We had the science co-op at my house yesterday. I think it went pretty well. It didn't last long, I wanted things to be simple and easy and I think I accomplished that. We started out by talking about what chemistry was and ended with a brief discussion on acids and bases. Then we took out the experiment items and litmus paper and tested different liquids. Then the kids had a good time mixing together different things to see what would happen. William also tested the hot sauce he and Scott like to eat. We ate lunch and had a good time. Our dogs even got in on the fun a few times and were pretty well behaved, although we had to keep an eye on William's dog, Scrappy, because he likes to jump and bite people's clothes.

Scott also came home the other day with books from Salvation Army and while I was searching through them I yelled "Bulfinch!" He looked at me strangely, probably thinking I'd yelled out a new curse word, as I grabbed at one of the books he had in his hand. He'd found an abridged paperback copy of Bulfinch's Mythology that included Age of Fable as well as 2 other books that are scheduled to be used in later years of the Ambleside Online curriculum. Age of Fable is available online and I've been printing out stories one at a time for about a year and half now. I know that AO doesn't like to use abridged books, but I'm still happy to now have a book copy so that I won't have to print any more pages. Since he's so good at finding books and loves used book stores I think I'm going to make a master copy of the AO book lists for him to look over each time he goes out to one.

School will be back in session in full on Monday and hopefully things will return a little bit to normal. William is getting bored with unschooling and is ready to start doing math and other things again.

I know I'm not posting or reading as usual, I'm still getting ready for the science co-op at my house tomorrow. Today is the final day to get ready and I'm cleaning, rearranging and I'll be going over my notes and the experiment tonight. It doesn't help that my vacuum isn't working and we still have no hot water, but we're making it work.

Horseback riding was cancelled yesterday and is postponed temporarily. The trainer is no longer offering the classes at the current location but she may be offering them later on at my mom's place. In the meantime, William is still taking karate and doing well.

Today is my husband Scott's 35th birthday. Last night William and I made him a little card on the computer and left it with his work stuff so he would find it this morning. He woke me to say he really loved it and thanked me. I let William know this morning what his dad said. We'll see him tonight and wish him Happy Birthday again. We're not planning on doing anything just yet, we may have a birthday dinner with some cake next week.

Well, back to work on the house. I'll be posting pictures of the co-op tomorrow night.

We have taken the week off of school stuff to get ready for the science co-op being held at my house next Friday. I'm cleaning, rearranging and having 2 of my brother's couches brought to me Saturday night. I also need to make sure I have the items needed for the experiments and I want to do a dry run of the experiment to make sure everything works as it's supposed to. Yes, I'm a perfectionist at times.

However, I need some recipe help. One of the co-op members is a vegetarian and her mother is allergic to wheat. This will be an all-day co-op and we'll be having a potluck. I was planning on making casseroles or one dish meals in the crock pot. I can find vegetarian recipes and I can find no wheat recipes, but not both. Is there any such thing? I mentioned vegetarian lasagna - if I can find no wheat noodles - to William today and he swore he won't eat it, even though he has before. I'll probably make the spinach lasagna again and make sure the spinach is chopped into teeny pieces so he won't know what it is.

So if anyone can post any websites or email me at the contact link above with any vegetarian / allergy free recipes please do so :)

Sprittibee has tagged me to do a post on homeschooling in America. I've copied and pasted the questions and will do my best on the answers. The questions came from a Chinese journalist who is writing an article about homeschooling and is interested in the statistics. I'll do my best to answer.


1. How many Homeschoolers are there according to the government?

I didn't find any government type of statistics, most of what I found was compiled by educators or homeschooling advocates. According to the National Center for Education Statistics over 850,000 children were homeschooled in 1999. However, I think that is a gross exaggeration of the actual amount. The National Home Education Research Institute says an estimated 1,700,000 to over 2,100,000 in 2002-2003. I still that that is less than the actual count. There are many states where registration for homeschoolers is not required, and even in some states where the registration IS required the paperwork is not done by the family for many different reasons. I don't think we'll ever know the true numbers of homeschooled children.


2. How many by your estimate?

I would estimate maybe 4 million children in America are homeschooled.

3. Why do you see the growth?

Parents are not satisfied with the education their children are receiving. Children are graduating only knowing bits and pieces of information, just enough to pass a test, usually. On top of the poor education, there is the violence that has broken out in schools. It's much worse today than it ever has been. When I was bullied in school I was told to deal with it. That was in the 1980s - 20 years ago. No one brought guns or knives to school, it was name calling and fist fights. It's very different today. Since the cost of private schooling is prohibitive for many parents, and since even a private school cannot guarantee your child will be safe from bullies , many parents have chosen to homeschool. In this way parents can be more active in their children's lives, not just by educating them. Parents are able to meet and know the children's friends and parents personally.

