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!