A bit of a ramble,..

When people say "the first year is the hardest! Don't judge homeschooling by the first year!" They mean it. It's TRUE. My kids and I have gone through so many changes this first year, that it's difficult to recognize my first posts on this blog. The challenges are different, the schedule is different, EVERYthing is different!

I think the biggest change this year happened for ME; within ME. My views on not only school and education but the government, the world, religion, my values... EVERYTHING. Everything has been affected by homeschooling. My opinions on what is "important" in life have become very vague. If my children never learn high math but are excellent in literature, what is the big deal? If my scientific child excels in his favorite subject but never reads "the classics", how will that affect his ability to have a happy, healthy life? Guess what? I was in "AP" (Advanced Placement) and Honors English throughout my high school career and I never once covered To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, or 1984! AND I SURVIVED.

One of the best differences though, is how I view what my children are learning. I don't give Evan or Corinne "tests". They just do work or projects and as they learn it, we move along to the next topic. I'll touch back on something again to see if it was retained and, if not, we just cover it again. No big deal. No pressure. They are both the smartest kids in their classes and it SHOWS in their confidence. Evan no longer compares himself to other second graders and thinks that he isn't very intelligent. It broke my heart to hear him say that, over and over, when he was in first grade! He IS smart! INCREDIBLY smart! He learns at his own pace and needs extra help on some topics, but his work is improving incredibly this year. I am extremely proud of his progress. And Corinne continues to amaze me with her eagerness to do schoolwork. Knowing that she would only technically be eligible for preschool this coming fall causes me to wonder at where she would be at, were we to send her off. She is definitely a self-learner and very creative. Some of the artwork and language skills that she manages to piece together, all on her own, absolutely astound me.

With Justin, his work is a bit more complex, so we do some unit work and actual tests. For example, during his Life Science studies, we will cover a chapter, doing the mini-quizzes at the end of each section. I will then make up a study guide for him, covering the key points throughout the unit. We work on that study guide until he and I are both satisfied that the material is stuck within his brain. And then he takes the test. If he gets 93% or higher, he gets $1.50 for his savings. (since we can't do awards for report cards, like lots of parents do). If he doesn't pass the test with an A (hasn't happened yet), he and I will cover the material again until it sticks. (I don't know if he'll still be eligible for the full $1.50 at that point, seeing as how it's never come to that!) Either way, I want him to work on something until he GETS it. Not until a teacher deems enough time has passed and he SHOULD have it. Yes, I know that this is not how "the real world" works. I know that in college or a career, he will have to move at everyone else's pace and retain information in that manner. But guess what? This isn't the "real world" and he doesn't have a career, yet. He is in 5th grade and is one of the lucky few kids that gets to receive all A's for his schoolwork, at his own pace! Sometimes, he breezes through units. Sometimes, life gets in the way and I delay a test for a little while. My point is that I KNOW that he knows the information we learned. I know that it isn't just rote memorization that will be lost once the test is over.

Hmmm. This was a bit of a tangent and I have 3 kids that are hungry... I suppose that I could go back and edit, but honestly, I am beat. The weather may have been rainy today, but we were still incredibly busy. I don't think we were home for more than an hour, yesterday!

Not a drop of Irish in 'em...

You can't really see, but that red squiggle is a snake that says "No Snakes!" on it and there are several leprechaun traps in the middle of the poster (above the leprechaun's head), just in case you wanted to know. We go all out for St. Paddy's day here. 3 out of 4 of us are even wearing green. Gooooo Ireland!

:)

Seriously, St. Patrick's Day IS a big deal in Northern Illinois, so we did do some stuff leading up to today. Including, but not limited to: several books on St. Patrick's day and Irish legends, listening to Irish music to prove to Justin that there IS more to it than bagpipes and sad songs of war, and... well. That's about it. The poster, too, I guess. Hmm.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Considering we aren't even remotely Irish, I think that's pretty damn good. Oh! Wait! We contemplated making green pistachio pudding, but changed our minds and actually made butterscotch because, well. Butterscotch is tastier. But still. The thought was there.

Now I just need to get them interested in Black 47 (I might actually swoon a bit if I were to meet them. And I am not a swooner) and my Master Plan for complete control over my children will be fully engaged....

Spring 2010

Apparently, I can't post on this site unless the majority of it centers around photos. So be it. At least it's recorded, right?
BUSTED. He was supposed to be doing his math. He was farting around on the computer. It was NOT educational, despite his attempts to persuade me into believing otherwise.

Best benefit of homeschooling? Playing football with Daddy at 1:00 on a Thursday...

Pippi Longstocking's got nothin on my baby...
It's official; Spring is HERE! Fact proven by Evan's discovery of many, many worms under his basketball hoop. Worms are his second favorite creature. Second only to ants, which we are anxiously awaiting the return of...
He named them all. I believe this one was Squirmy. Or Frank. Pronounced with a British accent. Evan's had a fascination lately of speaking with a British accent. We've been reading all sorts of books on worms now. Did you know that some variations get to be 65 feet long? Yes, I have been dry-heaving a bit over the information overload, too...

Like a lamb...

A trip to Cantigny Park. I don't know why I forget about this fabulous place so often. I made sure to update my calendar with all of the new outings that are coming up. Everything from symphonies and Big Band concerts on the lawn ($5 a car!) to Lego train shows ($5 a car!) to Revolutionary and Civil War reenactments (I'll let you guess how much those cost... ) Between the First Division museum that my children never fail to be fascinated by, the endless gardens (a few more weeks and we can go to see the tulips and daffodils!) and the McCormick mansion (we missed that this time, but will go back again soon because, again, IT'S ONLY $5 TO ENTER).

