My Brain

It's that time of year again.....Time to weed out my brains and create a new one.  I realize you might be thinking I have lost my mind, rather than my brain. Actually my "brain" is a name I have for my home/school organization binder (the term is borrowed from my friend, Lisa, many, many years ago) I haven't really used one much since being here.  I missed it this year and have decided I definitely need one for next year to keep everything in order: our larger home, three homeschoolers (doing two different tracks), several co-ops, a bible study, a few other outside activities, Michael working overnight and my mother in law needing care.  I do almost everything on the computer and my iphone but there are things that I like to see on paper and be able to see the "big picture." I also like: being able to check things off, having things out to remind me constantly (it can get forgotten on my iphone), and being able to take long notes at meetings instead of having to either a) write it on my iphone quickly or b) typing it out after the meeting.  This will be my first time attempting to integrate my home brain with my school brain.  I am not sure if it will work or not....I'll let you know.

Here are some of my favorite resources I use for my "brains:"

• Flylady 
• DonnaYoung.org
• The Archived version of Large Family Logistics
• Heart of Wisdom Printable Freebies
• This article by A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
• Keeping House ebook by A Virtuous Woman
• Menu Planning ebook from Graham Family Ministries
• ExecutiveHomemaker.com
• Polestar's Family Calendar

I haven't yet started working on my brain, but I will be working on it this week in between packing.  I am excited. This kind of stuff is my favorite kind of stuff to do.  I love the planning.  It's the implementing I need to work on!  ;-)

Rules!

Kaedra has been doing more and more school with us lately. However, she is VERY disruptive! As I am doing school with Emily, I turn to Kaedra and give her instructions as to what she is supposed to be doing. Before I even get started with Em again, Kaedra is already done and yelling for me to help her again. She is not patient and definitely doesn't use an inside voice.

Apparently, four year olds really like rules. I read this somewhere and I have noticed it to be true. If you give Kaedra rules, she really tries to stick with them. Today I decided to make some rules for school.






I'll let you know how it goes! LOL

Thanksgiving Placemants

We wove some Thanksgiving placemats for our Dinner decorations. Brittany had decorated the house while Kaedra was in the hospital. She had put up loops of Thanksgiving colors in a chain. It was very pretty. She has bunch of paper leftover that she had already cut into pieces, so we used that for our placemats. It might just have been the easiest craft ever!

Thanksgiving Craft

Ethan has one too, but tore it off and refused to wear it. Oh well. :-(

Easy Test Maker

Just found a great online test maker. I used it to make Brittany's vocabulary test. I have to tell ya, I haven't been big on giving Brittany tests up until this year (except for spelling tests). I didn't really see the point; I knew exactly how well she was doing. I have given her a few open-book in the past, but no other kinds. This year, I realized I needed to get her ready for high school. She took a short answer test about a month ago and did great - a 96%. Tomorrow she has a vocabulary test. I was just about to get started making it on MS Word when I decided to search online. The first site I found, Easy Test Maker, is great! I just made her a 50 question test. 25 Multiple choice, 23 matching and 2 short answer. It was quick, it was easy and it saves it for me! (did I mention it was free???) I highly recommend it!

I'm not sure how well Brittany will like it...I'll let ya know. ;-)

Election Lapbook Pictures

We got our election lapbooks from this wonderful site. I am so grateful to her for making this wonderful lapbook! It was a breeze to use, it looks great and I didn't have to think! WOOHOO!!!

They both have this as the cover (but we put it on the back)


Here are pics from Emily's book:



(we folded up her electoral map and put it under the map index card)

Here is Brittany's:




as you can see, Brittany has a lot more in her book. The blue vocabulary book at the top middle is taped in so it made it's own page, you can move it back and forth. She also has her map in the index card pocket and has a venn diagram (comparing and contrasting McCain and Obama) behind her candidates.

Election Lapbooks!

I had planned on spending about a month studying the elections with my kids. However, a wise friend said that it would just naturally be talked about and we didn't need to stop our regular studies to learn about it. Well, now that election day is here, I realized that we didn't naturally talk about ALL the things that I would want to cover. So, yesterday we started Election Lapbooks and we will be working on them through tomorrow.

Here is the site of the Election Lapbook we are using. She did a GREAT job on making an election lap book and I highly recommend it! The only thing we have added to her book is to make a book that had what the duties of the president are.

