I have a plan!

Here it is, my plan for the 2010-2011 school year.

I had a hard time making it all fit, and I'm still not sure if it's going to work, but I am excited about this upcoming school year. There are so many things we want to learn, and I have to keep reminding myself that this is NOT my last year of homeschooling. Whatever we don't get to this year will have a spot next year (in theory!).

Ian's Course of Study for 6th grade

• Spelling- Abeka Spelling and Poetry
• Grammar- Abeka Language B (continue from last year)
  
• Writing- EIW Medieval History Based Writing Lessons

• Math- Teaching Textbooks (software and workbook)
  

• Science- The Critical Thinking Co.- Science Detectives (software)
• Science- Evan Moor- Simple Chemistry (experiments and workbook)

• Logic- The Critical Thinking Co. - Building Thinking Skills (software)

• History-Greenleaf Press- Famous Men of the Middle Ages with study guide
  

• Language-Memoria Press- Latina Christiana 1
  

• Music- Guitar (software)

• Bible- Apologia-Who is God- Worldview Course
  
• Bible- Secret of the Scribe (Christian Theology and Ancient Polytheism book with study guide)

• Lego Mindstorm (robotics and computer programing)

• Memory Work- Memorize 2 long poems (from spelling book), Macbeth's Fameous Speech, Basic science definitions and basic make-up of common elements eg. H2O, Bible Passage- Romans 8:28-39
  

Mayah's Course of Study for 3rd Grade

• Spelling- Modern Curriculum Press- Spelling Workout
• Phonics- Phonics Pathways, and Explode the Code workbooks
• Writing-Peace Hill Press-Writing with Ease
  
• Grammar- Peace Hill Press- First Language Lessons

• Math- Abeka- Arithmetic 2
  

• History- Story of the World vol 2- The Middle Ages

• Science- Evan Moor- Daily Science, and I Love Science! (computer game software)

• Language- Latina Christiana 1

• Bible- Who is God? Worldview Course

• Home Economics- Guide to Good Manners for Kids, Little Book of Manners, * we will also do Tea parties, Cooking, Sewing, make friendship bracelets and whatever else we feel like.

• Memory Work- Memorize 2 long poems from spelling book, Macbeth's Fameous Speech, Bible Passage (Romans 8:28-39) and a few other things I still need to plan.
  

In addition to all that, the kids will also be participating in the Royal Rangers/M-Pact program, playing sports (flag football and basketball for Ian and cheer leading for Mayah), Gym and Swim at the Y, Mayah will take Gymnastics, and Ian will take Karate.

Kids are so cute.

Mayah's Goodnight Prayer:

Dear God. Thank You for the sunshine we had today. And thank you that we got to play in the mud, even though we got in trouble for it and got sprayed off with the cold water from the hose. It was still fun. It was worth it. Amen

Who's Idea Was It To Get A Dog, Anyway?

So, the furry little critters that live in my house and take up space on the floor caught a juvenile crow in our back yard the other evening. Fortunately, we caught them before they killed it, and it seems to be ok, other than the fact that it can't fly.

JP put it in a kennel in the garage for the night with some food and water, then in the morning, he put it up on the roof where it would be able to hop onto some low hanging branches and climb up into a large tree. It did not stay on the roof, however, and decided to come down to the back yard.

It's parents are still anxiously hovering (loudly I might add), and I am hoping that they are seeing to it's nutritional needs.

The worst part is that, while the poor little guy is our back yard resident, the dogs cannot roam freely, and must be leashed to take care of business. This is not a problem for Charlie, the beagle, but it is, however, a problem for Sara Beth, the persnickety mutt who likes to make our lives difficult. She won't do her "business" on a leash. Instead, she hovers by the back door and whines, then as soon as she's out there, she just stands around looking confused. She is making me crazy. I hope that little bird heals fast, cause Sara Beths own life might be at risk if this keeps up.

I didn't realize how long it's been since I have posted here.

So, here is a rundown of our life lately...

In April, I went to Tennessee (by myself!) for a brief visit with family, then my sisters and I went down to Gulf Shores, Alabama for a girls vacation. We decided, during the 8 hour drive down, that our big brother might not appreciate being pestered via text messaging by us, so we promptly began texting him with hourly updates of our adventures. The texting lasted for the entire 3 days of vacation, complete with pictures.

