Another Wordy Wednesday... Changes Are Afoot...

In 2007, we bought a home, with my BIL. For over four years, we have lived together, sometimes with things going more smoothly than others, but usually things went pretty well. We split the mortgage and the bills three ways, between the three adults in the house. The kids didn't mind sharing a room (three bedroom house), and with the yard, huge family room, etc., there's always been enough space... well, almost enough space. Sometimes we'd disagree, over paint colors, furniture placement, whether or not boxed foods really had a place in our home, but nothing terrible.

Now, BIL is moving on... and out. He has a girlfriend, a serious girlfriend, and they want to find a home together. They are scoping out rentals already. What does this actually mean for us, the family on an ever-tight budget (so that I don't have to work full-time and can homeschool the kids)?

Pros: BIL understands that this is quite sudden - we were only notified of this at the end of January, so he has offered, which I appreciate, to continue paying his part of the mortgage and property taxes, until M and I can gradually take it over. Believe me, I really appreciate that! We'd buy him out in an instant if we could, but that's not happening right now.

We'll have another bedroom with an attached bathroom! M and I will move into BIL's old room, the "master" bedroom. Cricket will move into our old room, and Bug will keep theirs, with their bathroom in between. This means we don't have to fix up the loft above the garage for Bug!

I won't have anyone to argue with over paint colors, because truthfully, M doesn't really care as long as the house is fairly tidy. He's not a detail man when it comes to home decor. Apricot/orange dining room, here we come!

Finally, I think this will change the energy in our home. There are a lot of differences that lay beneath the surface, threatening to become issues. For example, BIL does not like that we homeschool (tough cookies on that one!), and he and M have some personality conflicts.

Cons: With BIL no longer chipping in on utilities and groceries, money will tighter than ever. I am due for a raise in less than 3 months, and M is going to talk to his boss about a raise, since it has been quite a while since he got one. In the meantime though, I am prepping myself. I know how to be thrifty - I just need to be better at it! Goes along with my Goal #3 for this year. So I am further preparing myself with a little light reading...

So, I am cheering myself on. I know the transition of the next couple of months will be interesting, and sometimes challenging. It'll take us longer to pay off those pesky debts. But, big picture, I think this is good! We do need to get that veggie garden in full swing this year!

Any tips on a frugal life? What are your favorite ways to save money and make a dollar stretch?

Fresh Year. Fresh Start...

You know, I want to be the mom that can unschool, and be comfortable in/with it. I want my kids to explore their own interests, to have interests. I love the idea of discovery boxes, interest-led studies, and all that.

It doesn't work.

Not for us, anyway. I know there are plenty of people it does work for, and I admire that. Maybe if I didn't work, and I wasn't in college... maybe. Maybe it is just that it is not the best fit for me and my kids. And I need to come to terms with that. I need very much to simplify and streamline, so that I do provide my kids with a good education, not keep finding this path, or that one, or maybe that one over there, and hey, while I'm at it, that one looks good too!

That's why I keep taking down my curriculum-related pages, because I need to really think this through. The Boy will be 12 soon, and The Girl 10. Part of the reason I homeschool is to provide them a solid education, and lately I don't feel I am doing that. They do surprise me with odd things they know that I don't realize they know, and they make some excellent connections, but at the same time I feel that we're falling behind in key areas -- math, reading, writing -- and with The Boy's interests and goals, science.

I'm not sure where I am going with all this. Just a lot of whining, but I've got to get it out somewhere!

Anyhow, on to New Year's...

Reflections on 2012

• I started my Master's program, and made it, intact, through the first semester
• The Girl made definite progress in reading, though I'd love to see more!
• I've managed to keep the house, except the bedrooms, clean since the day before Christmas, which I think might, sadly enough, be a record!
• I lost, and am keeping off so far, between 45-50 pounds!!!
• It has been a challenging year, with M's broken arm and job loss, my own job loss and subsequent re-hire, my BIL moving out with very little notice.
• On the plus side, M is spending a lot of time with the kids, and we're getting some tasks done around the house that have gone undone until now, such as removing the ugly and pointless metal awning over one of our bedroom windows. Plus, with BIL gone, we can do things our way, instead of accommodating his ideas as well.

Today's plans are simple. I have errands to run, a kitchen to clean, and Pad Thai to cook. I'm teaching the kids the joyful art of vacuuming today as well as time allows, to fit in with the goals below.

2013 Goals (instead of resolutions!!!)

• Figure out where we're going with homeschooling right now, and go there
• Keep the house clean! I don't want to live in CHAOS! This is a two-part goal... I have to come up with a sustainable plan for keeping the house clean, AND come up with reasonable chores for the kids.
• Keep the weight off, and lose another 15-20 pounds. We're going to be taking the Real Foods Pledge, which will help with this goal, and our finances!
• I need to write, and absolutely stick to, a budget. I have some debts I'd like to start chipping away at (student loans anyone?).
• Start planning out our veggie garden! We've been slowly double-digging our garden plot, working in chicken manure and alfalfa from the chicken hutch. We did think about raised beds, and would love to have them someday, but for right now, that expense is not in the budget. I'm working on laying out a year's worth of gardening since we live in a mild climate, so I am making a spiffy chart of planting times, harvest times, etc.
• Learn to can things. I helped my mom with canning when I was a kid, but I have yet to do it on my own!
• Keep knitting. It took me a looong time to finish scarf number one, my first official knitting project, and I would like to do more!

There are other, more nebulous goals, like living more in the moment, writing down the good things and putting the slips of paper in a jar to read next New Year's Eve, and so on, and so forth. I think my keyword for the year, obviously, is organization, since most of my goals can be traced right back to that all important word.

Do you have goals, a keyword, or resolutions for 2013?

Monday Musings... Morning Basket...

