We had a fantastic weekend. The boys had a play date at our house Saturday with two of their home school friends, and two of their neighborhood friends joined the fun as well. After the play date, the boys and I rode to a benefit the husband's band was playing in Lancaster, SC. Sam helped draw tickets for the door prizes. The boys found an amazing bamboo forest behind the restaurant, and played in it until dark. Then the boys and I danced, danced, danced and ate good bad food all night. Sam was especially impressed with the fried bologna sandwich, and Josiah LOVED the jalapeno poppers. Sam sang karaoke with Brandon...Simple Man. Josiah's new favorite song the band does is Psycho by Puddle of Mud.
Sunday the boys and I stayed outside all day. Two neighborhood friends came over to play. Everyone loves hammering boards in the boy's "tree house". Husband came out and helped with some boards they were having trouble with. Pillow-fighting on the trampoline is another favorite. They played in the sandbox, rode scooters and bikes in the cul de sac, and played in the Bamboo Forest. I raked and cleared, cleared and raked. I love being outside. I made a special seating/relaxing area for me that I am so impressed with, I sat until long after dark watching the clouds move across the moon. I hung my new birdbath, and added another feeder. Now I have four feeders and one bath. At the end of the day, the boys had cuts, scratches, bruises, dirt crusted underneath finger and toenails, and murky bath water....all signs that my boys had a most excellent day.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
March 11, 2011
Sam did a lot of Math today. I actually went through and "graded" his work....a year's worth (we already had checks, just no percentages figured)...and it looks like he rightfully has a B. I didn't mention this to him, but it did help me see what he rocks at, and what we need to go back over. Plus, it's all nice and "schooly" in the Math Portfolio and makes a nice presentation in case we are ever questioned by any of the idiots who are still brainwashed by traditional schooling.
Josiah was all about looking at the Japan earthquake/tsunami videos today. Then he moved on to watching tornado videos. Then...he wanted to talk all about turtles. We looked through our Turtles of Southeast book (for the trillionth time).
We finally have action on our Goldfinch Feeder, but the birds are not Goldfinch...they are Black-Capped Chickadees.
We are still enjoying the home-grown collard greens that our friends brought us! For dinner we had collards n onions with Bragg ACV, Tangy BBQ Pork Chops, Organic Mashed Potatoes, and HomeMade Cornbread! Mmmm! Hmmmmm!
Husband had a gig, so the boys and I had all evening to ourselves. Josiah and I watched documentaries on Netfllix. One on dogs, one on the human body, one on spies in WWII, and one on the BP oil spill. He was especially intrigued by the beginning of the one on the human body that was all about skin. When we watched the one on the BP oil spill, it was a little "dry", so he insisted we pull our (kiddo) Oil Spill book and read it (for the millionth time).
Josiah was all about looking at the Japan earthquake/tsunami videos today. Then he moved on to watching tornado videos. Then...he wanted to talk all about turtles. We looked through our Turtles of Southeast book (for the trillionth time).
We finally have action on our Goldfinch Feeder, but the birds are not Goldfinch...they are Black-Capped Chickadees.
We are still enjoying the home-grown collard greens that our friends brought us! For dinner we had collards n onions with Bragg ACV, Tangy BBQ Pork Chops, Organic Mashed Potatoes, and HomeMade Cornbread! Mmmm! Hmmmmm!
Husband had a gig, so the boys and I had all evening to ourselves. Josiah and I watched documentaries on Netfllix. One on dogs, one on the human body, one on spies in WWII, and one on the BP oil spill. He was especially intrigued by the beginning of the one on the human body that was all about skin. When we watched the one on the BP oil spill, it was a little "dry", so he insisted we pull our (kiddo) Oil Spill book and read it (for the millionth time).