Last year, when we had our girls vacation in Chicago, we all got tattoos, but this year all we got were fabulous shoes and great tans. (See above)

*****

We are wrapping up our school year, finishing June 11th. I have managed to downgrade our commitments by ending music lessons and gymnastics. We will finish the year strong, though, curriculum wise- having accomplished most of what I set out the do this year.

The summer will bring a few reading and math lessons, but I have managed to bribe the kids into thinking that this is a good idea.

Testing will come in June, and I will most likely have them evaluated by a teacher (Jane Sullard, who did their evaluations last year.)

*****

I started a new diet a few days ago, called the HCG diet, and it's working really well. I am excited to finally get the weight off and reset my body back to lower measurements. The Naturopath that I am seeing is really positive about the changes, and so am I.

Oh my, how embarassing.

My 10 year old went to the Children's Theater today to see a play about Norse Myths. A dear friend of mine took him along with her 2 children. I took care to put him in nice clothes, khaki pants and a polo type shirt. I carefully instructed him on his behavior and manners. Then I dropped him off at my friends house and she assured me she would bring him home after the play.

About 2 minutes after my friend dropped him off at my house, I looked down at his feet and realized he was wearing a pair of old shoes that had A HOLE IN THE TOE!!! I mean, his big toe was protruding out of the gaping portal in the front of his shoe. After I got over the shock of his audacity to wear those shoes out of the house, I asked him why he was wearing them. He has 2 pairs of very nice- INTACT- shoes in his closet. He shrugged and said "I could only find one shoe for each pair." That's a boy for you. It never occurred to him to ask for help finding his shoes when there was a perfectly matched, old and holey, pair in the closet. Needless to say, I threw the offending pair away so as not to be confronted with this breech of fashion etiquette again. I hope.

Getting Healthy...

I am starting the Fat Flush Plan on Monday. It's tricky to do this kind of eating with a family, so I am getting them all in on the action. JP is doing the Plan with me, but not going quite as hard core. He does have to work, and I accept that :)

The kids are having the sugar in their diets significantly reduced. I am not nearly as careful as I should be about monitoring that kind of thing. Instant oatmeal for breakfast, canned fruit for lunch along with processed cheese... those things add up. I think Ian will have the hardest time with it. He looked a bit panicked when I informed him that I was throwing out all the candy and marshmallows.

I am attempting to avoid arguments and heated negotiations with the kids by making up menu choices and putting them on the fridge. Breakfast, Lunch and Healthy Snacks menus will at least help them understand what I mean when I say, "eat something healthy," and relieves me of some kitchen duties.

We were laughing at ourselves last night coming out of Frey Meyers with a cart full of flax seed, organic eggs and kale. Now we only need Birkenstock shoes and some hemp clothing to fit right in.

Switching it up...

In her book, The Well Trained Mind, Susan Wise Bauer asks the question: How do I know if my child truly understands what she is learning in math? The answer: Give her a page from a different math curriculum and see if she can do it. Switching curriculum, or occasionally supplementing one, can lead to a wider understanding of the subject because the information is presented in a different manor, and the student is exposed to a variety of viewpoints. You get a clearer picture of what you are learning, and sometimes fill in the holes. It also allows you, as the teacher, see any weak spots and provides the opportunity to strengthen them.

By the time January hits, our homeschool is usually ready for a change. The excitement of the Holidays are over, and it's back to business as usual. I hate business as usual. It boars me and makes me restless. I need change on a regular basis, and thankfully so do my kids. So, January is a great time to start new subjects, or just change curriculum for some subjects. I add some things and take some things away. I refresh our homeschool.

This year, for Mayah my 2nd grader, I am adding cursive and switching her math from Math-U-See to Abeka. She actually LIKES routine, and I can't change things too much for her or she gets insecure. That fine and I work with it.

For Ian, my 5th grader, I am adding to his writing curriculum (supplementing it with Abeka's Language B), changing his Logic program, and adding drawing classes. I am also raising my expectations in certain areas, such as his handwriting and spelling. I am requiring him to make outlines and write short essays that demonstrate his understanding in certain subjects, such as history and literature (the two are one and the same in our homeschool).

We are also going to purposely peruse New Years Resolutions this year. I want them to learn how to focus on a goal of personal achievement and find satisfaction in accomplishing those goals. We are going to lean how to set a goal, decide on the steps needed to achieve that goal, and practice the art of self discipline for the purpose of advancement. I acknowledge that this task requires that I set the example and I will be doing my best to model behavior that provides direction and accountability for my kids.