Edited to Add: I just got word, literally minutes ago, that my layoff notice is officially being rescinded! Financially this could not have happened at a better time, though I admit I was looking forward to being at home with the kids more... at least I have 6 weeks off to enjoy with them.

I am feeling very inspired by Wildflowers and Marbles' Morning Basket, which you can read about here and here. So much inspired in fact that I have decided to set up my own, which I plan to start using with the children next week. I think summer is a good time to try something new like this, as long as it is gentle and not very demanding since, after all, summer is a time to relax! Anyhow, I'd like to see if this routine is something that would work well for us before I launch into it full on this fall! Due to the above news, mine will be an Afternoon Basket though.




I do have a lovely basket to use already at hand. It is a strong, sturdy affair made of sea grass, so it also has a lovely smell. Right now it is full of miscellaneous homeschooling papers, perhaps a book or two, so I plan to clean it out first.




Then comes the fun part... filling said basket with books! I've been considering very carefully what all to put in the Morning Basket, and have come up with:


Tales From The Odyssey (which we've already started!)
An Everyday History of Somewhere
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare
Stories of Rocks & Minerals
and
Turn Homeward, Hannalee (this last because there are some local Civil War days coming up!)


I think this will easily get us through July, then in August, I can switch it up! We'll still keep our bedtime reading intact as well, which generally includes some reading to The Girl while The Boy reads on his own, and then a whole-family story.

What We're Up to This Week:

Another quiet week on the agenda:

~ I work every morning this week, and am taking my dad to a doctor's appointment.
~ The Girl has roller derby practice
~ The Boy has a piano lesson.
~ I think our one fun excursion for the week will be Park Day!
~ I've gone ahead and started sorting through more clutter, and "summer cleaning" has commenced! I want the house in uncluttered, spick-n-span condition before fall.
~ BIL is finally actually moving out, so soon we will be moving lots of bedroom furniture about the house. The kids are very, very much looking forward to having their own rooms! I have a plan for this too: 1. Steam-clean the BIL's bedroom once he's moved; 2. Move our stuff into the master bedroom; 3. Steam-clean and hopefully paint our old bedroom for The Girl, move her stuff in; and 4. Clean out thoroughly, and perhaps paint, what will now be just The Boy's room. See? Very organized! We'll see if it really works out as well as I have it working in my head.

And that's our exciting week! Of course there will be reading (see sidebar for what we're reading now), arts and crafts, some TV and computer time, swimming/splashing about in the pool, chickens to care for, a veggie garden to weed and water... and so before we know it, the week will flash right by.

Hope you all have a good week!

Goo... plus the last few days...

It's been a busy weekend thus far (we have today off too for Martin Luther King Day). Friday: as far as school goes we did some math and worked through Hop on Pop, which C.O. enjoyed a lot more than his readers. I then read Grasshopper on the Road out loud. In the evening, my BIL came over for dinner and movies - we watched Kung Fu Hustle, which was a bizarre, but somewhat funny movie. Saturday, we went to vist & have lunch with one of my co-workers, which was pretty nice. Then, when we got home, BIL was still here, so the kids asked him to play Tinkertoys, which he did for about 2 hours. We read a couple of stories - Uncle Elephant, and Amelia Bedelia, but other than that we didn't sit down for much! C.O. spent a good bit of time outside on his scooter, while C.J. alternated between her scooter & collecting leaves.

Yesterday, we started out with story time - Outside Over There, and The Bee Man of Orn. Then we went to the park and played with D4 and H3, while their mom and I chatted and played pass-the-baby (she has a beautiful 2 month old girl). The kids ran, played kick-ball, climbed like monkeys, and C.J. and I built fairy houses out of sand, twigs, leaves and tiny pebbles. She is very much into fairies lately, which is fine because I think I have just about every fairy book under the sun... like Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Album, Good Fairies/Bad Fairies, the Flower Fairies, etc. When the wind got too cold and harsh, we came home, had a late lunch, and then went off to the grocery store.



At home again, we made GOO! Cornstarch + water + food coloring = hours of slimy, bizarre fun! The only drawback was because I added a little too much food coloring, so the kids' hands are now a faint and ghoulish greeny blue. I'm very, very glad I put newspaper everywhere before we started - it made cleanup really easy. Aren't their garbage bag art smocks nice? Anyhow, it gave me time to cook dinner, unload & reload the dishwasher, and make banana-blueberry muffins.

5/26 through 6/3... Catching up...

We've been just moving along here, with schoolwork that is. We have officially finished Saxon Math 1, and C.O. has reached the goals I set for him in his language arts studies. So what are we doing now? C.O. is finishing the illustrations for his story of The 3 Little Pigs and the Big Ugly Bear. He's building a dinosaur diorama (he's totally excited about this as he loved the dioramas in Night At The Museum). He's running, playing, biking, and relaxing. C.J. is very intent on vegetables lately - she spends hours at a time going thorugh various gardening books looking at all the photos/illustrations of the vegetables. She spends hours of her day playing in the sand box. Though I still have one meeting left with C.O.'s IST, we're essentially starting summer vacation now!

I too am finished with my classes until mid-June, so I am focusing on finanaces and housework for the next couple of weeks... you know, the fun stuff! I never got my spring-cleaning done this year, so instead I am doing early-summer-cleaning. I'd like the house to be in great shape - beyond great shape if possible - by midsummer. Just because. So I am scrubbing grout, rearranging furniture, getting rid of yet more outgrown clothes, books (including some of mine), toys...