March 10, 2011
Josiah and Letters: Josiah gets soooo pissed when he doesn't "WIN". When we do the Letter Flash Cards, he "wins" the card if he calls the Letter. This is HIS game that he made up.....BUT....He was going into a meltdown over the ones he didn't "get", so we are going to ditch this game. IF it were Clue or something, I would continue on and work with him on his poor sportsmanship, but not on something we are using to "learn". I am going to switch gears and try something else. I have a kid demanding that I teach him how to read, and I am not about to make him hate it and turn away from it because I pushed a certain "method" on him. He wants to just open a book and jump right into reading, so why is it stuck in my head that he HAS to recognize ALL of the Letters by name FIRST? Oh, yeah...I am a product of traditional education. I fully realize how ridiculous the "system" is, yet I revert right back to it before I can blink my eyes! Even though HE made the game up, once we started it and it only worked to a certain point for him, I pressed him to keep on with it even though it was upsetting him. WHY? That is SO stupid. Ugh. I am going to talk to him about my mistake and apologize, then let him choose how he wants to proceed with HIS education.
Sam worked on Writing today. He really loves to keep a journal. I would never waste our time by forcing him to write about things he could care less about. He also did a page in his Sylvan Reading Success Workbook.
We gave the cats Catnip today (Well, Loki gets all of the Catnip because he hisses at Camo when she gets near it...). The boys were amazed and had a lot of questions, so we read all about Catnip.
Josiah asked to hold the turtle: "Mom, we have not held our turtle in a long time. I KNOW what you are gonna say...I know we have to wash our hands because of mello-yello!" (He meant Salmonella....ROFLOL!)
The boys were soaking in a conversation I had with a friend the other day (I was unaware of the soaking at the time). I was telling my friend about another Mom we both know (the boys are also very familiar with this Mom and her son) who would not allow her son to watch the movie Finding Nemo. WELL. Since we returned home from my friend's house...3 days ago....my kiddos have gone to great extremes to hunt the movie, Finding Nemo, down and watch it to see what all the fuss was about....THREE TIMES. I find this hilarious! I didn't even know. Sam told me..."Oh yeah Mom, Finding Nemo? The movie that (crazy Mom's name) won't let (crazy Mom's son) watch? Well....we found it and watched it THREE TIMES!". But he hasn't mentioned if he has discovered what all of the fuss was about.
Josiah pointed out in the truck the other day that The Doors song, LA Woman, sounds a lot like Charlie Brown.
Sam worked on Writing today. He really loves to keep a journal. I would never waste our time by forcing him to write about things he could care less about. He also did a page in his Sylvan Reading Success Workbook.
We gave the cats Catnip today (Well, Loki gets all of the Catnip because he hisses at Camo when she gets near it...). The boys were amazed and had a lot of questions, so we read all about Catnip.
Josiah asked to hold the turtle: "Mom, we have not held our turtle in a long time. I KNOW what you are gonna say...I know we have to wash our hands because of mello-yello!" (He meant Salmonella....ROFLOL!)
The boys were soaking in a conversation I had with a friend the other day (I was unaware of the soaking at the time). I was telling my friend about another Mom we both know (the boys are also very familiar with this Mom and her son) who would not allow her son to watch the movie Finding Nemo. WELL. Since we returned home from my friend's house...3 days ago....my kiddos have gone to great extremes to hunt the movie, Finding Nemo, down and watch it to see what all the fuss was about....THREE TIMES. I find this hilarious! I didn't even know. Sam told me..."Oh yeah Mom, Finding Nemo? The movie that (crazy Mom's name) won't let (crazy Mom's son) watch? Well....we found it and watched it THREE TIMES!". But he hasn't mentioned if he has discovered what all of the fuss was about.
Josiah pointed out in the truck the other day that The Doors song, LA Woman, sounds a lot like Charlie Brown.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
March 9, 2011
We did a review with adding decimals. Sam kicks ass on lining them up vertically to add them when the problem is presented horizontally. He is all about adding up some $$$$$$ though, so no surprise there. He did several on the dry erase board, then he completed the remainder on paper so we could snap it into our little binder of "proof" in case anyone ever accuses us of not being up to par with the public school system <<<BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
I suggested that Sam show his "work" on them (wonder where I got THAT ridiculous, irrational idea????), but he could add them in his head when they were presented horizontally...without lining them up vertically, and without "showing his work" (the carrying, etc.) You know what Sam, if you can do it in your head, do it baby. I am the administrator of this "school", and I know you can do it in your head, YOU know you can do it in your head, so to heck with haters.
