We took a field trip to Oxbow Environmental Park today. The link is in another blog entry below. I have some pictures posted on our website field trip page. I also have our circus pictures posted there from last weekend.

What a way to spend Leap Day. This evening we're going to watch a movie and I have Quantam Leap on the Tivo to watch as well.

March is going to be spent getting ready for 3rd grade testing. Wish us well!

I'm changing my plan for March. Why do homeschooling parents do this? I don't know! I found out that most of the books for Ambleside are available online, I don't have to buy them, so we're starting the Ambleside schedule for year 3 in March. We'll be finished by the end of May then we'll pick up with it and begin again in August. I was going to start in September but then William will be schooling through June and if all goes as planned I won't be here in June, I'll be studying in England for 5 weeks, so he needs to be done by May. Then for 2005/2006 we can start in September and follow the Ambleside terms.

I can't wait until we begin next week! A lot of the stuff we are doing now we'll keep doing with only a few changes. I've been working on schedules all day and downloading stuff. This is such fun!

is going to be a small fan for my desk at work to blow the smoke right back into one of the guy's offices. If they want to kill themselves with smoking let them, but I've had headaches every day for about a week now, I cough a lot more, and I can't take this. First thing when I get paid Friday I'm heading to Walmart or another discount store to see if they have what I need. The only other option would be to quit, I guess. They don't smoke in front of me and one of the guys keeps a door in his office cracked, but the smoke still comes right out and floats into the hall and into my office in the entry way.

Plan for March 2004

Spelling:
Homeschool 101 Spelling for Pennies

History:
Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims
Benjamin Franklin
A More Perfect Union

Other:
Harry Potter 4
Little Pilgrim's Progress
Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Tall Tales - Davy Crockett, Johnny Appleseed, John Henry, Joe Magazine,
Re-told Classic Myths

Poetry:
William Blake - use as copywork

Science:
Heath Science textbook
Field trip to science center in Columbus, maybe Oxbow center too

Bible:
Book of John

Geography:
Begin writing a unit study on the continents
Activity Suggestions for homegrown kids - New World History and Geography Section

We ended up taking a winter break last week and we'll start back with school plans this afternoon. However, some stuff did get done. William played with the 2nd grade CD I got him - which isn't just 2nd grade stuff. They actually have 1st-3rd grade on there. He did the reading one and finished it and went through the music one all in one day and started playing it again yesterday. We're also reading a book on mythology. We've read about the Titans, Prometheus, and Heracles (Hercules) and now we're on Circe and Odysseus from The Oddessy (sp?) William says that Prometheus was the best one so far. We've also discussed the differences in the Hercules myth and the TV show. We like the character in the TV show better.

This afternoon I'm doing the next 2 weeks planning and writing up March's booklist. We're following Ambleside Online's year 3 plan, with some changes as we don't have the books listed, so we are substituting or going to the library for them. Math is still multiplication / division as testing is coming up at the end of this year.

Yesterday was Circus Day! We went to Atlanta to see the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey circus. Getting there was okay, the circus was good, it was the absolute best one I've ever seen. I've never been to a Ringling Bros. circus before. We got to go down to the rings before the show and see some acts up close and got a picture of one of the elephants. Getting home was another story. We got turned around, trying to follow signs to the interstate and never found 85 S. We finally found a detour, followed it and just kept heading south until we reached it. That took about an hour of driving in downtown Atlanta. Dh is not fond of downtown Atlanta. We finally got to Newnan in about 30 minutes or so, stopped for gas and a Wendy's burger and all of us were happy again. Dh and I don't get along well when we drive because he expects me to know where we're going and that's difficult when roads are closed and signs don't tell the truth.

William wants to go back to see Motocross. Next time we'll park at the airport and take Marta.

URL: http://subliminal.lunanina.com
I say ... and you think ... ?

