Keep your fingers tightly crossed...

M sent in a resume yesterday for an arborist position, which he is very well qualified for, considering they only want a year's experience working with chainsaws, chippers, etc., and he has much more than that. So please, send positive-job-getting vibes this way!

I think I have next year mostly figured out...

Though there are some issues I am still resolving with science and history, as you can see below.

Math - We'll stick with Saxon Math as it has been working out very well for us.

Language Arts - I hope to continue with Houghton Mifflin Spelling & Vocabulary Phonics in Action, another program that's been working well for us. C.O. enjoys it and it is well put together.

History - I have the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, but am debating between following the original plans as outlined in the Well Trained Mind, and buying the Story of the World. Then, should I but the SOTW Activity Guide, or get some Dover Coloring books (which are gorgeous) and design my own activities?

Science - I have gotten a lot of recommendations for this topic! The top three I'm looking at are: My Pals Are Here from Singapore Math; Noeo Science, which looks really cool, but would I need to buy the experiment kits, or could I put together experiments myself; or the series Let's Read & Find Out, which I can get many of from the library. I am going to steal an idea from another hs'ing mom, jennyberm (hope you don't mind!) and integrate science and history studies in later grades, but for now I want to build a solid foundation of the basic principles of each science discipline as outlined in WTM.

I think we're going to stick with the charter school for next year too. C.O. really enjoys his enrichment classes, and I do like having such a range of choices of supplies, etc. without having to dump out loads of money to try new things. I need to meet with his "teacher" before then and figure out if they have any of the resources mentioned above - if I am not mistaken, some of the handouts she gave me were from Noeo Science, so I'll have to dig those out and see.

As for current time, today we're going to do some math, HM Spelling/Vocab/Phonics, and some work with Easy Lessons for Teaching Word Families. Plus, M is taking C.O. fishing for the first time later this afternoon, so I may take C.J. to a park. Looking at the short-term future, C.J. seems eager to return to gymnastics in a couple of weeks, but C.O. says he might like to try martial arts. I think I can take him in for a free Aikido lesson before he decides. At this point, I don't mind them trying new things on a regular basis as they're still very young. Neither of them need to focus exclusively on one physical activity over another. C.J. did mention that she might like to try dance classes, which she can do inexpensively through the city parks & rec department. So, physical ed is kind of up in the air right now.

After some internal debate...

I have decided to keep this blog going. I have, however, moved my homeschool blog. Homeschoolblogger was nice in many ways, but thanks to multiple "upgrades" I can't post to it anymore without a lot of difficulty. So, here it is... From The Roots Up. I want to keep it separate from my general ramblings, so I'll keep this one too.

We had a pretty good Christmas. The morning (of Christmas Eve) went well with my in-laws, and dinner with my dad later that evening went well too. I got some lovely presents, and the elflings got loads of stuff! Christmas Day was fairly quiet, other than the kids playing with all their new toys. Our only company was our friend W, which was fine, though it would have been nice if he could have stayed longer!

I am glad this semester of school is done - just waiting for my grade now! I have already signed up for my classes next semester, starting in mid-January. I'll be taking a poetry class (for my major), physical anthropology & the accompanying lab (for general ed), a library resources class online (also gen ed), and I'm retaking the biology lecture series. It sounds like a lot, but with the online class and the infrequency of the bio lectures, I think I'll be okay with it.

Hah! I did it!

I transferred & correctly dated all my archived posts from homeschool blogger! I also updated my sidebar links.

Christmas was very, very good! We went to my mother-in-law's Christmas Eve morning, and spent a couple of hours just hanging out, drinking tea, and watching the kids play with all their new toys. Then, in the evening, we had my dad, sister and brother over for dinner and presents. The children had a blast all day, and they really raked in the presents! C.O. got tubs of LEGOs, Magic Treehouse books (set 1), a Superman action figure, HotWheels race tracks, superhero pajamas, "cars" (the movie) & "Robin Hood" (the Disney animated version). C.J. got Calico Critters stuff, pink candy-themed pajamas, "The Little Mermaid" (Disney),the "Curious George" movie, outfits for her Cabbage Patch baby, an Olivia book, a "paper doll" magnet set, and the laundry room set for her dollhouse. Together they got a huge bucket of TinkerToys, and an in-home planetarium set-up. We had a nice relaxed dinner, then the kids went off to bed willingly, as they were hoping Santa Claus would come!

