19. March 2009 by Shannon.

A good friend recently posed the question, “What are your concerns for the homeschooling community?” 

I’m ashamed to say that one of my biggest concerns about/for homeschooling is the unfortunate lack of proper social skills (not socialization, which is how we relate to others, but social skills as in “we do not pick our noses in restaurants” and “we don’t barge to the front of the group so we can see, we wait our turn”).

These are areas that although many homeschoolers have well covered (it’s easy to teach in a small group), SO many more have not. Every child who is homeschooled is an Ambassador for homeschooling… and their behaviours reflect strongly on the rest of our still very fragile community. I’ve seen places actually REFUSE to take homeschool groups because even though it seems reasonable to think that with all the parents there, the kids will be better supervised, it does not work out that way. Homeschooler parents tend to congregate for “moral support” and many children take this “distracted teacher time” to show off all that is wrong with the “school yard” mindset… and it makes us ALL look like a bunch of slackers with no social skills.

This has been playing on my heart heavily lately as I’ve been to a few gatherings of homeschoolers and watched the children act like zoo animals at feeding time while the parents sit over here or over there deep in conversation. UNFORTUNATELY this is something that I kind of like about school kids… they learn how to be quiet and listen when the “teacher” (museum guide, animator, workshop leader) is talking and to wait their turns in asking questions, and file patiently past the exhibit to get their chance to see it. YES, sometimes that means that the student that is most interested gets the same amount of exposure as the absolutely couldn’t care less student… and that is where we *can* be different… we can let the interested student have more time, but that not interested student should ALSO know to behave in an appropriate manner, EVEN when he’s not the most interested in the crowd rather than tearing through the place with his voice at a dangerous decibel level wreaking havoc every where he goes. You know?

I think EVERY STUDENT, schooled or homeschooled (with the exception of one small lesson, the one on profanity, I just duct taped over that one), should take the Connect the Thoughts Manners course. It is an excellent course which addresses issues on manners from personal hygiene to behaving politely to (get this) THANKING your parents for all they do for you!!

I know that it *is* possible for children to go to a museum or other activity and behave civilly… my children do most of the time, and when one of my chidlren starts to get excitable and I start to see the warning signs that they’re about to step into dangerous grounds, I reel them back in, give them a reminder of what it means like to behave politely, and send them back out again… but keeping my eyes peeled for more warning signs.

In schools, the teachers and other chaperons do their best to remind students of the rules, briefing them before leaving, upon arriving, and reprimanding students who break the rules… why can’t we do the same… prep our kids, remind our kids, and then reprimand them when it is needed when THEY go out into public places.

Remember, our children might be the only OTHER homeschool family someone’s non-homeschool-friendly-in-laws might ever see! We need to think bigger than our own little homeschools.

Off my soapbox…

Blessings!

Posted in General Homeschool | Print | 4 Comments »

2. March 2009 by Shannon.

Gosh-Goodness I’ve been away a while!!!

I am so sorry to my readers (if there are any left!) for being away so long.  We have been so busy around here with school, reviewing, and well, just life as a Mom of Four, really.  So…  I’m BACK!

What’s been happening while I was gone?  Well, let’s see.. There was Christmas… that went very well.  We had a wonderful year spent quietly with just the family around the Christmas Tree… playing with the Casio Keyboard we got them, reading their new books and listening to the wonderful Scripture Songs CDs we got the Littles (Hermie and Wormie - who knew these guys were so GOOD?!). 

With January came back to school… we started out a little rough, like most schools (private/public or home)… but after about a week we managed to find out “groove” again.  In February (what a short month that is… you wouldn’t think that losing just a couple of days off the end would make the month go by so fast!), we celebrated with Daddy (Tony) as he gracefully added another year to his age… he’s an “old man” of 38 now!  He got a new kitten for his birthday, then a co-worker blessed him with another cat … so from none to two in less than a week! 

Then came Valentine’s Day, where Greyson learned all about telling others (and God!) how much he loves them.  He spent the month making love-notes for everyone… with his adorable spelling.  Here’s one of his notes:

“I luv Guod.  I wish oters wer nues tu Guod.”

Translation:
“I love God.  I wish others were nice to God”

(okay, we know what subject we’re handling FIRST next year!!! LOL!  Phonics down, SPELLING up next! LOL!)

March is here… it came in like a lamb, so according to my mom that means we’ll be having a nasty blizzard sometime around the end of the month.  I hope not, I’d hate to go into April up to my armpits in snow… but then, last year we had that CRAZY SNOW on the 7th of March… and by Chaeli’s birthday (April 12th) it was gorgeous out… so maybe it’s anytime in the first half of the month?

