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Callused hands, blisters on my feet, sore shoulders, and dirt under my fingernails. Worked outside all day. Ready for spring planting! Love it! ♥

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http://12most.com/2012/02/07/compelling-reasons-to-homeschool-children/

12 Most Compelling Reasons to Homeschool Your Children

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I’ve been a public school educator and administrator for more than a decade, so you may be surprised that when parents ask for my advice about education, I often suggest they allow their children to leave school. Education reform is happening today, but it’s slow and often ineffective. Parents need to do what is in the best interest of their children, right now.

For some this means working hard with a school to adapt to meet a child’s needs. But many schools are rigid and don’t believe students are entitled to a customized learning experience. For these parents the best option is often to leave school behind and empower children with the freedom to learn what they want in the way that is best for them.

Here are the twelve most compelling reasons for leaving school behind if your child is not finding success and happiness there.

1. Learning is customized not standardized

•  In school learning is standardized to what someone else says is best.
•  At home learning is customized to what the child and parent feel is best.

2. Associate with those you enjoy rather than those who share your birth year

•  In school students are grouped by date of manufacture.
•  At home children can choose to be with those whose company they enjoy.

3. Freedom to learn with their tools

•  In school students are often banned from using they tools they love to learn with — such as a cell phone.
•  At home children can learn with the tools they choose. For many children technology open doors that schools slam shut.

4. Socialize with those who share your passions not just your zip code

•  In school students have little opportunity to socialize and even when they do it is generally confined to those with whom they’ve been grouped with by year and geography.
•  At home children have the opportunity to socialize and make global connections with others of any age who share their talents, passions, and interests.

5. Real life measures are better than bubble tests

•  In school we measure students success with bubble tests and response to prompts.
•  At home we measure success by what children accomplish that matters to them. Some teens like Leah Miller have developed their own personal success plan (see hers here). She sets her goals and then assesses her success in meeting them.

6. Don’t just read about doing stuff. Do stuff!

•  In school students are forced to sit at desks all day reading and answering questions about stuff other people do.
•  At home children don’t need to spend their time reading and writing about what other people do. They can go do stuff.

7. Travel when you want

•  In school they tell you when to go on vacation and families hop off to crowded destinations together.
•  At home families can decide when travelling works best for them and also get better rates.

8. You are more than a number

•  In school the only things students have to show for their work are numbers and graphs known as report cards, transcripts, or data reports.
•  At home children often put together meaningful portfolios that can be reflected upon and powerfully capture and celebrate learning. This can be done at school, but it rarely happens as little time is left for assessment and reflection after testing and test prep.

9. Do work you value

•  In school students do work someone else wants for someone else’s purpose.
•  At home children can engage in meaningful work for reasons they determine are important.

10. Independence is valued over dependence

•  In school students are dependent on others to tell them what to do and when. They spend their time as compliant workers and are discouraged from questioning authority.
•  At home children are encouraged to explore, discover, and develop their own passions and talents and given the freedom to work deeply in these areas. They know how to learn independently because they are interested, not because they are told to do something.

11. You don’t have to waste learning time with standardized tests

•  In school students and their teachers are spending a large percentage of their time preparing for tests and testing even though test have little to no role in real life. My last test was more than a decade ago. How about you?
•  At home children have the freedom to enjoy learning without the burden or stress of testing. Although many children and parents have been trained to believe testing is a necessary evil in school kids who have the freedom to learn without testing are doing just fine and exploring their passions as grown unschooler Kate Fridkis explains in her article that reveals how we can learn successfully without testing.

12. No more meaningless worksheets and reports

•  In school students often complain they are forced to do meaningless worksheets and reports that have no real purpose or audience. In fact these worksheets and reports often actually suck the joy out of learning. Think about it. When was the last time you read a great book and thought, “Wow! I want to write a report or fill in a worksheet.”
•  At home children can do work that matters and has meaning. If they read a book they love they can hop online and discuss it with other people who’ve read it or publish a review for Amazon. If they want to learn something they have an unfiltered world of resources (inaccessible in many schools) at their fingertips to do so.

Parents of Generation Z have woken up and realized that the industrial model school’s of today are preparing their children for a world that no longer exists. They know that those who receive outdated, classroom-based instruction will end up with the rest of the young people Occupying Wall Street and beyond.

However, there is another option! Home educating families are onto something. The children of these families will grow up as adults who know how to take ownership of their learning and their lives. They will be empowered with the ability to attain satisfaction and success in life and career.

What are your thoughts on the current public education system? Does homeschooling sound appealing to you?

Like this post? You might also enjoy 12 Most Loving Ways to Spark Creativity in Your Child.

If you liked this article, please give it a thumbs up  in Stumbleupon. Thanks!

Featured image courtesy of  Éktor via Creative Commons.

Lisa Nielsen

Authors of the book Teaching Generation Text TeachingGenerationText.com, Lisa Nielsen and Willyn Webb are experts in the use of technology in education. Nielsen works with schools and districts to innovate learning with technology as is best known for her award-winning blog, TheInnovativeEducator. Webb, a teacher, administrator and licensed professional counselor in Colorado has five published books, is a mother of three girls and has developed an innovative alternative high school. For more on Teaching Generation Text join the Facebook group or follow them on Twitter @InnovativeEdu and @WillynWebb

http://freeplaylife.com/2012/02/friends-dont-let-friends-parent-batshit-crazy/

Posted by Tiff in Uncategorized | 132 comments

When I’m not shaving my head, cleaning bathrooms, or drunk facebooking, occasionally I read the news. Then, immediately regret it. Last night I didn’t even need to watch the news to be depressed, I was just innocently drunkbooking when the video of the dad that shot his daughters computer posted on all my friends walls. I’d put the video from youtube up here, but I’m very protective of my blog feng shui and don’t want that messing with my vibe. I’ll put a little picture up, just to give an indication of how nasty the video gets, but that’s my limit.

I almost don’t want to even talk about it, I had nightmares of all the batshit crazy people that have ever been in my life, like the ghosts of douchebags past. However, all the comments and blogs being written that support a parents right to treat their child in a demeaning, angry, vindictive, immature, derogatory, mean spirited, violent (at least towards her computer) way…all while holding a lit cigarette in his hand for the love of worst example ever…all these supportive comments sent me over the edge. I just have to put in my .2 cents to try and restore at least a little balance to the universe. This is going to be quick because I don’t want to dwell on this and I have a park day to go to. And you all know what happens if I miss a park day with my unschooled kids–they miss out on being socialized! (bwahahahahha)

Unlike the dad responding to his teenage daughter’s letter on facebook (that was supposed to be private but he snooped around and found it)…I’m not going to name call (asshat and douchebag come to mind). I’m not going to take sides. I’m not going to answer hate and frustration with my own hate and frustration.

Freeplayparenting uses the force. To sum up: Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to douchebaggery and bad relationships. Truthfully, I didn’t watch the whole video because it literally made me feel like I was going to have a heart attack I got so worked up. The pain!!!! So I didn’t see him actually take out a gun and shoot a computer dead. But of course he did. It makes perfect sense. That’s what happens when you walk down the road of one upping a kid of yours, tit for tat. It gets ugly, people. I’m not saying that freeplayparenting releases you from ever having conflict with your children, but what I am saying is that effective parenting leads to connection and a deescalation rather than bullets in computers and shattered trust.

Freeplayparenting is leading by example. You want a respectful, balanced, happy, mature kid? Model that behavior no matter how many buttons they push. You are the adult. It’s tough, I’m not saying you have to be perfectly composed all the time. Vent to your friends. Pull yourself together for your kids.

Freeplayparenting doesn’t take sides. As soon as parenting becomes you versus the child, it’s over. Parenting is so much more effective on common ground. What I wish both the dad and 15 year old girl could see was that they are both feeling exactly the same way. They are both on the same page of frustration, powerlessness, and sadness. When you can find a common ground, then you can find compassion. And parenting with compassion is a good solid place to stand.

Freeplayparenting doesn’t demand respect or make kids earn it. It’s parenting with respect, though. Respect for our shared human existence. Respect for the inherent awesomeness in both parent and child. Age doesn’t have a role to play in it. Parent/child dynamic becomes person to person dynamic, each with their own strengths and weaknesses and wisdom.

Freeplayparenting isn’t about teaching lessons or making a point. It’s not “I’ll show you” or “I bet now you’ll learn” or “you’ll be sorry…” It’s about living a good life. Exploring what makes happiness and what leads to sadness and gently finding a path from one to the other with minimal trauma. It’s about accepting a wide range of emotions in yourself and in your child, and not being threatened by them.

Freeplayparenting is win/win. Negotiating isn’t a bad word. Neither is compromise. I choose connection before rules. Actually, I choose principles over rules anyway, but that’s a post for another time. Kids are constantly in flux. Something that works one day doesn’t work the next. The relationship between kids and adults needs constant tinkering and adjusting.

Freeplayparenting chooses love and joy above all else. This isn’t to say that it’s love and joy all day long, 24/7. There’s conflict and bad behavior from everyone and hard feelings and frustration. We are living in the world, after all. We are flawed human beings, after all. But in the midst of things that are beyond our control there is one thing we are always in charge of…what choices we make and how we respond to the shit that happens on a daily basis. And when my kids throw their shit at me (I’m speaking figuratively but I have had a fare share of my kids shit and other bodily fluids on me) I take a breath and remember that I invited them to my party. I made them. I love them. I work my ass off 24/7 for them. I want them in my life for as long as I’m living it. I choose not to humiliate, degrade, diminish, talk down, disrespect, and alienate them. If I wouldn’t say or treat my best friends how I treat my kids, then I choose another way.

It’s complicated, but simple. I parent not just for today, tomorrow, and 5 years from now. My parenting isn’t a sprint…like, how am I going to get my kids to college. It’s a marathon. How am I going to get my kids to adulthood? How am I going to help them handle big things…death, birth, love, loss, grief, exuberance, dreams and fears? How can I turn this into a lifelong partnership of unconditional support and love?

That’s freeplayparenting. Choose play over guns, people. Simple as that.

Now, go.

Play. Laugh. Love. Embrace.

We worked on multitasking today. We did Math *and* played Blazing Angels on the Wii at the same time. Can we shoot down WWII bombers AND get all of the problems right? Why yes, I believe we did :) ‎'Cause in the "real world", you don't always get "classroom quiet" & "no distractions" when you have to solve a problem ;)

Made tissue paper carnations LIKE IT'S MY JOB.

Tonight was library night. Sam had his event, Fiction Frenzy (Sam took his recent favorite Fiction book, Corn Raid, to share.... and Josiah and I checked out some new books and he did an anatomy game on the computer. He asked me for help, so I went and pulled a Human Body book off the shelf and looked up what he needed in the book. I looked over later and he was looking up what he needed in the book himself! I thought that was awesome!

The boys and I did some shopping at Earth Fare and used our $10 off $25 text coupon! Also took advantage of Kids Eat Free Day! Yay!

Pinto beans, home made cole slaw, and home made cornbread for dinner.

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Opinion

Ritalin Gone Wrong

By L. ALAN SROUFE

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/opinion/sunday/childrens-add-drugs-dont-work-long-term.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

Published: January 28, 2012

But are these drugs really helping children? Should we really keep expanding the number of prescriptions filled?

In 30 years there has been a twentyfold increase in the consumption of drugs for attention-deficit disorder.

As a psychologist who has been studying the development of troubled children for more than 40 years, I believe we should be asking why we rely so heavily on these drugs.

Attention-deficit drugs increase concentration in the short term, which is why they work so well for college students cramming for exams. But when given to children over long periods of time, they neither improve school achievement nor reduce behavior problems. The drugs can also have serious side effects, including stunting growth.

Sadly, few physicians and parents seem to be aware of what we have been learning about the lack of effectiveness of these drugs.

What gets publicized are short-term results and studies on brain differences among children. Indeed, there are a number of incontrovertible facts that seem at first glance to support medication. It is because of this partial foundation in reality that the problem with the current approach to treating children has been so difficult to see.

Back in the 1960s I, like most psychologists, believed that children with difficulty concentrating were suffering from a brain problem of genetic or otherwise inborn origin. Just as Type I diabetics need insulin to correct problems with their inborn biochemistry, these children were believed to require attention-deficit drugs to correct theirs. It turns out, however, that there is little to no evidence to support this theory.

In 1973, I reviewed the literature on drug treatment of children for The New England Journal of Medicine. Dozens of well-controlled studies showed that these drugs immediately improved children’s performance on repetitive tasks requiring concentration and diligence. I had conducted one of these studies myself. Teachers and parents also reported improved behavior in almost every short-term study. This spurred an increase in drug treatment and led many to conclude that the “brain deficit” hypothesis had been confirmed.

But questions continued to be raised, especially concerning the drugs’ mechanism of action and the durability of effects. Ritalin and Adderall, a combination of dextroamphetamine and amphetamine, are stimulants. So why do they appear to calm children down? Some experts argued that because the brains of children with attention problems were different, the drugs had a mysterious paradoxical effect on them.

However, there really was no paradox. Versions of these drugs had been given to World War II radar operators to help them stay awake and focus on boring, repetitive tasks. And when we reviewed the literature on attention-deficit drugs again in 1990 we found that all children, whether they had attention problems or not, responded to stimulant drugs the same way. Moreover, while the drugs helped children settle down in class, they actually increased activity in the playground. Stimulants generally have the same effects for all children and adults. They enhance the ability to concentrate, especially on tasks that are not inherently interesting or when one is fatigued or bored, but they don’t improve broader learning abilities.

And just as in the many dieters who have used and abandoned similar drugs to lose weight, the effects of stimulants on children with attention problems fade after prolonged use. Some experts have argued that children with A.D.D. wouldn’t develop such tolerance because their brains were somehow different. But in fact, the loss of appetite and sleeplessness in children first prescribed attention-deficit drugs do fade, and, as we now know, so do the effects on behavior. They apparently develop a tolerance to the drug, and thus its efficacy disappears. Many parents who take their children off the drugs find that behavior worsens, which most likely confirms their belief that the drugs work. But the behavior worsens because the children’s bodies have become adapted to the drug. Adults may have similar reactions if they suddenly cut back on coffee, or stop smoking.

TO date, no study has found any long-term benefit of attention-deficit medication on academic performance, peer relationships or behavior problems, the very things we would most want to improve. Until recently, most studies of these drugs had not been properly randomized, and some of them had other methodological flaws.

But in 2009, findings were published from a well-controlled study that had been going on for more than a decade, and the results were very clear. The study randomly assigned almost 600 children with attention problems to four treatment conditions. Some received medication alone, some cognitive-behavior therapy alone, some medication plus therapy, and some were in a community-care control group that received no systematic treatment. At first this study suggested that medication, or medication plus therapy, produced the best results. However, after three years, these effects had faded, and by eight years there was no evidence that medication produced any academic or behavioral benefits.

Indeed, all of the treatment successes faded over time, although the study is continuing. Clearly, these children need a broader base of support than was offered in this medication study, support that begins earlier and lasts longer.

Nevertheless, findings in neuroscience are being used to prop up the argument for drugs to treat the hypothesized “inborn defect.” These studies show that children who receive an A.D.D. diagnosis have different patterns of neurotransmitters in their brains and other anomalies. While the technological sophistication of these studies may impress parents and nonprofessionals, they can be misleading. Of course the brains of children with behavior problems will show anomalies on brain scans. It could not be otherwise. Behavior and the brain are intertwined. Depression also waxes and wanes in many people, and as it does so, parallel changes in brain functioning occur, regardless of medication.

Many of the brain studies of children with A.D.D. involve examining participants while they are engaged in an attention task. If these children are not paying attention because of lack of motivation or an underdeveloped capacity to regulate their behavior, their brain scans are certain to be anomalous.

However brain functioning is measured, these studies tell us nothing about whether the observed anomalies were present at birth or whether they resulted from trauma, chronic stress or other early-childhood experiences. One of the most profound findings in behavioral neuroscience in recent years has been the clear evidence that the developing brain is shaped by experience.

It is certainly true that large numbers of children have problems with attention, self-regulation and behavior. But are these problems because of some aspect present at birth? Or are they caused by experiences in early childhood? These questions can be answered only by studying children and their surroundings from before birth through childhood and adolescence, as my colleagues at the University of Minnesota and I have been doing for decades.

Since 1975, we have followed 200 children who were born into poverty and were therefore more vulnerable to behavior problems. We enrolled their mothers during pregnancy, and over the course of their lives, we studied their relationships with their caregivers, teachers and peers. We followed their progress through school and their experiences in early adulthood. At regular intervals we measured their health, behavior, performance on intelligence tests and other characteristics.

By late adolescence, 50 percent of our sample qualified for some psychiatric diagnosis. Almost half displayed behavior problems at school on at least one occasion, and 24 percent dropped out by 12th grade; 14 percent met criteria for A.D.D. in either first or sixth grade.

Other large-scale epidemiological studies confirm such trends in the general population of disadvantaged children. Among all children, including all socioeconomic groups, the incidence of A.D.D. is estimated at 8 percent. What we found was that the environment of the child predicted development of A.D.D. problems. In stark contrast, measures of neurological anomalies at birth, I.Q. and infant temperament — including infant activity level — did not predict A.D.D.

Plenty of affluent children are also diagnosed with A.D.D. Behavior problems in children have many possible sources. Among them are family stresses like domestic violence, lack of social support from friends or relatives, chaotic living situations, including frequent moves, and, especially, patterns of parental intrusiveness that involve stimulation for which the baby is not prepared. For example, a 6-month-old baby is playing, and the parent picks it up quickly from behind and plunges it in the bath. Or a 3-year-old is becoming frustrated in solving a problem, and a parent taunts or ridicules. Such practices excessively stimulate and also compromise the child’s developing capacity for self-regulation.

Putting children on drugs does nothing to change the conditions that derail their development in the first place. Yet those conditions are receiving scant attention. Policy makers are so convinced that children with attention deficits have an organic disease that they have all but called off the search for a comprehensive understanding of the condition. The National Institute of Mental Health finances research aimed largely at physiological and brain components of A.D.D. While there is some research on other treatment approaches, very little is studied regarding the role of experience. Scientists, aware of this orientation, tend to submit only grants aimed at elucidating the biochemistry.

Thus, only one question is asked: are there aspects of brain functioning associated with childhood attention problems? The answer is always yes. Overlooked is the very real possibility that both the brain anomalies and the A.D.D. result from experience.

Our present course poses numerous risks. First, there will never be a single solution for all children with learning and behavior problems. While some smaller number may benefit from short-term drug treatment, large-scale, long-term treatment for millions of children is not the answer.

Second, the large-scale medication of children feeds into a societal view that all of life’s problems can be solved with a pill and gives millions of children the impression that there is something inherently defective in them.

Finally, the illusion that children’s behavior problems can be cured with drugs prevents us as a society from seeking the more complex solutions that will be necessary. Drugs get everyone — politicians, scientists, teachers and parents — off the hook. Everyone except the children, that is.

If drugs, which studies show work for four to eight weeks, are not the answer, what is? Many of these children have anxiety or depression; others are showing family stresses. We need to treat them as individuals.

As for shortages, they will continue to wax and wane. Because these drugs are habit forming, Congress decides how much can be produced. The number approved doesn’t keep pace with the tidal wave of prescriptions. By the end of this year, there will in all likelihood be another shortage, as we continue to rely on drugs that are not doing what so many well-meaning parents, therapists and teachers believe they are doing.

http://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis/archive/issue.asp?year=2012&month=01

January 2012

Charles Murray
American Enterprise Institute

Do We Need the Department of Education?

Charles Murray is the W.H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He received his B.A. in history at Harvard University and his Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has written for numerous newspapers and journals, including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Weekly Standard, Commentary, and National Review. His books include Losing Ground: American Social Policy 1950-1980, What It Means to Be a Libertarian, and Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s Schools Back to Reality. His new book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010, will be published at the end of January.

The following is adapted from a speech delivered in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 28, 2011, at a conference on “Markets, Government, and the Common Good,” sponsored by Hillsdale College’s Center for the Study of Monetary Systems and Free Enterprise.

THE CASE FOR the Department of Education could rest on one or more of three legs: its constitutional appropriateness, the existence of serious problems in education that could be solved only at the federal level, and/or its track record since it came into being. Let us consider these in order.

(1) Is the Department of Education constitutional?

At the time the Constitution was written, education was not even considered a function of local government, let alone the federal government. But the shakiness of the Department of Education’s constitutionality goes beyond that. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution enumerates the things over which Congress has the power to legislate. Not only does the list not include education, there is no plausible rationale for squeezing education in under the commerce clause. I’m sure the Supreme Court found a rationale, but it cannot have been plausible.

On a more philosophical level, the framers of America’s limited government had a broad allegiance to what Catholics call the principle of subsidiarity. In the secular world, the principle of subsidiarity means that local government should do only those things that individuals cannot do for themselves, state government should do only those things that local governments cannot do, and the federal government should do only those things that the individual states cannot do. Education is something that individuals acting alone and cooperatively can do, let alone something local or state governments can do.

I should be explicit about my own animus in this regard. I don’t think the Department of Education is constitutionally legitimate, let alone appropriate. I would favor abolishing it even if, on a pragmatic level, it had improved American education. But I am in a small minority on that point, so let’s move on to the pragmatic questions.

(2) Are there serious problems in education that can be solved only at the federal level?

The first major federal spending on education was triggered by the launch of the first space satellite, Sputnik, in the fall of 1957, which created a perception that the United States had fallen behind the Soviet Union in science and technology. The legislation was specifically designed to encourage more students to go into math and science, and its motivation is indicated by its title: The National Defense Education Act of 1958. But what really ensnared the federal government in education in the 1960s had its origins elsewhere—in civil rights. The Supreme Court declared segregation of the schools unconstitutional in 1954, but—notwithstanding a few highly publicized episodes such as the integration of Central High School in Little Rock and James Meredith’s admission to the University of Mississippi—the pace of change in the next decade was glacial.

Was it necessary for the federal government to act? There is a strong argument for “yes,” especially in the case of K-12 education. Southern resistance to desegregation proved to be both stubborn and effective in the years following Brown v. Board of Education. Segregation of the schools had been declared unconstitutional, and constitutional rights were being violated on a massive scale. But the question at hand is whether we need a Department of Education now, and we have seen a typical evolution of policy. What could have been justified as a one-time, forceful effort to end violations of constitutional rights, lasting until the constitutional wrongs had been righted, was transmuted into a permanent government establishment. Subsequently, this establishment became more and more deeply involved in American education for purposes that have nothing to do with constitutional rights, but instead with a broader goal of improving education.

The reason this came about is also intimately related to the civil rights movement. Over the same years that school segregation became a national issue, the disparities between black and white educational attainment and test scores came to public attention. When the push for President Johnson’s Great Society programs began in the mid-1960s, it was inevitable that the federal government would attempt to reduce black-white disparities, and it did so in 1965 with the passage of two landmark bills—the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Higher Education Act. The Department of Education didn’t come into being until 1980, but large-scale involvement of the federal government in education dates from 1965.

(3) So what is the federal government’s track record in education?

The most obvious way to look at the track record is the long-term trend data of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Consider, for instance, the results for the math test for students in fourth, eighth and twelfth grades from 1978 through 2004. The good news is that the scores for fourth graders showed significant improvement in both reading and math—although those gains diminished slightly as the children got older. The bad news is that the baseline year of 1978 represents the nadir of the test score decline from the mid-1960s through the 1970s. Probably we are today about where we were in math achievement in the 1960s. For reading, the story is even bleaker. The small gains among fourth graders diminish by eighth grade and vanish by the twelfth grade. And once again, the baseline tests in the 1970s represent a nadir.

From 1942 through the 1990s, the state of Iowa administered a consistent and comprehensive test to all of its public school students in grade school, middle school, and high school—making it, to my knowledge, the only state in the union to have good longitudinal data that go back that far. The Iowa Test of Basic Skills offers not a sample, but an entire state population of students. What can we learn from a single state? Not much, if we are mainly interested in the education of minorities—Iowa from 1942 through 1970 was 97 percent white, and even in the 2010 census was 91 percent white. But, paradoxically, that racial homogeneity is also an advantage, because it sidesteps all the complications associated with changing ethnic populations.

Since retention through high school has changed greatly over the last 70 years, I will consider here only the data for ninth graders. What the data show is that when the federal government decided to get involved on a large scale in K-12 education in 1965, Iowa’s education had been improving substantially since the first test was administered in 1942. There is reason to think that the same thing had been happening throughout the country. As I documented in my book, Real Education, collateral data from other sources are not as detailed, nor do they go back to the 1940s, but they tell a consistent story. American education had been improving since World War II. Then, when the federal government began to get involved, it got worse.

I will not try to make the case that federal involvement caused the downturn. The effort that went into programs associated with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 in the early years was not enough to have changed American education, and the more likely causes for the downturn are the spirit of the 1960s—do your own thing—and the rise of progressive education to dominance over American public education. But this much can certainly be said: The overall data on the performance of American K-12 students give no reason to think that federal involvement, which took the form of the Department of Education after 1979, has been an engine of improvement.

What about the education of the disadvantaged, especially minorities? After all, this was arguably the main reason that the federal government began to get involved in education—to reduce the achievement gap separating poor children and rich children, and especially the gap separating poor black children and the rest of the country.

The most famous part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was Title I, initially authorizing more than a billion dollars annually (equivalent to more than $7 billion today) to upgrade the schools attended by children from low-income families. The program has continued to grow ever since, disposing of about $19 billion in 2010 (No Child Left Behind has also been part of Title I).

Supporters of Title I confidently expected to see progress, and so formal evaluation of Title I was built into the legislation from the beginning. Over the years, the evaluations became progressively more ambitious and more methodologically sophisticated. But while the evaluations have improved, the story they tell has not changed. Despite being conducted by people who wished the program well, no evaluation of Title I from the 1970s onward has found credible evidence of a significant positive impact on student achievement. If one steps back from the formal evaluations and looks at the NAEP test score gap between high-poverty schools (the ones that qualify for Title I support) and low-poverty schools, the implications are worse. A study by the Department of Education published in 2001 revealed that the gap grew rather than diminished from 1986—the earliest year such comparisons have been made—through 1999.

That brings us to No Child Left Behind. Have you noticed that no one talks about No Child Left Behind any more? The explanation is that its one-time advocates are no longer willing to defend it. The nearly-flat NAEP trendlines since 2002 make that much-ballyhooed legislative mandate—a mandate to bring all children to proficiency in math and reading by 2014—too embarrassing to mention.

In summary: the long, intrusive, expensive role of the federal government in K-12 education does not have any credible evidence for a positive effect on American education.

* * *

I have chosen to focus on K-12 because everyone agrees that K-12 education leaves much to be desired in this country and that it is reasonable to hold the government’s feet to the fire when there is no evidence that K-12 education has improved. When we turn to post-secondary education, there is much less agreement on first principles.