Yesterday, it was just Christmas for the four of us. We stayed in pajamas until early afternoon, when the kids had to go test out their new scooters from Santa! We opened presents in the morning - a magic set, a couple of books, a shake-&-go car and a few stocking stuffers for C.O.; a bakeware set with a handmade apron, a couple of books, a kitchen dollhouse set & stocking stuffers for C.J., plus a set of Magnetix and the movie "Nanny McPhee" for both of them (which is a pretty good movie, BTW).

At least they won't run out of new things to play with anytime soon!

We're planning on sitting down to do some schoolwork later this afternoon - math, phonics, and some work in Maps, Graphs, Globes. C.J. will probably work on writing some letters and numbers - she said she wants to know how to write her name, so I'll try working on that with her once I get C.O. going on his work!

Edited to add: C.O kept complaining during Maps, Graphs, Globes (which was the first thing we sat down to work on) that his stomach really hurt, so he went to lie down, threw up, and has been mostly asleep ever since. I'm putting it down to too much excitment & too many cookies over the last few days. C.J. on the other hand was very focused - she wrote her name, her brother's name, "mommy" and "daddy" by copying what I wrote out for her! So far, her handwriting is very tidy. I guess I'll try with C.O. again tomorrow, if he's feeling better. C.J. has been sounding like a frog for the last couple of days, but other than her voice, she's acting normal and seems fine.

Lazy days...

Well, to be honest, we are very busy, but haven't been so busy with lessons! We've been cleaning, baking cookies, wrapping presents, etc. We are off to my MIL's Sunday morning, then my dad, brother & sister are coming over in the afternoon for dinner & gift exchanges. The kids decided their gift to everyone would be gingerbread cookies, so we have been baking & decorating cookies like crazy! Thankfully my finger is feeling somewhat better, so I think I just sprained it. Plus we've been getting down to the nitty-gritty of cleaning and tidying.

We did do some actual sit-down schoolwork yesterday though. C.O. did 4 pages of math & read one of his readers out loud. C.J. traced the numbers 1-10 in her workbook, which took a while, but she did a great job!

We have a few weeks of time off - C.O. doesn't go back to his enrichment classes until after New Year's. My classes don't start until mid-January. Gymnastics won't start again until January. I work only 3 days a week for the next couple of weeks (only 3 hours a day as usual) I hope we can make some good progress through C.O.'s math & phonics books over this time period.

Off to clean some more!

Can't write much...

The middle finger on my right hand is broken or sprained, and in a finger splint, so my typing abilities are minimal. Still debating whether or not to attempt copying my archives from homeschoolblogger. Here's the link to my "old" site for now: From the Roots Up

A better week (Dec. 10-15)...

Okaaaaay, I had this whole entry typed out, and something went wrong, and it didn’t post, so I’ll try again!

My children are not sick anymore! We took it fairly easy when they got sick, spent a lot of time watching “Curious George” and “Little Bear”, drank lots of hot tea, and just tried to keep things mellow.

Sunday: We did some schoolwork - math, a little in Easy Word Families, and a few pages in Maps, Graphs, Globes. We also read “The Nutcracker” again, along with a few other holiday books from the library.

Monday: C.O. worked on math and phonics, while C.J. drew “letters” on her Magna-Doodle. Then we headed off to gymnastics, which went really well! C.O. was very excited because he did a couple of back-flips on the rings, and C.J. worked on the high beam again. When we got home, they spent the rest of the evening drawing pictures at the kitchen table - we go through an amazing number of crayons in this house! I’m always glad to find them on sale. We also baked cookies for a 4-H party.