Dragon::fire
Molecule:: water
Tire:: air
Mighty:: weak
Octane:: gas
Troll:: bridge
Atmosphere::air
Guide:: Indian
Leash:: dog
Dustmite:: dirt

I'm dying to do something else to the house! I know, I need to clean and declutter it first :) We just finished painting and doing the floor in the computer room, but I want to do some built in bookshelves in there and maybe do something with a new desk for William and computer desk for me. We really need storage with doors to keep the cats out and I want to get rid of the put-it-together-yourself stuff we have now. I've been surfing woodworking sites and hoping I can do the bookshelves myself. Basically it's just a big box - that's what I'm hoping :)

What I would like to do:
Computer room - bookcases against the big wall with either glass doors or the top shelves open and a bottom section enclosed. William a desk / hutch on left wall, me a computer desk (with door) on right wall. Entertainment center (with door) in corner. Need curtains still on windows to complete room.

Bathroom: Venetian plaster over wallpaper, new flooring, paint cabinets, possible take out tub and replace with shower stall. Not sure how to do that as the tub is bigger than the door. Envision a galley kitchen. That's the bathroom. Take off the window shutters and replace with that spray stuff on the window you can't see through and pretty white curtains. Color is going to be a sea green.

Kitchen: Venetian plaster over wallpaper, maybe 1 square of chalkboard paint? New flooring, make breakfast nook in corner - bench with doors or with hinged lids for storage, table, some kind of storage cabinet between stove and breakfast nook. Colors will be yellow, green, sunflower stuff. Paint cabinets, take down western swinging doors to dining room, make it open. Paint brown panelling. Need more light, track lighting?

Dining room:More bookshelves, color will be yellow and white, maybe daisy pattern. Gauzy curtains on french doors to living room, dining room table to actually use. Replace carpet?

Living room:Definitely replace carpet, paint. Colors will be dark green, red and ivory. Paint wall around fireplace dark green, rest of walls ivory, use the red / green to accessorize. This is because our fireplace has dark red brick around it. Take out heater, put in gas logs. Make low bench / storage cabinets below windows, more bookcases. Recover couch, need a bigger one. Coffee table with storage options. Decorations will be railroad memorabilia. Different entertainment center, closed doors to hide things. Definitely need curtains and finish putting up blinds.

Bedroom: Our bedroom has beautiful wood paneling so I don't want to cover that, but we desperately need more storage. We want to do a castle theme. Need window stick on stuff that looks like stained glass, shutters for the inside. Over bed - cafe curtain rod, material to make fake canopy, will be hung on wall over windows. Replace carpet or lay pergo for floor. Take out ceiling fan, put in light and lamps in alcove. Need wardrobe / dressers for clothing. Tapestries, maybe, for wall hangings? Dh wants swords and stuff on the wall as well. Maybe 1 bookcase, but most books should be in other room. Need boxes for under bed storage and need to organize closet. Not sure of color yet, I'm seeing dark blue for the canopy and bedding.

William's room has already been done in Spiderman. Not looking to change it anytime soon.

I want to lay Pergo in the hallway and change the light fixture, maybe paint the paneling.

So that's what's on my mind right now. I'd love to run out and buy a ton of wood but I'll wait. I think the first project needs to be the bookshelves in the computer room. That will get rid of a lot of our overcrowded shelves and part of them can be for ebay stuff.

I Tivo'ed the interview and watched it last night since we weren't home on Monday. I think Mr. Gibson was very articulate and did very well during the interview, especially on the hard questions that get asked by every journalist when interviewing a Christian. There are some things that he said in the group interview with the cast that I don't agree with, but after discussing with my husband I feel that those are differences in the Catholic / Protestant faith than anything else.

I do plan to see the movie and William wants to see it as well. I don't know if Scott will go. We'll have to see.

Today is park day and read-aloud day. I'm not feeling well so we'll see how it goes.

Not the church kind but actual homeschooling. For our social studies / geography we are studying Africa. Last night we went to my mom's and made an african meal - at least that's what the recipes said. We made beef stuffed pastry rolls - actually used deer meat since that's what we had - and Egyptian chocolate cake. William did most of the cooking. He read the recipes and we both measured the ingredients. He used the mixer and mixed everything. We discussed how mixing everything together in the proper way made the food work. He asked if the flour was what made the cake "hard", so he got that! I told him making a cake was kind of like a chemistry experiment. The meal was very good. I also made some rice to go along with it. William made the cinnamon whipped cream icing for the cake. He had to use the mixer a long time but it finally was whipped enough. After everyone ate their dinner we started one of our read-alouds - the story of Prometheus. Then his cousin showed up and they played together. He also helped my mom feed the horses.