Both Ev and Kenzi are in a drama class this winter/spring season… I’m looking forward to seeing how it all goes for them, as Kenzi had a less than wonderful experience in a different drama class last year.  This particular class is hosted by a christian homeschool friend of mine, so I have a bit more confidence in it.  Greyson and Chaeli are busy being little… everything is an adventure… an empty box is made into a really cool cat house, a bag of rocks becomes a village of rock people, and any plan they over hearing you talk about means it’s happening right now… so be careful when mentioning a camping trip being planned for the summer as your likely to find a couple of backpacks filled to the brim with stuffies and toothbrushes by the front door next time you try to let the dog out!  Time is a concept lost on them… wish it worked that way for me… time just seems to be rushing by this year… busy-ness will do that to a person, eh?

How have YOU been since Christmas?  

Blessings!

Posted in Chaeli, Greyson, Kenzi, Everett, General Homeschool | Print | 3 Comments »

11. October 2008 by Shannon.

I posted this review on my www.momlovesbooks.com blog… but it’s worth sharing here as well. 

Having been at this ‘Homeschooling Thing’ for 10 years now… I know the fears, doubts and frustrations with starting out… or restarting homeschooling. I’ve had the “homeschooled since birth” experience as well as the “yank ‘em out of school fast” experience, as well as one “he’ll finish up the year and that’s the end of that” experience. And every single time it comes with that butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling of

NOW WHAT?!

Well, a friend of mine, Terri Johnson, came up with a wonderful answer! She’s created an ABC’s of Homeschooling E-Course (oh, and btw, I’m not the ‘brightest bulb in the house’ as it took me to lesson F to realise that she was indeed going through the Alphabet - even the fact that there were 26 weeks to the course didn’t tip me off… *oh brother*).

Ahem! Back to what Terri did…

Imagine walking hand-in-hand with a Veteran Homeschooling Mom who is there helping you week-by-week to plan what you will be doing…

Imagine being introduced to all her Homeschool Veteran friends who want to bless you with gifts of curriculum and encouragement…

Imagine learning alongside your children, in a pleasant, RELAXED way…

Imagine knowing that what you will be learning and doing can be re-used and re-done a thousand times without wearing out either the learning or the fun…

Imagine developing your OWN Educational Philosophy (a lofty goal for some… but completely attainable!)…

Imagine having the time and know-how to create your own “Unit Study” geared to your children’s gifts and passions, or know that you can fully meet all Provincial or State requirements…

Or best of all - Imagine having the ANSWER when your neighbour asks “What about SOCIALIZATION?!”…

Would it be worth it to you to have this kind of help? Would you be willing to give up a cup of coffee at a Fancy Coffee Shop a week for it?

Well, Terri’s Homeschooling ABCs E-course costs as little as that… less than 2.50$ a week ( only $10 a month for 6 months)!!! And you’ll get lots of free goodies from Terri and her friends (your new friends!), not to mention the incredible opportunity to “sit at their feet” and soak up all their years of experience and wisdom!!

This course is worth every single penny, in my humble opinion… and I’ve seen lots of “ABC lists” for Homeschooling (or any other topic you might wish to research) and this is not just a list… each course comes in an email with a link to the Homeschooling ABCs Site with links for downloadable PDFs (which can be read/printed from the free Acrobat Reader ) and any links to your new Homeschool friends’ gifts to you (gifts totally hundreds of dollars, I might add.. nice friends, eh? *grin*). You’ll receive one course each week for (you guessed it… even if I didn’t! LOL!) 26 weeks… a whole Alphabet of weeks! :o)

One of the things I really REALLY liked about this course is that it was MUCH less intimidating than reading the ‘Guides to Homeschooling’ that are available in the market, and not full of all the “perfect homeschool - lookitus” mentality that can downright discourage a new homeschooler (heck, even a veteran like myself can be left wondering if I have what it takes in reaction to bragging like that!). This is not a collection of how all these wonderful things that happened when our kids got into “Ivy League schools on full scholarships the same year they won the Nobel Peace Prize just for being Homeschoolers” kind of encouragement - instead, it’s a PRACTICAL, HANDS-ON, WALK-YOU-THROUGH-IT-IN-BITE-SIZED-CHUNKS kind of encouragement. I like that kind! :o)

Terri (in case you don’t already know) is the talent behind Knowledge Quest Maps - she’s been homeschooling for at least 11 years - so she knows of what she speaks! I’ve had the priviledge of listening to web-seminars offered by her in the past, and her passion and vision is an inspiration.

