Learning Through Life

Sweet Seventeen

2011-12-11T21:59:00.002-06:00

I know it's been a while. The kids are crazy busy as always. I wanted to take a minute to update on my Rockstar. She's heavily involved in Epic now, devotedly studying away in credit-able online high school courses; we had a bit of a slow start, but she is off and running and doing extremely well in it. When she isn't studying, most of the time, she's practicing her instruments or working away in the kitchen. I LOVE that she loves baking! She makes everything from scratch and consistently chooses challenging recipes, and they just keep getting better and better. She's come a long way from that young girl who documented her often hilarious learning experiences in the kitchen.

In September, she and my sister Shane' organized a bake sale at LilBird's dance school to benefit our JDRF walk team. It was a huge success! She makes these chocolate chip cookie bars that are A-MA-ZING. (Seriously, run, don't walk, next time you know these are available for sale!)

They spent 2 days straight creating this! (Grandma also made a bunch of these goodies, too.)

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

And they even made these cool t-shirts amidst the baking!

Now, she has begun a (currently one-on-one) cake decorating class. In the first class, she used a shaped pan. This was a first for her, and it turned out great! She learned how to use icing to create a basket weave pattern, and she also got to play with fondant. All those duct-tape flowers she's made gave her a leg-up on her teacher!

In her second class, she learned how to create a shaped cake out of cupcakes. This monkey was delish!

We shelled pecans to help her create this Thanksgiving masterpiece (from scratch). Pumpkin Pecan Cream Cheese Roll ... I've already been begging for this one again.

Back to class, her latest creation was a character cake. She chose her first love, Scooby. :)

Rockstar has also put in a lot of hours this year volunteering. Just this fall, she has worked at the Tulsa State Fair, the Jenks West Book Fair, a gymnastics meet, and was a hair model for a coloring class at my sister Sarah's salon. She took charge of our family Xmas Countdown, and she and Ace created an activity chain so our house becomes more and more decorative as we get closer to Santa and they catch all the holiday movies when they're on.

♥ I am such a lucky mom! She rocks!! ♥

Ah, ph♥netic spelling.

2011-10-13T22:49:00.001-05:00

"Thaingk You Mommy"

This particular love note was in response to my order and purchasing (invisible) snacks off the "menyou" for LilBird's (bed, turned tent, turned house with clear room identifications, turned ...) snack bar.

The Lingo

2011-07-01T08:25:00.000-05:00

LilBird and Daddy played some Uno Attack (probably the most played game in our house) while I was chauffeuring Ace home from gymnastics and Rockstar was at one of her numerous babysitting jobs. Their score-keeping evolved into an all out multi-digit math practice session. I witnessed clear and convincing evidence that my youngest daughter's choice of words screams, "I am a Child of the Computer Age."

Dad: Now we have that answer, 2345, and we're going to add 999 to that.
LilBird: That's only one less than a thousand!
Dad: Yes, it is. So we start with this column, 5 plus 9.
LilBird: Fourteen. So we write the 4 down here and we drag the 1 up here.
Dad: Yes, but we are carrying the 1, not dragging it. It's important that you know the proper terms in math.
LilBird: Oh, yeah, carry the 1.
Dad: Now we have 1 plus 4 plus 9. One plus 4 is?
LilBird: Five.
Dad: Five plus 9 is?
LilBird: Fourteen again, so we put another 4 down here, and we draaaaaaaaaag the one up here.
Dad: Correct, but we carry the one.
LilBird: Oh yeah. Carry.
Dad: Now we have 1 plus 3 plus 9. One plus 3 is?
LilBird: Four.
Dad: Four plus 9?
LilBird: Thirteen! So we put the 3 down here and we drag the one up here, and add it to 2. So the answer is three thousand three hundred forty-four!
Dad: That is right!

Drag. Carry. Same difference.

Look What I Can READ ...

2011-05-10T16:10:00.002-05:00

... ALL BY MYSELF!

She's been working on "Go, Dog, Go!" for about two weeks (each setting at my prompting). The last couple of times, I grew frustrated with her "forgetting" (wink wink) words from one page to the next. To cure her "forgetfulness," I started making a list of the ones I had to help her with so she could write them (x3) and read them afterward. It was a miracle cure, I tell ya. Yesterday, the dose was increased to five times each, and she only "forgot" 3 words. This afternoon, she came to me and wanted to read to me "The Foot Book," AND SHE DID!

2011-04-25T16:13:00.000-05:00

I hate to admit that typing has become frustrating for me, but it has. My fingers get in the way of one another anymore. That's my excuse for not keeping up this blog, and I'm sticking to it. ;-}

In the meantime ...

LilBird CAN read! A few weeks ago, the girls spent the night with their little cousins. The best report I got was, "Boogie wanted me to read her a story, Mom. So, I did. I read the words I knew." I'm sure that was a very interesting story given that she has put a 4-letter limit on what she *thinks* she can read. She's not confident enough to complete "Put Me In The Zoo," but she likes little printable books, so that's what we've been doing lately. Jay told her last week he wanted her to read "Go, Dog, Go" for him, so I'm hoping to see that happen this week. She will not hesitate to say, "Books are lame," but I see through it. She likes books. She likes reading. She's just stubborn, and that's okay. Now, give the child a three-digit addition or subtraction problem that requires carrying or borrowing, and she'll knock your socks off with that! She has been loving her musical theater class and is preparing for next month's recital where she will be performing songs from "The Sound of Music," and she's excited to be enrolled to take some fun dance classes over the summer to see if that really is something she'd like to commit to next year. She recently participated at a fashion show for JDRF at JCPenney, and she did such a good job! She definitely has performance in her blood.

Ace has had 5 allergy elimination treatments in the past two months.Yes, you read that right - ELIMINATION. After talking with a new friend (whom I met through a not-so-new friend ;), I researched Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Technique (NAET) and contacted a local acupuncturist who administers this treatment. When we decided to do this, Ace was taking two oral allergy medications and one nasal allergy medication EVERY SINGLE DAY YEAR AROUND; she was still getting ear infections (requiring antibiotics) every 3-5 weeks. We've never used acupuncture around here, but we have had good success with other "alternative" remedies through the years, so I figured trying it certainly couldn't hurt. That's putting it mildly! Ace is my alabaster-skinned blondie who, for about 4 years or so, has always looked like she had two black eyes. I thought she just didn't sleep well, which is partly true, but - lo and behold, those were classic Allergy Eyes. Guess what? NO MORE! No more allergy medications, no more ear infections, no more black eyes! She still has a half-dozen more allergies to be treated (from the initial evaluation), but we're taking a brief break since this is such a busy time of year for us. Meanwhile, I've become "That Mom" who cannot tell enough people about this amazing discovery we've experienced! I really think our acupuncturist can help just about everybody with something! Ace has even been recommending it to her friends. She is much more focused and energetic. She practices gymnastics 3 hours/night x 4 nights a week, and usually adds 3 two-hour practices each week during the mornings. Before she started doing these allergy elimination treatments, she would be dead-tired by Thursday evening. Not now. :) Academic-wise, she's still working on the same math curricula she's been working with all year, and she's almost finished with her anatomy notebook, and she's started reading the Little House series in preparation for a field trip next month. Oh, and she's competing at USAG State this Friday ... woohoo!

Where to begin with Rockstar ... She auditioned with flute for Quartz Mountain (Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute) for the first time this year. Over 1200 applicants for about 250 spots, and she fell in the majority of those applicants ... bummed out. However, the next day, her shiny new Gemeinhardt open-hole flute arrived by UPS and there was much rejoicing! She bought this fine $600 instrument with hard-earned babysitting money, and we couldn't be more proud of that decision! She will be auditioning for Tulsa Youth Symphony in the coming weeks, and she is planning to try again (whew!) for Quartz Mountain. We have decided to try something new for this next "school year" and have enrolled her in Epic One on One Charter School. This is something I've been considering for over a year, but they had some state issues last year and were not able to begin the school year "on time." Rockstar is VERY excited about this (whew, again!) and I'm hoping she might take an interest in one of the local tech schools for her elective choices. Driver's Ed also will likely begin in the fall, so be warned!

We've welcomed spring in our "new" tradition - making use of the awesome raised beds Jay made last year. This year, he built one just for LilBird that is filled with dwarf Asiatic lilies (and a few tiger lilies). The girls have all been riding their bikes - even LilBird! Rockstar and Ace have both spent hours pushing her around and cheering her on sans training wheels!! I think our trek to the Kids Triathlon this year just might include TWO competitors. Stay tuned. :)

43 Words

2011-01-03T21:55:00.000-06:00

It's a new year and my LilBird excitedly sounded out and read 43 words today. You might say, so what, she's SIX for pete's sake! She was EXCITED about it ... and that is huge. We have pecked at letter recognition and phonics throughout these last couple of years (most recently in between checking blood sugars and marveling over her math skills), but that part of learning to read is "the boring stuff". Today, she KNEW the letters. She KNEW the sounds. She put them together and recognized WORDS. And she was very proud of herself.

I know my blog here has been seriously lacking, but I'll be honest. I've been in a funk with All Things School. New fall plans were politically corrupted and frustratingly postponed. Twelveness has reared it's lazy head and I really, really, really dislike nagging. Then there's diabetes, which just sucks every single day, and lately, every single night - it's exhausting. So, I don't really have any other excuse except that I just didn't want to sit down and gripe, which is all I've felt like doing the past few months. That is not to say there haven't been highlights, and I'll try to get around to recapping those good things. Not today, though. Today, I am going to dwell on a certain number ... 43. And, I am going to cherish it. Tomorrow, I will not expect another 43 words, but rather I will hope for her continued interest and excitement.

(Oh, and my best girl friend withdrew her daughter today from public school to homeschool. She's an amazing mom with a very smart and talented daughter, and I'm SO excited for them!)

Happy Halloween

2010-10-26T09:16:00.000-05:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Sixteen Candles

2010-10-18T09:51:00.002-05:00

A little over 10 years ago, as I uncomfortably stood in a government office room filled with children and their estranged parents, awaiting the appearance of a child who was going to change my life in ways I never imagined, a little 5-year-old girl caught my eye. She knew no strangers, and she very strongly resembled her daddy, the love of my life. My heart stirred, and she made me smile even though I really didn’t want to. Some months later, Jay had lunch with her for her 6^th birthday. Just after Thanksgiving, I got to meet her at a park. I was about a week post-op from an emergency appendectomy, but I don’t think she had any idea. We played and laughed and began to get to know one another. I was in very unfamiliar territory then, treading oh-so lightly because of the circumstances, and I wondered how I was going to fit into her life and she in mine. She snatched a piece in my heart that day at the park. Over the next weeks, she met and bonded with her baby sister, she joined us for Christmas, and she began spending whole weekends with us. In March, during her Spring Break, we were having fun in the back yard when she, out-of-the-blue, hugged me tight and asked if she could call me Mom. My heart nearly leapt from my chest.

A few years passed, and our home became her home. Those years in between, and the next few to come, were filled with constant adjustment for all of us, but she bore the enormous burden of being torn between what-should-have-been and what-is. Her short life had been so filled with heartache and confusion, and all I could do was try to be an anchor in the storm because I was just the wicked stepmother. I mothered her as best and fairly as I could, despite that nagging voice of fear perpetually reminding me that she was not my child; I was fully invested in her well-being and I loved her unconditionally. The circumstances from which she’d come continued to deteriorate until it was just too much. In what could have been the darkest hour of her childhood, she stood up for herself. On a Sunday evening in June, she asked me to BE her Mom. I had a flashback of 5 years before when she first so innocently acknowledged our connection, and at this point, more than ever, she truly needed me to shred that fine line I’d been walking and step up. I was more than willing, and I needed it, too.

I didn’t birth her as I did my other girls. I didn’t “choose” her as many adoptees are. Our paths just crossed, and the rollercoaster of life just happened. Ten years later, my girl is sixteen. SIXTEEN! When I see her giggling and singing and playing with her little sisters, I remember that silly little girl I met in the park - wild-eyed, loud, and bossy. When I catch a glimpse of her toiling away at her instruments, she glows with undeniable determination and spirit. When she stomps through the house, undoubtedly mumbling curses at me for whatever reason, I see … myself. She may not have my hair, my build, my eyes, nor my blood running through her veins, but she is my daughter just the same. My sixteen-year-old daughter, the Rockstar.

My sweet girl, I don’t have to tell you that life isn’t easy, and while I’ve genuinely dreamt of erasing all the bad stuff from your history, I know it would alter who you are, just as erasing the bad stuff from my childhood would change who I am. It took a long time for me to find that silver lining, that reason for my own “bad stuff,” and it was you and me. Life equipped me with what I needed to be what you needed me to be, and someday things will make sense for you, too. Life is funny like that. Savor these last years as a kid. Never EVER stop noticing the simple little things that make you happy – stars, sunsets, flowers, music, lemons, a good story, a pretty picture, helping others … those things make life worthwhile. I may be your Mom, but your future is in your hands - you make a difference every day and you always will. You have enhanced my life in so many ways, and today I want to thank you – for not giving up, for striving to see the goodness in humanity, for reminding me that dreaming has value, for loving me, for your courage and strength, for sharing your talents, for forgiving me when I am over-protective and demanding, and for trusting and believing in me even when you really didn’t want to. Yesterday, today, and forever, you hold a special piece of my heart. I love you, Rockstar. Happy Sixteenth Birthday!

This is where the summer went!

2010-10-18T09:27:00.001-05:00

Long time, no "real" update on what's going on around here. This summer, I spent a lot of effort and hope on an online charter school program that we were going to try, only to be foiled by the State. (Those of you who know me know how apropos that scenario is. Please, people, for the love of your children, do not vote for any incumbents this November!) Without explaining all of the details of the program or my motivation for pursuing it, or even how the State blocked it, I'll just say that it didn't work out this year. It was quite disappointing for me and is largely why I haven't blogged here in a while. I'm over it for the time-being, and so I'll do a little update now.

Rewinding to May, we survived what we refer to as "the tornado that wasn't". It was a "small" one that meteorologists wouldn't even acknowledge until the damage couldn't be refuted. Tornado season is always exciting, but in all the years we've taken cover, this is (thankfully) the only real damage we've ever personally experienced. The saddest casualty was our beloved back yard tree.

In June, we built a raised garden. We didn't harvest a lot, but it was quite enjoyable, and definitely a learning experience. We enjoyed it so much we built a second one.

We recycled the cases for large gates (thanks to Dad's job) as the base of our beds. We planted cantaloupe, eggplant, herbs, pepper and tomato varieties, Jerusalem artichokes, flowers, zucchini, watermelon and cucumbers. Since we got a late start, we used plants for many of the items, and next year, everything will be from seed, and we'll do a lot more planning. It was a sort of spontaneous garden experience this year, but since it was successful (aside from fighting wildlife), and we didn't have weeds to fight because it was raised, it's going to be extra fabulous next spring. :)

All three girls went to camp this year, too. I have mentioned that in LilBird's blog, so I'll just link to that instead of re-hashing it all here.

Our neighbors got a new pool at the beginning of the summer season, and gave us their old one since ours (quick set with the air ring) had bit the dust long ago. Gotta love a FREE pool! Ahem. No, seriously, we are very grateful and we got a LOT of use out of it (just took it down at the end of September). LilBird (remember who had not done well in swimming lessons in 2009?) was a little fish all summer long!

Having the swimming pool helped Ace prepare for the annual Kids Triathlon she has done now for six years. She improved her time over last year, and got to use the new bike she got for her birthday.

Everybody got a new summer hair cut, even if Mom wasn't ready for the length to go ...

Mom and Ace experienced our first State (Gymnastics) Banquet, which was quite fun. Ace was recognized as an All-State Team member along with several of her teammates, and after a fancy buffet dinner, they got to let it all out on the dance floor.

One of the best parts of the summer was the arrival of a new cousin! Yay, Cooper!

As the summer wound down, our activities picked up again. Ace began morning gym, which now means she has a potential for 20 hours in the gym each week. (I say potential, because if I'm dissatisfied with her academic or responsibility effort, she sometimes misses a morning gym session.) Rockstar wrapped up the summer with a series of private lessons on her trumpet and flute. She also saved up enough money babysitting that she was able to make her first major purchase, an Epiphone Les Paul electric guitar. LilBird has graduated from Bitty Broadway to Musical Theater, and she has a new teacher and is loving every minute of it. She had a friend who had a birthday party at his local fire station (how cool is that?) so she got to tour the fire station.

The girls plugged away at math, reading, history and science throughout the entire summer. Just this past week did we all take a break from our regular school work in anticipation of Rockstar's 16th birthday party. It's about that time of year when I anticipate taking more breaks here and there. Rockstar has a personal goal to get into college in 2 years, so I doubt she'll take quite as many breaks because there are just requirements for college that must be met (and that's okay).

Homeschooling ... what were we thinking?

2010-08-23T14:46:00.003-05:00

As children get older, their academic work becomes more challenging. I feel it's safe to say that is universal, not specific to homeschooling. The difference in homeschooling is that, as the parent-teacher, we are more emotionally involved in what and how our children learn. If you home-educate only boys, maybe you disagree. I don't have boys, so I can't speak on that. I do, however, have all girls ... girls all in vastly different stages of development, but who are all emotional. LilBird doesn't get too emotional yet over learning; she just seems to have very little interest in anything that looks like traditional learning. Ace gets emotional only if she is in the wrong mood to begin with or her schoolwork is interfering with something she'd rather be doing (like gymnastics, playing with duct tape, or watching TV). Rockstar gets emotional on a daily basis as she battles learning new concepts and processes; homeschooling for her is much more difficult than public school ever was, only because public school allowed her to skate by without truly learning.

Thirteen years ago, we were preparing for one child. Deciding to home school her was a no-brainer. Neither Jay nor I felt public school had prepared for us real life; we both felt stifled, bored, generally held back in our school experiences. Teaching our child at home seemed natural, and it did come naturally, and Ace was the perfect example of a sponge. She wanted to learn about everything. She made it easy for us. She still does, to an extent.

Then, our life took a turn that brought us into public school; we didn't have a choice in Rockstar's primary education, so we had to just roll with it. We cringed when teachers praised her for "reading" when we could clearly see she just had the story memorized and had fooled everybody but us. In first grade, she'd already mastered short-cutting to please. She reveled in pleasing people who clearly didn't care whether or not she was really learning; and that was just as disturbing as her not being taught. In what was limited time with her then, Jay and I consistently tried to nurture what was left of that natural love of learning we knew was there. She spent more time in public school than we'd have ever wished for our own child, but we did what we had to do and we got her out of there as soon as life allowed.

Along came our little surprise, LilBird. She has kept us guessing from Day One. She's strong-willed and defiant. (Yes, I know she comes by that honestly.) When it comes to learning academics, she is the opposite of Ace. If it looks like learning, and she didn't come up with it, it's less interesting than rubbish to her. Thank goodness she wasn't the first one, or we might have just taken our chances with public education. She is learning every day, though. We just can't stay with one program for more than a few days before she's bored with it. Thank goodness we live in the age of the Internet so we can keep finding new ways to educate her.

Mornings like today make me ask myself, why in the world would I have ever wanted to torture myself like I do?! I have been working with LilBird on word families - I found some neat "packages" online that included hands-on learning that she seems to like. Ten minutes into it today, I'd said "it's a B, not a D" a half-dozen times, and "G has two sounds, Juh and Guh" just as many times. On a different level, it took well over a month of repeating how to add and subtract integers for Rockstar, and that was exhausting. Today, I marked the same math problem incorrect three times, each time noting that one must add all of the sides of a figure to determine the perimeter. By the third time, she argued that she was doing it right and that I and the book were wrong, that because that particular figure included two curved sides (which were equal and together made the circumference of a full circle), and the proper way to determine the perimeter was to REMOVE one of the curved sides. She got mad at me over it, as if I'm the one to came up with the formula for perimeter. This, after offering up a book report that was so vague I had to question whether she actually read the book (after she got 40% of the answers right on a quiz over it, I'm fairly confident that she skimmed the book rather than read it). See, in public school, she'd have just missed the problems, guessed on the tests and taken the grades, no accountability whatsoever.

I think I just answered my own question. In my personal life, I have a solid interest in politics. It goes without saying that many people these days have an opinion on politics. Being radically moderate in Oklahoma, there are few people I actually agree with. On a daily basis, I am frustrated with people who do not fact-check, who believe crap they see on TV or read on a blog or an obviously slanted "news" source, who can't spell or do basic math, who have no respect for or basic understanding of history or geography, and/or who have no grasp of accountability. I'd never be able to live with myself if my contribution to society was three more of those folks who drive me crazy. My kids must learn it is not okay to cheat, or leave out something, or be careless.

Emotionally-charged days like today are not easy. We get through them, though, despite hurt feelings. Sometimes a lesson has to be repeated again and again. And again. And again. And again. Sometimes we have to walk away, clear our minds and hearts, and then try again. It is hard not to take it personally when "she" immaturely turns her mistake into me just being an evil poopyhead. (I use "she" here in general because they all do this.) She wants to give up when she gets to that point. If I give up, though, how is that different than the public school that failed her? That's why we make it through these tough days, because I committed to providing the best education for my children, even before I had them. It was that important. It still is.

No, we did not fall off the planet!

2010-05-07T12:32:00.002-05:00

Whew ... we have just been busy. And sick, can't forget that part, too.

I have to start by saying I am really, really, really glad this gymnastics season is over. I knew moving from Parks & Rec to USAG was going to swallow our checkbook and our calendar, but I didn't realize just how exhausting it would be. It sure was awesome, though! Check out the Level 4:11 State-Winning Beam routine!

Ace placed 5th All-Around in the State! Can I get a Hooray!?!

As spring is in full force, we're winding up Band/Guitar and Bitty Broadway, too. I think Rockstar has decided to keep next year's classes as they are now, which will enable her to keep playing all of her three instruments instead of having to choose between flute and trumpet in the advanced class. LilBird has been loving her Bitty Broadway class and nervously anticipates performing at Mayfest and her first recital ever this month.

(photo credit: Shawn Stewart-Maddox)

So, what else have we been doing? We've been doing math like nobody's business the past few months. It's taken precedence over most all other "schooly" subjects. We've done a bit of studying about The Holocaust and Anne Frank, too. We participated in a reading group and studied Where the Red Fern Grows for several weeks. That was fun, but it seemed to take more time and effort than any of the moms involved really had. Maybe we'll do something similar to it another time. The girls also sat in on a fun group lesson about drawing cartoon animals. Rockstar's moved into her new bedroom (which remains almost finished), and we are now inspired to do more home projects which are in the works. We've also taken time out to have some fun in the wind.