The bachelor of arts degree as it has evolved over the last half-century has become the work of the devil. It is now a substantively meaningless piece of paper—genuinely meaningless, if you don’t know where the degree was obtained and what courses were taken. It is expensive, too, as documented by the College Board: Public four-year colleges average about $7,000 per year in tuition, not including transportation, housing, and food. Tuition at the average private four-year college is more than $27,000 per year. And yet the B.A. has become the minimum requirement for getting a job interview for millions of jobs, a cost-free way for employers to screen for a certain amount of IQ and perseverance. Employers seldom even bother to check grades or courses, being able to tell enough about a graduate just by knowing the institution that he or she got into as an 18-year-old.

So what happens when a paper credential is essential for securing a job interview, but that credential can be obtained by taking the easiest courses and doing the minimum amount of work? The result is hundreds of thousands of college students who go to college not to get an education, but to get a piece of paper. When the dean of one East Coast college is asked how many students are in his institution, he likes to answer, “Oh, maybe six or seven.” The situation at his college is not unusual. The degradation of American college education is not a matter of a few parents horrified at stories of silly courses, trivial study requirements, and campus binge drinking. It has been documented in detail, affects a large proportion of the students in colleges, and is a disgrace.

The Department of Education, with decades of student loans and scholarships for university education, has not just been complicit in this evolution of the B.A. It has been its enabler. The size of these programs is immense. In 2010, the federal government issued new loans totaling $125 billion. It handed out more than eight million Pell Grants totaling more than $32 billion dollars. Absent this level of intervention, the last three decades would have seen a much healthier evolution of post-secondary education that focused on concrete job credentials and courses of studies not constricted by the traditional model of the four-year residential college. The absence of this artificial subsidy would also have let market forces hold down costs. Defenders of the Department of Education can unquestionably make the case that its policies have increased the number of people going to four-year residential colleges. But I view that as part of the Department of Education’s indictment, not its defense.

* * *

What other case might be made for federal involvement in education? Its contributions to good educational practice? Think of the good things that have happened to education in the last 30 years—the growth of homeschooling and the invention and spread of charter schools. The Department of Education had nothing to do with either development. Both happened because of the initiatives taken by parents who were disgusted with standard public education and took matters into their own hands. To watch the process by which charter schools are created, against the resistance of school boards and administrators, is to watch the best of American traditions in operation. Government has had nothing to do with it, except as a drag on what citizens are trying to do for their children.

Think of the best books on educational practice, such as Howard Gardner’s many innovative writings and E.D. Hirsch’s Core Knowledge Curriculum, developed after his landmark book, Cultural Literacy, was published in 1987. None of this came out of the Department of Education. The Department of Education spends about $200 million a year on research intended to improve educational practice. No evidence exists that these expenditures have done any significant good.

As far as I can determine, the Department of Education has no track record of positive accomplishment—nothing in the national numbers on educational achievement, nothing in the improvement of educational outcomes for the disadvantaged, nothing in the advancement of educational practice. It just spends a lot of money. This brings us to the practical question: If the Department of Education disappeared from next year’s budget, would anyone notice? The only reason that anyone would notice is the money. The nation’s public schools have developed a dependence on the federal infusion of funds. As a practical matter, actually doing away with the Department of Education would involve creating block grants so that school district budgets throughout the nation wouldn’t crater.

Sadly, even that isn’t practical. The education lobby will prevent any serious inroads on the Department of Education for the foreseeable future. But the answer to the question posed in the title of this talk—“Do we need the Department of Education?”—is to me unambiguous: No.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/29/why-urban-educated-parents-are-turning-to-diy-education.html

Institutions throughout the country have discovered a reliable weekday customer in urban homeschoolers. “Everywhere you turn there’s a co-op or a class or a special exhibit,” says Brian Ray, founder of the National Home Education Research Institute in Oregon. Three years ago, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago began to court homeschoolers with free admission, their own newsletters, and courses designed specifically for them. Participation has doubled each year. “The more we offer, the more we sell out,” says Andrea Ingram, vice president of education and guest services.

The cold really got me down today...fatigued, runny nose, headache. Pulled myself together long enough to make Boys Club at Sky High Sports. Great time! Came home & went straight to couch...Hubby made soup and "took care of me."

Sorting Legos is what we did today. Me & Josiah. We did pretty well! Made homemade Salisbury Steak for dinner....YUMMY! Especially the gravy. Served with organic mashed potatoes & organic green beans!

Book CLub! to discuss Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver...BEST. BOOK. EVER. We all loved it. The discussion was fantastic, and so was the pizza at Mellow Mushroom. I took a bottle of Master Tonic because everyone had a cold but me, and when Jen went to the bar to get shot glasses for us, the bartender got all concerned and came over and asked for a shot, I suppose to verify that I had not boldly brought a big bottle of homemade whiskey in the restaurant. So I gave her one. Look on her face was priceless, then she left us alone. hahahaha. After pizza, we all went to Books A Million to chat. Then I picked my boys up from the ex-mils, and went home. They had lots of candy & soda when I picked them up. I was really irritated with it, and confiscated it all, but they still had a tough time getting to sleep. I would like to propose a law to be able to sue grandparents for child abuse, and collect payment for dental & medical bills. Seriously, grandparents, it's not funny.

Rained in with a sexy, cuddly man, and my house smells like homemade chicken noodle soup simmering in the crock pot ♥ The Hubby and I committed to being thoroughly lazy this weekend, and so far, we have been thoroughly successful. Watching episodes of Lie To Me together, me breaking to reading my book when he goes out to smoke.

Today we recovered from our ski trip. Lots of healthy food, rest, detox baths, and cartoons of course. Spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, with salads & garlic bread.

Why all this protest? Education is a good thing, right? Children need to become educated to do well in society. Society goes to tremendous expense and trouble to provide schooling—lots of it!—for every child (whether they want it or not). Are these kids just spoiled ingrates?  If so, then you and I—and essentially everyone else who ever attended school after schooling became compulsory—were also spoiled ingrates. We all protested it. In fact, back in the days when schools first became compulsory kids protested it even more than they do now, even though there was much less of it then. They had to be beaten with birch sticks to get them to stay in school and do what the teachers told them to do.

In my last essay I used the concept of evolutionary mismatch to explain why infants and young children protest going to bed—alone, in the dark, at night. The term refers to a lack of congruity between environmental conditions today and those that existed during the time of our evolutionary ancestors. For at least 99 per cent of our history as human beings, we were all hunter-gatherers. Anthropologists have pointed out that the hunter-gatherer way of life is the only stable way of life our species has ever known.  Ever since the origin of agriculture, a mere 10,000 years ago, we have been caught in an ever-faster whirlwind of cultural change. From a biological perspective, we are all still hunter-gatherers, doing the best that we can to cope with the conditions of life that exist today.  In my last essay I pointed out that infants and young children protest going to bed alone because, in hunter-gatherer days, to do so would likely lead to death. The monsters under the bed were real. They were jackals, tigers, and other nighttime predators, prowling around looking for small snacks unprotected by adults. Instincts and fears that evolved when we were hunter-gatherers have not changed.

Now I want to apply the concept of evolutionary mismatch to the problem of education.

As I pointed out in one of the first essays in this blog, the means by which children became educated in hunter-gatherer cultures were the opposite of the means by which we try to educate children in our schools today.  One of the most cherished values of all band hunter-gatherer societies that have ever been studied by anthropologists is freedom. Hunter-gatherers believed that it is wrong to coerce a person to do what the person doesn't want to do—and they considered children to be people. They rarely even made direct suggestions, because that might sound like coercion. They believed that people, on their own initiative, would learn to contribute to the welfare of the band, because they would see the wisdom of doing so and experience the joy of it. For hundreds of thousands of years, that was the organizing principle of human society.[1] The hunting and gathering life required great personal initiative and creativity, and it required trust that people would share and cooperate because they wanted to. Hunting and gathering people seemed to understand that—and they also seemed to understand that children would best grow up to be free, trusting, cooperative, creative adults if they were permitted freedom throughout their childhood, in the context of the moral community and models that the band provided.

Throughout our immense hunter-gatherer period, children were free to play and explore all day, day after day, and in that way to educate themselves. Education was always self-directed.  In fact, the reason children are naturally so playful, curious, and social is because those traits were the motivating powers behind children's abilities to educate themselves.Those "childish" traits were promoted and shaped, by natural selection, precisely to serve the function of education, in conditions of childhood freedom.

So, when we force children to sit in their seats and listen to a teacher and do just what they are told, every bone in their body, and every neuron and muscle, resists.  Their body tells them, "This is wrong. I need to control my own actions; I need to play at the skills that seem to be important to me; I need to explore the questions that I'm curious about, not ones that bore me; I need to pay attention to what people in the real world are doing, not to what this teacher, who doesn't even seem to be part of the world outside of school, is telling me. If I don't do these things that I need to do, I will not grow up to be a competent, dignified human being." In hunter-gatherer times, a child who did not feel so strongly driven to run his or her own life and education would have grown up to be a misfit.

So, our children have instincts that drive them to educate themselves through their free play, exploration, and socializing. But we have schools that insist that they give up that freedom and do what they are told to do. The schools have never worked well, and even in theory can't work well, because they always pit the school against the child and thereby evoke resistance.

What are we going to do about this evolutionary mismatch?

It seems to me that we have two choices. We can continue stumbling along with our coercive system of schooling and continue to fight our children's instincts, using drugs or whatever other means we must to dampen their cries for freedom.  Or, we can adopt what to most people today seems like a radical, even crazy approach to education, but which to hunter-gatherers seemed like common sense.  This radical approach is to let our children educate themselves, while we provide the conditions that make that possible.

The idea that children can direct their own education, and can do it well, seems absurd to most people today; we are so conditioned to the idea that education requires top-down direction and coercion. But, for those who are willing to take a look at it, the evidence is overwhelming that the hunter-gatherer approach to education can work beautifully in our society today. I've described that evidence in previous essays (see, for example, this one). We can build play and learning centers—similar to the Sudbury Valley School—that provide children with the resources they need to educate themselves. The essential resources include access to lots of children of mixed ages to play with, access to the tools that are crucial to our culture, and access to caring adults—all within the context of a moral community that embodies the highest values of our society. Amazing as it may seem to some, this can all be done at far less expense and trouble than that extracted by our current system of coercive schooling. And this sort of institution—unlike our standard schools—is filled with excitement and joy.

Do your children protest school? Did you? What forms do (or did) the protests take? How have you dealt with the contradiction between the human drive for freedom and our coercive school system? What do you think we could do, as a society, to resolve this contradiction? I'm interested in your experiences and thoughts.

(hold)

In Praise of Homeschools

  Monday, January 16, 2012 by Aaron Smith

The most admirable group of entrepreneurs is perhaps the least appreciated. Homeschool parents, or parentrepreneurs, are not waiting for politicians and technocrats to fix broken systems of education. Rather, they are eschewing the status quo and finding innovative ways to advance the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual growth of their children. Unlike their counterparts in the public sector, parentrepreneurs have achieved astounding results with humble budgets.

Curiously, parentrepreneurs are seldom the object of praise. They are instead showered with ridicule and demands for intrusive regulations that erode their effectiveness as educators. Self-interested unionists are often at the forefront of this mudslinging. A National Education Association resolution is exemplary of such demagoguery:

The National Education Association believes that home schooling programs based on parental choice cannot provide the student with a comprehensive education experience. When home schooling occurs, students enrolled must meet all state curricular requirements, including the taking and passing of assessments to ensure adequate academic progress.

Clearly, the NEA perpetuates the myth that parents are too ignorant to be educators. Even worse, they obnoxiously imply that government schools, in fact, provide a comprehensive education experience for all students. Of course, the NEA is hardly a beacon of objectivity. Between 1999 and 2007, the number of homeschooled students increased almost twofold, from 850,000 to 1,500,000 — a trend that threatens its wealth and political clout.

Unfortunately, the homeschool-opponents movement is ubiquitous and is backed by more than just power-hungry unionists. Left-liberal elites, statists, and antireligion bigots are also motivated to infringe on the liberties of parents. However, an objective look at four key performance indicators illuminates the truth and leads to an obvious conclusion: homeschooling parents should be praised for their noble work.

Key Performance Indicator #1: Academics

To Murray Rothbard, the merits of individual instruction are unequivocal. Only this type of education, he asserted, can develop human potential to its greatest degree. It was therefore obvious to him that formal schools were vastly inferior.

Since each child differs from the other in interest and ability, and the teacher can only teach one thing at a time, it is evident that every school class must cast all the instruction into one uniform mold. Regardless how the teacher instructs, at what pace, timing, or variety, he is doing violence to each and every one of the children. Any schooling involves misfitting each child into a Procrustean bed of unsuitable uniformity.

Government schools cannot differentiate instruction as homeschools do. At best, a highly effective teacher might have the capacity to place students in small groups based on achievement level, disregarding their interests altogether. It is therefore evident that even an average parent is likely more effective than a great teacher; she does not have to worry about classroom management, arbitrary timelines, and restrictive curricula — her energy is focused on what's best for an individual child. Still, this advantage is perhaps secondary to homeschooling parents. As John Holt explains, what truly separates homeschools from traditional schools is that they aren't actually schools:

What is most important and valuable about the home as a base for children's growth into the world is not that it is a better school than the schools but that it isn't school at all. It is not an artificial place, set up to make "learning" happen and in which nothing except "learning" ever happens. It is a natural, organic, central, fundamental human institution, one might easily and rightly say the foundation of all other human institutions.

This is not to say that all homeschools espouse the unschooling philosophy of Holt. In actuality, they are quite diverse in their approaches to education. Some homeschools purchase curricula from publishers while others opt to enroll their children in correspondence programs. Libraries, tutors, and local support groups might also be used by homeschools. Just as in business, there is more than one way to run a profitable organization — and the results support this idea.

In a study conducted by Dr. Brian D. Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute homeschoolers scored an average of 34–39 percentile points higher than the norm on standardized achievement tests (1, 2). Government regulations, including whether or not homeschooling parents were teacher-certified, had no impact on these scores. In fact, students whose parents did not have a college degree scored at the 83rd percentile. In terms of college admissions, homeschoolers typically score higher than average on the SAT.

Despite these outstanding outcomes, homeschools weren't even legal in all 50 states until 1993 and many states have enacted burdensome regulations. California and New York, for instance, have intrusive laws that regulate curricula, testing, and teacher credentials. Using compulsory attendance laws, government officials enforce these regulations and can prosecute parents who fail to comply. In essence, parentrepreneurs are punished for being exceptional parents, just as successful entrepreneurs are taxed and condemned for their profits.

Key Performance Indicator #2: Socialization

A common criticism levied by homeschool opponents is that government schools are more adept at developing social skills. While this masquerades as a legitimate assertion, it fails to survive even the most rudimentary scrutiny. Not only have studies shown that homeschooled students grow to be aptly socialized adults but the roots of public schools are deeply entrenched in a mixture of assimilation and obedience — fertile grounds for repressing human ingenuity and producing dependent citizens.

A primary impetus for government schooling in the United States was to impose discipline on immigrant children and integrate them into the American way of life. The forefathers of public education, including Horace Mann, drew inspiration from the despotic state of Prussia and emulated many of their practices including compulsory attendance and collective instruction. John Stuart Mill warned of the dangers of government-controlled education:

A general State education is a mere contrivance for moulding people to be exactly like one another: and as the mould in which it casts them is that which pleases the predominant power in the government.

Oddly, the vehicle that is commonly thought to be most effective at socializing American children was essentially designed to numb minds and sterilize spirits. This might explain why an astounding 2.7 million youths are medicated for ADHD — without drugs, these "unruly" children would be unable to sit through manila lessons and behave subserviently. Of course, this is only to speak of the type of socialization that occurs at good schools. Minorities are often not as fortunate — they're forced into virtual prisons, fully equipped with metal detectors, security officers, and chaotic classrooms.

Is this the socialization that homeschool opponents espouse? To say their criticism is hypocritical would be far too polite.

To opponents, homeschoolers are held captive from society and insulated from the life experiences needed to socialize them. This view is pure bigotry. Homeschooling families live the belief that the "world is a classroom." According to Ray's study, the average homeschooler is involved in 5.2 activities outside the home such as scouts, volunteering, and sports. Other studies have shown that, as adults, homeschoolers are more likely than the general population to go to college, vote, and participate in community service. One Canadian adult reflects on her social life as a homeschooled child:

In my experience [my siblings and I] had ample opportunity for socialization with other children. Between homeschooling group activities (such as art lessons, soccer, swimming lessons), piano and voice lessons, choir, guitar, cello and violin lessons and activities in the parish, we had a great deal of socialization.

The socialization myth should be exposed for what it is: a narrow-minded fear that homeschoolers will grow to be socially awkward adults. With the current state of government education, is this really what homeschool opponents should be worried about? Just imagine a society where cocktail goers have more to discuss than weather, shopping, and reality television! (On second thought, this is precisely what the establishment should fear.)

Key Performance Indicator #3: Finances

Much is often made of the linkage between budget "constraints" and the performance of government schools. If only they had more money, the argument goes, their problems would be solved! While it's true that some schools operate in decrepit facilities, this neither dooms children to failure (ugly buildings don't render teachers ineffective) nor does it give an accurate representation of the resources most administrators are bestowed with. The average public school district, after all, spends $10,499 per child annually — or $136,487 for thirteen years of compulsory schooling. And this does not include capital expenditures and research and development that is spent by school districts and schools of education.

The costs of waste, bureaucracy, and incompetence in public education are difficult to quantify, especially to those who are blinded by emotional rhetoric (e.g., "Budget cuts will harm our children!"). The guardians of "our" children should be informed, however, that parentrepreneurs spend an average of — get this — less than $600 per child annually. A pittance compared to the expenditures of government schools. Of course, homeschools don't have incremental expenses for things such as buildings, gymnasiums, and unnecessary administrators — which is precisely the point. A good education does not require an abundance of resources.

Now it must be conceded that this comparison is incomplete as it fails to account for the opportunity cost that parentrepreneurs endure. While many parents send their children to "free" school and work full-time, homeschooling parents often forgo careers to invest scarce time and energy in their children's futures. It should be of little debate that this sacrifice of ego and material well-being epitomizes the definition of parenting. To the parentrepreneur, however, this is hardly a fleeting concern: there isn't time to wait for "reform" — no grandiose plan or heralded piece of legislation will fix government schools today.

Homeschool opponents are quick to retort that "only the rich" can afford homeschooling and most families struggle to make ends meet with two full-time incomes, let alone one. This objection, naturally, is just more of their usual rabble-rousing. The median family income for homeschooling parents is about the same as the nationwide median, approximately $79,000. So, roughly half of homeschools are earning less than $79,000 per year — with many making substantially less. Is this what they consider to be wealthy?

While not every family can afford homeschooling, this illustrates that it's within the grasp of many — if not most — Americans. Some may need to go without expensive vacations while others may need to make more substantive cutbacks, but the potential returns are incalculable. With the number of homeschools growing exponentially, it is evident that an increasing number of parents are recognizing the tangibility of this opportunity.

It is worth mentioning that homeschooling parents save taxpayers an estimated $16 billion annually. With budget crises rampant throughout the public sector you would think our beloved officials would encourage homeschooling as the fruitful endeavor it is — but this could ultimately serve to diminish the influence of homeschool opponents.

Key Performance Indicator #4: Values

Government schools, to at least some extent, obstruct parents' ability to shape their children's values. Much to the chagrin of libertarian parents, for example, their child might have a Marxist economics teacher. Similarly, a conservative parent might be upset to learn that his or her child's instructor is teaching "safe sex" in lieu of abstinence. Regardless of a parent's political stripe or value system, government schools will ultimately stain the canvass on which they are painting.

Homeschooling parents recognize this problem and, as a whole, refuse to allow their child's primary role models to be chosen by bureaucratic fiat. In fact, 36 percent cite religious or moral instruction as the most important reason for homeschooling, while 21 percent are primarily driven by concerns about the school environment.

Naturally, this infuriates opponents who believe that every child should be exposed to "progressive" values, and they strive to regulate homeschools to achieve this end. Writing of the so-called dangers of homeschooling, Robin L. West of Georgetown University Law Center advances such a view:

Also sacrificed is their exposure to diverse ideas, cultures, and ways of being. Again, this is not incidental; it is the fully intended result of the deregulation movement. The children of the most devout fundamentalists are being intentionally shielded from those parts of a public school curriculum that have this broadening potential.

Perhaps a visit to one of DC's finest public schools would help enlighten West of the "broadening potential" of government schooling. She herself will likely discover "ways of being" and "cultures" not encountered during everyday life at Georgetown. Ironically, West's fellow homeschool critic Rob Reich dispels her claim that parentrepreneurs are "the most devout fundamentalists":

Home schoolers are now a diverse population. No longer the preserve of left wing unschoolers and right wing religious fundamentalists, the great range of people who have chosen to home school their children make it very difficult to draw even broad generalizations about the phenomenon. Berkeley unschoolers who disdain structure, Christian evangelicals who disdain secularism, and suburban technophiles who download Khan Academy tutorials: this is the picture of homeschooling in 2011.

Forced indoctrination of any system of beliefs or values would do grave injustice to individual liberty. Do opponents really believe that homeschoolers are contributing to the moral decay of society? It is highly likely that not one homeschooler is a member of the Bloods, Crips, or any other gang of delinquents that plague government schools. (What have public school curricula done for these miscreants?) Homeschooling parents should be commended for actively shaping their children's values — and yes, even those of the leftist variety.

Conclusion

Homeschools are an inspiring example of how entrepreneurism can overcome government incompetence. Homeschool opponents are threatened by the success of parentrepreneurs and try to use regulations and fear mongering to maintain their virtual monopoly over the minds and pocketbooks of Americans — these efforts are unjustified and deplorable. Homeschooling parents are tremendously courageous and should be commended for being exceptional parents.

Aaron Smith has an MBA from Texas A&M University and resides in Houston, Texas. Send him mail. See Aaron Smith's article archives.

We had free time at co-op today for teacher/class planning. We were late, but boys got to play with friends a while, and I accomplished paying our fees and signing the boys up for their classes: Josiah ~ Lego Class, Newspaper/Journalism. Sam ~ Physics, Stop Motion Video. Fun stuff! We are excited about starting classes next week!

It is almost time for the Great Backyard Bird Count. We have our bird buffet ready in the back yard. So far we have male & female cardinals, mourning doves, sparrows, male & female house finches, black-capped chickadees, eastern towhee, and robins at our feeders. The boys found a dead bird a couple of days ago and identified it as they reported it to me. They didn't just say there is a dead "bird" in the yard, they said there is a dead "sparrow" in the yard, and they were correct! Today we observed the visitors at the feeders and even cracked the window a little and teased them with our Bird Song Identiflyer.

We read two books today: If You Lived at the Time of Martin Luther King by Ellen Levine & Free At Last! The Story of Martin Luther King Jr. by Angela Bull. We focused on the words/definitions/applications: boycott, car pools, civil rights, discrimination, prejudice, racism, segregation, sit-ins (talked about the recent Nurse-In at Target our friend participated in). The boys were especially disturbed that black & white children were not allowed to play together, and that a library book was banned at that time because it showed black & white bunnies playing together. We talked about how all of this hasn't really been that long ago. We talked about prejudice of other races.

We watched on Netflix:
 
The Long Walk Home ~ The film is set in Montgomery, Alabama, United States, during the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, and features Whoopi Goldberg as Odessa Cotter, an African-American maid, employed by a well-to-do white woman, Miriam Thompson, played by Spacek. The story is told through the eyes of Miriam's young daughter Mary Catherine, for whom Odessa is a nanny. Odessa and her family are faced with all of the social problems typical of African Americans at the time: poverty, racism, violence, and discrimination based solely on the color of their skin. When a boycott of the city buses prevents Odessa from riding the bus to work, she is left with no other choice but to walk. Her employer, Miriam Thompson, offers to give her a ride two days a week in order to ensure she makes it to work on time and alleviate the effect the “long walk home” is having on her. However, as the boycott progresses, tensions rise and giving Odessa a ride to work becomes an issue with the white prominent members of her community, as well as with her husband. Miriam is faced with the choice between doing what she believes is right or succumbing to pressure from her husband and friends. After a fight with her husband, Miriam decides to follow her heart and becomes involved in a carpool group for other workers like Odessa. In the film's emotional final scene, Miriam and Mary Catherine join Odessa and the other protesters in standing against oppression.

PBS documentary, Roads to Memphis: On April 4, 1968, escaped convict James Earl Ray shot and killed Dr. Martin Luther King. This is the fateful narrative of the killer and his prey, set against the seething, turbulent forces in American society at that time.

I was not feeling well, Hubby helped out with serving dinner and cleaning kitchen. I made beef stew, and I made my own seasoning with all organic ingredients. The store bought packets contain extra ingredients that are toxic. Hubby & I watched more episodes of Lie To Me. Read more of my book club assignment, Prodigal Summer. Hubby and I got freaky, creepy unknown calls to our cell phones at 2am.

Beef Stew Seasoning:

• 2 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons oregano
• 2 tablespoons basil
• 4 1/4 tablespoons salt
• 4 1/4 tablespoons black pepper
• 4 1/4 tablespoons garlic powder
• 4 1/4 tablespoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons celery seeds
• 4 1/4 tablespoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons rosemary

 

Took Lorenon home, Hubby watched boys for hours while I ran shopping errands. I got a few things for Pinterest projects! Yay! I am also excited about finding just what I was looking for to begin our grand Lego Organization Project...a sorting bow with 22 drawers...we started with two this time...Home Depot. I hope they don't stop carrying them. We can only afford two to start with, but we will need about 50 more before it's all done! Ha!

Today was the day of the much anticipated sleepover with Lorenon. The boys were good, it was a good time. Watched Lie To Me episodes, read from Prodigal Summer, knitted a little.

Pumkin' called to let me know she made it through her first tattoo today.

As soon as Sam got up this morning, he checked his wallet for his library card with the internet sticker, because, he said " I'm making sure the library card was not a dream!"

I have Math grades! Sam ~ 100, 100, 98, 87, 100, 95, 90 (AVG 96), Josiah ~ 97, 100, 94, 97, 92, 98, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 100, 95 (AVG 98). Both are really good at Math. Josiah did double the "work" because he needed more practice at staying focused and building speed on drills through repetition. 

We read Chapters 5 & 6 today in Corn Raid & did discussion questions.

Sam did questions for Chapter 1 & Chapter 2 of Dinosaurs Before Dark. Sam read Chapters 3 & 4 aloud to Josiah and I. 

Josiah read a book aloud all the way through perfectly with no help today! He's all smiley. He read it to me twice, then to Sam once. 

