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Homeschool Chat

It's only March but already I am thinking about next year.  I have been a fan and user of My Father's World for years but I am considering taking a break from it next year.  I was planning to school all three kids together with "Rome to the Reformation," but now I am not so sure.  My Father's World is a comprehensive Bible, History, Science, Music, and Art curriculum.  I typically skip the music and some of the art and next year I want to do a different science program.  So, I'd be spending at the least a couple of hundred dollars for a Bible and History curriculum.  I don't think I can bring myself to do that.  So, what I'm thinking is that we will either do Story of the World Volume 2 (I think I have the book already, I just need the activity book) or I will make up my own history curriculum that centers around lapbooks and read alouds (that's what I've been doing with G and J this year).  Anyway, I have decided on Rod and Staff for English for all three kids and we will continue with Horizons Math.  I thought Horizons ended at 5th grade but was happy to find today that they have a 6th grade book.  I have used Horizons with all three all along and love it.  It works for all of us.

One big goal for me for next year is to relax and enjoy our homeschooling more.  I want to give my kids a quality education but I also want to have the time to go for a walk or a bike ride or spend the morning playing games, etc.  Right now I feel very driven by a 36 week curriculum and the need to accomplish a set amount every week in the midst of a busy life.  I am often very task oriented and quite the slave driver at times to a fault.  It's so hard to find a good balance with giving my kids a solid education and relaxing and enjoying these days at home with them.  My kids are awesome, smart kids with so many interests and I also want to give them some unstructured time to follow their interests instead of sweeping those interests aside in order to learn more about the Greek culture or some other thing in a canned curriculum that I need to check off.  So, this is what I think our homeschool will look like next year--

Rod and Staff English for all three

Horizons Math for all three

Apologia's Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day

Story of the World?? or just reading lots of good, living history books

I feel like that is just enough without being too much and covers the main subjects.

The Promised Videos

Ollie, Melissa, Amy's brother-in-law, Ernie and some other teachers dancing.



And, some Grease videos!

A Busy Weekend

We went to a local PowWow on Friday and had a great time. It was pretty low key and not crowded at all--just my style. We started the day watching some Indian dancers and hearing a storyteller. Ollie was there with his school and participated in one of the dances along with some other teachers including Melissa. I've got video of that, I'll put that in another post. They both did a very good job! The kids participated in a couple of dances. One was a friendship dance and the other was a candy dance. Guess which one was their favorite? The big thrill for the girls was all the booths set up for shopping. They each bought a couple of "grab bags" that had goodies in them. The first one Joe bought had a rabbit's foot key chain in it and I thought he was going to vomit or faint when he pulled it out. He had never seen such a thing (except on his pet rabbits) and couldn't believe they'd make a key chain out of the real foot of a rabbit. I doubt that it was a real rabbit's foot but he gave it to Evan anyway. His next grab bag was much better--he got a leather pouch necklace and some other Indian jewelry. He's wearing it in the pictures. He got to try out the blow gun and the drums. I have no pictures of the girls because they were too busy shopping.



Friday night some of the theatre kids performed some of the numbers from Grease at our local Chick-fil-a. They did a great job and thoroughly entertained everyone in the restaurant. Stay tuned for videos in the next post.

Hannah woke up Saturday morning and came out of her room dressed as an Indian--she made the headband herself and it's quite funny. On American Idol last week they showed one of the contestants making headbands with a glue gun and ribbons and such and that has totally inspired Hannah. She has spent much of the weekend creating headbands. I have to say that they are very cute, too bad she doesn't actually wear headbands...
Saturday night we had dinner guests and Lexi and Brie adored the rabbits, and all the dress up clothes. We had a good time visiting with some good friends.
And, then today Hannah and I babysat Ms. Amanda's baby, Landon. He was so sweet, I just loved having a little baby to snuggle. Notice his "Grease" onesie--he's ready for the show!
That's all folks!! Happy Sunday!

Pictures

Amy from Snapshots of Grace was the official photographer for Joe's birthday. :0) She is an awesome photographer, I LOVE these pictures! Here is Joe above with two of his closest friends. One of his closest friends is missing--Levi. We have soooo many pictures of those four boys who have known each other since birth. Even though Levi moved a year and a half ago I still can't see a picture of these three without missing him.
A few of the girls--there are about 5 or 6 other girls missing from this picture. We have a big group of girls who are all very close.
The birthday boy! This could be the last picture of him with all his baby teeth. He has FOUR loose teeth right now!

This last one has nothing to do with Joe's birthday but I wanted to share it. I just love this picture! All my pretty Fiestaware in one place. We trash picked a new cabinet thingy and the cabinet at the top has glass doors. My Fiestaware looks so pretty in there.

Daybook Style

On my mind...way too much!!! Unschooling or non-schooling sounds really good right about now. We have a very busy week this week and an even busier week next week. I'm doing my best to get school done. At least the basics. There was a time in our homeschool that we would have just taken these two weeks off but now that the kids can do so much on their own I just make them an assignment list and they can keep plowing their way through. Joe needs more attention but he also has less to do. Anyway, we are doing it--school, life, a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
This week...We went to Disney yesterday, we did school and recovered today, tomorrow Joe has a birthday lunch date with Harriet and Billy and the girls and I have school and errands, Thursday is a home and catch up day, and Friday we are going to a PowWow. Busy, busy but fun and even educational.
Next week...it's a show week and although there are only four shows and those are in the evening with an extra rehearsal and other commitments (like lots of baking) and all the excitement and adrenaline and so on it makes for a crazy week. Oh yeah and we also have a field trip.
On my iPod...I am having so much fun with my iPod. I recently bought four new songs and they couldn't be more different but I love listening to them. I listen to them over and over--

• Hammer and a Nail by the Indigo Girls
• Take This Life by Shawn McDonald
• Single Ladies by Beyonce
• Safe by Phil Wickham
• Love Story by Taylor Swift (I stole that one off of Hannah's)

Oh yeah, and I am also listening to lots and lots of Focus on the Family broadcasts. I love that radio show.
What I'm reading...I just finished "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire. I have to say that it was weird but I liked it. I think I would like to read some of his other books, particularly "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister." If you decide to read "Wicked" let me warn you that it is rated R. Don't think that it is a kids story since it is from "The Wizard of Oz." I've heard that his other books are cleaner. I'm excited about the next two books on my nightstand. "What Was Lost" by Catherine O'Flynn and "Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" by Alan Bradley. I chose those after reading reviews at Find Your Next Book Here. I love that blog. "Wicked" was a pretty heavy read and so I'm looking forward to something lighter.
With the kids...we are reading "Johnny Tremain." What an awesome book!!! I love it and the kids love it. It is teaching us all so much about Boston just before the Revolutionary War.
On Facebook...I am having a bit of an animal butt "war" with an old friend. I first tagged him with a zebra butt picture. I could have sworn that he had tagged someone else with an animal butt picture at some point so I thought of him when Amy took a great zebra butt picture at Busch Gardens. It turns out that he hadn't done that but got a laugh out of me tagging him. So, he paid me back by tagging me with an elephant butt picture yesterday. I spent the whole Splash Mountain ride yesterday trying to get a Brer Bear Butt picture and I succeeded so I've posted it and tagged him. I am planning to go to Animal Kingdom sometime soon and I imagine I'll be spending too much time trying to get animal butt pictures. I'm so mature.
That's all folks! Peace out....