Rockstar has completed the Red Cross Babysitting Bootcamp this year and I am delighted to announce she is CPR, First Aid, and Babysitter certified now. She is learning how to give insulin shots and feels comfortable with pump-wearing diabetic kids, so she is offering her services to parents of diabetic children ... definitely a niche market! Of course, she's happy to babysit non-diabetics as well! ;) Get her while she's cheap, folks! LOL No, really ... she is a great babysitter. She really loves kids. (And she's nearing driving age, so she's trying to acquire and save money doing something she enjoys.)

I am planning to continue schooly work through most of the summer since I anticipate actually having more free time to devote to that. We have some fun stuff brewing for the summer, too. I apologize for the brevity and vagueness of the update, but .. it is what it is. :)

sometimes girls just need to craft

2010-02-19T17:24:00.001-06:00

3 silly girls + ribbon + chocolate + glue + sugar + tape + scissors + love + thread + puff paint + camera + beads + clippies + candles + glitter + paint =

for LilBird from Ace on ♥ day

for LilBird from Rockstar

Ace made 30+ hair bows over 2 days

... and a business was born

and there was light

remember that first ingredient?

and more food, of course ....

mmmmm, brownies made by Rockstar & LilBird

"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts." (Harry S. Truman)

2010-02-15T08:33:00.001-06:00

Once upon a time, planning was the hardest part of homeschooling. Then I had three girls at home all at the same time. Girls are emotional.

I am not perfect and have never claimed to be. I wish my children could grasp that. I do know more about "things in general" than my kids, which is why I'm the teacher, most of the time. (They do teach me, and I delight in that there are plenty of things they know more about than I do.) My philosophy for homeschooling is that I prefer to take the role of "guide" than "teacher". I believe children have an innate ability and desire to learn. Unfortunately for me, the desire is undeniably tainted and the ambition has been strangled in an emotionally-charged student. How does one fix the embedded misconception that learning is not cool? That being smart is lame? That adults should always have every answer? That when you learn something rather than already know it, you're dumb? (I STILL learn something new everyday!) These misconceptions make for a long day of eye-rolling, loud sighs, stomping, whining, arguing and an overall crappy attitude. Add those days together, and this mama wants to hide in my bedroom every weekend.

I am genuinely conscious of the way I verbalize lessons, specifically being careful not to promote self-doubt, low self-esteem, etc. I do not, however, sugar-coat. It's simply not in my nature. If I started doing so, my children would suspect I am up to something. So, when I encourage my children to choose their own vocabulary words for self-exploration, here's how the process works in my head: They pick words to look up for definition. When I review their written understanding of those words, we discuss them and I give examples to ensure they have an appropriate grasp of the word's meaning, that they can properly use the word in a sentence. (That is the point of vocabulary words, is it not?) Sometimes I look them up myself because I do not know everything. Seems simple enough, right? Ha! Picture this reality: pick the vocabulary words; copy the definition verbatim from the dictionary (despite countless reminders that copying is unacceptable and one learns nothing through that); moan at the request to provide sentences since the definitions weren't given any individual thought; whine, roll eyes and blink back tears while Mom tries carefully to help understand words incorrectly used (and clearly not understood); make no attempt to understand and be as non-creative as possible with new sentences (more specifically, use Mom's examples by changing one word). Somewhere along this particular educational journey, the notion of "learning is cool" was replaced by the horrible misconception that "if I don't already know it, I'm stupid," that when mixed with pubescent know-it-all attitude is a force to be reckoned with.

Winston Churchill said, "I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught." I could take comfort in that if the "always ready to learn" part was present. I have tried refreshing that ambition and desire, sometimes catching glimpses of the spark I saw in her at age 5, but still here I sit. I will keep trying because I am committed to it, and I will hope that gratitude might one day replace attitude.

I Know It's Almost February When ...

2010-02-02T07:47:00.000-06:00

... my inbox is full of legislative notices! Every year some wayward Oklahoma representative is woefully misguided into introducing bills to stir up homeschoolers. Currently, we have two ... Senator Mary Easley and Representative Cannady.

Senator Easley's introduced SB 1403 is an "emergent" notification bill. Here's what my letter in opposition looks like:

I am writing to urge you to support the Oklahoma Constitution and Oklahoma schools rather than Senator Easley’s Senate Bill 1403. This bill not only inappropriately alters our state’s Constitution but creates an undue burden on our overly-taxed public education system. According to the State Department of Education’s own website, we are almost last nationally for per-pupil spending (46th) and teacher salary (42nd), and Senator Easley is proposing to tamper with a freedom granted to parents by our Constitution and to give Oklahoma administrators yet another task unrelated to the education of the children who are already in their purview. Despite the SDE’s report that Oklahoma ranks high in the number of certified educators, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Oklahoma public schools rank below the national average in three out of four subjects! Nationally, children educated by “other means” test higher than their publicly schooled counterparts (approximately 30% higher on standardized tests), so not only does this bill not make sense fiscally, but educationally as well. Please vote against SB 1403. Thank you.

Hello, 2010!

2010-01-31T12:56:00.001-06:00

In our school, there's no such thing as a "Snow Day". I had to remind my late sleepers of this last Friday. Our power had gone off for an unknown amount of time Thursday night, so they had a "legit" excuse to sleep past their normal alarm times. Just because we can't go to our regularly scheduled activities (THANK YOU FOR THAT BREAK!) or anywhere else for that matter, and all of the surrounding schools are closed, that doesn't mean our own school shuts down. So, they got up late, but you know what? They had all of their school work done, caught up and snow-gear on by early afternoon!

Dad working hard on the new entertainment center.

We're baaaaaack! After my last post, it took us a while to get back into the swing of things. Having a child diagnosed with diabetes really turns the world upside down for the entire household. Add to that one major home remodel during the winter holidays, and you've got a very unmotivated mama and children happy for the down-time. Taking long breaks is not new to us, though to me, this break seemed to be a wee bit longer. (That is not to say they just sat and did nothing during the break. Quite the contrary, they played together a lot - building and creating with dominoes, Legos, "sticky-wickies". They each took a 10-day turn making their choice of Amish Friendship Bread. They played outside and took lots of photos. And, we played a lot of games - both video and at the table.) I prefer to announce that my kids are sooo into their learning that they happily maintained their regular non-paper schoolwork without my prompting, but alas, this time was not so. I was actually quite disappointed that laziness overtook my teenager to the point that she did not pick up a single instrument for a full 3 weeks, and when eventually prompted to do so, she actually argued that she had "nothing to play." That went over well ... NOT!

Rockstar after the Advanced Band Winter Concert

That was the beginning of easing them back into a routine. I made them turn off the video games and open up their math books, which they dove into with the tiniest bit of enthusiasm (not surprisingly short-lived). The second week of the new year, I provided them with a loosely planned schedule of expectations for the week. Ace, unschooler at heart, had a meltdown, which was not unexpected. See, Rockstar is the child whose self-motivation was completely drained from her being by the public school system; she needs to be told what to do and when to do it; she nearly refuses to ask questions, and simultaneously tends to inflict her incorrect assumptions on her siblings. Ace, on the other hand, asks lots of questions, but also hangs on her big sister's every word; she also jumps to conclusions and is easily overwhelmed. After all these years of dealing with her sensitive nature, I was able to minimize the tears and unfold a lesson from the situation.

Bird with her Bitty Broadway teacher, Mrs. Sheri after their holiday performance

The staples of their schedules only slightly differ from this year's "norm". Rockstar courageously admitted that she was not enjoying the online Cherokee class. She claims she still wants to learn the language (despite not having even looked at any of her notes for a full month) but that she prefers it in bits like I've been giving her - she's not yet ready for a specific Cherokee curriculum. I have no problem with that as long as she'll continue to study and learn. That frees up time in her day to pick up (English) spelling again. Since Ace tends to freak out on specified deadlines, I altered her math schedule from assigned lessons to self-paced like Rockstar's. So far, so good. We are also taking part in a literature group with some of the homeschooling families at the gym, so that's a new dimension; we are currently doing a unit study on the "Where the Red Fern Grows." Bird has been hit & miss (mostly hit) on following her own loose schedule, to which her Bitty Broadway activity-practice has been added (thanks to Mrs. Sheri for supplying lyrics and music for practice outside of class). I am amazed at her newfound grasp of numbers, which I assume can be contributed to such frequent glucose-checks. I haven't assigned them any writing yet, so their blogs are a bit behind, but I will prompt them to do that this week. Ace has lots of gymnastics news to report!

First Official USA Meet, 2nd Place All-Around & 2nd Place Team Trophies!

So, just when they're back in the saddle, winter rears it's snowy head and we're stuck at home. Rockstar braved the snow this time with her sisters and took the opportunity to take photos, which she really loves doing (and has quite a knack for). LilBird ate snow until I made her stop (because her face was SO red) ... "because I can eat it without a shot." In addition to playing and building in the snow, Ace busted out pencil and paper and did some makeshift science experiments - determining how fast the snow was accumulating (and which of us was predicting most accurately), how long it took room temperature water to freeze outdoors, and what happens when you put a rock in the water as it's freezing. So, that's that. We are embracing the new year and are moving right along in spite of the weather!

HALT!

2009-12-02T08:43:00.001-06:00

In the past two weeks, our life has been completely turned upside down with LilBird's diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes. When your child is diagnosed with Type 1, you stop everything and deal with it - there is no other way. I was compelled to start a whole 'nother blog about it for several reasons, mainly because it doesn't specifically pertain to homeschooling. It does warrant a mention here, however, because it has affected all of us and we are all learning about nutrition/diet/health, LOTS of math (add/subtract/fractions/decimals/measurements/rounding/ratios), science, medical terminology, and researching.

A-B-C, Easy as 1-2-3 ... Right?

2009-11-12T07:12:00.005-06:00

A new-since-we-were-there-last technician at our optometrist's office asked the girls and I about ourselves yesterday, specifically about what grades they are in. She began with LilBird. She wore the usual "Oh!" expression when I explained that she's not *in* kindergarten but is a homeschooler. I added that she's learning to read. The tech offered up that she had wanted to homeschool her own kids. (If only I had a nickel for every time I've heard that!) She went on to explain reasoning I'd never encountered in such a discussion, after asking, "Is it hard to teach your kid to read?" She didn't seem the least bit embarrassed by telling me that she'd sent her children to school "for at least a couple of years" so they would learn to read (with her plan being to homeschool them after that). Really? I personally find the notions of teaching higher mathematics, science and foreign language much more daunting than putting the letters of the alphabet together. Am I that naive to think that people don't help their children learn to read even when they are institutionally educated?

Now, those of you who know me are shaking your head and saying, "Your first homeschooled child was not typical, and you know it." She was reading at age 3. Of course I know that isn't typical. I know she was an easy student. My eldest daughter was in public school during those early years, and she had her own challenges when it came to reading. We still helped her learn to read, though. The school certainly didn't take the time that we did. My last child has her own way and pace of learning to read, too, but is it "hard" to teach her? No, I wouldn't say that. (Frustrating sometimes, but we've learned together that that feeling is our cue to take a break from whatever it is being taught.) They all three learn differently. However, learning to read is one of the first academic things we teach our kids. Until that point, do we really know HOW they learn best? I didn't. So you try everything, right? Isn't that what everybody does? They need to recognize the letters, capitals and lowers. They need to learn the sounds of the letters. They need to see - from the beginning - that the letters form words that tell stories and give information. We use letter magnets. We use workbooks. We read the stories aloud again and again, sometimes following along the words with our fingers. We play computer games. We play card games. We sing songs. We make mini books for letters and letter combinations. We point out letters on signs and play "The Alphabet Game" in the car. Even my older children do these things with my LilBird without being asked or told to because it just comes naturally to them - it was done with them, they see us doing it with her, so they do it with her too. Doesn't every responsible parent do these things even if they send their kids to school? And, do they consider it "hard"?

LilBird's progress with reading has been considerably slower than Ace's was. Rockstar's was, too. That's perfectly okay. LilBird will "get it", of that, I have no doubt.

I think I think too much

2009-10-16T07:22:00.005-05:00

I don't have a lot of motivation to write but feel compelled to update just because I haven't kept up. I'm not sure why the lack other than I just have so many things swirling around my head I feel like I have to toss a dart just to find a starting place.

We are finishing up our tenth straight week of planned academics "this year". Begs for burn-out, huh? We are planning a home remodel project for next month, and historically, I know we always take extended holiday breaks, so I'm just trying to stay ahead of the long-term game plan.

Both big girls have been working through the same Horizons math curriculum. It is an essential review for Rockstar so her self-pace is quite a bit faster than Ace's. I am pleased with it as a curriculum because it keeps their interest. The workbook pages are very colorful. Even the biblical bits here and there spark some good non-math conversation. Watching how each of them tackle the exact same math so very differently intrigues me. Ace's mind works similarly to my own when it comes to figuring a math problem, but she definitely has her own twists that can hang her up on occasion. For the most part, I think this is the easiest math I've taught her. It often pains me to watch Rockstar beat herself up as she struggles with old bad habits; I wish I'd been able to start earlier with her so it might be easier. I question so many aspects of her struggle, so when she gets frustrated (and hateful), I just try to remain calm and am very careful not to project any feelings of disappointment or condemnation - she's had enough of that in her life. In the throes of hormonal teenagedom, her angst against personal responsibility mixed with the strong desire to "get it over with" often does not bode well for a calm math lesson.

My girls have finally accepted that as long as they are being educated in my home, they will always have spelling lessons. Call me quirky, but you better be able to spell it right! Misspelling is a pet peeve of mine, especially when it's done via computer. (And what do we read anymore that wasn't generated from a computer?) So many argue (my kids included) that spell-check makes learning to spell a waste of time. WHAT-EVER! That's like not learning to write at all because of keyboards. (Aside, I understand that cursive writing is being removed from many curricula - to the joy of many previous-students-now-parents ... this makes me sad.)

Self-study and self-discipline are driving forces with my kids' education. Largely because I have a pretty good lack of it myself and wish I'd developed it when I was young. Rockstar is plugging away at learning Cherokee. She has enrolled in the Nation's free online course in addition to what I've given her. It's actually quite impressive. Not only is it a new language, but with 86 characters, many of which sound quite similar, and it's almost dead anymore. She studies this completely on her own, and I quiz her at the end of the week just to keep her going.

Ace is in the gym no less than 17 hours each week. I think my van can drive itself there without me. Her physical transformation from my tiny, little girl to oh-my-goodness-look-at-the-muscles-on-that-tween is almost more than a mama's heart can take. She is so very proud of herself, and that makes it bearable. Her first official USA meet is in just one week, and she was picked from her team to compete "because she's ready". She's so sensitive that I fear that the pressure is going to be too much, but I have to remind myself that this is what she REALLY REALLY wanted, this is what she works SO hard for, this is HER THING. I'm sure there are moms of gymnasts in much higher levels than 4 who laugh at me, but I don't care.

Rockstar's passion for music reached another level recently. She's mentioned several times now that she wants to learn piano/keys. Mostly, I've found her taste in music to be close-minded, specifically to things I enjoy listening to. Disheartening yes, but understandable to an extent. The radio show Folk Salad had a 10th birthday bash at Cain's, free and all ages, so we were THRILLED to take our girls. We weren't sure if they'd like it, but it was exactly the kind of thing we'd hoped to expose them to even if for just a little while. I certainly didn't expect Rockstar to enjoy it as much as she did - but she really did appreciate it, she got into it, she actually said, "That was AWESOME!" After watching the one and only, supremely talented Mr. John Fullbright rip it up on keys with Red Dirt Rangers (after he'd already gotten a standing ovation for his own vocal slot), she's even MORE stoked about learning piano. Bonus for her was getting to meet and talk with some pretty cute, uber talented local musicians (John & Gabriel Marshall) who encouraged her to stick with music.

Last but certainly not least, LilBird's always busy with something. It's not usually what I would like her to be busy with, but hey, she's only 4 (at least for a few more weeks). I am proud to announce she is 5 letters away from finishing the first book of Hooked on Phonics. What's funny is that she already knows those letters, but we're still going through the motions because it's what she wants to do. I still hate that program, LOL. She's started adding things to our grocery list and writing notes to family. She's sorting out the concept of time in terms of days, weeks and seasons. Her Bitty Broadway class held Parent Watch Week last week and what a TREAT that was! I knew she had it in her, but I am always so nervous when my kids are at the mercy of any audience! I'm still kicking myself for forgetting the camera. The thing about her that tears at me is knowing how much more I did with Ace at this age, and the guilt that I associate with being an older mom and just not having the energy with the added responsibility of 3 kids at home versus 1 when Ace was little. Ace and Bird are completely different children, though, and Bird doesn't show the same interests, doesn't demand I quench a thirst for knowledge like Ace did. Does that mean she'll be behind? I've trusted my instincts with that one since before she was born, and it has yet to let me down. Let her play, let her learn at her own pace and in her own way. I suppose she's so much younger than the others, she'll have me to herself when she most needs it to be that way.

This time of year it seems the clock speeds up ... it's a whirlwind of birthdays and holidays, so who knows when my next update might be. Until then ..

Monster Mash-up

2009-10-08T10:11:00.001-05:00

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Lesson Plans?

2009-09-09T16:38:00.004-05:00

Dad checked out a DVD from the library for Rockstar to use as part of her Cherokee language lessons. Road to Removal: The Cherokees 1800-1840 - I would show you a photo of it but I can't find an official image of it online anywhere and I've just enough time to whine about this at the moment. ;) A 30 minute video which boasted prominently on the back cover "A teaching plan is available from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, Little Rock, Arkansas." I love, love, love finding resources with some sort of learning guide or lesson plan with it! (You spend a day in my shoes and see if you don't value every time-saver you find a little more, LOL!) I googled and clicked and followed links until I was satisfied that no downloadable lesson plan associated with this video was published on the web. I contacted the WRF on August 30th (10 days ago) to inquire about the lesson plan availability. Just today (10 days later), I got this brief reply, "I do apologize but we no longer have hard copies of these publications." I had specifically, politely requested ANY format, preferably downloadable - not hard. This is a relatively new documentary film (09/08) - in my googles and clicks I discovered it had won awards within the past year. When I responded with a thanks, and a double check that there was nothing in a computer format, I got, "Only what is on the website." (Darn twitter is affecting email correspondence courtesy. I just know it.) What a disappointment.

UPDATE!!! Note the third comment to this post is from one of the writers/producers of this DVD. How awesome is that?! Honestly, those of you know me know the power of my internet-ninja skills, so you know how exasperated I was at not being able to find a specific resource. For the record, we just "winged" it (wung? wang?) with the DVD but I am definitely going to share my copy of the lesson plan with the library for future borrowers.

What's on Tap?

2009-08-28T12:30:00.010-05:00

We're "officially back in session". As we wrap up our second week of this session, I thought I'd offer a peek at what we're doing. Fun stuff first, of course ... In addition to Ace's gymnastics and Rockstar's music classes, Bird has begun a musical theater class called Bitty Broadway. Ace is now on the Level 4 team in the USA league at her gym, practicing 4 days per week - same routines as last season but much tougher scoring and lots more expenses, including some travel. (That's why I devoted an entire post to her fundraiser!) Rockstar is playing trumpet in the "Football Band" which plays for the NOAH Jaguar football games. She resumes lessons with intermediate band (trumpet), has been hand-picked for Advanced Guitar, and will audition for Advanced Band with her flute next week. If only everything came to her as easy as music does! Bird's class is for 3 & 4 year olds learning all about musical theater - singing, dancing & acting. I'm ever so grateful that Center Stage offers this for her age level; she absolutely loves this class! These activities really keep us busy and we have to plan around them, but they are each an essential part of the girls' lives. I just need to get a little better at planning our evening meals & then I'll feel better about the schedule.

Speaking of planning, I'm sure I've groaned more than once that it is my least favorite part of homeschooling. I'm beginning to understand why some families (especially large ones) turn to a boxed curricula - it's HARD WORK to keep more than one child busy learning the traditional "things" they need to learn! So, even Bird has a weekly schedule this year, but hers is quite a bit more lax than the others and doesn't require weekly updating.

Writing and spelling are easy for me to work out for the older girls, probably because they are the most interesting core subjects to me. Rockstar is finishing up the Free Spelling Lessons and will move on to the Spelling City program that Ace is currently working on. Both of them are still assigned weekly blog posts (if you can't access them from the links to the right, send me a private message & I can invite you) as well as other writing assignments through the week. Bird, on the other hand, has a unique way of learning and it must be at her pace (which is frustratingly slow to me). She is working her way through the Preschool Hooked on Phonics program, specifically, which I supplement with file folder games, magnets, card games (Letter Go Fish), books, edutainment computer games, etc. She'll get it in her own time.

Once upon a time I wore a shirt every Friday that announced "I Love Math". That makes me laugh now that I homeschool my kids. I spent most of Rockstar's first year de-schooling her in an effort to encourage her to rediscover a love of learning. In doing that, she didn't have "regular" or "daily" (BORING) math. So when she decided to chomp down on Saxon Algebra this summer, it became painfully apparent that she had not mastered some essential middle school skills contrary to her public school report card. Do you know how heartbreaking it is to tell your newly motivated child that we must backtrack a little before moving forward? It's excruciating. I keep my eyes peeled for used curricula because that stuff is SO expensive, so when Horizons 6 Math appeared for sale in my inbox, I tested both girls and with scores only 4 points apart, decided that was what we should use. (I told you I've been known to pick through religious stuff to get to the good stuff!) I got the teacher's manual for a good deal but had to order the workbooks (consumable) to accompany them. Since they didn't make it in for our first or second weeks, Rockstar has already begun working through it at her own pace and Ace will begin daily lessons next week. In the meantime, they have been refreshing their math skills by playing some file folder games (thanks, Shawn!) and online facts practice. I'm guessing because there are fewer one-digit numbers than there are letters in the alphabet, Bird already knows her numbers but is working on writing them correctly.

File folder games are a fun and space-saving way for the kids to learn. Ace and Rockstar are not only playing a fraction-based one for math, but also one for US geography and another for science. I wish they could learn EVERYTHING through games because they never complain about that!

