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Checking In

May 19, 2013 By Alicia

What a terrible blogger I’ve become!

I swear, there’s something about having five kids that is somehow ten times as busy-making as having four kids.  :)   I love it, but my does it interfere with my productivity!

We’ve been busy bees around here…

  • The boys and I went to the Science and Nature Conference.
  • The whole lot of us went to a homeschool day at the petroglyphs, where we taught kids how to make their own atlatls and hunt the buffalo (the wind meant they had a rough go at it!).
  • We all went to a PBS screening of a show they produced about parks in our area, at a nearby historic theater.  It was fun seeing “our” parks featured and seeing them interviewing our friends from the park.
  • I’ve been busy planting my garden for the year.  In so far:  red and orange carrots, lots of lettuces, spinach, lots of kinds of peas, potatoes (which got overly wet and rotted so I have to replant), chard, turnips, dill, cilantro, nasturtiums, beets, lots of tomatoes (started indoors early), eggplants (ditto), basil, sunflowers, borage, and probably a few things I’ve forgotten!  And I’m not even a third of the way done….
  • We’re planning a trip to the Badlands next week.
  • Anna spent 5 days with family friends in Northern Minnesota.
  • Daryl and the girls have been doing a lot of birding.
  • Anna and Victoria have been doing lots of biking.
  • Victoria has been doing a lot of photography.
  • Daryl and the kids are in the Wilder Pageant again.  Toria is sitting out this year and Fiona will still be home with me, but the rest of them will be busy with rehearsals soon.
  • We’ve been enjoying the warm weather (at last!) with lots of time outside — playing in the sandbox, heading to the beach, climbing trees, riding Big Wheels, playing ball, going to the park, walking the dog, working in the yard, making mud pies, you name it.

I have a list of 100 things I want to learn/teach in our homeschool by the end of the summer.  We’re having fun working on it.  The kids helped make the list and I have no idea how many we’ll get done but it’s a fun goal.

We’ll be doing some Civil War reenacting next month and there’s all sorts of homeschool projects I want to get to and books I want to read with the kids.  My to-do list is several thousand items long, I think.  :)

This year is so much better than last year at this time!  Some experiences really do keep you focusing on the big picture and counting your blessings.  I am so grateful to have last year that far behind us and Toria healthy and tentatively cancer-free.

I’m hoping it will be a pretty awesome summer.  I’ll do what I can to help make it happen!

 

Filed Under: Daily log, Field trips & tours

Another Birthday Week Survived

May 5, 2013 By Alicia

We made it through another birthday week here.

Jack turned 10, Victoria turned 15, and Alex turned 6.

I made a lot of cakes and cupcakes.  :)

Here’s a quick round-up of ten fun ways we played and learned during birthday week….

  1. Victoria chose books for birthday presents, and picked out an awesome assortment at Barnes and Noble (see pic above).  She also bought herself the Les Miserables soundtrack and we’ve been listening to a lot of French Revolutionary songs in the car.
  2. We’ve been doing a lot of bird watching. Daryl and the kids have spotted a white-faced ibis, an osprey, blue jays, red-winged blackbirds, lots of song birds, vultures, many kinds of migrating ducks, returning pelicans and a fantastic battle between two hawks in the road this morning, along with a very determined crow dive-bombing a red-tailed hawk on a pole this afternoon.
  3. Victoria taught her younger siblings about Nihilism. Of course.  ;)
  4. Anna has been writing poems and doing song rewrites. She has one about Corn and Snow (living in Minnesota) based on Carrie Underwood’s tornado song (I can’t remember the name now) and “I Knew You Were Homeschooled” instead of “I Knew You Were Trouble” by Taylor Swift.
  5. Jack graduated archery class and did an awesome job. We bought a family membership for the rest of the year so we can use the facility and the gear any time.
  6. Alex has been working on sight words. He knows about 30 now.  We have a goal of 50 by the end of the summer and I keep track in my journal.
  7. Anna has headed up to Bemidji for the week with family friends. She stays with Guy and Val once or twice a year.  They love getting to play parents and she loves getting to be an only child.  They also teach her about legal stuff (Val is a lawyer), computers and all of the many subjects they are so knowledgeable about.
  8. Victoria and Daryl went to a writers/actors/artists workshop. They learned about everything from collage to Taiko drumming to writing to charcoal and paint.  It was at a nearby college and Victoria made some cool new connections and they both had a great time.
  9. We have seedlings on all the windowsills and have started many gardens. We got a ton of snow on top of my freshly planted seeds, but they’re cold tolerant so hopefully they’ll fare okay.  Inside, I have heirloom tomatoes everywhere, along with some exotic eggplants and interesting cabbage.  I can’t wait for it to warm up enough to really get serious in the garden.
  10. Daryl, Anna and Jack auditioned for the Wilder Pageant. Victoria is sitting out this year (she has been in it every summer since she was 6), but Alex may join in as one of Daryl’s kids.  Daryl will probably be Reverend Alden and Elias Bedal (Walnut Grove’s first mayor) again.  We haven’t received official word about roles yet, but the cast photos are on Saturday so we’ll know this week.