We had fun this last Friday evening! We went with BIL to the Sausalito Jazz & Blues By The Bay. We had a picnic, listened to live music, watched boats, and met some really great people. BIL knows some people that own a small funky houseboat down there, so the kids and I got to go on a houseboat for the first time ever! M has been on one before, but he still thought it was all pretty cool. We got a standing invitation to come back anytime, and to go out on the whale watching boat these people run! I used to go sailing, with my mom's (now deceased) ex-boyfriend - we once sailed from Tomales Bay to Santa Cruz, and I love being near the water. C.O. wants desperately for us to buy a boat now instead of saving for a real house... it is kind of tempting!

Just tweaking my blog...

I added my list of mostly free resources back into my sidebar - hopefully something on there will be useful to someone! I also added my Elementary Plans to my other blog. This is mainly for my own benefit, as it helps me keep track of potential resources.

Other than that, all is well in our household. We are finally painting the interior of our home - so far, we have done a deep red accent wall in the living room, which really makes the white and deep red fireplace stand out, and my BIL is picking up more paint today or tomorrow. The kids have definately settled on colors for their room: soft blue walls, white trim, and a deeper blue ceiling with the night sky stenciled on it in glow-in-the-dark paint (I plan on doing the stencil with white paint, then the glow-in-the-dark, so they can see the stars day and night). We're also tearing up the carpeting in their room, as there are lovely hardwood floors underneath. First, I plan on using the carpet as a giant drop-cloth for painting, then I'll rip it out! I am also having my mom, who was a professional landscape designer, help me with sketches for the front yard.

Schooling is going well too, but I'll save that for tomorrow!

A few days in...

This has been what I would deem a successful homeschooling week so far. We've covered all kinds of topics without sitting at the kitchen table for too many hours, and we've gotten in some extras.

Monday - you can read about that here. The kids also went to my mom's for an overnight that evening and watched an episode of Unnatural History, a show where a teenage boy solves crimes and unsolved mysteries of ancient history. Yes, I count that as somewhat educational!

Tuesday - we did the Three R's, then went roller-skating at the first homeschool skate session of the fall. There was even a bonus... static electricity! The kids zapped each other (and me) as often as they could. It was especially dramatic when they turned the lights down. Then we came home and did our science experiments... bending water with a static-y comb/balloon, making pieces of paper dance, sticking balloons to the wall, etc. I decided not to make the kids do lab sheets right now - instead, a demonstrated understanding of what is happening is enough for me.

Wednesday - Again, we managed to get through the Three R's, with Elf trying MathSteps instead of Saxon Math. He did not care for it. After that, the kids played with their static projects again, and we read another chapter in The History of US. We watched birds bathing in our front yard fountain and talked about why they clean themselves so much, and how. Elf read Switch On, Switch Off to Fairy, then he read two chapters in Stuart Little since he failed to read one on Tuesday.

Today - They watched an episode of Head Rush, and are now trying to come up with ways to allow a toy man to fly/float in the air without crashing. Two of us can feel colds coming on... sore throats and all that, so we're a little slow today. I've been reading and re-reading my own post about less constrained homeschooling, and am coming to believe that what we're doing, focusing on the Three R's with the remainder being mostly child-led, is working well so far. They've also played with a Lego Challenge kit that came in the mail, and Elf has decided he wants to participate in a series of engineering challenges offered by another homeschooling mom. The first one we'll do has to do with irrigation, so we're revisiting Roman aquaducts and ancient shadufs. Life seems to be providing us plenty of interesting learning jaunts without too much planning!

Other than that, I am looking forward to a couple of weeks vacation from work shortly, and a 4 day camping trip! We're also spending time trying to decide if it is squash or watermelons coming up through the lawn out back. I think it's both... we'll see! My BIL (who lives with us) put in a lawn from seed not long ago, where the failed veggie garden was, and we've been watching with interest as various fruits and vegetables made their way up through the grass. When we can harvest something from them, we'll worry about removing them. I'm also planning out some raised beds/boxes for next spring. And we're gearing up for 4H next week. Due to my schedule, we'll be missing out on a couple of projects we'd really like to have done, but we can do fun things at home too, and we'll still have plenty of projects we can do! The kids have their 4H t-shirts and caps ready to wear as Sergeant-at-Arms. My planned project doesn't start until October, so I feel pretty relaxed about that right now.

And that's about it! We have math, reading, and fencing still to do before I go to work at 7 (only for 4 hours), so I'd better wrap up my ramblings.

Has the rain really stopped?

Today it looks like spring. The sun is shining, the sky is clear, everything growing is a glowing green... and we've had a number of days like this lately, but then the rains come back. About a week and a half ago, maybe two, my BIL went ahead and tilled the veggie garden plot, even though we had heard there was more rain to come. When he gets an idea in his head, there is no turning back though, and now we have a solid mass of hardened mud instead of a soft bed for baby plants. Ooops! I had originally planned to get a load of compost to till in anyway, so M and I will do that in the next week or so. In the meantime, we are plotting and planning what to grow, and we have seedlings started in our mini greenhouse. Among our planned plants are tomatoes, beans, peas, salad greens, chard, peppers, eggplant, strawberries, maybe some corn, cucumbers, and squash. More herbs will be going in the front yard as well. The rosemary I planted out there last year, then about 4 inches tall, has now turned into two big bushes about 3 feet tall. I planted one on either side of the front gate to keep the evils away, and I tuck sprigs under the children's pillows at night to keep bad dreams at bay. The lavender, also planted last year, is bushing out beautifully. And the pineapple sage is finally coming back! Our dwarf peach tree is a mass of silky rosy blooms, the apple tree has tiny green leaves, and the cherry tree is sending out new branches left and right. All the rain has been a boon this year - our yard depends on well water, so the higher the water table, the better. Still, I am ready for the rains to cease and planting to begin!