Hubby brought home Chinese for dinner. Hubby & I watched Lie To Me episodes, I read my book Prodigal Summer when he went out to smoke, and I started a knitting project. My big plan is to make crochet throw pillow cases. We'll see.

Sam & Josiah ~ Math. Sam gets down to business and gets his work done. Josiah drags it out for a ridiculously long time.

History & Reading ~ We did Chapters 3 & 4 in Corn Raid & discussion questions. Sam is sharp and picks up every detail of the story. He answers the discussion questions without hesitation. Josiah, not so much. Distracted! lol

Reading/Geography/Science/Research ~ Sam read chapter 1 & 2 aloud to us: Magic Treehouse #1 Dinosaurs Before Dark. Sam read with nearly no snags (not missing the "s" on plurals anymore!), and displayed inflection appropriately for the punctuation & words in italics! This was all of a sudden and on his own...I am certain this is from him listening to me read to him all of these years. We got the map of the US out and found Pennsylvania (where Jack & Annie live). We googled Pteranodon and read about them.

Fiction vs non-fiction: We have Fiction Frenzy coming up at the library, so we googled & discussed fiction vs nonfiction. We did an online tutorial where we listen to the story and decide whether it is fiction or nonfiction. The boys got all of them correct. We discussed how the books we are reading now, Corn Raid & Dinosaurs After Dark, use fiction to teach facts in a more exciting way than just non-fiction.

15 bean soup for dinner. Hubby broke up with his band tonight so he got home early. He brought Sam a guitar tuner! We finally sang Happy Birthday and let Sam blow the candles out on his cake tonight. We had eaten the cake all around the candles until we couldn't eat anymore without removing the candles. Poor middle-child-born-right-after-the-holidays-to-ADD-Mother.

About Laura Weldon

Laura Grace Weldon is a writer and editor, perhaps due to an English professor's scathing denunciation of her writing as "curious verbiage." Her recent book is "Free Range Learning." www.lauragraceweldon.com She lives on Bit of Earth Farm with her family where she is a barely useful farm wench. Although she has deadlines to meet she often wanders from the computer to preach hope, snort with laughter, cook subversively, observe chicken behavior, discuss life’s deeper meaning with her surprisingly tolerant offspring, sing to bees, hide in books, feed cows, walk dogs, concoct tinctures, watch foreign films and make messy art....

School ADD Isn’t Homeschool ADD

I hesitated at the heavy glass doors of my son’s school. I’d cheerfully walked in these doors many times. I volunteered here, served on the PTA board, joked with the principal and teachers, even helped start an annual all-school tradition called Art Day. But now I fought the urge to grab him from his first grade classroom, never to return.

I’d come in that morning hoping to discuss the angry outbursts my son’s teacher directed at several students, including my little boy. But I entered no ordinary meeting. It was an ambush.  Sides had clearly been chosen. The principal, guidance counselor, and my son’s teacher sat in a clump together along one side of the table. Feeling oddly hollow, I pulled out a chair and sat down. Since I led conflict resolution workshops in my working life, I was confident that we could talk over any issues and come to an understanding.

I was wrong.

The counselor read aloud from a list of ADHD behavioral symptoms my son’s teacher had been tracking over the past few weeks. My little boy’s major transgressions were messy work, lack of organization, and distractibility. The teacher nodded with satisfaction and crossed her arms.

No one who spent time with him had ever mentioned ADHD before. I breathed deeply to calm myself. I knew it was best to repeat what I was hearing in order to clarify, but the counselor barreled ahead, saying they had a significant “ADHD population” in the school system who showed excellent results with medication.

After giving the teacher kudos for dealing with a classroom full of children and acknowledging the difficulty of meeting all their needs, I tried to stand up for my child (although I felt like a mother bear defending her cub from nicely dressed predators). I said the behaviors she noted actually seemed normal for a six-year-old boy, after all, children are in the process of maturing and are not naturally inclined to do paperwork. The teacher shook her head and whispered to the principal. The counselor said first grade children have had ample time to adapt to classroom standards.

I asked if any of my son’s behaviors had ever disrupted the class. The teacher didn’t answer the question. Instead she sighed and said, looking at the principal, “I’ve been teaching for 15 years. This doesn’t get better on its own. I’m telling you this child can be helped by medication.”

When I asked about alternatives such as modifying his diet the teacher actually rolled her eyes, saying, “Plenty of parents believe there are all sorts of things they can do on their own. But students on restricted diets don’t fit in too well in the lunchroom.”

There was no real discussion. No chance to bring up her teaching style. No opportunity  for better collaboration between home and school. A conclusion had been reached without consulting me, my husband, or a mental health professional. My son required one vital ingredient in order to flourish in school: pharmaceuticals.

As I stood at the door, my heart pounding in distress, I vowed to solve this problem rationally. I told myself such an approach would help my child and other misunderstood students. I made it all the way to the car without crying.

Over the next few weeks took my child for all sorts of appointments. A psychologist diagnosed him with ADD (no H). Her report was tucked in a stack of handouts from a national non-profit organization known for its ties to the pharmaceutical industry. An allergist diagnosed our little boy with multiple food allergies including almost every fruit and grain he liked to eat. A pediatric pulmonologist determined that his asthma was much worse than we’d known. In fact his oxygen intake was so poor the doctor said it was likely our son would change position frequently, lift his arms to expand his lungs, and have trouble concentrating. Right away I started the process of eliminating allergens in his life and following other advice given me by these professionals.

I also researched. I began to see childhood learning in a wider way as I read authors such as Joseph Chilton Pearce, David Elkind , and John Taylor Gatto. I talked to other parents who described managing ADHD using star charts, privilege restriction, close communication with teachers, and immediate consequences for behavior. Many told me their child’s problems got worse during the teen years. Some described sons and daughters they’d “lost” to drug abuse, delinquency, chronic depression and dangerous rage. One woman told me her 14-year-old son was caught dealing. The boy sold amphetamines so strong they were regulated by the Controlled Substance Act—his own prescription for ADHD.

And I spent a lot of time observing my son’s behavior. Yes, he was disorganized with his schoolwork. His room was often a mess too, but only because he had so many interests. I saw no lack of focus as he drew designs for imaginary vehicles, pored over diagrams in adult reference books, or created elaborate make-believe scenarios. I knew that he was easily frustrated by flash cards and timed math tests, methods that did little to advance his understanding. But I also knew that he used math easily for projects such as designing his own models out of scrap wood. And of course he was distractible. He resisted rote tasks as most small children do. Their minds and bodies are naturally inclined toward more engaging ways to advance their natural gifts. Mostly I noticed how cooperative and cheerful he was. He didn’t whine, easily waited for his own turn, and loved to help with chores. As a biased observer I found him to be a marvelous six-year-old.

Resolutely I tried to make school workable. I let the teacher know how my son’s allergies and asthma might impact his classroom abilities. I shared the psychologist’s report. And I tried to explain my son’s stressful home situation. In the past year our family had been victimized by crime, his father had been injured in a car accident and left unable to work, and several other loved ones had been hospitalized. His schoolwork may have reflected a life that suddenly seemed messy and disorganized.

The teacher, however, only told me what my son did wrong. She was particularly incensed that he rushed through his work or left it incomplete, only to spend time cleaning up scraps from the floor. She did not find his efforts helpful. In clipped tones she said, “Each student is supposed to pick up only his or her scraps. Nothing more.”

My son’s backpack sagged each day with 10 or more preprinted and vaguely educational papers, all with fussy instructions.  Cut out the flower on the dotted lines, cut two slits here, color the flower, cut and paste this face on the flower, insert the flower in the two slots, write three sentences about the flower using at least five words from the “st” list.  I’d have been looking for scraps on the floor to clean up too, anything to get away from a day filled with such assignments.

It took almost two years of watching my child try to please his teachers and be himself in two different school systems that were, by necessity, not designed to handle individual differences. His schoolwork habits deteriorated except when the project at hand intrigued him. He appreciated the cheerful demeanor of his third grade teacher even though she told me she didn’t expect much from him until his Iowa Test results came back with overall scores at the 99^th percentile.  Then she deemed him an underachiever and pulled his desk next to hers, right in front of the whole class, to make sure he paid attention to his paperwork rather than look out the window or fiddle with odd and ends he’d found. That’s where he stayed.

When he was eight years old I took my children out of school forever.

Homeschooling didn’t “fix” anything for my son, at least right away. I made many of the mistakes I teachers made with him. I enthusiastically offered projects that meant nothing to him, expecting him to sit still and complete them. And I saw the same behaviors his teachers described. My son sat at the kitchen table, a few pages to finish before we headed off to the park or some other adventure. But every day he dropped his pencil so he could climb under the table after it, erased holes in his paper, found a focal spot out the window for his daydreams, complained as if math problems were mental thumbscrews. I used to lie awake at night afraid that he’d never be able to do long division.

Yet every time I stepped back, allowing him to pursue his own interests he picked up complicated concepts beautifully. I watched him design his own rockets. He figured out materials he needed, built them carefully and cheerfully started over with his own carefully considered improvements when he made mistakes. I realized his “problem” was my insistence he learn as I had done—from a static page. Homeschooling showed me that children don’t fare well as passive recipients of education. They want to take part in meaningful activities relevant to their own lives. They develop greater skills by building on their gifts, not focusing on abilities they lack.

The more I stepped back, the more I saw how much my son accomplished when fueled by his own curiosity. This little boy played chess, took apart broken appliances, carefully observed nature, helped on our farm, checked out piles of books at the library each week, memorized the names of historic aircraft and the scientific principles explaining flight, filled notebooks with cartoons and designs—-learning every moment.

Gradually I recognized that he learned in a complex, deeply focused and yes, apparently disorganized manner. It wasn’t the way I’d learned in school but it was the way he learned best. His whole life taught him in ways magnificently and perfectly structured to suit him and him alone. As I relaxed in our homeschooling life he flourished. Sometimes his intense interests fueled busy days. Sometimes it seemed he did very little— those were times that richer wells of understanding developed.

I sank back into worrying about academic topics during his last year at home before college. Although his homeschool years had been filled with a wealth of learning experiences I suddenly worried that he’d done too little writing, not enough math, minimal formal science. My anxiety about his success in college wasn’t helpful, but by then his confidence in himself wasn’t swayed.

His greatest surprise in college has been how disinterested his fellow students are in learning. Now in his sophomore year, my Renaissance man has knowledge and abilities spanning many fields. Of his own volition, he’s writing a scholarly article for a science journal (staying up late tonight to interview a researcher by phone in Chile). Self taught in acoustic design, he created an electronic component for amplifiers that he sells online. He also raises tarantulas, is restoring a vintage car, and plays the bagpipes. He’s still the wonderfully cooperative and cheerful boy I once knew, now with delightfully dry wit.

My son taught me that distractible, messy, disorganized children are perfectly suited to learn in their own way. It was my mistake to keep him in school as long as we did. I’m glad we finally walked away from those doors to enjoy free range learning.

This is an excerpt from the upcoming anthology Easy to Love but Hard to Raise: Real Parents, Challenging Kids, True Stories.  Find out more at the Easy to Love blog. And find out more about Free Range Learning here.

Sam worked diligently on making paper airplanes today. If you were a guest at my house yesterday, you will get how funny this is :)

Sam & Josiah ~ Math

Hubby tutored tonight. Spaghetti & Meatballs for dinner.

"Spring cleaned" the fridge & freezer <<< OMgah it makes me feel like a new woman every time! Filling up the slots on my 52 Weeks of Organizing Project List ~ and even checked one off already! >>>Top of fridge. Yes! Making us a Family Awesomeness Board. Jot down the date & act of awesomeness, post it so we can admire our awesomeness, then, when the board is so full of awesomeness we can't possibly fit any more awesomeness on it, I will pull them, scrapbook them, and we will start our filling up our board with our awesomeness all over again.

Sam & Josiah ~ Math, History/Reading (Corn Raid - A Story of the Jamestown Settlement, Chapters 1 & 2 and discussion questions from Teaching Notes & Answer Key)

Started an art project to make hearts for our Valentine Tree. "Recycling" old, broken crayons by shredding them, then melting them between sheets of wax paper with iron. Then we will cut out heart shapes. It is supposed to make a pretty stained-glass type thing. We got some of the crayons shredded (tedious), and couldn't find the roll of wax paper so we had to stop the project for now.

Hubby tutored after work. We had soup & crackers for dinner.

A friend of mine, who is *NOT* a homeschooler, posted this article on his blog...Interesting read!:

Monday, December 26, 2011

Articles: A World without Schoolteachers

Cover via Amazon

By Richard F. Miniter at American Thinker 12/26/11

Picked up my boys from their Christmas with Dad ~ Sooooo happy to have them home! :) A home made meal of Rosemary Garlic Cornish Hens and opening gifts with them here tonight turned into Papa John's Pizza and moving the hens & gift opening to tomorrow night... when... Josiah didn't wake up after I carried him in from the truck. It's okay. We are not stuck inside of those little white boxes on the calendar for the most part.

Slept in. Scooped poop in the dog kennel. Cut down dead sunflower stalks in back yard. Made a super yummy breakfast casserole at 4pm. Pinterested. More laundry. TV. Back episodes of Justified. Kept couch warm. Took three hour nap at about 5pm. Just hung out with Hubby.

Serves:	6 to 8
Prep Time:	30 Min
Cook Time:	45 Min

Ingredients

6 slc	sourdough bread, buttered with real butter, softened
2 c	frozen hash browns, o'brien style (with onions & bell peppers))
1 pkg	jimmy dean country sausage, cooked & crumbled. or use 8-10 slices of applewood, thick sliced bacon, or you can use 12 to 16 oz. of cooked ham.
2 c	colby/jack cheese, grated & divided in half
2 c	milk, 2%
8 lg	eggs, beaten
1/2 c	*mushrooms, sliced & sauteed in real butter (optional)
several dash(es)	salt and pepper, to taste

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Joyce's Notes:
This Breakfast Casserole is always a hit! It's perfect for out of town guests. It's easy to prepare ahead, so you can spend more time visiting with your family or friends! Be prepared to hand out the recipe! I have been using this recipe from an old Shriners' wives cook book from 1990.

 

Directions

1

Preheat oven to 350*F.
Butter all the bread slices and cut into cubes.
Spread them on bottom of a 9X13 lightly buttered casserole dish.

2

Pour (2 cups) frozen hash browns evenly on top of bread.

3

Sprinkle cooked crumbled sausage (or other meat) on top of hash browns. You can use 1 C. diced lean ham or 1 C. crumbled, cooked bacon. They are all delicious!

4

Sprinkle half of the cheese evenly over the meat.
*If you choose to add the (optional) sauteed mushrooms, add them now.

5

Beat the eggs, milk, salt & pepper together. Pour evenly over the layers.

6

Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Let stand for 1 hour then bake. May be made ahead and kept in refrigerator over night.

7

Bake in 350*F. oven for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. Serve with toast & jam and some fruit. Enjoy!

Hubby worked on his trailer. I did laundry and watched back episodes of Justified. Baked sausage balls and chocolate chip cookies. Pinterested.

I an agitated and have no motivation for no obvious reason. The kids are driving me crazy!

Salmon Potato Chowder with TJ's ciabatta bread for dinner! YUM!

We needed groceries. Leave the house, we are hungry. Tried Nothing But Noodles...Mmmmm....Soooo good! Love that place! Trip to Trader Joe's with the boys. They were SO GOOD all day! They played the little Find-the-Animal-Store-Map game at TJ's. Two buggies running over with groceries and $400 later....we return home. The boys and I tried the Feed Four for $12 sample at TJ's and all liked it, so I grabbed the stuff to make it and thank goodness I did. Grocery shopping is exhausting....thinking, loading, unloading, etc...The meal was easy and fast and sooooo darn good! TJ's items: Tomato-Less Corn Salsa, Pre-made Guacamole packets, two cans of chicken, bag of mexican shredded cheeses....mix chicken & salsa, spread in pan, spread guacamole over it, sprinkle cheese on top, and bake!

Sam & Josiah ~ Math. Read & discussed The Shortest Day, Winter Solstice.
Math Grades: Josiah (100, 80, 100, 100, 100, 100, 95, 73, 95 ~ 94 average), Sam ( 97, 88, 97, 97, 87, 97, 89, 98, 100, 98, 100, 97, 100, 98 ~ 96 average) It is amazing to me how we learn something new in Math and struggle, I worry that we will never "get it", we drop it, re-visit it weeks later, and they "have it"! Also, Sam's handwriting is shaping up and becoming so neat, and he is showing much more control over the numbers he has trouble writing backwards: 4, 9, 6.
Sam ~ Wrote a song today, on his own, used dictionary to look up how to spell a few words he wasn't sure about.

Chiro appt. Found lost library book! Award check for photo contest came!

Chicken Ranch Pasta & Trader Joe's Garlic Bread for dinner. 

Cleaned house.

Sam & Josiah ~ Math & Writing. They played Sum Swamp & Addition Bingo.

Black Bean Nachos for dinner.

Laid on the couch all day with Loki. Finally got up and cleaned house, went to get dog & cat food, went to pick up the boys from their visitation, and went to my Mom's to meet Cass & look at her senior portrait proofs.

Cleaned house. Met my friend Erin for dinner & drinks, had a very nice conversation. Then we went to Jena's Christmas Drop-In. Fun night :)

Boys did tons of Math, and we made gingerbread like crazy. Hubby brought home Chinese take-out for dinner, because kitchen and dining room are taken over by gingerbread houses. I was up until 6am finishing houses for party.

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Last day at Nana's. I took off after lunch to get grocery shopping done and pick up turkey from EF. I LOVE Trader Joe's. Hubby brought kiddos home later. I couldn't wait to get home and see my doggies.

Happy Anniversary to my husband, best friend, soul mate ~ ♥ Mike Duralia ♥ A little over two years ago, I was doing just fine when he came along and made me even better.

We spent our anniversary cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, packing for Nana's, and fixing the busted pipe & walls! lolololololol

Sam ~ Math, Reading

Josiah ~ Math, Reading

Today our guinea pig passed away and we were really heartbroken, so we took a break from the grind, cuddled up on the couch, and watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation while we ate big bowls of mac n cheese. Sam made a Lego tribute to Abbie...her name in Legos :( We had (another) spewing pipe in the wall that will this time require not only walls to be replaced but that also the toilet come up, and I picked up a nasty little bug online that shut my facebook & emails down all day...so... Hubby prepays for ME a massage at *his* appointment, and comes home and fixes the pipe AND the computer issue. Life ain't so bad :)

Did a lot of cleaning today.

Chicken & Potato Casserole for dinner.

Sons of Anarchy with Hubby.

Woke up very well rested and ready to get things done in the house today!....but was totally distracted by a cuddly, sexy Hubby and Sons of Anarchy. Had a great day doing nothing but watching back episodes with Hubby. Well, I did some cleaning when he took smoke breaks. We had Trader Joe's Margherita Pizza and salad for dinner. I gave him a "massage." He really hurt his shoulder playing drums and is in a lot of pain :(

Didn't sleep well last night, sick on my stomach, so I went to sleep on the couch at 3pm and didn't wake up until Hubby got home from his Sat nite gig at about 3am.

Cold, rainy, and cozy, but I woke up emotional and spun out.

Sam & Josiah ~ Math, Reading, Language Arts.

Used the leftover white beans from last night’s recipe for tonight’s dinner: White Bean Chicken Chili.

The boys and I watched a great movie on Netflix: Alabama Moon

Chiropractor appointment. Love that woman.

The boys and I gave Aldi a try today in an attempt to save money.

Hubby found fix for disk driver and burned my disks for me. He’s fucking awesome.

Practiced piano and sang Christmas songs with boys after dinner. My hands don’t reach and stretch like they used to. We have decided that Santa Claus is coming to town will definite be on our playlist to perform at Thanksgiving dinner this year, because we all three know the words and it is easy for me to play.

Stayed up late with Hubby and watched several episodes of Sons of Anarchy, then we…………………………

Emotional and spun out mystery solved before I went to bed: Spotting. Period is here a week early. Gah!

Today I researched new recipes to try based on what I already have in my pantry.

The boys scrubbed down the wall underneath the bar, and re-organized all of the DVD/Wii Games drawers in the entertainment center.

Sam & Josiah ~ Watched our National Geographic video: Life Inside the Womb ~ Animals & discussed.

Josiah ~ Reading, Spelling, Language Arts.

Sam ~ Math

Watched Discovery Channel documentary on Netflix: Pompeii: Back from the Dead (this doc uncovers long-buried secrets of the Italian city of Pompeii, which was preserved by volcanic pumice and ash 2000 years ago). Very good documentary! The boys were intrigued by it and had a lot of questions throughout. 

Cleaned out the fridge, gathered trash & put it out.

The boys and I took a “break” and watched the Christmas movie Elf together. Love that movie!

Watched several Man, Woman, Wild episodes on Netflix. The boys are really hooked on it, and it is a fantastic science/nature/biology/geography/anatomy/health/safety/survival learning tool!

Tried a new recipe for dinner: Skillet Gnocchi with Chard & White Beans http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/skillet_gnocchi_with_chard_white_beans.html

The boys didn’t like it so much, but they ate all of their salads. Hubby came home after band practice though and ate all of the rest of it and loved it J

Boys and I practiced piano and sang Christmas songs together after dinner. Sam got his piano book out and remembered hand placement, middle C, and starting note (E) for Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. Yay!

Hubby and I started watching back episodes of Sons of Anarchy on Netflix together and I’m hooked now.

Tried to burn Christmas MP3s (Caroleers from 1960s) to CD to play in Jag because Hubby and I are switching vehicles to save $$ on fuel and Jag has no Ipod hookup…and find that my Cd disk drive is messed up! Hubby spent over an hour trying to fix it.

Cooked my guys ham, egg, and cheese on english muffins for brunchfast. Hubby got the A1 out and got us hooked on it.

I started thinking about Christmas ad immediately my fave song from childhood started playing in my head, Christmas Cookies & Holiday Hearts, so I googled it, again!, like I have for years now....but this time I got a hit! A man put the whole album on Youtube! Hubby said he had the album as well as a child...I wore it out on my Winnie the Pooh record player! HUbby sent the man a message and the sweet man sent us the whole album on MP3 files! AWesome!

Cleaned a little, relaxed, napped, watched a few movies on Netflix, all very good!: Twelve and Holding, Death Becomes Her, and Lost and Found Family.

Spaghetti with italian sausage, salad, and TJ's garlic bread for dinner.

Today my impish (<& I use this word with great affection & adoration) Josiah turns seven years old. The kid who sneaks in right under my nose & eats half the chicken I just baked & chopped up for the salads. The one who smiles when he is being reprimanded (just like my sister!). The one who leaves a trail of evidence from everything he does. The one who pees in the tub just to hear his brother scream. My snuggle bug. I love him bunches! :) ♥

I made Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pancakes for Joe's special birthday breakfast. Topped with TJ's Organic Maple Syrup...YUM. He loved them so much he did a cartwheel in the kitchen and knocked the trash bin over.

We cleaned, cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned. Boys did awesome job helping out.So I was sitting in the floor. Sam was singing "I'm a Barbie girl....." and dancing around.....he decides to add a side kick to his choreography, misjudges, and gets me square on the side of my left eye. He knocked my glasses clean off my face! OUCH! lol

Josiah ~ Spelling, Reading, Language Arts, and Math.

We didn't do any leaves on the Thankful Tree tonight...too exhausted!

Cleaned, cleaned, cleaned.

Sam & Josiah ~ reading, spelling, language arts.

Homemade Stew Beef Veggie Soup for dinner.

Corazon Espinado.

Shopping all day. Tried Trader Joe's for the first time and I love it! Bought Josiah's birthday gift...so excited! Watched Hubby's interview on television at 1030pm, WJZY 46. So proud of him!

Cold, cold day! Spent all day at home with hubby, bundled up in cozy blankets, sipping hot tea, and watching NCIS Scare a thon. Watched a Stephen King movie called 1408. Made home made vegetable soup for dinner.

Today I had my Book Club meeting for A Dog's Purpose by Bruce Cameron. Wonderful book. We ate at Logan's, hung out at Starbucks and watched people over Pumpkin Spice Latte, and shopped a little at Target. The boys got to see Cass, visit with AnnMama & Paw-Paw, and play with their favorite cousins, Micah, Jadon, and Jonah. Visited with Mom myself for awhile. Came home exhausted! Long day!

Let the boys stay another night with their Dad. My shoulder & neck are KILLING ME. Did not go to co op today. Still did housework though, decorated for Halloween, made chicken taco soup for dinner...YUMMO.

Woke up with the right neck and shoulder killing me! I have no idea what I did. The hubby and I visited BJs Wholesale Club to try it out. We like it. Came home and slept for hours and hours. Hubby gave me a massage, and it helped some.

Josiah ~ Math U See Lesson 3

Sam ~ Math U See: Review Lessons 1-5 *His workbook is on back-order so we are just kind of hovering over the first few lessons.

I made some really good soup for dinner, my own recipe, completely spontaneous: Chicken, chicken broth, spinach, egg noodles, chicken bouillon cubes, celery salt. Everyone loved it. I sprinkled goat cheese crumbles over mine, but everyone else just did crackers.

Math U See.

Watched documentaries on Netflix: Wolves in Paradise, I'm No Dummy, Which Way Home, For the Bible Tells Me So.

The boys helped me clean some. Made Potato Soup for dinner.

The boys spent the night with Maw Maw Pam last night (I hear they had a bonfire with Paw Paw until midnight! Fun :), and we have Break Day for co op. I slept in, then I spent the rest of the day organizing clothes and taking inventory for Fall/Winter. I finally unpacked my suitcase from visiting with step sis WEEKS AGO...lololol ;) I also harvested a gazillion Heirloom Marigold seed pods. I hope to successfully preserve them for next year. I used to help my Mom do this when I was just a little girl.When the boys came home (and I shall not mention the Corvette trunk incident), I gave them a good detox bath & we did Math U See. We had chicken noodle soup and cheese quesadillas for dinner. We watched the documentary Forks Over Knives on Netflix....Sam gets it, and has been watching his dairy & meat intake, but Josiah doesn't give a shit yet ;) I got a call from a homeschool friend asking me to keep her kiddos so she can fly to LA and be on Judge Judy next week...love my bat shit crazy friends...my life is so entertaining :)

"A clean house is the sign of a wasted life."

Pumpkin's fever broke! :) She has lost 15 pounds. Still not eating very much though. We both look like Vampires today...pale, dark circles, sensitive to the sun ;) My job is done, and she will go back to her life now that doesn't have much of me in it. The experience was fulfilling and much needed for me though.

Pumpkin and I watched cheesy horror flicks all day and kept her temp just under 102. (They boys are with their Dad for the weekend) I hate she is sick, but I love it, because she NEEDS me again.