We’ve also talked about… European travel, youth hostels, abortion, the Gosnell trial, townships, voting registration and more.  The kids have also been doing… finger knitting, Big Wheel riding, ball playing, tree climbing, drawing, Lego building, Wii playing, video chatting, hiking, bike riding, sticky ball tossing, solitaire playing, Free Rice earning, dog walking, cooking, chores, talking on the phone with friends, reading, reading, reading and a whole lot of playing.

If you haven’t seen them, here’s my latest homeschooling articles elsewhere….

Students can use free public domain classes to learn over 40 languages

 

Here’s a great free resource to round out your child’s foreign language studies.  FSI Language Courses offer dozens of foreign language programs in mp3 format and in print for languages ranging from Finnish to Swahili…

Kids can take part in virtual Maker Camp this summer

 

Kids are invited to take part in Make Magazine’s six-week Maker’s Camp again this summer, with all sorts of great science, technology and crafting fun.The annual program boasts 30 days of “awesome projects…

Elemons turns the Periodic Table of Elements into a Pokemon-style card game

 

The best educational games are ones that kids would choose to play anyway because they’re enjoyable, well made and easy to play.  Elemons is a great example of this kind of game…

Free geometry book available from Wikijunior

 

Wikijunior has created a free geometry wikibook for the elementary level that’s a great introduction to geometry for all ages.The 72-page book, Geometry for Elementary School, covers basic information such as points, lines, symmetry, congruence, how…

Minecraft homeschool: Incredible educational Minecraft inspiration from all over

Do your kids love Minecraft?  Why not take advantage of that and use Minecraft to help teach history, science, language arts and more? There are dozens of wonderful sites on the internet designed to help parents and teachers… 

50 Simple household items that help your child become a math whiz

 

Want to raise a child who loves math and is great at it?  One of the easiest ways to do that is to fill your house with hands-on materials that encourage kids to play with numbers, puzzles, shapes…

Free 700-page middle school chemistry course available online

 

Looking for a comprehensive chemistry course for the middle school level?  The American Chemical Society provides their entire 691-page curriculum for free as a PDF download or online resource…
And now, I have one final cake to bake (Victoria would like a gluten-free Red Velvet Cake) so I’d better get to it.
Filed Under: Daily log, freebies, Links, Math, science

Checking In…

April 10, 2013 By Alicia

My goodness, I’ve been gone a lot lately!  We’ve been so busy for being recluses.  ;)

Here’s a bit of what we’ve been up to….

Daryl had his recheck for his hip replacement surgery at the Mayo.  All looks great and he has the go-ahead for physical therapy.

While we were there, I surprised the kids with $10 each to spend at Rochester’s giant thrift store, Saver’s.

My boys pooled their money for light sabers, nerf guns, tech toys and mini figurines.

Anna used her cash for yarn, an awesome high-tech watch, a wizardry book that goes along with Harry Potter crafts, and a 39 Clues card collection case.