So, If you are just starting out, or starting over - maybe what you are doing isn’t working and you’re ready to toss in the towel… WAIT! Don’t give up… think of Maria’s advice in The Sound of Music… “Let’s Start at the Very Begining, A Very Good Place to Start”… Well, Homeschooling ABCs E-Course will certainly get you off to a Very Good Place - and you might just hang that towel back on the hook (or better yet - why not wrap it around your head like a Pirate and chase the kids around the living room, fall laughing on the couch, pull our a copy of Peter Pan and snuggle down for a Good Read?).

Whatever you decide… don’t give up - just go back and learn your Homeschooling ABCs!

Posted in Great Ideas, Curriculum Choices, Great Finds, General Homeschool | Print | 1 Comment »

9. October 2008 by Shannon.

 Once again, you are all standing around scratchin’ yer noggins saying, “Huh?”  heehee….

A friend was wondering what to use that was more “Charlotte Mason Friendly” than a big science textbook (like Apologia).  I just wanted to share my reply to her concern here in case it blesses someone (else… I know my friend, Lori Lynn was blessed by it *smile*):

What we do for Science (using Aologia) is read Dr. Wile’s chapters together… very CM.  I read it to them, cuddled up on the couch, then we do the experiments together and have fun (I record my own lab sheet too!) and then we talk about the results before we move on to reading what Dr. Wile has written about “what was supposed to happen”.  We use a lapbook system for the “study questions” so they can quiz themselves effectively, then we do the test… it’s been very interactive.  I cannot imagine asking my kids to do that HUGE text alone… You can find some interactive hands-on materials for Apologia at Currclick  and you can get the lab kits at Sonlight (which can make a difference between facing the experiments confidently or not)… you can find them in the core 7 science they are called NSK and I’m not sure the other one, the other one is the one gears specifically for “General Science”)

I believe that almost anything can be done in a somewhat CM-y way… reading the lessons together and getting excited about it and discussing it with Dad ‘round the dinner table (narrations anyone?) cements the learning.  Don’t give up quite yet…

BUT…another resource (with the exception of the first course, which I recommend ONLY if you omit the last lesson) are the connect the thoughts science courses… they are thorough, however NOT faith based (and in my humble opinion it is impossible to separate the two and get a “good” science education… since a good researcher would go to the source of the thing they are studying, right?  Well, since God made everything, it seems logical to go to Him about His creation.  Ya know?).  However, from a completely “separate from God” point of view.. these are excellent.  They can also be done as a “read together” then “discuss the questions or do the projects together” kind of way, although it’d be a bit more challenging.  You can find them at also at Currclick.

High school science is tough… not tough to understand with the right “teacher”, but a tough “responsibility”… you don’t want to leave your kids short changed, yet it’s hard to make a not-text book type choice and be sure you’ve covered all the basics. 

I was also thinking, maybe ask around and see if anyone else in your homeschool community is doing the Apologia and see if maybe you guys could organize “group experiments” or something, your son might be more interested if he knows he’s not alone and has something to look forward to (getting together with some science buddies)?  I have the benefit of both my Bigs doing this science together with me, so it makes it a “mini-group” and we’ve had some fun “arguments” over what we think should happen or should HAVE happened (um, the balloon apparently wasn’t *supposed* to explode all over the kitchen – who knew?) and to discuss the lesson together.  

I hope you can find something that works for you…

Blessings!

Posted in LapBooks, Great Ideas, Curriculum Choices, General Homeschool | Print | 2 Comments »

8. October 2008 by Shannon.

I was visiting my friend, Lia, the other day and of course, whenever homeschool moms get together there is the eventual, “So, how do YOU do it?”… of course I asked.  You see, my friend Lia has 9 children, all homeschooled from the start… she has graduated 2 or maybe 3 of them already into Post Secondary and right now one of them is actively pursueing a job as a fire-fighter!!!  (Personally, I don’t need any more white hairs, thank you very much!)

Okay, back to “how she does it”.  Well, the way she homeschools isn’t really what I want to write about… I want to just share one little nugget of gold that she practices that jumped out at me and I immediately had to go home and implement… and my kids are THRILLED!

Lia makes a binder full of pageprotectors (nothing special yet, eh?  hang on to your hats… there’s more!) and then she FILLS said page protectors with several copies of different layouts of templated notebooking pages.  There are so many amazing Homeschool Moms out there who have designed incredible notebooking pages; with spaces for pictures, maps, timelines even!  And of course… a written narration (summary) of that days/subjects lesson. 