Pumpkin called, her temp was almost 103 on Tylenol AND Percoset. I brought her home and took her to Urgent Care when it got to 104. Doctors only guess at things...blah, blah, blah. They gave her fluids and a shot of Zofran in her ass.... and she had about an hour in which she felt great and ate...then...a couple of hours later...she puked everywhere. We kept her temp just under 102.

Today was rush, rush, rush. First of all, we slept late, because staying up past midnight doing Math calls for such. The boys did more Math U See while I scrambled around the house. I dropped the boys off the sleep over with our homeschool friends, and took Pumpkin to her ultrasound. She has been sick with a fever for 3 days, so the surgeon ordered it to be sure she doesn't have a blood clot at the stint. I took her to eat wings after, and she ate two little bites. I took her home and went to Sam's Club with a big list, and discovered that they were either out of or had discontinued key items we purchase. Even the ONLY organic food item I can purchase there, spinach. All they have to offer is processed, unhealthy CRAP in BULK. I went crazy on them, and they gave me a refund on my membership. Came home and had quiet time with hubby :)

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Math U See ~ Sam & Josiah

We read: Stars! Stars! Stars! by Nancy Wallace, Frogs! by Jocelyn Hubbell

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Math U See video, place value ~ Sam & Josiah, Multiplication book ~ Sam, Phonics ~ Josiah, Research/Writing ~ Sam.

My head has been throbbing all day, I was so hot I thought I might burst into flames, and I could not eat. In spite of it all, the boys and I still managed to do math, writing/research, reading, laundry, clean out the fridge, clean out the truck, and straighten up the house. No sick days or half days available for me to take, and I do get bad reviews when I grab a half hour nap or fail to relay clear, step-by-step work instructions.

So nervous about Pumkin's surgery, to the point of being physically ill. Husband was being a jerk. Not my best day for sure! Lots of well wishes from friends though...

Robin Jenkins Duralia

Wow family, can we at least save the taking stabs at me & my kids for AFTER my daughter's kidney surgery tomorrow and her full, successful recovery?

LikeUnlike · · September 13 at 11:25am

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• Tangela Baldwin Stanley, Pam Soule Genant, Angel Campbell Buentipo and 3 others like this.
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    Wanda Harvell Green Hope and pray Robin that everything goes well with your daughters surgery tomorrow, and hope she has a speedy and great recovery. It's hard to see your children in pain. Good luck.

    September 13 at 11:28am · UnlikeLike · 2 peopleLoading...
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    Robin Jenkins Duralia Thank you Wanda ♥

    September 13 at 11:28am · LikeUnlike
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    Angel Hulsey Your family is in our prayers:))

    September 13 at 11:35am · UnlikeLike · 1 personLoading...
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    Irene M Paino Salvati Praying that all goes well and for a speedy recovery. God Bless all of you! ♥

    September 13 at 11:36am · UnlikeLike · 1 personLoading...
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    Kelly Brittain Ray Goodness! What kind of people do you know, lol. Im praying for you guys, hope Cassidy will be feeling better soon. Love you!

    September 13 at 11:37am · UnlikeLike · 1 personLoading...
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    Cindy Gaddis Thinking of you! Sam's presentation went well yesterday :-) Sorry you had to leave early. Let me know if there is anything I can do to support you next Monday :-) Or if there is anything I need to do with my boys to help be united.

    September 13 at 11:49am · UnlikeLike · 1 personLoading...
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    Sandra H. Estep Praying for a quick and easy recovery for all of you.

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    Robin Jenkins Duralia ‎Cindy Gaddis :Sam was so excited. He took it all to my Mom's and did it for them, then immediately started on the Jaguar! :)

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    April Clemmer Praying everything goes well! Keep us posted! Love you all!

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    Shelly Lindsey White Hope all goes well!

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    Lisa Bagwell Ledford Family, shmamily! Just take care of your little girl, and the heck with what people say!

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    Brandy Prince Kiser Praying that everything goes well and she makes a full recovery!! There comes a time in life where you just have to learn to hit the ignore button!!

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    Carol Dillinger Praying she does well and home safe and sound.

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    Chip Norman Praying for her. God is in control!

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    Tasha Fortenberry Praying girl...I hope everything goes well!!!

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    Tanya Thurlow Mha. Feeling isn't what its cracked up to be. That's why I now live over 1000 miles away ;) screw em. She will have a fast recovery I'm sure of it. ♥.

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    Katrina Hall Ashleman The hardest thing to do as a parent is watch your sick child. Much love and prayers to you!!!

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    Leslie Adams Wyatt That explains why she looked like she felt bad this morning...bless!

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Homeschool co op all day (was great!), then off to Gastonia for Pumpkin's pre op. I had a wonderful afternoon with my daughter today, even if it was at surgery pre op. We talked, joked, and giggled. After pre op, I took her to the mall to buy her some sweat pants to wear after the surgery so she would be comfy. We got matching sets. The boys got to stay with Mama & Paw Paw and play with their cousins.

I wonder if all of the self-righteous people who look down upon my children and myself know my worth. Spiritually AND Financially. Pffft.

(Hold)

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The day of Pumpkin's surgery!

(Holding spot for entry until I fill it in)

(holding a spot for entry until I fill it in) First Boys Club meeting at our house.

We watched the documentary Between the Folds Origami on Netflix to correlate with our PATH Art Day tomorrow where we will be doing Origami. This documentary is fascinating and covers history, culture, geometry, trigonometry, and art processes such as making and dying paper.

Boys were spending time at their Dad's.

Today was book club! Hubby spent all day with the boys. We met in Kings Mountain and I had the most fantastic veggie pizza at Wood Fired Grill. We discussed Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles. Then moved to the coffee shop and talked and laughed for hours. I love my book club. Smart women. When I got home, Hubby had just finished reading From Tadpole to Frog to the boys (we should know this book by heart now) and had put them "to couch."

Pumpkin called and wanted to spend the night with us! It was like I was 13 years old and my biggest crush called! She played Legos with her brothers, and went grocery shopping with me :)

Maw Maw Pam took the boys to my Mom's in the morning and they spent the day with their cousins, Micah, Jadon, and Jonah. They LOVE their cousins! They get crazy white boy wild when they get together! I love that my Mom has really grown into this and embraces it. Andmama & Aunt Kelly took them all to Zaxbys to use their Back-to-School free meal coupons (well, for my boys it would be NOT-back to school coupons). The boys spent the night with their cousins (at my Sis's house) and had a fantastic time!

Sam ~ Math & Language Arts
Josiah ~ Math & Language Arts

We read: From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer (again! we just can't get enough of this one ;)
& DK Eyewitness Books Volcano & Earthquake.

Josiah ~ Math & Language Arts
Sam ~ Math & Language Arts

Sam followed me around with the hangman board from the moment he got up in the morning so we played a few games of hangman again today.

We read: Fields of Fury ~ The American Civil War by James M. McPherson & Earthquakes and Volcanoes by Deborah Merrians

Visit to the chiropractor today. Boys were SO good while we were there, so we went for milkshakes after! :)

Sam did 4 pages in his 4th Grade Math workbook: Multiplication (Score: 96), Rounding & Estimating (Score: 100), Solid Shapes (Score: 100), Plane Shapes (Score: 100).

Josiah did one Addition worksheet (Score: 98)

Josiah & I did several pages of Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons. He just loves to exaggerate those letter sounds ;)

Josiah and I did Consonant Pretest in his Explode the Code book. I wanted to stop after page one, but he wanted to keep going and finish :)

Josiah practiced writing lower case e in his Language Arts book.

Josiah read Fat Cat by Nora Gaydos aloud to me and Sam, twice. Then we played a game of Hangman with Sam using words from his book. 

Animal Biology/Life Cycles/Metamorphosis ~ Our Tadpole Project: The water in the tadpole pool has become really deep from the rains and murky, so we can't see the tadpoles as well. We pulled some up with a net and observed them up close. There are no legs forming yet. We still don't know what type of frogs/toads they are. It seems the population is down and some are still way larger than others, so we still believe they are eating one another. We read the book From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer (again;). Then we played Hangman using words and phrases from the book.

Seed/Plant Biology ~ Our Pumpkin Project: Sam read From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer aloud to me and Josiah. We planted pumpkins in our raised bed gardens in Spring that were destroyed by Vine Borers, but replanted seeds immediately, and hopefully they will make it! We were wondering how to tell female flowers from male flowers because the book didn't say. We googled and found this cool info!: http://www.pumpkinnook.com/howto/pollen.htm  We have decided that at this time we only have male flowers, and this http://gardeningwithwilson.com/2008/04/22/pollinating-pumpkin-flowers/ which tells you how to pick male flowers to make tempura and eat it! AND how to pollinate the flowers yourself, since our bee population is pretty low these days. We played several games of Hangman using words and phrases from this book...Josiah fell asleep, Sam LOVES Hangman and was all pumped up, Mike joined in, and we three played until almost midnight.

*Hangman is great for spelling practice and parts of speech.

Sam cooked sausage for our brunch and hamburger meat for our dinner spaghetti. I love to see them cook :)

Summary: Language Arts, Spelling, Reading, Math, Biology/Science.

Cass had an appointment with her surgeon, and we scheduled her pre-op and surgery. Emily went with us. We ate at Cracker Barrel after the appointment. When I got home I relinquished all child care duties to Mike and spent my entire evening working in the garden alone.

Whitewater Center ~ Mike & Sam got to zipline, but then our whitewater rafting got stormed out so we went and had dinner at a fish camp, then regretted it because it was $90 and made our tummies hurt. 

Worked in the garden, cooked, cleaned, helped the kiddos when they asked for help with their individual pursuits...Emily knitting, Josiah Legos, and Sam just mostly watching Avatar on Netflix. Grilled the best burgers ever for dinner and made Emily Organic Strawberry Shortcake for her "Birthday Celebration" because she LOVES strawberries. I made the Shortcake and the Whipped Cream by scratch in my KitchenAid Stand Mixer :)

Love to Learn Home School Conference! :) :) :) Then Micah's Birthday Party, then took Emily to a play at the Cherryville Little Theatre called Break a Leg. Many of my home school friends' kiddos were in this play, one having the lead! And, a dear friend of mine, homeschooling Mom was assistant director :) The play was laugh out loud funny. I did not take the boys because a) they were all jacked up on soda and cupcakes from Micah's birthday party, b) they didn't want to go, they wanted to stay and play with their cousins, and c) It was Emily's last night with us and she is very much into theatre.

Attachments:

We visited Catawba Science Center in Hickory, NC to see the Amusement Park Science exhibit before it ends. The boys loved it, and spent 3 hours in it.

We met at a park with one of our home school groups, PATH (Parents Advocating Teaching at Home), and made bird feeders, played, and just hung out with our awesome friends. The boys experimented with our friend's burning tool and plastic bottles. Melting a hole through plastic is clearly fascinating :)

We watched Billy the Exterminator and learned a lot about Geese and Bobcats. The Geese segment was filmed in Charlotte, NC with Goose Busters, so now the boys want to find and visit the Goose Buster ladies :)

Summary: Science, Physics, Birding, Biology, Nature, and always much more in a day than I can retain and report :)

Sam started his 4th Grade Math workbook. It starts out with 3rd Grade Math review . He did five pages: Place Value (Score: 100), Comparing Numbers (Score: 100), Comparing Numbers (Score: 100 ~ He read the instructions wrong on this one and did the whole page incorrect but I let him re-read the instructions and do it over...after all, he chose his own work, read his own instructions, and looked at the example problem all on his own, unlike children in school who are spoon-fed their assignment, instructions, and examples, and oh.my. how this carries over into their adult lives), Comparing Numbers (Score: 100), and Rounding and Estimating (Score: 100 ~ I think this page was poorly created, Sylvan!). All his choice, and Sam *wants* a Math Score. It appears he likes Comparing Numbers ;) **Note: He did all of the Math while watching Avatar, and this is amazing considering how "easily distracted" he has been accused of being.

Josiah did addition ~ one sheet, (Score: 100), and was ready to get back to his current Lego project. He gets really frustrated forming 5's. He forms them, but bitches about it ;)

We did the first page in our Poetry book. It talked about the difference in poems and stories, what poems are about, and what you need to start writing poetry (pen, pencil, paper, or computer...DUH! lol). We skimmed the second page and we see that it goes over the different kinds of poems, but has no examples, so we planned to go to the library and borrow books of poetry representing each type before we go to page two.

We read together half of Chapter One of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geocaching. It's a lot of information to absorb. We got the Geocaching GPS for Christmas last year but don't know how to Geocache...it's time to learn!

Sam read to us from If You Lived At the Time of the Civil War by Kay Moore (which has horrible reviews, but *we* like it).

Sam got our our Microscope that we have not used yet and played around with it a bit.

Summary: Reading, History, Math, Geography, Technology, Poetry (Language Arts), and so much more. 

I woke up to find that yesterday's storm bent over all of my tall, strong sunflowers by the deck. I spent all morning straightening and staking them upright to save them. Josiah found many little snails, and the subject of Saving the Snails came up again. Of course, I need to destroy or relocate them because they eat my plants. Josiah loves them and would like to create a habitat for them, so we Googled it and plan to do it.

We attended the long-awaited Civil War Reenactment at Latta Plantation. It was phenomenal! The boys were in heaven. Sam approaches a camp, has a seat, and asks questions. These people love to answer questions. Josiah will creep up and join after Sam breaks the ice. I stand back, and I do not interfere. The boys ask what they want to know.

Josiah wanted to leave the camp area and go look at other things, but Sam wanted to stay. Sam insisted I go and that he would be fine. I took the leap and let him stay. Away from me, Sam was a networking maniac...finding out about the Civil War camps offered there for kiddos, finding out the name of the person to talk to, and tracking this person, Matt, down. Sam got to help Matt rope off the area for the battle reenactment. Josiah made two crafts, a stick doll and a flag. A woman in full period costume noticed and admired my Unschooling buttons, "We are Unschoolers!" She (Sherry) and her daughters were there volunteering for the event. They made their own costumes! :) We had a great conversation about Unschooling. When it was time for the battle and the coordinator, Matt, had spoken to the crowd about which battle was about to be reenacted, Josiah checked his Civil War Battle Map to verify the battle location :)
During the battle reenactment, friends were made. After the reenactment, Sam, Josiah, and their newly-made friends were running all through the trails, camps, and open fields of the plantation with their rifles doing their own reenactments...FOR two and a half hours. I managed my fear and anxiety when they disappeared from my sight... by pacing, fighting back the ugly thoughts of the million and one horrible things that could happen to them out of my sight around strangers, and straining to hear their voices coming from the trails to verify they were still alive ;) Me hovering over Sam is becoming a huge issue for him. He needs me out of sight sometimes. I'm trying really hard to trust! We had Indian Fry Bread from Old South Cookery....YUM! Sam and Josiah are dead set on attending a Civil War camp now. We met awesome people, learned so much, and made many connections. All in all, a perfect experience :)

I came home with plans to work in the garden all evening, but found that I was EXHAUSTED. I went to rest in the bed awhile to see if I could regroup about 6pm, but never woke up. Hubby took care of dinner, baths, and teeth :)

I worked in the garden, slowly staking tomato plants. Emily is on loom knitting project #2. Josiah googled and built with Legos all day again. Hubby worked on the Thunder Chicken and gave several lessons to Sam & Emmy. Got a chiro adjustment and the chiro said my back was a train wreck. I am cooking a lot for Staycation. We watched Billy the Exterminator. Billy traveling over the US this season is a great opportunity to learn Geography. Found a cutworm in my heirloom tomatoes... it destroyed two of them! I destroyed the cut worm.

Cassidy had her 3D CT scans.

I worked in the garden. Emily is very impressed that I grow my own cucumbers :) I finally gave up on my zucchini :( I pulled the plants up and stuffed them and all clinging squash bugs into a bag and sealed it. Then I smashed all squash bugs that jumped ship. I turned the earth and even found some vine borers and vine borer larvae not hatched yet ~ SMASH. I staked tomatoes with uneven bamboo poles but I think they look very natural and attractive :) Working towards fall planting.

The tadpoles are getting HUGE! NO legs yet.

Emily saw some of the toboggans I have knitted and wanted to do her own, so I got her started on one. She worked on it all day.

Emily and the boys made a restaurant, complete with set tables, a kitchen, signs, menus, etc. They even used my keyboard to find music for the restaurant. They found some Salsa, and, since I was making tacos for dinner, they decided the restaurant would be Mexican. It was very cute :)

The boys found a frog we have never seen before at their Dad's. The photo Sam sent me was not very clear so I have no idea what it was. Sam was concerned that the frog was venomous because it's underside and privates turned yellow. He has been paying attention at all of the zoos and museums we go to ;) He called me back and said he googled it and some frogs turn yellow just to scare predators away, but they are not actually venomous. I am not sure what kind of frog you can find in the piedmont of NC that does that? We are still not sure what kind it was. I found this info: "Although there are other factors that come into play, like predator avoidance for example, temperature is a huge reason why frogs change color too.

I love that the boys think of taking pics and researching for information when I am not even around :)

Sam is learning some Mandarin Chinese! How? From martial arts films! Josiah spent ALL DAY googling Legos, watching Lego videos, and creating his own. We found a discontinued, used Lego Pizzeria on Ebay, so now he is learning all about auctions.

Kayaking by Bill Lund

Safety at the Swimming Pool by Lucia Raatma

Moon: Science, History, and Mystery by Stewart Ross

Ox, House, Stick ~ The History of Our Alphabet by Don Robb

Josiah is on the Legos as soon as he wakes up in the morning. He was back and forth between googling Legos, watching Lego Youtube videos, and doing his own creations ALL DAY. Sam had a not-so-good day until Mike got home. I don't think he was feeling well, and it took me all day to figure it out, but he was feeling down because I was so impressed with Josiah's Lego creations, taking photos, etc, and I mentioned that Josiah has a "passion". It apparently made him feel inadequate and left out. He was using my phone to do videos of Lego battles all day, and I was not as enthusiastic about watching his video creations as I was Josiah's Lego creations. Parental FAIL. I didn't even "get it" until Mike came home and started "getting into" Sam's videos with him, laughing at them, etc. Then Sam even said, "See, I have a passion too!", and I knew immediately what had been bothering him all day. Sometimes I suck.

Sam and I watched "Between the Folds" (about Origami) on Netflix. It was fascinating, and I highly recommend it. The math in it is amazing. Sam's favorite part was the origami eagle.

Sam and I also watched "National Geographic: Bear Island" on Netflix. We have loved the bear since we had our close encounters with the black bear at Cades Cove in Tennessee. This documentary was about the brown bear/grizzly in the Alexander Archipelago area of Alaska. Even more interesting than the bears was learning the spawning/life cycles of the sock eye salmon. How they travel from the ocean to the streams without eating and are exhausted, some even die from exhaustion, how their bodies eat themselves from the outside in, digesting their own skin thus turning the fleshy red salmon color. The female carves out a spot with her tail and lays the eggs, then the male fertilizes them. The grizzlies know what time of year the salmon will be doing this and go to the water to wait on their salmon feasts! We really loved this film. Sam's favorite parts were watching the bears catch fish with their mouths :) We both get really emotional when a bear is shot. I really don't understand why big game hunting is allowed on animals that have a declining population.

Sam spotted the American Goldfinch visiting our feeder, and I got a couple of blurry shots.

I met with Cassidy's surgeon today. I like him. Very good energy. He stated that the blockage (Ureteropelvic junction obstruction) is *not* likely something she has developed over time, but something she was born with. She will eventually lose the kidney if it is not repaired. Before we schedule her surgery, she must have three dimensional CT Scans to verify that there is not a blood vessel in the way.

I took Cass to get some Back-To-School clothes.

Paw Paw Ken kept the boys for me. He introduced them to the music of violinist Vanessa May via a concert video. Paw Paw and AndMama also gave me a dehydrator that I am very excited to use!

The boys and I watched "Beavers: IMAX" on Netflix last night. This adds to our "Unit Study" on Beavers and Dams that is now over a year old, passion initiated by Josiah. Refer to Blogger entry August 27th, 2010 for the history of our "Dam Studies". It was fascinating. I was screaming when the bear was after the beaver, and the boys were laughing at me.

The boys and I watched the first episode of History Channel's The Universe on Netflix. It was about the Sun. It was good. We will probably do all of the episodes. We discussed the solar activity/storms going on now. Note: Josiah was completely confused by the use of pool balls to demonstrate how the sun works in this episode.

Grammar is coming along nicely, but still we have the slight regression when they come home from spending time with their Dad. We are now addressing use of "was" and "were". 

Josiah fascinates me the way he *really* listens to song lyrics and questions me about what they mean. Yesterday in the car we heard Eagles: Heartache Tonight, and Josiah was trying to determine just what a heartache is....something actually physical? It was fun discussing the meaning with him.

Josiah designed a small model of a dam with legos. Impressive!

We were invited to go to the Summer $1 Kid Movies at Manchester with a dear friend of mine, Denise. I have avoided these events like the plague since I took the kiddos when Cassidy was Sam's age or younger and it was a nightmare...herds of kiddos from daycares. Well, I am glad Denise asked us to go this time, because the movie, Alpha and Omega, was awesome. I took notice that many of the children did not "get" a lot of the humor in it when my kiddos did. Interesting. I must mention that my kiddos had impeccable behavior. BTW...The herd thing is still going on, but I was okay. You people should hear how some of those daycare workers talk to your kiddos...not. good.

We did a library visit to get Book Club books for me. The boys were so noticeably patient, quiet, and still while the librarian searched and put books on hold for me that the librarian mentioned it and praised them. I hope they are not getting sick! ;) The boys were thrilled to get book posters for free.

Sam is really, really, really into Pair of Kings right now. Netflix. Glued to it.

Josiah is mad into Legos. He made a dam today.

We have learned "my dog" in Spanish: "Mi Perro"

We have learned Dad, Grandfather, Mom, and Grandmother in Sign Language.

The boys and I went NOT Back To School Shopping today. We hit the Lego store (Josiah had tires, fences, and windows on his list but only tires were available) and Education Express, where we chose three things to add to the ANTI-CURRICULUM: Daily Journal Prompts (sometimes we get writer's block), Read and Understand Poetry (so that Sam can explore the world of non-rhyming poetry), and Spanish in a Flash Bingo (because Josiah would like to learn Spanish in order to "know what Santana's songs are sayin' ") <<Take note, my kids have excellent taste in music ;) Josiah has been completely enamored with models for a long time. He especially admires the ones at Schiele Museum in the Elizabeth W. Robinson Hall of Earth and Man and the Henry Hall of the American Indian galleries. He has requested numerous times that we make some of our own, and I have put this off over and over again. Why? I also LOVE the models and would LOVE to create them, however, I remember being forced to make a model on two different occasions when I was in school, not of my choice and with unreasonable time constraints. It was so stressful, and I have carried that with me. Anyway, Education Express carries a line of modeling products and Josiah was very impressed. Note to self: Just do it. Make a model with your kid. NO due dates imposed. 

We went to Sonic and used our FREE Ice Cream Cone coupons that we received from the library when we turned in one of our completed Summer Reading Program charts. We also visited the library to turn in our final completed charts (program ends tomorrow). I told Sam this library visit let's limit the books we check out to eight per person...he came back to me with eight DVDs...lol...Summer Reading Program = Burn Out for Sam.

Grammar Jam: We picked apart Dr. Dre's (featuring Snoop Dogg) Ain't Nothin' But A G Thang....The boys were absolutely appalled with a double negative and the "ain't" slang being used all together. (We looked at grammar books at Education Express...all boring, all a waste of time. Grammar Jam = WIN for us)

As soon as Josiah woke up today, he brought me a sunflower seed he snagged from Paw Paw's garden this past weekend and the book we just read before he visited Paw Paw, A Seed Is Sleepy. He kept up with that little seed just so he could show me that he found the actual seed we read about in the book ♥ ♥ ♥

 

I gave Sam his first piano lesson today. We discussed form and position. Did a page out of the Primer about skips, steps, and repeats. Demonstrated this to him on our steps and the keyboard. Started out with Jolly Ole Saint Nicholas. Discussed counts and measures. I wrote the note names for a couple of octaves on the keys with a dry erase marker. He is doing very well! :)

 

While the boys were away at their Dad's for a visit, I went through Netflix and picked out some things of interest and put them in the Instant Queue. Today we chose Liberty's Kids: The Boston Tea Party. Note to get books from the library to correlate with this: Phyllis Wheatley, Benjamin Franklin, Boston Tea Party. The boys REALLY liked it. It has some great humor in it. The boys found it hilarious when the "chick" from England corrects "the assistant dude's" grammar. She called him out on a double negative and they sooo got that, as we battle using double negatives daily, but have fun doing it...music is a great way to teach grammar, especially rap and country. The boys love calling artists out on their grammar boo-boos. I did explain to them that it is used in music for effect, and it is "okay" because music is art, IMO.

 

A cool surprise...we got frogged! Sam discovered the eggs in a small storage bin with rainwater in it sitting down in an opening that has pipes down in it. I think Mike put the storage bin there to keep it from raining down in the hole. Mike asked if they were mosquito larvae and Sam insisted NO, there was some mosquito larvae in there, but these were frog eggs! He was right on. We had discussed moving the frog eggs/now tadpoles from the front of the house near the cul de sac to the back yard, so that we can keep a closer watch on the metamorphosis AND so that when they are toads they will be around the garden beds to eat pesky bugs (like, what are they gonna do as toads in a hot cul de sac besides get squished by a car, or a bike?). We want a little pond some day but we have not gotten around to digging yet. I moved the tadpoles to the backyard in a dog pool, so hopefully they will thrive. The boys are thrilled and keep checking on them. We are not a toad-friendly environment here in the dry city, in fact we have only seen one in our yard in two years. Hopefully this works out!

 

We are wrapping up our second and last set of Library Summer Reading Program charts this week, as the program ends this Friday. We are always reading anyway, so we may as well fill in the circles and get prizes!

 

Sam read I Want To Be A Pilot and Mighty Machines: Airplanes to me & Josiah.

 

Together we read Songbirds ~ The Language of Song by Sylvia A. Johnson. Every time the book demonstrated a bird song by using words, we substituted the real song on our Bird Song Identiflyer. We learned two new words: ornithologist ~ scientists who study the biology and the behavior of birds, and syrinx ~the sound producing organ in birds (illustrated with a nice anatomical diagram). AFter the book we played a game with the Identiflyer, I press the button, they guess the bird. Sam totally rocks at this. Then Sam wanted to quiz me, so he did, and I suck at it ;)

 

We read Twisters - A Book About Tornadoes by Rick Thomas. Josiah could have written this book by now. He is our weather expert.