Ace enjoys the eField trips and took one to Death Valley last week. I have another one on the calendar - this time she'll do it during the question-answer time so she can add a new dimension to them. Between the Death Valley trip, a craft activity at Bass Pro Shop, and the upcoming hunting season, she's decided she wants to pursue a self-study of animal tracks, so that will be on her schedule beginning next week.

As I type this, I can hear them practicing their singing skills in their bedroom. During the summer they took weekly singing lessons, which have temporarily been put on hold as we continue to adjust to our new hectic schedule. They will be added to the schedule again in the fall.

Rockstar has chosen Cherokee as her high school second language. (Thinking outside the box, that one is!) As thrilled as I am that she chose a native (albeit mostly dead) language, teaching a language I am not even familiar with is an added challenge. Fortunately, the Cherokee Nation website offers enough in the way of basic lessons and downloadable files to keep her busy until the budget has room for (yet another) boxed curriculum. I was excited to find out that the Zarrow library holds weekly basic lessons, but bummed that it is during her already-scheduled band practice. I'm hoping that TCC will offer it up again as a non-credit class in the near future. In the meantime, we're winging it & she seems to be devoted to and enjoying it.

Last but not least, we've finally been able to add a regular volunteer opportunity to our schedule and had a lot of fun doing it in August. The Tulsa Food Bank is where a group of homeschoolers is going monthly to do whatever they need us to do. In August, about 30 of us (moms and kids) turned an entire pallet of unmarked cans into labeled, sorted and boxed food ready for delivery to wherever it goes next - in just two hours! I don't know exactly how many we handled, but I'm guessing it was at least 1000 cans (which turned out to be all "mixed greens"). It was really cool to see a group of kids work so well together, and it's a total bonus to be able to work WITH my kids AND their friends toward a common, selfless goal. (Next time, I will try to remember my camera!)

We're Peddling Candles

2009-08-21T10:46:00.005-05:00

Not to be pushy, but I've got the space, so I may as well use it, right? Seriously - this gymnastics thing is EXPENSIVE, and this fundraiser is a really, really good one.

Ace is selling candles for gymnastics. Part of the proceeds benefit her gym, but she also gets to claim a chunk of the proceeds (per candle) to directly apply to some of her costs of gymnastics (coach fees, meet fees, competition leotard, etc.) These are the same Just For Me 40-50-hour soy candles she sold a couple of years ago. We have scent samples – so let me know if you’re interested in trying them out. Each candle is $10. They make great gifts and they are very good candles. We have to have orders placed September 1^st. Please let me know if you’re interested & we can make arrangements for you to see the brochure & scent samples. Here’s a link if you’d like to preview: http://www.justformecandlesandsoaps.com/HowItWorks.html

Everyday Candle Scents (8 oz.): Cinnamon Red Hot, Clean Cotton, Buttery Vanilla, Mango-Papaya, Ocean Breeze, Fresh Linen, Cucumber Melon, Hawaiian Plumeria, Strawberry Cheesecake, Vanilla Spice, Pecan & Caramel Cheesecake, Black Cherry, Waterfall, Sweet Mulberry, Apple Cinnamon, Egyptian Pomegranate

*Inspirational Candle Scents (8.5 oz.): Peace – Lavender & Vanilla, Love – Rose Petals, Faith – Ocean Breeze, Hope – Waterfall

*Oil Sets (set of 3 one-oz. bottles): Tropical (Ocean Breeze, Mango-Papaya, Hawaiian Plumeria), Baking (Buttery Vanilla, Strawberry Cheesecake, Pecan & Caramel Cheesecake), Spices (Vanilla Spice, Apple Cinnamon, Cinnamon Red Hot), Fresh & Clean (Waterfall, Fresh Linen, Clean Cotton)

*Candles for the Cure (8.5 oz.): Waterfall, Rose Petals, Lavender & Vanilla

*=new products

We'd also like to thank everybody for their support of Ace's gymnastics "career" - she works very, very hard and she really, really appreciates your support!

Summer Rewind

2009-08-18T07:57:00.013-05:00

Honestly this summer kept us even more busy than we were during the "school year". Before I begin a post about what's ahead, I thought I should recap the summer.

We took advantage of the Kids Bowl Free program this year, meeting up several times with friends and family. Bowling is always fun, but it's more fun in a group.

A homeschool friend organized an outing to play miniature golf, which we were all able to attend. Rockstar and Bird had never played before. I think Rockstar would be totally cool with not doing it again. Bird had fun, even though it was a really long time for her to maintain focus on a game. I'm just glad to have had the chance for them to play with their friends. :)

We were all together for Independence Day, this year opting to avoid our town's new "permit policy" by hanging with my siblings. Those folks in Cowtown are serious about their independence!

After returning from our trip to Colorado, Bird began swimming lessons. It's been 2 years since we attempted swimming lessons, and I admit I was dreading it. It actually started out pretty well, but about mid-week the second week (when she really needed to show what she was learning), she completely balked. She actually screamed at her instructor, "I don't want to swim!" (Though I did manage to bribe her fairly easily - with a banana split - to allow a teacher to drop her off the diving board.) She did not pass to the second level so will have to repeat Level One. On the final day, a gentleman (I think he might have been the swim school owner) offered some good advice and explained how he perceived the way she "thinks" about swimming - he called her a "survivor swimmer" and said he's seen lots of kids just like her. So, we're now working in the bathtub on building confidence under water - SLOWLY. Maybe she'll be ready to try again this winter. Our neighbors generously gave us their swimming pool when they took it down this summer, so I really want her to be able to hold her own next summer.

We also went roller-skating a couple of times this summer. Rockstar enjoys it and manages pretty well. Ace has fallen a few too many times for her to really enjoy it. Bird was pretty afraid until I took her to a private birthday party where she could learn to skate without the fear of being run over (thanks, Ando!). Really, I don't think I've ever encountered such an ill-behaved mob of children than at BA Roller Sports during a public session.

Ace participated in her fifth Kids Triathlon as well, but this time she conquered the LONG course. I had been so nervous that she'd chosen to try it over the short one she's always done. I don't think she ever actually thought twice about it - she was very determined. Not having been in a pool much this summer, the swimming was the most challenging for her. She swam 150 meters, biked 2 miles, and ran a mile in 31 minutes even!

Newbie Tip: Seek Support Without Drama

2009-08-14T15:08:00.008-05:00

I suppose, after 11 years of homeschooling, I could take some time to share some of the things I've learned through experience. I'd never considered blogging "tips", but I think this is a particularly relevant one to share at the beginning of a "school year" because it is a word of caution to new homeschooling families. (I am going to try to keep names anonymous so as not to cause unnecessary drama, so bear with me.) When anyone embarks on the homeschooling journey, they seek out support - often, in the form of a group. Let's face it, it's a daunting task to take responsibility for your child's education, and nobody wants to go it alone. Many times, our extended families either "don't get it" or outright disagree with our decision to home educate. Likewise, it is important for our children to not only have friends who are publicly and privately schooled, but friends who share the bond of homeschooling - if for no other reason, so they do not feel alone. So WE do not feel alone.

We google homeschool support groups in our area. In Oklahoma specifically, we end up at places like the HERO website where someone has taken the time to list any and all groups which have elected to be listed there. Nearly all of them these days have a Yahoo! group associated with them, which we sign up for. Some people lurk for a while and others jump in right away with pleas of SOS. I myself am a lurker, but once upon a time I was naive and overly motivated to seek out (and organize) other homeschooling families in the name of "support". (I had only one small child and WAY more time and patience to devote to organizing group events and outings than I could imagine having now.)

You must understand that no two homeschooling families do the same things. There is no "typical" homeschool. Sure, there are like-minded families who do similar things, but the very nature of homeschooling is defined by individuality and the desire to have freedom and control to direct your child's education. One support group cannot possibly serve everyone's needs, which is why in my metro area, there are no less than a dozen groups - and I know there are twice that many, they just aren't all listed.

Before jumping into any random group, you need to first determine if that group's mission gels with your family. For example, it was a challenge for me to find a group that would even welcome us without conceding to a statement of faith. If religion is a major part of your homeschooling decision, it might be a bit easier for you. I prefer to be involved with people who are willing to befriend other homeschoolers from different lifestyles and backgrounds. Single or married, gay or straight, Muslim or Jewish or Baptist or Catholic or Pagan or anything in between, pierced or tattooed (or not), rich and poor alike - truly open-minded is what I've always sought out.

The first group we became involved in was in a very rural area - lots of small towns spread over a 25+ mile radius - and it was just getting off the ground when I discovered it. It was the brainchild of a lady who remains one of the best homeschool mentors I've had. She happens to be a very Christian woman who doesn't mind a bit that my family is not. Being in such a rural area, finding a meeting space that didn't charge a fee was her biggest challenge. A church was the only realistic option. As seemed fortunate at the time, there happened to be a great space available at a church pastored by a homeschooling family. While I am not going to rehash the disrespectful garbage that was the demise of that group (I've tried really hard to forget all the details), I'll just say that the very same issues that keep me out of church ran me - and the founder, too - out of that group. Now, I'm not saying we avoid anything to do with a church - quite the contrary, my oldest daughter's homeschool band practices at a church and plays in support of a Christian-specific athletic team. I take every opportunity like that I can possibly deal with - so my children will learn how to be respectful and tolerant of others. The problems arose from the personalities and morals of a few homeschooling parents. I'm just saying it's good to keep your guard up when becoming a part of any new group of people.

There are so many educational opportunities that are more readily available to groups - like field trips. My kids love field trips with other families. When we moved to a new area, I was still licking my wounds from the first group, but was compelled to find some new friends. Being closer to the metro, we had more options. I joined a couple of Yahoo! groups and lurked for a while. I began an off-list conversation with a newer group founder and grew comfortable enough to attend a group event. I had lucked into yet another solid friendship which I still maintain. (I do not use the term "lucked into" lightly - quite often the founder of a group is a control-freak - this is why I have stuck only with specifically member-driven groups (more on that later). I've had more than a few experiences with controlling individuals - one of whom had the gawl to admonish my homeschooling flexibility not only in public but in a house of worship no less.) Having found what I was seeking, I put on my big girl panties and volunteered to help with field trips and other events. It took a half-dozen field trips and a year's worth of working to help other families to realize that it only takes a few unappreciative and outright rude people to discourage me. If you're going to organize a field trip or event, prepare yourself for those kinds of people - they will rear their heads when you least expect it. People RSVP and don't show up. People show up and then complain about the trip behind your back. People show up with terribly misbehaved children and completely embarrass you. Homeschoolers are not exempt from dealing with crap like that - I daresay they might actually be worse in some ways. This is why I lurk and pick-and-choose activities that are good for my family.

Quietly and discretely get the history of any group you join. Some find it surprising to learn that many groups are formed by a handful of people who couldn't get along with the majority of another group. It's very, very common (at least in Oklahoma, it is). You must always keep in mind when you form relationships with other group members that there is probably some relational history between members. Some people join groups with a sweet outward appearance solely for the purpose of recruiting to their own exclusive group. It is a sticky and convoluted web on which you are treading, so tip-toe! If you get a bad feeling about someone, do not ignore it because you're probably right. It has been my experience that we click with some people and we don't with others. I think that is just part of life, not specific to any kind of schooling.

A few notes about email lists (Yahoo! groups, email loop, etc.) ... Number 1) Even if it says it's private, remember you have no privacy on the internet. I think this should go without saying, but is a good reminder. Last spring I was aware of two "coincidental" events of tire-slashing at homeschool functions. Two different field trips within two weeks, but both were made public via several homeschool email lists. Could be a coincidence, could be something else. The promise of list moderation and selective membership acceptance are nothing more than a false sense of security. Some people lurk for the opposite reasons that I do, and even if you personally know the moderator do not believe they personally know everyone on the list, especially if there are more than a dozen members. Number 2) Remember how to work your Delete button. While email communication has transformed the way we interact in many positive ways, the value of tone of voice is very often overlooked. Do not allow yourself to be sucked into arguments on a list - it never works out for everyone involved. The drama of that lingers. If you don't like what you see, click Delete instead of Reply. Even private replies may be spread among members, especially if your reply angers or irritates the recipient. Number 3) Send clean emails. If you reply or forward, in your message, be sure you have removed the header and footer and any other unnecessary parts or contact information from the message. If you are sending to more than one person or list, use the BCC field, not the TO field to input the email addresses. It's just inconsiderate to share people's private email addresses in the body of a message they sent you. Number 4) Make sure you understand the list-sharing policies of any email group you join. Many email lists have been created and members "recruited" from other groups, and branch-out (topic/mission-specific) groups are formed that way (which can positively decrease a busy list's volume significantly). Beware of those who subscribe to "what's good for the goose isn't good for the gander" style of list policy-making. If members are not allowed to find support for a specific topic or mission to their homeschooling, you should question, is that truly a support group? Number 5) Understand the event planning policies of the group. A few groups are member-driven - I prefer these. By that I mean, if any parent plans an event, it is completely done at their discretion, at their convenience, to organize all of the details of that event. Naturally, previously-arranged events specific to that group should be considered as a common courtesy as well as for maximum turn-out. If a member branches-out with a "sub-group" (for lack of a better term), that member should not expect any of the members of the main group (from which the sub-group was formed) to plan around sub-group events. If you join a group with pre-arranged events filling the calendar (even if it claims to be member-driven and open), do not believe you will be able to squeeze in your own event without causing drama; the purpose of those groups is for a select few to plan and control and everybody else just to join in.

One of the laundry list of reasons why I homeschool is to avoid drama. I had plenty of that in high school. I've had plenty of that in my working life as well. I certainly don't want it for my kids, and homeschooling is hard enough without drama ripping through your homeschool support group. Maybe my hard-knock lessons learned can help somebody homeschool a little easier - definitely would've helped me!

Road Trip

2009-07-17T11:47:00.008-05:00

It's good to have some spontaneity in our lives. When we got the call that Uncle Bob from Colorado had unexpectedly passed away, our hearts were very sad. Visions of him smiling and laughing flooded our memories - our wedding, Red Rocks when Ace was an infant, family reunions and holidays and celebrations, and most recently a gathering for his dear mother. One of the most genuinely happy people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing is no longer with us here. We are all thankful to have known him. Colorado is a long drive, so practically-thinking, making the trip was not a decision to be made lightly. Fortunately, we have quite a bit of family in the area whom we do not get to visit very often. It was also a pretty good time for Jay to take off from work. Is it taboo to make a memorial trip into a vacation? I suspect some would say yes. However, I think Uncle Bob would be disappointed in us if we'd not taken advantage of all that Colorado has to offer a family. And, so, we did just that.

We loaded up the van with kids, dogs, snacks and clothes, and we made the 700-mile drive on Friday in about 12 hours. Having Jay's little netbook handy, I opted to green-up our trip by not printing directions, rather saving them to the computer. (Go, me!) LilBird woke from her short nap about the time I was netbook-navigating in 5 o'clock traffic in the Mile High City. With tears in her eyes, she warned of "heartburn". There is no question among us now that when she complains of heartburn, you better grab a barf-bag - and quick! No worries, though - it was just a bit of motion sickness, she was fine once she was cleaned up. We were greeted by a houseful of sweet doggies who kept us company until their humans got home. Jay's sister & brother-in-law (and kids) welcomed us and took such good care of us, we just couldn't thank them enough!

On Saturday, we trekked into the eclectic city of Boulder & checked out the Farmers Market, played in the freezing water, had a picnic in front of the library (I can still taste Troy's yummy tuna salad), and then wandered down the (infamous?) Pearl Street when we met up with Jay's other sister & brother-in-law. If you ever get a chance to go there, DO! It was so, so neat - all the little shops, and the BUSKERS - oh, my! The people-watching there is outrageous! We celebrated "gainful employment" all together at Old Chicago's ... and finished off the night with a movie at home. I have to say that was the ONLY time I watched anything on television the whole trip - the kids watched a little bit of DVD movies here & there, but we didn't get online, we didn't see a single commercial, we hardly even used the telephone - it was absolutely refreshing for me.

On Sunday we all met up at Broomfield Water Park where we splashed and slid and took in the beautiful, mild sunshine. Back at the house, added to our company were more cousins and Grami & Fred. We had such a fun time prepping for rain (which we had a little bit of each day) and laughing through Table Talk (a game), looking through old photos, eating (MORE) yummy food (much of which came from the Farmers Market). I should mention that all of my kids got a chance to sleep in a camper with their cousin - and unlike me, they were excited to do that (thank you, Tiz, again for giving up your bed!). We all had such a good time none of us even thought to break out the camera - BAD OOPS!

On Monday we celebrated Uncle Bob's life with a brief military graveside service. I'd like to share the poem that was printed in the leaflet because it really is fitting, especially given our "improper etiquette" of turning the trip into a little vacation:

You can shed tears that he is gone,
Or you can smile because he lived,
You can close your eyes and pray that he will come back,
Or you can open your eyes and see all that he has left.
Your heart can be empty because you can't see him
Or you can be full of the love that you shared,
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember him and only that he is gone
Or you can cherish his memory and let it live on,
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back,
Or you can do what he would want:
smile, open your eyes, love and go on. (David Harkins)

After visiting with that part of the family, we trekked on to Loveland to visit more family. Rockstar and Bird got to meet their Grandpa John for the first time ever. He is such a hoot! I have to say that I cannot wait to return to Loveland to see more of the town - it's very eclectic and artsy. Jay and the girls got to tour a unique business owned by a family friend ... Rockstar returned with $$ on the brain!

On Tuesday, Ace rose bright & early to walk to school with Tiz who is on a high-school volleyball team - they condition in the early mornings for a couple of hours - and we were thrilled to hear that she held her own with the big girls. Kristi, Grami & Tiz & us then ventured to Loveland Pass and the Continental Divide. The kids loved it. Me, not so much. V-E-R-T-I-G-O! As I talked myself out of puking standing up in the mountains, all I could think of was whomever first stood at the top of a mountain and thought, I think it might be fun to slide down this thing on a couple of thin strips of wood was CRAZY! We wandered back down a bit and had some yummy lunch (our first non-home-cooked meal since the drive - isn't that AWESOME?!) at a little diner and then went on to Frisco. What a fun little town that was! LilBird picked out a t-shirt that said "Happy Camper" so she'd have a souvenir to remind her of her backyard camping experience (every night but one she delightedly slept out in the pop-up). Ace bought herself a magnet to add to her collection, and Rockstar photographed all the t-shirts she'd like to buy if she'd had any money to spend. (I brought back locally roasted coffee beans, my favorite souvenir!) I was SO grateful to travel back through Johnson Tunnel instead of the switch-back roads down the mountains. We ended the evening watching Jay's sister & brother-in-law play in their local Ultimate Frisbee league, caught sight of (another) rainbow, then dined at a local Mexican place (which was really yummy but didn't agree with me a few hours later - I suspect undercooked chicken - I don't think we can ever travel without at least one of us getting sick).

We left early and made it home before dark! We managed to miss the 100+ degree temps while we were gone, and congratulated ourselves on bringing home cooler weather with us. We are ever thankful for the generosity of our extended family for letting us stay with them - it not saved us money on lodging, but allowed us to spend quality time with "new" cousins, too.

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T12:57:00.006-05:00

We Love You!
xoxoxoxo

We Are Family - THANK YOU!!

2009-06-15T14:49:00.009-05:00

(thanks, Raven, for this pic)

We had a really great party celebrating the recent finalization of my adoption of Rockstar. I toasted everyone there (and all of those who couldn't make it) but got a little choked up and cut it short ... I had much more to say. It should have gone something more like this ...

Being a mom is the toughest, most rewarding job I’ve ever had. I am here today the proud mother of three awesome girls. One, I planned carefully to have. One, who was, and still is daily, a surprise. And one, destiny brought to me. Nine and a half years ago, I met a charming little girl who instantly claimed a piece of my heart. Being a step-parent ranks up there on my list of the least natural positions to fill. Above that is being a step-parent to a 5-year-old child who just met the parent you’re married to. I won’t speak for her, but I think it’s pretty safe to say it that wasn’t always a picnic to be in her shoes. But we’ve had a boatload of really good times, too. Three months ago I finally allowed myself to dream about this day when we could celebrate being the mom and daughter we are. It has been a truly incredible journey getting here. When we began the official adoption process, my lawyer joked that “this would be the easiest labor” I’ve ever had. I don’t think he really knows me all that well because the best I could do was scoff at that. But all of you here know me, and I am so fortunate to be surrounded by so many friends and family, some I can’t remember ever being without, and some whose paths I crossed during different legs of this wild trip. In some way or another – and some in many, many ways – you have helped me be the mom I try to be every day. My family welcomed Rockstar into each of their lives. It was vital to me that she be accepted as my own from the beginning, not just as “Jay’s daughter,” because even though I tried really hard to stay in-bounds, I was always compelled to mother her, and “real family” was something I needed my girls to know and feel. I know it wasn’t an easy thing for you to do. But, I know you did it for me, and I love you for it. My friends, especially the mamas, have cheered for me, cried with me, talked sense into my crazy thoughts and fears, helped me suck it up, and most of all inspired me. I would not be who I am without your support, and I adore each of you. I raise my glass in thanks. To family!

An extra shout-out of thanks to the following: Ryan and Nat - what awesome and gracious hosts; Shawn - without you, I would have very few really great photos; and Nae & Jeannie - you're always there to add some yummy eats!

STOP - Hula Time!

2009-05-18T10:16:00.004-05:00

How Time Flies

2009-05-16T09:40:00.003-05:00

It just dawned on me this week that I completely missed blogging during April and here it is more than halfway through May. Oops. I have to look back at the calendar for a recap.

The gymnastics season kicked into high gear as it wound down to the end. I'm so very proud of Ace, and not just because she had a solid, high-scoring season, but because she has displayed a stick-to-it-ness that I can't help but admire. She has taken "teamwork" to heart and become quite a little Mother Hen to her teammates. We also cheered Ace on in the local Hershey's Track & Field games on a cold spring afternoon - hooray for Tulsa Parks!

Rockstar's band schedule also increased as spring began, as they prepare to wow us all at the upcoming Spring Recital. Rockstar has also begun weekly ear training sessions with a fellow homeschooler, and I'm thrilled to report that her interest in music is (thankfully!) broadening as she explores the roots of the popular music she loves. I think both big girls are anxious to begin vocal coaching next week, too.