William spent the night at my mom's. Since today is President's Day his cousin was out of school so he wanted a day off as well, so Sunday is considered his school day. We had a good time and I believe he learned a lot about cooking, measuring, reading, using appliances properly and safely and cleaning up after yourself.

I was listening to the radio on the way into work today and heard the Monkees singing "Pleasant Valley Sunday". The station was honoring Peter Tork's birthday today. Anyway, some of the lyrics are meaningful still today, just as they were back then. The chorus goes "Another Pleasant Valley Sunday, here in status symbol land". One of the lines says "And Mr. Green, he's so serene, he's got a TV in every room". Now in the 60s that wasn't the usual. My mom remembers getting their first color TV and it was terrible. Today you could say "He's got a flatscreen TV, a DVD player, a Nintendo, an X-Box, a playstation and a computer in every room".

Someone also made the comment about the protest songs that are played on 60s radio. I heard "What's that Sound" - I think that's the name - the other day and realized that in today's world the protest songs wouldn't be played. We have gone the other way - playing songs honoring America's decision - or the leaders' decisions - to go into war, especially the country music stars. Since I wasn't born in the 60s that era has been romanticized for me - the peaceful hippies, the protests, the beautiful songs. I didn't have to live through the bussing, segregation, civil rights arguments or having a father/brother/husband/son killed in Vietnam.

William and I also had a discussion about a movie. We watched "Open Range" yesterday with Kevin Costner. Westerns aren't my thing but it was a good movie. Kevin's character is part of a free-range partnership where they drive their cattle over the land, then them graze and move on. The *bad guy* is a rancher that says he doesn't want free grazers on his land. To stop them he has admitted that in the past he's stolen the cattle and killed the people that owned them. He even has the marshal of the town on his payroll so nothing is done. One of Kevin's group is killed and the other is injured and nothing is done, so they make a stand for free grazing rights and the town stands behind them.

Now, I don't condone what the rancher did to protect his land, but I asked William who was right? One one hand you have the free grazers, they weren't breaking any laws that were around at the time, and they just wanted to graze their herd and move on. Then you have the rancher who bought his land, worked the land, fenced it in and says "I don't want anyone else on my land". Who is right? In the eyes of the law at the time I guess it would be the free grazers. In today's world we have the right to protect our lands. When neighbors were cutting trees next door we made sure they didn't trespass. Some neighbors complain about kids running across the yard or even leaves blowing in the wind. Some of these arguments are silly. In the case of the movie they could have called in the Federal Marshal, but each group decided to take matters into their own hands instead of letting the law decide who was right. Now, I am a great believer in our laws and believe that most of the time justice is done. I know there are cases where it isn't and I will fight to protect injustice and speak out against it. I believe that the law should at least be given the chance to work. If not, change it.

William now has his yellow belt in karate. He did very well last night. He even broke 2 boards! Well, he broke them one at a time, but I'm very proud of him. He asked for me to take off his belt and the sensei put on his new belt.

3 of the kids didn't promote. That's mostly because they all play around during class instead of paying attention. I'm glad the sensei doesn't promote just to make them feel good. I know they were upset, but when you don't know the routines and you look bored just being there maybe it's time to take a break.

According to my neice, February 22 is "Leave Me Alone Day." She wrote that on the calendar at work. She said it's a day for everyone to leave her alone and she was going to stay in her room all day. I think I need a day like that :)

The new list seems to be working well for William. He's done his work with *almost* no hassles. He's sitting with my neice now and helping her put her spelling words in ABC order. He's happy that he knows how to do that.

I got home around 1 yesterday. Scott made lunch and William and I started on school stuff. I was proud of the words he could spell from the 1000 word list I found - link to the spelling site and the list is in the post below. I wrote the 10 words he didn't spell well and they are his list for the week. He gave me a hard time about ABC order and stuff, but he finally did it. For math we used the math tiles I bought off ebay. I was trying to get the Math U See stuff but it was going higher and higher and I couldn't do it, so I got these punch out tiles. They are really cool and I hope it helps him understand multiplication better. We did some multiplication then lightly touched on division. I can also see how these tiles will help with fractions when the time comes. William punched the tiles out of the cardbood and put them in colored piles. He said *I'm kind of like Monk. I want them in their own piles and not touching.* And even when he used the tiles for problems he only used one color, he didn't want to mix them up.