 

I went out to the garden to cut a cucumber for our dinner salads and caught an adult Squash Bug in the act of laying eggs on my Zucchini plants. I asked the boys if they were interested in seeing in it, and they both ran out and had a look for a while....then I killed her and smashed her eggs. It was pretty cool to watch her little butt move up and down squeezing the eggs out, but they all had to go because we want our zucchini.

 

We watched one case History Detectives on PBS. This was the story: 

A California man, Mas Inoshito, hoped the Japanese characters on a hand-carved cane would unlock the mysteries of his family's past. The cane belonged to his grandparents, who were sent to an Arizona relocation camp (in Glendale) after Pearl Harbor.

 

He can't read the words carved into the cane, and his grandparents have passed away. He asked "History Detectives" host Tukufu Zuberi to uncover the story behind the cane. Tukufu had an interpreter translate the Japanese words. A curator of art from Japanese internment camps placed the cane into the tradition of "gaman" - the art of living with the unbearable. Then Tukufu unraveled a surprising clue about the cane's original owner.

 

The boys are very familiar with Pearl Harbor, but didn't know, or, haven't ever really been struck by an interest or understanding of the internment camps. The way the camps were presented on this show really grabbed their attention, as well as the No-Nos group.

 

Bedtime books: Star Wars The Clone Wars Forces of Darkness by Heather Scott, I Am an Ankylosaurus by Karen Wallace, Snails by Monica Hughes (Josiah is our snail man...intrigued that snail body is called a foot, eyes are on the long set of tentacles, short ones for tasting and smelling, we found some snail eggs in the yard when we were raking once and really didn't know what they were but they look exactly like the snail eggs in this book, discussed they are bad for our garden but Josiah does not want to kill them discussed relocation when we find them/maybe indoor terrarium? to keep them in, very cool that they seal off their shells with mucus to hibernate in the winter we have found them this way before and wondered what was up), Once in the Country ~ Poems of a Farm ~ by Tony Johnston & Thomas B. Allen (boring poems, Josiah fell asleep and Sam complained, "I thought poems are supposed to rhyme!", so I will take this opportunity to introduce the different types of poetry to him, we discussed it a little but I have forgotten the basics, so note to self: get a reference)

8/12/2011 1:28:29 AM - 004031655269
Really enjoying the new web site. Especially since I get to see more of the boys and what they're doing

7/29/2011 9:32:57 PM - 004029452603
This is really cool Honeybear!

We had a fantastic weekend. The boys had a play date at our house Saturday with two of their home school friends, and two of their neighborhood friends joined the fun as well. After the play date, the boys and I rode to a benefit the husband's band was playing in Lancaster, SC. Sam helped draw tickets for the door prizes. The boys found an amazing bamboo forest behind the restaurant, and played in it until dark. Then the boys and I danced, danced, danced and ate good bad food all night. Sam was especially impressed with the fried bologna sandwich, and Josiah LOVED the jalapeno poppers. Sam sang karaoke with Brandon...Simple Man. Josiah's new favorite song the band does is Psycho by Puddle of Mud. 

Sunday the boys and I stayed outside all day. Two neighborhood friends came over to play. Everyone loves hammering boards in the boy's "tree house". Husband came out and helped with some boards they were having trouble with. Pillow-fighting on the trampoline is another favorite. They played in the sandbox, rode scooters and bikes in the cul de sac, and played in the Bamboo Forest. I raked and cleared, cleared and raked. I love being outside. I made a special seating/relaxing area for me that I am so impressed with, I sat until long after dark watching the clouds move across the moon. I hung my new birdbath, and added another feeder. Now I have four feeders and one bath. At the end of the day, the boys had cuts, scratches, bruises, dirt crusted underneath finger and toenails, and murky bath water....all signs that my boys had a most excellent day.

March 11, 2011

Sam did a lot of Math today. I actually went through and "graded" his work....a year's worth (we already had checks, just no percentages figured)...and it looks like he rightfully has a B. I didn't mention this to him, but it did help me see what he rocks at, and what we need to go back over. Plus, it's all nice and "schooly" in the Math Portfolio and makes a nice presentation in case we are ever questioned by any of the idiots who are still brainwashed by traditional schooling.

Josiah was all about looking at the Japan earthquake/tsunami videos today. Then he moved on to watching tornado videos. Then...he wanted to talk all about turtles. We looked through our Turtles of Southeast book (for the trillionth time).

We finally have action on our Goldfinch Feeder, but the birds are not Goldfinch...they are Black-Capped Chickadees.


We are still enjoying the home-grown collard greens that our friends brought us! For dinner we had collards n onions with Bragg ACV, Tangy BBQ Pork Chops, Organic Mashed Potatoes, and HomeMade Cornbread! Mmmm! Hmmmmm!

Husband had a gig, so the boys and I had all evening to ourselves. Josiah and I watched documentaries on Netfllix. One on dogs, one on the human body, one on spies in WWII, and one on the BP oil spill. He was especially intrigued by the beginning of the one on the human body that was all about skin. When we watched the one on the BP oil spill, it was a little "dry", so he insisted we pull our (kiddo) Oil Spill book and read it (for the millionth time).

March 9, 2011

We did a review with adding decimals. Sam kicks ass on lining them up vertically to add them when the problem is presented horizontally. He is all about adding up some $$$$$$ though, so no surprise there. He did several on the dry erase board, then he completed the remainder on paper so we could snap it into our little binder of "proof" in case anyone ever accuses us of not being up to par with the public school system <<<BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
I suggested that Sam show his "work" on them (wonder where I got THAT ridiculous, irrational idea????), but he could add them in his head when they were presented horizontally...without lining them up vertically, and without "showing his work" (the carrying, etc.) You know what Sam, if you can do it in your head, do it baby. I am the administrator of this "school", and I know you can do it in your head, YOU know you can do it in your head, so to heck with haters.

We started tracking earthquakes. We may need a new map exclusively for this! We have been doing it for only a few days, and there has been so much activity: Chile, Japan, Papua New Guinea, China...

We want to start tracking tornadoes as well, but we haven't found a good site to use yet.

Who cares if our walls are papered with maps? If my house looked like a display at Rooms-To-Go, I would suffocate and die in the conformity of it!

Josiah won a lot of cards for recognizing letters and their sounds. He is SO funny...sometimes he has to think a bit about what letter it is or what sound it makes, but he is always prompt with recognizing if it is "Uppercase" or "Lowercase".

My kids are so anxious to get swim trunks on and get into some water fun.

March 10, 2011

Josiah and Letters: Josiah gets soooo pissed when he doesn't "WIN". When we do the Letter Flash Cards, he "wins" the card if he calls the Letter. This is HIS game that he made up.....BUT....He was going into a meltdown over the ones he didn't "get", so we are going to ditch this game. IF it were Clue or something, I would continue on and work with him on his poor sportsmanship, but not on something we are using to "learn". I am going to switch gears and try something else. I have a kid demanding that I teach him how to read, and I am not about to make him hate it and turn away from it because I pushed a certain "method" on him. He wants to just open a book and jump right into reading, so why is it stuck in my head that he HAS to recognize ALL of the Letters by name FIRST? Oh, yeah...I am a product of traditional education. I fully realize how ridiculous the "system" is, yet I revert right back to it before I can blink my eyes! Even though HE made the game up, once we started it and it only worked to a certain point for him, I pressed him to keep on with it even though it was upsetting him. WHY? That is SO stupid. Ugh. I am going to talk to him about my  mistake and apologize, then let him choose how he wants to proceed with HIS education. 

Sam worked on Writing today. He really loves to keep a journal. I would never waste our time by forcing him to write about things he could care less about. He also did a page in his Sylvan Reading Success Workbook.

We gave the cats Catnip today (Well, Loki gets all of the Catnip because he hisses at Camo when she gets near it...). The boys were amazed and had a lot of questions, so we read all about Catnip.

Josiah asked to hold the turtle: "Mom, we have not held our turtle in a long time. I KNOW what you are gonna say...I know we have to wash our hands because of mello-yello!" (He meant Salmonella....ROFLOL!)

The boys were soaking in a conversation I had with a friend the other day (I was unaware of the soaking at the time). I was telling my friend about another Mom we both know (the boys are also very familiar with this Mom and her son) who would not allow her son to watch the movie Finding Nemo. WELL. Since we returned home from my friend's house...3 days ago....my kiddos have gone to great extremes to hunt the movie, Finding Nemo, down and watch it to see what all the fuss was about....THREE TIMES. I find this hilarious! I didn't even know. Sam told me..."Oh yeah Mom, Finding Nemo? The movie that (crazy Mom's name) won't let (crazy Mom's son) watch? Well....we found it and watched it THREE TIMES!". But he hasn't mentioned if he has discovered what all of the fuss was about.

Josiah pointed out in the truck the other day that The Doors song, LA Woman, sounds a lot like Charlie Brown.

Very nice visit at a friend's house. It is such a pleasure to be in the company of like-minded people, especially right around my PMS time, when the mainstream world is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. A 9 week old home-birthed, breastfed, cloth-diapered-but-ECing, beautiful baby girl smiling at me was the perfect therapy for my current "bird-leaving-the-nest" devastation. The boys played like crazy. They love these particular kids so much....they cried on the way home..."I miss (kid's name) and (kid's name)!"


When we returned home, the boys played joyfully with our neighbor's Lab, Bo. When Bo had to go inside, the boys had a wild, wide-open, rough and tough pillow fight on the trampoline with neighborhood friends.

Today we did a Field Trip to our Attorney's office. We walked too! It was almost 3/4 mile. We sat on the front steps of the office and ate pecans from the ground. The boys had a blast cracking them open. I hope our attorney doesn't add those to our bill. We learned all about making a Will.

Sam did one Multiplication Worksheet and took three Multiplication Quizzes. He is still making his 6s backwards....lol....drives me (OCD)  insane, but I just remind him over and over. He did Compound Words in his Sylvan "Reading Success" book. I have to say his reading has improved by leaps and bounds since he left school and everyone left him the hell alone. All we have done is read and read and read...books...that we enjoy....and a year later he picks up his Reading Workbook he used to struggle with and Bam! breezes right through it.

Josiah did several pages in his Math Workbook. 

Husband is flying up to Red Wing, Minnesota tomorrow on business, so we had to tag it on our map of the US and talk about where it is, borders, weather, etc.

We went through our Bird ID book and pointed out all of the birds we have spotted so far since we started our Birder Adventures. We decided to make a Display of all of our bird pics/birds, so I am going to go through and pick out the best ones to have printed. We looked at other birds as well, and the boys are particularly interested in the Raptors. The Roadrunner was also of great interest. The boys have decided that we need to visit the Raptor Center ASAP. Even though they have been many times before, apparently they just now care...lol. We decided that we need to dissect our new owl pellet ASAP as well. Sam noticed the Size category for each bird, and started asking, "Well how big is that?" I sent him to grab my tape measure...I called the inches for each bird and he showed it to us on the tape measure. BIG WOW when we looked at the wing span on some of the Raptors! Sam really got excited about the tape measure and measured everything in the house, recording his results in his notebook.

We read several books....Why Leaves Change Color, Martin Luther King Jr, Saint Patrick's Day, and the Worm Book. We reviewed how to care for our red Wrigglers. The boys remembered that the Earth Worm has five sets of hearts and suggested we dissect our Earth Worm we ordered from Home Science Tools months ago to find the hearts... I'm. Not. Ready.

The boys chose to make a box of Organic Macaroni and Cheese as their contribution to dinner...well, two boxes, because each box is only 2.5 servings, not enough for our family for dinner. Oh boy! Doubling a recipe! Interesting: Josiah has never been to school, and just doesn't get worksheets the way Sam does....but when it came to doubling the recipe (real life Math), Josiah (6) was like, Duh! and completely got it...but Sam (9)...who has been to school and has had the common sense drilled out of him by worksheets, was so confused over simple math because....it wasn't watered down on a worksheet!

 
A magical February day today! It started for me with new Organic Hazelnut coffee (it's the little things:) Not long after my fourth sip, I was being summoned to the backyard with camera in hand by screams of excitement....the boys spotted a woodpecker in our pecan tree! With help from a dear friend who loves peckers as much as I do..... (Okay...I promise that's it with the pecker jokes!)....we think we have identified a Female or Juvenile Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. It was gorgeous!

Rough winds, puffy white clouds moving quickly across a sky of blue, bright sun beaming down on us, and 82 degrees! Right this minute, we are having a severe thunderstorm! The thunder is massive! Along Riverwalk today, dead limbs from the old, old, tall, tall trees were crashing down around us. The wind even made waves and huge ripples in the river water! Turtles, turtles everywhere....coming up to bask in the sun on rocks in the middle of the river. The boys hopped from rock to rock in the river, and even though the water was still very near ice cold, they ended up IN it. We even got to hike the river path with a good friend....and a Babyman!

~Samuel Matthew Turns Nine~

Sam ~ One year old!

Oh wow. My boy turns nine today! He has already called me this morning. He and his Dad were on their way to Walmart to get some type of scooter, and he is so excited. "Guess what , Mom? It's snowing here. It's snowing on my birthday!" My heart melts when I hear his little voice over the phone.

Since Sam is going to celebrate on his actual birthday today with his Dad, we went Tuesday of this week and he picked out a Nintendo DSi and a game. I already had three other games put away for him, however, it was over 24 hours before he actually played a game on it, because the camera and the voice recorder are such fun.

Sam is such a special little soul. I love this little boy with all of my heart.

My "Bug"

Sam nursed until he was three. He never tasted formula, nor did he ever drink from a bottle.

Sam LOVES his brother and sisters!

Sam is always concerned for everyone. He can't stand the thought of someone hurting, physically or emotionally. He is always trying to make things better for his brother and sister when they are upset. He can't stand conflict and turmoil. He reprimands me when I am ugly to my husband..."that was just mean, Mom. Why are you being mean to Mike?" He can't even stand it when the dogs fight. I always warn him to just stay back when the get into it, but he never does, he always attempts to stop the fight. He is always aware of anyone being "left out."  We were having breakfast one morning, then leaving to go to a home school event. Mike was at work, but comes home for lunch. "Where is Mike's sausage biscuit, Mom?" He made certain that Mike would have a sausage biscuit as we did when he came home for lunch.

I love that Sam doesn't play the game of "I'm better than you" or the humiliation and ridicule game.... the games that come so naturally to traditionally schooled children. I stand back and listen to how he handles these situations with other children, then talk to him about it later. You know, those mean little kiddos that call names and make fun, just for the hell of it? I am so grateful and so certain that my Sam will never be one of those. We just have to work on how to handle this appropriately, without fighting ugly with ugly. I am just now getting there myself, because, yes, even adults are that way...so Sam and I are learning together.

Sam's enthusiasm for life is relentless. To Sam, "anything worth doing is worth overdoing." I am probably the only person in this world who understands him completely. He is just like me. He attaches himself to an idea so intently and becomes so focused, maybe an idea that holds no value to others, but holds the utmost value to him. You may speak to him or ask him to do something or stop doing something, and you may have to repeat it five times before he hears you. When someone says, "He doesn't listen!" or  tells him, "You don't listen!", I feel like punching them. Adults can be so stupid. The same people that ask me a question, then direct their attention away from me or interrupt me as I am speaking are usually the very ones that expect children to be perfect.

He frequently gets on peoples nerves with his endless amount of questions and his passion for communicating. I say rock on Sam. People need better communication skills, so give them all the practice you want to. I do stress good manners to him, and it is so sweet to hear him say, "Excuse me, ma'am?" or "May I (request) please?"  I get so many compliments on what good manners he has.

Mike once named Sam as our family "Ambassador of Good Will"... Sam never meets a stranger. He is the perfect home schooler. He is secure, and doesn't sweat making friends. We are a part of many different groups. I would say we meet an average of two new "friends" a week, and Sam just rocks right on with it. I get so many compliments on what a sweetheart he is.

 Sam is the perfect unschooler. He never becomes stagnant in what he wants to learn and pursue. I can barely keep up with him most of the time. Unschooling is NOT for the lazy parent, and unschooling Sam puts you in overdrive for sure!
 

Sam loves to be a helper. I love the time when he noticed the elderly lady behind us in line at the library holding her books because there was no space to sit them on the counter. He said, "Excuse me ma'am, could I help you hold your books?" She was so surprised and genuinely impressed with him. That's my boy. He is always scoping out an opportunity to hold a door open for someone. There are so many times he has helped someone when we are out and about, that I couldn't possibly think of the details of them all to share right now. Can you believe, though, that a few people actually were irritated with it? Some people are just assholes, Sam. Just keep doing your thing anyway.

Sam is my accident man. He drank gasoline at two. He took Granny's heart meds at two. He crushed a finger at one. He clipped the tip of his finger off with nail clippers when he was one. He jumped into the pool when he was one. He is always bopped and bruised, because his body never stops moving. My heart has been in my stomach many, many times with Sam. I have been frozen with fear over and over. He was wandered and disappeared, over and over. (Shut up Jen!;) He climbs to the tops of trees, he climbs to the top of boulders on hikes and stands on the very edge, he walks in creeks, he hops from rock to rock in the river, he goes as fast as he can on wheels, he goes as far out into the ocean as he can until I go crazy and make him come back. My heart is racing as I type this. I do hover over him, some people thinks it's too much, and Sam gets irritated with it. But with Sam, you just never know what wild idea may cross his mind, not recognizing the danger of it. Sigh. I keep Sam alive, day by day. That's what I do.


Sam is NOT the compliant little sheep that people want children to be, as I have not encouraged that... in any of my children. I promote being kind, loving, and respectful, but question people, question everything.  Sometimes he is so impulsive, and his body moves faster than his thinker does, and he makes a mistake, breaks something, runs into someone, etc. I do know, though, with all of my heart, that he will never, ever hurt anyone intentionally...physically or emotionally. So when I see someone hurt him emotionally or physically, I become more furious than I have ever become over anything. I have never felt a hatred so intense as I do for people who are ugly to him or impatient with him. I despise when I hear someone preach patience to him, or any other child for that matter. I can't name an adult alive that genuinely practices patience in all matters. So practice what you preach, or shut the fuck up. Don't mess with my kindhearted, caring, sensitive Sam.

Sam is my funny man. He loves to laugh. He loves comedy. He loves jokes. He loves to hear others laugh.

Sam confided in me with his first crush earlier last year, at the age of eight. I must say, he has fantastic taste! It lives on, and it is a pleasure to watch him around "her", knowing our little secret. 

Sam in my belly.

I am so excited to experience the age of nine with my Sam. There is no way to describe how thankful I am for NINE beautiful years so far with this wonderful little being.

A Victorian Christmas

This book was used in the Victorian Christmas Card Presentation

The boys and I attended a wonderful home school history program at the Gaston County Museum today: A Victorian Christmas. We rotated through several different well-prepared and captivating presentations covering everything about a Christmas in the Victorian Era including, decorating, stockings, gifts and toys, Christmas trees, tree ornaments, sleds and sleighs, and cooking.


Sam got our party started immediately at the first presentation by revealing our unchurching. It was some Victorian toys, under a little Victorian Christmas Tree....a really nice wooden Noah's Ark complete with the Two by Two's. He admired it, I could tell, and as Mr. Jeff talked, Sam sat as close to it as he could. Finally, Mr. Jeff called attention to the ark..."Who knows what this is?"...and Sam, excited and still enamored with the boat and the animals, is going to allow another kiddo to answer a question about HIS boat LIKE HELL...Sam eagerly raises his hand, almost standing he raised it so forcefully...Mr. Jeff calls on Sam....Sam exclaims, "It's...one of those...........um.......JESUS THINGYS!" Bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha! I am standing in the Bible Belt, amongst a clan of Baptist home schoolers and their parents I'm sure, and Sam calls Noah's Ark A JESUS THINGY! You should have seeen the look on Mr. Jeff's face, but graciously he replies, "Well, yes, but what IS IT?"...and all of the good little Baptist school-at-homers sing in unison..."NOAH'S ARK!" Freaking hilarious! Love it!



The things we found most interesting (besides the Jesus Thingy):




 Postage was like a collect phone call. If you sent mail, the person you sent it to had to pay the postage. People wanted to send beautiful Christmas greetings, but they didn't want to burden the recipient with the costs. This eventually reversed postage costs to the sender. We made Victorian Christmas Cards at this presentation!






We loved the wax ornaments, the real gingerbread ornaments, and the peanuts-wrapped-in-colorful-paper-to-look-like-candy ornaments, real popcorn as garland, and real fruits on the tree. We were fascinated that they put REAL candles all over the tree, and stood around the glowing tree soaking it all in for fifteen minutes, because fifteen minutes was the max the candles could burn without burning the tree and probably the house down with it. We don't have our tree up yet, so I'm sure the boys aspire to put REAL things on our tree now that they are impressed with the Victorian way....we will NOT be doing the REAL candles, and Mom will be watching closely to assure that no one ATTEMPTS it. We made Victorian Cornucopia Candy Holder Ornaments! They boys have already put pecans and who knows what else in theirs.  

We have talked about this before from seeing pictures in books, but they had the REAL stockings (socks) hung on the fireplace, to be filled with small toys, nuts, and fruits. The socks were usually hung by the fire anyway, any day, to dry. The speaker emphasized just how big of a deal something such as an orange would have been at that time of year back then, due to being out of season and lack of transportation. Wow the things we take for granted today.

We loved going into the carriage house and seeing the sleighs and sleds! The Transport Sled was most interesting...the Victorian Era's eighteen wheeler, minus the sleazy truck driver!




Our last presentation had a beautiful Victorian Christmas table setting that included a Gingerbread House and our favorite, a Gum Drop Tree!


There was a snowy model of the little town of Dallas, NC. Josiah LOVES models.They also have some really cool models of a mill and a mill town in this museum.

 

Last but not least, the Stereoscope! Too cool...Read about it here:  http://www.dlt.ncssm.edu/collections/toys/html/exhibit01.htm

Fa La La La La!

After surviving an all boys, party-like-rock-stars sleepover, at which the boys took the "sleep" out of "sleepover", we are now well-rested and back for more. They boys opened a Christmas gift (K'nex Coaster), and have been busy at work putting it together. They became excited when they saw just how looong the track is, so they have aborted mission on the standard construction and are stretching the track from the balcony to the downstairs and all over the place. From this roller coaster mania, we so far have one broken lamp that the husband can repair, I'm sure, for the SECOND TIME due to the boys knocking it over (The first time was right after we became engaged, it had been broken in my apartment since the boys knocked it over there. He bought the parts and even installed a little  one, two, three, brighter, no dimmer switch, to prove his manly "I'm going to take care of everything from here on out-ness" :) I am not upset over the lamp, but I am upset over the Christmas plate that the lamp knocked over. Nana got it for me for Christmas last year, and I really liked it :( I'm not mad, the boys were not being rough, they were being creative and just didn't do their engineering calculations properly ;)

So I am making party mix, and I AM NOT using the free packets of Chex Mix party mix seasoning that were FREE - TAKE ONE...If you took one, you are feeding your family carcinogens. You can make your OWN seasoning at home with a few simple ingredients, and avoid poisoning yourself, your family, and your friends. They shouldn't be ALLOWED to give that crap away, much less charge $$$ for it! So anyway, back to my GOOD FOR YOU Party Mix...I opted out of the entirely Gluten-Free version, because we want Cheerios and Pretzels in our Party. If I take any to the Holiday Party tonight, many of my friends may not eat it, but that's just more for me to take home! My MIL makes an excellent home-made Party Mix, that my husband hides from us and will take a limb off if he catches any of US devouring it. She has yet to share her recipe with me. Nana is the one who pays attention to what everyone wants or loves, and makes sure they get it.

2 cups  Rice Chex
2 Cups Corn Chex
2 Cups Cheerios
1 Cup Peanuts
1 Cup Mini Pretzels broken into bits & pieces (I used Snyders)
^All of the Above: Put in a 9 x 13 casserole dish

Preheat oven to 250.

6 tablespoons of butter melted on the STOVE TOP(I use the microwave as little as possible because it messes with the molecules and who knows what that might do to a body!)
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire (I use Earth Fare Organic)
2 teaspoons of seasoning salt (I used Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt Original)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
^All of the above stirred up really well together, then pour it over the crunchies in the baking dish, toss and turn it until all of your crunchies are coated. Bake for one hour, stir every 15 minutes. My first batch is halfway done, and I am already munching on it every time I open the oven to stir. If there is any left when the timer goes off, I will serve it to the family and report back.

Okay I came home to only scraps left in the one party mix pan I left, so I am assuming that either the husband or the cats loved it very much. Sam seeded FOUR pomegranates today for the Holiday Party (he took a shot at peeling potatoes for the potato soup, but we decided he wasn't quite ready for that yet when I caught him taking short-cuts and cutting off chunks of potato with the skin ;), and Jen took all of the seeds home with her, because it was the only thing I brought gluten free. She did give me her tangerines AND her hummus, so I suppose we are squared up. Besides, we held back on the pom seeds and left some at home....muahahahahaha! The kiddos had a lot of fun at the Holiday Party, we received some nice baked gifts from friends, and we made some cool ornament crafts. We had a book exchange there, and Josiah scored some Natural Disaster books that he is really excited about.




 

 My teen daughter and I find it difficult to bond over many things, but one thing we DO gel on is MUSIC. We had a blast singing along to the tunes on her Ipod for the drive to the Holiday Party and the drive back. DANGEROUS! SCANDALOUS! <Only she will get this one.....roflol!




The boys and I finally read our Winter Solstice books last night, and they seemed a little bored until the first mention of evil spirits, trolls, and witches. We had our huge laminated world map in the bed with us looking up the locations of the different Solstice stories. The boys want to stick the toothpicks in the orange and use the flashlight to simulate axial tilt......



I am reading The World According To Garp by John Irving right now, as I wait on my Book Club friends to catch up with me on Hotel New Hampshire. Since I out-read them on this one, I am also going to out-drink them at the next Book Club meeting. I know. I aspire to do grand things!

December 9, 2010

Two days ago, a dear friend gave us a storage bin full of kiddo books from cleaning off her bookshelves. How did we get so lucky? An Unschooler with two boys = THE best books EVER! I didn't tell the boys, I just put the storage bin in the middle of the living room floor. They have hopped over it and played around it for two days now. Finally, today, Josiah is so "into" a book that I can't get him to hop off my bed so I can make it. I didn't recognize the book. I looked and the storage bin was open. Wow! Thank you Pam! Sam immediately discovered the UFO/Alien books and pulled them all out. (Sam has suddenly developed an intense interest in UFOs and aliens). Josiah loves the Magic School Bus books, especially the Waterworks. Anything with water, dams, tornadoes, storms, etc gets his undivided attention. Josiah and I also spent about an hour in the Usborne Puzzle Adventure book, in which we made a trip to Scandinavia, China, and Rome through time travel.