Victoria spent it on nothing but books (The Outsiders, Slaughterhouse Five, Farenheit 451…).  And then talked me into buying an enormous stack of extra textbooks for her (organic chemistry, psychology, biology, surgical nursing, algebra one if I got her the others…).  That girl sure makes me smile sometimes.   ;)

Jack and I have been playing this game like crazy to help him learn his multiplication facts (and also because it’s just plain fun).

Here’s a bit of what I posted about it on Facebook:

It’s called Roll n Multiply and you play it similarly to tic tac toe but it’s far more fun. Jack and I love it. You roll two dice and multiply the numbers (they are 10 sided), then put the game piece with that number on it anywhere on the board flipped to your color. The object is to get 4 in a row. BUT, if you roll a number that is already on the board you can take it and use it elsewhere (whether it was yours or your opponent’s, you just flip it to your color and put it where you want it), so you can move things and unblock lines that were blocked before. So if I had 3 in a row and Jack blocked me with his orange 24, and then I rolled 6×4, I could flip over his 24 to purple and win. It’s part luck, part strategy, part math. We play it a ton of and both of us like it. There’s a cheat sheet you can use if you don’t know your facts too, and I think Alex will be able to play it fine even though he’s only 5 and doesn’t know most of his facts yet. You really don’t need to know them but they end up learning them accidentally very quickly. I highly recommend it and I promised Jack I’d buy us a set of our own. You can check it out at the MSU library as soon as I return it and see if you guys like it. It’s nice and sturdy too, which I like. Here’s the link on Amazon (different cover now but the inside looks identical).

We stayed at a hotel for a couple of days while we were there for the recheck and had fun swimming at the pool, putting together fun gourmet (gluten free, vegetarian, etc.) hotel room meals and splurging a bit one time.

We finished off our visit by stopping by a fabulous HS family’s dairy farm to meet up in real life for the first time after us moms had known each other online for years.  It was a really special day and so much fun.  None of us could stop smiling afterwards and we can’t wait to visit again.  :)

I was too busy having fun to take any pictures but I think Toria and Anna got a few.  I snagged this from my friend’s FB feed of one of their new babies.  I love the fact that every single one of the 90+ cows has a name (Vanessa, Molly, Avery….) and that they are treated so lovingly (Avery steals peanut butter cups).  We learned so much, too!  And we just plain adored their family.  :)

In other news, someone made these beautiful flint-knapped driftglass arrowheads for our family.  Daryl struck up a conversation with the artist a few years ago as Daryl was looking for sharks’ teeth at a small local lake and this man was looking for arrowheads.  They’ve networked a bit since then (the “primitive tech” community is a small and friendly one!), and my sweetie offered him some big chunks of good flintknapping rock that we had sitting unused in our garage.  In thanks, he made these for all of us.  Aren’t they beautiful?!

We’re also working on our seeds, readying the garden and so much more.  Poor Fiona has been in and out of doctor’s offices and ERs the past week (she’s okay) and so much else is going on, but that’s a good bit for the first catch-up!

Oh yes, and we’re in the middle of some crazy winter storm that’s got people all around us without power and everything is covered with ice.  Trees and power lines are broken left and right, and there’s some pretty dire situations all around.

Hopefully all of that will pass quickly.  Minnesota winters are a bit like movie bad guys.  Every time you think they’re finally dead, they grab your ankle and come after you one more time.  ;)   I’m just pretending it’s green out there and going on with my garden planning.

Hopefully it will be less than a month till the next check in!

Filed Under: Daily log, Field trips & tours, Math

99 Things I Did Yesterday

March 5, 2013 By Alicia

I’ve written before about how we don’t have a “typical” homeschool day. That said, I thought it could be interesting to log a day here at home while D is recovering from surgery.

Here’s 99 things I did yesterday.

I realize this is probably interesting to nobody except me, so you will not hurt my feelings in the least by skipping this completely!  I just thought it would be fun to log once.

It should be noted that Victoria is up visiting friends in the Cities for the next week and a half, so I’m a mother of four for the time being instead of five.

