Lakeside Academy

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding by Bernard J. Nebel, Ph.D.

2012-02-28T22:41:00.003-05:00

It is SO hard to find rigorous, scientific science curricula for homeschool use! We've used R.E.A.L Science in the past and I was fairly pleased with it but I have found a science resource for elementary level students that blew my socks off.

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding offers three levels: K-2, 3-5, 6-8. Bernard Nebel earned his doctorate in botany from Duke University and wrote the series after becoming dismayed by the lack of basic scientific understanding displayed by his freshman college students. I fell in love with this before I even got to the lesson plans. The first two chapters alone are worth the price of this book.

Chapter One: Teaching According to How Children Learn
Nebel explains in simple language what works, what doesn't, and why. He stresses the need for real world skills to apply knowledge, how to make learning a joyful, life-long experience, and how students become self motivated.

Chapter Two: Guiding Students to Think
Isn't this the heart of our education debate? Here Nebel helps readers understand just why typical government school/factory education techniques and teaching to the test are disastrous for students. He distinguishes between learning and thinking, and gives real, concrete methods the homeschool parent can use to help students become independent thinkers. And that's what it's is all about.

The Baloney Detection Kit
Every kid needs this. I'm sad to say many adults do, too. When people lack the ability to discern science from pseudoscience their fallacious thinking can yield dangerous results. These 12 simple tools will allow a person to know when they're being fooled, when someone is leading them to believe something which simply IS NOT TRUE. If people can master these 12 tools they won't be taken in by any baloney dealing politicians, teachers, preachers, relatives, or anyone else trying to sway them with spurious science. They will be able to spot cooked up data and identify causal relationships. They won't so easily fall for emotional, dogmatic arguments.

Where has this book been for the last four years of our homeschooling lives? Nebel covers all the bases here and meets state standards without the hum-drum boring drill. It's systematic, it's thorough, it teaches advanced scientific concepts in such a way that young children can understand them. All the passion I have for history Nebel has for science. All the explanations and exhortations he gives for how science can build critical thinking skills are the same ones I've given for the study of history. Dr. Nebel, you had me at hello.

The American Revolution-Third Grade Resources

2012-02-16T19:00:00.001-05:00

These Revolutionary War sites should help make history fun for Bug and Monkey.

Interactive Revolutionary War Map
PBS Timeline of the American Revolutionary War
Liberty!Newspaper Chronicles
The Midnight Rider Virtual Museum
The Other Paul Revere: William Dawes' Midnight Ride Through Cambridge
Annual Re-Enactment of Washington Crossing the Delaware
What's Wrong With This Picture? (Washington Crossing the Delaware
Professor Noggin's American Revolutionary War Card Game
Colonial Crafts
George Washington Pages From Enchanted Learning
Liberty! Road to Revolution Quiz
Tons of info here on the Revolution, including crafts and games

History and Literature Resources-Fourth Grade

2012-02-04T21:53:00.086-05:00

I have not read all these titles yet so there may be some changes made, but here are the history resources I'm considering for Bug's fourth grade year.

General/ U.S.:
Great Debates by Cobblestone Magazine
Inventions of the 1800s by Cobblestone Magazine
Click! Photos That Made History by Cobblestone Magazine
Great American Writers by Cobblestone Magazine

1850-1900 U.S. History
They're Off! The Story of the Pony Express by Cheryl Harness
Compromise of 1850 by Cobblestone Magazine
Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Beecher Preachers by Jean Fritz
Escape North: The Story of Harriet Tubman by Monica Kulling
The Underground Railroad by Raymond Bial
Escape to Freedom: The Underground Railroad Adventures of Callie and William by Barbara Brooks Simon
Who Was Harriet Tubman? by Yona Zeldis McDonough
Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman? by Patricia McKissack
Words Set Me Free: The Story of Young Frederick Douglass by Lisa Cline-Ransome
Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
Lincoln: With Malice Toward None by Cobblestone Magazine
Who Was Abraham Lincoln? by Janet B. Pascal
Ulysses S. Grant: Unlikely Hero of the Civil War by Cobblestone Magazine
Rifles For Watie by Harold Keith
If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War by Kay Moore
History Pockets: The Civil War
DK Eyewitness: Civil War
American Family of the Civil War Era Paper Dolls by Tom Tierney
Clara Barton by Appleseeds Magazine
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Turn Homeward, Hannalee by Patricia Beatty
History Pockets: Moving West
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
Full Steam Ahead: The Race to Build a Transcontinental Railroad by Rhoda Blumberg
Coolies by Yin
Legendary Outlaws and Lawmen of the Wild West Coloring Book by Dover
Who Was Annie Oakley? by Stephanie Spinner
Sing Down the Moon by Scott O'Dell
Native Americans of the Great Plains by Linda Johns
Discover: Native Americans
The Mary Celeste: An Unsolved Mystery From History by Jane Yolen
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Twain's World by Cobblestone Magazine
Walt Whitman by Cobblestone Magazine
Sounder by William H.Armstrong
Thomas Alva Edison: American Wizard by Cobblestone Magazine
Who Was Thomas Alva Edison? by Margaret Frith
You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton? by Jean Fritz
Jane Addams by Cobblestone Magazine
Elizabeth Cady Stanton by Cobblestone Magazine
Women Want the Vote! by Cobblestone Magazine
Voting Rights in America by Cobblestone Magazine

1900-1945 U.S. History
If You Lived 100 Years Ago by Ann McGovern
Hit the Road With Henry Ford by Cobblestone Magazine
The Dream of Flight by Ask Magazine
The Wright Brothers by Cobblestone Magazine
DK Biography: Amelia Earhart: A Photographic Story of a Life by Tanya Lee Stone
Who Was Amelia Earhart? by Kate Boehm Jerome
A Weed Is a Flower: The Life of George Washington Carver by Aliki
The Scoop on Muckrakers by Cobblestone Magazine
Bully For You, Teddy Roosevelt by Jean Fritz
Teddy Roosevelt by Cobblestone Magazine
Panama Canal by Cobblestone Magazine
If You Lived at the Time of the Great San Francisco Earthquake by Ellen Levine
Earthquake in the Early Morning by Mary Pope Osborne
Fire at the Triangle Factory by Holly Littlefield
Hero Over There: A Story of World War I by Kathleen Kudlinski
True Stories of the First World War by Paul Dowswell
The Great War: Women Join the Fight by Cobblestone Magazine
These Roaring 20s by Cobblestone Magazine
Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance by Footprints Magazine
Dust Bowl by Cobblestone Magazine
Tough Times by Cobblestone Magazine
Children of the Great Depression by Russell Freedman
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
Esperanza Rising by Pam Nunoz Ryan
A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt by C. Coco De Young
Who Was Franklin D. Roosevelt? by Margaret Frith
The Importance of Being Eleanor by Cobblestone Magazine
Mary McLeod Bethune by Cobblestone Magazine
True Stories of the Second World War by Paul Dowswell
Air Raid -Pearl Harbor:The Attack That Stunned the World by Theodore Taylor
or
Under the Blood Red Sun by Graham Salisbury
Rosie the Riveter: Women Working on the Home Front in World War II by Penny Colman
Who Was Albert Einstein? by Jess Brallier
Albert Einstein by Cobblestone Magazine

Post WWII U.S. History
In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord
Cold War by Cobblestone Magazine
The Korean War by Cobblestone Magazine
Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.? by Bonnie Bader
Who Was Rosa Parks? by Yona Zeldis McDonough
Montgomery to Birmingham by Footsteps Magazine
Who Was John F. Kennedy? by Yona Zeldis McDonough
Peace Corps by Faces Magazine
Dk Eyewitness: Space Exploration
Space News by Candlewick Press
Who Was Neil Armstrong? by Roberta Edwards
Cesar Chavez by Appleseeds Magazine
Mexican Americans by Cobblestone Magazine
Dk Eyewitness: The Vietnam War
The Kent State Shootings by Natalie M. Rosinsky
America Is Under Attack: September 11, 2001: The Day the Towers Fell by Don Brown

Africa:
DK Eyewitness: Africa
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe
African Princess: The Amazing Lives of Africa's Royal Women by Joyce Hansen
The Village That Vanished by Kadir Nelson
Ashanti to Zulu:African Traditions by Margaret Musgrove
Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom by Chris van Wyk

Europe:
Who Was Charles Darwin? by Deborah Hopkinson
Irish Potato Famine by Calliope Magazine
The Night Journey by Kathryn Lasky
Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon
The Christmas Truce DVD by The History Channel
Flying Aces of World War One by Gene Gurney
Snow Treasure Marie Mcswigan
Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop
Who Was Anne Frank? by Ann Abramson
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine
Escape to West Berlin by Maurine F. Dahlberg
My Palace of Leaves in Sarajevo by Marybeth Lorbiecki

Asia:
DK Eyewitness: China
Hiroshima: The Shadow of the Bomb by Richard Tames
DK Biography: Gandhi
India by Faces Magazine
Sikhs by Faces Magazine

Middle East:
Sami and the Time of the Troubles by Florence Parry Heide
The Never Ending Greenness by Neil Waldman
The Librarian of Basra: A True Story From Iraq by Jeanette Winter
Turkey by Faces Magazine

Other:
Great Inventors and Inventions Coloring Book by Dover
Pasteur's Fight Against Microbes by Beverly Birch
Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium by Carla Killough McClafferty
Human Rights by William Jay Jacobs
Why Can Money Buy Things? by Ask Magazine
Eureka by Ask Magazine
Presidential Pets by Laura Driscoll
30 Events That Changed the World by Calliope
The People Pick a President by Scholastic

History Resources-Third Grade

2012-02-02T13:04:00.008-05:00

Here is a list of what we are using for 3rd grade history-Early Modern Era from Exploration to 1850. Also included are some easier titles for Monkey, who tags along for history. The overwhelming emphasis this year is on America and Europe. There will be a greater global focus next year and in fifth grade we will concentrate solely on the eastern hemisphere.

It looks like a rather formidable list of books so I suppose I should point out that we don't follow a traditional school year and I don't approach most subjects in a traditional manner, particularly history. At our house instruction is literature based and hands-on whenever possible. The best learning takes place when they don't realize they're learning.

Some of these titles are read at bedtime (the really good ones that prompt a child to say, "Please just one more chapter?"), we take some camping, we listen to some via audiobook on long car trips, some are read by Bug, most are read aloud by me. Mostly I follow the Charlotte Mason example of narration and I don't make a production of it. I pause from time to time and have them retell to me what's been read. Sometimes I ask questions, sometimes I just listen to what struck them, sometimes I let them act out something from the book or draw a scene. Sometimes we have very lively discussions. It's all very laid back around here. Bug is doing a written research report at the end of the year, her first using multiple resources, but other than that it isn't very "schoolish." (And that's the way we like it.)

The American Story Series by Betsy Maestro
These look like picture books but are very informative. Unfortunately it only goes through 1815, as of now.
The New Americans: Colonial Times: 1620-1689 (The American Story)
Struggle for a Continent: The French and Indian Wars: 1689-1763 (The American Story)
Liberty or Death: The American Revolution: 1763-1783 (American Story)
A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution

Kids Learn America! Bringing Geography to Life with People, Places, and History by Patricia Gordon
Interactive 3-D Maps: American History by Donald M. Silver and Patricia J. Wynne
Marvelous Maps by Ask Magazine

The History Book by DK is not appropriate for use as a spine but it is a fun supplement. Both of my kids love this book. It is humorous and very imaginative.

The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia
Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia

BrainPop and Discovery Streaming What would we do without BrainPop and Discovery Streaming? I hope I never have to find out.

BOOKS
Colonial America:
Easy Make and Learn Projects: Colonial America by Donald Silver and Patricia Wynne
American Kids in History: Colonial America: Discover the Past with Fun Projects, Games, Activities, and Recipes by David C. King
Discoveries: Native Americans
More Than Moccasins: A Kid's Activity Guide to Traditional North American Life by Laurie Carlson
In a Circle Long Ago: A Treasure of Native Lore From North America by Nancy Van Laan
Exploration of North America Coloring Book by Peter Copeland
Pocahontas by Liz Sonneborn
Pocahontas: Princess of the New World by Kathleen Krull
Rediscovering Jamestown by Cobblestone Magazine
Blood on the River: Jamestown 1607 by Elisa Carbone (Excellent!)
Bacon's Rebellion by Cobblestone Magazine
Pilgrims Rock the New World by Cobblestone Magazine
Squanto's Journey:The Story of the First Thanksgiving by Joseph Bruchac
Roger Williams and the Lively Experiment of Rhode Island by Cobblestone Magazine
King Philip's War by Cobblestone Magazine
The Salem Witch Trials: An Unsolved Mystery from History by Jane Yolen
Anne Hutchinson: Puritan Rebel by Cobblestone Magazine
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Excellent!)
The Birth of New York: The Dutch in America by Cobblestone Magazine
Calico Bush by Rachel Field (We had a hard time getting into this one, particularly after Blood on the River and The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which grabbed us on the first page and didn't let us go.)
Contest For Empire: The French and Indian War by Cobblestone Magazine
Life and Liberty in Colonial Philadelphia by Cobblestone Magazine
Searching For Pirates by Ask Magazine
If You Lived in Colonial Times by Ann McGovern

Europe:
Peter the Great by Diane Stanley
Catherine: The Great Journey by Kristiana Gregory
Catherine the Great by Calliope Magazine
Maria Theresa by Calliope Magazine
Who Was Mozart? by Yona Zeldis McDonough
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by Calliope Magazine
Napoleon and Josephine Paper Dolls by Tom Tierney
The French Revolution by Calliope Magazine
Napoleon by Calliope Magazine
1848: Year of Revolution by R.G. Grant

Asia:
Taj Mahal: A Story of Love and Empire by Elizabeth Mann
Mumtaz of the Taj Mahal Paper Dolls by Tom Tierney

Australia:
DK Eyewitness: Australia
You Wouldn't Want to Be an Eithteenth Century British Convict: A Trip to Australia You'd Rather Not Take by Meredith Costain

Africa:
DK Eyewitness: Africa
Shaka: King of the Zulus by Diane Stanley

American Revolutionary War:
American Kids in History: Revolutionary War Days: Discover the Past with Exciting Projects, Games, Activities, and Recipes by David C.King
Who Was Ben Franklin? by Dennis Brindell Fradin
And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? by Jean Fritz
What’s the Big Idea, Ben Franklin? by Jean Fritz
Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares: A Math Reader by Frank Murphy
The Hatmaker’s Sign: A Story by Benjamin Franklin Retold by Candace Fleming
Meet Thomas Jefferson by Appleseeds Magazine
Can’t You Make Them Behave, King George? By Jean Fritz
Liberty’s Kids DVD series by The History Channel
American Revolution by DK Eyewitness Books
If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution by Kay Moore
George vs. George: The American Revolution As Seen From Both Sides by Rosalyn Schanzer
Why Not, Lafayette? By Jean Fritz
George Washington’s Socks by Elvira Woodruff
Toliver’s Secret by Esther Wood Brady
Young George Washington by Appleseeds Magazine
Who Was George Washington? by Roberta Edwards
Story of the American Revolution Coloring Book by Peter Copleland, Dover
George Washington Coloring Book by Peter Copeland, Dover
Why Don’t You Get a Horse, Sam Adams? by Jean Fritz
Phoebe the Spy by Judith Berry Griffin
The Battles of Lexington and Concord by Cobblestone Magazine
Benedict Arnold: American Traitor by Cobblestone Magazine

Slavery
Who Owns the Sun? by Stacy Chbosky
If You lived When there Was Slavery in America by Anne Kamma
Only Passing Through: the Story of Sojourner Truth by Anne Rockwell

The New Nation:
Why Don’t You Sign Here, John Hancock? by Jean Fritz
If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution by Elizabeth Levy
John Adams: Join or Die (Nov/Dec 2009) by Cobblestone Magazine
In Their Own Words: Lewis and Clark by George Sullivan
Who Was Thomas Jefferson? by Dennis Fradin
The Lewis and Clark Expedition Coloring Book by Peter Copeland, Dover
Who Was Sacajawea by Judith Bloom Fradin
Sacajawea and the Bravest Deed by Stephen Krensky
Lewis and Clark: A Prairie Dog For the President by Shirley Raye Redmond
Who Was Daniel Boone? by Sydelle Kramer
Andrew Jackson and His Family Paper Dolls by Tom Tierney
Who Was Johnny Appleseed? by Joan Holub

Native Americans:
Only the Names Remain: The Cherokees and the Trail of Tears by Alex Bealer
An Educational Read and Color Book of Southeast Indians edited by Linda Spizzirri
Creek Indians of the Early 1800s: A Coloring Book for All Ages by J.B. Fuller, Jr.