I am beginning to connect more with my local home school group. I met a person who I absolutely adore. She is a self-taught expert on herbs, and she had both of her babies at home! She has a wonderful personality, and she is so "real" and easy to talk to. We have a parade coming up in which we enter a float of our own for our group. It is a "farm equipment/animal only" parade, and I hear it is fantastic! I don't think we will get to ride on the float this time, but I am so excited to be able to experience such a parade!




Cassidy's Christmas Concert was amazing. Well, minus the troll that sat behind me. (Luckily, a REAL teacher eventually came and sat beside of me to take pics, and magically, the Troll Teacher Assistant behind me AND the rude teen with her shut the fock up for the remainder of the performances!) I have NEVER heard a high school chorus so developed. I am so proud of her to be part of such an amazing group, and I believe that Ms. Laney has been an important influence in Cassidy's life. Admission is two canned goods per person, all for Project Hope. I love watching the accompanist, and I envy how well and how easily she plays. I should have practiced when you tried to make me, Mama! lol Now that I am "playing" again, I can see that practice makes all of the difference. I will struggle with a piece until I have to just walk away from it. I will go back to the same piece the next day, and the part I struggled with before comes more easily to me. I also envy the interns. That should have been me. Life is music, and music is life. How easily what I loved so much was made unattractive to me through the distractions of high school. In 1990, NC State came to Hunter Huss to recruit people for their textile programs. Textiles started to disappear before we graduated from college!

The boys behaved so well during the concert, and on the front row, no less, that I let them stay up until almost midnight to munch on popcorn and watch A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey. It was scarey! Great effects, especially the evil horses! 





I received our Winter Solstice books today. I am really excited about this. (The above pics are saved images and not links, so don't try to "Look inside!") One actually has celebration activities in it! I also ordered other seasonal books, covering Christmas around the world, pioneer Christmas, etc. Our list of winter books we have read is very long, and will grow even longer as we go. So far, Josiah is smitten with the idea of decorating a tree with real candy & fruit (from Nonna Tell Me a Story: Lidia's Christmas Kitchen by Lidia Bastianich, set in Istria long ago...) IT is a very good thing to have many maps about when you are Unschooling, in the house, in the car. There is a way bigger world out there than what we confine ourselves to by playing the mainstream game.










I think Mike and I are having more fun with Hooper, our Elf on the Shelf, than the kiddos are....


I love you Jen. Because you packed up the Wasabi Peas and sent them home with ME!




Today I am thankful that we are not wasting our lives away dropping kiddos off and picking them up from school. I am also thankful that the boys are not wasting their childhood away doing homework and signing reading logs. I am so thankful that *I* am raising my children rather than sending them away to the school factories to be turned into sheep, while I work to buy more things. I am thankful for my husband, my Mr. Steady, who makes this all possible, and who is learning from us as we are learning from him. We are making moments, which is all you really have. As Jen said the other night..."There ain't no Uhaul behind  that hearse."

December 7, 2010

Two nights ago, as Josiah was taking his turn in "detox" (a 30 minute bath in apple cider vinegar and epsom salts), he glanced into my bedroom on Mike's side of the bed and spied a hint of Spongebob underneath some of Mike's clothes. He notified Sam, who was roaming freely in the room, and Sam investigated, finding the two Spongebob Snuggies I bought them for Christmas. I didn't get mad, I just gave them the Snuggies. They did such a fantastic job all day helping me out with cleaning the house anyway. They loooove the Snuggies! Sam has been asking for a "kid snuggie" for over a year now. Then I surprised them with the Elf on the Shelf. We read the book and talked about how we were going to play Elf on the Shelf. We agreed that when we find the Elf, we will make wishes for others, the world, the animals, but not for ourselves. We named the Elf Hooper after our favorite bar, Hooper's. It is now morning number two, and we still haven't found the Elf from yesterday yet! Ha! I hid him on the storage shelf in the laundry room. We also read the Christian version of The Christmas Story. I have some new books coming telling different perspectives of Christmas, from different religions and different areas of the world. I am especially excited about the Winter Solstice books. I hope to have a bonfire here on the 21st to celebrate.

There is a lot of excitement and wonder surrounding water freezing now that the temperatures have plummeted, especially freezing to the shape of the container. I am going to pull what I have here in our library and make it a science lesson, of course. Sam was fascinated with ice in the shape of the dog bowls as he did his morning chore of caring for the dogs, but he was especially thrilled with the ice in the shape of the sandbox toy...an ice castle! He wants to keep it it, so we put it in the freezer.






Yesterday we decorated gingerbread houses for the very first time. I have probably done it some time long ago that I don't remember, but the boys have never done it. I had a big bag stuffed full of different candies and icing for over a week, more prepared than I normally am for sure. The boys were just excited because it was at Kailey's house, and they weren't really sure what to expect, even though I showed them pics of gingerbread houses. When we got there at their favorite place and their favorite friends are sitting around tables covered with bags and bowls of candy, they jumped right in and loved it. I was so impressed that Josiah used Twizzlers as "logs" on the roof of his. Then he bit into it a couple of times. It was such a great day with awesome friends.  We are now looking forward to going to Asheville with friends to view the gingerbread houses on display at Grove Park Inn, then have pizza! Maybe we can get some ideas for next years decorating! Kailey surprised the boys with scarves that she knitted herself, and they didn't want to take them off when they went to bed last night. Sam rolled his up carefully, handed it to me, and said, "Mom, please take care of this, okay?"   Now they are curious about knitting on the looms, so I will pull the yarn and my looms out of the attic and let them give it a try. I used to sit and knit on them with Jen while the kiddos played, and the knitting also helped me calm my nerves through the many painful court dates I went through during my separation, divorce, and custody hearings. Oh, and my two assault charges. Ha. I made toboggans and scarves. I put the looms away years ago, probably because I then associated them with a painful season in my life. I can't see the boys sitting still long enough to finish a scarf, but then again, when Sam has an idea of what he is going to do in his head, he is going to do it come hell or high water. I'm not sure where he gets that from ;0) We'll see! I am now looking for one of the tiny looms that Kailey uses to make that particular style scarf. I have this set already: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=&q=circle+loom+set&rlz=1B3GGLL_enUS386US386&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=10438463860265545739&ei=s5n_TNy4EcWclge35PSpCA&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=image&resnum=4&ved=0CDQQ8gIwAw# .....and an ass-load of yarn!



I'm going to have to pony up and learn how to tie them when they are finished...Jen always tied mine for me. Jen did a lot of "tying up ends" for me in those days ;)

December 6, 2010

Sam made Ants on a Log for us this morning for breakfast. A celery stick filled with peanut butter and topped with raisins (the "ants").  I'm not sure where he got the recipe, but he has been begging to make them for weeks now. Television? A book? A magazine? Scouts? The recipe was in his head. We always have celery and peanut butter, but we have not had raisins in a while. Well, he scored a box of raisins from Ann-Mama's house last night, so project Ants On a Log was accomplished first thing this morning. Amazing how he holds onto an idea that he finds interesting. They really are very good, and good for you!






We are having such a fantastic Holiday Season. The boys saw their very first play yesterday, children as the cast. A couple of our home school friends were in the play. Josiah asked a million questions, especially about the stage hands. He found breaking down and setting up the scenes fascinating. Sam would totally perform in a play. I need to look around Rock Hill and see what is available to us. The play was a spin on The Wizard of Oz. My boys have never seen the movie, and their curiosity was mounting because of the play and what I was telling them about the movie. When the Wizard of Oz came on television, once a year?, it was a stop what you are doing and watch the Oz affair. After a great time with friends at a really cool coffee shop (J. Olivers in Kings Mountain, NC ~ has mouth-watering potato soup!), we stopped and picked up the movie.

This morning when the movie was started, I heard a conversation between the boys...Josiah ~ "Sam, Mom said the beginning of the movie was in black and white...that's not black and white, that's brown and white. Right, Sam?" I thought this was the cutest thing ever. Finally, Sam came and informed me of my error. I love my kiddos!


We have been making paper snowflakes. We started with printing premade patterns off of some websites, with instructions on folding and cutting. After several of these, Sam just picks up a piece of paper and goes at it, trying his own ideas. We visited Paw-Paw Ken last night, who just had surgery. Sam immediately went to Ann-Mama's paper drawer and made her some snowflakes.


We have so many exciting activities going on this week. Yay! We can't wait. But today is cleaning day. If we want to play together, we have to work together to get the things done that have to be done. 

November 9, 2010

Today was a full day. The boys and I picked up a breakfast sandwich from Starbucks and headed over to the Scout Store in Charlotte to purchase Sam's very first pocket knife. Then we headed to Earth Fare to knock out our grocery list and talk about Health & Nutrition. The boys were so excited that Issue 3 of Earth Fare Itty Bitty Bites Comic Book is now out! This one introduces Artificial Artie in "Intentionally Deficit." So far we have covered Trans Fat Tina and High Fructose Fred. Sam asked me to turn the music off when we got back in the car, and he read the comic all the way through. These comics are so witty and give "bad stuff" a good slam, for 35 cents an issue. Love them. I was excited to find Tom Kha Phak Thai Coconut in Amy's Soups. Can't wait to try it.





We met some of our friends at Historic Brattonsville and took a nice tour. Brattonsville has a really neat Gift Shop, and every time I turned around my boys were sneaking back in it. Josiah chose a slate, and he wrote on it all the way to soccer. How do you spell this? How do you spell that? His letters look great, and he has never "practiced" handwriting. I love to see him so excited over reading and writing, watching him be excited about discovering it all on his own. Every time we are in a restaurant, he has the kiddie mat flipped over writing "words", and last night, we had to ask for extras. Back to Brattonsville... I really enjoy the old structures, the trails, the trees, the leaves, and the sky. The door to the kid's room upstairs kept closing by itself! I must add, I only tripped ONCE in my Skechers Shape Ups...YAY!

We had our last soccer game tonight. This has been a tough season for the kiddos. We have majority "never played before 8 & 9 year olds." We have had a lot of kiddos missing games, and when your strong players are not there, you are in trouble. There have been a lot of improvements individually, and I am happy that we have the opportunity to teach some skills to kiddos who want to try out soccer. I do get frustrated seeing the same coach in the league getting the same kiddos every season, majority experienced, when everything is supposed to be a mix. I get frustrated with the soccer parents and the coaches who model and encourage poor sportsmanship. I am super proud of Sam, who, in his third season of playing ever, is really starting to get his game on. He normally plays Fullback, and the last few games, no one has been able to get past him on the field. For the last game, the keeper has been begging to get out of the goal and run, and Sam has been begging to play keeper, so Mike let them switch. Mike was really impressed with him and suggested he pursue keeper next season. He was really aggressive with going after the ball. He lunged for it, jumped in the air for it, dove for it. Have you ever seen an ADHD, unmedicated, 8 year old play keeper? This is Sam...when the ball is being played away from the goal, he is turning cartwheels, spinning around, looking at the game behind us, etc....we will need to work on that next season....lol..I think the director of the program, Leslie, sucks, and I am not far from letting her know with specifics. I am really bummed that I screwed up our team's trophies, my Facebook post, as I am too lazy to re-type/tell the story:  

"We have had a lot going on. I dropped the ball on something, actually, I completely forgot all about it. I then tried to do it at the last minute, delegated some of it to Mike without clear instructions, and it got really effed up, namely, ...our soccer team's trophies. Our soccer team has not had a "winning" season, although, individually there have been major improvements. To top it off, we had to play an asshole team tonight for our last game. Then we handed out trophies, and Sam's like, "Hey! Why do these have Coke on them?" They had our team name from 3 seasons ago engraved on them. The last thing these kiddos needed were effed up trophies. I didn't even check them when I picked them up. I could have done better for them. I SUCK."





After soccer, we had cub scouts, which was super exciting! They did Pocket Knife Safety and Use. I have never seen a group of 8 year old boys more attentive. They got their little certification cards. They carved on a soap bear. Sam was so excited. He tried to sneak his pocket knife in the tub with him later, I suspect he was planning on carving some soap! ROFLOL...

 

Math with Sam as soon as he rolled off of the couch this morning. Yes, I said couch (for some reason we are frightened to sleep in our rooms after we have a weekend visit with Dad, and besides that, we, along with much help from our dear friend Shaimek,  have destroyed our room to the point of it being a fire hazard...). He came straight to me griping about his morning chore, food & water for the dogs. Cassidy should do it, he says. So we did fractions/adding fractions/dividing fractions/percentages. We have five dogs. How many are yours? Two. Two-Fifths. How many are Cassidy's? Two. Two-Fifths. How many are Josiah's? One. One-Fifth. Did we account for all of them? 2/5 + 2/5 + 1/5 = 5/5 = 1. Yes. What percentage is yours? 2/5 = .4 x 100 = 40% what percentage is Cassidy's? 2/5 = .4 x 100 = 40% What percentage is Josiah's? 1/5 = .2 x 100 = 20%. Did we account for all of the dogs? 40 + 40 + 20 = 100, yes. Let's compare the percentages and see who has the biggest interest in the dogs....Sam = Cassidy, Sam > Josiah, Cassidy > Josiah, Josiah < Sam, Josiah < Cassidy. Other factors: Cassidy stayed up late last night doing two projects for school, Cassidy got up early this morning and went to school. So, um, get your rear out there and take care of those babies. And don't you dare take a sip of water until they have fresh, cold water. Math  - check. Message delivered - check.

I am heavy into planning and packing for the FLT Fall Gathering today. I am going through and picking out our raggedy, warm clothing and shoes. I already have two suitcases filled. I bring extra, extra for the boys, from experience, as they tend to become wet & filthy several times a day at FLT. Thinking of food, food, food... What to cook, what to buy, etc. We can't wait!

Amy's Organic Tomato Bisque Soup and Grilled Raw Milk Cheese (on Udi's) for lunch today. The boys and I both did some water Kefir Lemonade to get us some beneficial bacteria in our guts. I did another Nettles Infusion today, and it had me bouncing off the walls. Love it.


We set up an assembly line today and the boys filled up about 80 Halloween treat bags. The party is Halloween night...I have NEVER been this prepared before! It's the Nettles, I tell you! 



The boys helped me "pick-up" in the back yard. I do love my dogs, but they shred anything they can get their teeth on, including the tarps on the grill and the fire pit...total losses. And the marking, UGH!...all five are boys. This is my blade of grass, no mine!

I had Cassidy take Sam to his soccer game so I could get our dinner just right. Mike gets irritated with me for not being there, but it rushes me and interrupts my domestic groove. It also stresses me out. I don't do well with the atmosphere of organized sports. I have tried so hard, and I am thoroughly at a loss on what to do about it. I may try home school soccer next season. It's during the day, and it will relieve Mike of coaching. It's also only slightly more expensive than playing for the city, and probably way less politics, I suspect. Mike says I should have been at the soccer game, it was Sam's best game ever. Sam has only played soccer three seasons in his life. I'm so excited for him. Mike said he was on it the entire game, and no one got past him down the field. We have had issues with him being "lazy" on the field/not playing the game...he puts his hands in his pockets and sometimes saunters over to the ball...it reminds me of his Dad's sense of urgency, and makes me crazy! I have visions of his Dad, hands in pockets, sauntering over to rescue baby Josiah when he started towards the road once...etc...(<<<<scream!!! This situation calls for running as fast as you can, dumbass, not a saunter!!!) It just so happens that Sam had a pair of shorts on tonight with NO pockets, and Sam attributes his awesome playing to this. Sam loves to sew....time to sew the pockets up on all of his soccer shorts!

Mike took Sam to cub scouts. He got to be the Croaky Crocodile in a "skit" at scouts, and had me read the skit over at dinner so he could chime in with his Croaky Crocodile parts. He was so excited about it. He really loves cub scouts. Nothing like doing silly things with a group of silly boys your age, especially when you are the silly age of eight. Gold Rush Camping is coming up soon!

I did home made cornbread for the very first time, with cheddar cheese & onions. I thought about hush puppies, then thought, ugh, too greasy. Shrimp Cocktail > Jumbo Shrimp with homemade cocktail sauce/fresh horseradish, Baked Tilapia Filet, homemade Tartar Sauce, homemade Cole Slaw. Everyone loved it all. Cassidy only ate the shrimp and tartar sauce, but said I may have Captain D's beat...WTH? Well I hope so! Made two Carrot Cakes, and got to use the cooling racks my husband surprised me with. The cornbread was really good, but still not like Granny's. Mike loves it, so I think I will make some for his Big 40 to go with the chili beans. I breaded the Tilapia in: 2 tbsp organic cornmeal, 2 tbsp. dry organic bread crumbs, dash salt, 1/4 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp. dill weed, dash of pepper. This is per pound of Tilapia. Dipped in (almond) milk, then breaded. Poured melted butter & fresh lemon juice over filets, then baked at 450 for 10 to 15 mins. This gave the illusion of fried fish, without it actually being greasy fried fish! It was soooo good. I have always made my own tartar sauce...mayo, onion & dill pickles in chopper. I can't stand a tartar sauce that is too pickly. The cornbread: organic cornmeal, organic unbleached white flour, honey, baking powder, ORGANIC shortening (no hydrogenated oils! found it at Earth Fare, KPM!), sea salt, eggs... and I added onions & cheddar cheese since we are having seafood. May do jalapenos in it for Mikey's Big 40!

The boys are fixated on Wii Mario Kart at this time. We have had it for 2 years, and they have just now really gotten into it. I think it was too difficult for Josiah two years ago. Josiah is so thrilled when, "we opened up a NEW level, Mom!!!"



The keyboard turns out to be huge family fun. Mike had it auto-playing "church organ preaching music", Josiah pretending to be playing, and Mike performing "preaching" comedy,....yes, a mockery of TV evangelism...we are all going to hell, I told him. I about pissed in my pants laughing at him. And Josiah sat there so serious "playing" the "church organ" for him. I should have gotten a video, I swear.

I read from Bunnicula Meets Edgar Allen Crow as the boys drifted off to sleep.

Mike, Cassidy, and I had Carrot Cake together at midnight :)

Husband ~ "Mmmm...what's the crunchy sugar in your icing?" Me ~ "Ummm...too much sugar?".....

I went back over the icing recipe...I had overlooked the SIFT instructions....bwahahahaha!

 

The boys started out playing Battleship, which is a fantastic manipulative to show an actual purpose for plotting points on a coordinate plane. We have the U-Build game, which they LOVE, because they get to build their own ships with legos. They began to argue though, so I had to separate them and help them recognize their needs and meet them. This is a typical "crash" after a weekend at their Dad's and Maw-Maws. I would say today the needs were protein, detox (from candy, sodas), and rest judging from the successful results once they did 1/2 hour soaks in the tub with Epsom Salts & ACV, then a snack of Almond Butter and Banana Slices on Udi's bread, which Josiah learned how to make today. It gave him the opportunity to practice coordination: Cutting with knife, spreading the almond butter. Of course, we discussed the nutrients in each ingredient and what they do for our bodies. Sam fell asleep during reading time, and this is a sure sign that the boys had little rest at their Dad's this past weekend, because Sam hardly ever willingly takes a nap. 

I went ahead and purchased candy for Halloween treat bags last night, and with much difficulty. I finally settled on the "least toxic" candies. It really just chaps my ass that partially hydrogenated oils, artificial colors, artificial flavors, and high fructose corn syrup are in just about every single candy there is, and ones that are available to our children on a daily basis, not to mention that on Halloween and for days/weeks after, their little bodies will be overloaded with this toxic shit. I have all of the candy on our Project Table, because I am going to have the boys make up the treat bags. I am really proud of them for making it through the temptation of the candy bags being right there in front of them all day, especially after a weekend at Dad's.

For lunch, we had Organic Split Pea Soup, Grilled Raw Milk Cheese on Udi's Bread, and Water Kefir Lemonade.

Chicken Taco Soup: I slow-cooked a whole chicken today, de-boned, shredded it, and sauteed it in my homemade all organic Fajita Seasoning & Garlic Gold Oil. Then back to the crock pot with: Chicken Broth, Pureed: Fresh Organic Tomato, Fresh Organic Onion, Fresh Organic Garlic, Organic Black Beans, and a little bit of Cilantro. Pour over Organic Gluten Free Tortilla Chips, top with freshly shredded Raw Milk Cheese, and Organic Sour Cream. It was a hit! Sam said, "This is off the hook, Mom!" Josiah and Mike had seconds. (Shaimek wouldn't even try it though....)


I did a Nettles Infusion today...blech...but makes me feel oh so good!

We read today:

From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer, How Do Apples Grow? by Betsy Maestro, and Why Do Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro. The boys were most fascinated by the Apple...because of the Ovary, the Pollen (male cells) and the pistils (female "tubes" leading to the ovary), because of the compare and contrast to human fertilization. They eat apples every day, so now they know they are eating around the apple's ovary (the core) and that the seeds inside of the core are fertilized female cells. We didn't get to the next chapter in Bunnicula, because Sam fell asleep and his snoring made Josiah and I sleepy...nap time.  Sam carried Bunnicula around the rest of the day reading it himself, because the suspense is killing him and he can't wait until "group" reading time happens again.

Shaimek was a handful this evening. Now that I look back on it, he didn't come here until dark, because he was playing with Diamond, our ghetto neighbors' daughter. Diamond is a tween and she is out of control. I'm thinking maybe she rubbed off on Shaimek, and it was difficult for him to switch gears so quickly. The boys get a little wild sometimes when they play together, but last night, Shaimek was outright disrespectful and out of control. It was 9pm, and of course, his Mom had not picked him up yet. I had to have Cassidy drive him home after we had strike three with behavior issues.  One: Pointing a laser directly into Mike's eyes after Mike had specifically told him earlier, "Do not point that at anyone's eyes." Two: Playing too rough and injured Josiah. (I didn't count: Going into my fridge without asking, then when I asked why he was in my fridge, very disrespectfully to me, "I'm thirsty! I want a drink!"). THREE: Picked up one of my witches, a Halloween deco I have had for yeeears, threw it at Sam, it hit near Sam' elbow and hurt him badly. He has a huge knot, and he cried for awhile. I put Arnica on it, which helped minimize the bruising and swelling. Sam was screaming, "I hate you! Get out of my house now! Never some back!" After Cass took Shaimek, Mike had a really good talk with the boys about not allowing things to escalate to that point, and about how friends should treat friends. I am so thankful he has words when I do not. 

Mike has set up our Wii to take advantage of some features we were not previously using. I don't know the details, but it is "online" now. The boys can look at the forecast (which Josiah is going to love), and can look at the playing time spent on each game every day, which is great for them to get a good sense of time.  Our main reason for doing this is to try Netflix streaming for our home schooling (we have run into some cases to where an interest presents itself, I think of a movie that would be great, but can't get my hands on it...), and we are waiting on some disk now to be all set up for it.

I didn't get a chance to practice piano today, but I did find some really cool FREE worksheets online to help the boys learn notes. Sam was jumping at the bit to start lessons today, but we just couldn't squeeze it in.The boys did have loads of fun playing with the huge, rectangular box that the keyboard came in! Mike and I thought it would make them a nice "boat", but they insist that it is a "casket", and had big fun playing Zombie.

I finally finished Moll Flanders last night. The boys were having trouble getting to sleep, so they came and snuggled up to me and we went over the November Issue of Sam's Highlights Magazine.

Lot's to do to get ready for FLT! Yay!

October 16, 2010

Josiah has been playing with "letters" for awhile, but has been mainly interested in numbers. I have noticed an increased interest in writing and reading in the past two weeks. Asking me how to spell words, how to make the letters. I am noticing him recognizing letters on his own. He gets the Bananagram letters out and rearranges them. When I read to him, he wants me to point to each word as I say it, and gets really aggravated with me if I drop my finger. I printed him out some letter charts to use if he wants to, and he's using them. I also draw letters "in the air" with my finger, and we draw letters on each other's backs and try to guess them. I am thrilled, and it's hard not to jump in with some flash cards and worksheets, but I have done really well so far allowing him to lead. Many will not understand the point in this, but this is a snapshot of Unschooling. There is no forced curriculum. His interest in reading and writing is sincere and self-motivated, rather than motivated by promise of rewards ("good" grades, stickers, stars, etc...) or threat of punishments. On the other hand, I am still working on reversing the damage done to Sam's self-motivation and natural curiosity, even in the short amount of time he spent in the world of traditional schooling.

It's so exciting, witnessing them rearrange it and put it together, all on their own....why do we have so little faith in our children? Why do we put "learning" in the "box" labeled "school"? You don't need a classroom, a test, a grade, to pursue your passions. These three things will, most of the time, actually distract you from true learning.

~ Wednesday, October 6, 2010 ~

The boys fed, watered, and played with the dogs first thing this morning. They chose a breakfast of muenster cheese (Josiah  points out that muenster sounds like monster, so we will call it "monster" cheese for Halloween...), fresh sliced organic oranges, and chocolate almond milk in their new Halloween mugs from Starbucks.



Cassidy came home for lunch and had the cutest thin bandana necklace on! She made me one before she left. It is easy to make, and very inexpensive! She simply cut a strip about one inch wide off of a bandana, twisted it up tightly, and tied it around my neck.

Building a camp "fire"

Hey look! Bedding. I'm going to piss on it first!

No, I'm going to piss on it first, no, ME...etc...

All dogs OUT!

The boys built an amazing all-natural structure out back, and the dogs awaited anxiously, hoping to be the first to piss on it.  They decorated it with sunflower plants. It was really quite beautiful. I'm glad I took pics soon enough, because when the boys put their sleeping bags & pillows in it, the dogs all came rushing in, destroying the structure. I told Sam that next time we are out, we will pick up some twine/rope and figure out how to tie the sticks together at each joint. It is so refreshing and exciting to see children engaged in creative play.

~ Soccer Jamboree, October 2, 2010 ~

Josiah did not want to play soccer this year, but he does enjoy kicking back, soaking up Vitamin D, and nibbling on Mini Vanilla Bean Scones from Starbucks.

 Mike coaches Sam's U10 Soccer team, as long as Sam wants to play. Jamboree is the season kick-off. Team & individual pics are taken, and we play a short game. 

Coach Mike tucking in shirts for team pic.

Sam's BFF Lorenon is on our team this season!

Crazy pre-game pic.

Good game!

Post-Game 'Talk'

~ Historic Brattonsville, 1840's School House Field Trip, Friday, October 1, 2010 ~

This is a program in SC designed for 3rd graders to correlate with the SC 3rd grade curriculum...
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ658252&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ658252 

Held at Historic Brattonsville in McConnells, SC.....http://chmuseums.org/brattonsville/index.php

Historic Brattonsville Academy: Schooldays of 1840
3rd–4th Grade
"From the minute the school bell rings, students become scholars in an 1840’s academy. They walk, talk and play as children did in the 1840s. This highly immersive program shows students, first-
hand, what school was like before the Civil War. Lesson includes: ciphering (on slates), grammar, quill penmanship, spelling, geography and games."



