Huh??

I am not sure what I was thinking last week when I said I would try to write something every day...this is our off week.

We aren't doing school this week.

We are playing and relaxing and cleaning and sleeping late and watching fun movies and going to the Zoo and that kind of stuff.

So maybe next week I'll have something life changing to write about.

As for now, I'm trying to get next week work cards done and plan a big get-together for the Arkansas vs. Alabama game this weekend!!

WWWOOOOOOO PIG SOOOIE!

Univ. of Arkansas Fight Song with Shirley Q

Scattered and random

School is under way -full force at our little homeschool. Matter of fact...we have been going 6 weeks strong and next week is our off week. Well, off, if you don't count the 2 belt-loops and and 2 academic pins for science and weather, and the WEBELOS Scientist and Traveler pins and zoo trip that we will be working on.

I am going to try to blog something each day for a while. Even if it is something short and sweet.

No promises...but from the looks of things...no one will know if I do or if I don't! LOL

This year we are schooling a Jr. K, 1st, 2nd and a 5th grader. And it is really working for us. I think that it is harder when the littles are really litte. Seems to be easier if I actually have all 4 schooling....go figure.

We took a trip to Washing ton DC this summer for the 2010 Nation Scout Jamboree. It was incredible!

On day 2 of our trip, my Daddy called around 10:30am to tell my my Granny had passed away. So we changed course and Scout and the boys dropped me off and started the trip without me. I joined them 3 days later to finish up.

The boys had such an amazing time. They loved everything about DC. We drug them out of museum every evening!

We attended the Jamboree at Fort AP Hill and is also was nothing short of amazing. We went as guests this time, since they boys are still Cub Scouts. Skipper will be old enough to attend as a Scout in 2013. He has decided to start saving his money so he can go.

Daily, I am amazed, watching the boys learn and grow and develop into wonderful young scholars and men.

I am grateful that I get the opportunity to be a part of the whole process of raising our boys.

Homeschooler's Wish List

This is not mine..I didn't write it..but I sure do love it! Thank you to whoever the wrote it! I think you have summed it up well!!

HOMESCHOOLER'S WISH LIST:

1. Please stop asking us if it’s legal. If it is — and it is — it’s insulting to imply that we’re criminals. And if we were criminals, would we admit it?

2. Learn what the words “socialize” and “socialization” mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you’re talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we’ve got a decent grasp of both concepts.

3. Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4H club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she ever gets to socialize.

4. Don’t assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for the same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you know.

5. If that homeschooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV, either on the news or on a “reality” show, the above goes double.

6. Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you know, know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by homeschooling. You’re probably the same little bluebird of happiness whose hobby is running up to pregnant women and inducing premature labor by telling them every ghastly birth story you’ve ever heard. We all hate you, so please go away.

7. We don’t look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they’re in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we’re doing what you consider an adequate job of homeschooling.

8. Stop assuming all homeschoolers are religious.

9. Stop assuming that if we’re religious, we must be homeschooling for religious reasons.

10. We didn’t go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing of options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into homeschooling just to annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision, tailored to the specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of our being homeschoolers as either an affront or a judgment about your own educational decisions.

11. Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my credentials. I didn’t have to complete a course in catering to successfully cook dinner for my family; I don’t need a degree in teaching to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years in the kind of chew-it-up-and-spit-it-out educational facility we call public school left me with so little information in my memory banks that I can’t teach the basics of an elementary education to my nearest and dearest, maybe there’s a reason I’m so reluctant to send my child to school.

12. If my kid’s only six and you ask me with a straight face how I can possibly teach him what he’d learn in school, please understand that you’re calling me an idiot. Don’t act shocked if I decide to respond in kind.

13. Stop assuming that because the word “home” is right there in “homeschool,” we never leave the house. We’re the ones who go to the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it’s crowded and icky.

14. Stop assuming that because the word “school” is right there in homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every day, just like your kid does. Even if we’re into the “school” side of education — and many of us prefer a more organic approach — we can burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we don’t have to gear our lessons to the lowest common denominator.

15. Stop asking, “But what about the Prom?” Even if the idea that my kid might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-priced revelry was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go to school don’t get to go to the Prom. For all you know, I’m one of them. I might still be bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere else.

16. Don’t ask my kid if she wouldn’t rather go to school unless you don’t mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn’t rather stay home and get some sleep now and then.

17. Stop saying, “Oh, I could never homeschool!” Even if you think it’s some kind of compliment, it sounds more like you’re horrified. One of these days, I won’t bother disagreeing with you any more.

18. If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class, you’re allowed to ask how we’ll teach these subjects to our kids. If you can’t, thank you for the reassurance that we couldn’t possibly do a worse job than your teachers did, and might even do a better one.

19. Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child’s teacher as well as her parent. I don’t see much difference between bossing my kid around academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else.

20. Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he’s homeschooled. It’s not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of anything but childhood.

21. Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because she’s homeschooled.

22. Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I homeschool my kids.

23. Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I homeschool my kids.

24. Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won’t get because they don’t go to school, unless you want me to start asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to school.

25. Here’s a thought: If you can’t say something nice about homeschooling, shut up!

See With Me Bible

I love this Bible.

It is perfect for my pre-readers. There are VERY few words. The stories are well told thru the artwork. It make the younger kids feel grown up.

I like it because other young child versions have limited artwork and/or too many words.

Scrappy loves his and has carried it everywhere for 2 days now. He is thrilled cause he "has read the whole Bible"!

Great job Zonderkids and Dennis Jones! 2 thumbs way up here at our house! I can see this wonderful book will be a well worn treasure when it is all said and done!

LOVE THIS

A very dear friend of mine has been helping me int he "now what do we do with the dyslexia diagnosis" department.

She spent a Friday night giving me ideas and encouragement. She gave me a link to check out...it has been a huge blessing!

It is the Accelerated reader site and you can type in a book title and it will tell you what level the book is!!

I have been looking for something like this for a while..but I was finding pay site and honestly, I have WAY too many books for that. This site is free. Most of the 250+ books we have here at home are on the list.

I did find out that I have a TON of books in the 3.0+ level but not a lot in the .1-2.9 levels.

2 Down and 2 to Go...

Tonight I finished 2 of the 4 boys first 2 weeks of school! 

I am hoping that the younger 2 do not take quite as long. 

I am holding out on the reading part for my oldest yet. 

I am still new to the whole "dyslexia" thing and am knocking around a few different options that hopefully will be a little easier to decide once we have the final testing results.

I do want to tell you about something a friend of mine way back from the 3rd grade introduced me to..it is called a COINULATOR...and I just ordered one. I am so excited and I think it will be a wonderful fun little addition to our Math center!!  You can find out more here!

It appears that this year will be a more multi-sensory approach to schooling that we have taken in the past! I know that all the boys will benefit from that in their own way. I am stocking up on goodies as I find them..pipe cleaners, colored sand, sand paper, jump ropes, therapy balls and sit discs, fidget toys and bean bags.

Well, it's late and I have to get to bed..my eyes are drooping fast! 

But before I go, I would love to know what is your favorite educational toy?!