We finished with our read alouds and he was done with school around 5. Scott got William's karate uniform together and took him to karate around 6:15. I was supposed to give a computer class but no one showed. But I do have a tutoring position opening up : )

We finished the evening reading a poem from Between the Lions about Pecos Bill. William read it in his *southern accent*. We talked about how the poem flowed together and you just *HAD* to read it that way. He is enjoying the *Tall Tales* we do once a week.

I'm working all day today and tomorrow, so school is the basics for those days - with Dad - and I'm actually off on Thursday, so we should be able to get a lot done with school and around the house.

The free spelling curriculum has proven too difficult for William. We are going to use these spelling ideas instead.

Congrats to Carol - from Carol's Storybook Blog on the right - on the announcement of the upcoming birth of their 4th child!

Why can't Scott and William cross off what they did on the list? I have to go back through and when I start William on something he says "I did that with Dad." That's what the list is for! Is it so hard to use it and cross of something?

I'm wondering if I have too many books to read on the list. It's hard working and homeschooling and the guys seem to blow off school. I'm also concerned about William's writing - or not writing as the case may be. I'm staying home all week on my half days I believe. I'll work at the store on Saturdays. I know we need the money but I can't keep up this pace.

I'm so glad Friday is here. I've worked so many jobs this week I'm surprised I know what day it is. I'm at the *usual* job every day, I worked at my mom's store twice this week as she went out of town - to get an award, yay! I also did some ebay stuff as well. Today I told William that this afternoon was 1)banking 2)schoolwork 3)housework 4)ebay stuff. And I will actually cook dinner today. I'm going to try to catch up on our reading over the weekend. I wish I could get him to narrate for me though. If it's a cartoon or something I hear beginning to end. For a book I hear *It was okay*.

I should actually have a working ISP at my house today. For some reason my previous ISP just cut everything off. My email was sporadic and for some reason it would block certain websites. I do like the DSL at work though.

My visited states map was there earlier today. I don't know what happened to it. I guess I'll need to make another one tomorrow.

Here is a list of everything I am planning to do for February. Wish me luck!

February 2004
Books being used / information to use

Spelling:
Free Spelling Course

History:
Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims
Year of the Pilgrims 1620
The Story of the Mayflower Compact

Other:
The legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Tales
Harry Potter 4
Little Pilgrim's Progress
Retold Classic Myths
American Tall Tales - Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, Mike Fink, Davy Crockett, Johnny Appleseed, John Henry, Joe Magazine,
http://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/ks2.html
http://www.americanfolklore.net/sindex.html

Poetry:
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Poems of William Blake
http://www.blakearchive.org/
William Blake Information
Tate - UK
http://www.blakearchive.org/cgi-bin/nph-1965/blake/erdman/erd

Science:
Heath Science Textbook
Galileo Biography
http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/Bio/index.html
http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/
http://galileo.imss.firenze.it/museo/b/egalilg.html

Bible:
Book of John

Geography - Continent Studies
Begin with Africa
http://www.africaguide.com/afmap.htm
http://www.africaguide.com/country.htm
http://www.africaguide.com/library.htm
http://www.africaguide.com/cooking.htm
http://www.africaguide.com/culture/index.htm
Nelson Mandela's favorite African folktales
Hands-on Africa: art activities for all ages featuring sub-Saharan Africa
Tarzan

Art/Music:
Leonardo Da Vinci Biography
http://www.mos.org/leonardo/
http://www.leonet.it/comuni/vinci/
Listen to Classical Music

Math:
Multiplication / Division

I'm following a little of Ambleside Online's year 3 booklist with a few of my own. We were already doing Pilgrims for history so I'm continuing it and found a few extra books at the library.