Here are the links we have used:
This is a cool little “slide show” type thing that we used for the basis of our studies yesterday

http://www.pocanticohills.org/election/president.htm

We used this for vocab:

http://www.pocanticohills.org/election/words.htm

Here is the main page:

http://www.pocanticohills.org/election/election.htm

it has some fun stuff on it.

We went to each candidates site for their issues.

We got the red and blue states from here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states

And here is the Electoral College info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Electoral_College

Hope this helps someone not have to look up so many links!

We also played "Hail to the Chief" last night which is very fun and quite educational!

I will post pictures of our lapbooks when they are done!

Insect Identification Fun

This morning Ethan was screaming at Kaedra's window. Despite what you may think, this is a pretty rare occurrence, so I went to see what was wrong. There was a large bug on the inside of the screen. Apparently it was really bothering Ethan. Emily said he yelled at it a lot yesterday, too.



So, being the good homeschool mommy that I am, we got a jar and collected it and tried to find it on the internet. My friend was supposed to send me an identification page about a week ago, but, being the busy homeschool mommy she is, she had forgotten. I quickly emailed her and my homeschool group to see if anyone had any good sites.

She started sending me sites right away (because she sits at her computer just waiting for my emails, y'know) About the third of fourth email she sent, my bug was on the FRONT PAGE!! Hallelujah!!! Not only that, but my bug was THE BUG OF THE MONTH!!!! What a treat! I mean, how much better could we get than that?

Now, it gets even better!! My friend, the same above mentioned friend, found the same bug (well probably a different individual bug, but the same kind), across town in her yard about a week ago! How cool is that! We both found this same, extremely weird bug!

So, here is a good pic of the bug. The scientific name is Arilus cristatus. And the common name is "Wheel Bug" a type of assassin bug. We will be adding this guy to our nature notebooks!

And, for your identification pleasure (and so I can find them all later) here are a list of identification sites that I found and my friend sent me:

Bug Guide
What's that Bug
Insect Identification
Insect Identifier

Craft from "One of THOSE days"

One of "those" days

Today was one of those days. No no. Not THOSE days where you wonder why you ever thought of homeschooling...the other kind. The kind where you get to the end of the day and say, "WOW! Why can't all our days be like this?!"

What was so wonderful? Well, we got it all done, for one. And included in that was 3 (count em....1-2-3) craft projects!! WOOHOO!! Pretty good for a mom who usually hates, abhors, can't stand shies away from that stuff! We made an oiled paper window, a few bows and arrows and some cool sun catchers. I will post pictures tomorrow.

Also, we didn't have any tears. Wait, did I say "did not?" That might be an exaggeration.

Okay, we had few tears.

But I'll take that.

That and a day with 3 crafts can make this mom darn proud.

Why I homeschool

I just wrote this for my homeschool group and decided to post it here in case I ever need a reminder. :-)

Why I homeschool:

I have two different whys. The first is why I wanted to homeschool. The second is why I DO homeschool.

So for the first: I was in the gifted program in 6-8th grade. We did unit studies and I really enjoyed them. I remember we did a semester on Eskimos and a semester on outer space. I think we did a semester on prairie life too. I loved the way we learned and it was very different from the way everyone else was taught. Naturally, I thought that was the best way.

Later, when I was in high school, my mom gave me an article that told how a 12 year old was being admitted into some Ivy League school. He had been homeschooled and had done unit studies. By this time I had realized that public school was very rarely done in unit studies and I decided that I would homeschool my children so they could have unit studies and be brilliant by the time they were twelve, too. Actually, I think God was putting the seed in my heart knowing it would grow over time into a real conviction.

I met first husband when I was 18. I don’t remember ever talking to him about homeschooling but I know he agreed with me. I went to my first homeschool convention while I was still pregnant with Brittany. I remember them asking me “how old is your oldest?” and I would point at my stomach. They got a good chuckle out of that one. When we divorced (Brittany was not quite 2), I had it put into our divorce decree that Brittany would be homeschooled. I did not want anything coming back to haunt me or anyone saying I couldn’t homeschool her after the fact.

Michael and I were planning on getting married when I told him that I would not marry him if he did not agree with homeschooling. Up until that moment he thought that he could just ignore that part of me and we would “talk about it later.” I flat out told him that if he would not support homeschooling and me staying home with our children that I would not marry him. I guess he liked me, because here we are 10 years later. :-)

Now the reason that I DO homeschool.