Because we started our spring break a week earlier than the "school" calendar, we started back up this week, a week "early". Elf worked on a Saxon Math assessment yesterday, and with very little instruction, managed to do quite well. Fairy was introduced to place value, which provided a good review for Elf as well. I want to get back over to the dollar store, and pick up a big pack of colored popsicle sticks for teaching place value. Maybe today we'll walk over there. We also had back-to-back 4H projects agin yesterday, starting with my Global Arts & Crafts (our final meeting this year) and ending with a makeup lesson in foam weaponry. We "visited" Mexico with papel cortado, woven placemats, and images of the sun (dating back to Aztec times). In foam weaponry, we made shields and flails, then the kids staged a mock battle. It was a lot of fun! I am impressed with the teen leading the project - he stays very calm even with kids flailing each other left and right!

We also got our timelines this week, something I have wanted for the last couple of years, and which are now placed approximately as a chair rail in our dining room, where the bulk of our sit-down education takes place. I got Elf a new dresser recently, and his old, and too small one, is now being repurposed as an arts-and-crafts storage unit, also in the dining room. After we placed the timelines, which come in 4 sections, the kids asked me to show them where we have gotten to in history... almost to the end of the first section. And next year's plans take us only halfway through the second section... I had thought and thought about how to do our history rotations, and finally decided on the following:
Ancients
Medieval (and some light California history)
Renaissance/Reformation (beginnings of US history)
Early Modern Times (and US history)
Then we'll move back to Ancients, and forward again up through modern times. I decided that since we are taking so long to get there on the first go-round, we'll skip modern times the first cycle, plus I think a lot of it (World Wars, etc.) would be better when the kids are a bit older, especially Fairy. I have no intent, at this point, of splitting up either history or science with them - we enjoy doing it as a family.

Today I am going to go through this website with the kids, and maybe we'll do some writing on Gladiators. We'll do some more math, Elf will work on a grammar lesson, and Fairy can review some phonics. Light schooling to ease back in after a couple of weeks off!

Discussing homeschooling...

I am taking, for my credentialing, a class in Schools & Society that is actually pretty interesting! We've gotten to watch a really interesting documentary on the history of education in America, had some good discussions, and read some interesting books. Today, in our continued journey through methods of education, the professor wanted to discuss alternatoves such as charter schools and... you guessed it... homeschooling! She asked if anyone in the class knew anyone that had been homeschooled, and two thirds of the class raised their hands, including me. And of course, before I could stop myself, I blurted out that I do homeschool my kids. She immediately asked me if I would mind getting up and talking in front of the class about it, just sharing the whys and hows we do it. I did so, and found that by sharing, it opened up a great discussion. Turns out another woman, who I've chatted with a few times, homeschooled her kids too, since they were a military family and her daughter had been to 5 schools in 5 years. Her daughter, homeschooled from 5th grade on, went to a local community college at 16, graduated with an Associate's Degree at 19, and is working on a Bachelor's degree, double major, at a UC now.

Anyhow, it was kind of neat. My heart was pounding, as I am not the best public speaker, but the resulting class discussion was definately worthwhile. There was one other woman that had tried homeschooling her children too, but stopped after a year because she was worried about socialization (you can read more about my views on socialization here). We talked about methods, socialization (of course), legal stuff, and more.

And in other news, we currently have no vehicle, which is making life interesting. I was driving Cassia to her new ballet school for a trial lesson, and the engine started shaking every time the truck was at an idle. Suddenly, the temperature gauge shot waaaay up, and smoke started pouring from the exhaust pipe. SCARY! Ended up having it towed home, and no, I don't know yet what's wrong with it. I don't have the money to fix it at the moment either, though my BIL may help with that. In the meantime, lots of bike riding, walking, and buses. Which Cyrus loves. He's been trying, for a year or so now, to get us to have a car-free week. We're almost there! I did borrow my sister's car today to drive out to a friend's house for a homeschool group business meeting, but besides that I haven't driven in a couple of days. I don't miss it as much as I thought I would... yet. I know that time will come! We're are likely going to have to miss a 4H project this week, because it is being held out at the coast.

Other than that, all is well. I talked with a teacher this week and found out that once I have my multiple subject credential, it is only a matter of one more test and one more class to get a single subject as well. I also plan on taking a intensive two week course over the next summer that gives me a "foundational level science credential", allowing me to teach any basic science class for grades K-12. I could totally see myself teaching science (on a part-time basis), more so than teaching (full-time) in an elementary classroom. So that's my plan. I do want all the (three?) credentials because that gives me a better chance of employment in the future. And, for me, the multiple subject one is easier to get as I can do it online through the CalState TEACH program. No classes to attend! (Besides a couple per semester). I also want to take a few science classes, various disciplines but mostly biology, to brush up on things, but I can do that at the very local community/junior college.

I had truthfully gotten a bit down about my future, and all the education I still have looming on the horizon. I thought to get a single subject in science, with an emphasis on biology, that I had a LOT more school left than I really do. And as I mentioned above, having more than one form of credential makes me more employable. I am thrilled that I get to take some science classes, probably even only one a semester... I love science. I may even eventually get a Master's, but that's some way in the future! Anyhow, science teachers are becoming very in demand, so I feel good about that, and for the first time since last spring, I feel excited again!

Oh, and yes, we've been doing some homeschooling too. Bits and pieces here and there, but we're getting it done!

Monday Musings....

Outside My Window...
Right now it is lovely and cool, just a little overcast. By midday though, we're looking at mid nineties, and possible thunderstorms. I hate humid weather like we had the past couple of days, so I love the idea that a thunderstorm might just break that!

In the Garden...
We're getting tomatoes in waves, mostly the cherry tomatoes. The corn has made ears, and we're eagerly awaiting harvest time. I'm sketching out some fresh plans for the front year, something simpler than what is there now - my BIL, when he lived with us, loved to buy random plants at the nursery and just stick them anywhere. I'm thinking on the larger side of the yard (it's divided in two by a concrete path), a lawn area with a border on two sides... native/decorative grasses, some lavender, rosemary, maybe some butterfly bush, and bulbs for seasonal color. The other side has an olive tree, and I want to plant a Meyer lemon. I'm thinking mostly ground-cover on that side, specifically creeping thyme and chamomile.