Here are a few shots of the tank park outside the First Division Museum. I really appreciate the way that my children respond to my acknowledgments that yes, the guns and big ships and tanks are very cool but that each man who enters a war is someone's son, brother, father, husband and friend. Each man that never comes home is a loss so great that it can't be put into words. I want them to know that war isn't something we should ever forget, but it shouldn't be glorified or made into something exciting and fun. Taking them to museums and reenactments where they can get a tiny glimpse into the realities of war is important. Knowing that their Papa fought in Vietnam but can't talk about it confuses them. Allowing them to walk through the man-made jungle in the First Division Museum and then saying "Now imagine people are shooting at you. Imagine that you don't know where that enemy is. Imagine it is hot and you're hungry and scared. Now look to your right..." and there is a manikin, hidden in the bushes.

It opens up lines of conversation, that's for sure.

ANYway. Pictures. Here ya go.
Justin's favorite tank. Not sure why, but I'm sure he'd be willing to explain the details on it that are so interesting. He knew 90% of the tanks there, including information that wasn't on the placards.
The Mountain Climber award goes to.... Evan! He surpassed even his monkey sister. Up and down, in the slushy snow (42 Farenheit! Hellooooo spring!), he fought battles and fended off the enemies while his siblings clambered after him.
Yep. I was there. Hello, Me.
No idea how they got on THAT one...
Everyone finally had their own stick to shoot me with. Sweet kids.
Doing his math in a laundry basket...

Why yes. That IS Boba Fett on a blue Jell-O box. But what is it that Iron Man is leaning against?
Ah. Of course. A free sample from Kotex. Naturally.
My crafty moment of the month: Her expensive tights from Gymboree that I splurged on (when on sale) for Christmas 2008. The dress still fits (I bought it BIG) but the tights kept falling off her tush. So I cut off the feet and sewed them up. Then I cut off the tush, saved the elastic material and stitched it into the new seam by the thigh. Voila! Instant, homemade "Babylegs".
Our venture into origami resulted in a pig, a bat and a cat. I think we're going to make the frog that I used to make when I was little. It actually jumps! We used to do frog jumping races with dozens of origami frogs... Good memories.

Recent stuff

"I want to bake lots of stuff, Mommy." says Justin. Ok, kiddo. Here's the pretzels we made. YUM-MEEE. We've also gotten REALLY adept at making homemade pizza and working on the homemade bread ideas...
Poor little homeschooled girl... Allowed to dress herself any which way she likes and to play in buckets of water to see which animals float... Also, the Barbies are welcome to visit in the water but must be naked or else Mommy gets mad. Ever try to dry a Barbie wedding gown? It's not a pretty picture...
Every day can be pajama day, if you want it to. Which we do on Monday, Thursday and Friday as we have nothing pressing on any of those days. Also, it's much easier to do your physical fitness in comfy pj pants than jeans...
Corinne is liking her new math games from the library book I borrowed. Mostly just reminders about using dice, bundles of ten and matching different types of numbers together. I think I'll make another set of cards with Roman numerals on them, too...

We are soooo glad that February is almost over. With March comes the possibilities of outings and field trips. Spring break is right around the corner and I know that we all need a week off of the handwritten stuff. Evan has been working harder with his multiplication tables and spelling, thanks to some short books from the library that group certain types of words together. He is basically learning new words each week without having the stress of "Spelling Tests". Justin alternately has fabulous days and horrendous days. There doesn't seem to be much of an in-between for him. Though he DID do wonderfully on his science test today! After that, though, the day went downhill and FAST. I think he was just eager to move onto his Birthday stuff, though.

Tomorrow will find us at the library getting the second book in The Hunger Games and then at our homeschooling group meet-up. It's been a while since everyone's been healthy enough to get together and we really miss the other families! We're doing a study on China which is an interest of Justin's. I think we'll also bring Evan's National Geographic map of China that has been taped and re-taped...

Update

And so the cycle of ups and downs continues. Today's ups:

~ made bundles of ten popsicle sticks for Corinne and encouraged Evan to be the teacher. She did really well and figured out the whole "2 bundles = 20 sticks" idea and it helped to reinforce Evan's math skills without making him feel like he was doing "babyish" work.

~ Justin studied for his 3rd chapter test out of his Life Science book. He continues to do well with the break-downs and seems to be retaining the information from week to week. I continue to like the layout of this book and hope that I can figure out a way to get him to like the Algebra one better.

~ I made several math skills sheets for Corinne for hands-on activities. I think I will encourage Evan to continue to be her helper or "leader" so that he can feel more confident in some of our school activities. Most of the time he feels defeated, even though the work I give him is completely within his skill level and abilities. It's frustrating for us both...

Downs:

~ Ugh. PMS for Mommy means less than adequate patience for Evan's daily brick wall of resistance to all things school-related.

~ A cousin's husband unexpectedly passed away last night and this leaves me feeling reminded at just how short life is. I then begin to wonder at the purpose of education and all of the miniscule details that we think are necessary for life. That frame of mind is not conducive to a fabulous teacher.

~ I took my wedding ring off today for the first time in AGES. Nothing's wrong! I am just worried that the gold is way too worn around the diamonds (I already had one of its teeny ones in a baggie) and I cannot afford to replace the diamonds. So, it's in a hiding spot until we have money (HAHAHAHAHA) to fix it.

~ The pantries are empty and my pockets are, too. Waiting for Friday and payday...

Bizzzeeeee!

Very, very busy.

Trying to crush the darkness of February. Trying to create literary geniuses. Trying to cook food that is moderately healthy. Trying to defrost myself over the heating vent.

Succeeding and failing in all of the above. Will again post soon. Still teaching. Still alive. Still hanging in there...