Tuesday, January 22, 2008

We're Back and Ramping Up

Wow... a week with me sick, a week with the big kid sick and suddenly a week and a half later we've lost a whole lotta time... oh well, this is why we homeschool! I could spend a week recuperating and not feeling guilty about slacking and doing not much and then dd could afford the same, I remember years when I forced myself to go back to school even though I was still sick despite my mum telling to stay home just one more day! But I was anxious to get back not because I liked school but more because I was afraid of missing too much... invariably, I almost always got sick the day before some presentation and always had to take in a doctors note... But I digress... we're all better now and even though we were sick we still did do some learning ... why not visit kidshealth.org... and learn about those little germies that make you sick and what better field trip than the one to the doctor!

We also managed to fit in a art class. DD signed up for an art class an hour a week and we'll be attending another one later in the spring, which is good because she loves art, she loves to paint and draw, so this will be good.... its not my strong suit!

The schools here managed to get a half day school day last week as we got some snow, which is always fun!

So we are completely back to school this week focusing heavily on History, Science and Math. Next we'll bring back in some Language Arts (reading, writing and spelling) which we do by nature anyway.

I just got my compost bin, so beyond the science curriculum we're following we're about to do a family garden, complete with composting and making it edible. Our lot isn't the greatest for a garden (so we're looking for something better) but for the time being (since the housing market is ultra slow!), we're gonna try our hand at container gardening as we've had reasonable success with tomatoes in the past -- when Sir Deadmeat, the squirrel, wasn't pilfering our fruit. I'm looking more for herbs and veggies so will be spending a lot of time checking out the forums at the Gardenweb - learning about growing from seed, edible gardens and winter sowing!

I figure with a project like gardening with edible plants the little kid (age 2) can get involved too, what 2 yr old do you know doesn't like to dig in the mud or put little seeds into a pile of dirt.. or better yet play in the water.

The ideas are hoping around in there... I was reading about eco-friendly homes... and though we've got a LONG long LONG way to go to be remotely considered environmentally friendly I figure our lessons could be a good step in the right direction to lessening our global foot print. We can learn about energy conservation, organic growing, and all the funky swanky things that will go a long way to helping us make a smaller global foot print. For now I'll be happy with composting, energy efficient lights, mild recycling and better consumer choices.

I'd so totally love to get my hands on a rain barrel, and a microscope and see what cool things we can learn from the rainwater, but for now I'll just have to be happy getting the driveway repaired since it has a great big gaping hole in the middle of it!

Monday, January 7, 2008

Homeschooling - slow days

So glad to homeschool.
So glad we started back early last week.

I hurt. I ache. The girls have been good about amusing themselves.... so if anyone out there has had a day when the other half has to go to work and you feel like poo... what do you have on hand for your kids. Share your tips...

Friday, January 4, 2008

History Melting Ice and Globe trotting!

I love love our new History curriculum. Its a little simplistic for my dd as she already knows her Geography pretty well but its fun! We liked our first lesson today! I'm slowly selling myself on next year's curriculum, I think I have Science and History at least lined up but give me a few more lessons on the History before I commit! :)

Dh roached dd's computer the other day so she got a new one via courier today - he actually paid for same day shipping!! (he doesn't do that for me! he musta felt bad!!) So the computer arrived a few minutes before we walked out the door for lunch with my dear friend. When we got back I decided it was time to go back to school so we finished up yesterday's science lesson which discussed states of matter - specifically changing solids to liquids. Watching melting ice! It was a quick follow up but it was good to get back into the swing of things.

For history, which was actually Geography today, we pulled out our globe. We had to find various continents and then match animals from each continent with their home. Pretty simple really but just confirmed to me that dd knows what she is doing so far! LOL! She is getting used to the idea of narration and it was neat to see her excited about a new assignment!

When school was over (we only did 2 subjects today - full swing next week,) daddy came home and needed to upgrade his computer (I now have the slowest one in the house! but I digress! LOL!) Anyway, while he was upgrading I showed her how to work her knitting spool. She is thrilled with it. She has a full ball of purple (the only colour) Caron Simply Soft yarn to play with. I wonder what she will come up with. She has it down pat... now if she could remember to port her ball with her when she walks around the house knitting! (ah well made serious old daddy laugh! LOL!

Oh and in case you are wondering, yes she took it to bed with her to work on for an hour before coming down for her goldfish!

On an interesting note, she got a book today from our lunch date and good friend. It seems geared toward older girls (think tweens and teens) but there is a bunch of fun stuff in there and I think we'll have a lot of fun with it... There is one for boys too which I will order a little later just because it has more mechanical stuff in it... and we wouldn't want to be gender specific. But like I said a lot of fun! :) You'll probably see postings here eventually. She also got a Cranium game (with frogs on it - oh Frog Princess.) We haven't figured it out yet because the Littlest pitched a fit when we were learning.

During M's lessons today though Little S played with her peoples... we were doing animals so she insisted we had to gather up all the animals andput them in a bowl so she could play with them on the hearth... when we pulled out the globe she had to be right in there... thank goodness a second blow up globe is coming!

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Weaving on a 20 year old Loom!

My mum has been cleaning out her house for almost a year now... and last year in June she sent me this toy that I got for Christmas from Santa one year (I think I was 10!) Well anyway, by September we pulled it out and strung it up with the goal of making a go of it. We were missing a few vital tools. Mum sent them this year with my birthday stuff.
After a year on the loom she finished a small woven rug - which she will use as a blanket for her favourite stuffed Webkinz frog - Bertram. She was very proud of herself. (finished pic will follow soon!) I was just pleased I remember how to finish it off! LOL!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Adding History

I'm not really good about getting the books we need from the library. Its time consuming to sit down and figure out all the stuff that we need pull out and then figure out what I need to know about the subjects... so we once again look to K-12 for our History. I hope it is as enjoyable as their Grade 1 Science.

Slowly but surely we make progress...

Happy New Year 2008

Happy New Year

Dh and the oldest have been working on CAT5 Testing for our purposes.

I don't like testing but he wanted a baseline to work with before she does the mandated test when she hits grade 3... right now she's in grade 1. She is breezing right through it.

I think he also wants something to let his mom know that we're on the right track. Yes, with all things the grandparents and family are watching and keeping tabs on us - some support us others believe its a horrible mistake to homeschool - some question my abilities to teach. So there you have it, we test to prove ourselves worthy!

On a positive note the oldest has been begging for a test, so here ya go girl! :) Ask and you shall receive!

We're still on vacation for the restof the week though mummy here is itchin to get started again! LOL!