September 15, 2010

I made huge progress in our "classroom" today, although visually, it's not very obvious. Very strange...same physical movements as yesterday, but lower back pain is gone. Now it's left ovary and left leg pain...sciatic nerve? Ovarian cyst? Both? lol Okay, enough of my ailments. 

 

Our "school" treasures have been unguarded and haphazard for awhile (due to their location in the house), but most things fell back into place as I re-organized. I am, however, missing an Owl Pellet. The instructions for the Owl Pellet Dissection are in the box, but the actual Owl Pellet is no where to be found. Looks like someone went ahead and did a little Raptor Project without Mom....and Mom has owl pellet particles ?somewhere? in the house...No one has made a confession yet. Maybe the cats ate it. 

 

It was comical finding small barbie-doll-sized human bones & organs here and there...a rib cage, a liver, a heart, all from our anatomy models that Josiah absolutely LOVES, but also LOVES to throw the body parts here and there, at the ceiling fan to make them shoot across the room, etc...is this considered Physics?

I was able to pull all of our scary Halloween books and such together, and as I made a little display basket of our Halloween collection, I began reminiscing on Halloweens Past...My elementary school days, Rhyne Elementary in Gastonia, Ms. "Randy" the librarian, library time, the little "reference nook" room upstairs in the library, lights out, candle lit, scary album playing on record player, scary stories, Ms. Randy scaring the shit out of us...Good times! I'll bet that's not even allowed now! Shame on these wimpy-ass kiddos of today! lol I plan on a thorough Halloween curriculum at THIS school.  

I tried a Nettle Hair Rinse today, and it's a very simple process. It wasn't the most pleasant fragrance, but my hair is nice and soft. I steeped a new jar of Nettles Tea today for consumption, and I can't say enough about how wonderful it is, especially my pick-me-up cup of it around 3pm! I scored the nettles I have now from a friend, but I am planning to purchase my own from Mountain Rose Herbs. 

 

 

The boys had a blast, as always, when their dear friend, Shamique, got off the school bus and came straight to our house, as usual. Jumping on the trampoline in your underwear and spraying one another with the hose pipe is great fun....

 

We are still full steam ahead on the Greek Mythology passion, I think we have watched the Odyssey like 5000 times since I scored it at the library a couple of days ago. Josiah runs to me during the Cyclops scenes. 

I was so excited when the following opportunity came across the Rock Hill Area Homeschoolers email list tonight: "3rd–4th Grades Historic Brattonsville Academy: Schooldays of 1840 $10 per person, Length 9 am–1 pm, Max 25 students (2 adults allowed)... From the minute the school bell rings, students become scholars in an 1840's academy. They walk, talk and play as children did in the 1840s. This highly immersive program shows students, first hand, what school was like before the Civil War. Lesson includes: ciphering (on slates),
grammar, quill penmanship, spelling, geography and games." Civil War and pre-Civil War is a passion of Sam's, so this is just perfect. I signed him up! Yay! This RHAH group is really into following the SC Public School curriculum, so we just jump in when it suits us.

Josiah just lost his first tooth tonight! He noticed it loose after dinner, wiggled it a little, then yanked it out himself! We pull our Anatomy book from our "classroom", and find out that it is an Incisor Tooth that he lost, used for chopping up food. He was concerned that he wouldn't be able to chop up food now, but I pointed out in the diagram that he has more than one Incisor, so no worries. He also pointed out the little "hole" in the root, and we learned from the diagram that the hole is the root opening, and that pulp, blood vessels, and nerves were in the "hole." Unschooling at 9pm. Love it! 

I have found that Math on Mom's Bed After Bath Time works for us. Last night, Josiah took off in his Math Workbook on his own, while Sam and I started on Multiplication. We did Multiples of 2. I used manipulatives (geometric shapes in sets) to show him the concept, because rote memorization is USELESS, IMO. He really had a blast with it, arranging, then counting the sets to work the problem. He pretended the sets of shapes were battling one another, of course...lol. We did flash cards lastly (gasp! All of this stuff and I don't own a set of multiplication flash cards! No worries, I printed them off in 5 minutes here...http://www.apples4theteacher.com/math/multiplication/flashcards/miniset1.html), and it was interesting to see him work the problems on his fingers (I still do that! lol) ...Example: 2 x 7...He would count to seven on his fingers, then continue counting, but go back over the same fingers...recognizing 2 x 7 is two sets of 7, or 7 sets of 2. Josiah joined in on the flash cards because yelling an answer while jumping around on Mom's bed is great...he even answered some of the Multiples of 1 correctly! I need to interject here that Cassidy was never able to "memorize" her Multiplication Tables. She still can't fire the answer back at you to this day. She has developed ?some way? of doing them that her brain understands. She is 16, in 11th grade, and ROCKS at Algebra, etc. Hmmmm...all of that verbal abuse from family members over not fitting the mold...Even Mike, the brilliant Engineer husband of mine, has a Multiplication Memorization Nightmare story to tell...his teacher played a record, and Mike had to answer them as fast as the record went. He couldn't do it. He developed stomach pains from the anxiety, so severe that his Mom took him to the doctor. 

 

Sam cooked Cascadian Farms Organic Tater Tots all on his own by reading the instructions on the back of the bag. He also read over my shoulder as I blogged...lol. Josiah knows Mmmm...Aaaaa...Ssssss..., but gets all nervous when we talk about him "reading." We are using Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons for Josiah, but not religiously. He loves it, and he loves pointing to the letters and making the sounds.

 

So, um, if I must water learning down, and put it in a neat little box to present it to the powers-that-be...today we covered: Reading, Math, History, Science, Health, and Socialization. We read all day.

Husband and I had cookies and milk in bed together at midnight. He fussed at me about not ordering checks yet, and bragged to me about farting at band practice. (Pinto beans, cole slaw, fried taters n onions for dinner before he went to practice tonight;) I love him bunches. He is so excited about his band.