Tuesday: Great day! We went to a 4-H party, and it was just so much fun! There were all kinds of activity tables, holiday display tables, presents, food, etc. C.O. played LEGOs with other boys of all ages (up to I think about 13), building & racing all kinds of fantastic creations, made a beeswax candle, and a clove orange (what fantastic smells!). C.J. made a paper snowflake (with lots of my help), a beeswax candle, and a clove orange too. She stayed fairly close to me at the party, though she did enjoy playing with a couple of other little girls, and a baby. We also had a cotton ball “snowball” fight - at first the kids played against each other, but then we had adults versus children, and I think the children won! There were two rounds of present exchanges, first the little kids, then the older ones. C.J. got one of those neat wiggly wooden snakes, which she has been carrying around ever since, and C.O. got a flashlight with 3 different bug-printed lenses, which he loves! He also got to enjoy some wrestling with one of the other boys! I had a good time too - I got to talk to some other moms, and I didn’t feel quite as awkward and out-of-place as I usually do at gatherings. We’re now officially going to join 4-H, since the kids had so much fun!

Wednesday: A much quieter day. We worked on pen-pal Christmas cards, math, phonics, and studied our book on insects, discussing all the parts of the body, and different groups of insects. C.O. now has 4 pen-pals, and C.J. has 3, ranging from Tennessee to Canada! One of them (Canadian) apparently primarily speaks French, so now the children want to learn French. I took 3 years of it in high school, but really don’t remember all that much of it now!

Yesterday: Back to the dentist, for another filling for C.O. He was so good! He stayed very still, and only cried when they gave him the Novocain shots. I’m working really hard on positive reinforcement with him, so we stopped at a toy store on the way home, where he got a small die-cast metal bi-plane. Then, we stopped at my mom’s house to pick up C.J. and ended up staying for a couple of hours to work on a gingerbread house. Then we came home, the kids helped me make soup, and C.O. read one of his phonics books out loud to me. They spent some time playing with C.O.’s math manipulatives, and we finished off the evening with family movie night - we watched “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”. Naturally, C.O. is now a hobbit!

Today: We hope to finish Christmas shopping and get all the pen-pal cards out in the mail! We may also see Santa Claus. C.O. wants to do some math, so we’ll definitely work on that, and we want to finish reading our holiday library books so we can return them.

I’ve been preparing for next year’s home schooling. I have decided after much research and thought, that we will be following the basic ideas and guidelines of the Well-Trained Mind. I may be a bit geeky, but I am really excited about this, as I can see it working well for our family. I am now looking at all the many. Many options of books to supplement the history and science aspects of the program. I plan to blend it with a Charlotte Mason approach, using “living” books and nature walks/journals.

General update

I had a whole post in mind earlier today, but thanks to sick elflings, I have temporarily lost my track of thought. O well, probably wasn't all that great anyway!

We are trying to get ready for the holidays here. My dad is insisting on coming here Christmas Eve instead of us coming to his house, so I am doing more cleaning than normal - our house is always cluttered with a million projects, not dirty, but definately not tidy. So I am trying to make things tidy. Plus, we've been going through books, clothes, toys, etc. trying to weed out what we can donate, so that we just have less stuff, so now that's all over the place too. I do have most of my Christmas shopping done, so that's a relief. Still waiting for a couple of things to arrive in the mail/UPS, and I need to order one more thing for my dad. The kids are each getting a scooter this year (that's what they asked Santa for), C.O. is getting a magic set, and C.J. is getting mini cookware along with a handmade apron. I know, that's very much a typical girly gift, but she loves helping out in the kitchen! I also ordered some gorgeous books from Daedalus Books, which has great prices and very low shiiping costs. I have to say I am thankful for the Internet this shopping season because I was able to find a lot of gifts at reduced prices, like a book for my dad. At the bookstore it was marked $29.99, but I found it online for $12.95, plus $1.50 shipping. Not too bad!