This is not everything I did yesterday, just a random 99. I obviously changed Fiona more than once, and some things just don’t need to be logged.  It’s not necessarily in order, either.

  1. Made coffee.
  2. Fed the pets (even though it’s Jack’s job).
  3. Got dressed and used two lint rolling sheets getting all the dog and cat hair off of my sweater.
  4. Dressed Fiona.
  5. Changed Fiona.
  6. Brought breakfast to Daryl (still on bed rest from surgery).
  7. Set Fiona up with breakfast in her high chair.  (Jack took care of breakfast for himself and Alex, and Anna takes care of herself.)
  8. Checked email.
  9. Took pictures of some delightful creations Jack and Alex made with clementines, blueberries and bananas (and ate one). 
  10. Gathered compost.
  11. Hugged kids.
  12. Blogged 10 Ways to Make Today Magical.
  13. Taught Jack how to add and subtract fractions.
  14. Browsed Pinterest and pinned some of my articles to various boards.
  15. Went to the grocery store to pick up four dozen cartons of local farm eggs.
  16. Made corned beef hash and eggs for Daryl, myself and the boys.  We are a mostly vegetarian family (Anna is always vegetarian).  Mostly does not include hash in the case of most of us.
  17. Did four loads of laundry.
  18. Turned off the TV and told the boys to do something educational.
  19. Answered questions on email lists about surveys for money, homeschooling high school and various other topics.
  20. Posted about a friend’s missing dog on Facebook.  Also shared a meme about having an awesome husband, a missing teen notice, an article about organic gardening and probably at least one cartoon about wine.
  21. Answered questions about multiplication, money, spelling, erosion and spiritual beliefs.
  22. Set Fiona up with a bunch of boxes and cupboard items she could stack and play with rather than the jars of lentils she was trying to stack.
  23. Went to the post office.
  24. Played with our new foam clock to work on telling time with Alex.
  25. Helped Fiona draw with markers.
  26. Cleaned markers off of Fiona’s hands, arms and face.
  27. Sent a message to Victoria telling her about homeschool days at an indoor climbing place in the Cities tomorrow.
  28. Followed through to be sure that my four winners for my NuNaturals giveaway would be getting their goodies this week.
  29. Talked to Daryl while snuggling Fiona.
  30. Folded laundry.
  31. Called out words for Jack to spell while I folded laundry.
  32. Trimmed Daryl’s surgical tape.
  33. Nursed Fiona.
  34. Caught up with Anna, who was up late helping Daryl out and sleeps late right now to balance out the night shift.
  35. Fixed the couch and cushions after Alex made pillow forts.
  36. Had Alex fix the couch and cushions after Alex made pillow forts (it should be noted that this could count as ten entries throughout the day).
  37. Sent Jack outside with Layla and a ham bone I picked up for her at the grocery store.  Got a very happy dog.
  38. Checked my Examiner earnings, pinned and shared articles in columns that were low earners yesterday.
  39. Read anti-HSLDA sites, the NYT article about the baby who was allegedly cured of HIV, a blog by a mom with stage IV breast cancer, federal financial aid information and learned various other topics.
  40. Sent ice packs, mail, seconds of meals, ice cream and assorted other necessities with various children up to Daryl.
  41. Pawned Fiona off on various family members to watch.
  42. Looked for colored tissue paper and baggie of tiny pretties (dyed feathers, metallic shapes, etc.) to do a contact paper craft with Alex.  Couldn’t find them, got out oil pastels instead.
  43. Did altered book pages with Alex and Fiona.  
  44. Changed Fiona into a new outfit that wasn’t covered in marker and banana.
  45. Doled out vitamins and supplements.
  46. Treated and bandaged a wound on Alex’s foot.
  47. Taught Jack the nines finger trick for figuring out multiples of nines.
  48. Dropped off folded laundry in Victoria’s room, chased the giant dog off of her bed.
  49. Rescued various items from the trash and recycling bins (courtesy of a one year-old girl who likes to toss things).
  50. Talked to Anna about country music lyrics, scrapbooking, Westboro Baptist Church, friends, childhood memories and so on.
  51. Gave various assignments to Anna (do Khan Academy, gather dirty laundry from her room and bring it to the basement, help with Fiona…).