Industrialization and Inventions:
A Head Full of Notions: The Story of Robert Fulton by Andy Russell Bowen
The Erie Canal by R. Conrad Stein
The Story of Eli Whitney by Latham
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
Golden Age of the Steamboat by Cobblestone Magazine
Louis Braille: The Boy Who Invented Books for the Blind by Margaret Davidson
So Far From Home: The Diary of Mary Driscoll, an Irish Mill Girl by Barry Denenberg

Westward Expansion:
Inside the Alamo by Jim Murphy
Susanna of the Alamo: A True Story by John Jakes
The Story of the Alamo Coloring Book by Peter Copeland
The California Gold Rush by May McNeer

South America, Central America, and the Caribbean:
The Mexican Revolution by Calliope Magazine
A Unit on South America by Evan Moor
A Picture Book of Simon Bolivar by David Adler
Open the Door to Liberty: A Biography of Toussaint L'Ouverture by Anne Rockwell
Tall Tales and Literature:
Davy Crocket: A Life on the Frontier by Stephen Krensky
Pecos Bill by Stephen Kellogg
Paul Bunyan by Steven Kellogg
John Henry by Julius Lester
Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
The Man in the Iron Mask adapted by Paul Mantell
Oliver Twist (dramatized)
The Three Musketeers (dramatized)
Treasure Island retold by Jim Weiss
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

Made For Trade: A board game about Colonial America

Natural Foods Diet Day Seven

2012-01-10T12:03:00.003-05:00

Breakfast:
Oatmeal with Fruit

Lunch
Turkey Meatball Sub on Homemade Roll
Meatballs:
1 lb. ground turkey
1 egg
breadcrumbs with Italian seasoning
garlic powder
onion powder
Preheat oven to 350. Pour 2TBS olive oil in a cookie sheet and set in oven while preheating. Mix all ingredients and form balls. Carefully place onto sheet with hot oil. Cook for 15 minutes, turn, and cook for another 5 minutes.

Marinara Sauce

Super:
Chef's Salad

Natural Foods Diet Day Six

2012-01-08T21:18:00.001-05:00

Breakfast
Vegetable Omelette

Lunch
Spanikopita
from Marietta Diner

Supper
Are you kidding me? We ate lunch at Marietta Diner! I'm stuffed!

Natural Foods Diet Day Five

2012-01-06T21:39:00.001-05:00

For tomorrow:

Breakfast
Vegetable Omelette

Lunch
Apple-Walnut Chicken Salad

Supper
Corgi Cottage Soup
from The Tasha Tudor Cookbook
(This is a great way to use leftover roasted chicken!)

Natural Foods Diet Day Four

2012-01-06T21:34:00.002-05:00

Breakfast
Greek Yogurt with Fruit

Lunch
Meatless Shepherd's Pie

Supper:
Roasted Chicken with Herbes des Provence and Vegetables

Natural Foods Diet Day Three

2012-01-05T08:51:00.000-05:00

Breakfast
Organic Blueberry Muffins

Lunch
Barley Vegetable Chicken Soup

Supper
Meatless Shepherd's Pie
from Mollie Katzen's The Enchanted Broccoli Forest

Natural Foods Diet Day Two

2012-01-04T09:00:00.000-05:00

Breakfast:
Crepes with Yogurt Filling
Basic Crepes:
2 eggs
1/2 cup fat free organic milk
2 TBS melted organic butter
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup all purpose or white wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 TBS sugar
(For a savory version omit the sugar and vanilla and add herbs).

Beat together wet ingredients then add the dry. Batter should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. It's best to refrigerate the batter for an hour before making the crepes. Use a 10" non stick pan. Warm pan over medium heat. Melt a little butter in the pan and swirl. Add only about an ounce of batter and swirl around to coat the bottom of the pan. It will be very thin. They cook very quickly, in about 30 seconds per side. The leftovers can be stored in ziploc bags for several days after they have cooled. I put wax paper between them.

The possibilities for filling are nearly endless. I like to mix together Fage Fat Free yogurt with just a little bit of Lyle's Golden Syrup for filling. You can add banana slices, too. Another yummy idea is to fry a cut up apple in a smidgeon of butter with a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Lunch:
Salad with Baked Salmon
I used the leftover salmon from dinner last night and crumbled it on top of some romaine lettuce. I shredded a carrot and sprinkled a little gorgonzola cheese over the top. I whisked together balsamic vinegar and olive oil for dressing.

Supper:
Barley Vegetable Chicken Soup
from Better Homes and Gardens Soup magazine
Crusty Homemade Dinner Rolls (recipes vary according to bread machine)

Natural Foods Diet Day One

2012-01-03T12:55:00.003-05:00

Breakfast:

Buttermilk Pancakes with Maple Syrup
1 1/4 cups King Arthur all purpose or white whole wheat flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 TBS sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 beaten free range egg
1 cup buttermilk plus enough regular milk to thin batter
2 TBS light tasting olive oil

Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a small bowl. Add to dry ingredients and stir.

Lunch:
Peanut Butter and Preserve Sandwiches
Homemade White Wheat Bread (recipes vary according to machine)
Private Selection Organic Peanut Butter
Bonne Maman Strawberry Preserves

I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches when all the ingredients are fresh and high quality.I like making my own peanut butter but this brand has all natural ingredients and will do in a pinch. My repeated attempts to make preserves have all failed but I will try again this summer when fruit is fresh. Bonne Maman is about as close to homemade as you can get.

Snack:
Old Fashioned Popcorn
popcorn kernels
organic butter
light tasting olive oil
salt

This works better over a flame, which is why we usually only do it when we're camping, but it will work on an electric stovetop or in an electric skillet as long as you have a tight fitting lid. Melt a little butter for flavor over medium heat. Use only about 1/4 cup of kernels. Make sure they are all in a single layer in the bottom of the pan. Pour only enough oil to cover. Sprinkle with salt. Cover. Once you hear the popping slow down remove from heat.

Supper:
Baked Salmon with Rice and Broccoli
Marinate 2 salmon fillets for one hour in the refrigerator using the following ingredients:
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons light olive oil
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
Place marinated salmon in a glass dish, top with aluminum foil. Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes.

Boil rice in homemade chicken stock* to add flavor. Serve salmon over rice. Cook broccoli as usual. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with a bit of fresh parmesan cheese.

*Making chicken stock is incredibly easy. After I roast a chicken I put the carcass and unused parts in a stock pot filled with water, then I throw in onions, celery, carrots, and garlic. You don't have to chop them up very nicely, just rough chop in big chunks and throw them in a pot of water with the carcass. I use whatever fresh herbs I have on hand-thyme and oregano work well. If I don't have fresh I'll use dried. When it cools the fat will float on top. Remove with a slotted spoon. It's kind of hard to mess up chicken stock. It tastes SO much better and is much, MUCH cheaper than store bought. It freezes well, too!

My Natural Foods Diet

2012-01-03T07:58:00.004-05:00

I didn't really know what to call this diet I've decided to put us on for a month. I thought about calling it the "Whole Foods" diet but I realized that I would violate it almost immediately because the term "whole foods" is extremely narrow and would not allow us to drink homogenized milk. The goal here is to eliminate (as much as possible) processed foods from our diet for a whole month. I am not doing this to lose weight (though I'd be thrilled if I did). I am more concerned about removing the junk from what we eat and giving our bodies natural fuel.

Any experiment needs parameters and since I live in a typical subdivision rather than on a farm I decided I needed to determine ahead of time what I can and cannot buy at the store. I will buy foods that have been minimally processed and contain no artificial ingredients. This means I can buy real, organic cheese but not Velveeta. We can have mashed potatoes if we use real potatoes and natural ingredients but we cannot use instant. We can use real butter sparingly rather than butter substitutes. I'll buy lean, organic, humanely farmed meats but not hot dogs or deli meat. I can buy dried, frozen or fresh beans instead of canned. I'll make our spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, etc...I'll make all of our bread. I can use brands of dried pasta which contain only natural ingredients. Get the picture? I'll be posting daily for a week to keep track of our choices. So...here goes.

One Day in the Woods.

2011-11-14T11:07:00.003-05:00

Bug was captivated by Jean Craighead George's book One Day in the Woods so I suggested we turn it into a nature study project. Her eyes lit up and she started hopping up and down saying, "Yes! Let's do that!" She's acquiring computer skills along the way. Here's how she decided to do it:

As she reads the book she looks for references to plants and animals in the woods. Then we print pictures and facts from the internet (careful to give full credit). She then puts the page into a 3 ring binder. We also watch videos and listen to bird songs along the way.

I have found George's novels to be wonderful living books for science. The kids love them and they learn without realizing it.

Official Website of Jean Craighead George

Life Should Be All Living: More Wisdom From an Old School Marm

2011-11-13T12:50:00.002-05:00

Here are more gems from Charlotte Mason's Education series (some are paraphrased):

*The happiness of the child is the condition of her progress. Her lessons should be joyous and occasions of friction in the schoolroom are greatly to be deprecated.
*Never be inside when you can be outside. Spend most of the first six years of life outside.
*Vigorous, healthy play is fully as important as lessons as regards both bodily health and brainpower.
*Life should be all living and not merely a tedious passing of time. We should be in touch wherever we go, whatever we hear, whatever we see, with some manner of vital interest.
*The question is not how much the youth knows when he has finished his education but how much does he care and about how many orders of things does he care? How full is the life he has before him?
*Give children living books, not textbooks.
*Our error is that we must act as [the child's] showman to the universe and that there is no community between child and universe except such as we choose to set up.
*No education seems to be worth the name which has not made children at home in the world of books.
*(About narration:)Questions (from an outside source) are an intrusion and a bore. Questions are an impertinence which we all resent. The mind can know nothing except what it can express in the form of an answer to a question put by the mind to itself.
*Utilitarian education (the type which prepares a person for employment-the aim of public school systems) is profoundly immoral in that it defrauds a child of the associations which should give
him intellectual atmosphere.
*There is no education but self education. Our duty is to give children mind-stuff, and both quality and quantity are essential. Mind-stuff is acquired from books. The best thought the world possesses is stored in books.
*People are naturally divided into those who read and think and those who do not. The business of schools is to see that all their scholars shall belong to the former.
*Knowledge is not instruction, information, scholarship, a well-stored memory. It is passed, like the light of a torch, from mind to mind, and the flame can be kindled at original minds only. Thought breeds thought.
*Where science does not teach a child to wonder and admire, it has perhaps no educational value.
*The method of education is natural, easy, yielding, unobtrusive, simple as the ways of Nature herself; yet watchful, careful, all-pervading, all compelling. the parent who sees her way to educate her child will make use of every circumstance of the child's life almost without intention on her own part, so easy and spontaneous is a method of education based upon Natural Law.
*The child, though under supervision, should be left much to himself.
*The art of standing aside to let a child develop the relations proper to him is the fine art of education.
*The claims of the schoolroom should not be allowed to encroach on the child's right to long hours daily for exercise and investigation.
*If possible children should be taken daily to scenes-moor or meadow, park or shore- where he may find new things to examine and so to add to his store of real knowledge.

Wisdom From an Old School Marm

2011-11-08T15:08:00.005-05:00

Here's why Charlotte Mason is one of my favorite sources of education inspiration:

*Children do not need workbooks.
*Teachers shall teach less and scholars shall learn more.
*The mind feeds on ideas and therefore children should have a generous curriculum.
*The getting of knowledge and the getting of delight in knowledge are the ends of the child's education.
*Children's minds are not a receptacle to be filled and children taught on this principle are in danger of receiving much teaching with little knowledge.
*The teacher who allows his scholars the freedom of the city of books is at liberty to be their guide, philosopher and friend; and is no longer the mere instrument of forcible intellectual feeding.
*The current textbooks of the schoolroom must be scrapped and replaced by living books, books into which the writer has put his heart and a highly trained mind.
*Do not crowd out free time or try to structure the play of children.
*Organized games are not play. Let the children use their imaginations.
*Children must stand or fall by their own efforts.
*It would be better for children to suffer the consequences of not doing their work now and then than to do it because they are so urged and prodded that they have no choice.
*Children should form their own opinions. We have no right to pass our own opinions on to our children. Teach living principles, not opinions.
*Authority is that aspect of love which parents present to their children; parents know it is love because to them it means continual self-denial, self-repression, self-sacrifice. Children recognize it is as love because to them it means quiet rest and gaiety of heart.
+Have confidence. Don't be anxious, domineering, interfering, or demanding. Have confidence in the children.
*Nagging doesn't work.
*Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life.
*A child gains knowledge through his own digging out of facts and information clothed in literary language by the use of narration.
*Live by admiration, faith, and love versus artificial stimulants like prizes, competitions and grades.
*Keep lessons short.
*The afternoons are for leisure.
*Spend as much time as possible outside.
*All the great ideas that have moved the world are in books. Don't get between the book and the child. Don't water it down; let the child deal with the matter.
*You will see the unwisdom of choosing or rejecting this or that subject, as being more or less useful or necessary in view of a child's future. Of course it is only now and then that a notion catches the small child but when it does catch it works wonders and does more for his education than years of grind.

Germs

2011-08-19T22:10:00.002-04:00

Click Magazine: Germs Make Us Sick
Bill Nye the Science Guy: Germs, part 1
Bill Nye the Science Guy: Germs, part 2
Bill Nye the Science Guy: Germs,part 3
The Magic School Bus: Inside Ralphie (Germs)
The Magic School Bus Science Kit: Germs

Flight

2011-08-05T13:43:00.003-04:00

What makes a rocket blast off?
How can fast-moving air lift a plane?
Why are rotors of a helicopter so important?
My kids are going to discover that and more as we explore the science and history of flight.

Bill Nye the Science Guy Birds and Flight Video pt. 1
Bill Nye the Science Guy Birds and Flight pt. 2
Magic School Bus Taking Flight
Magic School Bus Science Kit: Flight
Flight by Robert Burleigh
How Do Airplanes Fly? by Isaac Asimov
The Visual Dictionary of Flight
Flight Through Time by Chris Oxlade
I Want to Be a Pilot by Dan Libman
Lost Star: The Story of Amelia Earhart by Patricia Lauber
Lindbergh by Charles Demarest
"Women Take Flight," Cobblestone Magazine
"The Wright Brothers," Coblestone Magazine
"Dream of Flight," Cobblestone Magazine
IMAX: The Magic of Flight (watch instantly on Netflix)
Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot by Alice Provensen
NOVA: A Daring Flight (available for rent from Netflix)

The Little Airplane by Lois Lenski
Amelia's Fantastic Flight by Rose Bursik

Teddy Bears' Luncheon

2011-08-05T12:57:00.001-04:00

We wrapped up our first week of school with a luncheon to honor our favorite bears from literature and elsewhere. We always look forward to this annual event. The kids gathered their stuffed bear friends and placed them around the table to join us. We were sad that Pooh and friends didn't survive the fire and we missed them terribly. Hopefully I can find replacements before the next event (and before the kids outgrow the novelty). I also missed Teddy Bear, my special bear with Teddy Roosevelt glasses who used to sit on my desk and watch me teach. We had a rather small group but we made merry anyway. Paddington was out visiting when the fire occurred so he was present to sit at the head of the table. Corduroy joined us for the first time this year, as did Master Shifu. He cheated his way in. You can't trust those kung fu types.

MENU FOR A TEDDY BEARS' LUNCHEON
Tuna Fish Sandwiches
Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwiches
Orange Marmalade sandwiches
(we cut them into bear shapes)

Goldfish (bears eat fish, right?)
Teddy Grahams
Bit O' Honey candy
Gummy Bears
Sugar Cookies (bear shaped, of course)
Cupcakes (decorated with Winnie the Pooh sprinkles)

Raspberry Lemonade

I Love Days Like This

2011-08-01T22:29:00.000-04:00

My flirtation with the idea of enrolling my kids in the reputedly great local public school school was very short lived. We made the right decision for us. Today was the first day of school both in our district and here at home. While other kids were eating their breakfasts or waiting for buses mine were both sleeping in their cozy beds. They woke up when they were ready, enjoyed our daily morning snuggles, ate leisurely breakfasts of bear shaped cinnamon toasts (in honor of bear week), got themselves dressed and started their scheduled learning time.