So, her children do their school reading/research, then go over to the Master Binder, flip through and choose something that appeals to them that day, slips a page out of the page protector and go back and do their notebook page.  When finished they slip it into the last place in their own personal notebooks and have added to their “Personal History Book”.  It’s so simple an idea.  When they take out the last sheet, they inform Mom who then looks at the sheet they printed out, goes to the computer, prints out more copies of that particular sheet (and believe it or not, it’ll surprise you which ones your kids will “click” with!) and plops them back into the empty page protector … ready for the next lessons!

Now, as you all know, I’m all about the pictures, so here is a picture of a few pages from MY notebook page binder… and a picture of a page Kenzi did today on Madeleine de Verchères:

 So, my thought for today is….

THANK YOU LIA! :o)

 Blessings!

OH!  PS, here is my “creepy crawly of the month”… I found him crawling up my study window—>

 And here is my other little friend who is OBVIOUSLY not doing his job!

Sweet Dreams! *grin*

Posted in Notebooks, LapBooks, Great Ideas, General Homeschool | Print | 2 Comments »

29. September 2008 by Shannon.

Bonnie commented on my blog post about Connect the Thoughts from a Christian Worldview:

I am trying to find out some things about Steven David Horwich and Google brought me to this post. I found his curriculum on CurrClick. I am trying to determine if the curriculum is built upon the Scientology theme. Are you a Christian? What do you know of the religious theme of Connect the Thoughts? I tried to access the Yahoo group you mention in this entry but it was not available.

I wanted to address in a new post my answers to these concerns (btw, I am doing this not as an “expert” on anything, but as my humbly offered opinion):

Connect the Thoughts is NOT religion based.  Not Faith-Based at all.  I am a Born-Again Christian and with the exception of the first course in Science, and the first course in History (and that one only a very little, and used it as a sounding board for my own faith based discussion) have read EVERY Upper School history course and found nothing offensive in it. 

I am helping with the editing of the courses (slow work with 4 kids underfoot er… underkeyboard?) and we are addressing aspects which could be construed as anti-God.  Steven Horwich has made every effort to be as neutral as humanly possibly in his POV as far as religion goes, and the courses offer NO Scientology references/theology/ideals or anything else.  He has done an exceptional job at producing something of incredible importance. 

Steven believes that in order to improve the world, people need to be educated.  He offers his courses at a often ridiculously low price to keep them affordable for the average person… shortly all written materials will come with the course (meaning, there will be no other books to buy as resource materials… I’ll be updating when this is finalized sometime in the next few weeks).

When I first posted this I’d only recently “discovered” CTT myself, but now I have worked with Steven quite closely and constantly amazed at what a compassionate and thoughtful person he is, having no intent to offend anyone.  He holds in very high regard those with ANY beliefs at all, as he says it is sad how so many now have no strong beliefs at all… or at least nothing that brings good to the world.

To put it in perspective… I am doing Apologia Science, and using CTT for history, Creative Writing (absolutely the best writing course out there!), Current Events, Art and my kids read all the time.  The reason I am not using CTT for science is because I like to do science as a family, and Apologia affords me a more conversational tone for science that I like, while keeping with my belief system.  CTT’s science is Very Good… but it must be understood that there is a clear separation of God/Creation and Science from his POV… but the courses themselves are very informative.  I think if I Christian were to skip the last lesson in the first course and move on to the next book, they’d do just fine with CTT Science courses… the last lesson has a fair bit of what can be interpreted as opinion (in my humble opinion), but the materials in the rest of the course and the following courses are exceptional.

I hope this has helped! :o)

You can find all the CTT courses at Currclick and OOPS - I goofed on the Yahoo group… here is it:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ConnecttheThoughts

Blessings!!

PS - for those who haven’t seen them… I wanted to share a picture of my “gang” doing school that I think I’m going to have blown up and framed to remind them what they *should* look like… LOL!