  52. Posted a picture of Jack’s awesome philosophical drawing on Facebook via Instagram.  It’s called “The Spirit of Peace.” He said “It’s fire and water coming together to form life and peace because life is not possible without harmony.” Deep, huh? ;) He even made up a song to go with it. 
  53. Responded to an email asking me to review KIND snack products.
  54. Showed Jack and Alex how to use my exercise band and helped them do lifts and stretches with it.
  55. Gave Anna a fancy new box for her new scrapbooking hobby, letter stickers and some colorful cardstock pieces.
  56. Listed the A-C bulk spice list on the Plum Creek Food Co-op’s Facebook page.
  57. Read books to Alex and Fiona.
  58. Talked about reasons for poverty and world hunger with Alex as Jack was doing Free Rice to earn rice to donate to the hungry.
  59. Helped Jack with vocabulary and multiplication on Free Rice.
  60. Tidied the living room.
  61. Made supper (stir fried veggies with rice, crazy fattening mini sweet pepper poppers).
  62. Ate way too many poppers.  And stir fry, but mostly poppers.
  63. Settled squabbles.
  64. Drank a very nice, very large glass of wine.
  65. Watched Bones with the kids.
  66. Ate chocolate.
  67. Talked to Jack about his moral dilemma of wanting to donate all of his savings in the bank (nearly $100) to feed the hungry, but he also had been saving up for things he really wanted.  He finally decided it was okay to keep his money but he’d set a personal goal of donating 1,000 grains of rice per day to help make a difference.
  68. Replied to comments and questions that had come in on Facebook.
  69. Snuggled with Alex on the couch.
  70. Got Fiona to sleep.
  71. Got Fiona to sleep again.  And again.  And so forth.
  72. Checked D’s incision.
  73. Started cleaning the table, had Jack take over.
  74. Set up two experiments on the Electronic Playground with Jack, as promised all day (morse code and blinking LED lights). 
  75. Put together the first half of my (way too large) order from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.
  76. Gave kids rock candy swizzle sticks for a special treat for dessert (ingredient: sugar, note: make these for science class).
  77. Unpacked new mini donut maker, looked for Gluten Free on a Shoestring Quick and Easy cookbook that had the GF mini donut recipe that spurned the impulse buy.  No luck.
  78. Loved on the dog.
  79. Helped Alex and Jack pick out their classes for the upcoming science conference.
  80. Emailed Victoria.
  81. Talked to Anna about her new goal to write a musical about her life.
  82. Loved on the cat.
  83. Officially applied for a PIN from the federal government for financial aid forms once the kids are ready to start applying to colleges.
  84. Fixed my necklace after Fiona broke it.  Twice.
  85. Debated about ordering stir fry rice noodles, sorgum flour, organic (non-GMO) corn starch,  organic GF corn flakes,  tapioca flour and potato starch straight up or through Subscribe and Save on Amazon.com.  Dilemma — if you order five or more items that will be delivered at the same time, you get 15% off now (and only 5% off through subscribe and save) and it’s a better deal on gluten free items I use a lot.  On the other hand, it stings to drop that kind of money on bulk flours and such. Hemmed and hawed and left it all to think about tomorrow.
  86. Watched MythBusters on Netflix with Jack and Alex.
  87. Snuggled with Alex until he fell asleep.
  88. Planned my garden out on paper.
  89. Planned our menus for the week.
  90. Ate more chocolate.
  91. Made sure kids did nightly chores (take dog out, put leftovers away, etc.).
  92. Got out frozen pumpkin to thaw in the fridge for GF mix and match quick bread tomorrow.
  93. Shared chocolate with hubby.
  94. Gave Anna the new Discover Magazine and asked her to read it and talk to me tomorrow about some of the stories she found most interesting.
  95. Swept cobwebs from the ceilings upstairs.  Note:  Especially cold winters really do seem to mean many more spiders!  Good grief.  Every two weeks we seem ready for haunted house status.
  96. Helped Anna find chocolate chips to make trail mix (raw almonds, cranberries, dark chocolate chips) for a midnight snack.  Yes, there is a chocolate theme at our house.
  97. Posted a couple of nifties to the Magical Homeschool page on Facebook.
  98. Watched CNN.
  99. Logged this.  ;)