We started tracking earthquakes. We may need a new map exclusively for this! We have been doing it for only a few days, and there has been so much activity: Chile, Japan, Papua New Guinea, China...
We want to start tracking tornadoes as well, but we haven't found a good site to use yet.
Who cares if our walls are papered with maps? If my house looked like a display at Rooms-To-Go, I would suffocate and die in the conformity of it!
Josiah won a lot of cards for recognizing letters and their sounds. He is SO funny...sometimes he has to think a bit about what letter it is or what sound it makes, but he is always prompt with recognizing if it is "Uppercase" or "Lowercase".
My kids are so anxious to get swim trunks on and get into some water fun.
I suggested that Sam show his "work" on them (wonder where I got THAT ridiculous, irrational idea????), but he could add them in his head when they were presented horizontally...without lining them up vertically, and without "showing his work" (the carrying, etc.) You know what Sam, if you can do it in your head, do it baby. I am the administrator of this "school", and I know you can do it in your head, YOU know you can do it in your head, so to heck with haters.
We started tracking earthquakes. We may need a new map exclusively for this! We have been doing it for only a few days, and there has been so much activity: Chile, Japan, Papua New Guinea, China...
We want to start tracking tornadoes as well, but we haven't found a good site to use yet.
Who cares if our walls are papered with maps? If my house looked like a display at Rooms-To-Go, I would suffocate and die in the conformity of it!
Josiah won a lot of cards for recognizing letters and their sounds. He is SO funny...sometimes he has to think a bit about what letter it is or what sound it makes, but he is always prompt with recognizing if it is "Uppercase" or "Lowercase".
My kids are so anxious to get swim trunks on and get into some water fun.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
All Play and No Work
Very nice visit at a friend's house. It is such a pleasure to be in the company of like-minded people, especially right around my PMS time, when the mainstream world is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. A 9 week old home-birthed, breastfed, cloth-diapered-but-ECing, beautiful baby girl smiling at me was the perfect therapy for my current "bird-leaving-the-nest" devastation. The boys played like crazy. They love these particular kids so much....they cried on the way home..."I miss (kid's name) and (kid's name)!"
When we returned home, the boys played joyfully with our neighbor's Lab, Bo. When Bo had to go inside, the boys had a wild, wide-open, rough and tough pillow fight on the trampoline with neighborhood friends.
When we returned home, the boys played joyfully with our neighbor's Lab, Bo. When Bo had to go inside, the boys had a wild, wide-open, rough and tough pillow fight on the trampoline with neighborhood friends.
Today we did a Field Trip to our Attorney's office. We walked too! It was almost 3/4 mile. We sat on the front steps of the office and ate pecans from the ground. The boys had a blast cracking them open. I hope our attorney doesn't add those to our bill. We learned all about making a Will.
Sam did one Multiplication Worksheet and took three Multiplication Quizzes. He is still making his 6s backwards....lol....drives me (OCD) insane, but I just remind him over and over. He did Compound Words in his Sylvan "Reading Success" book. I have to say his reading has improved by leaps and bounds since he left school and everyone left him the hell alone. All we have done is read and read and read...books...that we enjoy....and a year later he picks up his Reading Workbook he used to struggle with and Bam! breezes right through it.
Josiah did several pages in his Math Workbook.
Husband is flying up to Red Wing, Minnesota tomorrow on business, so we had to tag it on our map of the US and talk about where it is, borders, weather, etc.