In the Kitchen...
Still lots of grilling going on,and thanks to blackberry picking on Friday, a lot of blackberry dishes - cobbler, crisp (with apples), Dutch baby topping (with strawberries).... yum! Hopefully by the end of this week, I will have a new (used) oven, so I can get back to baking muffins and casseroles. I'm trying to cook ahead when possible, so that we are prepared for days that have work, college, homeschooling, sports, whatever. I have assigned the kids two nights a week each that they are to help with dinner. Cooking is a practical skill both should know, and both are interested in. Yes, The Boy can make a Sloppy Joe dinner himself, both kids can scramble some great eggs, and The Girl can make a good basic chicken curry, but it is time to expand their repertoires! And, for what it is worth, we don't do "kids" cookbooks. Too many of them are simply ways to decorate food rather than actual cooking!

Around the House...
Most of our rooms have been deep-cleaned now... with the exception of the bedrooms. We'll be targeting those this week and next. We did fix the bathtub plumbing over the weekend! The faucet was constantly leaking hot water, a steady stream. Our water bill keeps creeping up, and I'm sure it affected our gas bill too. We installed new rubber washers, used plumber's tape on all the threads, and voila! No leak! Eventually, we'll want to replace the current system since it is very outdated and hard to find parts for, but that can happen later. Now I can't wait to see the next water bill!

On the Agenda...
In homeschooling, we're adding in history and geography this week. The Boy will be reading The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, while The Girl and I will finish up Elizabeth: Red Rose of Tudor, and then launch into Queen Elizabeth & the Spanish Armada. We're looking forward to getting back to Richard Halliburton's Complete Book of Marvels, and I should have Mapping the World with Art today or tomorrow! I haven't decided for certain if we're going to be doing a history "spine" once a week or not, and whether we would use A Little History of the World, or Builders of the Old World, or even OUP's World in Ancient Times if we do! There is a downside to owning so many good books! We're going to start reading The Princess Bride today too, though looking through it, I am not reading aloud all the author's annotations as I think they'll get in the way of the story. Thankfully, being all italicized, they are easy to spot.

M is back to school today - I dropped him off about an hour ago. I start back up myself tomorrow evening.

Hope you all have a good week!

Whoops!

Didn't realize how long it has been since I updated. Anyhow, here's a quick run down of all that has been going on...

the Elf:
Has been keeping up with his reading. He was laughing hysterically while reading Mouse Tales to himself, so I asked him to read it out loud to me, and WOW his reading is improving! He is doing a bit better with writing, but still hates doing it. At least now when he is doing copy work, he looks at each word rather than each letter, so it's taking about half the time, and he isn't getting so confused.

In math, I pulled out Saxon Math 2 again the other day (he's on lesson 111 of 132), and he got very excited! He said that MathSteps is okay, but he really likes Saxon.

Science and social studies are going well with him. We did a project on acids and bases the other day, using, of course, baking soda and vinegar. We tried different amounts to get different results. He spends a lot of time pouring thorugh our science encyclopedia as well. In social studies, we have moved on to Italy - and believe me, we eat a lot of Italian food, so this is already a hit with the kids.

I may also have found a once-a-week karate class for him! Part of the trouble in finding an activity for him is that we have a lot going on already, and going to martial arts 2-3 times a week is a difficult commitment to make. Once a week sounds good.

the Fairy:

She turns SIX next week! I am not sure how that is even possible :(
And she has decided, on her own, that she is now a vegetarian, laregly because she does not want to eat the "poor little animals". I was a vegetarian for years, so this is fine with me. M doesn't mind it either, but my BIL was giving her a hard time, listing all the things she can't eat. So, just to back up the Fairy, I said I would be vegetarian with her. Probably good for me anyhow!

I still haven't been teaching her to read, but she seems to be picking up a lot of words on her own - I keep meaning to look at The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading for that, but never seem to get around to it. She is also very good with her memory in regards to colors/amounts/etc., as we found out when we played Monolpoly with the kids last week. She didn't really seem to get the denominations of the money, but she could accurately tell everyone 10 minutes in which color combinations added up to certain amounts!

She is still really enjoying Oak Meadow, and is doing well with Saxon. She loved drawing tulips for our Netherlands study, and is more than willing to help me cook delicious Italian dinners. Her favorite hobby right now is helping in the kitchen, which is great because she's learning fractions and a lot more by doing it!

In other news, my classes are going well, though I have lots to do much of the time. I am also busy now planning a birthday get-together for family, and baking a lot of cupcakes is on the agenda (vegan because the Fairy has a vegan classmate, and we have a friend with dairy issues)!

A moment of silence...

I'd like to stop for a moment of silence in respect for my now-passed step-father-in-law. He died very suddenly this morning, in his home, of a massive heart attack, at the age of 69, which is younger than my own dad. My mourning at the moment is primarily for my mother-in-law, who lost both her parents in the last year, and now her husband. M, E (BIL) and I spent the entire day with her, first at the hospital, then at her home. E is taking care of all the legal bits (life insurance, etc.), I called everyone MIL wanted called, and M sat with her, holding her hand, the whole day. We're all absolutely exhausted now. I am grateful for her church group - her pastor started the funeral home arrangements, a lady brought dinner over, they're going to help her sort through his huge collection of junk... The kids spent the day at my mom's, thankfully.