April seemed to be consumed with doctor visits, too. We had a very unfortunate experience with a creepy podiatrist (Dr. Robert Lee, Tulsa - avoid him like the plague!) that resulted in emotional trauma for both Rockstar and me, no less than a half-dozen follow-up appointments with a REAL doctor, and way too many trips to the pharmacy. Ace fought off an ear infection, and LilBird suffered a random weekend high-fever cold/flu-thing. Plus, it was time again for my next round of RA infusions.

As the traditional school-year comes to an end, I'm looking forward to a break from constant planning myself. However, if I don't keep them busy with something, mutiny looms, so we're checking into classic literature. We're currently reading aloud an abridged version of Little Women. I lucked into an ebay deal, winning 10 abridged titles for $10. My goal is to get them familiar with classic storylines with the hopes that they will want to read the real thing on their own. Ace zoomed in on Sherlock Holmes and hefted the 5-pound original-works home from the library only to discover that she just isn't quite ready for such heavy reading (all puns intended). We have also spent time reading aloud various short plays, which has been very fun for all of us.

One of the best rewards of home-educating is watching your children learn to read. With each of my girls, the pace and progress has been different. I dare predict that LilBird might actually be reading by summer's end. She's taken to writing letters of the alphabet and words themselves, and I know that word recognition is the inevitable next step.

I apologize for the brevity, but spring is in the air this morning & it's calling me to enjoy it! Hopefully, I will find some time to clean up and share some photos and videos of our spring activities. Happy Spring!

Can you believe it's already March?

2009-03-12T16:54:00.013-05:00

It's almost spring and my mind is anywhere but "planning" mode. About a week ago, Rockstar made it most obvious that "regular" schoolwork has not been on our agenda in a few weeks ... she stumbled over some very simple math during a discussion at Grandma & Grandpa's house (UH OH!). 7 times 7 is NOT 14!! Haha. This lack of paper-schooly-work does not, by any means, we've been sittin' around doin' nuthin' ... the calendar has been full, and in our little down time, we've gotten a good start on the necessary (and evil) spring cleaning around here, not to mention keeping up with gymnastics (it's meet season - 'nuf said) and band classes (you know she's playing THREE instruments now, right?).

We've attended - in varying combinations of us - Tulsa Area Homeschoolers' weekly Rec Day a few times. I have been involved in the homeschooling community long enough to have made good, solid friendships with homeschooling parents, so the adult fellowship part of Rec Day is not what motivates me (though it is nice to visit with familiar faces). However, I do have a teenager and a preschooler who are both still seeking out new friendships with other homeschoolers. Rockstar has been more often than the rest of us (thank you, S, for keeping an eye on her!) mostly because it falls on a gymnastics day and Ace figured out pretty quickly that she lacks the stamina for "PE" and gym in the same day! (Same problem we've had with monthly ice skating, darn it!) Honestly, I hate for Rockstar to miss any social opportunities since she's making such good friends. LilBird enjoys going to "ET" (yes, that's what she calls it) but she is so easily overstimulated by the volume (both senses of that word) of kids that I'm not sure that is the best environment for her to truly develop lasting friendships. Smaller playdates is what she needs (ahem, Moms, you know who you are!). She will always gladly skip "ET" for a solo visit to play with G & G! I must say that we did all get to be there for a spur-of-the-moment presentation about bagpipes and that was VERY excellent.

Ace and I had a great overnight trip to the Nadia Comaneci International Invitational in Oklahoma City in February. Nadia added her signature to Ace's gym shirt that is also signed by Nastia Luiken and Kevin Tan, and she was so gracious to snap this pic with Ace. We cheered on Ace's gym-mates (USA Levels 5-9) and were star-struck during the international session where Romania's Olympic medalist Sandra Izbasa performed her gold-medal-winning floor routine. Her 2-woman team won Team All-Around, beating teams with 4+ members! That's some "serious skills." (This session is supposed to be televised in early April 2009, but I don't know what station.) In addition to sports, we also scored a few hours of mapping/navigation practice ... we only got lost once, just as we were ready to head toward home!

LilBird had to miss the second of her 3-part acting workshop when we were summoned to Kansas for the home-going ceremony for Great-Grandma E. Unless we rush into a vacation, she should get to attend the last session. Grandma treated her to "The Rainbow Fish" at the Performing Arts Center, and she enjoyed that a lot. The next season of Young At Art looks very cool - "Charlotte's Web" and "The Hobbit" to name a few. Having attended "Suessical" this season, and hearing the big girls' report of the Rosa Parks show, we will definitely be attending next season.

For the first time, we celebrated Mardi Gras this year. Y was so generous to reserve a room at a local library and bring everything anybody would need to make a mask and noisemakers! We left layered in beads and full of King Cake! Of course, we had to have gumbo for dinner that night, too.

We also had a family field trip to the Courthouse that was, in my opinion, the best field trip ever just because it was the long-awaited end of a huge chapter of our life. It went so much better than I could have imagined, and we were delighted by the surprisingly pleasant demeanor of The Judge. It was a very, very happy day for us!

Most recently, Rockstar, Ace and I attended a group tour at Philbrook where we examined the very interesting exhibit "Seeing Ourselves". Cameras in tow, S shared some tips for catching good photos. Unfortunately, I am technologically-challenged, and "auto" on my point-and-shoot really does work best for me most of the time. I took some neat photos but they all look a bit washed out with the overcast light. Until the weatherman turned out to be WRONG (what happened to 80 degrees?!), our en-masse photo session in the beautiful gardens was very entertaining as I tried to capture the student photographers trying to get that perfect shot.

Tomorrow, we're headed to Java Dave's to check out what really makes a good cuppa joe ... and I, for one, am *stoked* for that!!

Learning through Life .. and Death

2009-03-01T15:45:00.001-06:00

LilBird, being the wise old age of 4, has been quite intrigued with the concept of death and dying for about a year now. I think it may have begun when we lost our beloved Flagpole just over a year ago. In discussions about it, I am very matter-of-fact with her (as I am with the others) because I don't want my kids to grow up fearing death just because it is "unknown territory". It's also another opportunity to show them that nobody - even Super Mom and Super Dad - nobody has all of the answers, and that's okay. Just after a family gathering for GG (MyLove's biological grandmother) last fall, GG suddenly passed, so LilBird's interest was renewed with vigor. She has even told her G-ma (very matter-of-factly) that she would die someday, too.

Aside from the family pet, LilBird's actual experience with death has been out-of-reach until this past week. Last weekend, MyLove's (adoptive) grandmother passed away just shy of her 94th birthday. She was a fiesty, lovely lady, but our little family was not so close to her that the girls had much of a relationship with her. We were, however, compelled to attend her "home going ceremony" on Friday. It was a really long drive for a very brief and expectedly awkward gathering. We were advised ahead of time that her casket would be open at least before the ceremony. I took care to give my big girls a heads-up because I just wasn't sure how they would deal with that visual experience. I know some people who are comforted by touching dead loved ones and some who are completely freaked out by seeing death with their own eyes. You just never know. So, we'd agreed ahead of time that we were going to keep our distance while the lid was open. However, a miscommunication about the time of the ceremony coincided with our tendency to be late everywhere we go, so we were left to sit in the very front row of the tiny funeral parlor-chapel-place. Great.

Just as we were taking our seats, LilBird on my lap because there were only 4 seats, the beautiful spray of pink roses and lilies was lifted so the coffin could be closed during the ceremony. LilBird's eyes widened in horror and she asked, "Mommy, what are they doing?" I whispered, "Honey, it's time for them to close the lid for great-grandma's funeral." She stared at the coffin in controlled panic as she blurted, "But, isn't she going to be able to get out?" (Clearly, she hasn't fully grasped the death concept, poor thing.) Knowing her tendency for drama, I was desperate to help her understand because I felt she might just freak out or start getting loud with not understanding. I snuggled her closely and tried to explain, "Baby, she's not alive anymore. Great-grandma isn't going to get out of that pretty box. It's like .. it's like her forever bed." Bingo, 4-year-old logic. She repeated it as if that made complete sense, "Her Forever Bed. She's going to be in there forever because she died." She relaxed a bit but was still puzzled, looking back and forth between me and Great-Grandma's Forever Bed, and said, "But, I couldn't even see her feet." I assured her that her Great-Grandma's feet were under the covers and that she would be just fine.

Staying Active

2009-02-05T11:44:00.005-06:00

January always brings a new legislative session, and I can't recall a January in the past 10 years that didn't prompt me to contact at least one of our elected leaders on some issue or another. This one's no different. My head is spinning a bit this morning as I try to figure out how State Senate bills went to the Rules Committee as opposed to the Education Committee where they belong. Regardless, I send my two cents to whomever needs them, and urge everybody else to as well. In addition to the SB 308 and SB 472, two more bills (SB 1076 and HB 2028) reference home education but I am so overwhelmed by the enormity of those bills (HB 2028 is 489 pages!!), I haven't formed an opinion yet. Even though I am not a member of HSLDA, I often visit their site to stay informed of homeschool laws. I do not automatically defer to their opinion, though, because it is a lobbying organization - 'nuf said. When I visited this morning, I was disheartened to learn of yet another set of bills currently before the Finance Committee of the US Senate which relate directly to homeschoolers (SB 101 and SB 83). I have yet to see these on any legislative alerts, most likely because HSLDA supports these bills. Herein lies the danger of relying on HSLDA as your watchdog ... these bills are NOT GOOD for homeschool freedom. They provide for tax deductions. Funds come with strings. I don't want to even offer to trade my freedom to home educate for a $500 per child tax deduction. Our government has failed in its oversight of the educational system they are charged with, so I have NO desire to have my parenting micromanaged by that same government. Thanks, but no thanks. (I will step down from my political soapbox with the note that my kids recently expressed that they think I should be a politician ... hahahahaha ... really, no way!)

I am thrilled to say that LilBird is participating in an acting workshop for 4 & 5 year olds, and she LOVED LOVED LOVED the first session. I wish it were more than once a month, but we'll take it because I have not found anything else like it for her young age. I admit I was nervous that it was an hour at a time, but it held her attention and her good behavior was a pleasant surprise.

Getting a Wii for Christmas has been a wonderful addition to our routine. That game system really has changed the way video games are played. We consider ourselves fortunate that we found a Wii Fit because it motivates the kids to exercise. Not all the Wii games are that physical (trivia games, for example) but they are all far more interactive than any previous systems we've had.

The lowered (but not low enough, IMHO) fuel prices have enabled us to make the trek a few times to weekly Rec Day that I can't thank Cheryl enough for organizing and maintaining. I didn't realize just how much we all had been missing frequent interaction with other homeschoolers. The impromptu talk and performance by BA Firefighting Bagpipers during last week's Rec Day was an awesome spur-of-the-moment experience we would have been sorry to miss. Mostly, I am hopeful that Rockstar, my formerly public-schooled daughter, is forming lasting friendships unlike any others she's had.

This is the time of the year I tend to burn out. My mind wanders amidst my Spring to-do list. When I look back on this school year so far, I realize we have only "taken off" (which translates to no officially academic planning but still incorporates plenty of non-traditional learning through life) four weeks since August. I really love not being bound by a district- or state-wide school schedule. Wanting to focus more on teamwork around here and break up the monotony of traditional learning, I decided to challenge the girls to what we're calling "Redesign 2009". We have a small house and a lot of stuff. Now that we're all Wii-ing in front of the big screen, the need for a bigger area is loud and clear. I've given them a generous budget and we're working together to resolve our living and working space issues. So far, we've listed the issues we need to resolve (though we haven't prioritized them yet), measured the rooms and all the furniture, and Ace & Rockstar have graphed the rooms and created scaled-down cut-outs of existing furniture. While Jay and I have a few ideas in mind already, it will be very interesting to see what the girls come up with. I'm hoping to pat myself on the back for the "two birds with one stone" idea when it's all done. Wish us luck!

Inauguration 2009

2009-01-21T11:50:00.006-06:00

I just want to take a minute to share the recipes we used for our own Inauguration 2009 dinner. We enjoyed Barack Obama's (his own recipe) chili and followed it up with Mary Todd Lincoln's White Almond Cake. I wish I'd have taken some pics so you'd see 1) how delicious both recipes looked, and 2) the PROCESS for the cake ... holy cow, instant cake mix is SO easy compared to this (baking is not my forte), but it was well-worth all the effort. I have to say the cake recipe does not include any icing, and the opinions of our household varied from "it's super yummy so it doesn't need icing" to "vanilla would be good on this" to "it would be good with strawberries" and "it tastes like pineapple-upside-down cake without the pineapple".

Chili:

1 large onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

Several cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound ground turkey or beef

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground oregano

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon ground basil

1 tablespoon chili powder

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Several tomatoes, depending on size, chopped

1 can red kidney beans

Sauté onions, green pepper and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add ground meat and brown. Combine spices together into a mixture, then add to ground meat. Add red wine vinegar. Add tomatoes and let simmer, until tomatoes cook down. Add kidney beans and cook for a few more minutes. Serve over white or brown rice. Garnish with grated cheddar cheese, onions and sour cream. (We didn't have it with rice but decided the rice would have been a really good addition. We also used ground turkey. I have a bad habit of not tasting my kitchen creations until it's served, so based on the aroma, I feared it would be too spicy for my kiddos' sensitive taste buds but we were very pleasantly surprised that it was mild and flavorful.)

Cake:

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 cups flour

1 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup chopped blanched almonds

3 tsps baking powder

6 egg whites

Cream butter and sugar, sift flour and baking powder together 3 times, and add to butter and sugar alternating with milk. Stir in nut meats and beat well. Fold in the stiffly beaten whites and vanilla. Pour into well greased and floured pan. Bake in 350 degree oven for one hour or until cake tests done. The old-fashioned fluted copper pan with center funnel was probably used. Turn out on cake rack and cool.

(Not being a baker by nature, this recipe dirtied about a half-dozen bowls as I sifted, etc. I also had never stiffened egg whites before but was successful. I did not turn the cake out, but let it cool in the pan - next time I will just to see if it makes a difference.)

We Must Act

2009-01-14T09:51:00.003-06:00

This morning's email riled me up. State Senators Mary Easley and Jim Wilson have proposed not one but two bills that infringe upon the rights of homeschoolers in Oklahoma. SB 472 and SB308 allow unconstitutional rights to public school officials and create an undue burden on an already-failing public school system, not to mention the encumbrance on homeschooling families.

We must act on this!!

Here is the text of the email I received:

Below is information for immediate action! The following is an alert that will be sent by HSLDA shortly. OCHEC is also working against these bills and asks that you contact our legislators as soon as possible. To view a copy of these bills, go to:

http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/2009-10SB/SB472_int.rtf

http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/2009-10SB/SB308_int.rtf

Rick Williamson

OCHEC Media and Legislative Liaison

January 13, 2009

Title: Oklahoma- Action Needed- Home education freedom threatened by two bad bills!

Dear HSLDA members and friends:

Even before the Oklahoma 2009 Legislative Session has officially started two bills have come to our attention and we need your help. These bills, Senate Bill 308 and Senate Bill 472, threaten the foundation of home education freedom that parents have in Oklahoma. Both bills are scheduled to be officially introduced on February 2^nd.

Senate Bill 472 would require every parent or guardian who is providing “other means of education” (i.e. home education) to their child to notify their local school district of this fact. If this bill is passed, every parent would have to submit a notice of their intent before the first day of each school year or within 10 days from beginning their home education program.

Senate Bill 472 would also require parents to submit a report of each of their children’s academic progress at the end of each semester. Every parent would be required to submit two reports a year to their local public school officials for each child to demonstrate how that child was doing in their home education program.

Senate Bill 308 and Senate Bill 472 would allow local police or certain public school officials to take temporary custody of any child who was taught at home. Under both SB 308 and SB 472 whenever a child is away from their home without an adult present, a police officer or school official could pick them up and temporarily detain them. Currently under Oklahoma law children who are taught at home cannot be picked up and detained, they are exempt.

We need your calls and emails to both sponsors of these bills to persuade them to remove their bills. We would also like you to contact the Senate Education Committee to let them know that you oppose these bills as well. We have provided a suggested message to give but your own personal message about this bill will be the most effective way to let the legislature understand that these bills are not needed and would damage the freedom of “other means of education” that Oklahoma has recognized for over 100 years.

REQUESTED ACTION:

1. Please call and email Senator Mary Easley, the sponsor of Senate Bill 472, and give her this message in your own words:

"Please remove Senate Bill 472 from consideration by the legislature immediately. Under the Oklahoma constitution a parent may provide for “other means of education” to their children. Study after study has shown that children taught at home on average do above average academically. This bill is an unacceptable infringement of parents’ rights to direct their child’s education.”

When calling Senator Easley’s office understand that they will probably be receiving a lot of calls. Please be courteous but firm in your opposition to Senate Bill 472. Please let her office know if you live in her district and are one of her constituents (District 18). Senator Easley is also on the Senate Education Committee.

Senator Mary Easley

Capitol Address: District Address:

2300 North Lincoln Blvd., Room 429 106 S. Cherokee Lane

Oklahoma City, OK 73105 Grand Lake Towne, OK 74349

Phone: (405) 521-5590

E-mail: easley@oksenate.gov

2. Please call and email Senator Jim Wilson, the sponsor of Senate Bill 308, and give him this message in your own words:

"Please remove Senate Bill 308 from consideration by the legislature immediately. Under the Oklahoma constitution a parent may provide for “other means of education” to their children. This bill is an unacceptable infringement of parents’ rights to direct their child’s education and determine what is in their best interest. Children who are not in violation of the law should be exempt from being picked up by local officials simply because they are taught at home.”

When calling Senator Wilson’s office understand that they will probably be receiving a lot of calls. Please be courteous but firm in your opposition to Senate Bill 308. Please let his office know if you live in his district and are one of his constituents (District 3).

Senator Jim Wilson

Capitol Address: District Address:

2300 North Lincoln Blvd., Room 533C 708 W. Shawnee

Oklahoma City, OK 73105 Tahlequah, OK 74464

Phone: (405) 521-5574

E-mail: wilson@oksenate.gov

3. Please call and email the Senate Education Committee members listed below and give the following message in your own words:

"Please oppose Senate Bill 472 and Senate Bill 308. Under the Oklahoma constitution a parent may provide for “other means of education” to their children. Study after study has shown that children taught at home on average do above average academically. These bills are an unacceptable infringement of parents’ rights to direct their child’s education.

Senate Bill 472 will create unnecessary paperwork for public school officials and parents, wasting time and money.

If you find that your State Senator is on the Senate Education Committee please let him or her know that you are a constituent. You can find a list of the Senate organized by district here: http://www.oksenate.gov/Senators/directorybydistrict.htm .

Senate Education Committee Members

Senator John W. Ford (R)- Chair
Phone: (405) 521-5634
Email: fordj@oksenate.gov

Senator Clark Jolley (R)- Vice Chair
Phone: (405) 521-5622
Email: jolley@oksenate.gov

Senator Cliff Branan (R)
Phone: (405) 521-5543
Email: branan@oksenate.gov

Senator Bill Brown (R)
Phone: (405) 521-5602
Email: brownb@oksenate.gov

Senator Kenneth Corn (D)
Phone: (405) 521-5576
Email: cochran@oksenate.gov

Senator Mary Easley (D)

Phone: (405) 521-5590

E-mail: easley@oksenate.gov

Senator Judy Eason McIntyre (D)
Phone: (405) 521-5598
Email: easonmcintyre@oksenate.gov

Senator Jay Paul Gumm (D)
Phone: (405) 521-5586 and local (580) 924-4717
Email: gumm@oksenate.gov

Senator Jim Halligan (R)
Phone: (405) 521-5572
Email: halligan@oksenate.gov

Senator Richard C. Lerblance (D)
Phone: (405) 521-5604 and local (918) 297-2501
Email: lerblance@oksenate.gov

Senator Mike Mazzei (R)
Phone: (405) 521-5675
Email: mazzei@oksenate.gov

Senator Susan Paddack (D)
Phone: (405) 521-5541
Email: paddack@oksenate.gov

Senator Jim Reynolds (R)
Phone: (405) 521-5522
Email: reynolds@oksenate.gov

Senator John Sparks (D)
Phone: (405) 521-5553
Email: sparks@oksenate.gov

Senator Gary Stanislawski (R)
Phone: (405) 521-5624
Email: stanislawski@oksenate.gov

4. Pray that these bills are defeated and plan on attending the Oklahoma Home Educators’ Capitol Day on February 10^th. This will provide you with a great opportunity to impact these bills, to get to meet your legislator(s) and to create a positive impression for home education. For more information on the upcoming Capitol Day go to: http://www.ochec.com/Categories.aspx?Category=5c4ab515-3abc-448b-9362-ae17f4ab7091 .

BACKGROUND

Some of you may remember that in the 2007 legislative session Senator Jim Wilson introduced a bill that was virtually identical to current Senate Bill 472. That bill, Senate Bill 375, was successfully defeated by the prayers and hard work of families all across Oklahoma. By those efforts again we pray that we will again be able to defeat these attempts to restrict the freedom of home education in Oklahoma.

If you are not yet a member of HSLDA and would like to help us fight for greater parental rights and homeschool freedom in Oklahoma please visit http://www.hslda.org/join/apply.asp .

If you would like to be put on our e-mail list to receive vital e-lerts you may sign up at https://secure.hslda.org/hslda/elert/account.asp?Process=Subscribe .

Thank you for your part in fighting for freedom in Oklahoma! Feel free to send this to others who are supportive of home education freedom.

Sincerely,

Thomas Schmidt

HSLDA Staff Attorney

Here is the letter I sent to every member of the State Senate Education Committee as well as my district's State Senator:

I am writing to urge you to please OPPOSE Senate Bills 472 and 308.

The Oklahoma Constitution guarantees parents the right to provide “other means of education” to their children. This right is written in such a way that public education was clearly the lesser alternative to home education. Study after study has shown that children taught at home on average perform above-average academically. These bills are an unacceptable infringement of parents’ rights to direct their child’s education.

Senate Bill 472 will create unnecessary paperwork for public school officials and parents, wasting time and money. In poor economic and academic times such as we are currently experiencing, why on Earth would anyone even consider such an encumbrance to an already flawed public education system? Senators Easley and Wilson must hear the message, loud and clear: our public schools need to be fixed, not burdened further!

