18. June 2008 by Shannon.

Be sure to check out all the FREE STUFF over at currclick this week (not sure how long all these things will be free… ) including an Anne of Green Gables (my favourite book of all time) Unit Study, a TimeLine project, and oodles of notebooking pages!!!  ALL FREE!!!!

Also, don’t forget the Quarterly Freebie at Hands of a Child, which right now is a fabulous unit on Zebras (anyone up to a summer safari without having to leave home?? *grin*).  

There’s also lots to be had free at my other favourite lapbook company, Live and Learn Press…. they have a few freebies for those who sign up for a free membership and join their Yahoo group!  Their lapbooks are incredibly attractive and well designed, and if you are using Apologia Science (the high school ones), they have designed fabulous support lapbooks for those course….  you should check those out for sure!!!    Turn the Study Questions into a Study Session!

But if you can stand one more great lapbook stop… (haha, you’ll be as addicted as I am soon!!!), head on over to Knowledge Box Central.  Their lapbook sets are quite thorough… their lapbook on The Human Heart is really great though… really!!!  And they have lapbooks on interesting subjects (not typical “school” subjects) such as Modesty, Grandfather’s Wisdom, and Basic Cooking Skills.  I love that they’s branched out into not so well trod areas to give us something fresh to work with, and I’m sure you’ll like them too!!

SO.  Summer vacation is here for so many of you, why not sneak in some “school” stuff without letting the kids know they are doing it?!?!  C’mon, you know you wanna… *wink*  So snag yourself a great lap-e-book, print it up on some coloured paper (or not!), and grab a kid and have some fun cutting and pasting.  You can even take these projects outside to work on, why not have a little quiet time under the picnic umbrella while at the beach (after all, you have to wait 30 minutes after your picnic lunch before you can go into the water, right? *grin*)?

However you use them, remember the Golden Lapbook Rule… FUN FIRST.

Blessings and Enjoy!

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17. June 2008 by Shannon.

Well, not that we’re there yet, but we are certainly getting anxious around here for the end of the school year!!  This week *should* be our last for the currect school year, and we’ll pick up again in the middle of August.  Kenzi still has math to complete over the summer to finish up the Saxon book she’s working on, but otherwise all “formal” lessons will end on Friday.  MOM can’t wait!!!  This was a challenging year, I’m not afraid to admit it… it was a lot of nagging and a lot of heartache as we both worked out our comfort zones…. but then we found Connect the Thoughts and that helped SO much, and then a very wonderful friend gave us an old laptop for Kenzi to use for her lessons and that helped even more… I didn’t realise how much of the battles were in fact related to her dysgraphia…. amazing really.  But as wonderful as this new “system” is, we really are in need of a break… a time of just being Mother and Daughter, and not Teacher and Student… really!

Ev is finished his school year in the Junior High School, and will be homeschooling next year as well… that will also make a difference around here in that we’ll be together for learning instead of having all our days so choppy.  Everett can’t wait to start Connec the Thoughts Creative Writing courses either… he’s looked the two I have over and is so excited to get started so he can move onto the Master’s Courses.  I was surprised to hear that he wasn’t as interested in the Animation course… but I think if he tried it he’d probably like it… we’ll have to try it as an elective in August.  He also just finished his Puzz3D that he’d been working on for a while… the Sistine Chapel!!!

This past week was the cadets Annual Review - both Ev and Kenzi were on the Drill Team, and Kenzi even got an award!!!  She was given the “Tracy Turton Award” for “the cadet that perseveres”.  That’s a positive statement, eh?  She was so surprised (as was MOM!) and proud that she’d stuck it out… it was a long haul, that’s for sure!  But she’s looking forward to Basic Camp this summer.  Ev got Leadership Camp, and he’ll be gone for a full three weeks!  I don’t know how *I* am going to handle it… but I guess it’ll be lots of fun for him! *grin*

(Ev and Kenzi right beside him…. Kenzi getting her award)

We have a new dog… I can’t remember if I blogged about him already or not, but his name is Charley (okay, I’m a die-hard Lost fan, and we wanted a name from Lost, but we were torn between “Hurley” and “Charlie” *our two favourite characters!* … so we decided on Charley… clever eh?  LOL!  Not that he cares, he just answers to anything - silly boy!), and he’s a lovely blond cocker spaniel.  SO cute…   He had a little “mohawk” going when we first got him, but we trimmed it off because it made him look even sillier than he generally does.  He’s so smart and learning more by the day… and he’s SO sweet to the kids!!

We got him about 3 weeks ago and although he’s housebroken VERY easily, we’re having “Bark Busters” come in to work with us and the two dogs next week. We’re hoping it will make a difference in some of the undesireable behaviours he has, mostly we believe caused by improper (none existant) training he recieved at his previous home.  He’s very bright and learns fast, and best of all, is eager to please. 

And lastly… my garden update… this is my garden ONE WEEK from the last picture… I can’t believe how fast this thing is growing!!! We finally got the tomato rings on and had a real battle to do so, since the plants are not only large, but really sturdy - not easy to “flex” to get them through the center!  But we did it… and they seem happy! *wink*  From the looks of the the flowers, we are going to have LOTS of everything.  The only thing I’m not sure of is the eggplants… are they supposed to be slow starters?  If anyone knows, I’d be so happy to find out!