When that was done we all cuddled together on the sofa and read Winnie the Pooh-the REAL Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne. Disney produces great movies but terrible books. I listened to my kids laugh about silly Tigger trying to find something he likes to eat for breakfast and smiled at Monkey who couldn't help but give away the answer half way through the chapter. "He likes Roo's medicine, Mommy!" I don't know how many times I've read that book but no one ever seems to mind hearing it again. The kids checked on their toadpoles and that led to a barrage of questions so we wound up at the computer looking up the life cycle of frogs and toads. (Hey, aren't we supposed to be studying bears this week? LOL) Monkey described what an amphibian was, proud that he knew something important.

Monkey placed the months of the year placards in the right order with Bug's help because he thought it would be fun, they both demanded another chapter of Pooh which led to Monkey asking if Christopher Robin was a real person. We sat at the computer again while he looked at pictures of the real Christopher Robin Milne and his stuffed animals, and I had to pry a book out of Bug's hands at 9:30 so she'd go to sleep.

We never did get around to spelling. So what. The kids learned all day long, just like nature intended. I just love days like this.

Jamestown

2011-08-01T14:17:00.006-04:00

National Geographic for Kids: The Story of Captain John Smith
Pocohantas: Princess of the New World by Kathleen Krull
A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla
Blood on the River by Elisa Carbone
The Official Website of Elisa Carbone contains more information on Blood on the River, including a teacher's guide
Blood on the River Book Discussion
Jamestown Video
Jamestown Settlement Website This site is full of information-videos, maps, etc...
Virtual Jamestown
Colonial National Historical Network
Virginia Council on Indians

Tadpoles!

2011-07-31T14:06:00.000-04:00

I bought a frog/toad habitat at Books-a-Million a couple of days ago. The kids wasted no time fishing some tadpoles out of the pond and plopping them in. I'm not sure but from the looks of them I think they're going to be toads. We put in five though the kids captured twice that many.

Week 1: Bears

2011-07-29T10:33:00.000-04:00

Some resources for bear week:

Kindergarten readers from Readinga-z:
Where Is Cub? by Brian Roberts
Bear and Kangaroo by Ned Jensen
Beanie and the Missing Bear by Dori H. Butler

Corduroy by Don Freeman
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
Eight Bear Types
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
The Snow Bears by Jan Brett and compare to Goldilocks
The Three Bears and Pitch
Living and Non Living Bears
The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood
Fun Song About Bear Hibernation
The Bears Love Peanut Butter Song(cute)
I'm a Big Chubby Bear with a Furry Little Tail
Fur (cute song about a bear who doesn't like fur)
I've Been Diggin' Out My Bear Den Song
Animal Planet Video
Paddington by Michael Bond
Official Site of Paddington Bear
Have a teddy bear tea party (we do this at least once a year and it is always so much fun). Included on the menu will be marmalade sandwiches, teddy grahams, smoked salmon sandwiches, honey sweetened tea,red ripe strawberries, and honey cookies
Go see Winnie the Pooh at the theater!

New Beginnings

2011-07-27T20:59:00.002-04:00

It is a time for new beginnings for us. We have a new state, new town, new house. Since we no longer live close to the beach but our new house is on a lake we have decided to change the name of our school to Lakeside Academy. Officially it's a lake but you really have to stretch the imagination. It's more of a pond really but Pondside Academy just doesn't have that certain ring. I hope you enjoy following Bug through her third grade year and Monkey through his first official year of school.

Moving On

2011-07-16T12:46:00.000-04:00

It's very difficult to believe it has been just over a month since our house was destroyed by fire. We are now settled in Georgia in a beautiful new house in a friendly neighborhood. It will be awhile, though, before it feels like home. The living room is completely empty because the furniture I ordered hasn't arrived yet and the walls are bare.

Still we are grateful to have our lives. The kids and I were home when the house was hit by lightning. The blast left a hole in the wall outside my son's room. It looked like a bomb exploded, blowing the brick to smithereens.

Considering that my father's funeral was the day before, I suppose it's natural that I've been inclined to see miraculous workings behind the whole event. If someone had given me five minutes of guaranteed safety to run back into my burning house, most of the things I would have grabbed somehow escaped destruction: my grandmother's recipes, my mother's recipes, home videos, the hard drive of my computer containing years worth of photographs I kept intending to save onto CD, my daughter's cross stitched birth record, the cross stitch Pooh my mother did before I even had children because she just knew one day I'd have a daughter, the gown my children were baptised in, the cigalle carving my French mom gave me before I left France, the photo albums of the kids, my mother's jewelry, the wooden spoon I carved for my mother during a high school retreat to Pine Mountain (the one I got in trouble with her for because I broke curfew trying to finish it on time and I let her punish me rather than ruin the surprise-she cherished that ugly thing as if it were made of diamonds), my grandmother's naked baby figurine that I loved when I was a kid... I'm thinking Daddy plunged right in to earn his wings, maybe with Mom's help since she's been a guardian angel for six years now. Silly and juvenile, I know, but it's a comforting thought nonetheless.

So we're moving on. We've got a house and new stuff and some wonderful momentos of the past and new stories to go with them. Most importantly, this new house is full of the sound of happy children-my assurance that they really are okay.

Quirkle Giveaway

2011-04-03T12:36:00.000-04:00

I've entered to win another fantastic giveaway at Secular Homeschool Community. I have both fingers crossed that I win these Quirkles!

I pretty much never win anything. I'm SO unlucky but here's hoping.

Box Day

2011-03-18T16:19:00.001-04:00

It's Bug's Box Day. Her books for third grade arrived today! Some of the titles I already had so we had fun putting everything together on the sofa for the big "Getting Ready For Third Grade" pictures:

The Twenty-One Balloons

2011-03-11T12:37:00.000-05:00

Photos of Krakatoa
Science for Kids: Hot Air
Make Your Own Four Foot Hot Air Balloon That Really Flies
More Hot Air Balloon Links
Hot Air Balloon Crafts for Kids

White Stallion of Lipizza

2011-03-11T12:31:00.001-05:00

White Stallions of Lipizza
Website on the famous horses
Disney's Miracle of the White Stallions This is a Disney movie set in WWII and based on a true story. The entire movie is available on youtube. Follow the links on the right of the youtube page.
Famous Lippizzaner Stallions Information on the show

Roanoke, Jamestown, Peter the Great, Mogul Empire, Ming and Ching Dynasties of China

2011-03-04T14:47:00.001-05:00

Photos and Maps of the Lost Colony

Interactive John Smith game
Virtual Jamestown
Photos:Jamestown and Early Colonial Virginia

Peter the Great Short Discovery Education documentary
Russian Recipes

Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik Recorded live in France

Map of the Mogul Empire
Video of Taj Mahal
Virtual Tour of Taj Mahal

Treasures from the Ming Dynasty
Condensed History of China for Beginners
Enchanted Learning: China

Finding Peace in the Midst of Ugliness

2011-03-03T14:12:00.000-05:00

"Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill." -The Buddha

There are two things happening which are challenging me and deepening my practice. Although the two situations are not related they can be dealt with in much the same way. Firstly I have recognized the rise of negativity in my own thoughts and feelings directed at a group of people whose actions have been hurtful to myself and my family, and to others.In this case the reason is ignorance. These people act the way they do, hate as they do, and say what they do because they have been told to, and they believe they are doing as they should. Realizing that people are hurtful because they are ignorant helps bring about compassion, but these actions have still caused in me a reaction of negative thoughts, and they don't need to be there. "We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world." (The Buddha.) I cannot lay blame on this group of people for my own reaction to them. I, alone,am responsible for how I feel about it. "It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways." (The Buddha).

The other situation is not caused by ignorance but by something else altogether. I have done my utmost to change the situation but the person in question, for whatever reason, will not change the hurtful behavior. I cannot avoid this person so I have turned again to the wisdom of the Buddha as revealed in this story:

Buddha was walking into the city market one day and near the city entrance an old bitter man was sitting on a box glaring at Buddha, who carried a bright smile on his face. At the sight of him this old man started cursing Buddha up and down, left right and center, telling him how pretentious he was, how much better he thought he was, and how he did nothing worthy of the air he breathed in this world. But Buddha simply smiled and kept on walking to the market to get what he needed.

The next day Buddha returned to the market and once again that old man was there, this time his cursing intensified, screaming and yelling at Buddha as he walked by, cursing his mother, cursing his father and everyone else in his life.

This went on for the rest of the week and finally as the Buddha was leaving the market the man came up to him, as his curiousity had simply gotten the best of him.
“Buddha, every day you come here smiling and every day I curse your name, I curse your family and everything you believe in,” the old man says,”but every day you enter this city with a smile knowing that I await you with my harsh tongue, and everyday you leave through the same entrance with that same smile. I know by speaking to you now that you are not deaf, why do you keep on smiling while I do nothing but scream the worst things I can think of to your face?”

Buddha, with the same smile still on his face looks at the old man and asks “If I were to bring you a gift tomorrow morning all wrapped up in a beautiful box would you accept it?” The old man replies, “Absolutely not, I would take nothing from the likes of you!” “Ah ha,” the Buddha replies, “Well, if I were to offer you this gift and you were to refuse, then to whom would this gift belong?”. “It would still belong to you, of course,” answers the old man.
The Buddha replies, “And so the same goes with your anger, when I choose not to accept your gift of anger , does it not then remain your own?”

At this moment these words from the Dalai Lama are the most helpful: "As human beings we all want to be happy and free from misery.
We have learned that the key to happiness is inner peace.
The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as
anger and attachment, fear and suspicion,
while love and compassion, a sense of universal responsibility
are the sources of peace and happiness."

Namaste

Age of Elizabeth, English Civil War, Age of Absolutism

2011-02-28T13:22:00.000-05:00

Kings and Queens by Aerosmith I can't resist an excuse to hear Aerosmith. This youtube music video is accompanied by paintings of nobility.

Elizabeth Learns She Is Queen

Music video about Elizabeth I to the tune of"She's Not There" by the Zombies

Music video about Mary, Queen of Scots to the tune of "Jenny From the Block" by Jennifer Lopez (historyteachers)

Shakespeare For Kids
Music video about Shakespeare to the tune of "Shayla" by Blondie (historyteachers)
The Globe Theatre
Shakespeares' Globe Theatre
Shakespeare Resource Center

Recipes from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

King Charles I Taken Prisoner

Cromwell in Ireland

Horrible Histories: King of Bling (Charles II)

London before and after the Great Fire

James II and the Glorious Revolution

West Africa, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Tudors

2011-02-25T14:25:00.000-05:00

Benin: An African Kingdom(Art from the British Museum)

African Folk Tales and Fables For Kids

Design Your Own Fresco Very easy project using Plaster of Paris

Music video about famous men of the Renaissance to the tune of "Blister in the Sun" by The Violent Femmes (historyteachers)

Renaissance art cards

General Renaissance art (scroll down)

Illuminating the Renaissance Interactive Site

Virtual Uffizi Museum in Florence

Mona Lisa paper doll

Huge site with tons of links for Leonardo da Vinci

Music video about da Vinci to the tune of "Dear Prudence" by Siouxie and the Banshees (historyteachers)

Short Documentary on Leonardo da Vinci

Italian Artists Coloring Pages (Enchanted Learning)

The Renaissance Connection

Michelangelo

Music video about Martin Luther to the tune of "Manic Monday" by the Bangles (historyteachers)
Reformation Day Humor

Music video about The Spanish Inquisition to the tune of "(Keep Feelin') Fascination" by The Human League (historyteachers)

Music video about Gutenberg to the tune of "Sunday Girl" by Blondie (historyteachers)

Horrible Histories Terrible Tudors: The Wives of Henry VIII

Music video about Henry VIII to the tune of "Money, Money, Money" by ABBA (historyteachers)

Online tour of the Mary Rose, King Henry VIII's warship which sank in 1545

Horrible Histories Terrible Tudors: The Tudor Song

Music video about Anne Boleyn to the tune of "Girl" by the Beatles (historyteachers)

The School Story

The Disney Surprise

2011-01-17T11:44:00.000-05:00

I had mixed feelings about taking a family vacation to Disney. My parents took my brother and me there three years after the park first opened and I feasted on the wonderful memories for years. I was only four but I remember it vividly, particularly seeing my favorite characters and getting their autographs. I poured over that autograph book for months if not years afterward. I returned in 1990 after Epcot opened and I've been wanting to go back ever since. I was absolutely captivated by the World Showcase. I was hesitant, though. Would the kids ever be able to enjoy a normal vacation again? Will they be able to appreciate someplace like Williamsburg or Yellowstone after experiencing Disney?

Since turning 40 I've made a commitment to relax and enjoy life more, to try new things and not be so serious all the time. So, what the hell? The kids are at the perfect age (8 and nearly 5), we live less than six hours away from Orlando, and it isn't going to get any cheaper to go. We got the discounted military tickets and an incredible hotel/dining deal so it was hard to pass up the opportunity.

We went to Epcot and Animal Kingdom first, then Hollywood Studios, saving the best for last. My kids pleasantly surprised me. Even after going to Magic Kingdom they wanted to go back to Epcot. They even asked to ride Living with the Land again AFTER having experienced thrill rides like Space Mountain. After seeing it twice they wanted to ride it again. (To the unfamiliar this is an attraction which chronicles the history of agriculture in America and features a boat ride through different displays, culminating in a ride through a greenhouse. Sounds incredibly boring but believe it or not it's quite lovely). I thought if they liked that they might like Spaceship Earth which covers the history of communications. They loved it, also. Everyone's favorite ride, though, was Soarin', which is also at Epcot. Colonel Dad even waited in line for 75 minutes so we could all go a third time. (They were out of Fastpasses). I never would have predicted that a hangliding ride over California would be such a winner with everyone. At any rate, so much of what we did was educational that I feel justified in counting two of our days there as school days, no joke. They visited a world class zoo and aquarium, learned about agriculture, technology, and different cultures. Yup, that counts.

The week was full of surprises. The biggest was Colonel Dad's decision to upgrade our tickets to annual passes so we can come back as often as we want. He was like a kid the whole week, absolutely giddy about everything. He couldn't believe we waited so long to go and before we got home he was already trying to figure out how soon we could return. We've been home for two days and we've already planned our next three trips! There is so much we didn't have time to do. It gives me something to look forward to, somewhere interesting to go, and something to think about (other than how much I dislike Crestview). We've become one of those crazy Disney families. Next I guess I'll have to get one of those decals to put on the back of the car that shows the family wearing mouse ears. Okay, maybe not.

Monkey in the Limelight

2011-01-07T13:41:00.000-05:00

My recent blogs have covered what Bug is doing during her school day so I figured it was time to focus on Monkey. For four years old he's doing remarkably well with both reading and math. He's still got a long way to go with writing but is fairly motivated to improve. I don't really know what "grade" to put him in. He's easily reading on a first grade level and could have started Saxon Math 1 at the beginning of the year. I held off, though, to give him time to mature a bit. In the meantime he is doing the following:

Math: We're focusing on readiness without using a curriculum. I bought the Saxon Math K teacher edition used (for $5!) to act as a guideline for me but when I looked at it I realized he was already beyond this level. Not wanting to start him on the first grade edition, I've been reviewing shapes, going over the calendar, having him count (he can count to 100 consistently without error). He's also practicing writing the numerals and doing some simple addition and subtraction with manipulatives (Skittles, M &Ms, cookies, etc...There's nothing better than being able to eat your math homework!) I'll start him in Saxon Math 1 in the fall.

Reading: Readinga-z.com successfully got my daughter reading confidently and above grade level, so I'm using it with Monkey. As I did with Bug, I'm having him read the decodable books for "reading instruction" time and giving him leveled readers for "free reading" time (which he still must read aloud to either me or Colonel Dad). Today he read Fran and the Prom Dress (Decodable#37) for reading instruction and for free reading he just completed the last of the level D readers and is starting level E.

Phonics: I feel like he gets plenty of phonics with readinga-z but I have him do one page of Explode the Code 1. It's below his level but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure where phonics is concerned and it only takes five minutes.