I homeschool because I don’t want to be a stranger to my children’s soul. I want to be there with them every step of the way: teaching them, learning along with them, discipling them, growing with them. I don’t want to be on the sidelines, letting other people raise my children. I spend time in God’s face every year asking what/how/when I should teach my children. I don’t expect anyone else to know those things about them. God doesn’t expect anyone else to know those things about them. I see it as something God expects of me. I want to parent my children and I consider teaching them part of that parenting adventure. I don’t consider homeschooling a “part of our day.” Instead it is our life. It is part of the package. I consider everything as part of the whole: which is this crazy, wonderful, wacky family that we have. I think that family is very important. Having school as part of our family life sees to it that we interact as a family all day long rather than being six separate spheres bumping into each other in the evening (before going off to our homework or sports or other activities.)

Over the years I have seen “reasons” for our homeschooling.
- it has made Brittany visiting her family in Albuquerque much easier.
- It has made Michael’s crazy schedules at work easier.
- It has made Kaedra’s stays in the hospital much easier.
But these are all side benefits and not the real reason we do it. We do it because God called us to do it and it is the only way we can see it done. I have never been able to imagine otherwise and I am so excited to have at least 17 more years of this journey ahead of us!!

(now remind me of this on those bad days, the ones where I say “WHY AM I DOING THIS???!?!?” hee-hee)

Thinking of...

Getting these to organize our school books and school supplies....

Sorry I can't put the picture, Lakeside Collection is sort of pesky about that. :-)

Anyway, I thought I could put our school things in it and keep them nicely on a bookshelf. Of course, I will need a new bookshelf too..... :-)

And people wonder why we homeschool....

Reason number, I dunno, 587....

10 Reasons NOT to homeschool

Ten Reasons Not to Homeschool
by Jim Muncy
January 12, 1995

Why send your kids to public schools rather than homeschool. Here are ten good reasons

10. Skill development: Public schools do a great job of teaching children to sit down and shut up while the teacher engages in crowd control and mindless administrative duties. The ability to put one's mind on hold, sit there and do nothing is a skill that will be in high demand in the competitive marketplace of the future.

9. Lack of ability: I couldn't teach my own child--I don't know how. After all, anything meaningful in life can only be taught by those properly trained and certified to do so.

8. Financial aspects: We can't financially afford to homeschool. Without the school based health clinics, how could we afford to keep our children supplied with condoms and birth control.

7. Goals 2000: I want my children to learn all the correct stuff. Given how fast history changes, I want to be sure they are up on the most recent version.

6. Scheduling benefits: Staying on the same schedule as everybody else has its benefits. That way, when we go to Orlando, we can make sure that we spend our time waiting in lines rather than wasting it on all those rides and attractions.

5. Close friendships: I like the fact that my children are spending so much of their time with people not in their family. I would much rather my children's closest friendships be outside the family rather than within.

4. Separation of church and state: As long as we keep church and state separate, then the more time I can keep my kids under the control of the state, the less time they can possible be under the harmful influence of the church.

3. Socialization: What possible better way could there be to give your children the social skills they will need as adults than to stick them with children their own age all day. Besides, the best influence on your child is the one randomly assigned to the seat behind him or her in home room.

2. Class size: Learning can't occur in groups of less than twenty students. There is nothing quite like being lock-stepped through material with thirty other students to really develop within a person that true love for learning.

1. Class pace: I want my child to know how to learn at the proper pace. If a child can't keep up with the class, then it serves that child right to be left behind in the dust. If the child is learning too fast, then he or she needs to learn to slow down. And besides, what gives any child the right to assume that he or she can learn things he or she wants to learn rather than what the board of education decides should be taught for any given grade level. Anything learned at the wrong time might just as well be left unlearned.

Homeschooling in Germany

So, being a German by adoption, I pay a bißen wee bit of attention when Germany comes in the news. Of course, being a homeschooler, I pay LOTS of attention anytime that hits the news.

About a year ago I read about a homeschooling family in Germany that was being forced to quit homeschooling because it was against the law. Then there was a story on CBN a few months ago about a homeschooled child who was taken from her parents and put into a mental institution because she apparently has "school phobia" and "demonstrates loyalty towards her father and unconditional solidarity with her family." OH MY GOODNESS!!! Not loyalty towards her father and unconditional solidarity with her family!!! It's okay to be punk and pierce everything and tattoo everything (I know because I've been there) but DON'T YOU DARE love your father and family!

Now here is a new article about how Germany is creating refugees by outlawing homeschooling. Here is the law that Germany is trying to pass this year.