Both Senate Bills 308 and 472 would violate the child’s fundamental 4^th Amendment rights. Many children 16 and older who are taught at home attend educational activities outside of the home with the consent and under the direction of their parent. Senate Bill 308 would allow a dangerously broad scope of rights to public school employees regarding their interaction with homeschooling families, creating an unnecessarily hostile situation that could result in emotional distress at best and legal ramifications at worst.

Please kill these bills!!

So long, 2008!

2008-12-29T10:00:00.010-06:00

As 2008 draws to a close, this mama is taking a break. Did anybody else's kids have assignments on Christmas Eve or am I the only mean-mamateacher? LOL. Seriously, when their thoughts are only on the possibilities of Santa's bag, they can't seem to find anything to do on their own, so they didn't seem too unhappy with a light load of schooly work. They posted some of their writing assignments on their blogs, so check 'em out. (I mean it ... they think people don't read their blogs when feedback/comments are absent ... so, please read them.)

I'm ending the year in a pickle with Rockstar's math. She seemed pretty excited when we picked out a couple of workbooks to help guide math studies. That trip to the store was interesting. As we perused the shelves, she quickly identified most of the labeled "7th grade" books as too easy, already mastered, etc. Moving into the "8th grade" books is a boost to the ego (hers and mine both). We chose a Pre-Algebra workbook and a general 8th grade Minute Math book. The reason for the latter is two-fold, to help prepare her for testing and to help me figure out what concepts she needs more focus on. I think it's helping me as much as it's frustrating her, which was definitely not the intended effect. I try to keep it light-hearted and remind her that grades mean nothing in our homeschooling; if she only gets through 6 of the 10 problems in one minute, that doesn't equate to a D grade, it means she completed 6 problems in a minute, nothing more. The pickle isn't necessarily related to the choice of workbooks, but rather how do I teach her new concepts? She's a whiz at number pattern recognition. This is only a problem when she's learning a new process. It's got me reminiscing about one of the few excellent PS teachers who taught me (Mrs. Vincent, bless you, wherever you are). She was, hands down, the most creative teacher I ever encountered. In 6th grade Pre-Algebra, she used fish and stars (and various other simply-drawn shapes) in lieu of "x" and "y" .. and on Fridays, if we wore our "I <3 class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">LilBird's interests have gone from board books to reading the same story a million times over, but she has graduated to fairy tales and her attention span has grown. She still has little interest in any sort of sit-down learning unless it is disguised by computer edutainment. She knows a good many of the letters and all of the basic numbers. This weekend, when playing Monopoly Town with her, Jay and I caught her doing simple math in her head! She loves to write her name and even a stranger would have a good shot at being able to read it when she does. On her Christmas gifts this year, she not only wrote her name, but also drew a little picture of each recipient. (She still needs some work on drawing in small spaces.) Much of the time, she teeters on my last nerve, but at the end of the day, she remains my sweet, beautiful baby.

Ace continues to have the broadest range of interests of any kid I've ever known. Truly, the world is her oyster. Gymnastics and animals still top her chart, but she's into writing (songs, poems, stories), reading (just about anything), arts & crafts, competition (of any type), sports, you name it. She can get along with almost anyone, young and old alike. Most of the time, teaching her things is easy, as long as she's in the right mood. This year, the moodiness of tweenhood have begun to take hold. (I suppose that happens to the best of us, ha!) I'm not sure she will ever really know how much of an inspiration she is to me.

And, Rockstar .. where to begin? Transition is the word of the year for her. That girl has the inner strength of a lion. In the past year, her heart and her world have been turned upside down, but she has landed on her feet. She and I have such a unique bond (which we both unconsciously fight on occasion). I embrace the things we share - our sibling order rank, childhood trauma, and love of music (just to name a few). The new year holds the solidification of our relationship as mother and daughter, and that alone is priceless. She is the picture definition of talent, and she is truly a gift.

Before I close the year's postings, I have to take a minute to brag on Tulsa Homeschool Band. The Winter Concert was a remarkable testament to a group of hard-working student musicians and their outstanding teacher. Rockstar has played guitar for 7+ years (private, individual instruction), and in 3 months' time, she has improved by leaps and bounds in a group class. In addition to playing flute for a second year, she will be joining the Beginner Band playing trumpet in January. I have no doubt the squawking toots will quickly morph into recognizable music in no time.

So long, 2008 ... you were good to us! Welcome, 2009 ... I better get the minds around here thinking of resolutions! Happy New Year!

Highs and Lows and Playdough

2008-12-15T14:53:00.012-06:00

If you don't like the Oklahoma weather, just wait five minutes and it'll change. Yesterday we set a record for the highest temperature on December 14; it got up to a beautiful 71. By sundown, it was 16!! This morning's news of streets too slick to drive on was welcomed by school children all around here. Instead of cheering for a break from school, they were happy to see what was on their schedule for this week and to know that Dad got to stay home!

I must first brag on Rockstar's impressive final assignment relating to astronomy. Since her lapbook was finished, I challenged her to compose a song (lyrics and notes) using 8 of her lapbook vocabulary words, with clear verses and chorus, lasting a minimum of 2 minutes. I had to promise not to video record it to get her to perform, and I do not know what that girl is so embarrassed about because she did a FABULOUS job! I'm still working on getting her to let me tape it, but I don't know if she'll ever let me share it. I cannot describe how impressed I was with it! It was definitely radio-worthy. (She did give Ace some credit for helping with the lyrics, and she also sang back-up to make performing not-so-scary. Whatever happened to that little girl who gave impromptu performances for us every chance she got?)

Ace competed at the Jingle Bell meet earlier this month and did very well. It's the fun meet that just gets them into "meet mode" sotospeak.

We mixed art and science last week and made homemade playdough ornaments. The recipe is simple: 1 C. flour, 1/2 C. salt, 1/3 C. colored water. I wish I'd seen this Good Eats episode before we did it because I'd have gotten powdered food coloring so they'd have been brighter. Next time, I will know.

I have more to report but it's game time. Until then, stay warm!!

It's a New Day

2008-11-17T08:29:00.009-06:00

The General Election is over and most of my household is delighted with at least the Presidential results. I think it is wonderful that our kids will remember this historic vote. Even if you didn't vote for him, or don't like him, or disagree with his plans, you can't deny that "Yes, We Can" is a great message. As with 2000 and 2004, though, we are genuinely disenchanted with the Electoral College process. As we sat glued to the television watching the percentages roll in on November 4th, it was impossible not to notice the discrepancy between the popular vote and the electoral vote. Granted, this time (unlike in 2000) at least the electoral vote reflected the same winner as the popular vote. However, one would think that a representative vote (electoral) should be just that - representative of the popular vote. According to the Associated Press, the popular vote was 6,686,473 (52.7%) to 5,823,160 (46%) (*at the time of this writing), but the Electoral vote was 365 (69.2%) to 162 (30.7%). That doesn't compute. Even my ten-year-old immediately recognized Presidential campaign strategy ... Oklahoma only has 7 votes and a long history of giving all of them to the Republican candidate, so not only do we see little of any democratic candidate or have many chances to "press the flesh," we don't even see much of the republican ones because "it's a given" that Oklahomans don't vote for Democrats or any party other than Republican. In today's age of high-speed, accurate technology and communication, why is this archaic and unfair process still governing our election? We preach to our children, "Vote," "Let your voice be heard," "If you don't vote, you don't have a voice." My kids witness my vote in every election (general or otherwise), despite it often being a minority voice of dissent. Unfortunately, there's no hiding that my voice and the voices of 502,495 other Oklahomans (34.35%) who did not vote for McCain were silenced. Hopefully, by the time my girls get the chance, electoral reform will be a reality. In the meantime, I will continue to stress that local involvement (voting, staying informed, contacting local elected officials on issues) is just as important, if not more so.

In other news ... we had a breezy field trip to Natural Farms a couple of weeks ago. Despite the biting cold (and lingering cow pie smell from our shoes, LOL), it was a very refreshing experience. Right here in the heart of the country, Natural Farms is a gem of earth-and-human-friendly back-to-basics company. It was nice to be able to show the kids the hard work that goes into organic farming. Thanks to E for setting this up!! We are already looking forward to visiting again in the spring to see the changes.

On the scholastic front, the kids are moving right along. Rockstar FINALLY finished her astronomy lapbook, and I will put together a guide for her next one this week. She's been assigned music for her upcoming holiday band & guitar concert; she has expressed an interest in trumpet so may soon be adding yet another instrument to her repertoire. Bird actually asked for and completed a worksheet! She's also been enjoying a set of edutainment videos to help her learn letters, numbers and shapes. Ace finished up her spelling lessons and is tackling slightly more complicated math concepts. We're planning to back-track a little bit to refresh her memory on long-division. Through the winter holidays, we tend to back off "traditional" (if you call what we do traditional) schoolwork, and this year will be no different.

We celebrated LilBird's 4th birthday this month, and I am tickled pink that she has a new friend. Since she was such a surprise addition to our family, I've been concerned that finding friends might be more of a challenge than it had been for my other girls, simply because most of our family-friends weren't having babies when I was last. Not so! Aside from the usual cake and presents from family, she chose to revisit the Kaleidoscope Children's Museum with friends for her birthday!

Bird and Pinky ... peas in a pod

Where did October go?

2008-11-02T05:57:00.016-06:00

October was obscured this year by unseasonably nice weather. I can't recall the last time my trick-or-treaters weren't frozen to the bone after collecting their loot from Grandma & Grandpa's neighbors. Along with the mask of the weather, our month was swept away with lots of travel and illness.

Rockstar began a four-week lapbook on astronomy. I have seen snippets of it, but she's going to have to finish it this week. I am very proud of her stick-to-it-ness on this one. She was very open-minded to the literature and history parts of such a science-oriented unit. The creative writing parts I've seen have been most impressive. Bug explored a mish-mash of subjects, grasping several math concepts (integers, exponents, square roots) this month and will soon be computing fractions. It seems she's spent more time reading than usual, too. To her glee, she has almost completed the spelling course she's worked on for so long. I, for one, will be sad to see that end, but Rockstar still has many weeks to go, so all is not lost. LOL Seeing BOTH of my girls master and improve their spelling, one of which it comes naturally to and the other who struggles, causes me to applaud the program even more than I did in the beginning.

Our travel this month began with a last-minute trip to Garden City, Kansas, where we celebrated the 85th birthday of the kids' great-grandmother, "GG". We don't see that part of our family very often, so despite the distance, we were compelled to make the 400 miles there (and back again) in a single weekend. It really was a great time. Bird played and swam with cousins she'd never spent any time with, and nobody would have known they didn't see one another daily (except that she has a hard time remembering names and her preferred reference was by hair color ... "I wanna sit by my yellow-haired cousin"). It was nice to visit with siblings and aunts and uncles, and specifically, I was pleased to visit with the birthday girl. Little did we know that time would be so precious. Exactly a week later, GG passed away. Rest in peace, Alberta, we are so glad to have had time with you.

Just over a week after our jaunt to Garden City (which, by the way, smells like manure rather than flowers, and the wind is relentless), Jay and I were off to Seattle, WA. He went for work stuff, and I went to play. :) I reunited after 22 years with my 6th grade bestie who gave me the best personal tour I could ever have imagined, and I SOOO want to take a family vacation there! In the meantime, Grandma & Grandpa got a three-day adventure in homeschooling our kids! Most of their schoolwork actually did get done, and I was pleased to hear - from the kids, not just Grandma - that they all played pretty well together. I was also relieved to hear (only from the girls, not from the grandparents) that Bird behaved just as she would have were I there, so that those who think she's "an angel" could see that I really do not make up her devilish stories. I know she is a "pleasure" and a "joy", but sometimes she can be a real pain in the butt.

Rockstar turned 14 during the Seattle week (which is why I cut my trip short as Jay stayed for the entire week). I am so glad to have her homeschooling this year; even in just a few months, I can see the positive affects it has had on her. I know she hates it, but I can't help remembering her be so silly and wild at age 6, her toothless grin, her stubborn lazy "S" talk, her unabashed disregard for all things written. That silly little girl is still in her, but she is so much more now .. complicated, hormonal, conscientious (well, selectively) and self-conscious, helpful, talented, opinionated. Having gotten her own camera this year, I find it amusing that, aside from her sisters, she seems to be her own favorite photographic subject. Clearly she has begun her journey of self-discovery. Happy Birthday, my sweet daughter ... Rock On!

As if I didn't have enough plans for October, I volunteered to organize a field trip for our homeschool group. Now I remember why I quit doing that; it really chaps my butt when people don't show up. Aside from the mass jumping of ship days before the trip, WE had a grand time at the Kaleidoscope Children's Museum. I'd been wary that it would be "too little" for my big girls, and in many ways, it was, but they still have enough "little girl" in them to have fun with it. Bird had SO much fun, she wants to return with a friend for her birthday.

The month ended for us on a sickly note, two of the girls having strep throat and the rest of us fighting off some other similar bug. We were all down for a week. I had planned to go over some election-themed things but just couldn't find the energy to do much. While holding down the sofas, the big girls and I did watch the HBO film "Iron Jawed Angels". I think that film should be required for everyone, especially girls, prior to voting age. They have been very interested in politics this election year, even ASKING to watch the debates. They've asked very good questions, and formed their own opinions. They are not the least bit bashful to let you know who THEY would vote for if they could. I think even Jay may be folding to the "pressure". We shall see come Tuesday!

"We're On A Roll"

2008-10-06T13:31:00.027-05:00

This year's Tulsa State Fair (Oklahoma's Largest Classroom) is best reviewed in pictures. We spent a good 6+ hours there and STILL didn't see everything. Since Bell's Amusement Park got the boot, and the Tulsa City Council has "rearranged" everything, I personally found it frustrating that things were not as easy to find this year. Additionally, a good portion of the funds raised to revamp the fairgrounds was to put all the midway cabling underground - which DID NOT happen - there were, in my estimation, MORE cables to trip over than there has ever been. Anyway, we all had a lot of fun.

(For some reason, Blogger randomly flips photos sideways ... sorry! Clicking on any image will allow you to see it larger, more close-up.)

Just for Kids Building

The Birthing Center and Petting Zoo

Fun on the Farm

The Midway (and more)

The Contests

(Ace won Second Place in the Kids Pie Eating Contest - competing against her buddy, Rosie, in something other than gymnastics! Artkitty should have one First Place in the first Cookie Stacking Contest, but her table got bumped before the "official" judge counted ... but we have the goods on film! In any event, I was uber proud of their wonderful sportsmanship!)

We also watched the Ridgeway & Johnson (illusion/magic/escape artist) show which was WAY COOL. I don't have any photos of it because we were all too busy stuffing our faces with the final sweet treats of our journey (chocolate-dipped ice cream on a stick, chocolate-dipped cheesecake on a stick, and a ginormous fresh-baked cinnamon roll) ... YUM! (Oh, and in case you're curious, we enjoyed pizza on a stick and deep-fried manicotti on a stick for lunch ... my favorite part of the Fair is the food, LOL!)

Hello, Autumn!

2008-09-29T08:11:00.014-05:00

Once we finished the Olympic lapbooks, our schedule became crazy hectic. We did a week or so of This & That to fill in the few moments we had between classes, practices, appointments and wedding stuff (my baby sister got married). Once the wedding was over, I called a halt to scheduled academics for a week and we took a much-needed rest. The next month is filled with all sorts of activities and travel, and since I have 2 kids with birthdays 3 weeks apart immediately preceding the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I knew burn-out would hit hard if we didn't stop for a bit now.

The improved interaction between my girls since they are all homeschooling has been extremely rewarding for me. Here's the cutest example of what they've been "teaching" one another.

LilBird loves to be on camera. As the weeks go by, I become more and more certain that some sort of acting is the direction she's headed. How to get her involved in the right thing is where I'm currently stuck. At least it's the time of year she can begin to understand the changes of the seasons; autumn is great for that. She's such a non-traditional learner, and stubborn to boot. Finding her some friends is on my never-ending to-do list, too.

I have another lapbook ready for Rockstar to begin this week. She's given me a list of wonderfully broad topics she wants to explore. I've set her a 4-week plan for astronomy. I think we could spend an entire year, maybe even a lifetime, on astronomy, but hopefully this will give her a glimpse into the basics and maybe spur a lifetime interest. Tulsa Homeschool Band will begin playing this weekend for the NOAH Jaguars football games, which she seems to be pretty excited about.

Ace will be returning to the mish-mash of a schedule she's become comfortable with. Our biggest hurdle these days is dealing with the politics of her gym. Jay and I have been unhappy with the gym for some time (staff, lack of communication, inconsistency, lack of practice), and now Ace seems to come home upset more than she does happy. I know every organization, every gym, has it's own problems and quirks, so the dilemma is - do we keep fighting the same battles we've been fighting for 2 years in a place she's comfortable, or do we trade these battles for "unknown" battles elsewhere. She isn't being challenged, she isn't getting the practice time I'm paying for, and they do not handle communication well at all. What to do ... gotta figure that out.

As fall begins, that's where we are ... stuck in some places, moving along fine in others. It really is a lot of work, educating your children, but it feels normal and right ... much like the lovely weather we're having now. :)

Pinwheels for Peace

2008-09-22T13:06:00.006-05:00

The girls worked all week creating pinwheels for the 2008 Pinwheels for Peace campaign. Sunday, September 21st was International Peace Day. We'd considered taking them to a public place to display but, fearing that little hands (or feet) might find the straight-pins that held them together, we opted to line our driveway with them instead.

A finished project!

2008-09-11T15:57:00.005-05:00

I can finally report that the Olympic lapbooks are FINALLY complete! Rockstar has given me some ideas for other lapbooks she'd like to do, and Ace is ready to get back to "winging it" like she's used to doing. Fine by me on both accounts!

Here are some pics of Rockstar's (which was finished at the end of 4 weeks).

Here are some pics of Ace's (which was finished at not quite 5 weeks).

*Sorry about the sideways pics - slide.com did that when I uploaded them and I don't have time to figure out how to fix it.

Olympic Adventures in Lapbooking

2008-09-05T11:46:00.011-05:00

In my usual fashion, I bit off more than I could chew. More than my children could chew, too. I have this terrible tendency to underestimate the amount of time things are going to take. (Which is part of the reason I'm chronically late everywhere I go.) Such is life. With the help of a premade lapbook plan, I was thrilled with myself for planning out two weeks worth of lapbooking during the 2008 Summer Olympics. Now, four weeks later, the lapbooks are almost finished. In addition to the 80 vocabulary words (each), 32 sports to investigate, maintaining a count of medals they watched being earned, a bar graph of the total medals, biographies of (at least) two athletes, individual research on a chosen country, quotes and symbols and various other miscellaneous Olympic-related "stuff", we've kept up spelling lessons, typing, gymnastics, guitar and band. Whew. (We did take a break from weekly meals with the exception of the girls' noble attempt at Fortune Cookies - in the Olympic spirit - which were, a dismal failure. They tried twice, so we'll chalk that up to an icky recipe. Science experiments took a backseat, though I am hopeful that they will entertain you on their blogs with the two videos they have done, sooner than later. Nudge, nudge.)

Friday night before Labor Day, the Tulsa Astronomy Club planned a public star gazing party which we all looked forward to. Unfortunately, our Oklahoma weather wasn't so cooperative as the clouds filled the sky. (Thanks, Gustav.) We did find the observatory so next time we'll know where we're going! I'm hoping we can become more actively involved in this group. They also took a much-anticipated trip to the Tulsa Air and Space Museum (and planetarium) over the holiday weekend, guided by Dad and Grandpa. Unfortunately, Dad forgot the camera!

I've offered LilBird the famous Letter People each week, which she has been coloring (with Ace, because coloring is so much more fun when you have someone to bump crayons with) and displaying on the front door. To give you a glimpse of her sheer orneriness ... we began with Ms. A (who says "achoo"), and for the first three days, she argued with me that it was any letter (or number, specifically nine) OTHER than "A". That is, until, her Aunt (and Uncle-to-be) visited. No argument whatsoever - she promptly showed she knew it and was able to point out various other A's in the vicinity. Nice, huh? Still not satisfied with her grasp of letters being a part of words, I stumbled upon the good ol' magnetic letters in the game cabinet. YES! Now she will put letters together in just about any combination I request, as long as I promise to snap her picture ... No problem!

All in all, it's been a typical atypical few weeks. The jury is still out on the success of lapbooks and if there's interest in doing more. I realize now that I cannot give them "the whole enchilada" at once, but rather they need bites and nibbles because one of them works herself into a gripey frenzy because she doesn't know how to stop for the day, and the other is so easily distracted that she struggles to focus on such an enormous task list. As of this writing, I have very little specific academics planned for the next few weeks, because life - medical, travel, family - has our always-busy schedule pretty darned full. However, I must say, having gotten through the seventh week of this "school year," I'm very proud of all three of my girls' efforts.

Ch, ch, changes

2008-08-12T10:43:00.003-05:00

Just a note about change. It's not always easy. I am the first to admit that adapting to something new lowers my confidence, frightens me, and makes me want to fight. I get it. However, life is constant change, and that's a complex thing to grasp and accept. If we expect to live life to its fullest, we have to evolve, think outside the box, and adapt to change. When we homeschool, we have to be flexible. We have to be willing to try new things, otherwise we're not going to reach our goal. We have to question things, we have to be willing to question, we have to be willing to ask questions and admit we don't always know the answers - and we have to be willing to FIND the answers.

2008 Summer Olympics .. Finally Here!

2008-08-10T14:55:00.004-05:00

This past week has found me very much busier at home than I have been in a long time. Trying to keep all three girls on track all the time definitely feels different. It's a good thing, though. I feel like, even amidst the frustration of ratios (holy cow, do YOU know how to get a whole number ratio from a percent?), I have enjoyed being with and helping them. They are altogether quite entertaining! Adjusting to a busy schedule after a very lazy summer, they have let their chores slip a bit, and I'm having issues with getting everybody moving in the morning, but I am certain those problems will be resolved soon. (WON'T THEY, GIRLS? Ahem.)

We get excited for the Olympics, summer and winter! I've been wanting to jump into lapbooking, so I decided this was a good one to start with. Both Ace and Rockstar are working on one, but I anticipate very different results as I've left room in their guide for independent creativity and study. They were a bit overwhelmed when they first looked at the guides I printed up for them, but once we'd all been through it, they seemed to catch on. I have it scheduled out for 2 weeks. They've been focused on statistics mostly so far - keeping count of the medals of each event. They'll choose 4 athletes to learn about, 2 countries, and a bunch of Olympic-specific facts. They each have a total of 80 vocabulary words, and they'll study each category of sports for the summer games. They even have a few things they can car-school on our way to White Water Bay this week (in or new-to-us van, yay!). Stay tuned for our progress!

