while they are reading it for questions, comments, to interject my thoughts and so on.  I think I'll make it a family thing.  DS is 15 and he fits perfectly in to this age bracket.  DD is only 10 but I think it will be good for her too.  Oh! Sorry, I haven't told you the name yet.  It's called, "Do Hard Things"  It sounds very interesting.  I ordered it today so I hope it is good.  Anyone out there read it?  Let me know what you think!