Program Length 9 am–1 pm, Max 25 students (2 adults allowed)
$10 per student

Standards: Social Studies 3-1.2, 3-1.3, 3-4.1, 4-3.7 English & Language Arts 3-3.1, 3-4.2, 4-4.2 Mathematics 3-1.1, 3-1.3, 3-1.5, 4-1.3, 4-1.5 Physical Education 5-1.1, 5-1.2, 5-1.3, 5-5.6, 5-6.2


***Pre-Visit activities Sam did are as follows:
Assemble & Decorate Copybook, Previewed lessons in copybook: Nouns, Verbs, US Presidents as of 1840's
Read & Discussed: Letter from Martha Bratton
Discussed & Completed: Activity Sheet – Trading Places
Read & Discussed: What Will it Be Like at Brattonsville Academy?
Read & Discussed: What Will I Learn at Brattonsville Academy?
Read & Discussed: School Supplies in 1840s
Read & Discussed: Brattonsville Academy Glossary
Viewed & Discussed :Pre-visit video: Quills, Slates, and Graces
Read & Discussed: Classroom Rules, How to Address Teachers


Sam was extremely interested in and excited about everything we did pre-visit, and never became distracted once.

Sam's 'copybook', name written with 'quill pen', design decorated with water colors.

Sam practicing 'roundhand' of the letters O and C.

The 'Scholars'

The 'Scholars' meeting the 'Mistresses'

Recess

Recess

Recess

Recess

Meeting the School Mistresses

Getting into uniform.

Hmmm...is this why Unschoolers are usually considered evil? ;)

Boys in the back of the class!

Boys working in their 'copybooks'

View of inside 1840s classroom

Boys working on their 'copybooks'

Girls using the 'quill pens' for practicing 'roundhand'

Boys using 'quill pens' to practice 'roundhand'

Sam using his 'quill pen' to practice 'roundhand'

School Mistress teaching them to labor so Satan won't get them in trouble!

~ Graffiti Party, Friday, October 1, 2010 ~

Sam & Kailey plotting points.

Bridger!

Enoch

Enoch

Lorie

Josiah & Kitten

Jen's Special Spices

Remus

Free reign over spray paint? Somebody pinch me so I'll know it's for real!

Jen's Spicy Bloody Mary

I have the coolest friends in the world. Basically we were invited over to spray graffiti all along miles of the inside of my friend's new privacy fence. She rocks. My boys wish to move in with her now.

~ Tuesday, October 5, 2010 ~

Art Day

Art Day

Art Day

Art Day

Art Day

Art Day

Movie Time at Art Day!

Cub Scouts - Simon Says!

Josiah slept on my arm all night last night, so it was aching all day today. The boys and I had to leave a little early for Art Day, because Sam's shin guards fell apart in the washer, and we had a game tonight. I do despise Walmart (have I mentioned that before?), but we were short on time and I knew they would surely have the shin guards. We were pleasantly surprised to find that Walmart now carries our favorite Organic brand of pop-tarts, and we also found some Starbucks cofffee in Cinnamon & Caramel, all natural flavors....sooo, it wasn't so bad after all. We were even able to pick up some new pumpkin carving tool sets for our Art Day project: Carving pumpkins! We had Starbucks for lunch, and found the cutest Halloween coffee mugs! Nice, and not very expensive...check them out! Art Day was awesome as always, hanging out with our favorite home school peeps. I tasted a new dip today that I absolutely LOVE and must get the recipe for...cilantro, egg plant, jalapenos, etc, and my friend gave me a jar of organic wasabi mayo! Yummy! Our first soccer game of the season (Mike coaches, Sam plays) was at 530pm, so we were able to make Cub Scouts tonight at 7pm. The Bears had a blast playing Simon Says, and would have played all night if they could. Mr. Mark is a fantastic leader, I am glad he gave in and did it!

Half Time

Josiah's Sideline Pal

Post Game 'Talk'

Sam brought to my attention that we have sunflowers blooming! (What the boys didn't chop down with their swords or the what the dogs didn't ramble over and mow down playing hide n seek n pounce...)




It's Make Guacamole Day, because...my organic avocados are ripe. I make some some damn good guacamole if I do say so myself, it's more like Guacamole Salsa. Organic: avocados, red onion, garlic cloves, tomato, cilantro (my GOD I LOVE cilantro!), juice of lemon or lime, a little sea salt to taste. It's a salty, cilantro-y delish treat for Josiah and I, as no one else around here eats it. (Josiah is my rabbit. He eats so many carrots, his poop is carrot orange.) I love to make a dark green salad with cucumbers and sprouts and smother it in my Guacamole. I will be blowing people away with red onion/garlic breath for a few days now.



Sam & Josiah re-discovered the Just Dance Wii game. I MUST get a video of Sam doing I Like To Move It. Too cute!



Josiah is absolutely addicted to the "I Spy" type books now. After we did the Highlights one TWICE, I remembered that we own a couple of "I Spy" books. We have cuddled together 3 or 4 times today to do them. One is a classroom dinosaur exhibit, which included a clay/cardboard model, that he wants to do. I already have a volcano and a dam on the list of models to make. He is just like me. I LOVE miniature models of things. But it does stress me out when I think of diving into one. I remember a clay model I did when I was in school, I think of a ?Pueblo Indian village?, and I remember being totally overwhelmed by it. Why? Because I want everything to be perfect. It's obsessive-compulsive, so, many times instead of just taking chances and doing my best, I end up doing nothing at all.  


Since our reading the article about turtles in the Highlights magazine, Josiah's turtle passion has been rekindled. I am looking for a very nice, detailed play set of a variety of turtles, including hatchlings.


We read about Blackbeard today in our new pirate book, Lives of the Pirates: Swashbucklers, Scoundrels (Neighbors Beware!) . The Illustrations in this book are FANTASTIC!



The boys were having some passionate disagreements today, so I pulled out an oldie from the Cassidy Home Schooling Days, Don't Rant and Rave on Wednesdays!: The Children's Anger-Control Book . My witty boys were quick to point out that today is, in fact, Thursday, not Wednesday. After three pages, though, they were so amused by the book that they forgot why they wanted to kill each other ten minutes ago.





Mike and Sam went to soccer practice, Josiah and I went to the library. I got some more Sue Grafton books: A, B, and C. Josiah got Tsunami books and other natural disaster books. Shocker ;) I grabbed a Bunnicula book for Sam, one we haven't read yet. Sam LOVES Bunnicula.





 Josiah and I then went to Goodwill in search of a white, long-sleeve shirt for Sam. No such luck, but Josiah found a NICE set of dinosaurs, and an army tank. We were able to easily find the white shirt at Kohls. We made it to Earth Fare and got Sam a plum, ham, and some apple fritters to add to what we already had at home: a slice of raw milk cheese and apple....all for an appropriate 1840's school lunch. We picked up It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown DVD at Walmart, the store I hate with a burning passion.






Sam water-colored his copybook, watched pre-visit video, went over glossary/terms/classroom rules. He is really excited about writing with a quill pen and using the privy (out-house bathroom ;) He's such a good sport. How much you wanna bet he will be about the only boy tomorrow?

~ Wednesday, September 29, 2010 ~

Josiah and I read Flash, Crash, Rumble, and Roll. Josiah loves to learn about weather, especially severe weather. We did an experiment like this one, http://www.salemclock.com/weather/jarcloud.htm, in the back of the book. We had a tough time seeing a significant mist/cloud. 





Josiah looked through all three of our pirate books on the bench by the kitchen window. He asked me to read him one of them, but we never got to it, because we picked up Sam's first issue of Highlights magazine and got interested in that. Time Capsule in Your Closet article enthralled Josiah. I told him about the time capsule we buried in the ground at my Junior High, oh gosh, back around 84? 85? 86? Highland Junior High School in Gastonia, NC, which is now Highland School of Technology, so I wonder if our time capsule has been forgotten. That kind of bothers me if it has. We also read the article How To Find A Tortoise Nest (in the desert). It came with an additional booklet, Hidden Pictures Fun, and, oh my, how Josiah loves to do these. We did almost all of them. If I see it first (which is usually never the case), he wants me to keep quiet and let him find it. In one of the pics, one of the items he had to find was an envelope. he kept calling it "mail."I explained the difference between mail and just an envelope. We took an envelope and I showed him how to address it, where the stamp goes, etc. This brought back memories of our Post Office in 1st Grade at Rhyne Elementary, Mrs. Whitlock's class. Now THAT was fun, and we couldn't wait for our turn to be the Postmaster!






I get Family Fun magazine, and Charlotte is featured in the October issue! I thought that was neat. It covers US National Whitewater Center, ImaginOn, Studio i,  Discovery Place, Lego Store & Nascar Speed Park at Concord Mills, and Lazy 5 Ranch. It mentions Great Wolf Lodge for lodging. We really are blessed to have so much available in this area.




Sam did four multiplication worksheets. Not much else to say about that.

Sam has his Multiples of 2 down pat, so we are moving on to 3's. I am so happy to see him working them out, rather than simply memorizing the facts.

Sam read the book Why Do Leaves Change Color to me, and we discussed the diagram in the book of the Inside Of Leaf . He was very engaged in the book until about halfway through, at which point he started missing words he knows and losing his spot. Then he flipped through the pages to see how many he had left before he was finished, so we stopped. Just like I stop reading when I become distracted or too sleepy. I read a hardcover book of really cute poems to Josiah, Dirt on My Shirt by Jeff Foxworthy, that we scored at Once Upon A Child for $2.50!  Then we read Chomp! A Book About Sharks. Josiah was so amused that shark babies are called pups, and thoughtful about the fact that shark mamas don't take care of shark babies. They leave the egg and immediately start taking care of themselves.



Sam and Mike went to Soccer practice. We got our team shirts, and we got GRAY....AGAIN! Dr. Chuck, whoever the hell that is, is our team sponsor. I think Mike would rather I go to practice with them, but I think A) I don't miss soccer parent drama, B) Sam enjoys the alone time with "Dad", and C) Josiah enjoys the alone time with Mom. This is the last week of practice, though, so it's not even going to be an issue anymore, because, of course I will attend the games.

Life Cycles ~ Butterfly 2010

Josiah became mesmerized by caterpillars in the Summer of 2009, noticing one on our front porch as we were leaving one day. My first discussion with him was how delicate they are, and how we should handle them first of all, infrequently, and when we do handle them, gently. Sometimes Josiah “loves” too hard ;)


From then on, every trail we walked, every tree we passed, he searched high and low hoping that he would be lucky enough to spy a caterpillar, and when he did, especially when it was one we had never found before, it was one special moment! We observed for awhile, took a picture, then placed the caterpillar back in a “safe” spot. With all of these caterpillar sightings came all types of questions, so I ordered a beautiful Caterpillar Field Guide, Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History, popping with color, from Amazon. For many nights after we received the book, Josiah and I cuddled in bed together as he sifted through the pages asking a million questions.






Of course, all of this led us to the Life Cycle of a butterfly, as well as an interest in moths. I ordered a Butterfly tent and sent the coupon in for our Painted Lady larvae. The larvae grew quickly, moved to the top of the jars and hung, to turn into beautiful, iridescent chrysalids. We were then able to open the jars, remove the chrysalids, and pin them to the inside walls of our Butterfly tent.

Larvae

Chrysalids

The Butterfly Bungalow

Getting a Close Look at the Chrysalids

Discovering that a Painted Lady had emerged  from the Chrysalids was amazing! We were very curious about the red liquid we found that looks like blood. It is actually called meconium, the left-over color and unneeded tissues from the butterfly's wing and body transformation.

Meconium

One of our first emerged Painted Ladies

Chrysalid, Meconium

One Chrysalid and Three Empty Chrysalids

Painted Lady

Sam in Bungalow with Painted Ladies

We really had a time keeping the cats away from the tent. We had to keep them locked out of the room, and they peered in longingly.....

Camo and Loki would love to get hold of one of those!

And finally, the release!

~ Duralia Saint Patrick's Day Feast, Wednesday, March 17, 2010 ~

I love to celebrate cultures, and I had this idea for Saint Patrick's Day brewing for a while, but waited until the last minute to purchase the Corned Beef Brisket, and Earth Fare was all sold out. I settled for Bangers & Mash instead. I scored some cute hats and other Irish decor at Target. It was irritating that not one book about Saint Patrick's could be found anywhere locally on Saint Patrick's Day. Not the library, not Books-A-Million, nowhere! No luck with finding shamrock plants as well! Since, we have found two nice books to add to our Irish Culture collection, so next Saint Patties Day, we will not be in the same pickle! We had our Irish feast, laughed, and talked about the history of Saint Patrick's Day and Irish culture. The boys were most fascinated by the legend of the "snakes":


"Pious legend credits Patrick with banishing snakes from the island^[47] , though all evidence suggests that post-glacial Ireland never had snakes;^[48] one suggestion is that snakes referred to the serpent symbolism of the Druids of that time and place, as shown for instance on coins minted in Gaul (see Carnutes), or that it could have referred to beliefs such as Pelagianism, symbolised as “serpents”.^{[citation needed][when?]} Legend also credits Patrick with teaching the Irish about the concept of the Trinity by showing people the shamrock, a 3-leaved clover, using it to highlight the Christian belief of 'three divine persons in the one God' (as opposed to the Arian belief that was popular in Patrick's time).<sup>[when?]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick




We have most definitely started a family tradition!</sup>

~ Town Creek Indian Mound Historical Site, June 2010 ~

We took a field trip to Town Creek Indian Mound Historical Site located  in Mt. Gilead, NC. This was probably Cassidy's last Summer "free" to hang out with the family, so I dragged her along with us everywhere before the imminent age of sixteen swept her away to driving, a job commitment, etc. She wasn't exactly thrilled about most of it, but ended up having a good time anyway. She didn't "get it", how it is a sad time for a Mom, but she played the "Last Summer" game for me.

We LOVE Maps! Every place we visit, we must collect & study maps!

Mound

Midget Doors!

My boys LOVE these boys!

Pee-Dee River

The things we were most fascinated by about the Pee-Dee Indians would be the mysteries surrounding their disappearance, the many human burials on the property, and their burial rituals. The boys watched the Mortuary Exhibit over and over. The Indians are burying a three year old child in the exhibit. It is very haunting. I would urge anyone to visit the site and read the history of these people.

~ Tuesday, September 21, 2010 ~

We did Car schooling today (Math & Language Arts Workbooks) on our way to meet friends for Slime in the Park (Science):

"Now for the SCIENCE part.... This POLYMER is unique because it has qualities of both a solid and a liquid. It can take the shape of its containers like a liquid does, yet you can hold it in your hand and pick it up like a solid. As you might know, solid molecules are tight together, liquid molecules spread out and break apart (drops) POLYMER molecules CHAIN themselves together (they can stretch and bend like chains) and that makes them special. Jell-O, rubber bands, plastic soda bottles, sneaker soles, even gum are all forms of polymers. The polymer you made should be kept in a sealed plastic bag when you aren't playing with it. Also, be sure to keep it away from young kids or pets who might think it's food. Have fun!" http://www.sciencebob.com/experiments/polymer.php




Sam and his friend also started an impressive acorn collection. Nice, big acorns, not the teeny ones. Being an Unschooling Mom, I will be finding out what type of tree those nice, big acorns grow on.




We had scouts.
Scout leader ~ "Who has a pet?"
(hands go up)
Scout leader ~ "What kind of pet do you have?"
Boy 1 ~ "A dog."
Scout leader ~ "What kind of pet do you have?"
Boy 2 ~ "A dog."
Scout leader ~ "What kind of pet do you have?"
Boy 3 ~ "A dog."
Scout leader ~ "What kind of pet do you have?"
Boy 4 ~ "A dog."
Scout leader ~ "What kind of pet do you have?"
SAM ~ "Let's see...", (Puts up both hands to count on fingers), " FIVE dogs, TWO cats, ONE turtle, SEVEN fish, TWO hermit crabs, and ONE guinea pig....." 

~ Thursday, September 23, 2010 ~

Sam got out the Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction: Build Implements of Spitball Warfare book out last night and made a Clothespin Catapult. He couldn't find any glue sticks to put in the glue gun, so he used Elmer's. I'm not sure it's going to hold up, but I love that he took the initiative. I didn't even know he was doing it until he brought me the finished catapult.







Josiah had Home School Hair all day today....







Today we were a bit stagnant today, so I started the Jamestown's American Portraits series. The Corn Raid: A Story of the Jamestown Settlement. We cuddled on my bed (A Mom sandwich. Mom in the middle, one boy on each side.) and I read aloud (Sam could absolutely read this book, no problem, but I read with fantastic inflection, so I thought it best for me to read, especially for Josiah to be able to get into the story.) We finished the first chapter, and it was a big hit. The boys were shocked and appalled that in the 1600's, young, poor boys were brought over to America from England to be servants, and were whipped by their masters. We had to stop and look at the map in our "classroom" to get an idea of the location of the Jamestown settlement and of England. Wow! The servant boy came a long way across the ocean. Their eyes got big and they moved as close to me as they could get in excited anticipation as the confrontation between the twelve year old servant and the Indian boy who stole his hoe escalated.







We read from Read Aloud Spooky Stories, Little Orphant Annie, as well as The Canterville Ghost, then took a long nap. We are SO ready for Halloween!







Cassidy bought me flowers with her OWN money, and as she handed them to me, she said, "Thank you for being my Mommy!"

The boys and I had Starbucks for "brunch." Sam was doing his Math in the back seat, so he had to let the lady working the drive-thru window know that he is a home schooler and that he is doing Multiplication. As it turns out, she was home schooled and so were her siblings. She was finished with high school at 16 and in dual enrollment. She is about to graduate with her Bachelor's from Winthrop this year. I really do hate that Cassidy chose to waste her time in public school :(



We headed to Discovery Place. Surprise! It was nearly deserted! Yay! There IS something good about schools after all! We had a really great time. They have two live Western Hog-Nosed Snakes now! 


 We did Life Cycles, which we are already fans of, but Discovery Place has some sets that we don't have, such as the Praying Mantis, Beetle, and the Ant.








We enjoyed a demonstration about Phosphor, What's Glowing On, which included Van Gogh's Starry Night in Phosporus Paint and an Emperor Scorpion. Guess what? Our TEETH contain phosphorus, which make them glow when exposed to flourescent light! Of course, both of my "unsocialized" unschoolers were jumping at the bit to be a volunteer. Sam did the teeth, Josiah did the glow swabs. 










We learned about the Roll, Pitch, Yaw of airplanes. I researched it to see if we could dig deeper into the subject, but I'm not sure we are ready for Trigonometry just yet. I may introduce some basic Trig just to gauge interest, as there is little rhyme & reason for order of curriculum in traditional schooling. Maybe build something that has an angle and show how you could calculate the length of a side of it, etc. 






The boys and I spotted a Puffer Fish that had gotten "stuck" in some of the coral reef in the tank, so we notified an employee and stayed by to witness the rescue. I'm not sure if the fish will make it, because it was very much in shock once released. There is no telling how long it had been there. There were people that viewed the tank as we stood there and didn't even notice that the fish was stuck. Why? Because it's rush, rush, rush.

The boys and I read Chapter 2 of Corn Raid. Both boys were wiggling around and appeared to be distracted and uninterested, which really pissed me off, but when I finished the Chapter and asked them questions, they were able to tell me everything that happened in detail. SO, the problem was just my ego. We started to take a nap, but then Cassidy called from school. Everyone was rushed to the halls, because a tornado touched down in York County. Josiah was fired up then, so a nap was not going to happen.


 Josiah made a clay model of the City of Nashville...it was pretty darn cute. The Tye-Died, because they mix all the colors as soon as they open the packs, but still very cute and creative! The thingys that look like bowels are the roads, he says.

September 15, 2010

I made huge progress in our "classroom" today, although visually, it's not very obvious. Very strange...same physical movements as yesterday, but lower back pain is gone. Now it's left ovary and left leg pain...sciatic nerve? Ovarian cyst? Both? lol Okay, enough of my ailments. 

 

Our "school" treasures have been unguarded and haphazard for awhile (due to their location in the house), but most things fell back into place as I re-organized. I am, however, missing an Owl Pellet. The instructions for the Owl Pellet Dissection are in the box, but the actual Owl Pellet is no where to be found. Looks like someone went ahead and did a little Raptor Project without Mom....and Mom has owl pellet particles ?somewhere? in the house...No one has made a confession yet. Maybe the cats ate it. 

 

It was comical finding small barbie-doll-sized human bones & organs here and there...a rib cage, a liver, a heart, all from our anatomy models that Josiah absolutely LOVES, but also LOVES to throw the body parts here and there, at the ceiling fan to make them shoot across the room, etc...is this considered Physics?

I was able to pull all of our scary Halloween books and such together, and as I made a little display basket of our Halloween collection, I began reminiscing on Halloweens Past...My elementary school days, Rhyne Elementary in Gastonia, Ms. "Randy" the librarian, library time, the little "reference nook" room upstairs in the library, lights out, candle lit, scary album playing on record player, scary stories, Ms. Randy scaring the shit out of us...Good times! I'll bet that's not even allowed now! Shame on these wimpy-ass kiddos of today! lol I plan on a thorough Halloween curriculum at THIS school.  

I tried a Nettle Hair Rinse today, and it's a very simple process. It wasn't the most pleasant fragrance, but my hair is nice and soft. I steeped a new jar of Nettles Tea today for consumption, and I can't say enough about how wonderful it is, especially my pick-me-up cup of it around 3pm! I scored the nettles I have now from a friend, but I am planning to purchase my own from Mountain Rose Herbs. 

 

 

The boys had a blast, as always, when their dear friend, Shamique, got off the school bus and came straight to our house, as usual. Jumping on the trampoline in your underwear and spraying one another with the hose pipe is great fun....

 

We are still full steam ahead on the Greek Mythology passion, I think we have watched the Odyssey like 5000 times since I scored it at the library a couple of days ago. Josiah runs to me during the Cyclops scenes. 

I was so excited when the following opportunity came across the Rock Hill Area Homeschoolers email list tonight: "3rd–4th Grades Historic Brattonsville Academy: Schooldays of 1840 $10 per person, Length 9 am–1 pm, Max 25 students (2 adults allowed)... From the minute the school bell rings, students become scholars in an 1840's academy. They walk, talk and play as children did in the 1840s. This highly immersive program shows students, first hand, what school was like before the Civil War. Lesson includes: ciphering (on slates),
grammar, quill penmanship, spelling, geography and games." Civil War and pre-Civil War is a passion of Sam's, so this is just perfect. I signed him up! Yay! This RHAH group is really into following the SC Public School curriculum, so we just jump in when it suits us.

Josiah just lost his first tooth tonight! He noticed it loose after dinner, wiggled it a little, then yanked it out himself! We pull our Anatomy book from our "classroom", and find out that it is an Incisor Tooth that he lost, used for chopping up food. He was concerned that he wouldn't be able to chop up food now, but I pointed out in the diagram that he has more than one Incisor, so no worries. He also pointed out the little "hole" in the root, and we learned from the diagram that the hole is the root opening, and that pulp, blood vessels, and nerves were in the "hole." Unschooling at 9pm. Love it! 

I have found that Math on Mom's Bed After Bath Time works for us. Last night, Josiah took off in his Math Workbook on his own, while Sam and I started on Multiplication. We did Multiples of 2. I used manipulatives (geometric shapes in sets) to show him the concept, because rote memorization is USELESS, IMO. He really had a blast with it, arranging, then counting the sets to work the problem. He pretended the sets of shapes were battling one another, of course...lol. We did flash cards lastly (gasp! All of this stuff and I don't own a set of multiplication flash cards! No worries, I printed them off in 5 minutes here...http://www.apples4theteacher.com/math/multiplication/flashcards/miniset1.html), and it was interesting to see him work the problems on his fingers (I still do that! lol) ...Example: 2 x 7...He would count to seven on his fingers, then continue counting, but go back over the same fingers...recognizing 2 x 7 is two sets of 7, or 7 sets of 2. Josiah joined in on the flash cards because yelling an answer while jumping around on Mom's bed is great...he even answered some of the Multiples of 1 correctly! I need to interject here that Cassidy was never able to "memorize" her Multiplication Tables. She still can't fire the answer back at you to this day. She has developed ?some way? of doing them that her brain understands. She is 16, in 11th grade, and ROCKS at Algebra, etc. Hmmmm...all of that verbal abuse from family members over not fitting the mold...Even Mike, the brilliant Engineer husband of mine, has a Multiplication Memorization Nightmare story to tell...his teacher played a record, and Mike had to answer them as fast as the record went. He couldn't do it. He developed stomach pains from the anxiety, so severe that his Mom took him to the doctor. 

 

Sam cooked Cascadian Farms Organic Tater Tots all on his own by reading the instructions on the back of the bag. He also read over my shoulder as I blogged...lol. Josiah knows Mmmm...Aaaaa...Ssssss..., but gets all nervous when we talk about him "reading." We are using Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons for Josiah, but not religiously. He loves it, and he loves pointing to the letters and making the sounds.

 

So, um, if I must water learning down, and put it in a neat little box to present it to the powers-that-be...today we covered: Reading, Math, History, Science, Health, and Socialization. We read all day.

Husband and I had cookies and milk in bed together at midnight. He fussed at me about not ordering checks yet, and bragged to me about farting at band practice. (Pinto beans, cole slaw, fried taters n onions for dinner before he went to practice tonight;) I love him bunches. He is so excited about his band.

September 14, 2010 ~Knights in Shining Armor~

We stayed at home all day. I am still working on "organizing" our new "classroom" (Mike has had his new Man Cave organized since the day we switched everything). As soon as the boys' friend, Shamique, gets off the bus, he comes straight to our house and stays until dark. He got here today and fell into some chores... we all worked together in RE-organizing the boy's room. He stayed right there and helped with a cheery attitude! Such a good kid, I have to wonder though why his Mom doesn't mind being away from him so much. He is at school all day, then at my house until bedtime :( I really got into it today, and all of the sitting, squatting, bending, and lifting aggravated my degenerative disc disease, so I ended up "down in my back" (damn I am getting old...). I must say, we have enough cool stuff, books, manipulatives, models, souvenirs, and pics for a small museum/library of US.

Mike and Sam went to soccer practice (Mike coaches a recreational league here in the city), Cassidy handled dinner for me and did some cleaning, and Josiah and I cuddled in my bed and did about fifteen pages in his Math workbook. He loves this particular workbook, and would have done fifteen more pages, but Mommy needed a rest. (**For progress report use: He has anything with 1-5 down pat, and counting to any number is no problem, but he is working on recognition of 6-10.) It is colorful and the activities are fun. He especially loves the Odd One Out page. If you are interested in checking it out, it is Sylvan Basic Math Success. We have grade K for him, but it comes in all "grade levels".