It seems that I am a bit of a self abuser. I always seem to go into weight-loss mode right before a major holiday. Like now, for instance. I woke up 2 days ago and decided that I absolutely had to lose 10 lbs before Christmas. Maybe it's my way of controlling myself when I would be otherwise free to indulge to my hearts content- which would be very bad.

I can't seem to get off the gain-lose-gain-lose roller coaster, and the sad part is that I know how to lose weight and keep it off, I just can't bring myself to do it! I don't need a magic pill to make me skinny, I need a magic pill to keep me skinny once I get there myself! Ugh!

I found this really fun site that has educational songs for government. Smart Songs also have videos on YouTube. The kids love it, and we bought 2 of the songs to put on their mp3 players; The Presidents, and Political Parties . Ian is half way through memorizing the list of presidents, and I was looking for a way to motivate and help him out.

Oh dear. I do believe I may have entered some very dangerous territory.

You see, my darling husband purchased for my enjoyment an e-reader: The Nook (Barns&Noble) is one of the latest to come out.

Do you realize what this means? It means that my book purchases will no longer be limited by my ability to find space for them on my mercilessly crammed bookcases. This will either be a wonderful blessing, or it may bankrupt us as the whole wonderful world of ebooks wraps me in a warm compulsive embrace.

Since the Nook has yet to be released ( I anxiously await Nov 30) I cannot truthfully say what this will do to my finances, or my obsessive book purchasing habits. Let's not even talk about how I can download ebooks from the library...

AHHH, that feels better.

Do you ever feel like throwing away everything in your house and starting over? Well, that is the point at which I had gotten yesterday. I was overwhelmed with all the STUFF cluttering my closets and living space. So yesterday, I spent the day cleaning out my house, and I have to say, I did a pretty darn thorough job. I took out 6 bags of garbage (4 of which came from Ian's room!) and I have a load of stuff for the thrift store that will fill my entire car. Why do we collect so much stuff??

15 Signs You Might Be A Bookaholic.

I found this on another website, and thought it was funny. I listed my favorites, and the ones that I may or may not be guilty of...

• You're packing for a romantic weekend away with significant other and you give more thought to which books to take than to which nightgown is your sexiest.

• Before you buy a purse you make sure a paperback will fit inside.

• Your significant other mutters about life in prison not being much of a deterrent to you since you'd be quite content sitting in your cell reading all day.

• You call in sick so you can finish reading a book.

• When you move you have more boxes labeled "books" than anything else.

• You have to constantly invest in new bookshelves.

• Your kids holler from the other room with something they consider a dire emergency, and you say, "Wait until I finish this page!"

• You have no idea what's on television anymore (except for Psych) because the boob tube has become just another piece of furniture.

• You tend to buy frozen, microwavable foods that practically cook themselves so that you don't lose any precious reading time for such an unimportant thing as feeding your family.

• You valiantly try to teach your kids "independence," which means you want them to do more household chores (so you can have more reading time).

• It's 2am and you think "just another chapter" and do the same thing at 3am when you know you have to get up in 4 hours and work.

• You try reading and walking at the same time. (Works on a treadmill!!)

• You start fabricating excuses as to why you can't go out with your friends when you're in the middle of a great book.

• You start thinking of the characters as real people.

• Your eyesight goes from 20-20 to legally blind because of reading in poor light.

Charlie's Latest Adventure

My poor beagle Charlie has done it again. He has gotten himself into a world of trouble by allowing his insatiable appetite lead him astray.

The other night, we arrived home from the YMCA, and were preparing a late dinner. The house was chaotic with dinner preparations, excited dogs, and overstimulated children. Mayah was assigned the task of feeding the dogs their dinner while I got our own evening meal ready, and nobody was paying attention to Charlie, who had designs on Sara Beth's dinner, as well as his own. Sara Beth was, at this point, far more interested in greeting her pack than consuming the tasty morsels of dried dog food that was placed in front of her, but Charlie had no such compulsions.

After finishing his own bowl of nutrition, he assumed that Sara Beth had let her guard down, and was in the process of helping himself to seconds- courtesy of Sara's distraction. When Sara realized that her bowl was being robbed at a frantic rate by her rival Charlie, she took offence and set about the task of teaching that rascal a lesson. I am not quite sure if Charlie was protesting the method of Sara's remonstrances- which consisted of a strong set of teeth clamped securely around his neck- or being deprived of his second meal of the evening, but he set to howling and yelping as only a woeful beagle can. The outcome of their little argument was a wound to Charlie's ear that sliced it neatly up the middle. The wound needed to be promptly addresses, as Charlie felt that it would be helpful to shake his head and splatter blood all over the house.