Ready or Not, Here We Gooooo!

2008-08-04T15:57:00.003-05:00

We're diving in head first, homeschooling all of the kiddos now! WooHoo!! I have yet to receive the returned receipt from Rockstar's withdrawal letter to the Middle School, but I do not foresee any problems on that front. They (obviously) can't handle the ones who are enrolled, so I can't imagine they'll give us any grief for taking her out. Legally, they can't anyway, so HA.

Last week, my head was spinning pretty seriously as I launched an attack on math curricula. I lost, but I have not given up. Fortunately, Dad tossed the girls a bone to motivate them to review those basic facts, so they are busy practicing that this week in an effort to liven up their piggy banks. ($3 to whomever does more multiplication & division problems correctly in x amount of time, $1 to the other for the effort. Go, Dad!) That bought me some precious time to figure out what's next for their math agendas. Mastery or spiral curricula (or both), that is the question. I'm so anti-curricula-in-a-box, my next planned move is to comb the PASS guidelines and Google. I'll work it out one way or another.

In the meantime, I have picked up What Your Fifth Grader Needs To Know for Bug, and I gotta admit >> I am STOKED about it!! There is some fab literature in store for this year! As I thumbed through it initially, I quickly realized there is quite a bit in there that Rockstar needs to learn, too. Bonus! (Seriously, do public schools even KNOW about the Core Knowledge series?)

In search of sympathy last week during the dizzying math reviews, I phoned my friend, Nece, who had a very successful year lapbooking with her kids. My girls LOVE to scrapbook. Me, not so much. My lame and muddled attempt at encouraging Bug to lapbook last year was met with near complete resistence, but I am hopeful that with her sister doing it beside her (even on different topics), they might just find some joy in it. That is, of course, if I can get them started in the right direction. Again, I'm still working on that. Nece also gave me the great idea to give them a Krampf experiment on a weekly basis to read, attempt, and then present/teach me. This week, I selected "Disappearing Water" ... stay tuned to see how the table-turning works!

In the meantime, my trusty Free Spelling Lessons are back in full swing. Have I mentioned how awesome I think those are? It's such a good selection of words and exercises. Bug is resuming where she left off and Rockstar is on the third lesson this week (and she proudly aced the last test)!

I've also tasked them with meal preparation. Last week was a dinner meal - Stove Top Beef and Penne Casserole (and a salad). Not only did they have to prepare the meal, but they also had to calculate how much it cost after they'd gathered the ingredients. The various conversions had us all swimming in numbers, division, multiplication, ounces, teaspoons and kilograms, pounds, cups ... you name it! The recipe itself was not a winner (I think I'm the only one who truly enjoyed it, but that wasn't even until leftovers, and I can't deny that it did resemble cat vomit as Bug suggested). The absolute best part of the whole thing for me was Rockstar's out-of-the-blue and completely genuine apology in the middle of slaving over the hot stove ... I was totally confounded by it until she clarified, "I'm so sorry you have to cook in this hot kitchen for us every day!" This week we'll see what yummy (hopefully cool) dessert they can concoct!

Next week we're having one more midweek summertime frolic as we head to White Water Bay in hopes that most folks are "back in school". Thanks to another friend, Y (who helped so much with getting the Six Flags tickets), it'll cost all of us less than the regular price for just one admission. HUGE bonus given the current absurdity at the gas pump!

We're set up with supplies, one "scheduled" week under our belt and another underway. I feel like this could be one of our more exciting years yet, even if it is more intimidating than any of those we've had before. As nervous as I am about undertaking de-schooling one, unschooling one, and homeschooling all of them, I'm a million times more happy and energized about the potential that will finally be unleashed since we're finally all at home!

Summer Summer Summertime!

2008-07-28T08:00:00.012-05:00

When publishing my recent brag post, I realized I've been very neglectful of my blog of late, so I'll make an attempt to fill in the gap here. Of course, it's summertime, and as much as I'd like to say we school year-round, when it comes down to paperish sort of schoolwork, that just doesn't happen much in the summer here. That is not to say, of course, that learning hasn't been happening, because it does ... every day ... regardless of the temperature outside. We've had a lot of fun this summer, too.

Six Flags' reading incentive program earned Rockstar and Ace free admission to a participating Six Flags park; so we headed to Arlington, Texas in late June. My friend, Y, passed along her teacher's ticket when they were unable to use them (THANK YOU, Y!) so I got in free, too! That afforded us to get a Flash Pass which made the day SO smooth. I have to tell you, the folks behind the Six Flags plan ... they have the theme park down to an art form. Instead of having a separated little kids' area (like Silver Dollar City does), the little kids' rides are all throughout the park. So, when we'd wander toward a ride (guided by the Flash Pass allowing 2 of our riders at a time to skip to the head of the line of their chosen thrill ride), there was always something for Bird to do/see/ride as well. We really had no idea HOW thrilled Bird would be on rides, but she was absolutely hilarious to watch! Not having to wait in the lines enabled us to do and see way more than without the Flash Pass. We were there a full day, open to close, and saw the Cirque Dreams Coobrilla show that ended the night. THAT was awesome! I think the most profound lesson my big girls learned that day was wet feet in tennis shoes makes for very sore feet!! (Of course, Dad did try to tell them before they hit the water rides early in the day.)

While in Dallas, we also visited Medieval Times for dinner. We had SO much fun there, too! We were assigned to the Green Knight, who was "the bad guy", and we whooped and hollered and slopped our food with the best of 'em. It was definitely an experience to remember.

In July, Rockstar's passion for music had me driving all over town. She has been enjoying Youth Service's "Groove Workshop" weekly. The Native American instructor has introduced her to a variety of instruments and enlightened her to the "beat" of life. I've noticed her drumming her hands on her legs as we'd walk through the grocery store as she kept time with the wheels of carts and footsteps. She also participated in Rockstar Camp (of course we couldn't resist that .. it was named for her!) where she had a total blast rocking out with other musicians her age during the 4-day day camp.

We celebrated Ace's birthday in a rockin' way, too. We opted to have a party for just her friends this year, and it worked out fabulously. Her guests were provided "All Access Passes" (invitation) that they wore as they went through make-up, hair and wardrobe. They had a celebrity-style photo shoot where they could be as glamorous as they wanted to be. They split into teams and were given various song titles for which they had to come up with a photo-op that would depict the song title. While they battled one another playing Sing Star, I made photo CDs for each of them to take home. I think this was one of our most successful birthday bashes yet (and it didn't cost much ... BONUS!).

As unbelievable as it is, Bird was remarkably well-behaved all through our vacation. (All three's behavior was quite impressive.) However, it seems that everything that once we returned home, she "reset" into her old, ornery ways, so we're trying to rein her in again. I've been paying attention to her dramatic flare and have been considering finding a theater arts class for her age rather than trying to fit her in with a gym or dance class or other sport. I haven't decided yet if she's too young, so I'm going to research it a little bit because, I think, she might just have my affinity for performance.

On the scholastic front, I have given the bigger girls an assessment test in math so I can know where we need to focus as we begin the "school year". Rockstar has also begun spelling lessons in an effort to help her improve those skills, especially because she seems to really enjoy writing. Bird has shown some - a little - interest in learning letters, and we've been spending time daily looking through the wonderful Alphabet Scrapbook that Grandma so lovingly created for her; we get through just a few letters each day before she loses interest - and that's okay because she is, after all, only 3. Ace has taken advantage of the $1 treasures I found at Target - Math Bingo, which continues to help her speed up those math facts. Of course, they all have been reading up a storm, too. Bird completed the library Summer Reading program in record time and earned a medal and a stuffed ladybug on the day they were first made available. I suspect this year will require a bit more organized scheduling on my part, having all three eager to learn.

raising a leader

2008-07-25T09:00:00.006-05:00

My ever-growing (now 10 YO!!!) little gymnast made me so proud this week, I just have to brag. She practiced with the higher-league (same level) girls at gym Wednesday morning, which lasts twice as long as her usual practices. She had been totally stoked about it because she really likes the coach. Little did I know she had apparently set in her mind that she was going to pull out all the stops to see just how well she could do, to see if she could hang with the big dogs sotospeak.

(Photo Credit: Shawn Stewart-Maddox)

Her coach was waiting for me at the door when I arrived at the end of practice and said, "I have to tell you about your daughter!" Another mom chimed in, laughing, "Yeah, she's making (her daughter, S) look bad!" Okaaaaay. Apparently, the girls were lined up working a trick on the bars. S is a very good friend of Bug's, and they maintain a very friendly, encouraging competition between them. S bent her knee when she did her trick, so the coach assigned her 25 push-ups. (Mind you, none of these girls enjoy push-ups.) Bug, 3 or 4 girls back in line, pipes up with a deal, "Hey, S, do it again without bending your knees and I will do your push-ups for you!" Er, HUH? Coach was shocked but played along. S jumped back up to the bar and did the trick RIGHT. Bug stepped out of line and started doing the push-ups without a single mutter of complaint. By the time she was on the 3rd push-up, the entire rest of the team had gotten down to do them with her, and THEY DID! So, my shy little girl was the talk of the gym, among the gymnasts, the coaches AND the parents who were privy to the story being passed around. It's such a testament to who she is, and I am SOOO proud of her.

And, ya know, she wasn't even busting to tell me about it when we left. She was very humble about it, like it was no big thing. Of course, at the mention of my pride, she was grinning from ear-to-ear and almost glowing. (Though I have to admit, she was pretty sweaty and worn out. LOL)

a May to forget?

2008-05-22T12:03:00.005-05:00

ERGH. Sigh. We have had a whirlwind of a May, and I am hoping this upcoming long weekend will be refreshing and relaxing one. Mother's Day was truly a treat, and I applaud my family for making it such a great day. May 1st was a very special and memorable Family day, too. Bug's numerous meets were all thrilling, especially getting that first blue ribbon of this season! Amidst, the loss of a good friend and the extent it affected our entire family has clouded this past few weeks. Time, emotion, energy, clarity of thought ... all of us. Our twelfth wedding anniversary surprisingly was a comfortable, unadorned break from the coaster. LilBird said her name last night, with proper enunciation. Rockstar shined in band. The lightbulb of understanding the relationship of numbers brightened in Ace. The change in seasons brings about a change in my children - their (mis)behavior screams a need for revolution.

Attempting to chin-up a loved one recently who mulled over why life had to be so crappy, I offered this: If life didn't have downs, we'd take the ups for granted. No, we won't forget May.

Rorschach and tasking my resourcefulness

2008-04-28T09:20:00.005-05:00

LilBird has what I refer to as a Rorschach (inkblot) fascination. She "sees things" in everything ... clouds, mud, rock formations, ketchup on her plate, you name it and she can "find" an image in it. It sorta freaks me out, just a little.

Last night, at the dinner table, she pointed out the images her brain picked out of the drips of ranch on her plate (it had been at the end of the bottle, so it splurted .. Oh Boy!) ... I think it was birds and butterflies she saw. Anyway, I tossed out the word "Rorschach" and conversation began about what inkblot tests were, IQ tests and testing, etc. As the understanding and conversation came to a lull, here was the finale.

Rockstar, "She is, like, the smartest 3 year old I've ever met."

Pause, everybody's pondering that thought.

Me, "Yeah, it's kind of scary."

LilBird, as she's very seriously into what she's eating, "Yeah ... it is!" Impeccable timing.

In other news ...

As spring is upon us, our motivation to continue our most recent academic schedule is waning, to say the least. This weekend, Ace was inspired to start her own little business. I think she has a great idea, and now my resourcefulness is being put to the test. Without giving up the results of our cumulative brainstorming, I see the potential for a ginormous learning opportunity. Stay tuned. :) (Oh, and Nece, I need to pick your brain.)

Expelled, The Movie ... my take

2008-04-13T09:51:00.005-05:00

I started to post this to my homeschool group email list, but decided I really didn't want to start another debate there. There are, undoubtedly, still people on there, like a certain blonde so-called "homeschooling" mom who unsubscribed last week before giving me a chance to respond to her completely misunderstood (and unrelated) reply about an upcoming Track and Field Day message I posted. (Sure glad she's gone, though, because she's offended me more than once and I really hate biting my tongue.) So, this is MY blog, and my audience doesn't have it forced into their inboxes (unless they subscribe to the RSS, in which case, they should know what they're in for if they know me well at all). I refuse to apologize for my opinion, take it or leave it.

That said, here's what I really want to talk about ...

Ben Stein (remember "Bueller? ..... Bueller?") has made a movie called, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed". I found the movie trailers quite interesting, and believe this film could spark a very good conversation among my own household members. Conversation is a very good thing. Until today, I was unaware of this upcoming film, and thought I may not be the only one who missed the apparent hoopla which has been happening as this is being promoted. Homeschooling parents: if it interests you, take a look at the trailer, and decide for yourself if you think it could be helpful to your own homeschooling; if it offends you straightaway, PLEASE don't blast me about it - I didn't make the movie!

Here's my take on the trailer. A) It presents a theory (which is not offensive to me as an agnostic person). B) It sheds light on an alleged squelching of freedom of speech as it pertains to scientific debate (and I support freedom of speech). C) It (the trailer) does not specifically identify that the “higher intelligence” referenced in the theory is necessarily a religion-specific god (which I, again as an open-minded agnostic person, can appreciate).

I'm not heavily involved in the scientific community; I'm one parent trying to teach my children (aside from the three-R's) tolerance, open-mindedness, and how to think for themselves in a very hostile world. I have not fully investigated this, but here's what I do know. In a debate between Darwinism and Creationism, personally, I lean toward Darwin because of the scientific nature of it. There is no science in Creation. I have a fundamental issue with promoting any one religion in public school. I have a fundamental issue with the meshing of church and state. This is because I am a strong believer in the melting pot of the United States being founded on freedom of religion. However, I think theories (scientific and religious) - when presented in an unbiased and scientific way (which is the hard part), should be discussed. If more minds were open, and less people's feathers were so easily and ridiculously ruffled, the world I'm preparing my own kids for would be less hostile.

I'm not afraid to tell my kids that I don't have all of the answers. I encourage them to research their questions, and to form opinions, and to think outside the box. Where did we come from? What is our purpose? These are HUGE questions. I teach evolution to my kids because it's a straight-forward scientific theory versus a very muddied personal belief. That is not to say that even evolutionism contains all the answers, but it is taught as a scientific theory. As they get old enough to grasp the enormity and diversity of the hundreds of different worldviews, they will learn about that, as a social study. I have the right and freedom to teach my kids the way I feel they should be taught, as does the next person.

So, this is my opinion on this matter. Like I said, take it or leave it.

Adventures in Research

2008-04-08T13:10:00.006-05:00

Author's Note: This blog-post was drafted the week of April 7, 2008. I had some technical difficulty with uploading the video (the whole video sizing/uploading process still bumfuzzles me), but I got it figured out, and that is why this is actually posted later. I didn't want to edit what I'd already written but did want to justify the delay.

I don't have a lot of time to blog at the moment, but want to take the time to brag on Ace's first research paper. Her task was to select and research a woman in honor of Women's History Month (March). I was delighted and surprised that she chose someone with whom I was unfamiliar, Susan Butcher. She worked all month long on it (minus the week she was down with the flu), utilizing websites and library books, learning about sentence and paragraph composition, outlining, and citing resources. In addition to writing it, I asked her to present it orally, in whatever way she chose, be it as creative or dull as she wished. She opted to put most of her effort for that part into composing a musical piece in honor of the famous sled-dog racer. She aptly titled the piano piece "To the Finish," and after reading her written report aloud, played her composition for us. I'm very proud ... Enjoy!

On a different but still related note, I've been reading "Taming the Spirited Child" in an effort to better understand and develop strategies for our wilder, youngest child. (So far, so good.) I'm leading by example, I guess you could say. ;)

In other news, Rockstar embarks on annual standardized tests this week in public school, which she seems anxious about. Who can blame her? Maybe this will be the last time she has to deal with those for a long time ... crossing my fingers.

Stateline: Ready for Life

2008-04-03T11:58:00.006-05:00

For anyone who missed this, wasn't able to see it, etc., I felt this was a good enough program to share, and it's especially appropriate in this forum.

I think this piece was very well done, and I can’t praise Paula Neal and Dr. Brian Ray enough for so eloquently defending our freedom to homeschool. Jon Myers (Noble Public Schools) and Becky Felts (Oklahoma Education Association) are of the ilk who just don’t get it; they are the reason we must continue to defend our rights and our children.

Spring Break

2008-03-24T07:52:00.011-05:00

There's a nagging "you're behind" voice chasing me around, but I'm trying really hard to ignore it. Ace came down with the flu (Flu B, to be more specific) two weeks ago. I hear the skeptics ... "But you homeschool, sickness doesn't matter." Well, the flu kicked Ace's butt - she was down a full five days. It was all I could do to just keep Bird from bothering her all day each day. It was a really awful week around here. Then, Spring Break was here. Having a mixed-education family does not bode well for any attempt at "catching up" the homeschool work when the public school teenager is on a break. As much as I'd have liked for all that "sick week" work to be caught up during Spring Break, it just didn't happen. That is not to say no learning took place during Spring Break. Quite the contrary, actually.

Last Monday, I took Ace and Rockstar to the Oklahoma Science Museum (formerly known as the Omniplex) in Oklahoma City. (Actually, my friend C and her son Z went with us.) We got a slightly later start than we'd hoped, but we took full advantage of our time there. What an amazing place! It had been years since I'd been, and it has grown bigger and better! Not only is there a Planetarium, but also a Dome theater as well as "extra" exhibits. We opted for the admission package that included entry to the exhibit "Our Body: The Universe Within," and the "Tonight's Sky" planetarium show.

When we were planning the trip, I showed the girls the museum's website and photos of the "Our Body" exhibit to make sure it was something they felt they could stomach. (It was an additional $16, so I didn't want to waste that if they weren't generally interested.) I suppose it's a controversial exhibit considering the actual human cadavers they've plasticized. Of course, if you know me very well, you know I believe it makes a lot more sense to use our dead bodies for educational and life-saving purposes than it does simply to drain and bury them. In other words, THIS WAS REALLY COOL! Throughout the hour+ we toured this exhibit, I fought the overbearing urge to take photos and TOUCH. (I wanted to touch them so bad, but there were signs admonishing touching and photography, and I'm sure it all just felt like hard plastic anyway.) I think, had we been in the midst of a really in-depth human anatomy study, we could have spent the entire day just in that exhibit; there was really that much to learn! (The only thing I felt slightly unprepared for was the blushing of my girls as their virgin eyes spotted every penis and testicle on display. Having a doula for a mom, they are extremely educated about reproduction, but I have to admit that the majority of that learning has been one-sided. Not to mention that seeing the parts with your own eyes is a whole 'nother ballgame, if ya know what I mean.) There were cross-sections of bodies and body parts, diseased body parts compared to healthy ones, every anatomy system as a whole and separated, whole bodies, artfully-posed bodies ... you name it. Hands down, this is the most educational and truly amazing museum exhibit I have ever seen.

The rest of the Science Museum was a lot of fun learning, too. The planetarium show was very informative and entertaining; we saw that very night's sky (had the clouds not been in the way, we'd have seen the same sky from our own yard) and the speaker taught us how to recognize and locate various stars and constellations, and he explained the astrological zodiac in a way even I hadn't known. It's been a bit too chilly and overcast to try locating on our own, but I anticipate pulling out our star chart once it's a tad warmer. I think we had the most fun at the GadgetTrees exhibit where we all (yes, me, too) took a turn (or two or five) down the nation's tallest spiral slide. We did as many hands-on experiments as we could ... sound, sight, color, health, weight, physics, space, gymnastics ... so much fun! They were turning off the lights and running us out in the end because we just couldn't seem to get enough!

So, Spring Break is now over and it's time to get back to work. So, here we go!

Videos and Tangents

2008-03-07T09:43:00.006-06:00

One thing I've noticed about homeschoolers in general is that, when it comes to history as an educational subject, the kids are way more interested than their public-school peers, and they have a better grasp on the lessons that history has to teach. I wonder if, perhaps, it's because homeschooling parents understand the importance of history and they are determined to make it more interesting than it was taught to them. At least, that's my motivation, anyway. So, as the Core Knowledge series was leading us into Reformers, I started hunting for something fun. I found this cool CD by Professor Presley. Unable to obtain it quickly enough from the library, I decided it was worth the price of the download. The artist also emailed the lyrics to me, which is a good thing considering that it's kinda fast-paced music. Specifically, last week we were introduced to Dorothea Dix and Horace Mann. There are hundreds of schools named after Horace Mann, but the extent of information available on either of those ground-breaking reformers was rather dismal. History Rocks includes mention of both of these people in the same song, Find a Cause. This was a great transition into something new for March. Rather than doing our 'random core' (because, honestly, we're nearing the end of the fourth grade book), I've challenged Ace to do a research project in honor of Women's History Month. Specifically, she has to provide some basic information about her choice of a woman who has done something significant, in the form of a written report - through which she will learn more about forming paragraphs, outlining and creating a bibliography. Additionally, she will do a presentation (which I will videotape), but that part is completely up to her imagination. Surprisingly, she really seems to be excited about it; she loves looking things up, especially if it's something she's interested in. So, to my pleasant surprise, she quickly found a good list of interesting women, and narrowed her own choices from Harriet Tubman, Nadia Comaneci, Aretha Franklin and Susan Butcher down to the latter of those, someone I'd never even heard of! Anxiously awaiting the books she'd requested from the library, she was left to begin her research on the internet, where she quickly discovered that Ms. Butcher died in 2006 ... which led Ace's curiosity to further investigate the cause of her death. I love tangents.

Our study of geography, and my crazy phobia of making a huge mess, led me to find many videos replicating "the volcano" experiment, which we watched and discussed together. This week's geyser video was pretty cool, too. I suspect Ace will eventually get to do her own volcano, but after seeing the Mentos geyser ... she'll have to do some really sweet talking to get me to concede to that one! After seeing this video, I can't speak highly enough about internet videos ... we'd have never been able to see a geyser like this:

Math, spelling and keyboarding continue to be staples, and Ace makes me proud daily with her progress in those subjects. This week at the gym, they've added a third practice. Despite her ongoing battle with ear infection, her coach has told me she's the hardest worker on their team.