4. Is there any age group trend?

Most people I've met personally are homeschooling elementary and middle school students. I only know 2 people personally who have graduated children or will soon have a homeschool graduate. I believe that this will change, however, and more people will homeschool through high school. Many people have their children go back to public school for high school believing that the courses are too difficult, the child will miss out on proms and other events, or that they need the diploma for college. I believe that will change as more homeschool groups offer co-op classes for courses such as algebra and biology, organize events such as proms, sports teams, and even graduation ceremonies. More colleges are accepting homeschool diplomas at this time, without making the student jump through extra hoops to attend their school, and I believe more colleges will continue to do this.

5. What is the biggest challenge from a “homeschool expert” perspective?

I would hardly call myself a homeschool expert. I have only the one child and I've only homeschooled just over 2 years, entering my third year. I would have to say for me the biggest challenge is not jumping from one curriculum to the next or second guessing yourself. There are so many great curriculums out there, but a great one for your child may not work for another child, even a child in the same family.

6. What is the biggest challenge from a parent perspective?

Sometimes I wonder if I am sheltering my child too much, but then I see him interact with other people of all ages and know I'm doing the right thing for him. My son is only 11, yet he has compassion for people of all ages and a special place for younger children. He doesn't consider himself "grown", but when he plays with the 5 year olds at family reunions when none of the other "big kids" will, he's looked on as a hero.

7. Have these perspectives changed over the last three years?

Well, I only started homeschooling 3 years ago, so I would have to say yes, my perspective has changed. My son was 8 when we began homeschooling. He attended a private school. The curriculum was very dry and filled with busy work. I've since found a richer curriculum that we both enjoy. I also used to believe that I would not homeschool him through high school. I even looked at some correspondence schools online. However, I know that things change all the time, and I believe now, with all my heart, that by the time he's ready for high school I will be ready to teach him or provide a way for him to learn the material.

8. Is there any income correlation to the changes?

The changes in homeschooling in general or myself personally? In general, most homeschooling families are one-income. The husband works outside of the home and the wife is a stay-at-home mother and is primarily in charge of the schooling. These families are not wealthy by any means. I would guess the average income is less than $30,000 per year. I believe that more people are finding satisfaction in raising a family instead of accumulating money and things.

Personally, I've seen a trend in 2 income parents or single parents homeschooling. Most of the two income families either work split shifts - one works days and one nights and evenings - and they split the childcare, housework, and homeschooling duties. Single parents are finding ways to work from home or work at more flexible jobs in order to homeschool. They depend on relatives and friends, usually, to help them accomplish what needs to be done. For me personally, I work from home and am able to arrange my schedule to suit my family. This came after working paycheck to paycheck in many jobs, not a career, and since my employers refused to work with me when it came to my family I found my own way. Many women are starting their own businesses and making it a family effort as well. In this way they are able to care for their families while still having an income - and there is no boss to tell them they cannot stay home to care for a sick child.

I posted a little bit about Monday and our trip to Six Flags already. The first ride we rode was the Georgia Cyclone. It's a large wooden coaster. It was a blast, but it turned William and my neice off of large coasters from that point on. We next headed to a new ride, but they decided they didn't want to go on it, so we stopped arguing and went to see a magic show. We rode a few more smaller rides after that. I got soaked on Thunder River and William rode the Mine Train with me. He enjoyed it as it went fast but only had 1 large hill. Crowds were minimal and lines weren't very long at all. The kids didn't want to go on any more large coasters, so I stayed with them while my mom rode Deja Vu and Superman. We stayed till closing and William and I got to ride the last ride on the Mine Train.

Tuesday I took the day off work with Scott and we basically just bummed around the house. I was hurting from all the walking we did on Monday so I ended up taking pain relievers and sleeping most of the day. We also needed showers so, since we don't have a working water heater right now, we headed to my mom's house where I watched the news for the first time since Sunday. It's still difficult for me.

