26. March 2008 by Shannon.

Well, it appears my daughter has decided to go on a school strike.. and to be honest, I’m tired of fighting with her about it all… so  I gave her ownership of the “problem” of her own education and told her I’d be thrilled to mentor her should she need me… but if not, she can choose to remain ignorant. 

HOW do they deal with these things in public school?  I mean, I guess those children who decide not to learn just don’t - but as a MOTHER it’s a lot harder for me to let those things go than it is for a teacher who will be rid of the student in a few months anyhow, you know?

SO - I made her a list of what she needs to accomplish for me to pass her into grade 7… (she’s 12)… and it’s up to her to accomplish it… (like if she wants to do the literature, I’m so there for reading it to her, but I am not going to pin her down to read.. you know?).

When she decides to get motivated… I guess I’ll be here waiting. In the meantime, the Littles love my company.

I hate knowing she’s going to experience regret over her bad decision, but I guess there comes a point where she needs to be allowed to make poor choices… at least this is one area homeschooling has an advantage… she won’t miss anything - we’ll just pick up where we left off… *sigh*

Hope you are all having a better homeschool day!

Posted in Kenzi, General Homeschool | Print | 1 Comment »

22. March 2008 by Shannon.

We have snow. Crazy Snow. It actually is so incredible it *needs* capitals!
Here is the “snow pile” outside the front of the house (sorry for the dark pictures)… and that is my 5 year old climing up on to the ROOF! How on Earth can I explain to him that just because he CAN get onto the roof - he probably shouldn’t be up there? Mind you, looking at the pictures, what difference does it make if he’s on the roof or on the snow pile?

And of course, Little Miss Fearless had to follow her brother up the hill… YIKES! She never made it onto the roof, she slipped and fell (about two feet) between the house and the pile. She wasn’t hurt at all - she thought it was kinda funny… she said she was going in her window (yes, that’s her window BEHIND her.. which the poor girls can’t even look out anymore!

I missed the shots of Ev and Tony jumping off the roof (yes, that is how they got down)… I wish I had it! That was my only consolation, that even IF Greyson fell off, the worst that would happen would be that he’d be up to his neck in one of our many snow drifts! Luckily he didn’t fall off…

My friend Jill Novak wrote a book called “The Gift of Family Writing”. I absolutely love this book… I’m starting to help my Littles write their Life Stories now… and this is one I definately need to have recorded… how many five year olds can tell a story of climbing a hill and onto the roof? Or how many two year olds, for that matter?! As much as I am tired of the snow… this has been a precious winter for memories!

I am a little concerned about the upcoming melt though. Not as much for my own home, since we’re up on the hill… but I am a little worried about my family and friends DOWN the hill… I’m thinkin’ there might be a lot of flooding this year.

Anyone got an Ark handy?

Posted in Bragging, General Homeschool | Print | 1 Comment »

19. March 2008 by Shannon.

I knew there had to be a way to bring Duct Tape into homeschooling! LOL!

My daughter loves to do “lapbooks” or “portfolders” or “lappacks”… basically a file folder refolded to make a portable viewing station housing a collection of little homemade folded booklets. It’s a great way to teach children to organize their thoughts… and we’ve been using it for years. THIS year however we decided to head in the direction of notebooking (keeping a binder full of page protectors in which we keep all our work each day)… now… Kenzi still wanted to do lapbooks… but how to put them into the binder to keep all her work together? Hmmmm…. Mom had to think about this a little.

Then it came to me! DUCT TAPE. Of course we all know that DUCT TAPE is the answer to all Life’s Questions… in fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find a striking resemblance between God and Red Green when the DAY comes…. (jk)

SO, I thought I would include some pictures, so you have an idea of what I’m talking about.

First, take an ordinary folder and refold it to make your project pack…

Second, measure a piece of duct tape just slightly smaller than the long folded edge of your folder.

Third, stick a (roughly) 1/4 inch section onto the folder. I do this while hanging the edge of the folder off the edge of the counter so the duct tape doesn’t stick to anything else (like my counter! LOL!)

Then flip the folder over carefully and folding carefully, stick the duct tape to the folder abotu 1/4 inch again to the other side, leaving about a 1/2 inch “tag” along the edge.

Be careful to stick it down straight, or you’ll end up with ridges and lumps in your duct tape!

Now… if you have a great three hole punch, go ahead and punch this like it is… I do not. And because it is tempermental, I decided the safest route was to go with my one hole punch and a piece of loose leaf to guide me.

Once the holes are punched… there you go! Slip it into your binder and move onto your next project!

Personally, I think this would be a neat thing to do to a bunch of folders in one session… it’s kinda sticky work, might as well get it over at once… so either hang on to the folders and insert them later, OR, you could make a bunch of folder packs up at once and duct tape them and THEN use them…. because the duct tape is so durable it won’t matter if it’s being handled.

Some examples of our lapbooks…. some of these are double (two folders attached together by one of the shorter edges… holds more mini books that way!

We love lapbooking! :o)  (okay, so these are just the outside covers…but honest, there are mini books inside… and maybe someday I might even get around to photographing them!  …. but then, that is what the notebook is for, isnt’t it?

Enjoy and I hope this has helped someone!

Posted in Notebooks, LapBooks, Great Ideas, Kenzi, General Homeschool | Print | 14 Comments »