Around the table from back to front:

Chaeli (Pre-K), Kenzi (Gr7), Greyson (K) and Everett (Gr9)

Posted in Curriculum Choices, Great Finds, General Homeschool | Print | 5 Comments »

7. August 2008 by Shannon.

We all know there are a gazillion planners out there, from buying a standard bound one at the local copy shop or Walmart to customized HOMESCHOOL planners available from many different sources (each with their own particular angle).  As school is FAST approaching (for those of us who follow the typical school year) I thought it might be a good time to do some planning (not a bad idea, eh? *grin*) and so I spent some time looking through the many planners I have here on my computer and at my fingertips… yes, I have several.  I’m kind of a Planner Junkie.. always looking for the “perfect” organizing tool.  Just like I believe that the real reason I’m disorganized is because I don’t have the right planner yet.. LOL!  Okay, that’s  my excuse, and I’m stickin’ to it! *wink*

Please note that although I have to list the planners in SOME KIND of order… as we are trapped in a linear world, I am not putting them in any particular order… just as I locate them on my hard-drive and refresh my memory (and take notes of my own of which sheets to use from which planners - yes, you read that right, I MIX-AND-MATCH! *gasp!*).   

1. One of my FAVOURITE planner for this upcoming year is more than just a planner, really, it’s a whole HOW to plan planner.  Not only does it include all the forms necessary to plan out your school year by the month, week and even day, it also includes an innovative way of planning your curriculum and how to figure out (legally) what resources you need to have to homeschool in confidence that you are meeting all state/provincial requirements.  It walks you through VERY THOROUGHLY a whole planning project, including taking a break because you deserve it!  I like a planner that remembers that planning is had work! *grin*  SO, my FIRST PLACE goes to the Simply Charlotte Mason’s “Planning your Charlotte Mason Education in 5 Easy Steps” planner (can I recommend the “printed book and DVD” option as it cost me a LOT to have this book printed and bound at the local copy shop, and you really do need to have a printed copy of it to be effective - just my .02).  It is just so much more than just a collection of fill-in-the-blanks homeschool forms, it encourages and inspires… and dispite the name, it works very well for whatever “methodology” of school you use, including unschooling and strict school-at-home styles… just make it work for you. 

2. The Ultimate Homeschooling Mom’s Planner has some exceptionally refreshing forms such as a completely new (and imho, more in line with what we SHOULD be concerned about in our children’s education) twist on a “Yearly Evaluation” of our children, including such areas as “organization” (hahaha!) and “individual expression” and “character maturity”.  Yes, they include all the “standards” like yearly, monthly, and even Family Fitness (there’s a thought!) as well.  The pages are delightfully decorated, but for those on a budget all that colour might be restrictive (*hint* set your printer settings to “print images in greyscale” or something along those lines… that will keep your colour ink for more important printing projects).  You can find the Ultimate Planner at www.homeschool-curriculum-for-life.com .

3. The Old Schoolhouse Magazine has come out with a planner that certainly has you covered, not only in an extensive forms section (covering everything from educational objectives to end of year evaluations and report cards) but it is also FILLED with facinating articles, important (US) lists and official documents (no more hunting around to find a copy of the Louisiana Purchase - I can hear the sighs of relief from across the border! *grin*).  Some of the neater forms are things like craft logs (including place to paste a photo - no more cluttered fridge or boxes of dusty kindergarten crafts filling up your storage space!), curriculum purchases organizer (not the kind where you list what you have, but rather list what you need and the cost involved - very handy!, and even (and this is the coolest!) a begining/end of year form… where you list such things like your child’s height/weight and get a copy of their signature… what a great way to remind you and your child how much they’ve GROWN this past year!  Of course there’s room for a picture from both the start and finish of the school year.  One really nice feature of this planner is that it includes the very convenient “Type-It-In” option.  You can type (AND SAVE) your information into the file, so  you can print off very professional looking forms later on, and earn organizational brownie points with The Powers That Be.  All in all a very thorough planner.  You can get the Schoolhouse Planner at www.theoldschoolhousestore.com .

4.  Cindy Rushton’s “Brain in a Binder” planner is the most spiritual homeschool planner out there.  She has all the standard forms for planning your school year, but she includes MANY forms you don’t really find anywhere else, such as pages from her Discipleship Notebook, Bible Study Logs, and Discipleship Goals planning sheets.  Everything is in Cindy’s signature country style, clean and simple, with just a touch of southern charm.  The Discipleship Notebook pages are probably worthwhile getting, even if you are using a different Homeschool Planner.  I can’t believe how they have helped me in my study of God’s word, and Ev, my 14 year old son really loves them as he seeks to be a “man after God’s own heart”.  You can pick up the Brain-in-a-Binder OR just the Discipleship Notebook from www.cindyrushton.com .