Writing: He is halfway through the Handwriting Without Tears kindergarten printing workbook. I absolutely love this series. In addition, I am using the StartWrite software to print things for him to trace: his name, address, phone number, names of favorite characters, simple sentences from favorite books, etc...

Read-alouds: This is the bulk of Monkey's day. He listens to me read Bug's Sonlight read-aloud (this week it's The Door in the Wall by Maguerite de Angeli) but his own read-alouds include the Magic Tree House series, the books from Five in a Row (we don't use the curriculum, just the books, which are incredibly good), and other classical literature and poetry. He loves Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary. I have been vigilant about keeping twaddle out of the house ever since we started buying books for Bug. A few volumes have crept in but I consider them junk food and keep them at a strict minimum, but that's a subject for another post.

The Second Half

2011-01-02T22:56:00.000-05:00

We're ready for school to start back up again. We all needed the break but even Bug seems ready to get back to school. We're all excited about switching to Sonlight (secularized) for the second half of second grade. She's in core 2 (World History, part 2) with advanced readers. It's not such a radical change, actually. I had to back up a few weeks because the Sonlight schedule goes at a faster pace for the history than the Well Trained Mind does. Bug has already read most of the books scheduled for the second half of the year so I'm having to do a bit of flip-flopping to cover everything. Even with that I'll be spending far less time on planning than I did before. I already peeked ahead at core 3 and I'm happy that we will not be having that problem next year.

Bug looked over all the books for core 2 and she's genuinely looking forward to this new curriculum. In her words, "Mom, this is going to be so cool!" I know I'll love it: Sonlight is history-centered. Bug loves to read and be read to, and Sonlight is literature based, so I think we'll have two happy homeschoolers. We're sticking with the RSO Earth and Space science curriculum and Saxon math because those make us happy, too.

So, here we go: This week Bug will learn about Genghis Khan, the spread of Buddhism to southeast Asia, Chinese bureaucracy and inventions, and Marco Polo's fantastic adventures. She will read about Laura Ingalls' daughter Rose, write a paper about a scientific experiment, and do some neat stuff with igneous rocks. (And math, grammar, and all that other stuff)...and she'll start getting ready for Big Bad Third Grade.

I love homeschooling!

Nothin' Like a Muffin

2010-12-17T14:13:00.000-05:00

There's nothing like a hot muffin on a soggy, wintery day...Here are two of my favorites for this time of year.

GINGERBREAD MUFFINS
1 cup raisins, presoaked and drained
1/2 cup soft butter flavored Crisco
3TBS sugar
1 egg
1 cup molasses
1 cup boiling water
2 1/4 cups sifted white whole wheat flour*
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 325. Grease and flour a 9" square pan or use cupcake papers and tins. Thoroughly mix shortening, sugar, and egg. Combine molasses and boiling water. Carefully add to the shortening mixture. Start with a little bit and keep beating with the mixer. If you add too much too fast you'll risk cooking the egg. Sift dry ingredients into the bowl. Beat until smooth, then stir in raisins. Bake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

*King Arthur Flour has white whole wheat flour. Most of the "nicer" grocery stores carry it but you can order it from the company if you have trouble finding it, or you can substitute a mixture of white and whole wheat flours in whatever combo appeals to your tastebuds.

MOLASSES BRAN MUFFINS
This is an ultra-healthy muffin. Believe it or not, this is one of Monkey's favorites, but then again that boy has never met a muffin he didn't like.

1 cup wheat bran
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour (see note above), or whole wheat
1 cup raisins
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup milk (I like to use Almond Vanilla milk in this. It boosts the flavor, but you can use whatever you have)
1/2 cup molasses or pure cane syrup (I prefer molasses)
3/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup chopped pecans
2 TBS light tasting olive oil
2 eggs.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix together all ingredients and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. If you want even more fiber sprinkle a little wheat germ into the batter :)

Cranberry Cookies

2010-11-30T16:10:00.000-05:00

I love King Arthur flour. I bake a lot and prefer to make our bread at home and I have to say there really is no better flour. And while I'm on the subject I'll go ahead and say we love the white whole wheat flour, too. I use it all the time. It has all the nutrition of whole wheat flour but it's lighter in texture and taste. I also love the KAF catalog, which I pour over every time it comes in the mail. Today I was poking around the website and found a wonderful recipe for cranberry cookies. I altered it slightly since I don't have powdered sugar or coarse sugar, and I love the combination of cranberries and white chocolate. They are soooooo good. The kids gobbled them up. So, here's my version of the King Arthur Flour Cranberry Gems:

CRANBERRY GEMS

1 cup King Arthur white whole wheat flour
1 ½ cups dried cranberries (Craisins)
2 TBS powdered sugar (I didn't have any so I put regular white sugar in the food processor to make superfine sugar)
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 TBS cold unsalted butter, cut into pats
3 TBS milk
about ½ cup white chocolate chips
coarse sugar (I used regular white sugar)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place flour and cranberries in food processor and process until cranberries are coarsely shredded. Put flour/cranberry mixture into mixing bowl. Add sugar to flour/cranberry mixture. Add baking powder, salt, vanilla, and butter. Mix with electric mixer until butter is no bigger than pea-size. Add milk and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add white chocolate chips and stir in with a spoon. Use an ice cream scooper to make dough balls. Pour some course sugar into a bowl and roll balls in sugar, then place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten balls with the bottom of a glass until they are about ¼ inch thick. Bake for 16-17 minutes until just beginning to brown on the edge. DO NOT OVERBAKE!

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/

Substituting Olive Oil For Butter

2010-11-28T12:52:00.000-05:00

I've seen the Pompeiian Olive Oil ads asking us to substitute olive oil for butter and decided to give it a try since it would obviously be healthier. I made traditional Nestle Toll House cookies with the amount of oil suggested on the website rather than butter. The cookie held its shape well but didn't turn golden brown in the oven. The taste was very good, though obviously lacking the rich butter flavor. The texture was more cake-like than a regular cookie. The kids gobbled them up and I can't say I was displeased with them right out of the oven when the chocolate was still warm and gooey. The next day, however, the cookie tasted like a hard, dried-out muffin. For me, the oil substitution gets the thumbs down for the Nestle Toll House cookie but the kids never complained about them, even the next. day. A reasonable alternative is to use half the recommended amount of oil and half the amount of butter called for in the recipe.

My next experiment was with my husband's favorite oatmeal raisin cookies. The cookie batter couldn't hold their shape and fell apart on the cookie sheet. I can definitely say the oil substitution gets the thumbs down for these.

I will say that olive oil is the only kind I use when oil is called for. The light tasting variety does very well in baked goods. I've tried it in pancakes, cakes and baked doughnuts. Sometimes, though, there is no substitute for real butter.

More About Math

2010-11-23T14:24:00.000-05:00

At first I hated Saxon math but I am now a big fan. Why? It works. We tried just about everything. Saxon clicked. My daughter went from hating math and thinking she was "just stupid" to loving math and calling herself a math whiz. Is it magic? No. It's back to basics, no fuzzy stuff, real math. She's also making connections between what she learns in her math lessons and real life.

Math scores in this country have been steadily declining since at least the mid-90s thanks to the New Math trend which doesn't emphasize basic, linear math skills. Some school districts, frustrated with their students' poor math scores, are beginning to understand the need to return to real math. According to this article
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003674945_sundaymath22.html , "Saxon Math is unfashionable in the educational bureaucracy" but schools in Washington state which have abandoned the New Math and started using the Saxon program have seen dramatic leaps in their students' test scores, including the scores of students in economically disadvantaged areas.

An added bonus is that if my children continue with Saxon math through high school they will have taken advanced mathematics before taking the PSATs and SATs. They will complete math through calculus by the end of eleventh grade and will be a year ahead of their peers.
http://books.google.com/books?id=kblgelIEWc0C&pg=PA258&lpg=PA258&dq=saxon+math+reviews+susan+wise+bauer&source=bl&ots=ftjdysU4jn&sig=GayzUSU1LK--Cm2yiK9QbqDYkDY&hl=en&ei=_RPsTJawLIvmsQPLn6TPDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CF8Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Our Own Doughnut Day

2010-11-13T08:57:00.000-05:00

A few years ago my husband started a tradition of taking the family to the doughnut shop every Saturday morning. We have a wonderful mom-and-pop place here in town and it has been fun for everyone. I don't want to rob the kids of a fun memory but I worry about how unhealthy this particular tradition is. I decided to try my hand at baking doughnuts at home.

What fun! I use doughnut pans from Norpro and this recipe, which I altered from one I found at allrecipes.com. I substitute Stevia for sugar because it severely cuts the calories and no one can tell the difference. I also use vanilla almond milk instead of regular because I love the flavor it gives to baked goods. Don't expect a Krispy Kreme fried doughnut. It's more of a cross between a cake doughnut and a muffin.

Cake Doughnuts
2 cups self rising flour
3/4 cups Stevia in the Raw (you can use white sugar)
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3/4 vanilla almond milk (you can use fat free regular milk)
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 TBS light tasting olive oil
In a large bowl combine dry ingredients. In a small bowl whisk the liquid ingredients. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry. Spray doughnut pan with olive oil spray and fill about 3/4 full. If you don't put enough batter in you'll get holey hockey pucks.If you fill them too full you'll get a muffin with a dimple. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 8-10 minutes, until the doughnut springs back when you touch it.

I use Paula Deen's doughnut glaze:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 TBS milk (I use vanilla almond)
1 tsp vanilla extract

And Paula Deen's chocolate glaze:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
3 TBS milk (I use vanilla almond)

The kids love dipping the doughnuts in the glaze and decorating them with sprinkles. This has turned out to be an even more fun tradition and much healthier for all of us.

Mid-Year Check

2010-10-19T14:49:00.000-04:00

Because we have school year round, Bug is about half way through the second grade school year. It seems like a good time to stop and check how things are going and start thinking ahead to third grade. Of course, I use the term "grade" loosely. Like all children Bug is at various levels but I use that term mostly for her benefit so when people ask her what grade she's in she knows what to say. It also helps me with my organization, but it's not very useful for anything else.

Math:
Our math woes seem to have been solved by my turning, very unexpectedly, to the math curriculum that I initially disliked the most: Saxon. I disliked it initially because its slow spiral seemed agonizingly boring and there seemed to be very little new stuff going on, and after a high school math teacher ranted to me about how awful Saxon is I stayed clear of it. Apparently it's one of those things people either love or hate but that slow spiral is exactly what Bug needs. She's responding very, very well to it and I find I'm moving into the "love it" category. She is regaining her confidence daily, we have had no tears or complaints, and we've passed the excitement of a new curriculum grace period.

Language Arts:
Bug is half way through First Language Lessons For the Classical Child. She responds to this type of teaching very well and is retaining what she has learned. For that reason I'm a bit nervous about going with Michael Clay Thompson for third grade but I'm very excited about his program. I haven't decided what to do yet, but I'm leaning towards holding off on MCT until fourth or fifth grade, after she's finished the next FLL text.

Writing:
She's halfway through Writing With Ease 2. I ordered one of the editions of The Arrow from Brave Writer because after reading the philosophy behind this program in Writer's Jungle I was so excited to see it in action. I chose the guide for Archimedes and the Door of Science. I have to say I was rather disapponted. There wasn't much to it and it certainly wasn't worth $10. I was all set to switch over next year but I'm going to rethink that one.

Handwriting:
We are still using Handwriting Without Tears and loving it. She's working on the second grade book, Printing Power, and dabbling with cursive as well.

History
I threw The Story of the World in the garbage, where it belongs. I couldn't even bring myself to take it to Goodwill where it would fall into someone else's hands. Bug loves the book and I have hung in there in spite of the indigestion it gave me for a year and a half but the inaccuracies and the Christian worldview Bauer keeps sneaking in there finally made me sick enough to do away with it. My issue is that if the text is Christian it needs to be advertised as such. At least with BJU press you know what you're getting. This book is very Christian in its bias but it doesn't have the appearance of a typical Christian worldview text because, undoubtedly, the publisher wanted to appeal to as wide a range of homeschoolers as possible. It does not hit you over the head with scripture and there are no Bible verses quoted in the text but the author's Christian bias is evident. Not only that, her information is inaccurate, not just in interpretation but sometimes with simple names and dates. In the case of Volume 2 she leaves out so many vitally important aspects of the Middle Ages that the book isn't much more than a bit of fluff. So, I'm now piecing this together myself using both the Usborne and the Kingfisher history encyclopedias as spines, some DK books, fiction and non-fiction history books and the SOTW activitity guide, which is actually pretty good. We are also using Our Island Story and Fifty Famous Stories Retold. I spent about three hours last night mapping out history for the rest of the year and I'm pretty pleased with the result. I am weaving American history in as appropriate because the two should never be isolated from one another. American history is world history, it's all interconnected. We are using A History of US by Joy Hakim for American history and I love, love, LOVE it. We will be using this throughout the elementary years because, thank goodness, the series has ten volumes!

Science:
Lots of chemistry experiments and Real Science Odyssey Earth and Space.

Literature
We are still working our way through some childhood classics, enjoying rich language and stories full of wonder, humor, and delight. Our favorite read alouds have been Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little by E.B. White (which we read last year and had to read again), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes, Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting, Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder (We read Little House in the Big Woods and The Little House on the Prairie last year.)

Bug is reading the Cam Jansen series and enjoying a graphic novel interpretation of The Odyssey.

Update (11-28-10): Bug has almost finished reading the fifth book in the Ramona series by Beverly Cleary. She has three more to go and has already asked if she can start the Henry Huggins series. I've already bought the first two for her. She's just like her mother. She's going to need more bookshelves soon.

In Pursuit of Science

2010-09-25T16:36:00.000-04:00

Some days I have a hard time keeping up with Bug. I did pretty well in high school science but sometimes her questions stump me. I'm feeling very thankful for Google right about now. She informed me yesterday that we are not doing enough of her favorite subject. I looked into the Robinson Curriculum, which is very heavily science based, but it is also very heavily religious and the author seems like a bit of an extremist in other areas as well. Christian science and history are the two hardest subjects to secularize so I'm very wary of that one. If anyone has personal experience with it, I'd love to hear from you.

We have been using both Real Science 4 Kids and Real Science Odyssey Earth and Space. Frankly the Real Science 4 Kids is very light and I was disappointed with it, given the cost. I won't be buying any of those again. R.S.O. is actually pretty good but it is earth and space and she's far more interested in chemistry at the moment. I appreciate her interest in chemistry and want to capitalize on it, but I don't want to abandon the earth and space either. Looks like I'll be buying R.S.O. Chemistry and doing that also. Honestly, that kid could do science all day long. You can tell I'm heartbroken about that.

The Roller Coaster Ride

2010-09-22T15:57:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was about ready to throw in the towel. Two really bad days in a row left me emotionally drained. I actually threatened to put Bug back in ps. Not my greatest Mom moment, but I was at the end of my rope. I had to remind myself of all the reasons I am putting myself through this. You know, it is very easy to find information and blogs chronicling the advantages of homeschooling. They all make it sound so easy, so beautiful, so natural. Well, it isn't. Truth is, homeschooling is hard work.

I woke up this morning determined that today was going to be better if it killed me. I made a card for Bug last night with some cat stickers and a sappy, cheerful message inside and left it at her place on the table. I fixed yogurt sundaes for breakfast. Honestly, no one can be uncheered by yogurt sundaes. I pulled out all the stops: French vanilla yogurt layered with fresh strawberries, granola, another layer of yogurt, sliced bananas, whipped cream, drizzled with homemade strawberry glaze (left over from the cheesecake the other night), and a cherry on top, served in a glass wine goblet. It worked. The kids were bobbing up and down and smiling, reminding me of Bill Cosby's chocolate cake for breakfast routine. "Mom is great/Gives us yogurt sundaes..."

The rest of the day went so well I had whiplash from the contrast with the first part of the week. At one point the two sat side by side on the sofa, looking at a history book and smiling. There was no punching, pinching, kicking, or shoving. And they were actually enjoying the same object without trying to snatch it out of each other's hands. A book! About history! Does it get much better? No, so I grabbed the camera and took a picture before something happened to ruin the moment.

The picture of Steve Martin on the roller coaster ride of Parenthood is going through my mind. God, isn't it the truth?