The Renaissance Festival/Halloween costumes (knight costumes) arrived yesterday, and we are very pleased! They are of good quality and very beautiful. I ordered them from Costume Craze, and I will definitely be using this company from now on. They have variety, free shipping, and the product arrived exactly when they said it would. We enjoyed visiting a Halloween Express, especially looking at the zombie dummies, but as far as the costume selection, availability, etc, I am not chasing costumes and sizes from store to store. Now that I am comfortable with the service and quality, I may order Mike and myself some Renaissance costumes to match! (You will wear it, honey? Please?)

Last night Sam and Josiah made up "plays" of sword-fighting and performed them for me in their costumes while I lay in the bed ("down in my back"! lol). I wish I would have video-taped them, what a treat! It made me smile all over and probably helped heal my back just by watching them perform for me. They are getting pretty good at fake-fighting with the swords, but occasionally throughout the day there is screaming and crying from a mishap in spatial reasoning. I wouldn't put them in the Medieval Times performance arena with the real swords just yet. 

Dad cleaned the kitchen after dinner and took care of all of the bed time routines while I healed my back and rested. I love him so much. He is my Knight in Shining Armor, every day.

September 16, 2010

My kiddos are well aware that there is no Santa Claus and no Tooth Fairy, but we still play the games. I really suck at Tooth Fairy, and, as usual forgot to make the transaction until I woke up this morning. Luckily, Josiah was still asleep, so I grabbed a five and sent Sam up to do the deed. Sam was thrilled to play Tooth Fairy, so it all worked out fine. Josiah was thrilled with his five, and pointed out the building on it, calling it The Parthenon. Our History lesson is born! We looked up the Abraham Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC and learned all about it. What luck! Mom ordered a neat book a while back, Lincoln Tells A Joke - How Laughter Saved the President and the Country!! Geography: We find DC on our map of the United States. Josiah would like to visit DC now. The book about Lincoln brought up questions about slavery, so we read a book that we purchased at Stones River National Battlefield this Summer, If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America.



Ooh! More Geography! Josiah ~ "Why did you tell Mike to drive safely?" Because Mike is in Atlanta, Georgia today. We go to our map of the United States and trace from Rock Hill, SC to Atlanta, GA. We review the states: NC, SC, TN, and add GA to our States of interest! Josiah ~ "Is he spending the night?" Sorry, Josiah, no Pajama Party in Mom's bed tonight, Mike will only be in ATL for the day. 


I love watching Jake, our "teen" dog, play Tug-O-War with the pups. (The wood in the background is the boy's building materials ;)

I really love this quote that a friend posted on Facebook today: "When someone in public school excels, it's because of school. When someone in public school struggles, it's their own fault. When an unschooler excels, it's because they're motivated, smart, etc., not because of unschooling. And when they struggle? It's entirely the fault of unschooling. Such hypocrisy!" ~ Idzie Desmarais

 

Mike coaches Sam's Rec Soccer Team, and we had practice tonight. Shamique came over and played a while after school, and when Sam had to depart for practice and leave his friend behind, he had a meltdown. We had a talk in the car all the way to soccer practice about following through with your commitments and the effects if you don't. Sam was asked five times if he wanted to play soccer again this season, and he said yes all five times. Mike committed to coaching a team because Sam wanted to play, so now we have a team that is counting on Mike and Sam to be at practice and games until the end of this season. There is a difference in trying something new and being absolutely miserable enough with it to drop it, and voluntarily committing to something you are already familiar with, then just dropping out, because you don't want to do the work. I told Sam about how I, after cheering three years at my Junior High, got burnt out near the end of my 9th grade year, and just quit. It left my squad in a bind with a competition we had practiced for. Not okay. I lost some friends. I have an established history of falling through on my commitments. My ex-husband was sent to me as my wake-up call. He was/?is? the expert at falling through on his commitments. I saw myself in him and it was ugly. Thank you Universe, for the ten year mirror! I know my children have to learn by making mistakes, but I don't want to be an enabler.

The boys and I treated ourselves to Starbucks breakfast sandwiches...YUM.  We are disappointed that they dropped the mini doughnuts in order to offer the Pumpkin Spice Latte, though :( Boo!

 

 

First stop was Home School Day at the rec center. It was crazy packed with home schoolers of all ages! It was a nice surprise to see some of my peeps from farther away there. Sam & Josiah immediately got involved in a game of something-or-another "Vortex", and I realize that I am in trouble for not writing the name of the game down because purchase of it has been heavily requested now. If anyone recognizes it from the pic, please speak up! Anyway, there was a Drawing Club, Star Wars Club, Game Room, Board Game Club, Game Room, and I don't even know what else. The boys had a blast as always and did not want to leave when it was time to go.

For a late lunch AND our Health lesson for the day, we had lunch at Earth Fare. The boys used to eat off of the bar, but in order to collect the Itty Bitty Bites cards, they started getting the Kids Healthy Meal. They have a menu that they get to check what they would like to have in each category, then hand it to the deli person and have their order filled. We love Itty Bitty Bites comic books, and we are anxiously awaiting Issue #3. #1, Trans Fat Tina, has been the best so far. I am so blessed to live so near to Earth Fare. 

We had a Not-Back-To-School Pool Party with Rock Hill Area Home schoolers from 4pm to 6pm, and the boys had a blast!

Science in the Park ~ September 13, 2010

Ant Farm

If I remember correctly, this event was posted on ExploreandDiscover Yahoo homeschool group. It turned out to be really neat! Kiddos of all ages shared some of their different Science passions, and Julie, the coordinator, led two different experiments.


"Liquids like water and milk have a property known as surface tension, due to the cohesive forces of the liquid's molecules. Look closely (you can use a magnifying glass) at the edge of the surface of water in a clear glass. Do you notice how the very edge of the water appears to rise up the side of the glass? That's because the surface tension of the water is actually pulling the water away from the glass inward toward the center of the surface. Soap will reduce this surface tension. Let's see what happens!".....

"You probably first noticed that the drops of food coloring just sat on the surface where you placed them. That's because food coloring is less dense than milk, so it floats on the surface, and the colors do not mix because you didn't stir the milk.
Then the action began with a drop of soap! The soap reduces the surface tension of the milk by dissolving the fat molecules, which is why fattier milk works better. The surface of the milk outside the soap drop has a higher surface tension, so it pulls the surface away from that spot. The food coloring moves with the surface, streaming away from the soap drop. Due to the convection that results from the moving surface, the food coloring may be drawn down into the liquid, only to appear rising again somewhere else. That's why it's best to use a clear bowl so you can see what's happening.
As the soap becomes evenly mixed with the milk, the action slows down and eventually stops. Addition of another drop of soap will start the process again." http://www.coolscience.org/CoolScience/KidScientists/tiedyemilk.htm

Lava Lamp Science Experiment:
"How does it work? First of all, you confirmed what you already knew... oil and water do not mix. The molecules of water do not like to mix with the molecules of oil. Even if you try to shake up the bottle, the oil breaks up into small little drops, but the oil doesn’t mix with the water. Also, food coloring only mixes with water. It does not color the oil.
When you pour the water into the bottle with the oil, the water sinks to the bottom and the oil floats to the top. This is the same as when oil from a ship spills in the ocean. The oil floats on top of the water. Oil floats on the surface because water is heavier than oil. Scientists say that the water is more dense than the oil."

Add caption

"Here’s the surprising part... The Alka-Seltzer tablet reacts with the water to make tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide gas. These bubbles attach themselves to the blobs of colored water and cause them to float to the surface. When the bubbles pop, the color blobs sink back to the bottom of the bottle. Now that’s a burst of color! Your own homemade lava lamp... groovy baby!" http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000035

~The Yiasou Greek Festival ~ September 9, 2010

Warriors with REAL armor and weapons!

The boys and I had such a fantastic day at the Yiasou Greek Festival in Charlotte yesterday. We arrived at the festival right at lunch time, starving, and we were not disappointed! We immediately enjoyed a feast of Pastichio, Spanakopita, Dolmada, Grecian Baked Chicken, Lamb roasted in zomee - it's own juice, Salad, and bread, in a beautifully decorated room. For dessert, we shared a Baklava Sundae. We purchased pastries-to-go of Baklava, Spanakopita, Kataifi, Galaktobouriko, and some type of taquito-looking dessert I can't find the name for on the menu.

Getting a taste test of Galaktoboureko (my fave) from the sweet Greek ladies!

Grecian Baked Chicken

Lamb Plate (Oh so tender!)

Baklava Sundae

Sam LOVED the Spanakopitas!

We browsed the vendors and did a little shopping. Such beautiful clothing and jewelry! We purchased the flag of Greece (for our flag collection), worry beads (we read about in our Greek culture and were looking forward to these!) , two books the boys picked out (DK Eyewitness Workbooks Ancient Greece and The Story of the Olympics by Minna Lacey), and a Greek Classic Tunes CD (I am so in love with Greek music!). I was really disappointed that evil eye charms could not be found at this festival, supposedly because of their pagan symbolism, however, apparently Britney Spears nesting dolls are appropriate???? Bwahahaha.....







The boys busted a move to funky Greek tunes on the front stage outside for two hours!

Josiah even did some pole moves!

Sam is a playa'!

We (the unsocialized homeschoolers)  make friends wherever we go!

We treated our new friends to Sno-Cones.....

Beautiful Smiles!

The most-loved exhibit for us was the Culture/History room. All sorts of statues, weapons, armor, and artifacts were on display. We even got to hold a REAL shield...HEAVY! The wimpish, pampered man-folk of today would never have been able to be warriors!The warriors were there in full armor to answer your questions about the exhibits. I had to drag the boys away from this room!

Josiah was the first to point out  "The REAL Parthenon!"

We had read about Herakles only the night before!

We will most definitely go back next year! I want to visit Greece, Dad, please?

Today we planned on building the model dam, but only actually accomplished a discussion of ideas on how we are going to go about it. Mike thinks I am going overboard with it, and I think I am not going elaborate enough. The biggest hold-up right now is deciding on a base for it, and finding the best place to purchase a large quantity of modeling clay. Josiah just wants to hurry up and build the dam thing already...lol

Most of the morning the boys played with the pups and dogs, and did Wii-Schooling, a new concept for us. Mike asked if there were any "educational" Wii games out there. We found one over the weekend and purchased it, and it seems to be a hit. Not as big of a hit as Star Wars Clone Wars, but a bigger hit than math worksheets ;) The guinea pig, Abbie, got lots of loving today and ate carrots from the boys' hands.

Because we are so excited to be visiting the Yiasou Greek Festival tomorrow, we found Greece on our map. It is a "kiddo-style" map, so what do we see on the map over Greece, none other than the Parthenon. But the Parthenon is in Nashville, TN, Mom. We visited it just this past August!

Parthenon Nashville, TN ~ August 2010

   After much discussion about how the Parthenon is actually in Greece, and the Parthenon we visited in Nashville, TN is a replica, Josiah (5) finally wraps his mind around it, and exclaims, "So the one in Tennessee is a FAKE!" Too funny. This is one of those moments I tell Mike about during our Mike-just-got-home-from-work-bedroom-discussion we have every day while he changes into his comfy clothes.

Now that we are all clear on the difference between the authentic Parthenon in Greece and the FAKE Parthenon in Nashville, TN under our belts, we move on to read some Greek Mythology. Our interest in Greek Mythology came into existence a few months ago after we watched the movie Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief for family movie night. I shared what I already knew about Greek Mythology, and ordered D'Aulaires' Book Of Greek Myths from Amazon.com  for our further exploration. On our visit to the Parthenon in Nashville, TN, we purchased Mini Greek Myths for Young Children (Mini Usborne Classics), which we read today and absolutely LOVE. We cuddled up on my king-sized bed, Mom in the middle and a boy on each side, and read About the Greek Myths, The Gift of Fire, Pandora's Box, Persephone and the Seasons, The Story of Arachne, The Many Tasks of Heracles, The Man-Eating Lion, The Nine-Headed Hydra, The Stag with Golden Antlers, all of us falling into a one hour nap somewhere in the middle of The Huge Wild Boar. At some point during our Greek Mythology reading adventure, Mount Olympus was mentioned, so we took a snack break and googled Mount Olympus to read more about it and see some pictures.

I absolutely LOVE having Cassidy driving now, and any excuse she has to drive is welcome. I sent her to the library this afternoon to pick us up some books on Greece, and she came back with three that look really good: Cultures of the World - Greece by Jill Dubois/Xenia Skoura/Olga Gratsaniti, A True Book: Greece by Christine Petersen and David Petersen, and Greece - Enchantment of The World by Ann Heinrichs. I don't mean to bore anyone who might be reading this with lists of books, it's just that this blog serves as my home school records, and for books we check out from the library, I am especially bad about returning them without listing them on my reading log. This way, I have something to reference back to. We will read these books at bedtime tonight.

Thoroughly in the Greek/Roman spirit by 5pm, I then sent Cassidy after some good and bloody movies. We have Gladiator, Troy, and 300. We really wanted The Odyssey after Cassidy insisted that it was great, but we can't find it anywhere. If anyone reading has a copy they would like to loan us, we would so appreciate it! I am about to make home-made organic pizza with fresh mozzarella for us to enjoy while we watch some blood spill.

I looked over the website for the details about the Greek Festival and from looking at the food photos, I plan on going on an empty stomach...YUMMY!!!

I found directions online last night for building a model of a dam ( How To Build A Model Dam), at the request of Josiah. It seems simple enough, using a pan, clay, pebbles, and popsicle sticks. I just want it to be something he can use over and over again, because...he is going to want to use it over and over again. It has to be a dam that will fail, because that is the fun of it.

Josiah has been fascinated with dams since we hiked Lake Julian Price off of the Blue Ridge Parkway a couple of months ago. The hike had a lot of obvious beaver activity, and a real beaver dam! He called the obvious beaver activity "beaver chew", and still does. He also pronounces dam sort of like "damges", it's so freaking cute!

Beaver Chew!

A Real Beaver Dam!

We checked out three beaver books at the library that we read several times each over the course of our two week time allowance, and all of them had pictures of man-made dams in them, so he became super-curious about man-made dams. When we had to return the books, there was major disappointment, so I bought him a Beaver book from Amazon. He "reads" it over and over and asks tons of questions, most of which I don't have the answers to, but we find it out.

When my Grandmother passed away this month and I had to make an unexpected, sudden trip to Nashville, I was able to take him to see the Percy Priest Dam (one my Grandfather helped build) in Nashville, TN (Percy Priest Dam). He was afraid at first (maybe because we watched all of the Nashville flooding videos on YouTube in the hotel room the night before? ~ Actually, YouTube has been invaluable to our Unschooling as a visual aide!), and begged me not to drive over the top of it. To his surprise, we made it across alive, and I was even able to find a hidden road that took you to the base of the dam! Then he wouldn't get out of his car seat. He was afraid it would "crack" and wash us away.

Sam & Josiah at Percy Priest Dam near Nashville, TN

 It didn't take long at all for Josiah to spot the beaver dam displays on our recent trip to Schiele Museum in Gastonia, NC....

Beaver Chew!

Beaver Dam with the stuffed Beaver on top!!

 We walked the trail at Schiele, and the boys built a dam in the creek, which is most likely not okay with the Schiele Museum, but here is the evidence...

Sam & Josiah building a dam in the creek at the Schiele

We watched some really cool dam videos on YouTube, including a Model Dam Fail that Josiah calls "a fake dam cracking." Here is his favorite video of a fake dam cracking: Model Dam Fail , after which he discovered the Hoover Dam thanks to Mike. Mike told me this morning that he was so disappointed to see a special about the Hoover Dam come on at 11pm last night, but the boys were already asleep :( We want to go see the Hoover Dam, and Mike says he has a friend in Arizona we might could stay with! I hope we can make this work sometime soon! How exciting!

There is a ton of Science that can be explored with Josiah's passion for dams. Physics. Biology. Some of the specific discussions we have had include: Fluid Dynamics  - The bottom of the dam has to be strong enough to withstand the pressure of the water at that depth, Hydroelectric Power ("Free" Electricity), Exothermic Heat - Occurs naturally when concrete dries, but there is SO MUCH concrete used in the construction of a dam that Exothermic Heat doesn't happen sufficiently, engineers must come up with an additional way to dry it. Biologically, when a dam is built, it changes everything downstream. One of the important jobs of a river is to move sediment. Sediment will build up rather than move with a dam, so engineers must come up with another way to move sediment. I didn't decide to teach Biology and present them with the subject I chose. I didn't decide to teach them Physics and think, hey, I will introduce it with a dam. The boys looked around their world, which is their classroom, and discovered these wonders, natural and man-made. Then I helped them find the Science in it by researching to answer their questions and providing them with resources to learn as much as they want. There will not be a test.There will not be grades.There will bot be a calendar date that we drop this subject and move to the next chapter. All of our discussion and conversations happened at the dinner table, in the car, in front of my or Mike's computer, at bedtime, over a book, etc. They will retain what they need and apply it when they need to. This is real learning. This is beautiful.

I looked out the window to check on the boys in the backyard this afternoon, and they were building a dam (Note: We DO NOT have a creek). They were muddy and soaked, the dogs were muddy and soaked, but the boys were very focused on and thrilled with their project:

Backyard Dam

Today has really been adventure, yet we have not even left the house! My day started with two howling beagle pups at 4am, and then at 8am…

Me ~ "Don't wake the pups. I have been up since 4am with those little devils."
Josiah ~ "Don't call them devils. They are just little babies, who came out of their Mama's vagina...for real."

We have thoroughly covered The Human Life Cycle, and correct terminology for human anatomy. As luck would have it, I own National Geographic: In the Womb, the FOUR disc set, which happens to include (drum roll…) In The Womb: Animals !! We found our Science for the day! Sam was especially amazed that elephant sperm is killed off by “attackers” BEFORE it can get to the egg (I will have to verify this, I took his word as I did not hear this part, had to heat up Cass’s spaghetti for when she came home for lunch), unlike human sperm, which is killed off by the chemical that is released once one sperm penetrates the egg (which he remembered from The Human Life Cycle…from last winter).

We are in the process of switching rooms…making the Family Room into Mike’s Space, and the Office into Our Classroom. I was unpacking shelving and reading the directions for putting it together, when the doorbell rings. It is Sam in his Duct Tape Gear. He slipped out the door, without asking, and sold a Duct Tape Purse to the neighbor a few houses down for FIVE DOLLARS. The neighbor asked why he wasn’t in school (of course..), and he answered that he was homeschooled (roaming the streets, peddling Duct Tape purses, no less! FMR!). Okay, so anyway, the police never came…lol.

Josiah has exhausted his puppy, Starbucks, so we have a big argument when I insist he leaves the pup alone so it can get some rest. This leads to me calling Reading Time, so we can discuss the needs of the pup against our wants for the pup. I read Beagles to Sam & Josiah, and ta-da! It is believed that King Arthur used beagles, and beagles were used for hunting back in the day of the knights, which has been our most recent passion since Medieval Times at Myrtle Beach. Sam exclaims that hey, he saw beagles in his Knights & Armor book, so he runs to grab the book to show us. I read the Hunting Chapter, which DOES have pics of a pack of beagles hunting, and we also find meaning for why they did the Falcon act in Medieval Times…they hunted with the Falcons and Kestrels as well! Wow! Josiah then had to poop, so I took a voice break, and alas, Sam starts reading aloud from the Knights & Armor book on his own! We never actually got around to “what puppies need” in the Beagle book, but we covered their personalities and their history.


We went to the Scout Meeting and it seems like it will be something Sam will enjoy.

Mike and I got our fishing license. Took the boys to Landsford Canal for the afternoon to fish and swim. Found hatched turtle eggs! Still researching to identify more. Saw a beautiful green snake in a tree, missed the shot because I didn't have my camera on me...still disappointed about that.

The boys and I did a Swamp People marathon on Netflix. There is SO MUCH Nature, Biology, Culture, and Geography to be learned from this show! We love it! We SO know where Louisiana is on the map thanks to Billy the Exterminator and Swamp People!

The boys went to visit with their Dad.

We went to the library and turned in the boys' sheets for the Summer Reading Program and collected the prizes. We decided to do another round. Checked out more books.

Mike helped Josiah follow the instruction booklet to assemble his new Lego camper. Josiah made finger puppets because he saw it on Caillou.

Sam wanted to chill and watch movies with Paw Paw so Josiah and I went to do the Abrams Creek hike to a waterfall. Halfway up we realized that Josiah had a fever! We had to turn around and it was a slooow walk back down.

We went trout fishing in a mountain creek. Josiah was more interested in the fish guts than he was in fishing. When Uncle Chip filleted the trout, Josiah was there to ID parts. He also caught minnows with nets and when they expired from being out of the water, he ID'ed their parts. Sam LOVED the fishing and sat for hours. We identified a water snake (by markings) poking it's head out from a hole under the bridge over the creek...non-venomous (by eyes). I am so thrilled that my BIL taught me the basics of fishing. Now I have no fear of taking the boys by myself. A dead raccoon came floating down the creek and of course my Sam was the one to pull it out and try to determine the cause of death...lol. We saw several chipmunks scrambling around on the banks.

We went on a Guided Hike with A Walk in the Woods at the Sugarland Visitors Center that was "rained out" and almost everyone else turned back, but we stuck with it! We had our back packs and rain gear ready to go! Our Guide was the best! We learned about the Sugar Maple, the Umbrella Magnolia, the Box Elder, the Red Eyed Vireo/Preacher Bird, the Spicebush, the Sycamore Tree/Ghost Tree, how lye soap was made from lard in the creek, the Paw Paw tree (delish fruit that bears love!), and the Sweet Gum Tree. Sam found a tiny red salamander. We visited a beautiful cascade :)

Later that evening we went to the Great Aquarium of the Smokies. We got in for half price with our Home School ID Card! The boys were most fascinated with the huge model of "Fish Guts" and the Sea Dragons.

Visiting Gatlinburg, TN. Close encounter with a black bear at our resort! Read info sheet on Black Bear: Facts & Behavior.

 

Craft: Made Bear Claw Necklaces.

 

Craft: Made Rainsticks.

Visited Western NC Nature Center and hiked. Planted flowers for butterfly garden to take home.

 

Sam ~ Word Search

 

Josiah ~ Read few pages from The Tarantula in My Purse and 172 Other Wild Pets, Read all of Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean.

Our homeschool friends Tiger & Rory spent the day with us. We hiked Lansford Canal, and got stuck in a bad storm! It was amazing. It seemed that it was raining toads because out of nowhere the trail was covered with them hopping about in the puddles! We have never encountered a land turtle at Lansford, but they are there because the rain brought them out of their hiding places to cross the wet trails. We found two beautiful box turtles. Toads, Turtles, Puddles, and THREE boys...what could be more fun? We picnicked and laughed a lot. Fantastic day :)

Met homeschool friends at Schiele Museum and did CAVES exhibit again. Free movie Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain. Nature trail, creek-stomped. Found raccoon tracks. Tried catching bullfrog tadpole with net to observe up close but no luck. Went to splash ground at Lineberger Park.

Stopped by Andmama's to pick up newspapers she saves us for our compost bin and vermicompost bin. Stayed late and watched movie Despicable Me with Paw-Paw. Sad because we found out Andmama's cat Rachel has been missing for over one week. Andmama and Paw Paw told us all of their black snake encounter stories.

~All of our new house finch babies are comfy coming up to the feeder right in front of our kitchen window to feed! There were 6 of them this morning! Four female, two male.

 

 

~Went to Whitewater Center and flatwater kayaked on the Catawba River. Went swimming at the sand bar. Boys took nets and caught and observed minnows...made discovery that these little fish expire very quickly when taken out of water. Looked for the Osprey nest but never found it. Watched a Great Blue Heron up close fish and eat....got pics! Discussion ~ We just figured out the name differences between the Great Egret (white) and the Great Blue Heron!

Sad, sad day. Cass turns 17, not with me :(

Signed both boys up for Summer Reading Program at the Library ~ Discussed Division with Sam when explaining how reading program minutes work.

 

Witnessed hawk taking small bird and other small bird flying after hawk squawking, praying mantis eating aphids (discussed beneficial bugs), and three hummingbirds fighting over feeder (territorial).

 

Books Read: To Root, to Toot, to Parachute ~ What is a Verb? by Brian P. Cleary, The Fisherman and the Turtle adaptedby Eric A. Kimmel

 

Verbs - Discussion

Anger/Feelings ~ DVD from library: Lesson Booster ~ Angry? Grades K-3

 

Autism ~ Book (Waiting for Benjamin A Story about Autism by Alexandra Jessup Altman), Discussion, Research

 

Nouns ~ Book (A Mink, a Fink, a Skating Rink ~ What Is a Noun?), Discussion, Practice Identifying

 

Separation & Divorce ~ Book (Tough Topics Divorce and Separation by Patricia J. Murphy), Discussion

 

Patterns ~ Book (Patterns What Comes Next by Michele Koomen)

 

Book ~ The Three Witches collected by Zora Neale Hurston, Discussion

 

 

White Lion ~ Netflix movie

 

Sam ~ End of Year Review of Grade 3 Math

 

Josiah ~ Explode the Code

Sleepover, Movies, & Play with cousins at Andmama & PawPaw's house.

We went to the WWII Reenactment at Latta Plantation. Participated in Amphibious Assault drills, enjoyed looking at memorabilia, holding weapons, and asking questions/talking with "soldiers." Watched reenactment of Operation Market Garden...had crazy fun collecting bullet shells after reenactment.

Watched Episode 1 of WWII History Channel documetary on Netflix.

Get Moving Day with our NC homeschool group PATH - Ziplined! then roasted marshmallows and weiners on the fire pit.

HOmeschool Coop SCOOP at 521 Rec Center in Charlotte. Boys did Karate class. Very excited that the boys' favorite FLT buddies drive all the way from Lexington to this Co-op near us every Monday! We joined just because of them, but as it turns out, the co-op is awesome and the members are great! :)

We took a dear friend, sweet Solana, with us to PATH (Parents Advocating Teaching at Home) Art Co-op. The project was Quilling. The boys were "meh"...not their thing, and that is okay! They played, played, and played some more with their friends. They spotted, caught, observed, and released a Treefrog. From researching, I think it may have been a Gray Treefrog, listed as significantly rare! What a special experience. Kailey held it as I took photos, and it jumped from her hands and stuck to my shorts like Spider Man! I "quilled" a frog in honor of their find!

Solana came home and had dinner with us and played before we took her home.

Hubby traveled to Atlanta, Georgia today on business, so of course we mapped it.

Watched first episode of new season of Billy the Exterminator. He will be traveling all over the U.S. this season so we will get some mad map experience!