Wednesday William had a dentist appointment. The news wasn't good. He has 2 cavities and such advanced tartar that the dentist said within 2 years he would start losing his teeth if something didn't change in his home care. He says he brushes his teeth, but most of you with kids knows how that goes. So either me or Scott has to be right on top of him from now on to make sure his teeth are brushed properly. Scott wants me to find photos of people with gum disease and periodontal disease and show him the pictures. I haven't done that quite yet. William says he understand this is serious and promises to be more diligent. He'll have that chance - along with parental diligence as well. He was very good during the visit, even though I know he was hurting. For a prize for his visit he's getting the Harry Potter 3 game on PS2.

Thursday we did some math, mostly just multiplication and fraction review, and he read more about Lewis and Clark and more from This Country of Ours. He doesn't seem to enjoy Lewis and Clark as much as I thought he would. Then we continued more with the human body book that I have. After checking the board for my homeschool group I then realized that he had his Adventure Club Geography co-op the next day, not the following Friday like I thought, so he had to finish his report quickly. He already knew his subject - the Loch Ness monster - so it only took about 30 minutes. I'm finding it hard to teach report writing though. It comes so naturally to me it's hard to explain what to do to someone else.

Friday we took the morning off school in order to get ready for Adventure Club. I made a dish I got from a Scottish recipe website called "Toad in the Hole". It was basically a sausage, egg, and biscuit casserole. We headed off to Adventure Club just before 1pm. The reports were great as usual. My casserole was a hit. We also had shortbread made from a Scottish recipe and scones - which I've learned rhymes with 'gone', not 'bone'. It was a very good lunch. After Adventure Club we returned home to feed and walk the dogs then we headed out to see a few movies. We watched The Brothers Grimm and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Bros. Grimm was good, but not great. There was a lot of violence in the movie and what you thought was going to happen didn't happen. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was very funny. Johnny Depp was a lot stranger than Gene Wilder in the original. There were times in the original that Gene Wilder looked insane. Johnny Depp just looked confused. This movie included some back story about Willy Wonka's childhood. We left the movie still laughing and talking about the strangest parts.

I gathered some food items from my homeschool group yesterday and I'll be gathering some other items to take to a shelter in Hamilton, GA on Monday. About 500 evacuees are there and some local churches are acting as shelters. I'm also planning to get a curriculum box set up to mail off to Project Noah and another box of goods to mail off to Lori Seaborg, a woman who lives on the Alabama Gulf Coast and is now trying to help others.

So that is our week. We are watching Tropical Storm Ophelia - I don't know if it's a hurricane yet - to see if we'll get any storms or winds in our area. Hopefully the storm will continue to blow out to sea.

This should have been posted on Friday but I got busy over the weekend and was late completing it.

Monday we began by starting my new schedule. I purchased the book Managers of Their Homes and used it to detail different schedules. It's usually used by people with more than one child, but since I work from home and have a lot going on, I did find it useful. The morning went well, but William did give me a hard time when it was time to start school. We began by reviewing fractions. I went over a really easy fraction diagram with him and he basically refused to answer me. So I just sat back and waited for him to speak. He eventually said the answer and continued with school in a grudging manner. To stop it, we took a break while I fed our outside dogs and he walked our inside dogs. I told him the attitude would NOT continue. When we started back he did have a better attitude. We continued with fractions and a bit of division by using square cardboard manipulatives.

Next we went over the government of Scotland then he read more of This Country of Ours. At that point Scott called and asked me to have dinner ready early. It was his first day back at work on days and he was very tired and hungry, so we stopped early so I could complete the daily housework and get dinner going. We finally got our VCR hooked up again through our TV and TiVo so William watched 2 movies while I got dinner ready. He also helped do dishes by hand.

Tuesday we started the day with an Isaac Newton experiment. We read in Newton's biography that he did an experiment on a windy day. He jumped from a starting point with the wind then from the same point against the wind. The day started out rainy, but the sun finally came out and we were getting some pretty good gusts of wind. We picked our spot and jumped. The consensus was that we jumped farther with the wind. Then we continued with fractions and division in math with another quick multiplication review. William read a few pages about Lewis and Clark and we discussed animals native to Scotland. William changed his paragraph topic again. Now he wants to do sharks. He said he couldn't sleep last night, so he got on the computer and read about sharks, penguins and bats. He was detailing things he'd learned most of the day.

Wednesday was horseback riding again. We also ran a few errands and watched neighbors freak out over gas. I did make arrangements to take turns carpooling with the other lesson rider. We both live in the same area so with gas going up to over $3 a gallon it didn't make sense for the both of us to drive for the lessons and sit for 2 hours. I'm going to drive next week and then the following week she'll take William to the lesson.