The whole family set off on a field trip to the emergency vet 20 minutes away at 10:00 at night.

Arriving, Charlie insisted on bleeding all over the vet's office while searching out any scraps of food that some other careless pet may or may not have left behind. He spent an uncomfortable night there, getting shaved, stitched and bandaged while Sara Beth was gifted with what she saw as a whole night of having her pack to herself.

The next morning, after paying an atrocious vet bill and receiving instructions for medicating and caring for a wounded rascal, I brought Charlie home . I refused to feel a disproportionate amount of sympathy for this dog, who, through greed and selfishness, single handedly drained the funds we had set aside to go camping in September.

He now wears the "Cone of Shame" as you can see from the picture, and we have made the decision to invest in pet insurance. I am hoping his stitches will be ready to come off in a few days because keeping his head wrapped in bandages has become a full time job, when you consider that Charlie's entire existence right now seems to revolve around determinedly removing said bandages.

Oh, and to avoid future situations of this nature, the dogs are now leased and fed in separate rooms at mealtime.

First time for everything.

We joined the YMCA this weekend, and today JP and I worked out together. It was the first time in our marriage that we lifted weights together, and it was so much fun- for me. I have been working out in gyms for the last 6 or 7 years. Poor JP has not . In addition to that, I spent most of my teenage years working with trainers on the various military bases we lived on, or I had my big brother as a workout buddy (who did a stint as a pseudo-body builder). So I had fun, but I wonder if I will be able to convince JP to come back to the weight room with me on Wednesday. :)

Our course of study for the year.

So, here is our curriculum plan for the year (it looks like a lot, but we don't do every subject every day, and we have a 4 day school week):

Ian- 5th grade Course of Study:

• Classic Writing- Aesop book A

• History- Ancients (5000BC- AD400) Core text- Story of the World V.1, DK History of the World, Usborne Encyclopedia of World History.

• Math- Teaching Textbooks level 4

• Latin- Latina Christiana 1

• Spelling- Spelling Workout book E

• Art- Charlotte Mason method of studying art, Drawing with Children

• Memory Work- first 10 emperors of Rome, 10 Commandments, Major battles of the ancient world, Presidents from Andrew Jackson- Obama, grammar rules, the second part of the introduction of the Declaration of Independence

• Music- guitar lessons

• Logic- Mind Benders, Logic Anyone?

• Worldview/Current Events- God's World News

• Health- Health, Hygiene, and Nutrition

• PE- Dance class at co-op, Fencing, Swim and Gym at YMCA, Basketball

Mayah's 2nd grade Course of Study:

• Grammar- First Language Lessons level 2

• Writing- Writing with Ease level 1

• Spelling- Spelling Workout B

• Math- Math U See

• Phonics- Phonics Pathways, Explode the Code

• History- Story of the World V. 1

• Science- Earth Science (I made up my own curriculum)

• Music- Piano lessons, General Music class at co-op

• Art- Charlotte Mason method of studying art, Drawing with Children

• Latin- Latina Christiana 1

• Memory Work- same as Ian except different poems
  

• Geography- co-op class

• Health- Health, Nutrition, and Hygene

• PE- gymnastics, Swim and Gym at YMCA, cheerleading
  

Here it comes!

It's August. That means it's planning time for our homeschool. This year, I am using the Homeschool Tracker software, and so far I like it. I paid $49 for all the special features that don't come with the free edition. It is taking me some time to learn the program, but I see it as a time investment. The idea is that I will be using the same software for the next few years, so it can only get easier, right? It also comes with tutorial videos for "techno-tards" like me.

I have the curriculum and the schedule all planned out, and boy, am I ambitious this year!!! Last year was pretty low-key, and so this year I feel like I must cram the schedule full. In addition to our at-home academic studies, Mayah will be taking gymnastics, piano and 2 co-op classes. Ian will be taking guitar lessons, fencing and perhaps join the Young Marine program in our area. He will also take 2 co-op classes.

Following the Classical approach, Ian is entering the Logic Phase this year, and his work-load will become more intense. More writing, more reading and he begins critical thinking which will lead to formal logic in a few years. He has completed (my mandatory) 2 years of piano, so his instrument of choice is guitar. He is entering a second year of Latin study, and will be a bit more intensive in his study of current events/world view using God's World News. Fencing lessons are a delight to him, and he will continue them as long as his interest holds.