In other, and better news, we are drawing very close to closing. Our final walk-through is scheduled for 10:30 this Friday. By mid-week next week we should have KEYS! I can't wait! I have thrown out and gotten ready for donation loads of stuff, so we can start fresh and relatively clutter-free in our new home. I am also tweaking my Master Keep-It-Clean plan, which I plan to implement right away.

Jumping off a cliff...

Well, at least it feels like jumping off a cliff! We are offically pre-approved for our home loan! And late tomorrow afternoon we're going to see a nice house with a huge yard, enough bedrooms, and a workshop for M. I am so excited! (Great, now I have that stupid song running through my head) Anyhow, this is the house we are most interested in, though I am slowly putting together a list of other houses, with the help of one of my ex-Safeway-coworkers, who is now a real estate agent. We decided to stick, if possible, to the town/city we're in now, since all three of us (M, BIL E, and I) have jobs here, and my college is here, as well as my mom (our only babysitter).

The kids haven't quite processed what is going on, which I expected. Buying a home is a lot for a 6 year old and 4 year old to really grasp. I think, once we get a house, they'll be thrilled, especially with a backyard, which is a major factor in any home choice we make. The one we're very interested in is vacant right now, and move-in-ready, so we may opt for a short escrow period if we get it. I'm trying to get a head start on moving this time, so I'm already going through the boxes we've never unpacked, and so far have reduced the content of those by about 60%. I think Goodwill offically loves us right now!

Other homeowners, was buying a house actually somewhat terrifying for you, or is it just me? I feel so... adult.

And a C.O. update - the combination of two prescription anti-allergy medications cleared up the hives! Yaaaay! His cute little face isn't all puffy anymore, and he's not covered in red welts. I still think it was the laundry soap, but I don't think I'll ever know for sure, since I don't intend on subjecting him to that particular soap again.

The universe is weird...

M had his interview, which went quite well, btw. The interviewer was very impressed with his knowledge and qualifications, so we're hoping to hear from him in the next few days. M said his last words were "It was great to have had you in for an interview. Let me check your personal references & I'll call you." Sounds good, right? Then, we get home, and there's a message from another company wanting to know if M would like to come in for an interview. An hour later, the phone rings, and it's M's brother, letting him know that a position as warehouse manager (for the company BIL works for) may be opening up as soon as Tuesday, and would M like the job? Wow.

I just finished reading the book "Miserly Moms". I think the author has some good ideas of ways to cut down on expenses, but I'd definately have to tweak a bit of it here and there. She had some very good points about how people used to reuse things a LOT more than they do now. I do buy a lot of stuff secondhand - clothes, books, even my car - but there are other smaller things I could be doing too. Plus, the author is right about groceries... when I pay attention to sales and make menus and lists, I come out ahead compared to shopping on the fly. No, this does not mean I am going to start buying those giant packages of cheap hamburger, because no one in my house would eat it. But, I could do a better job of stocking up on ground turkey when it's on sale! Altogether, it was actually a pretty enjoyable read!

Ups and downs...

The ups...
Friday: The kids woke up very excited as we were off to a park day birthday for one of their favorite friends! We ended up spending six hours at the park, playing with all the friends they hadn't seen in ages, along with the ones they have seen a few times in the last month. I got to chat with a few of the moms, and I think I may have convinced K that the homeschool 4-H isn't too institutional, or rigid, for her family. If I get my schedule fixed the way I want it (I turned in my written request yesterday), we'll be able to rejoin 4-H this fall ourselves, which I would really like for the kids. Anyhow, we had cake, lemonade, and lots and lots of fun Friday.

Saturday: We went to the flea market in the morning, and just wandered around for an hour or so. The kids had each brought a couple of dollars from their piggybanks, and carefully chose a toy apiece, plus I found a huge wooden dollhouse for a dollar. It is sadly lacking in any trim, or nice touches, but I can add those.

Then we came home for lunch, and some rest, before heading off to the movie theater to see Prince Caspian, courtesy of 4 free tickets my BIL gave us. Great movie! We all loved the first, and now the kids have demanded that I buy this one as soon as it hits DVD. Since the kids have only seen one other movie at the theater (Polar Express a few years back) this was a very thrilling experience for them, and both just sat there in awe the entire time. As far as "sequels" go, I found this one very satisfying.

After that, we stopped for very rarely eaten fast food, and that's the beginning of...

the downs...

Otherwise known as food poisoning. I was luckily the only one to get it, as I was the only one that had chicken. I spent all of late Saturday night, and well into Sunday, being absolutely miserable. I had to call in sick to work for the first time since I started working there. And it made my ulcer flare up for the first time in a couple of years. Yes, at the ripe old age of 35ish I have an ulcer. I developed it a few years ago during a horrible time of two very small children, an awful house, bad weather, and no money. Enough said about that, but Owwwww! So now I really have to watch everything that goes in my mouth. I did lose a couple of pounds in the last couple of days, but I really don't think this is the best way to do it.

And that's a rundown of the last few days here! How was your weekend?

Politically Aware...

Yesterday, my kids and I happily participated in the March Against Monsanto. They made their own signs, and off we went!

We ran into a few different friends, listened to a couple of short speeches, and some great music by the the Hubbub Club kept the energy up!

When we got home, we downloaded a suggested app, Buycott, and The Girl tested various products in our house. We were pleased to see that much of what we buy supports a sustainable future, or at the very least does not support Monsanto/etc... in fact, the only foods that came up a big fat NO were the cans of stuff left behind by BIL when he moved out!

It's really got the kids thinking abut what we're putting on our plates. I'm writing up this week's menu and grocery list shortly, and they asked me to "please be careful about what you buy". I wonder if they're ready for Food Inc.? It's been a while since I watched it honestly, so maybe I should screen it again first - The Girl, especially but The Boy to a degree too, tends to have issues with some factory farming images.