It's Not So Bad

2010-09-12T11:10:00.000-04:00

I was hoping (and it looked like a real possibility) that we would be able to move back to Fort Worth. For the past three years we have been in the Florida panhandle and I have not been very happy about our location for a number of reasons. We had become spoiled in FW because of all of the opportunities there-a great zoo, spectacular museums, breathtaking public gardens, professional sports teams, an active non-sectarian/non-partisan homeschool support group...you get the idea. We had a LIFE in FW. There was always something to do, somewhere to go, and people in TX are so nice it's easy to make friends. Here, not so much. With the Air Force you never know, but it is looking like we will be here for awhile, and with the restructuring going on I'm fairly positive FW is not in our near future. So, I have decided that I can either sink into depression (which really wouldn't be very fun) or I can look on the bright side. So for my own good, here are the top 10 good things about NW Florida:

1. Mattie Kelly Arts Center, Niceville, FL: Since it's a part of a small four year college no one has ever heard of you wouldn't think they'd have much to offer (sorry, a little negativity slipped in there) but I was pleasantly surprised. I expected the ballet to be sort of like the dance recitals we have all had to endure for the sake of loved ones, but on the contrary, the dancers are quite talented (thanks to a full time public charter school specializing in ballet, no doubt) and a real, professional dance company. The art center is known for bringing in Broadway shows and impressive artist series. You'll have to pardon me, I minored in theater in college. I'm something of a snob in this area, but Mattie Kelly has not disappointed. We have tickets to Madame Butterfly next month.

2. Crestview Secular Homeschoolers, Crestview, FL: Thanks to the international Secular Homeschooling Community forum I met another secular homeschooler who lives less than five miles from me and she started a secular group here. Before now my only choices were to hide my true identity in the rabidly conservative creepy Christian group or drive an hour to the secular group in Fort Walton Beach. Our group is small but we are planning events together,so things are looking up.

3. The Gulfarium, Fort Walton Beach, FL: Features dolphin and sea lion shows and has recently expanded to include more exhibits.

4. Gulf Breeze Zoo, Gulf Breeze, FL: Okay, compared to the FW Zoo this place is a rinky dink outfit, but it's better than nothing, right? They had closed down for awhile due to lack of funds but they reopened in the spring. Here's hoping that the tourism bust (thanks to the BP oil spill) will not cause them to have to close their doors again.

5. Friendly Homeschool Laws Not only is homeschooling here a breeze, the governor actually issued a personal statement in support of homeschooling! We are also lucky enough to live in a homeschool friendly county. We chose the umbrella school option. All I have to do is send in our attendance quarterly to a private/cover school and we are not even technically considered homeschoolers. The school district has no authority over us. YES!

6. The National Aviation Museum, Pensacola, FL: Impressive enough for me to recommend as a must-see for any visitor to Pensacola.

Now, for the rest I'm going to have to drive quite a distance (1 1/2 to 3 hours), but once in awhile I suppose that won't kill me.

7. Brogan Science Museum, Tallahassee,FL: We haven't actually been there yet but the website makes it look very interesting. The chemistry fraternity at FSU puts on a demonstration every second Saturday of each month. My budding chemist will love this, I think, so it may be worth the two hour drive.

8. Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Montgomery, AL: This is not as essential as it would be if we didn't have Mattie Kelly, but I have been to many shows there and it is something we need to do at least once a year, in addition to the

9. Museum of Fine Arts next door.

10. Montgomery Zoo, Montgomery, AL: Still not as nice as the FW Zoo but better than Gulf Breeze and worth the three hour drive once or twice a year.

11. Mobile Exploreum, Mobile, AL: Travelling exhibits make this two hour drive worth it. The dinosaurs last year were spectacular and we plan to take in the Reptile Planet exhibit next month.

Look at that! I started out looking for 10 things and found 11. If I can just concentrate on these good things perhaps I won't pine away too much for the American Girl clubs, drama classes, science camps and other things our kids are missing in FW. And if I can look to the future that small four year college no one has ever heard of offers dual enrollment for home high schoolers.

Michael Clay Thompson and the Classics

2010-09-03T15:33:00.000-04:00

I have not used Michael Clay Thompson's Language Arts materials yet. I haven't even gotten around to ordering them. There's no rush: my oldest is seven. But I will be buying Thompson's curriculum after reading an article written by him. Here's an excerpt:

If we want students to think, we must give them something substantive to think about. Beyond their sheer
strength as language experience, classics confront students with a divergent cacophony of contending ideas, as expressed by history’s least restrained thinkers. Classics free students from the insipid slumber of textbooks, and shock them to thought with the meanings of humanity’s dissident heroes: Mohandas Gandhi, Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King, Thomas Jefferson, Emily Dickinson, Frederick Douglass. Think, these voices say, think. Be free. Be unafraid. Resist tyranny. Protect people. Create. Reject nonsense. Apply your ethics. Pursue happiness. The classics are an intellectual hailstorm of divergent ideas. And once students have read a sufficient number of these books, they come to expect ideas, and to relish the thinking that ideas demand.

I want curricula from teachers who are passionate about their subject matter, and his pours through every line of this article. I don't believe I have ever seen a more convincing argument for reading the classics, either. To read the whole article (oh, please do), click here:

:http://www.rfwp.com/samples/developing-verbal-talent.pdf

Happiness Is My Religion

2010-09-01T07:53:00.000-04:00

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has been quoted as saying, "Happiness is my religion." I'll admit I am intrigued by a religion that places such emphasis on happiness. I do not intend to shave my head, start wearing scarlet and saffron robes, and pray to boddhisatvas, but I have been studying Buddhism on and off for almost ten years because I appreciate its ancient philosophy. This wisdom, which predates Jesus by 500 years, is being scientifically tested by western psychologists and found to be valid and truthful. It has sent some psychologists in a new direction, a field of research known as positivity.

American psychology, much like American culture, has typically focused on the negative and the pathological. I believe this is greatly due to our Judeo-Christian heritage which has convinced us that humans are basically bad, flawed, sinful individuals and only due to the blood sacrifice of a selfless soul to an angry God do we have any hope of salvation. If you stop to ponder that you might realize what emotional baggage that is. Whether you believe in the salvation part or not, this view of sinful human nature is part of who we are. Native Americans noticed this very puzzling aspect of our personalities and it troubled them. These new white people invading their land were not only greedy, but chronically unhappy, unlike themselves who were content with far less.

American medical professionals, psychologists and psychiatrists included, approach their practice from the negative. Doctors concentrate on what makes us ill rather than what makes us healthy. Since its inception, the mental health field has focused on those people who are even more chronically unhappy than the rest of us. They have studied the behavior of these depressed and so called mentally ill people to discover what makes them act the way they do. Of course there are those few who have physiological reasons for their behavior and mental condition, but what about the rest? The psychiatrists are trained to see only pathology and seem convinced that most of us are in some stage of mental illness. Only recently have some researchers said, "Hey, why not study people who aren't unhappy? Why not figure out what they know and what makes them tick and let everyone else know about it?" As it turns out, basically happy, positive people tend to have a rather Buddhist outlook on life, even if they've never read anything that might be classified as such.

Buddhism at its heart is very simple. It believes in the fundamental goodness of human beings. It's about compassion, kindness, and happiness-not just your own, but the happiness of every living thing. They are very conscious of suffering and they know the cause-ourselves. In any given situation you can focus on what's going wrong or you can be thankful for what's going right. It's your choice. You can realize that everyone you encounter is just as vulnerable to suffering as you are and is just as relieved to be free from it as you are, and you can act accordingly by doing whatever you can to ease their burden or you can add to it by your selfishness. It's your choice.

Buddhists have known for centuries that happiness is contagious. Psychologists have recently proven this in scientific studies. Haven't you noticed that when you are in a good mood most everyone else seems to be in one also? That's because everyone you encounter is infected by your happiness and it often changes their behavior. Have you ever noticed that one act of kindness improved a bad mood you were in and uplifted you for the rest of the day? What would the world be like if we all acted more like Buddhists and less like the potentially damned?

Time4Learning Review

2010-08-04T22:21:00.000-04:00

I have concluded a trial period of Time4Learning for my seven year old and four year old. Time4Learning is an online curriculum for preschool through eighth grade, though it is not a complete program. The cost is $19.95 per month for the first child and $14.95 for additional children. This review addresses grades preschool through third grade.

PROS:
Fun: The site is colorful, playful, and appealing to children. Time4Learning makes learning fun, as it should be. My kids don't complain when it's Time4Learning time.
No More Tears: My seven year old finds math difficult and frustrating. We have tried six different math curriculums-spiral, mastery, mental math, drill math, colorful, black and white, elaborate manipulatives, simple abacus and still math time was a struggle, usually accompanied by tears. This is the first math program that she not only understands but actually enjoys. I never thought I would hear her ask to do math, but she does. She will sometimes do three or four lessons in one sitting and she's still smiling afterwards.
State standards. Lessons are taught in a video game format, similar to the popular JumpStart series, but with a very big difference. The Time4Learning lessons target specific skills that correlate to state standards, unlike educational software which primarily entertains while containing some educational content.
Planning: All the planning has been done. You can see the scope and sequence for each grade level in the parents' section of the website. You can print this out and put it in your child's portfolio to show an evaluator at the end of the year if you live in a state which requires portfolio and/or curriculum evaluation.
Evaluation and Assessment: The site automatically grades your child's performance through quizzes and lesson assessment. Parents can print these reports to add to the portfolio. Each completed assessment/quiz has a reference number so that you can determine which skill is being taught. If you feel the child needs to redo a lesson or quiz you can easily find it by typing in the reference number. There are also worksheets that can be printed out if your child needs additional help on a lesson.
Effective Strategies: The math and language arts lessons are presented in a child pleasing format and are very entertaining but the students are learning. Part of the effectiveness of their strategy is that it keeps the child's attention. Some very clever person with a great sense of humor came up with these lessons. No joke, my seven year old belly laughs while learning.
Adaptable Grade levels: One of the drawbacks of traditional schooling is the age segmentation which doesn't always meet a child's needs. Time4Learning allows students to work on their grade level. Parents can easily toggle between three different grade levels-one above and one below your child's set level. If your child needs a different level or if you want to make a different grade level permanent, you just contact the company. It is not unusual for students to be on different grade levels, but this flexibility would be particularly helpful for students with learning differences and for gifted students working well above grade level.
Ease of Use: The computer clearly marks when lessons are completed and points with an arrow where the new lessons are.
Flexibility: Students are not necessarily required to proceed through lessons in a set pattern. Having some choice about what they learn that day is appealing to both my children.
Time: My seven year old can complete one math lesson, one language arts lesson, and one language arts extension in about an hour. That leaves plenty of time in the day for other subjects and interests.

CONS:
Technical issues: We have experienced a few technical problems. If you have a child who is just learning to use a computer a mistake with the mouse can result in a missed question on a quiz. Sometimes my child realizes she missed a question immediately after pressing "forward" and I have not found a way to go back rather than to start the whole quiz over. Sometimes instructions are given only once and if your child didn't hear them it isn't always possible to hear all them again. For example, my four year old was being asked to chose a letter sound from a word but he missed whether or not it was the sound heard at the beginning, middle or end of the word and the computer would only repeat the word, not the instructions. Other times the instructions are repeated too many times. My four year old usually gets it the first time but the site won't let him start until the instructions are repeated about three or four times and he gets very frustrated. I wish there were a button he could push to begin when he's ready.
Science and Social Studies: Science and social studies are offered as supplements through second grade and more lessons are offered beginning in third grade, but we did not find the lessons to be the same caliber as the math and language arts. My seven year old found them incredibly boring, and science and social studies are two of her favorite subjects. However, the second grade section for language arts extension features many science concepts and is very interesting. The site considers these lessons "free bonuses."
Cost: $19.95 per month for one student may be a bit steep for some, considering it isn't a complete curriculum. It is true that complete, boxed curriculums typically cost more but they can be bought at a discount used, can be used by more than one child, and can usually be sold later if they're in good condition.
Preschool and Kindergarten: I was not impressed with the preschool and kindergarten lessons. A parent can easily cover the concepts of those grades and there are excellent free sites to use, such as Starfall.com.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Time4Learning can be a fun, effective supplement for homeschoolers, afterschoolers, and summer schoolers.The math and language arts sections are good beginning in first grade and very effective in second and third grade. If you are homeschooling it will be necessary to add a writing curriculum and daily reading to your schedule, as well as good children's literature to read-aloud every day,at a minimum. You may also find it necessary to locate your own science and social studies resources. We have found the site to be worth the price and will continue using the service as a supplement after the trial period is over.

Warm Fuzzy Moments

2010-07-20T23:40:00.000-04:00

Quite a bit going on here these days: fractions, synonyms, King Arthur, and not a single complaint since the epiphany... We all enjoyed the story about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (a very sanitized version, of course.) It is such a vivid story that I remember it from high school! (Why is it that certain stories from King Arthur and the Round Table and Canterbury Tales have stuck in my memory, do you suppose, hmmm? I can still see my English teacher giggling over things that teachers just weren't supposed to know about, much less find humorous.) We've talked of little else since we read it. The kids even speculated about what other green things the knight had: a green cow which gives green milk to make green cheese and green butter? Monkey feels sure he wears green underwear and has green lint in his green bellybutton.

Bug was so inspired by my reaction to Three Cups of Tea that she asked to read it too. I bought the young reader's version but she hasn't delved into it yet. I also bought the picture book version for Monkey. Bug's reading Paddington Helps Out right now and is tickled by the chapter in which Paddington has a phenomenon at the launderette. I see a visit to a local laundromat in our near future.

Speaking of laundry: what a beautiful sight it is to watch a 7 year old and a 4 year old taking care of their own laundry. When I asked Monkey if he'd taken his clothes out of the dryer yet Bug said, "I already did it for him." These warm fuzzy moments get me through the far more numerous "He won't get out of my room" ones.

Bug has declared herself the math whiz of the family. When she made this announcement I told her she'd have to take Major Dad on for that title (I'm certainly not a contender), so she threw down the gauntlet and damn if she didn't talk smack the entire afternoon. As soon as he got home she challenged him to a math board game. Major Dad won but she's vowed to beat him next time. What a welcome change from the tears math used to cause.

Book Review: Weapons of Mass Instruction

2010-07-18T12:53:00.000-04:00

My first experience with public education occurred during my pursuit of an education degree. Afterwards I was hired as a full time high school teacher. My shock and revulsion at what I saw can barely be described. I found myself thinking, "What on earth is happening here?" The behavior of the students was deplorable. They had no respect for each other, their teachers, or themselves. They were completely lacking in self control and direction. I witnessed more violent episodes in one month than I can recall occurring at my own school the entire time I was there. It was a building full of 1, 300 nearly-adult children. Children! John Quincy Adams represented U.S. interests as an envoy in Russia at the age of 14. Gatto's book is full of other examples, lest you think Quincy was simply precocious. At 16 and 17 years of age, fully capable of hard study and contributing positively to society, these near-adults were focused on being entertained and anything that stood in the way was resented and rebelled against. Why? I was completely befuddled. My first thought was that an entire generation of parents had somehow neglected their duty, but I met some of these parents. Many of them were concerned, caring individuals. Others weren't. One refrain common to many of the ones I met: I can't do anything, he's nearly grown. I wanted to say (but never had the guts): "No he isn't. He's a child in a man's body. And whose fault is that?" All this time I thought parents were to blame. And partly they are. Parents give their children to the government to raise, stick their children in front of the TV, and don't put forth the effort it takes to force their kids to grow up. But the larger picture is the government school. Gatto demonstrates that our schools are not failing. They are actually doing exactly what they were designed to do. Now that I understand that, my own teaching experience makes sense.

Once I saw the sad state of my students' education I took it upon myself to help correct it. I thought I was hired to teach them history. I was wrong. I discovered my error when I was called into the principal's office to be "disciplined." He had popped by my class to observe and was not happy. He actually stopped by numerous times over the three years I was there, and I'll sum up his opinion of my efforts: my tests were too hard and too long. My expectations were too high. He told me exactly what changes he expected to see if I was to keep my job: easier, shorter tests and worksheets, lots of worksheets. He wanted to see kids in their desks, filling out worksheets for the whole of the class period.