Ace took a field trip with her grandparents last week to see a zoo presentation, so I stole that opportunity to introduce Bird to our library's preschool reading time. My impression was, why are there so many parents that do not expect proper behavior from their children? Bird's impression was, "We can read stories at home." What more can I say? In the meantime, we had a heyday with the video camera a few days ago.

Record-keeping

2008-02-28T07:26:00.010-06:00

I keep a small, flexible binder with dividers for each week; it contains Ace's most current academic work and notes. She uses a separate spiral notebook for learning new math concepts, some spelling lessons, and whatever else she needs to put in it. Once each six weeks, I transfer the work from the small binder to a larger one that also houses loose leaf notebook paper. We do this for a couple of reasons. The smaller binder is far more manageable for daily use; it also is a nice way for Ace to present "what (she's) been doing in school" without overwhelming whomever it is she's showing. Through the years, I've tried various methods of record-keeping, but, honestly, it's just now to the point where I don't have to think about it much for Ace; it's pretty easy.

We have enormous freedom here in Oklahoma. Thank goodness ... because my family really doesn't conform well to a cookie cutter, which is also the reason we don't use a set curricula. Oklahoma's Constitution guarantees parents the right to home educate. We have laws regarding compulsory attendance (x amount of hours and y amount of days), but as written, this does not apply to homeschooling. However, we do have this evil (dis)organization called Department of Human Services, and they scare the bejeezus out of me because they can't seem to do anything right. If some nosey Wal*Mart checker wonders why I have my 9-year-old with me during all of my daytime trips (which actually doesn't happen all that often because we really do most of our schoolwork during the day and our shopping in the afternoon, evenings and weekends as a family), and this person decides to "do their civic duty" and report that my child (who has never been enrolled in any school institution) is truant, you better believe I plan to be prepared. Whether or not my children are taken from me for lack of good faith education is not going to rely solely on my kids being tested by the state - NO WAY. Ace is shy, highly sensitive and very diligent, and it's my duty to protect her. So, I have boxes of her work through the years stored up. Of course, there are many more things she's learned that are intangible, but to those people who would question us, that stuff doesn't matter anyway.

So, now Bird's teetering on the brink of preschool learning. Unlike Ace, she hasn't demanded a stack of Pre-K worksheets, but she occasionally likes to "take a spelling test" like her sister. (At these times, she takes pencil and paper; I name shapes - and sometimes letters - for her to draw.) So, how do we keep track? At this point, we don't; she's only 3. If nothing else, I have figured out how to relax and have confidence in what we do. I don't hang on to each of Bird's "spelling tests" to prove to anyone that she's making progress, and I wonder how different Ace might be had I figured out how to relax during those first years. I suppose it's irrelevant; Ace is who she is, and my currently homeschooling babes are polar opposites on one another's personality ... it stands to reason that what has worked and works for Ace likely will not work for Bird. We'll figure it out as we go, just like we've been doing. In the meantime, Bird has many, shall we say, 'abstract' concepts yet to grasp ... like how and when to behave like the good girl I know she can be. No paperwork on that one. Ha.

On that last note, sadly, I am giving up on Bird's gymnastics class. This last class of the session, she insisted on running and screaming again - despite firm warnings, bribery, etc. How I know it was the right thing is that ... she wasn't even upset when I carried her out of class twenty minutes early. Upset that I did manage to tackle her, yes, but not that upset at the threat of not getting to return again. Lucky for her, there's always a trampoline in the backyard.

Lessons Everywhere

2008-02-18T15:01:00.006-06:00

Bird's been a busy learner today. Lesson One: Dogs don't understand when you squeeze their neck that you're trying to hug them. Lesson Two: You can't have a cookie after toting your cereal all over the house until nearly lunch time and then spilling it rather than eating it. Lesson Three: Despite it's fruity flavor, Tums is not candy. Lesson Four: You're given specific choices so you can have some control over your life. Just one example: if you choose to run away with your cup, instead of taking your cup with you to nap, then you have chosen not to have a cup to drink once you're in bed. (Lesson Four is ongoing daily.) Lesson Five: Mommy has learned that calm and consistent repetition works. (Thanks, C, for teaching me about that technique!)

What happened to Quiet Time, you may ask. Today, because she scared me nearly to death as I swept two complete Tums and one chomped one from her mouth (I'm fairly confident I got most of it before making her spit until there was nothing left), Quiet Time was not an option for her. Quiet Time is saving all of us a lot of struggle, so I have every intention of resuming it tomorrow.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow I have a lesson to teach a particular coach; lucky for him I've had a couple of days to cool off. We left Ace's meet on Saturday very upset, not because her scores weren't what she'd hope for; quite the contrary, I was very proud of her physical effort - even if the judging wasn't what I consider consistent. The head coach, whom I've had lengthy discussions with specifically about psychological strategies in coaching gymnasts, was completely irrational, and frankly, he owes Ace and her entire team an apology. The level to which she has been promoted this season just this year has had their number of practices reduced by one-third, regardless of the nearly one-third hike in tuition. Half of the team was promoted from even lower levels than Ace was - so these are girls who have not one but two levels' worth of tricks to master. Ace has been working harder than almost every other girl on her team, even getting permission to come in early to work some on her own. She's also been fighting chronic ear infections since December, without any complaint in the gym. In the middle of their meet, halfway through the rotations, this coach threatened their team that if they did not master the 3 most difficult tricks of their level in two weeks, they will be demoted a level. Now, I have learned to accept that he calls the shots on moving them between levels, but I refuse to let this threat go for two reasons. First, this is Parks & Rec league - these girls are not USA level because they aren't ready (physically, mentally nor emotionally) for the pressure that comes with USA Gymnastics, including that kind of harsh coaching; you just don't do that to them in the middle of a competition. Second, his decision to cut back on the amount of practice is the only reason they haven't mastered the tricks; it's not that they aren't trying because I know they are - and so does their level coach. So, I intend to demand an apology and an increase in practice ... we'll see how that goes. I believe he's reasonable enough to see the error of his ways; I think he was having a bad day (not that it's any excuse, but I can sympathize with that ... remember the first paragraph above?). Jay says we should just change gyms, but I'm owning this one and that's just not happening right now. Gymnastics is a tough sport, and I never would have dreamed all the drama involved. Every gym has issues (most much worse than any we've had); I'd much rather confront and resolve them than run away from a place she has come to love so much. I did the research and I made the decision to take her there for a laundry list of reasons. I will deal with it as the responsible parent I am.

All that aside, we've pressed on through fevers (4 out of 5 of us), ear aches, over-eating to the point of vomiting (a lesson that, unfortunately, must be learned the hard way), and allergic reactions to medicine all in this past week, and remain diligent in our academic schedule. Even today (a holiday for public schools) spelling, math and music (our Monday cores) were done. Yay, us! Excuse the brevity of my post, but I must check my temperature again ...

UPDATE 02/19/08: I had a very good discussion with the coach I'd planned to visit with this morning. The biggest lesson I've learned this gymnastics season is that I need to continue to voice any concerns to him rather than to rely on the level coach to pass the word. (I should know better than to assume.) He acknowledged and actually thanked me for making the effort to talk to him; I'm guessing the other moms who complain among themselves are either too busy or too intimidated to speak up and ask questions. I think many more just run away. He intends to talk to Ace's team tonight to clarify what happened on Saturday, specifically what is expected of them, and stress to them that regardless of the individuality of the sport, as teammates, they all have to give 100% effort. In gymnastics, a team is only as good as it's worst gymnast - this is why, in practice, when one makes a mistake, the entire team has to do conditioning. They seem to understand it in practice, but that's where it stops. Ace, individually, has to learn to accept and apply correction (individually and as a team) and not take it personally; that's a tough thing to do, especially for a heart as tender as hers, but I know she will try. Her energy is better expended encouraging slacking teammates to learn the tricks correctly and safely because she knows she's one of the ones who is working hardest. I'm anxious for their third weekly practice to begin because I know it will be what she needs to see her own improvement and boost her self-confidence. (Go, me. haha)

Moving Right Along

2008-02-11T11:11:00.001-06:00

Smooth sailing through January and right on into February. Well, mostly smooth, anyway; the occasional snag or bump keeps us motivated.

In science, we've nearly completed the fourth grade Core section on physics. As I believe I've mentioned before, science is not my strongest subject. That does not keep me from trying to teach it, though; I like to think that I make up for my lack of knowledge in resourcefulness. ExploreScience has been awesome for guiding us through the physics lessons. However, when we landed on the circuits lesson, I have to admit that I was overwhelmed. Honestly, I think the lesson was too advanced for our purpose. About halfway through, I jumped ship and asked MyLove to do damage control. Ace eventually learned the concepts, but not without a lot of confusion and frustration. Moving on now, into geology. Since I'm pretty confident I can handle the earth science lessons without it, I've decided to postpone paying for a membership to ExploreScience until we need it again (my guess is late summer).

I am proud and confident to say that Ace has finally mastered all of the basic math facts! She's been working daily on a flash card site, practicing all four processes every day. This past week, she's combined the opposing ones (+, - and x, /). Each day, she averages her scores for a daily math grade (and then a weekly score, all for her own amusement) and we've watched her per-minute and accuracy numbers grow. This week, she'll begin learning the process of multiplying multiple digits. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Our older girls have, for the most part, outgrown reading incentive programs. However, I found out about a reward program offered by Six Flags. For 360 minutes of recreational reading, they each could earn a ticket to (a participating) Six Flags. HELLO ... that's about a $70 value between them! 360 minutes is a drop in the bucket for the amount of time my girls spend reading, and almost all of their home-reading is recreational. I have to thank Y for letting me add my students to her "class", since I missed the registration deadline. (THANK YOU!!) We are uber excited planning a summer vacation!

Thanks to another mommy out there who requested suggestions for getting her toddler to take a nap, via Mamasource, I gobbled up the overwhelming advice to throw out "nap time" around here in favor of "quiet time". (Rockstar and Ace were quick to remind me that I instituted "quiet time" in the last weeks of my pregnancy with Bird.) The idea is that, rest is the key, not necessarily sleeping. So, after the day's schoolwork is finished, Ace and Bird alternate daily selecting a DVD to curl up and watch from beginning to end. About half of the time, Bird dozes off! Success? Well, I'll just relay that within minutes of waking yesterday morning (Sunday), Bird was already asking if it was time for quiet time yet! Now, I'm going to have to peruse the library's DVD collection more often because I'm certain we're going to run through our personal collection in no time!

The Pet Pals program continues to be a bit of a disappointment to me (even though I love the time together). I'm sure part of it is that our choice of days is during the week, when very few people board cats. This week they brought us a couple of Chihuahuas to entertain ... I hate to be a breed-snob, but I think we both preferred the little Maltese couple we'd played with before. I'm hoping to stick it out until summer, and approach our vet about letting her shadow him every so often.

We're still moving along slowly through our nation's origins, now up to the sixth President. The past couple of weeks, Ace's random core selection has tied in pretty well. I worry sometimes that my off-the-mark voting habits are going to work against me, and my kids will believe that voting doesn't do any good if you're not voting for the media's pick. I can only hope that isn't going to be the case, and that they will understand that every vote is an equal vote, irregardless of the result.

I must brag about our wonderful, impromptu writing lesson this past week. Ace is not one to write a written assignment. First, it was a handwriting issue. Then, her mind just couldn't be limited to a specific topic on-demand. I do require her to blog weekly now, at least to get some practice forming sentences and exercising her vocabulary and spelling. She's written a variety of short stories, songs and poems over the past few years, but for the most part, it has to be her idea and done on her time. I use those times to teach grammar rules. This past Thursday afternoon, out of the blue, she was suddenly chomping at the bit to type out a story idea. A little while later, she presented a lovely short story about a horse with a braided tail, dotted with all sorts of grammatical errors. (I couldn't help but beg her to tell me what inspired it, but then I had to promise not to tell. You'll never guess; just know that we had a giggle over it.) Over the weekend, I reprinted the story, double spaced, and we went through it together with a red pen. After noting all of the mistakes we could find using "the" proofreading marks and discussing many grammar rules, she made all the corrections and reprinted. There is an author in her yet!!

The Responsibility of Education

2008-01-29T14:09:00.001-06:00

A week away from the primary vote in my area, bear with me as I follow a political tangent as it relates to education. In Oklahoma, we have enormous freedom to educate our children. The right to educate our own children is written into our State Constitution before the guarantee of public education. As backwards as many of our state laws are, I fear this may have been purely accidental; nonetheless, I'll take it and run with it. I don't believe any of the front-runners in this year's Presidential election have "messing with Oklahoma home-educator's rights" anywhere near the top of their agenda. "No Child Left Behind" has wrought so much havoc with the entire nation's already-broken educational system, candidates aren't going to touch this states' issue with a ten-foot pole. However, we must remain diligent during our state congressional sessions and elections to assert our parental rights. Not all homeschoolers educate all of our children at home; this is the main reason the Education issue is on my priority list when reviewing Presidential candidates.

It's rare that I meet resistance anymore when the topic of our pitiful public education system is brought up. It's more of a general "sigh" and pondering of what the best way of fixing it might be, followed by a discussion of homeschooling as an option. (Don't get me wrong, I never cease to be amazed by the number of parents who put me on a proverbial pedestal for having a desire to "spend all my time" with my children. I'll get to those parents in a minute.) The teachers aren't paid enough. The teachers are paid too much. There need to be higher standards. Low-income school districts need more funding. Student-teacher ratios are too high. There are too many administrators. There aren't enough books, supplies, computers. There are a host of so-called reasons our system is failing.

I have to admit that our decision to homeschool was largely based on our perceived failure of the public education system for us. You know, when we attended public schools as kids. As ironic as that may be, MyLove and I were on the upper end of the IQ scales compared to our classmates; we share the experience of being bored and unmotivated by the pace (or lack thereof) required of teachers so that other children weren't "left behind". We learned that we can do a better job with our kids than paid teachers did for us. Being in the unique position of being both a homeschooling parent and a parent of a public school student, I believe, has provided a world of insight on the education issue. Well, at least enough to form an opinion on the matter. (Yeah, yeah, opinions are like noses ... I know. You're still reading, so continue to bear with me.)

Back to those parents I mentioned earlier ... the ones who, in my experience, spend more time running their children to and from activities than they do actually conversing with them, either that or they never miss an episode of (insert TV sitcom/drama) and are on a first name basis with the McDonald's drive-thru workers. These parents aren't to be confused with the illiterate baby-machine parents we support via the welfare system; I'll get to them. I'm talking about the majority of public school parents who believe the responsibility for children's education lies completely with the school (public or private, it's irrelevant). Wanna fix the American school system? Try starting with the parents. If parents had real, enforced consequences (like huge fines or even jail time) for missing parent-teacher conferences, for not making sure their kids' homework is completed and comprehended, for not being involved, can you imagine how much better their students would perform? I'm not saying it would be an overnight miracle-cure, but the long term results could be far-reaching. It's unconstitutional to punish people for simply being stupid or making bad choices, but if kids grew up knowing that having children comes with a punishable responsibility to educate their own kids, the population of those welfare parents would eventually decline. If the same amount of money spent policing non-violent, individual drug users was diverted to the enforcement of parents being involved with their kids' schooling, change in the public school system would be inevitable. Seriously.

The only education law targeting parental responsibility is truancy. Enforcement of it is half-baked at best. More often than actual truant cases, I've heard of homeschooling parents having to defend themselves on truancy charges because some nosy neighbor called the school district because they assumed a child was suffering from lack of socialization because the child was kept home instead of sent to an institution where s/he should be. Nosy neighbors are the product of the school system that has propagated this Teacher vs. Parent mentality that clouds our society.

What I propose could potentially turn the school system on its end, shake things up, not unlike "No Child Left Behind" has. The difference is that it might actually work if implemented carefully. "I can't wait until my child is old enough to go to school so I can spend my afternoons shopping." "It's the teacher's fault my child didn't do so well on the state exams." "It's no big deal to have a kid as a teenager because once welfare stops paying me for having a kid, I get free daycare called public school." "I'm so glad I don't have to mess with the parents of my students by explaining the curriculum." "It's best that we prepare non-permission slips for the objectionable speaker we've brought in because most of the kids never make it home with the three papers we send to the parents each year anyway." "Your child is ADD and requires medication; no, I'm not a doctor, but it's my job as a teacher to recognize ADD kids when I see them, and your child just doesn't sit still." Enforcing parental responsibility in education could phase out these ways of thinking.

I certainly do not mean to offend those few paid teachers out there who get it; they really are out there. They just seem so few and far between, and their hands are tied. I can count on one hand the number of my own public school teachers who truly cared about my education and my future, who took the extra step to communicate with my parents; in thirteen years of school, that is less than a handful out of over 50 teachers, administrators, counselors, etc. To the rest of them, I was a filled seat, an annual file, a paycheck, a source of funding. Education should not be a business; our future relies on it.

When I vote, I'm on the lookout for a candidate who acknowledges the root of the problems on our home soil, who thinks outside the box, and has the cojones to be proactive and dispel myths that are tearing our nation apart. Having children is an awesome responsibility, and I think it's high time American parents be held accountable. Uncle Sam doesn't conceive and bear our children; parents do.

Challenges

2008-01-18T13:18:00.001-06:00

Children are a challenge. I've concluded that even though it takes a big commitment to get (and stay) married, having children is huge. When we choose a spouse, we have a general idea of what we're in for, but when we have a child, we accept the unknown unconditionally. If Bird had been my first-born, undoubtedly she'd have been an only child because she is more than a handful. However, I am thankful for each one of my children because they each have something unique to teach me, and they are each challenging in their own ways. Rockstar is living proof of the amazing resilience innate in children; despite abominable circumstances, goodness can prevail. Ace is a testament to the sensitivity of intelligent beings; it is because of her I have a new mantra, Children ask questions because they long for the answers; it is unjust to believe there are any stupid questions and respond to them as such. Bird reminds me daily that persistence is invaluable (albeit frustrating).

Ace loves animals, specifically domesticated ones, but all animals in general. On one of our (many) trips to the gym, we noticed a local pet resort's sign recently advertised a volunteering opportunity as a Pet Pal. In an effort to foster her adoration for furry beings into something lifelong (not to mention the volunteer aspect), we stopped in and signed her up. Not being old enough to be a dog "pal" (according to the resort's insurance company - blech), she's supposed to be limited to Kitty City. I have called ahead both times we've gone (as instructed), but the kitties were all gone during our scheduled visits. Fortunately, two little (completely harmless) Maltese pups are being boarded for "boot camp," and we were given permission to love and play with them during our volunteer time. The bonus for me is that it's just the two of us, and I enjoy the time alone with her as much as she does playing with the furballs. Alone-time with any one of my three kids is rare, and is something I am now actively seeking for the other two.

Bird has had a bit of a tough week; she is a very strong-willed child. Trying not to squelch that virtue while enforcing boundaries as explicit as she demands consumes the majority of my energy. In the past month, as I've mentioned before, her attention span has increased; this has been rewarded with much more cooperative time reading and playing games. She began a gymnastics class in December for two reasons (in my mind): to expend some of her seemingly endless supply of energy, and to learn that listening to adults is imperative. First task - easily accomplished. Second, hmmm, not so much. I hoped that Mr. Scott would back me up on "the rules" for behaving in public, but alas, when it comes to the little kids' classes, our priorities differ. So, after many warnings, and upon having to be carried away from the class for behaving like a banshee in between "turns," she lost the privilege of attending class next week. My best guess is that she has spent close to an hour this week in "time out," and has been reminded multiple times daily that going into public places (including gymnastics) is a luxury that she must earn with proper behavior. Consistency has led my efforts with her all week, and finally today she went to time-out on my first demand and she accepted the consequence of throwing her juice at me without complaint (nor wiggling, nor distraction); the result was a lesson learned (and verbally acknowledged by her) through calm discipline. For the first time this week, I feel like we made some progress. Yay, us!

As far as our "schoolwork" goes, it's been a productive couple of weeks. We've adhered to our "schedule" and actually had a good time doing it. This week, Ace has attacked math facts like never before. As always, she sets the bar as high as humanly possible for herself, and when she falls short of her perfect goal, I have to remind her that beating herself up for getting a 99 instead of a 100 is just silly. I think she's almost as proud of herself as I am of her, and "it's a good thing." I cannot speak highly enough about the science site we've started using; I have yet to hear back on reasonable pricing for home-users, so I must find time to call them to inquire. Her quick grasp of concepts including mass, volume, density, water displacement, and solubility would have been far more difficult without the cool Gizmos we chose. Surely we can work out something because ExploreScience works for us better than I could have ever hoped. Spelling and keyboarding continue, the latter she understands helps her with math so she does it happily before just about anything else each day. Finally being an election year (the last of our Four Moron Years, yay!), we're diving into the birth and foundation of our country and the early Presidents. She selects something from the Core Knowledge book each week to read aloud and discuss (we call it her "Random Core" subject); that has included "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table," both of which I was able to find a video through the library to accompany the stories. Disney's "The Sword in the Stone" unintentionally prompted me to tie in a bit of history that our density lesson included (Archimedes - an owl in the video - discovered water displacement as a means of measuring volume). It really is nice when things fall into place.

So, when I say they are a challenge, I don't mean it to have a negative connotation. A fleeting thought crosses my mind that one day they all will be on their own, meeting their own life challenges with everything I have had the opportunity to give them, and during my moments of utter exasperation I long for the peace and quiet of that future, but still, a melancholy feeling lurks.

New Year

2008-01-07T14:04:00.001-06:00

It seems the end of the holiday season came none too soon. It was a challenge for me to get into the groove of the winter holidays this year, and I haven't quite figured out why. Perhaps it's the strange weather. I can't even blame the ice storm for my lack of enthusiasm for what is usually my favorite holiday because, thankfully, we're about the only ones we know who didn't even lose power. Getting ready for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, along with the year-end workload for my part-time, work-from-home job, seemed to really eat up my time. Not that the kids would actually focus on anything other than the number of days left before Santa's arrival anyway! (LilBird counted down by filling in Santa's beard with cotton balls from December 1st.)