Now I know in the natural there is not much we can do. However, I believe in intercession and I believe if we put our prayers to it we can change things over there and help our fellow homeschoolers be able to stay in their homes and country. Please join me in praying for not only the homeschoolers but the lawmakers in Germany.

Miracle Checklist

School is going really well this semester. I realize we're only in week two but it has already gone better than almost ALL last semester! That is scary!! LOL. I mean, we did trudge along and get stuff done last semester, but it just didn't go as well as this semester is going. My secret is a very small change. And it may be silly. But it is working for us.....

are you ready.............?





I have a new checklist that I am using with both girls.

Yup, that's it.

Although, to be honest, the new checklist has also changed how we school a little. I realized that some of the things are perfect "little" things to get done at breakfast or lunch, so we are keeping our books close to the table and getting those done there. Then I can check them off and feel a sense of accomplishment! WOOHOO!! And really, with Britty, at least, it was the "little" stuff we weren't getting done. The "big stuff" we were getting done fine. Now we have a checklist to make sure the "little" things don't get missed. (are you tired of the "little" quote marks yet? heehee)





Anyway, I am posting them here for your perusal or, if'n you are inclined, you can borrow them and make their own. I might start marketting them as the "miracle checklists." HAHAHAHAHAHAH I continually crack myself up. ROFL! Okay, enough amusement, I am off to update my other blog.

Mike Huckabee on Homeschooling

Check out this video:



Another reason to support Huckabee!

I'm so excited, I just can't hide it...

I TOTALLY revamped what I had planned on doing for next year. I am SO excited about it. It has been bouncing around in my head for the last few weeks and I have been praying about it and I got a WONDERFUL CONFIRMATION of it yesterday. I can't wait to tell you all........


But I can't do it now. ROFL!!

You'll have to wait. heehee.

Homeschooling at the Speed of Life

I got a new book yesterday at Mardel's. It's called Homeschooling at the Speed of Life and it is by Marilyn Rockett. I have to admit, the first thing that got my attention was the cover...check it out!

I wish THAT was my blogger background! (but I just can't ignore those pesky little things like copyright and trademarks)

I was blindsided by the book because I usually know about ALL the homeschooling books as soon as they come out. (don't I sound like I am in the know? ROFL) I saw this on the shelf and picked it up, leafed through it and put it down. Then I went back to it, picked it up, leafed through it and put it down. Then I went back again. I kept rationalizing with myself that I have a TON of homeschool books, that I don't need ANY more books, that I usually check a book out or borrow it before buying it, on and on my excuses went. But I couldn't put it down.

The funny thing is, right before we left the house yesterday I got a check in the mail from an old life insurance policy that I had just cancelled. The check was only for $20, I assume it was for the last month I paid and I probably cancelled at the right time to get a refund. Anyway, I had this knowledge of 20 bucks burning a hole in my pocket. And I had a new book in my hand that I couldn't walk away from. It was a marriage made in heaven. :-)

I looked over the book last night and it looks FANTASTIC! I have only gotten to chapter 2, but I have already found a ton that I want to go back and underline. This is my favorite thing so far, her definition of organization:

Organization is making your life work for you
by bringing the dailiness of life under control
through yielding of the Holy Spirit
concerning the wise use of your time.

I will post more as I read the book. (oh, and as a bonus, it comes with a CD with lots of cool forms. Well, I assume they are cool. I haven't looked at them yet. But I know there are lots.)

Thirteen Reasons we homeschool

I'm going to do this one upside down:

13. First and foremost because God told us to. All other reasons hinge on this, of course.
12. To be able to see my children grow and not miss any special moments in their development.
11. To be able to choose who we (and our children) socialize with
10. To be able to take time off from Thanksgiving until after New Year's and really enjoy the Christmas season.
9. To be able to take days off according to our needs/wants instead of someone else's schedule.
8. To allow the kids to spend time together and grow up together as a whole cohesive unit rather than little people each with their own lives and agendas (which they will of course have when they get older, but, for now, they can learn about socialization from their siblings!)
7. To be able to educate rather than just prepare them for tests.
6. To be able to teach the values that we think are important.
5. To be able to individualize what each child wants to study (especially in high school)
4. To be able to go at each child's own speed in each subject
3. To be able to decide when to present certain topics to our children.
2. To be able to offer them exciting real-life experiences daily, instead of learning about life from a book

and the number one reason we homeschool is:
To shape, shelter and encourage the souls of our children.
(I didn't come up with that myself, but it has been part of our motto for 7 years. I originally read it in The Homeschool Journey by Susan and Michael Card)

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