I have to tell you this funny story.  Miss Chaeli came inside COVERED in dirt the other day, and I was, of course, worried about my lovely vegetable gardens.. what had she done?  Well, apparently nothing… she’d been playing in one of our front gardens… anyhow, while I was out there “fixing” her mess, I noticed these three obviously fast growing plants had taken root in my annual bed (I only have one, we positioned it over the septic tank lids so we can always find them AND it doesn’t matter when it’s dug up because they are only annuals anyhow… smart eh?).  As “pretty” as they might think they are, I didn’t want them there.  So, UP goes the plant… well, it has what looks like a giant peanut on the end.  Interesting.  So, I yank up another… this one is a normal looking root.  The third one (these were all the same type of plant, btw) told me what had happened… we had POTATOES growing in my annual bed!  HAHAHA on me!  I guess we must have had some potatoes go to seed and we tossed them, and I suppose a squirrel must have found them and reburied them in my garden… clever little agricultural creature that he must be.  but alas, I stole his harvest…. after all, everyone knows potatoes need to stay buried so they can grow… so I repotted the one plant, buried it up past it’s leaves… and a couple days ago, we could see the little leaves peeking through again, so today I buried it some more.  Chaeli keeps trying to dig them out, but I think this time I’ve convinced her to “let’s wait and see what surprises we can grow”.  I hope we get some good potatoes!!  If we do, I think maybe next year we’ll make this a FORMAL school project… maybe to end off the school year for Greyson… along with a little lapbook on Plants or something. 

That’s me… always planning ahead! *LOL*

Blessings!

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10. June 2008 by Shannon.

I posted recently about my adventure in Square Foot Gardening.  WELL, I am completely sold!  My gardens are growing like wildfire!!  I wanted to show you all some pictures of this very successful homeschool project we’ve got going on around here… and I will update often (as I have something up update!!).

We built the boxes and planted the gardens on May 17th: 

May 30th:

And again from June 5th:

And today, June 10th:

I can’t imagine a more successful garden story at this point!!!  We do NO work.  Once every few days I go out there and pinch off the plant “suckers” (those little sprouts between the boughs of the tomato/pepper plants which don’t produce fruit, just sap the plants growing energy) and take some pictures and I’m done.  Seriously… it’s been THAT easy!  I have flower buds on EVERY plant except the brocoli and the eggplants so far… yes, even my zuchini and cukes have flower buds…. my tomatoes are COVERED in them.  Even my strawberries might get a fruit or two this summer… who knows!

On another note… it’s definately SUMMER here (this past weekend we saw 30 degrees celsius with humidity ranging somewhere above 90 percent!!).  Seems like only yesterday the kids were climbing the snowbanks onto the ROOF, but this weekend we were off at the splash park… Canadian weather is so dramatic! LOL!

^^Chaeli running to save herself from the spray   ~   Greyson running *into* the spray, LOL! ^^

I love how different my kids are… keeps things interesting!

On a side note:  Kenzi’s end of year evaluation is on the 25th of June… so it’s crunch time on portfolios and finishing up projects.  Busy, busy around here!!!  I’m curious to know what others do for portfolios (or if you do them at all, what method of “evaluation” to you employ in YOUR homeschool?  I’d love to hear your comments!!! :o)

Blessings!

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5. June 2008 by Shannon.

Sometimes, as homeschool moms, we have to “suck it up” and “put on an interested face” so that our children can REALLY get to know God’s Kingdom… even the icky parts.. (or what *I* think are the icky parts anyhow… LOL!).

I’m speaking about BUGS.  I do NOT like bugs.  I know God made them, I know they are “facinating” and everything, but still.. ewwww!

SO, you can just imagine my “delight” when my 14 year old son comes home with THIS in a container:

Ya, um, that thing is as long as the palm of my hand (it was about 15 cms!!)!!!  *shudder*

BUT… like a good homeschool mommy, I sucked it up and decided to take pictures, and videos, and show it off to my 5 year old son.. (okay, if HE comes home with one too.. then we might have to rethink this whole “learning moment” thing… !!!

Luckily my 3 year old was asleep.. she EATS bugs!!! *grin and shudder*

Okay… so this is what we found out about our little friend, “Millie”:

(From Wikipedia) Narceus americanus is a large North American millipede. It inhabits the eastern seaboard of the United States and southeastern Canada. It is one of the largest North American millipede species, reaching a length of four inches. When threatened, it releases a noxious liquid that contains small amounts of hydrogen cyanide and pigments that stain surfaces brown. This fluid may irritate eyes or skin and cause allergic reactions in venom sensitive people.

There was also this link: http://webs.lander.edu/rsfox/invertebrates/narceus.html

And for my french friends (living in Quebec, I do have some… *grin*) I located this very good article about them: http://montoit.cyberpresse.ca/jardinage/articles/2737-Repoussants-mais-inoffensifs-mille-pattes.html

 So, harmless but HUGE - what a “cool” bug, eh? 

Blessings!

Posted in Everett, Great Finds | Print | 2 Comments »

4. June 2008 by Shannon.

From a Cluttered Desk » Was C. S. Lewis Onto Something?

I just read the above blog post… I’m stunned.  I guess I hadn’t given it much thought before… but I know that Ev will be thrilled to hear what it would seem that C. S. Lewis (one of his favourite authors of all time) was onto… !!  Go read it for yourself… Tammy is WAY more eloquent than I could ever be… *grin*

Blessings!

Posted in Everett, Great Finds | Print | 1 Comment »