5.  The Master Planner from Westvon Publishing is a VERY complete planner.  I like that all the pages on the CD come as separate files, so in my computer I put my settings to “view thumbnail” and can QUICKLY find the form I was looking for… a little thing, but a nice thing.  They’ve also labeled their forms very well, so even if you can’t “see” it, you can still “read” it and aren’t obliged to flip through pages and pages of a file to find the One Form that will change your life.  LOL!  They include all the basics, of course, but also many little tools to encourage your student to set goals and meet them.. like their acheivement certificates and Reading Goals sheets.  They include many notebooking pages in their planner as well, for things like weather recording, timelines and venn diagram sheets.  One of our favourite sheets is the Babysitter Information sheet, which my daughter brings to all new babysitting jobs and fills out with the parents and files in a binder of her own… and this upcoming year I plan to extensively use the “Monthly (something)” charts.  They have a Monthly Bird, Animal, Fish, Planet, Dinosaur, Biography, etc… all set up nice and simply to print off and embark on a little learning adventure with your child.  This is a really exceptional product… some of my most used forms come from this planner.  Find Westvon’s Master Planner and also their FABULOUS History Scribe series of notebooking pages at CurrClick .

6.  My dear friend, Heidi Jo, has some really useful household planners, which most of the time (when planning such things as menus and to do lists) are the first thing I print off.  She also has a Lesson Planner which although is not as fancy as some, is very simple to navigate and probably the most effective one to have printed up at a local copyshop and bound.  Although Heidi Jo says she uses one for all her children, I think for myself (being as OCD as I am) I would want one for each child.  It is clean, clear and very Charlotte Mason in it’s layout… so maybe that will be my choice for my weekly planning for the Littles which I want to start on a personalized CM Education this upcoming year.  Heidi Jo lives in the BREATHTAKING Bahamas (lucky duck!) and you can find her planning forms at CurrClick .

7. Knowledge Box Central also has a Charlotte Mason Planner (are you getting the impression I might be a closet Charlotte Mason Fan? LOL!) called The Image Bearer (the name implying our children are bearers of the image of Christ).   This Planner also has the desireable Type-It-In feature, making it another one of my favourites for presenting a professional image to the World.  One of the nicest things that I find different from this planner and most of the others is the inclusion of a “Term Planner” (the other one that has it is the Simply Charlotte Mason planner at the top of this list)… another neat thing is the Field Trip AND Evaluation guide, a handy way to not only record where and when you went, but what everyone thought of the trip and whether it was worth repeating (and unfortunately some are not).  As with the bigger KBC documents (like the Ages and Stages Timeline Notebook, the best out there) there is a easy reference bookmark list on the side, which acts similarly to the way the Master Planner does in letting you find the page you are looking for easily.  You can also find The Image Bearer at CurrClick (one of my favourite one stop shopping spots for all things homeschool, can you tell?! *grin*).

and last but in no way least (at least for today because I think this is one of the longest blog posts in history! LOL!):

8. The Homeschool Tracker is a software planner… meaning you enter in the lesson plans and the software does the sorting for you.  You can create and print whatever “reports” you want (reports are anything you’ve entered, really).  The nice thing about this is that when you enter in the “grades” your child gets, the software keeps track (hence the name Tracker?) and you can print out VERY professional looking report cards at the end of the year, as well as book used lists, assignment lists, field trip logs, etc.  VERY versatile, but has a bit of a learning curve to get the hang of it.  *hint* use “copy assignment” freely, you can always delete it later if you’ve put too much! LOL!  Find it at www.homeschooltracker.com .

So, I guess instead of babbling about planners, maybe I should start actually PLANNING, eh?

Blessings!

Posted in Curriculum Choices, General Homeschool | Print | 2 Comments »

10. July 2008 by Shannon.

A Satire « Grey-haired Geek

HAHAHA!  I remember reading something like this a long time ago, although this author does a better job than the original version I saw.  I hope you enjoy it!!!

An update:  Here is my Square Foot Garden taken yesterda, July 9th… less than 2 months from planting day… we’ve harvested (so far) 3 Zuchini and 3 Brocoli… DELICIOUS!  I have lots of tomatoes in various stages of development and ripeness.. and my beans are trying to reach Heaven!  I have to rethink some of my supports for next year… maybe build something over it and have strings drop down to support the beans and cukes.  Anyone have any good ideas? (psst, you can click the picture for a bigger view of my crazy veggies!)

Blessings!

Posted in Gardening, General Homeschool | Print | 2 Comments »

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!

Posted in LapBooks, Great Finds, General Homeschool | Print | 2 Comments »

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!

Posted in Chaeli, Gardening, Greyson, Kenzi, Everett, General Homeschool | Print | 2 Comments »