We went through our Bird ID book and pointed out all of the birds we have spotted so far since we started our Birder Adventures. We decided to make a Display of all of our bird pics/birds, so I am going to go through and pick out the best ones to have printed. We looked at other birds as well, and the boys are particularly interested in the Raptors. The Roadrunner was also of great interest. The boys have decided that we need to visit the Raptor Center ASAP. Even though they have been many times before, apparently they just now care...lol. We decided that we need to dissect our new owl pellet ASAP as well. Sam noticed the Size category for each bird, and started asking, "Well how big is that?" I sent him to grab my tape measure...I called the inches for each bird and he showed it to us on the tape measure. BIG WOW when we looked at the wing span on some of the Raptors! Sam really got excited about the tape measure and measured everything in the house, recording his results in his notebook.
We read several books....Why Leaves Change Color, Martin Luther King Jr, Saint Patrick's Day, and the Worm Book. We reviewed how to care for our red Wrigglers. The boys remembered that the Earth Worm has five sets of hearts and suggested we dissect our Earth Worm we ordered from Home Science Tools months ago to find the hearts... I'm. Not. Ready.
The boys chose to make a box of Organic Macaroni and Cheese as their contribution to dinner...well, two boxes, because each box is only 2.5 servings, not enough for our family for dinner. Oh boy! Doubling a recipe! Interesting: Josiah has never been to school, and just doesn't get worksheets the way Sam does....but when it came to doubling the recipe (real life Math), Josiah (6) was like, Duh! and completely got it...but Sam (9)...who has been to school and has had the common sense drilled out of him by worksheets, was so confused over simple math because....it wasn't watered down on a worksheet!
Sam did one Multiplication Worksheet and took three Multiplication Quizzes. He is still making his 6s backwards....lol....drives me (OCD) insane, but I just remind him over and over. He did Compound Words in his Sylvan "Reading Success" book. I have to say his reading has improved by leaps and bounds since he left school and everyone left him the hell alone. All we have done is read and read and read...books...that we enjoy....and a year later he picks up his Reading Workbook he used to struggle with and Bam! breezes right through it.
Josiah did several pages in his Math Workbook.
Husband is flying up to Red Wing, Minnesota tomorrow on business, so we had to tag it on our map of the US and talk about where it is, borders, weather, etc.
We went through our Bird ID book and pointed out all of the birds we have spotted so far since we started our Birder Adventures. We decided to make a Display of all of our bird pics/birds, so I am going to go through and pick out the best ones to have printed. We looked at other birds as well, and the boys are particularly interested in the Raptors. The Roadrunner was also of great interest. The boys have decided that we need to visit the Raptor Center ASAP. Even though they have been many times before, apparently they just now care...lol. We decided that we need to dissect our new owl pellet ASAP as well. Sam noticed the Size category for each bird, and started asking, "Well how big is that?" I sent him to grab my tape measure...I called the inches for each bird and he showed it to us on the tape measure. BIG WOW when we looked at the wing span on some of the Raptors! Sam really got excited about the tape measure and measured everything in the house, recording his results in his notebook.
We read several books....Why Leaves Change Color, Martin Luther King Jr, Saint Patrick's Day, and the Worm Book. We reviewed how to care for our red Wrigglers. The boys remembered that the Earth Worm has five sets of hearts and suggested we dissect our Earth Worm we ordered from Home Science Tools months ago to find the hearts... I'm. Not. Ready.
The boys chose to make a box of Organic Macaroni and Cheese as their contribution to dinner...well, two boxes, because each box is only 2.5 servings, not enough for our family for dinner. Oh boy! Doubling a recipe! Interesting: Josiah has never been to school, and just doesn't get worksheets the way Sam does....but when it came to doubling the recipe (real life Math), Josiah (6) was like, Duh! and completely got it...but Sam (9)...who has been to school and has had the common sense drilled out of him by worksheets, was so confused over simple math because....it wasn't watered down on a worksheet!
Monday, February 28, 2011
"I was undisciplined by birth, never would I bend, even in my tender youth, to a rule. It was at home I learned the little I know. Schools always appeared to me like a prison, and never could I make up my mind to stay there, not even for four hours a day, when the sunshine was inviting, the sea smooth, and when it was joy to run about the cliffs in the free air, or to paddle in the water." -Claude Monet
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