This week promises to be busy. We are going to a 4H party Tuesday. Wednesday I am off to my department's Christmas party. I think I came up with perfect gifts for both - at the 4H party it's a $5 limit, unisex gifts, for 2 different age groups, so I decided on something I think will go over well. For the office party, it's a "White Elephant" gift. I didn't have anything good at home, so I went to the closest mall, which has a sock store, and got some moderately hideous & very silly socks . Then, next weekend, we are off to see a local production of "The Nutcracker", partly as a treat for the kids, and partly as a treat for my birthday. I'll be an impressive 34 on the 18th. Can't really complain though - my 30's have been good so far!

School is almost over for the season. I am doing my presentation on Wednesday, so I plan to spend tomorrow working on that. Most of the presentations I've seen have been fairly simplistic, so this project won't be as hard as I originally feared. I need to sign up for spring classes soon too. I want to take art history, an art studio class & maybe a lecture series, maybe.

I guess that's enough of an update for now!

Since Monday...

It's been a so-so week. Right now both kids have miserable colds, so we missed out on yesterday's park day & today's playdate. We did make it to the library briefly yesterday, to return the one-week holiday books & to quickly get more. I also got a few "new" books in the mail this week: the Usbourne Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Natural World; Eyewitness Insects; & the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, which is a pretty darn cool book!
 
As far as education this week, C.O. has been going like crazy through HWOT, and C.J. is starting to realize that she too can write letters, so during lessons I make sure she has her Magna-doodle at hand for practice. It's different with her because she's left-handed, unlike anyone else in the family, though I think my sister may have been left-handed until kindergarten when her teachers began making her use her right hand. I just tilt the paper/whatever the opposite way for C.J. than I do for myself, & it seems to be working well. In math, C.O. did his first whole page of straight addition problems, and got them all right! He's really proud of that page, which is now in a place of honor on the fridge door. He also got back into Maps, Graphs, Globes this week, working on the four directions (North, West, East, South and Top, Bottom, Left, Right). We also started work on some holiday books from Enchanted Garden - C.O.'s involves copywork & coloring, C.J.'s is just coloring.
 
We'll probably do a little in schoolwork today. I plan on reading "The Nutcracker" to them again in preparation for going to the ballet later this month, and C.O. wants to do another page of straight math problems. Other than that, we'll just take it easy today, so my poor little sick babies can get better quickly!
 
HAD TO EDIT TO ADD:
C.O. just lost his first tooth about an hour ago! It's been very loose and wobbly for a couple of weeks, and so today out it came! He's very excited that the tooth fairy will come tonight!

Sunday & today...

Sunday - We did about a million loads of laundry, seriously. At least, for once, it's all folded and put away! It's so much easier to get dressed in the morning when you can find the clean stuff! M was at a friend's for the weekend, helping with some construction project, so the kids & I had the morning to ourselves. We made hot apple cider & watched Microcosmos. Then we read some of "The BFG" by Roald Dahl. This is the first chapter book I've read out loud that both children actually enjoy! C.O. took one of his math assessments & did really well. C.J. and I then worked on the alphabet, both singing it and identifying letters (capitol ones) by sight. Then we browsed a cool site on Christmas Around the World, and in honor of our research, made a Russian dinner - pirogi, cabbage, pickled beets.
 
Monday - C.O. had his enrichment class this morning, and they worked on poems about mittens. Afterwards, he came home and the kids played out front on their bicycles for about an hour & a half while I made dinner ahead of time. Then, C.O. did 6 pages in HWOT (he was really enjoying it), 2 pages in HM Phonics, and 2 pages of math. C.J. colored princess pictures and drew polka dots (her favorite thing to draw lately). She also practiced writing the letters "O" & "T", because those were a couple of the letters C.O. was working on. Then, off to gymnastics! I finally got smart and brought coloring books & a bunch of crayons to occupy each of the kids while the other is doing gymnastics. Now, it's after dinner, and the kids are watching an episode of Curious George before bed, after we read 2 more chapters in the BFG.
 
We got a lot done over the weekend as far as sorting out books and clothes - still more to go. They outgrow things (clothes, toys and books) so fast sometimes that it is hard to keep up with it all!