During my third year the principal told me I didn't belong there. He encouraged me to further my degree and teach in college because I should not be teaching in a public high school. Yes, I was stunned and I had already been contemplating pursuing a Ph.D, but for him to say that was terribly disconcerting. Why wasn't there a place in a public high school for someone like me? Why didn't my students deserve the same kind of education I had? Or better? Why did they have to accept watered down material? Why couldn't I expect them to think for themselves? Why must I give them answers when some of these answers were debatable? Why couldn't I expect them to ask new questions?

By that time I had started thinking of myself as a babysitter of near-adults. After three years of being called on the carpet and, at times, even arguing with the principal, I finally realized that the goal of the public school was not education. I didn't know what it was, but I knew education wasn't it. So I finally agreed with the principal. I didn't belong there. My efforts, though appreciated by the students, were rejected by the administration. I moved on after being given an ultimatum. They were going to cut my class load and assign me the job of cheerleading coach. I said I would rather resign. The principal looked relieved.

After reading John Taylor Gatto's Weapons of Mass Instrucion I have answers. I know without a shadow of a doubt that he speaks the truth about the hidden agenda of public schooling. Some of it I had uncovered for myself in my own quest to make sense of the situation, though I didn't dig nearly as deeply as he did. Not even close. Even though my own experience validates every word, it still makes me angry. The worst of it is that even now that the whistle has been blown (and Gatto's been blowing the whistle for nearly 20 years) things haven't gotten better: they've gotten worse. They are worse now than they were when I was teaching 10 years ago.

American public schooling has succeeded in creating a nation of adult children who are easily led, who spend their hours in front of screens being entertained, and who are incapable of independent thought. And they don't even realize how dumb they have been made. The only way this situation will be changed is if the people demand it and refuse to allow their children to take part in this experiment of social engineering. The government certainly won't change it. Even if there are politicians who are appalled by this the government is owned by corporations, who directly benefit and who took part (and still do) in this monstrous creation. The ONLY thing we can do is to take our children back. As long as homeschooling is legal there will at least be a few children who have not had their intelligence and creativity drained from them. I just hope a few is enough.

Time4Learning Disclosure

2010-07-15T15:02:00.001-04:00

I’ve been invited to try Time4Learning’s online curriculum for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own so be sure to come back and read my experience with Time4Learning’s educational program. Click to find out more or if you would like to apply to be considered for a review.

No School, continued

2010-07-08T08:39:00.000-04:00

We're not officially "doing school" this week, so it's a bit amazing that Bug has completed four Math U See worksheets. She also, quite of her own volition, decided she was going to write a book. She feels that the Mercy Watson series needs another installment, so we went to Staples and found a hardback journal that met her requirements and she has been plugging away all week. We also finished Misty of Chincoteague, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Doctor Dolittle this week. To celebrate the latter we watched the 1968 version of the movie, starring Rex Harrison, which was a hoot. We've been enjoying James Herriot's Treasury of Children and selections from my Goodwill find, The Bookshelf for Boys and Girls: Famous Stories and Verse (1955 edition). Last night I chose "The Emperor's New Clothes" and marvelled at how well told it is. That book is such a treasure. From it we have previously enjoyed "Stories From the Arabian Nights," "The Story of the Merchant and the Genie," "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp," "The Enchanted Horse," "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," and "The Wishing Carpet." Both the kids loved "The Emperor's New Clothes." Bug was so inspired she took the book from me and read it to Major Dad.

Since Monkey is fascinated by sharks I picked a documentary from NatGeo for them to watch in which scientists track a shark named Nicole (named for actress Nicole Kidman). I liked that one because, unlike most of the ones I looked at, it doesn't just portray a shark as a dangerous killing machine. They loved it so much they watched it twice and Bug decided to mark the path of the shark on the world map (South Africa to Australia to Antarctica).

Not too bad for not having school, I'd say, and the week's not over.

No School This Week? A Chance to Deschool and Read

2010-07-05T10:46:00.000-04:00

Bug asked me if we could take a break from school this week. Hmmm. Considering that I think she needs a little more time to deschool, that may not be a bad idea. Today is a holiday anyway, another four days may do us all some good, and little does she know how much she learns whether it's a school day or not! Yesterday she accomplished quite a few things without realizing it. I just wish I had a magic eraser for the institutional programming of her brain.

It also gives me time to receive the new books I just ordered from Amazon. I put in an order for John Taylor Gatto's Weapons of Mass Instruction and the Underground History of American Education. I'm also quite anxious to read When Children Love to Learn: A Practical Application of Charlotte Mason's Philosophy Today by Elaine Cooper. I also ordered John Holt's Instead of Education: Ways to Help People Do Things Better. Hopefully Amazon will get those to me super-fast.

Horse-Crazy

2010-07-04T22:03:00.000-04:00

Bug and I finished reading Misty of Chincoteague tonight. Major Dad and I had been talking about planning a trip to Disney but now I'm thinking we need to head for the Maryland shore to see the wild ponies!

Day Four: Fun Friday and the Need For Deschooling

2010-07-04T11:41:00.000-04:00

Fridays are very laid back for us, always have been. Friday is our free day, our day to visit friends, go on a trip, or both. Yesterday we met some homeschooling friends at the park. I am so relieved to have found another secular homeschooling family. The mom is someone I can actually talk to! Bug had to complete her math lesson before we left, but that was the only scheduled lesson for the day. She finished listening to Dr. Dolittle and started A Little Princess.

I did some more reading about the Charlotte Mason method and was surprised to discover more differences between the two. Because the WTM has "borrowed" so much from CM I thought the two were more alike than they actually are. Until now I thought the main difference was that CM doesn't follow the trivium, and it IS the main difference, but I didn't realize how significant that fact is. I am very much regretting the time I have spent learning the WTM program and wishing I had put all of that effort into the other, rather than just skimming CM for a few gems. I'm learning that the whole thing is the gem. As they say, better late than never.

After six months in school Bug needs a deschooling period, badly. Yesterday I picked up some Mad Libs at the book store, happy that she now knows enough parts of speech to do them. We were in the car and I told her we were going to play a game. She was very excited until I asked her to provide me with a noun. She paused and said, "Is this school?" Sigh.

Day Three: Beautiful

2010-07-01T19:53:00.000-04:00

Day Three of my 12 step program to let go of the Well Trained Mind was just lovely.
Here's the condensed version:

More Math U See (no complaints!)
Copywork from Misty of Chincoteague (spotlighting state of being verbs)
Aced spelling test
Read Jimmy Zangwow's Out-Of-This-World Moon Pie Adventure by Tony DiTerlizzi
Ate Moon Pies
Checked growth of crystals
Checked rain gauge
Went to the library, learned how to find a book in the biography section
Checked out books on Helen Keller and sign language
Manually spelled everyone's name and the name for just about everything
Learned some signs for animals
Worked on picture of Beowulf

I... read aloud Peter and the Wolf, a poem by Walter de la Mare, and more of East O' the Sun, West O' the Moon. I started A Midsummer Night's Dream over because I found the version I was looking for (Charles and Mary Lamb) at the library. The other one was very confusing and not very well told. The kids lost interest. I'm going to have to buy myself a copy. We listened to Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and ate more Moon Pies. Every night we read another chapter of Misty and Bug tells me the main idea of the chapter.

I'm reading more about CM and learning something new every time. These last few days have been happy and productive.

Yet Another Great Day

2010-06-30T17:35:00.000-04:00

Day Two of my 12 step program to let go of the WTM:
Bug did two math sheets instead of one-without being asked. She learned about state of being verbs and Barack Obama (her level O book), which naturally led to a lively discussion about race, slavery, Jim Crow laws, and the civil rights movement. Bug located Hawaii, Kansas, Indonesia, and Kenya on the world map.

She also learned about:
the formation of crystals
Vortigern and the expansion of the Angles and Saxons in Britain; located the North Sea
Beowulf (The Mary Pope Osborne version was sufficiently descriptive without being too grisly or frightening) and the location of Denmark on the map
Sunning by James S. Tippett
More sea animals (sharks and seahorses today)
Helen Keller

On Monday Bug discovered by looking at my calendar that Helen Keller's birthday was Sunday. She asked, "Who is that?" I explained and she was interested, so I ordered the Animated Heroes documentary from Netflix. She watched that today and then just had to know how to sign. Luckily I still remember some. (One of my many majors in the days of college indecision was speech pathology and I had to take sign language classes. Unbelievably I still remember some of it). I see a library trip in our near future for more books on Helen Keller and sign language. She's nuts over both.

A Good Day

2010-06-29T20:24:00.000-04:00

I tried a different approach today. I put the things I wanted Bug to complete in folders, one folder for each subject, and put them in her basket, including the new (old) pink Math U See sheet with kitten stickers and the bribe (which was a 20 minute break when she was finished with math). Her Writing With Ease folder contained copywork but I came up with a sentence from Misty of Chincoteague, which we are currently reading and loving, rather than using the textbook's sentence. Her reading folder was there with several choices of O level RAZ books. Her spelling folder held instructions for her to practice this week's words using magnetic letters and a cookie sheet but there was no worksheet. Her cursive dry erase book was also there, and I knew that wouldn't be a problem. I told her to complete the folders in any order she wished and that there was a reward in the math folder.

What a pleasant day it was. She chose math first because I wouldn't tell her what the reward was.She was so excited when I told her there would always be a reward in her math folder. She did all the other work in her folders without complaining.

It threatened to thunderstorm all day so we didn't go on a nature walk but we did follow Christina's suggestion to light a candle for poetry reading. We didn't have any candles so I brought out a beeswax candle making kit that I've been saving for a special occasion. Both the kids helped make a beautiful flower candle, then we turned the lights out and read a poem by Walter de la Mare. Bug asked me to read it twice.

The rest of the day was just as relaxed and enjoyable. One of the books in Bug's reading folder was about beekeeping, as luck would have it. She chose that because her interest had been peaked by making the beeswax candle. Bug said, "Hey, there's a Magic School Bus book about bees!" So we read that. I also read Celtic fairy tales, a selection from Story of the World, and the beginning of East O'the Sun and West O' the Moon. Sometimes they sat and listened, sometimes they colored. Bug narrated one of the fairy tales to Major Dad at dinner so I know she was listening.

Last night I put several books on the shelf. The top shelf holds books about the Celts. The bottom two have various books about sea life. Monkey brought me the ones about sharks and asked me to read them. Then he watched a short documentary about sharks. For thirty minutes he was riveted.

This is what I meant by a gentler way. Yes, I bribed and coerced Bug to do math. So shoot me, but she did it, in record time, without a pout. It was a very good day.

Rocky Start This Week

2010-06-29T17:06:00.002-04:00

We were off to a rocky start this week with a great deal of complaining on Bug's part. I flashed back to a year ago, remembering how worn out and frustrated we both felt after a year of the Well Trained Mind and I thought, "Here we go again." I love WTM but it is not leading the kids to my goal of having life-long learners. There are better ways, more natural, gentler ways of leading kids to learning, and I'm grateful to my homies for giving me some wise, kind advice. ("Homies" is my name for friendly fellow homeschoolers, both in person and on the internet. LOL)

I abhor doing school at home. I am in full rebellion against this idea, which I implemented at Bug's request. She seems to be coming around to my way of thinking and realizing that school at school is done that way because there are 24+ kids in a room and there has to be an assembly line approach to education. They can't stop and spend a week on butterflies just because one student is fascinated by them at the moment. We can, if we are willing to view the schedule as a suggestion rather than a requirement. Doing school at home is stifling. Suffocating. Boring. Uninspiring. Drudgery. I completely reject the idea that education is something that should be imposed upon children and stops at 3:00 p.m.

Traditional schooling and scheduling have reduced learning in our house to: "Do I have to do that?" This sounds a great deal like my high school and college students asking, "Is that going to be on the test?" You know what they're getting at: what is the bare minimum I have to do because this is interfering with my life. That is the tragic result of inflexible, institutionalized schooling. Before she was introduced to that she learned an astonishing amount. Her vocabulary expanded exponentially, she knew more than her peers about an impressive variety of subjects, and we didn't call it school. It was a lifestyle.

History Alive and Hands On Science

2010-06-24T22:02:00.000-04:00

Bug's Rain Gauge

Bug's Roman Signum

A Beautiful First Week

2010-06-24T21:49:00.000-04:00

Right now I am feeling incredibly happy to be at home with my kids, teaching them, laughing with them, just being completely in awe of them.

Our biggest news this week is that Monkey has taken off with reading. Something clicked, some light has gone off, he reached a new level of getting it. Now he's blazing through books and I am simply amazed. Two nights ago the kids sat on the loveseat for an HOUR reading books. Neither of them said a word. They sat there within a hair's breadth of each other and not a single poke or nudge from either of them! Major Dad and I sat on the sofa. He read his book but I stared over the top of mine at the kids, swimming in Mommy happiness. One thought that came to mind was "Look: Poster children for the homeschooling movement!"

We have just about finished reviewing first grade material. Since Bug spent the last four months in public school I wasn't sure what she knew and what she didn't. There were a few things we needed to go over to get her caught up with the homeschool materials we have so that she can begin second grade. She absorbed it quickly and she's set to start the new lessons next week. The exception to this is math. She has made huge strides there because this week has been Math Boot Camp. We've been drilling, drilling, drilling on those math facts. We've been doing flash cards, worksheets, computer drills. Math three times a day, everyday, in the pool, in the car, everywhere. She hasn't been able to start the second half of Horizons Math 1 yet, but it won't be much longer. I don't know how it compares with the math she was doing in public school, but because it's a spiral program it is quite different than the MUS that I love. I personally prefer the mastery programs and I prefer Steve Demme's method to Horizons'. Bug likes his method, too, she just hates the boring black and white MUS worksheets. So, I've been teaching her the MUS way when I can, but letting her do the Horizons sheets. I have talked myself into buying the MUS teacher's manual for Beta level. The two methods are not exactly compatible but MUS is much stronger on mental math and I don't want her to miss out on that.

This week has gone so well that I'm bubbling over with happiness. I love having my kids with me. I love being their teacher. I love knowing they are learning what they need to know, that I am giving to them the education that most kids are denied.

Week of June 21

2010-06-21T19:00:00.000-04:00

What Bug is learning this week:

Level O (readingA-Z)
Abbreviations, pronouns, verbs, capitalization in poetry, sentences (review),
Titles of respect
Long i spelled y, igh, i_e
Beginning cursive writing
Math review: money, equal/not equal, fractions, addition facts, time (quarter hour)
Aesop's Fables
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Weather (temperature, rain)
Seasons/Summer Solstice
The Diaspora and the Glory of Rome
Listening to: Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting

First Day of School

2010-06-21T17:11:00.000-04:00

Success! I think I'm liking the year round schooling schedule. Florida summers are unbearable and we'd all rather wait it out in the air conditioned indoors, thankyouverymuch. We can't stay in the pool ALL day. So, it makes perfect sense to have school in the sweltering summers. If nothing else, it gives the littles something to do other than bug me.

We started our new school year with a Midsummer Night's Eve party last night. We made fairy size food, and the kids made fairy bread. Everything on the table was tiny, andcute. We lit some candles and Major Dad read a child's adaptation of the Shakespeare play. What a great way to start a year which concentrates on the Middle Ages and introduces Bug to the Bard (among other Medieval authors).

Considering I am recovering from some kind of viral funk in my eye and a nasty cold that has stolen my voice, I had no idea how our first day would go. The best I can do is whisper (not the loud stage kind but the barely audible, lean-in-so-you-can-hear kind). I couldn't have planned it better, actually, because Bug, being the natural little teacher she is, took the reins every time I handed them to her. She handled storytime beautifully herself and read her own language arts lesson. She's still in review mode in math so that went very smoothly without much guidance from me. In fact, the only thing we could not accomplish today was the history lesson. Bug gave it a go but the book is a bit over her reading level and the chapter was full of Hebrew words that completely flumoxed her. I'm very proud that she gave it a try, though.

She says her favorite part of the day was science. No surprise there. I have a picture of her holding her new red clipboard, writing down her weather observations. Tomorrow she gets to build a rain gauge. She placed in the 12th week of second grade spelling, so she's proud to be one third of the way through the book right on day one. She read books in level N (readinga-z.com), which is half way through second grade, but they are entirely too easy for her. She scored a 97 on the benchmark test, so we'll move her up tomorrow. She reads the Mercy Watson and Breyer Stablemates series for independent reading and the AR site ranks those at the end of second grade and into third.