I haven't posted our new schedule because I haven't been able to stick to it :(
It's hard working the 2 jobs. My half days at one place have become a half day at the other. My mom is out of town right now so instead of working one day this week I'm working two. But we need the money, so that's why I'm doing it. I will try to get the new schedule posted soon, though. What I'm trying to do is follow Ambleside Online's program but I'm using books and websites I already have access to. I'm trying to do more reading instead of workbooks. However it's hard to do that when I'm not there and he wants me right over him to do anything. I'm trying to get him more independent. I hope he will soon catch onto that. He is doing things with his dad, but it's the typical thing with men *Gee, honey, I folded the laundry, but I don't know where you put the clean clothes...clean dishes...etc* In homeschooling it's this *Gee honey, I saw your list, and I know it says review spelling words and I see this page that says spelling words, but I don't know if that's the right list and I don't know what you mean by review* Unless I spell out everything, cross all the Ts, dot all the Is, and list every single step then nothing seems to get done except the easiest assignments. I did tell William that I needed to see his math today. He likes to practice on the whiteboard and that's fine, but I need something to see when I get home.

// posted by Admin @ 2/03/2004 02:13:00 PM

I'm showing all the states we at least spent some time in. We did drive to Conneticut for a wedding but we didn't really stop anywhere so I'm not counting the states we drove through.



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Last night at karate class I really had to keep my mouth shut. Some parents were discussing the recent arrest of the local elementary school VP for paddling a 6yo boy. They said things like "If it had been my child they would have been witnessing me and there would have been bruises too!" Another parent made a comment about *beating* his child. Why do parents feel this is proper discussion? Don't they understand that words hurt just as much as a beating? Why spank to begin with? There are many ways to discipline. I remember a pastor once saying that after he spanked his children he hugged them and told them that "This hurt me more than it hurt you". Even my 10 yo brain realized what a crock that was! Of course it hurts the child more. And don't bother to hug me after hitting me because I don't like you very much right now.

During a family photo once when I was a teenager the photographer made a comment about my parents having 4 children. My mom said something like "You can have a couple of them". That still hurts me to this day. She has that photo hanging in the guest bedroom and I swear I can still see the tears in my eyes. Yes, I was spanked, and yes, I was verbally abused, and that is why to this day I swear I won't do the same to my son. I'm not perfect and I've said things and done things I regret later, but I ALWAYS go to my son, admit my imperfection and ask his forgiveness. I'm blessed that he's seen fit to forgive me and still love me.

Remember that your words hurt as well as your hands. Remember that children are a gift, even though the best children can frustrate the best parent, but we are the adults and it's up to us to show them a better way.

So some may say "why is your child taking karate if you want to be *non-violent*. I've never mentioned being non-violent. My son takes karate because it's building his confidence, he can defend himself should he ever need to, and he's making friends there while being around children of all ages. And the instructor is a priest in the Episcopal church : ) And this class doesn't have new age terms like *chi* or *find you inner strength*. It's more of a self-defense type class.

Why do I hate hearing that from my family? They feel William is *behind* because he's not doing what my neice is doing. I told them I don't compare him to other children. My brother says that *homeschooled and Christian schooled kids are screwed up*. I asked how many he knew and he really couldn't tell me. Apparently he thinks William can't join the military or go to college unless he attends school. Why don't people research before saying something? William is doing perfectly fine and there is nothing wrong with his education. They said *don't you feel he's missing something?* I asked what was he missing? Knives and guns at school, paddling principles, being bullied, being chosen last for teams, missing out on cliques? No thank you, I don't want him being around that. We have our park day with the homeschool group, we do our field trips and I'm going to set up playdates with another homeschooling mom. He gets plenty of *socialization* and it's with kids I would rather him be around than the school kids.

Well, it's Monday so it must be meme day : ) This is from the Friday Five

You have just won one million dollars:

1. Who do you call first? My husband, Scott. Then I'll get on my email lists : )

2. What is the first thing you buy for yourself? 2 *new to us* cars.

3. What is the first thing you buy for someone else? Gifts for immediate family, not sure what.

4. Do you give any away? If yes, to whom? Yes, I would give a tithe to a crisis pregnancy center.

5. Do you invest any? If so, how? Yes. First I would pay off my school loan debt. Then I'd set aside 6 months expenses in a money market. Then I'd invest in an IRA for retirement and set some aside for William's college.