Mayah is, of course, still in the Grammar Phase. Getting her to a fluent reading level is our focuse this year. She is taking her second year of piano, second year of Latin, and second year of gymnastics (she can do competition if she wants to, but I don't think she will).

Over the past 4 years, Ian and I have made it through the 4 volumes of Story of the World (Ancients, Middle Ages, Early Modern, and Modern) so we are back at Ancients, and Mayah will be joining our history study this year. We'll start with Creation and go through the fall of Rome. I am excited because Ian can handle a heavier work load, and, since we are already familiar with the basic story, we can focus of the causes of so many wars and events. Mayah will get to do fun activities and games and read favorite mythology stories with us, in addition to learning the basic story of ancient times.

The kids try to pretend they aren't interested in the upcoming school year, but I see them poking through all the books I have spread out. The Art and History, and Science books have been thoroughly thumbed through. They won't admit it, but they are excited too.

July Vacation Plans

We are getting to head off to Tennessee in a few days. The kids are so excited to see their grandparents after 2 years. JP and I are going to St.Croix for a week as well, leaving the kids with my parents. July will be a full month of travling and family!

On top of everything, both kids will be getting baptised when we go camping with my family. My father agreed to baptise them, and I think it will be a nice memory for all of us. So, I guess he is going to just dunk them in the lake, and then we will celebrate. I bought them both new bibles as gifts, and will write the date in them. I hope the kids remember it and treasure the memory.

Homeschool Convention

I went to the WHO Homeschool Convention this weekend, and had a great time with my friend Colleen. We had two full days of shopping and seminars and came home tired and overflowing with great ideas.

Happily, I didn't really need to buy much curriculum this year, so I am able to keep the cost down this time around. I was able to find what I hope to be the perfect math curriculum for Ian. We have been using Math U See since the second grade and were ready to try something new. He is struggling in that subject, so I did some research and found Teaching Textbooks. It is a software based program, but also uses a workbook. I am hoping this pulls him out of the "I hate math" slump.

I now have next year planned as far as curriculum goes, and I am working out the daily schedule.

My one last task is to find homeschool planning software. We have outgrown the paper notebook lesson planners, and I enjoyed using the free online planner (http://home-school-inc.com) until the website grew sluggish towards the end of the school year. So, I am going to invest in a good quality software program to do our daily planning. I found that the children really liked having their daily assignments printed out for them each day. It gave them ownership of their assignments and made them a bit more independent in their work. It is also really nice for record keeping.

We are leaving for TN in a few weeks, so I am putting off some of the planning until we get back.

Aahh, the irony...

For the last 2 years, we have worked dilligently on "Memory  Work".  

Ian has memorized 7 poems, all the books of the Bible, the Pledge of Allegiance, the introduction to the Declaration of Independence, the first 16 presidents,  the Preamble to the Constitution, and the first 4 verses of Psalm 20.

In just this year, Mayah has memorized the Pledge of Allegiance, all the books of the Bible, 

7 poems, the definitions of a noun, verb and pronoun (as well as the list of all 22 pronouns), the definition of a sentence and all 4 types of sentences, her address,  and the first 4 verses of Psalm 20.

They have also memorized 4 prayers in Latin and hundreds of Latin vocabulary words.

Who do they choose to quote on a regular basis?  Sponge Bob Square Pants.

The latest edition of The Well Trained Mind is out- I just got it in the mail- just in case you care. I for one am excited. I am all agog to begin planning out next school year. It's the best part of homeschooling, don't you know.

God is unceremoniously dropping little nuggets of ideas on me every few days concerning what to do next year. I am trying to write them all down in an orderly fashion, and keep track of them all.

I have discovered that as my oldest advances, I become more and more apprehensive about my decision to homeschool. I am starting to think, "Hey, this is getting serious. I am actually going to have to teach him something that I don't really know much about. What if I royally screw him up? I could ruin his entire future if I forget to teach something important!" (and so on and so forth) The younger years are fun and games, arts and crafts and songs. I can do that. But formal logic? Geometry? ALGEBRA and PHYSICS?! How am I going to make up rhyming songs to teach those?

He is staying home next year, not going to Akoloutheo Academy, which turns out to be a great thing, but, OMG, I am a little freaked out about having a 5th grader!