There were a lot of things that I didn’t do that I usually do.  I didn’t bake anything, didn’t get any of the littles into real baths, didn’t have long talks with Toria, didn’t do much one-on-one with Anna or homeschool with Alex, didn’t write any articles… I didn’t even do the dishes.

I can’t imagine why I don’t get more done…

It was fun to log, though, and I highly recommend it for those days when you’re sure you never get anything accomplished!

PS  This post contains affiliate links.  If you buy anything at Amazon after clicking through here, I’ll make a small fortune.  Okay, a really, really small fortune, but it’s something and you should know that.

 

Filed Under: Daily log

10 Fun Ways We’ve Learned and Played Lately

February 26, 2013 By Alicia

Fiona wearing Anna's glasses, photo by Toria Bayer

We’re plugging on here. It’s been 3 1/2 weeks now since Daryl’s hip replacement surgery and he’s still on bedrest.  He’s recovering well, all things considered.  I keep saying that if you have to be stuck inside for six weeks in Minnesota, you might as well do it in February when there’s not much to miss!

We’ve fought our way back from several colds, flus, mastitis, sinus infections and other maladies.  We’re all hanging on, though.

Here’s a bit of what we’ve been up to here…

1.  Jack and I played Roll 100, a dice addition/multiplication game I picked up at the MHA conference vendor area one year.

2.  Toria and Anna have been doing Khan Academy for math.

3.  Jack and Alex had a playdate with friends. This was the second Saturday in a row that Alex got to go to his HSing buddy Alex’s house for the day, and Jack’s first time joining them to hang out with Alex’s older brother Zach.  The boys had a fabulous time and we’re on for next Saturday too.

4.  Toria and Jack completed the Dragon Box algebra game. It’s a paid app available on apple and android devices and is very clever.  I downloaded it for my Google Nexus and I think it cost $6.  Both kids got through all of the levels in a day (by choice!).  It allows for four individual accounts and is fun enough that Daryl even did the levels for fun.  Recommended.

5.  Toria has been going down educational rabbit holes. I always smile to hear the latest things she’s educated herself about.  Some of the topics this week include ghettos, maps, psychology, the U.S. budget for military spending and NASA, and crime, just to name the few that I can remember.

She has also signed up for a psychology class through Coursera that starts in May.

6.  I’ve been experimenting like mad with GF baking. I’ve made three cakes and one batch of muffins this week!  The muffins (blueberry-cranberry with fresh lemon glaze) were especially fabulous.

7.  We’ve started a presidents project. I printed out small pictures of all of the presidents and bought some large index cards, and we’re pasting them to the cards with a few important events and facts on each card.  Once they’re complete, we’ll tape them in order along the wall next to the ceiling as a temporary timeline.

I’ll post links and pictures once it’s finished.

8.  I’ve been reading Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths as a read-aloud to Anna, Jack and Alex. We are enjoying the book but Anna (quite an expert on Greek mythology) keeps interrupting to complain that the stories are “wrong” compared to the stories she knows from her other sources.  It’s led to many talks about various interpretations of the myths.

I think the book is fairly well written but the teacher’s kid in me cannot get over the many sentences that start with conjunctions in some of the stories.  About every other sentence in some places starts with “And” or “But.”  I have no problem with breaking this picky grammar rule once in a while in conversation, blogging or occasional writing, but it annoys me to see it used really excessively, the way it is in some of the stories.

Also, some of the stories have incomplete sentences such as:

For they were joyous scenes.

Again, I can get on board with occasional bad grammar for the sake of good writing, but I dislike masses of it when the author seems to simply not know the rules.