The kids all seem to have a renewed appreciation for structure in their day. Ace's unwillingness to memorize math facts ("because it's boring") finally caught up to her ego. Jay is always quizzing the girls to see how quickly they can do "math tricks;" Rockstar is pretty quick at math in her head, and Ace ... well, she has thus far been staunchly opposed to doing "the boring stuff" and so has a disadvantage. I learned (the hard way) that forcing my kids to learn something backfires every time, and since I have yet to figure out any other way than memorization/repetition to learn those basic math facts, I haven't pushed her. Between the ice storm and the holidays, Jay has spent more time with the kids, and so the opportunities abound recently for Dad's Math Pop Quizzes. Being the emotional competitor she is, Ace reached her limit of losing to her sister and has now concluded that "the boring stuff" is pretty darned important. I found her a pretty simple website to practice the facts on, and she now seems ready to resume what I have felt was a pretty good academic schedule. Rockstar is back in the swing of things (though still trying to recover from poor holiday sleeping habits), and the past few days has been hidden behind a book most waking hours.

I've focused a lot on Bird the past month, trying everything I can think of to deter her terribly stereotypical 3-year-old behavior. She is now a master of the computer mouse and is moving right along recognizing letters visually, and as beginning sounds, and increasing the string of numbers up to which she can count (Santa countdown!). She's made me ponder lately that she just might end up being an astronaut. She has finally started paying attention long enough to enjoy having stories read to her. She's actually asking me to read stacks of books at a time ... finally! I pulled a new-to-her book from the shelf (actually, the inscription said it was my youngest sister's book, though I don't recall ever having read it to her or my other girls) and now, she insists "The Berenstain Bears on the Moon" be read to her every day at least once! It's a simple and sing-songy little story, but it has captivated (and possibly inspired?) her. She asks a new question about some aspect of the story almost every time I read it, and many days in the past week or so have begun with, "Today are we going to the moon, Mommy?" That would be a pretty cool field trip, huh?

Where Does the Time Go?

2007-12-01T23:36:00.001-06:00

Readers, be warned ... I'm pooped.

My fall season would get off to a better start if my kids' birthdays were not 2-1/2 weeks apart with Halloween in the middle ... and then riding the wave comes Thanksgiving, and suddenly there are 24 days 'til Christmas. On top of that, we've had a pressing legal schedule this month, too. Oh, and we're on the verge of a gymnastics meet season. Amidst the chaos and sheer exhaustion, our school schedule drifted since my last post. Fortunately, unschooling has always been the foundation of our educational philosophy ... when Mom needs some flexibility as much as the kiddos, those natural curiosity instincts rise like a fire. Our house is FULL of educational "stuff" ... and it's been nice and toasty!

In these last few weeks, Ace has just about caught up on the newest Magic Tree House books ... that is, there were about 3 new ones she had yet to read. I love those Magic Tree House stories because they motivate her to learn about history, and she retains so much more that she finds to learn on her own than any lessons I can come up with. She picked up Gracie's Letter to Lincoln and devoured it (seriously!); this book has been collecting dust for almost a year and never caught her eye until last week. I'd been saving the quill pen to give her when she finished it - that was a super cool bonus for her!

We have played a lot more family games lately, it seems, too. Speaking of games, I have to briefly mention my opinion on the new electronic Monopoly. Boycott this, folks - it's a ploy to dumb us down!! Ok, maybe I'm being dramatic, but Monopoly is a great way for our kids to practice math. Electro-Monopoly, no thank you!!

LilBird's new and improved "puter" skills have hugely expanded her interactive world. She finds her way around JumpStart Preschool very well, and is almost beginning to recognize letters visually. It won't be long before she's recognizing those words in her Blues Clues Word Book. (And, speaking of Blues Clues, I know someone out there will appreciate this ... remember Steve of the green stripes?) Although she's been toilet-trained for almost a year now, No More Diapers For Ducky is still a favorite, and now she's "helping" when I read it ... "I am sitting on the potty" is her favorite line.

Both of my little girls are doing gymnastics now. LilBird is secretly in love with her "coach," Mr. Scott; she tells me at least once a week that she's going to dream about him. Ace has had a couple of private lessons with both her coach and one of the USAG coaches, the last of which reminded her of her passion for the sport. She's overcoming a slight weight gain which has been kicking her butt in the gym for a couple of months. Honestly, I could use just that one chapter of the ever-evasive Parenting Book that teaches me how to not discourage her with discussions about nutrition choices, and not cave to those illustrious eyes when she asks for a sweet every few hours. (Halloween did not help.) Big thanks to Mrs. Kim for coaching in just the right way she needed to feel successful again!

Ace and Rockstar performed on Thanksgiving, Ace playing keyboard and Rockstar playing flute and guitar (no, not at the same time ... she's talented, but, c'mon). Ace also wrote a nice song about the holiday ... she hasn't figured out how to put the notes down to play it, but she did sing it consistently in her practice in front of me and in front of her familial audience. They all three had a hey-day preparing (super-messy and yummy) decorated pretzel rods for one of our Thanksgiving dinners.

I can't deny that the busy schedule has allowed more time for the kids to hang with Grandma & Grandpa, which always offers up learning disguised as fun.

We opted to attend the Sapulpa Christmas Parade this evening instead of putting up the tree ... "we can do that tomorrow." If we successfully make it look like Christmas this weekend, then maybe it'll feel more like the Christmas season is upon us. Historically, we unschool through the winter holidays, so here we are.

It's time to curl up, read a lot, enjoy each other, spend time with family, play games, laugh ... yeah, and I have all girls, so it's also time to start shopping because they are COUNTING DOWN!

24, no, now 23 days 'til ... sheesh, I gotta hit the hay.

Treats and Tricks

2007-11-08T08:32:00.001-06:00

For the most part, we're keeping to our "academic schedule" even though I still have that "behind" feeling about everything else ... like my blog.

Halloween this year was a delight! LilBird had been practicing her "trick or treat," and even though she had zero candy before and during, a stranger would have certainly thought she had a sugar-high as she squealed away from every doorway begging for each of us to look in her bucket to see what new treat she'd been given. She left one treat-giver chuckling as she ran down the driveway, thrilled with herself, yelling, "I said THANK YOU!!" Ace and I read some enlightening history of All Hallow's Eve, the evolution of the holiday, and the legend of Stingy Jack, and she seemed especially amazed by the various, crazy superstitions we found.

Ace got a private piano lesson last week because we needed to make-up the one after the Fall Out Boy concert. It was the first time I'd gotten to meet the instructor (since Dad and Grandma had taken her to the first two). What a very nice lady, but I don't think we'll be continuing lessons with her after this initial 4-lesson trial. I've left keyboarding practice on her daily schedule because she was given a lot of music that I'd like her to master before deciding whether or not piano is something she needs/wants lessons for. While practicing, she was getting very frustrated with not playing perfect the first time (I have no idea where she gets that), and staying on beat was difficult (again, no idea). Rockstar happened to be looking over her shoulder as she was playing one evening and realized she's learning much of the same music on flute. So, they played together ... what a difference that made!! At the final group lesson, Ace was the only one to play her two pieces without a single mistake!

Math and spelling are everyday activities around here. Recently, math lessons have been just multiplication practice. Ace needs to spend a while mastering those facts. I'm really pleased with the spelling lessons she's working on. The words are challenging enough for her, and the exercises themselves build on the rules of spelling, which I think is just as important as knowing what the words mean.

Science continues as a weekly lesson, and I'm using the Core Knowledge series as our guide. Ace learned what she needed to about lungs, even though after waiting more than a couple of weeks for Dad to help do the lung-activity I had planned, I discarded it so we could move on. So I've introduced atoms now - which is a difficult concept to understand and just as difficult to teach. However, our Element Cookies seemed to make sense, and prompted Ace to quiz Dad on protons, neutrons and electrons! This week's lesson is about measurements, and I'm planning to use my free trial on ExploreScience to help with that. (This website doesn't give a subscription price, and I'm afraid it is unaffordable, but I'm crossing my fingers that they'll tell me they have a special for homeschool use since Dad isn't pulling his weight as our primary science teacher.)

Speaking of trials, LilBird tried out a Kindernastics class in the little gym next to Ultimate Gymnastics, where Ace goes. Now she's asking every day, multiple times a day, when she gets to go back!! Ultimate's head coach, Scott, is her "teacher" and he is wonderful with the little ones! It's a tiny little class, and the skill levels are all over the place since it's for ages 1-3, but it didn't seem to matter at all. I actually wish it would last 45 minutes instead of 30 ... and of course, LilBird does too "because I need to practice!" She's just going to have to practice at home and get her exercise on her new Dora The Explorer Scooter until next time.

I have to mention, because it is extremely blog-worthy, that LilBird played JumpStart Preschool last night, on her own for almost a full hour! Yes!! She's also not fighting nearly as much when it's bedtime, probably because she's adjusted better than I have to this time change. Or maybe because she's "bigger now". Though, even at the ripe old age of three, sometimes the best toy is a cardboard box.

Time Flies

2007-10-29T07:58:00.001-05:00

Oops, we fell out of practice around here. That's not to say we haven't been busy. I have to consult my calendar as I write to avoid leaving out anything.

We traveled to Broken Arrow to watch the High School Orchestra play. I think we all enjoyed that, even Bird sat fairly still and quiet. It's always a nice surprise when we recognize songs when they're played even when we don't recognize the names of them on the program.

Rockstar had a full four days off from public school, after we had parent-teacher conferences and collected a very good report card. When the public school has days off, I tend to fill those days with appointments, to get things done while school is out of session, so that she doesn't have to miss any school time. During the down time of those days, Bug has zero motivation to do anything that involves schoolwork ... after all, sister is home to play. Rockstar did have an extra credit assignment that she spent only one afternoon working on.

Despite the tent collapse during the "preview night", we took advantage of Family Night at Oktoberfest. I'd hoped my older girls would take a bit more interest in the history of the festival, and the food, but, alas, the carnival rides took precedence with them. Ah well, there's always next year.

Bug continues to do well with her keyboarding lessons, though I'm not certain she's ready to commit to the learning of that instrument. Time will tell, but I've seen her fall in love with gymnastics, and I'm not seeing that yet with piano/keyboard - she's easily frustrated when it's not perfectly flowing from her fingers the first, or even third, time.

One of the new moms on our homeschool email loop set up a field trip for a local bank, and we jumped at the opportunity. Having grown up with a parent (and a grandparent) working for banks, I was very excited for my girls to see all that goes into making a bank work. As it seems to happen with homeschool field trips, there were a lot of no-shows. (That always irritates the crap out of me, and I walked away thinking I was very glad I had not been the one to set it up - those no-shows are the reason I'm so burned out on making the effort to include others in our field trips.) In any event, a very nice lady gave the three kiddos a "bank bag" with a quarter in it. They each went to a teller and got change for their quarter, then spent a few minutes talking about the value and differences of each type of coin. They checked out safe deposit boxes and learned what those are for. I was disappointed that the only "behind the scenes" bit was watching the coins go into the counting machine. As I mentioned, there were only three kids, and mine were two of those. So, for the under 5's, this was as much as they would probably retain anyway. I feel that it was a bust for Bug, though ... although she did get excited to take photos of the unique artwork in the lobby. :)

Rockstar wanted to attend a concert for her birthday, so I'd bought tickets for that some time ago. One of my sisters had planned to take our younger sister with us, too. Well, the teenage sister got into trouble, so Bug got to go in her place. I can't say it was educational in the least (unless you count learning "event=inflation" at the souvenir stand), but they did have a blast! Also in the fun department, we all dressed up for a Halloween party this weekend.

Now it's back to scrambling to put one more birthday party together (Bird) in record time, and getting back on track this week. Trick or treat!

Affinity for Rome

2007-10-15T08:02:00.001-05:00

I was overly busy this week planning and preparing for Rockstar's Surprise 13th Birthday Party (which was a smashing success if I say so myself). This left little time for much on the creative, fun and more time-consuming school planning. We're beginning this week a wee bit behind (as you may notice today is Monday rather than Saturday, and Ace hasn't blogged yet either). Ah well. This will be a short week since Rockstar will be home from school the last three days and I have appointments scheduled, so we'll adjust to catch-up on science and writing.

I'd planned to spend 4 full days on Roman Numerals. It's generally a foreign language, is it not? It might take a bit for her to grasp, at least that's what I was planning for. Ace totally got into it, and she picked it up super fast. Really, she didn't need a week of it, but she WANTED to do more, and has even asked for a Roman Numeral Worksheet instead of doing math on her Leapster Cosmic Math game on Fridays. In the past, she has shown interest in Roman mythology, but still ... whodathunkit?

Columbus Day was this week, and she has always wanted to learn/do "something" in relation to that. She's learned the dates, the ships, the controversy in past years, so I focused on different kinds of food: Old World vs. New World. I gave her a list of samples of each, and she searched recipes for a menu using foods from both lists. She made a shopping list, and we had a very educational trip to the grocery store where she had to utilize rounding and multiplication to figure out how much the produce was going to cost. She helped me make chicken corn chowder (except, oops .. Mom forgot the chicken) and a yummy fruit salad for dinner. At the table, she described what she'd done and which ingredients were Old vs. New World foods. Touching on at least math, social studies, history, home economics, and speech ... not bad.

She finally got to begin keyboarding lessons on Saturday, so now she has something more to practice. She seemed to have fun and was proud of all she'd learned. Maybe she'll blog about it ...

Oh, and we did receive our Pieceless Puzzle last week. It is challenging, but very cool.

I hate beginning the week feeling behind even if it is a short week, so I'm off to get my ducks in a row before she crawls out of bed.

Lil's Leaps

2007-10-10T07:43:00.001-05:00

It seems that when I sit down to blog about homeschooling, the main thing that I'm musing about is what takes me the most effort, er - planning really ... Ace's education. I have neglected to mention the leaps and bounds LilBird has been making.

Last Christmas, Santa left her a colorful learning keyboard and tiny mouse for her computer. Our PCs are set up in "lab-like" fashion, grouped together in one room; when one or two of us is surfing/pecking away, she wants to "play on (her) puter," too. Ten months ago, she had no mouse skills whatsoever, and very little patience when it came to acquiring those. It's taken our family village to show her the way. By the end of the summer, we'd all gotten frustrated with her, and none of us had any desire to fight her at "her puter". However, about two weeks ago, I caved in one weekend morning, turned on her PC and put in Toyland. The connection between her eyes and hand was finally there, and she got it! We have a large handful of preschool games that are old enough to play on her hand-me-down computer. It's great that she has another activity now to choose from.

I was discussing with Gma, after she'd kept her during our Fair excursion, how different LilBird is from Ace. At 3, Ace was so in love with stories that she was on the very brink of actually reading, while LilBird usually wants to crack a book only when it is her idea. Another big step she's made is peddling ... just last week, on a whim, I took her out to the sidewalk with her trike, and after just a couple of minutes of coaching, she was actually peddling on her own; steering is still a bit of a challenge, but she comes by that honestly... Daddy used to run into parked cars on his bike.

Yesterday, she actually brought me a pile of books to read to her. "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See," has long been one she most enjoys ... I think because occasionally the readers in our house will change voices for the different animals. She squealed with delight at every page turn, even as she knew what was next. We also read one about some zoo animals that visit a farm, after which we reviewed the various animal sounds; she's definitely got those down!

However unique, she is just as bright as our other kids, if not moreso in her own beautiful way. She's the most challenging, by far, to discipline, and she will, no doubt, keep me on my toes as her teacher for the next 15 years.

The Fair and More

2007-10-06T11:53:00.001-05:00

Our academic adventure began quietly this week, with an introduction to perfect squares and square roots. That went well. We also investigated "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" and checked out the true story of the man, investigated some differences between modern times and the 1700s. I also awarded reading coupons because both girls exceeded their reading goals, and we're raising the bar for this month.

The fun stuff began on Wednesday, with our trip to the Tulsa State Fair through the Oklahoma's Largest Classroom program. Ace and her friend Fairygirl participated in The Great American Duck Race, which was quite funny. Ace was chosen as the cheerleader for our section's pig during one of the Hambone Races - a must-see for fair-goers ... that's funny stuff. Fairygirl got the chance to volunteer as part of the Perondi Extreme Canine show; this is a staple of our fair experiences. We shared a laugh watching the adult pie-eating contest, saw and touched every animal and reptile within reach, played in a giant sand box, journeyed through the Fun Farm, and had a good list of exhibits to see. One of the most amazing was the sand sculpture in the Just For Kids building. When we first saw the Centennial sand sculpture, two artists were working away. We marveled over a buffalo patiently coming to "life" out of a rounded mound of sand. Several hours later, he was almost finished! The girls were ecstatic to discover pizza-on-a-stick for lunch and later shared a big dish of apple fries for a snack. (Of course, I had to have a jumbo corndog, and found heaven inside a deep-fried brownie on-a-stick. Oh yeah!) We even took the scenic Sky-Ride across the entire midway. Overall, this year's fair was only different from previous years in a few ways ... higher priced food, half as many rides, more carny games to avoid. Fortunately, we've done this program several times and were organized enough to make our way to see and do the things we really wanted to. We took a lot of photos, though ... so enjoy a few of those!

Friday's schoolwork was done partially on Thursday, and will be finished up today since we took advantage of the monthly homeschooler ice skating day on Friday, Ace had gymnastics, and we already had evening plans to visit The Haunted Castle in Muskogee. Ice skating was a great time; we've made some new friends and really enjoyed our time with them. Our luck was waning by the time we left for Muskogee, about 45 minutes later than planned. Rockstar inhaled a carton of yogurt right after doing a breathing treatment (she's recovering from bronchitis, poor thing) and felt sick. We were investigating the cause of her tummy trouble when we realized the yogurt had expired a month ago ... uh oh. The nausea passed after I'd called the nurse line and poison control. So, we piled into the car to leave, and as we were slowly backing down the drive, we spied our dear old kitty sprinting out in front of us, angrily glaring at us. We'd rolled over his foot. I hopped out, we had a few moments of panic as he was NOT happy and was panting from panic. It only took a few minutes for him to get over being mad, and he let me fully investigate his wounds, hands-on; everything moved freely, only a few tiny spots where the gravel rubbed off some fur. He was walking with a bit of a limp on the back right, but before we left, we got him back into the house, gave him some canned food, and a dish of milk and arnica. So, I'm back to babying him again (he dislocated his back left hip about 3 months ago). I'm afraid he's using up his 9 lives more rapidly as he approaches his golden years. We hesitated to even go to Muskogee at this point, but went ahead and left. Getting there late was the bummer of it, the lines were so long that our activities were limited. Generally, we had an okay time, though I think it's much more geared for teens and adults. Ace and I went through the Ultimate Maze (which was only XX on the scary scale of 1 to 5 X's) ... after the scary clown convinced me he was not going to frighten her like the vampire did (SuperMom rose from me as I wrapped myself around her as she bawled, yelling, "BACK OFF!! GET AWAY! SHE'S TERRIFIED! BACK AWAY!"), he politely escorted us to the exit. The torture chamber was interesting, disturbing, but not scary. LilBird was enamored with the Enchanted Boardwalk and the pirate show. Rockstar was pleasantly frightened in the haunted house, but was disappointed in the Trail of Blood through the forest. We missed the hayride, which everybody says is the best part. It would have taken the entire time to get through the line, though, by the time we finally got there.

All in all, we had another good week, although I do hate having to extend book work into the weekend, but ... ah well.

Is it Tuesday or Friday?

2007-09-28T19:38:00.001-05:00

It seems that everyone in our house was afflicted with that feeling at some point during the week. You know, when you go through the entire day thinking it's another day of the week. That is not to say we didn't have a good one, though. This was a productive week.

Spelling is a big thing to me. I love words. I've scoured the web from the very beginning, absorbing spelling lists for every grade level. We've done nearly every spelling activity I've stumbled upon, and some I've made up along the way. I recently discovered a good spelling lesson plan online. The words were just right for her level; the exercises varied enough to not be dull. She aced the test on Thursday (pun intended).

Math is something I've worried about since we first began homeschooling. I did well in math, but my fear was messing up the foundation, teaching things in the wrong order. It's the only subject I've actually bought a curriculum for - Saxon. I think I hated it almost as much as Ace did. We chucked it after about a month. Since then, I've relied on a trusted, recommended order as set out in the Core Knowledge books. The past year or so we've devoted to mastering addition through division, with little more new concepts. This week I introduced several - place value, expanded form, and negative numbers. She grasped them all, and much easier than I expected. She went straight to the Super Brain level of Funbrain's Line Jumper game. She actually enjoyed math ... dare I say it was even fun!

History/geography was pretty boring stuff, but I think she learned a thing or two anyway. She chose to learn a bit about the Scottish tune "Auld Lang Syne" which she was able to incorporate into a little bit of keyboarding practice. That was a bonus since she didn't have any "homework" for that since her first lesson was postponed for a few weeks after the instructor fell and broke a couple of bones.

When we worked out our schedule, we decided to do science at the end of the week so I would have plenty of time to come up with something fun/interesting to do. Ace successfully combated her fear of medical terminology to learn the parts of the human heart. She couldn't wait for Rockstar to get home so she could compare their heart rates. I'm not sure Rockstar was so thrilled about comparing their heart rates after doing jumping jacks, though. Next week, we're all going to compare lung capacity ... should be interesting.

Rain postponed our park day until Friday, but Heritage Park was well worth the wait. We met some homeschooling/gym friends there, and invited some new homeschooling friends recently relocated from Missouri, too. What a neat place!! I can't believe we've been missing out on such a treasure in our own back yard.

Tomorrow we're going to visit The Moving Wall since it's on exhibit near home. The Tulsa State Fair has begun, and despite all the controversy, we're taking advantage of their Oklahoma's Largest Classroom program and checking it out next week. Until then ... it is the weekend. :)

(LilBird's logic is often amazing, but it is almost always funny. Although we'd been outdoors, to the park, etc., she was begging to play in the backyard in the evening. Everyone was tired and busy doing their own thing, and nobody wanted to go with her, so she couldn't go. Her final attempt at dusk began as she hopped into the kitchen, "Hey, frogs live in water. Frogs live outside. I'm a frog, so I need to be outside." Nice one.)

Pieceless Puzzle .. check it out

2007-09-24T22:48:00.001-05:00

We're hoping to check out one of these! It looks pretty cool.

LilBird's ABC Adventure

2007-09-23T10:40:00.001-05:00

This was too fun not to share! Enjoy! (If it won't load, click the title of this post, and it will take you to the video.)