I think too I may have them start watching CNN Student News - of course I would watch it with them - but at 10 and 12, I think they should maybe have some familiarity with what's going on in the world.

Anyhow, for their first march/political protest, I am satisfied that it was a good choice. It is something they feel strongly about, and the atmosphere was largely calm and upbeat, not quite like the anti-war protests I marched in back in 1991!

Are your kids politically aware/active? Do they have pet causes?

Okay, I'll play nice...

We are looking, seriously, at buying a house with my BIL, E. He isn't home much, but totally loves our kids, and they love him, so we're looking at places with either a good master bedroom (for his space) or even a small granny unit type thing (or at least something we could fix up as kind of a seperate area for him). M and E get along really well, E is willing to split the cooking with M and I, and it would actually save all of us money compared to what we're seperately putting out for rent, renter's insuarnce, etc. We're actually in the early stages of preapproval for a loan right now, and we've already gone and looked at a few possibilities. I'm totally excited about this - a place we can paint any colors we want, have a garden that isn't in moveable containers, some solidity in the lives of my two elflings... plus E only wants to live there for maybe 2-4 (likely closer to the first number) years until he's ready to buy a place of his own.

So keep your fingers tightly crossed! If we decide not to buy at the moment, we'll look at renting a (big) place together - again the money saving factor comes in for all of us. We've crunched the numbers any which way we could, and it would really make a difference to have 3 incomes in the house! Plus, a built-in occasional babysitter...

Am I completely weird, or maybe crazy, to consider moving my little family in with an in-law? He says he's willing to do this because it's an investment in his nephew and niece's future, since he does not plan on having kids of his own, as he loves the fact that he can run off and do whatever at the drop of a hat.

In other my-family news, after much consideration, I have decided we are not ready for unschooling yet (sorry Meesh), so I will stick, basically though somewhat loosely, with plans I have made in my sidebar blog. We do enjoy sitting down for lessons usually, so we're just going to keep a relaxed approach and see how it goes! Much of my curriculum is already set up and ready to go at the charter school, so I'm just filling in bits and pieces, like making library lists, etc. Speaking of libraries, I had better go and finish collecting all our overdue books. :(

What an evening...

We started with Phonic Pathways today. Although C.O. knows the stuff early on in the book, we decided to review, so that we can follow the overall pattern of the book. It was a decent reading/sound session - we sat in the big livingroom chair together, and then he unwound with scooter time. After a late lunch, we were just sitting down at the kitchen table to do math, when the phone rang. It was my BIL, and he wanted to know if the whole family would like to go out to Chuck E. Cheese's for dinner & fun. So, C.O. rushed to finish his math, a page in Maps, Graphs, Globes (review of the four cardinal directions), and two pages in HWOT. C.O. got so excited - as he has seen commercials for this place - that he couldn't for the life of him remember what 9+9 is, finally C.J. piped up "Silly, 9+9 equals 18!". Then he and C.J. (who spent all this school time drawing a very detailed caterpillar) anxiously colored and ran to the door, looking for their uncle. Finally he arrived, and off we all went! While the food isn't fantastic (I was smart & got the salad bar), we had absolute tons of fun! The kids climbed all over everything and played about a million games. C.O. even beat me at air hockey, and I really am a pretty decent player! Then, at long last, they traded in all the tickets they won for silly little toys, and we are now quiet at home. They're worn out and I have the beginning of a headache, but really, it was worth it!

We're really enjoying our planetary studies - both kids can tell me which planets are the biggest and the smallest, and the order (going outwards from the sun) of the first 4 planets. Plus, C.O. can identify Venus in the evening sky, and C.J. made a great picture of Saturn, her personal favorite (and mine!). Homeschool is once again being fun, now that I am not irritable, grumpy and overdemanding!

Creekside Trails...

"The children walk every day; they are never out less than an hour when the weather is suitable." Charlotte Mason, Home Education.

With that in mind, we decided, as a family, to take more advantage of the numerous creekside trails in our area...

The trail itself. Some are paved like this one, others are just dirt

A nice view of the creek

Mustard flowers, which smell heavenly

Taking a brief break by the water

Such prettiness

Launching a leaf "boat"

Elder in bloom

My girl, glowing in the sunshine, gathering more leaf "boats"

It was a nice way to wrap up the week! We also saw birds - a mating pair of Mallard ducks, a couple of Snowy Egrets, and one magnificent Black Crowned Night Heron (not, as my BIL once told the kids, a "Great Night Herring", which always makes us giggle as we picture a fish soaring through the air), fishing for its evening meal. And we saw entire schools of little fish in the creek.

This, overall, has been a pretty good week as far as homeschooling and all that went. 

Science:

We read about creatures in the soil in science, and The Boy read some more of a couple of Paul Fleisher's books on physics. The Girl and I read about dragonflies as well, in A Child's Story of the Animal World. We did the final check on our moldy bread experiment, coming to the conclusion that the damp bread definitely molds more quickly, and much more grotesquely, and we re-started the bean sprouting experiment (my bad).

History:

We read a bit more about the ancient Egyptians, mainly Thutmose I and Hatshepsut, and we read about automobiles, along with a chapter on Marie Antoinette. Believe it or not, I'm still not absolutely positive about history in the fall! I'm down to these choices:

• American History, using Hakim's Concise History of US as a "spine" text
• Continue world history with K12's Human Odyssey as the spine text
• Just read various titles from this amazing list (pdf) of Landmark and World Landmark books
• Read from both world and American history spine texts once a week, and then explore areas of interest with the Landmark books (adapt the Core Knowledge sequence, 2 grades per year?)

I'll figure it out before fall, I think!

Math and Language Arts:

We're trucking along! The Boy is tackling division work in math, and participles in writing, while The Girl is working on cardinal and ordinal numbers in math. She's on lesson 18 in Reading Horizons, which I will be writing more about quite soon.