During this lesson William rode Flash again. The horse did not want to work. William would try to turn him left, Flash would turn right. He did trot very well but didn't want to go back to walking. As they were finishing the lesson Flash got away with William and tried to run back to the barn. William was able to stop him and didn't fall off, but he said later that he was a bit shocked and still scared. He'll be riding September again next week until Flash can be worked a bit more and learn how to work again.

Thursday was spent learning how to take notes for his report on sharks. William had found a website that gave basic information on different types of sharks. I started by having him read a short portion of the information then choosing what he felt was the most important information to share in his paper. I explained how to summarize in his own words and not to copy directly from the website. He worked on this for about 30 minutes. Next I had him browse a website about Lewis and Clark, but at this time he started to get an attitude. He wanted to finish with school but it wasn't time yet, so we had to have a discipline time out. After his was finished browsing the site we completed our read alouds from Age of Fable, Stories of King Arthur and the biography on Isaac Newton. The math references from the Newton biography were getting a bit difficult to understand, but the end of the chapter explained the references as it culminated in his discovery of calculus in order to track a moving comet. We did a bit of narration on what we'd read but I found that his mind was elsewhere and he hadn't paid a lot of attention. Some of the information was difficult to understand - references to Euclidean geometry being just one - so I wasn't that surprised. We do have to get better about protecting our school time, though, and not letting other thoughts and duties get into our heads. If we do, then it's too difficult to stop daydreaming and paying attention. I also had stopped using the schedule I'd created, so I knew I needed to use it to get back on track.

Friday and the weekend was used as a holiday. I worked some extra hours and spent some time speaking to some evacuees from Mississippi who ended up in our area. They had spent some time here before and decided to come again during this stressful time because they knew the area. Everyone in our community from churches to business owners helped out this extended family. They left to return to what was left of their homes on Monday carrying not only items they had for themselves but food, water, and clothing for their friends and neighbors.

Monday I swore not to watch the news at all so my mom, my neice, William and I went to Six Flags over Georgia for the holiday. They rode their first coaster. We had a pretty good day. Lines weren't very long, humidity was down and the temperature was just right. It was a good day.

If someone is looking for a family member you can go to this site to see if they have registered themselves : Family Links. If they have not, you can register them yourselves so that if they later have computer access they will know you are looking for them. If they are on this list it doesn't mean they have been located unless that person added themselves. It may just mean that another family member or friend has added them to the list. If the person has registered themselves then they can search to see if anyone has been looking for them.

There is also a "safe list" on cnn.com. These are people who have reached safety and have emailed CNN in order to be put on the list. The list contains their names and where they are presently located.

If anyone else knows of any other websites or lists, such as lists of people who have been evacuated from hospitals and nursing homes, would you leave me a comment and let me know? I would also be willing to contact any family members for anyone who has been displaced due to the hurricane.

Today is BlogReliefDay for many bloggers all around the world. There have been so many great contributions and offers for help from all over. I've asked my freecycle group in Georgia to gather items to help residents in Carroll County, Georgia, who lost homes and livestock in a tornado, to give items to help with their clean up. There is so much out there for people to give and do, so let me try to break it down.

The curriculum I use, Ambleside Online, has quickly formed a quick version of the program for displaced homeschoolers or for churches and other groups to quickly form schools for displaced children who may have been publicly or privately schooled. Anyone with access to a computer can use this program. Here is the link to HELP - Helping Hand Emergency Lesson Plan. Other members of Ambleside Online are quickly trying to coordinate a way to get physical copies of books and materials into the hands of people who do not have computer access.

Samaritan's Purse is also helping Katrina victims.

Project Noah is another homeschooling ministry to help get curriculum to families in crisis. They needs books, pencils, paper, erasers, teaching tapes, even just the workbooks sold at Walmart can help. Send donations to project Noah at this address:

PROJECT NOAH
15807 Brickman Ct.
Houston, TX 77084

Lori Seaborg is a woman who lives in the gulf areas of Alabama. Her home was spared and now people from Louisiana are flocking to her area. She is trying to gather help for them as she volunteers at a local shelter. Her Hurricane Katrina blog is here. Thanks to Scott Somerville for the link.

If you are in the southern / southwest states and are able to open your home to Katrina victims you can sign up here. People are quickly running out of money and hotels are filling up fast, or are kicking people out like in Tallahassee (I'm seriously considering writing to Hampton Inn to tell them what I think of their Tallahasse manager). So let's show our support for these people and help them with a place to stay if it's possible.