Monkey is reading well. He just started the readinga-z books and sailed through Dan the Tan Man. He loves Handwriting Without Tears. He built a capital E with wooden pieces, used his slate and chalk, and drew some E's with sidewalk chalk on the patio, then insisted on making lower case e's as well. The kid can already count to 100, knows all his shapes, colors and the rest of it. I've been tempted to start him kindergarten math a year early but I made that mistake with Bug and it backfired, so I'll probably hold off on that for a while longer.

Reading

2010-06-18T23:59:00.000-04:00

It has been proven to me time and again that when I keep a tight rein on the TV, and I mean really tight, as in two hours per week max, incredible, magical things happen at our house. The four year old reads (he's on the third set of Bob Books now) and asks me to read to him. He's nice to his sister (most of the time) and is a very pleasant chap to be around. When I let my control slip and that TV monster creeps in you'd think someone took my children and replaced them with replicas from the WWF, and I don't allow that program even in my weakest moments. What is it about nice, calm programs like Max and Ruby and The Backyardigans that turns my children into Gulliver's Yahoos?

Since school let out my children have watched very little television. The other day, after three solid days of rain and none of us could take another round of Trouble, I inwardly cringed as I suggested they pick a movie. I expected them to both make a mad leap for a fix like heroin addicts who just escaped out of rehab.They both gave me a blank stare and then went on as if I hadn't said a word. Bug read for awhile, Monkey played with his trains, and I sat there in shock. The more TV they watch the more TV they want. The less TV they watch, the less TV they want. Very interesting. And the next axiom is that the more hooked they are on books the easier it is to keep that TV monster caged.

The benefit to all this, of course, is that I have two little readers in my house. Two little readers that, for the most part, actually get along. Sometimes I will find them both in the top bunk of Bug's bed, giggling over Mercy Watson books, which Bug reads with the most wonderful expressive voice, or listening to an audiobook together. Or Bug will be reading a book to herself while Monkey gazes at one of his sister's books, which must appear to him the way a calculus book looks to a fourth grader.

Next time, before succumbing to the temptation to turn on the TV, I'm reaching for the Bananagrams.

Back to "Normal"

2010-06-06T16:58:00.001-04:00

It seems like life came to a complete standstill during our four months in Alabama (and the four months at the beginning of the school year during which I went back to work and had no time for anyone or anything but my new job.) I'm trying to get things set right again.

Monkey's violent outbursts and difficult behavior, which began last summer when I went back to work (for teacher workshops) and escalated throughout the last few months seems to finally be beginning to ebb. Major Dad and I believe that a combination of the major lifestyle change, accompanied by a dramatic increase in television (as a result of the lifestyle change), created the behavior we were struggling with. (The kids went from watching a few hours a week to a couple of hours a day when I went back to work. Not good, and completely out of step for our family). We are now falling back into our old routine, which is comforting for everyone. He is also now getting enough sleep, which makes a huge difference. I am beginning to see my sweet boy more and the angry, temperamental boy less.

Bailey is happy now, too. Major Dad, who is NOT an animal person, alerted me to the drastic changes in her behavior about a month before we could move back home. She wasn't eating much and was snapping at him, which is something this dog has never done before. I took her with me to Alabama a few times but it didn't help much. We even took her to the vet and had blood work done, afraid that something was dreadfully wrong with her, but it came out clear. Now that we've been home for a couple of weeks she's bouncy and tail waggy again.

Lastly, my garden is a shambles. I haven't planted anything since last summer because once I went back to work I was too busy prepping for classes I hadn't taught in 8 years. Here it is, summertime, and I haven't a single crop to harvest. I prefer ordering from Seed Savers and planting real food because I'm not sure there's much difference between the Frankenfood at the supermarket and what's offered at the nursery. I went there anyway and bought some herbs and a couple of vegetables so that the season won't be completely wasted. I still have some heirloom seeds from last year that I'm going to plant tomorrow.

Thankfully, my brother and father are 100% supportive and I have never heard one negative word from them about my parenting choices, no matter how crunchy they are. I sorely miss my mother, particularly during this past, troubled year. She was always my loudest cheerleader and staunchest supporter. No matter what decision I had made as an adult, she championed it. Parenting without my mom is alot like sailing without a compass. I'm doing the best I can and I've had to change course alot, all the while wishing I had a phone number for Heaven.

What I do have is an incredible husband who seems to have filled my mom's role in the cheerleading department. The other day he encouraged me to have more faith in my own ability and my own instincts. He's a pretty smart man. And he's usually right.

So we're getting back to normal, or shall I say normal for us. (I don't think the word "normal" has ever applied to me.) And it feels good.

Fun Math (No That's Not a Contradiction)

2010-06-04T14:52:00.000-04:00

Math facts can be such a bore. I have found a few fun websites that break up the monotony of flashcards and Mastering Math Facts sheets:

The best set of math facts videos I've ever seen is located at http://mathstory.com/
Most math songs for children that I have ever heard are monotonous and boring (which really isn't helpful) but this guy really livens things up. And it's FREE! In addition to math videos he has math poetry and math lessons.

Another FREE fun site is http://www.ictgames.com/save_the_whale_v4.html
You can change the equation for make bonds from 2 through 10. Both Monkey and Bug love this one.

Homeschoolers Outperform Public Schoolers on Standardized Tests

2010-06-02T08:32:00.000-04:00

It has been ten years since a comprehensive study was done measuring the success of the homeschool movement. HSLDA commissioned a new study, broader in scope, and it not only reveals that homeschoolers are still outperforming their public school peers, but they are doing even better than they did ten years ago!
It is very interesting and significant that the amount of homeschool regulation in a state has no statistical difference on the outcome of test scores. It does not matter if one parent of a homeschooled child is (or was) a certified teacher. There is a small difference in scores among homeschoolers whose parents spend more than $600 per year and those who spend less. Household income has little impact on scores. It is not surprising that the amount of education a homeschooling parent has impacts the score, but children whose parents are in the lowest education bracket still outperform public schooled students by a whopping margin. Now that IS surprising: homeschooled children whose parents have no more education than a high school diploma outperform public schooled students taught by college educated, certified teachers.

For the full article, see here: http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/200908100.asp

History and the Second Grade Line Up

2010-05-24T12:24:00.000-04:00

I have been afterschooling Bug in the subject of history since public schools do not teach history until fourth grade. This is an abomination. Not that "social studies" doesn't serve a purpose. It's nice for kids to know about community helpers and whatnot, but it is no substitute for history. We finished The Story of the World Volume 1: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor last night. I was questioning whether or not to use this series again next year. I have been quite vocal in both my criticism and my praise for this book. I have great appreciation for the way the author presents history as a narrative, which is quite effective with this age group but I wasn't sure I wanted to continue with it. I asked Bug what part of homeschooling she was anticipating the most she quickly and enthusiastically replied, "Story of the World!" Well, kudos to the author for getting my child excited about history. I just wish she had checked her facts before sending her book to the printer.

Everything else is falling into place. Bug is not ready for the second grade level in math. She's still not solid enough on her single digit subtraction facts to move up. I was going to use Math U See (Beta) but I have decided to try something else. I love MUS but Bug is not crazy about it. So, I have ordered the second half of the first grade level of Horizons Math. It may be too advanced for her, I don't know yet. Horizons is one grade level ahead of most public school math, from what I hear. By the end of first grade students are doing double digit addition and subtraction and they are doing multiplication by the end of second grade. It is a spiral program, much like Saxon, but with much better reviews. Most homeschoolers report that Saxon is insufficient and must be heavily supplemented to work. Horizons gets thumbs up across the board. She will continue with Mastering Math Facts, which she LOVES.

Her writing curriculum arrived yesterday. I'm sticking with Writing With Ease: Level 2, the classical curriculum by the same author of The Story of the World. Her writing curriculum is fantastic, as well it should be. The author is an English professor at William and Mary and judging from the introduction, she shares my concern about the lack of writing ability students have upon entering college. I intend to follow her program for as far as it goes (right now I believe it goes up through fourth grade). I do not want to send my kids off to college as ill prepared as the overwhelming majority of American public school graduates are.I'm also sticking with First Language Lessons for grammar since the book covers both first and second grade and it's as good as anything else I've looked at. Plus, I already have it. For reading I am continuing with Readinga-z, a very thorough reading program. They have added reading comprehension sheets, something that wasn't available last year and will be very useful. I'm making a switch from All About Spelling to Spectrum Spelling. AAS is fantastic but far more than Bug needs. It was overkill, though it would be ideal for struggling spellers and readers. We're following the Well Trained Mind's science recommendation and using R.E.A.L. Science: Earth and Space. Bug is very excited about that and cannot wait to use the telescope Aunt Patti gave us. (I am not very impressed with RealScience4Kids, by the way. There's just not much there for the price). And I'm going to go ahead and use The Story of the World, Volume 2: The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance. I'll just have to address the errors as we go, just as I did before.

I will also make a major schedule change for second grade. I am hoping that by following a year round, three week on, one week off schedule I will be able to avoid burnout. The jury's still out on that one.

Back to Homeschooling

2010-05-12T15:04:00.000-04:00

On the whole our traditional (pubic) school experiment has been good. Of course, it wasn't the typical experience. Bug has been attending a small math and science school in the country and her aunt's classroom is two doors from her own. We have to live apart, in two different states, actually, for her to attend, and we simply cannot continue this separation. One choice is to enroll her in public school in Florida, but the school we are zoned for is mediocre at best. We visited the school last year and did some investigating. It's not some place we want our children to be. I'm not thrilled about the Florida "Sunshine Standards" or the fact that all day every day the students prepare for the FCAT. Tests are supposed to assess knowledge and reveal weaknesses in order to improve learning and instruction. In Florida, the test IS what they are learning. It's a pretty sad state of affairs.

The other choice, of course, is to return to homeschooling, and that's what we're going to do. I'm spending huge chunks of my days in preparation, deciding what things to continue and what to change. I'm having fun looking at new stuff and making decisions. Bug seems to be getting excited, too.

The Oil Spill

2010-05-08T09:33:00.000-04:00

The dreaded oil is heading our way. Bug is watching the coverage with me and she is one ticked off little girl. No surf camp this summer. No dolphin cruises. No playing in the sand. No seafood feasts beachside. No combing the beach for shells. No swimming in the surf. No camping on the beach. Our watery green paradise will become the Black Lagoon in a matter of days. Dead dolphins, sea turtles, and other beautiful, blessed creatures will begin washing ashore. And the smell. The exotic sea breeze will soon carry the stench of oil and dead animals to our shores.The economic impact will be devastating.

Even Monkey has some understanding that something big and awful is happening and that it effects his life and "God's big sandbox" as we call it. Bug keeps asking how long until the Gulf is safe again and that's a question no one can answer. The only thing I can tell her for sure is that there will be no beach this summer and that she will be an adult, likely with children of her own, before there will be safe seafood to eat. "Will there ever be dolphins again, Mommy?" I would like for the CEO of BP to look my child in the eye and answer that one.

Just For Fun-Update

2010-05-08T09:18:00.000-04:00

Isn't it amazing how quickly they change? Here's What's In and What's Out this month:

BUG:
What's In: Backyardigans, mermaids, Sketchers, and anything to do with the beach
Favorite School Subjects: Math and Science (they don't teach history in public school in the early grades. Don't get me started.)
Favorite colors: pink, purple, and red
Favorite Books: Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

MONKEY:
What's In: Thomas the Tank Engine, cars, trucks, and planes, and swimming
Favorite Color: green
Favorite Stories: Biscuit, Corduroy, and Little Golden Classics

Just For Fun

2010-02-05T23:51:00.000-05:00

The First Annual What's In and What's Not at Elk Hollow Academy 2010...

BUG:
What's In: iCarly!
What's Not: Wizards of Waverly Place
What's In: Mermaids
What's Not: Pirates
What's In: Converse (the sparklier the better)
What's Not: Crocs
What's In: Swimming
What's Not: Horseback Riding
What's In: pink, red, silver, and gold
What's Not: everything else
What's In: unicorns
What's Not: horses
What's In: science
What's Not: math

MONKEY
What's In: Superman
What's Not: Thomas the Tank Engine
What's In: The Backyardigans
What's Not: Bigfoot Monster Trucks (shocking, yes)
What's In: Frog and Toad
What's Not: Winnie the Pooh
What's In: robots and space stuff
What's Not: trains
What's In: cowboy boots
What's Not: barefeet
What's In: hanging out with his toddler buds at the Y
What's Not: swimming

Hope you enjoyed this edition of What's In and What's Not. Tune in next week. It will probably have changed!

It's Snowing in Florida

2010-01-08T18:10:00.000-05:00

Well, in a manner of speaking. Snow was predicted last night but it didn't happen. Rats. Our winter is very short so I'm taking advantage of it. I made a winter display for the school room. We'll switch out the books in about a week.

Bug's book for today was Let's Make Snowflakes (Level N). She read the instructions and I helped her make them. We hung them from the ceiling in the school room to complete our winter theme.

Monkey is Reading!

2010-01-08T18:00:00.000-05:00

Monkey's teacher at the school did a great job getting him excited about reading. She did a lot of reading readiness work with him and had him beginning to read simple three letter words before he left. This week he read the first three books in the Bob Books series: Mat, Sam, and Dot. I'm using the Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading from here on.

He can count from 1-100 by ones, 5s and 10s, and knows the plus 0 facts to 10. He's doing Math U See Primer though I'm not terribly in favor of making a 3 year old do seat work. If he wants to "do school" like sister then I copy a page for him to do or let him work on the brightly colored preschool activity books.

Fly Away Home

2010-01-04T23:08:00.000-05:00

Sane people do not go camping when the temperature dips down into the low 20s. I think I've established by now that we're not completely sane, so no one will be surprised that we did this. I'm not crazy enough to sleep in a tent in that kind of weather, though we saw some certifiable people at the state park doing just that. I won't sleep in a tent in the best of conditions. We have a heater and plumbing in the RV. It's the only way to camp.

The kids watched the movie Fly Away Home. Well, they couldn't play outside in that kind of weather and they were going bonkers. If I had planned this, it couldn't have turned out better. The movie, of course, is about a girl who "adopts" some orphaned Canada geese, they imprint on her and think she's their mom, then she decides to teach them how to fly and leads them south for the winter in a lightweight airplane. It's a three hankie movie. Bug got bored about half way through it, but I happened to notice some Canada geese in the lake at the very state park where we were freezing our tails off. AHA! The glorious teachable moment. I snatched up some bread, stuffed the kids in their jackets and mittens, and off we went to see the geese, just like the ones from the movie. We worked in all kinds of good stuff, like why they migrate, what they eat, where they go. Now we're goose crazy and I see a Canada geese unit in our immediate future. I'm doing my little happy dance inside because I love homeschooling!

We didn't get a good photo of the kids feeding the geese. They did a lot of jumping up and down to keep warm and they were turning blue. Not very photogenic. But the above picture was taken this weekend at Paul B. Johnson State Park in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Temperature: 25 degrees. That's like 80 below to Floridians.

Now That's Funny!

2009-12-31T11:35:00.000-05:00

How on earth have I missed David Sedaris? Too busy raising children, I guess. I happened to hear him on NPR about a month ago and I thought I would have to pull the car over I was laughing so hard. As soon as I got home I signed up for an Audible membership and downloaded "Live For Your Listening Pleasure." Ah, the true value of the iPod: audiobooks. I put it on my iPod and went about my household chores. The kids were in bed, Major Dad was watching TV, and I was scuttling about the house. Every now and then I would double over with laughter. My husband finally had enough. "What are you listening to and why aren't you sharing it with me?"

I wiped the tears out of my eyes, grabbed his iPod and downloaded it for him. There we were, in the living room, both plugged in, laughing our butts off but not at the same time. Every time he'd laugh I'd have to ask, "Which part is that?"

"Nicaraguan French." Peals of laughter.

Oh, joy. I just downloaded When You Are Engulfed In Flames so I'm actually looking forward to doing housework.

Make Your Own Brownie Mix

2009-12-30T10:08:00.000-05:00

There are a lot of reasons why I prefer to make my own stuff. Yes, I save money, but Bug has a milk allergy and by making my own mixes I know for sure what isn't in it. My latest invention is milk free brownie mix. This recipe makes several pans of delicious brownies, just as good (if not better) than the box kind.