The Girl also read a couple more stories to me this week, from the Elson Reader: Primer, and The Boy wrote a lot in his journal. We didn't work in the Complete Writer this week, but I plan to get back to it next week.

Everything Else:

We read about the Rock of Gibraltar this week, in Halliburton's book, located it on our world map, and then watched Anthony Bourdain's visit to Spain. We did an art project on complimentary colors (I'll get pics up asap!), and then The Girl spent a lot of the week painting.

The Girl's complimentary colors project

 And The Boy's work

The Girl and I are really enjoying Heidi together (although every time they talk about the food Heidi eats, wants to know where the fruits and vegetables are!), and we're all having a lot of fun with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. We've settled into a really nice routine at bedtime: I read a chapter of Heidi to The Girl, while The Boy reads his own book, and then we all settle in with a good chapter of Harry Potter!

We also started reading The Trumpet of the Swan, which led to great discussions on swans, including measuring out what an eight foot wing span would look like, as well as compasses, and being out in nature alone. The Girl likes all the nature descriptions in the book so far, and liked that the main character keeps a journal, just like he does!

Other Bits & Pieces:

I finished up another semester! I actually turned in my last paper today. As for my fall class schedule, I'm waiting to see the language offerings at the local community/junior college, since the class times at the university don't mesh well with my schedule, though I did sign up for the grad-level seminar on American literature.

The kids spent a lot of time outdoors this week, playing around with chalk "paintings" on the driveway; throwing the indestructible ball our neighbor gave us to the dogs; watching insects; and all that. We watched Back to the Future last night, and will watch the other two in the trilogy over the next couple of days. I have a lot of fun watching movies like that with them!

It has been a nice week. Nothing too exciting, but just nice! Hope you all had a good week too, and enjoy your weekend!

P.S. Thanks for all the feedback on scheduling! We're going to give year 'round homeschooling a try!

Learning styles...

I'll admit I was a little surprised by this one - last time I took one of these quizzes, quite some time ago, the Elf was very kinesthetic. I still think he is at least more kinesthetic than auditory. I would agree he is strongly visual too, being very artistic.



This one I was not surprised by. the Fairy is definately a very auditory learner. She sings and hums all day long. And dances...

Here's a link to the quiz... Child Learning Style Quiz

Besides all that, everything is moving along fine here. We tried Explode the Code 3 1/2 with the Elf, but after doing the first 4 pages in under 4 minutes, he said "This is too easy", so I bumped him up to EtC 4, where it took him all of 8 minutes to do 4 pages. He also thought the unit on telling time from MathSteps was too easy, so I am glad we've been supplementing with Saxon 2, and that we will be using Saxon 3 in the fall.

Minor interruption there as the Fairy asked to to get her "some more of that drippy yellow stuff I had yesterday" (i.e. mango). Mouth watering description there!

What a day yesterday - first, I've been driving BIL's car while he is off in Maui, and yesterday morning I took it down to get gas. Had finished pumping and got into the car just in time to get backed into by a guy on a cell phone. Thankfully there was no damage! Then, it was very, very windy, and another branch came down off the neighbor's tree on nearly on top of the kids, who were playing in our newly fenced patio extension. Thankfully both were okay, and our roof and everything else seem okay too.

The kids asked me the other day if they could "re-study ancient stuff", partly in preparation for a planned trip to an Egyptian exhibit later this year. I said yes, and have decided that since I have 90% of the materials needed on hand, we'll start up with History Odyssey Ancients over the summer (yes, the kids are fine with learning history during their summer vacation), and looking at the calendar and HO's table of contents, I figure we could be through the Egyptian part by early fall. After we finish studying the Ancients, I plan to move straight into the Middle Ages (which I also have about 90% of the books/supplies for). Year round history! I have had second thoughts for some time about not studying history chronologically, and this will get us back on track. I have also talked to M again, and he will be taking over their science education in the fall, using Oak Meadow 3 one-two days a week, and Oak Meadow 1 one day a week, to lighten my load a little, and because he loves science and would enjoy the time with the kids.

In the meantime, we'll be studying Asia, dinosaurs (found this great book on dinosaurs from China), and cavemen - I have put The Boy of the Painted Cave on hold at the library to try reading aloud. We've put our nature studies on hold since the kids really, really want to study dinosaurs!

And speaking of education, I have made a major decision that wasn't easy. I had already planned on taking an "extra" semester to graduate (Bachelor's degree), but I realized over the last few weeks that I need to extend that self-imposed deadline one more semester. Taking classes at two colleges (thirteen units) is too hard right now with everything else, and the kids' homeschooling (not to mention my housework) is really suffering. I know there are people out there that can handle a full load at school along with everything else, but I find myself increasingly resentful of the time my 3 unit class takes up (two mornings a week). So, I will finish this semester, take the summer off - I was planning on math, but I can't seem to find the energy to make myself go to class four mornings a week for 3 hours a morning, for eight weeks and work about 25 to 30 hours a week - then in the fall, do only the ten unit class at the university. When I finish this program, I will finish off my other undergrad units for a semester, and then for my final semester, take all the pre-req's for the credentialing program. Therefore I am looking at a graduation date of sometime in May/June of 2011 rather than December/January 2010/11. Not too far off! I wanted to finish sooner, but as a few wise moms pointed out, my family and my sanity are more important than getting done quickly. Plus with interning programs available for credentialing, I may be actually teaching sooner than I had originally hoped. Not sure now why this was such a hard decision, but I sure felt a lifting on the load on my back once I made it!

Anyhow, I had better stop rambling and get the kids somewhere near ready for the day. We have homeschoolers' drop-in gymnastics, I have work later (we're skipping Park Day this week), etc.