MAKE YOUR OWN BROWNIE MIX
6 cups all purpose flour
8 cups sugar
4 tsp baking powder
4 tsp salt
8 oz (small container) cocoa

Mix all this together and store in an airtight container. When you're ready to make brownies here's what you do:

Mix together
2 1/2 cups brownie mix
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Spread into a greased and floured (I use Baker's Joy) 8x8 pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. Next time I make them I'm going to experiment with putting in Ghiradelli semi sweet morsels. They're milk free.

Note to parents with children allergic to milk: I learned in the course of this experiment that butter flavor Crisco is not recommended for people with milk allergies because it contains dairy enzymes.

So Many Wonderful Stories

2009-12-29T14:02:00.000-05:00

Originally published March 11, 2009

"There are so many wonderful stories, Mommy!"

Ah, that's what I like to hear. That's much better than, "Do I have to? Urgh." Bug is blossoming with this "relaxed classical" amalgamation we have come up with. Today she was play acting, taking the role of Athena for herself and assigning me the part of the ill fated Arachne. Last night, as soon as Major Dad came home from work, she plied him with stories of Theseus and the Minotaur, taking great delight in describing the smelly half bull, half man beast waiting for the prince at the center of the labyrinth. She pointed out the island of Crete and the Aegean Sea on the map, explaining that Theseus named that body of water in honor of his father, King Aegeus. Major Dad gave me that astonished look I love getting and I just smiled.

I wonder what kinds of things Bug would be hearing in the public school classroom down the road? Would it be anything as wonderful as The Sword of Damocles, The Adventures of Hercules (we always laugh out loud at Hercules cleaning the Augean stables), Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, The Legend of the Persian Carpet, Gilgamesh, Alexander and Bucephalus, The Enchanted Horse, Perseus and Medusa, Osiris and Set, The Brave Three Hundred, Damon and Pythias, Diogenes the Wise Man, The Revenge of Ishtar, the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson, The Egyptian Cinderella, Sinbad the Sailor, Daniel in the Lion's Den, The Golden Sandals...the list seems endless. I believe there are more delightful stories collected in various volumes in this household than could be told in a handful of years.

I had the great fortune of finding in my local Goodwill store a copy of The Boys and Girls Bookshelf, volume 6: Famous Stories and Verse, copyright 1948. The book I have is an anthology containing the best of the 1001 Arabian Nights, poetry by Longfellow, Wordsworth, Tennyson, Lanier (and other poets worth reading), and introductions to classical literature from George MacDonald, Charles Kingsley, Lord Byron, Jonathon Swift, and others my kids will be encountering in their unabridged form in a few years' time. All for the unbelievable price of $3. What a bargain.

Math Mojo

2009-12-29T14:00:00.003-05:00

Bug hates math. Well, that's not exactly true. She hates workbook math that makes no sense. She's like her mama. You gotta make it real or what's the point? She'll gleefully do math while doubling a cookie recipe. She'll happily do fractions while cutting cornbread into pie slices. She'll play math based computer games for hours. Stick her in front of a math book and she goes to pieces. I can't say that I blame her. I remember loathing anything to do with numbers until I was a senior at Auburn. I was required to take a statistics class and I put it off as long as humanly possible. I remember feeling ill, wondering if I would end up having to drop out. You'll never believe what happened. I loved it. It became my favorite class. I even contemplated switching over to statistics and research for graduate school! The only reason I didn't is because I couldn't stand the professor who was head of the department. I loved it because it was real. Back to Bug: I was poking around the Internet looking for divine inspiration and stumbled upon this:

http://mathmojo.com/chronicles/

This is an incredible site, written by a man who, in his late thirties, couldn't do long division until he came upon a book in the library that opened up the math world for him. He is highly critical of the method of math instruction in this country, believing it is ineffective and counter-productive. Basically, it isn't real. It kills every ounce of interest a child has for asking questions and learning. And math, he says, is all about asking questions and finding patterns,not filling out worksheets. AMEN. In fact, every criticism he has of the way math is taught is the same criticism I have of the way history is taught. The textbook/workbook approach will kill curiousity every stinkin' time.

On the blog, he gives real examples for why it is so important for all of us to understand basic math. Here's one of his examples: the people at Verizon are so inept mathematically that they could not see the difference between charging him 0.002 dollars and 0.002 cents per kilobyte on his phone bill. If you can't work out the difference, you might want to toggle on over there. For him, it meant the difference between $72 and 72 cents on his bill. Even after he explained the problem, the Verizon customer service rep STILL didn't understand the error and told him he saw no difference between 0.002 dollars and 0.002 cents. The difference is hundredfold. Eventually the CSM got on the phone, became rather huffy because she couldn't understand the math, either, and implied that he should just pay what THEY said he owed. Just pay up and don't question us. This brings to mind a book I've read called Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto which asserts that Americans are being made more stupid on purpose.

Math is the hot topic these days, with the economy in the tank. One of the news commentary shows featured a former child actress who is now writing math books for young adults. (She admitted to hating math in school, too. Hmmm. I'm seeing a pattern here.) She had several very, very good points to make. When people don't understand basic math, they become vulnerable to things like, oh, signing a sub-prime mortgage that they don't understand they can't afford because they didn't (or couldn't) work the math out for themselves. They just trusted the person loaning them the money when that person said they could afford it. Duh. And they don't quite understand the interest rate on their credit card and why it is so stupid to charge something and worry about it later rather than, oh, saving up for it and paying cash. I used to teach economics to ninth and twelfth graders and I spent the lion's share of my time on consumer math. Yes, I know I was supposed to be explaining bulls and bears, and I did. But I spent most of our time teaching my students things like how to make a budget, how to stick to your budget, why you should have a budget and why you should never, EVER carry a credit card balance. EVER! (Unless you are in imminent danger of starvation and by imminent I mean the Grim Reaper is standing over you, waving a ham sandwich. Then and only then can you hand over the Visa.)

It a great blog and I'm going to see if I can find a copy of that book he mentions. I love his approach and it was just what I was looking for. I don't feel so badly now for my hatred of math curriculums. Seems like that sort of instinct cuts across subject lines.

Bunny Love

2009-12-29T14:00:00.001-05:00

Originally published February 19, 2009

Our family just got a little larger. We adopted two sweet little bunnies, a Dwarf something or other and some kind of Lop. Both are gentle, lovable things. Who knew bunnies had so much personality and were so cuddly. The white one, Daisy, loves giving kisses. The brown and white floppy eared Lop, Honey Bun, is the curious one with all the personality, but she's a cuddly thing, too. Everybody all together now: "AWWWWWW."

A Nature Walk Surprise

2009-12-29T13:59:00.001-05:00

Originally published February 13, 2009

We found this unexpected creature on our latest walk through Blackwater River State Park. Bug was beating some grass with a stick. This was coiled up a few feet away from her. It's a cottonmouth water moccasin: a highly venomous and aggressive species which has been known to give chase. I can vouch for that from personal experience, though thankfully that didn't happen today.

The reason I stood there and snapped pictures is because it was not in an aggressive posture but I am now questioning my sanity. Our nature lesson of the day: Feburary is not too early for the snakes to be active in north Florida. (It was freezing just a few days ago. Who knew?) This nature walk was a bit more exciting than I had bargained for. I think Charlotte Mason was blessed to lived in a country with so few venomous snakes!

For an explanation of the name "cottonmouth" check out this video of one in its aggressive stance. If you happen to come across a cottonmouth in such a posture, you are in serious kimchee. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_sqAQ3_Cqk&feature=PlayList&p=7B3BD08F28BC3FAD&playnext=1&index=39

Peanut Butter and Bird Poop Sandwich

2009-12-29T13:58:00.001-05:00

Originally published February 6, 2009
With the recent peanut butter scare making headlines have you wondered how salmonella gets into processed peanut butter in the first place? Well, an article in Scientific American claims that bird poop is to blame. Birds, it seems, are attracted to peanut butter plants. They roost on the roof. They poop. It rains and the rain trickles through leaks in the roof right into the peanut butter. Yum. This is the second peanut butter scare in the last two years or so. I'm sorry, but I've lost my taste for Jif. (Those of you who read my emails from France several years ago in which I began craving peanut butter to the point of mental illness may be shocked by this revelation). I haven't given up on peanut butter, it's just that I've started making my own and it tastes so much better that I just don't want to go back to the old jarred bird poop stuff. Here's the link to the article: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=salmonella-poisoning-peanut-butter

Taking Tea

2009-12-29T13:57:00.001-05:00

Originally published February 4, 2009
Tea time has become one of my favorite daily rituals, along with morning snuggle time and evening stories. It is something we used to do occasionally but when Bug and I made up a schedule we both agreed that tea time was a necessity. We enjoy it earlier than the British do, of course, sitting down at around 2:30 every afternoon. I use my real bone china tea service for the two of us, complete with silver tray and fancy spoons, and Monkey gets to practice with a plastic cup, so it's a special time for him, too. Bug and I usually prepare small cookies or some other confection for the occasion, though I confess to using the store bought kind in a pinch.

Our favorite blend is the Celestial Seasonings Honey Vanilla Chamomile. Even Monkey asks for seconds. It tickles me to watch my daughter daintily select a lump of sugar from the bowl and add it to her cup, stirring with the utmost care, for she knows this is Mama's "special china" and she feels quite grown up being able to use it. I am certainly not well versed in tea time etiquette. If we get through it with no one throwing food I'm happy.

I now find myself anticipating this part of the day, not just because lessons are over, but because it is one of those few, quiet times when the three of us are just enjoying the moment. It doesn't last long of course. I know they'll soon be back to wrecking the house and squabbling over trivialities. I cannot help but wonder, though, if they'll remember it; if one day many years from now they will look at that tea set and smile.

2009-12-29T13:56:00.001-05:00

Originally published January 25, 2009
Bug is having great fun with her chemistry set. This experiment was called "the color changing volcano." The "volcano" is a base, which turns the red cabbage juice in the conncoction blue. The eye dropper holds a citric acid solution and the chemical reaction that occurs when they touch causes it to turn red. As the acid is neutralized it begins to turn purple. The whole thing bubbles and foams as the carbon dioxide gas is released. It only lasts for a few seconds but it gives the impression of a volcano erupting in different colors. When the reaction is over, only the baking soda is left, so it turns blue.

Science is one of Bug's favorite subjects, partly because cool stuff happens and partly because it usually makes a grand mess.

Homeschool Science

2009-12-29T13:55:00.000-05:00

Originally published January 4, 2009
Doesn't this look more fun than learning from a textbook about how plants grow? Bug and I planted these from seeds and it has primarily been her job to care for them until harvest time. Produce really does taste better home grown. Neither of my kids will eat store bought carrots but they both have been eating these like they were chocolate chip cookies!

A Day in the Life

2009-12-29T13:53:00.000-05:00

Originally published October 4, 2008

My oldest child could be sitting in a kindergarten classroom right now, directed, molded, and influenced by someone who didn't know her and probably wouldn't care personally about her. Today would be one of a seemingly endless string of days in an impersonal classroom the teacher had tried very hard with little funds to make cheerful. It would be the beginning of the end of her joy of reading, forced to occupy a spot on the floor next to twenty-five or so other five year olds, all with varying degrees of attention span, aptitude, and manners. Her enthusiasm for the story, which would certainly be halted by her commentary on the beautiful pictures or some other element that had captured her imagination, would be instantly quelled. It would probably even be seen as disruptive. I can hear it now: "You must stay seated and quiet during story time." Politely at first, then more forcefully as the teacher lost patience with my child's exuberance. My child would be terribly confused at this turn of events and her brain, which works non-stop anyway, would rush to process this madness. I can see the light slowly fading from her eyes as she slinks back in withdrawal. Not all children would react this way, of course, but I am quite sure mine would.

Earlier today the would-be kindergartner and her younger brother sat on two chairs piled with sofa pillows in the living room. Pardon me, they are "sailing on a frothy green sea." (We have green carpet). She launched gleefully into this activity after being introduced to the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson, inspired beyond measure by the poem "A Good Play."

She re-created it to the best of her ability, substituting grapes for apples (we didn't have any) and having to do without cake. They had a grand time for about thirty minutes and when I tried to encourage her with a few playful words, ("Let's check the weather, maties!") she promptly and somewhat primly informed me that they were NOT pirates. They were sailors. Sailors on a frothy green sea. Then they became fishermen, trying to capture toy mermaids and silk fish with a makeshift fishing pole. I formed the picture of what she might be doing in kindergarten at that moment had I not decided to homeschool, and shuddered.

The game played out, the chairs were returned to their proper places at the table, little brother once again took up his post as the conductor of small wooden trains, and my sweet girl cuddled up next to me on the sofa. "Mommy, read me another story, please." I pulled out The Little Engine That Could which had been discarded by her brother earlier that morning. When we were through I asked, "Why did the passenger engine refuse to pull the train full of toys and food up the mountain?" She was silent for a long time, so I read that passage to her again and repeated my question. She was still thoughtful so I asked, "Was the passenger engine capable of pulling the train?" She answered quickly, "Yes, because if it could pull passenger cars it could pull a goods train." "So why did the passenger engine refuse to pull the train?" Still silence. I read the part again which says, "I won't pull the likes of you." We discussed each train in turn and we talked about selfishness and condescension. We talked about the thoughtfulness of the Little Blue Engine, self determination, and having courage to do something for others you are not sure you are able to do, even when it benefits you not at all. Then it was on to math and all the while I was so grateful that I enjoy this luxury of homeschooling my children.

A Mind Is a Terrible Thing To Waste

2009-12-29T13:51:00.001-05:00

Originally published August 31, 2008
During my daughter's horseback riding lesson I sat talking with the instructor's daughter, a very bright and lively young lady. Feeling the need to pass the time with a little small talk, I asked what grade she was in. She made an ugly face. "Third. I hate third grade." I laughed. "School has barely begun, what could be so awful?" She quickly replied, "Multiplication, division, and the FCAT." The poor child is already stressed out about the test all public school students in Florida must take beginning in the third grade. "What's your favorite subject?" She said, "I don't have one. I hate math. I hate science. I hate social studies." I stopped her right there. "Whoa. You can't hate social studies. That just isn't possible. How could you possibly hate social studies?" She pulled another face. "Okay," I said. "What did you do today in social studies?" "We read a story about baseball. I hate baseball." "Baseball?" I asked, perplexed. "Why were you reading a story about baseball in social studies?" She shrugged her shoulders. "Beats me." Beats me, too.

For the next twenty minutes this young lady proceeded to show a knowledge of the natural world that impressed me. She showed a remarkable understanding of horses ("I've been riding since I could hold my head up," she explained.) She told me about spiders and introduced me to an insect I had never seen before and knew nothing about. Moving Bark, she called it. Absolutely amazing. I couldn't resist. I asked, "What science do you have this year?" "Life science." "Life science? Well, that ought to be wonderful for you!" She shrugged and I started feeling very sad. This poor child was undoubtedly very bright and eager but school left her unenthusiastic and unmotivated. Suddenly she chimed in. "I like to read. I was an AR reader in first and second grade!" "What does that mean," I asked. "Oh, you read any book you want to and take a test, then you get credit for it." "What kind of test is it?" I asked. "Oh, I sit at the computer and answer about five questions." I didn't know what to say. Five multiple choice questions on a computer? Where's the evaluation in that? How could a teacher possibly assess how well the child understood the meaning of the book with a five question multiple choice test? How could the teacher possibly ensure the children are reading a meaningful work of children's literature which is worth their time (which is woefully limited these days) if they can choose any book they want to read? My young companion apparently tested her way to AR status by reading Junie B. Jones books. Charlotte Mason would call it twaddle. I'm less generous.

There is a reason why classical educators restrict the books their students read, even the ones they read for pleasure, to consist predominantly of carefully chosen titles. It is done for the same reason that responsible parents restrict their children's diets to consist primarily of healthy, nutritious foods, keeping junk to a minimum. Junk for the brain does not build an appreciation for fine literature or an understanding of good English grammar, nor does it spark the imagination. It is not enough to merely read.

If children were brought up on fine literature to begin with they wouldn't need the "incentive" plans the schools and libraries offer. I do not allow my children to participate in the library summer reading programs anymore because it sends the wrong message. It says, "Reading is not fun. It is a chore, therefore we will reward you for slugging through it." If children were introduced to fine literature from babyhood and raised on it, the reward would be the pleasure of reading such a wonderful story. Of course, if the television is competing for their attention then I can see why they need to be enticed by free pizza.