Yes, I’m one of those.  ;)

That said, the author was apparently one of the most highly regarded on mythology, and did just fine with his writing as far as the rest of the world was concerned.  According to Wikipedia:

Bernard Evslin (1922-1993) was an American author best known for his adaptations of Greek mythology. With over seventy titles, which include both novel-length retellings and short stories, Evslin is one of the most widely published authors of classical mythology in the world. His best-known work is Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths, which has sold more than ten million copies worldwide and has been translated into ten different languages. An estimated 30 million students have come into contact with Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths due to its repeated use in high school and college classrooms over the years. This bestselling anthology includes such well-known stories as “Theseus and the Minotaur” and “Perseus and Medusa.” He also published non-Hellenic titles such as The Green Hero, based on the Irish mythological character Finn McCool.

Evslin won many awards for his writing, including the National Education Association Award in 1961, National Education Award nomination in 1975, best television documentary on an Educational Theme Award, Washington Irving Children’s Book Choice Award, and Westchester Library Association Award.

So that shows what I know.  ;)

On the plus side, we are enjoying how many gods, goddesses, demi gods, nature myths, fables and such are in the book.  I like that they are short enough to keep the kids’ interest and they do a good job of succinctly telling each story.

I have been reading a few at a time, while giving the kids colored pencils and paper to illustrate the stories (however they like) as they listen.  I find this is a good way to keep their hands happy so they can concentrate.

(Note:  I got a review copy for my Kindle via Net Galley.)

9.  Jack has been inventing and creating. He’s been using recycling to make robot arms, throwing stars, rocket shoes and more for Alex and others.  He also came up with the idea for a moveable tail.  He planned to string tin cans end to end with a string through them, with the end attached to Alex’s shoe, so when Alex moved his foot it would pull the tension in the tail.  Alas, the bottoms of all of our cans are rounded and he has to come up with a new prototype.

Look at this robot he made for Alex for Christmas.  I think he rocks at recycled creations!  :)

10. The kids have been… blogging, reading, watching MythBusters, writing songs, writing novels, drawing, painting, doing ATCs (Artist Trading Cards), talking to friends on the phone, cooking, playing in the snow, doing chores, watching shows on Netflix, emailing, helping care for D during his recovery (Anna is quite helpful for the night shift so I can sleep!), shopping, beading, playing with Legos, using blocks, doing copywork, playing educational iPod games, taking pictures, chatting online, running errands, playing physics games online, making up jokes, doing Suduko puzzles, watching Crash Courses on history and science, organizing their rooms, redecorating, and so forth.

On the agenda this week: The Bill of Rights, more myths, some lapbooks, more math, lots more crafts, lots more reading aloud, cooking with one kid each day, handwriting with the boys, starting a poetry unit with everybody, signing the kids up for the writers’ conference, and doing at least 5 things I have pinned on my educational Pinterest boards.

Wish me luck!

 

Filed Under: Daily log, Goals, pictures

We Are Not That Kind of Homeschooling Family

January 28, 2013 By Alicia
The “typical day” we decided to go start fires for homeschool :)

Every time I read one of those “a day in our life as homeschoolers” posts, I feel as if I’ve accidentally wandered into another dimension. We have about as much in common with your standard homeschooling blogger family as we do with French royalty, American gypsies or hermit crabs.

We don’t have a typical day.  The way our homeschool looks varies so wildly from season to season, month to month, crisis to crisis, joy to joy.

In the 10 years or so that we’ve been officially homeschooling…

We’ve homeschooled through trips to Florida, Maine, California, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, North Carolina — and probably 20 or more trips to play with the Bakers in Nebraska and a hundred day trips to South Dakota.

We’ve homeschooled through six family surgeries, Victoria’s cancer and three new babies.

I’ve homeschooled through daily migraines with auras, high risk pregnancies, mono, physical therapy for my chronic neck pain, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that was so bad I spent months on the couch piled high with my kids and dozens of library books to keep them occupied.

Daryl has homeschooled through “end stage osteoarthritis” in his knee, elbow and ankle especially, and a completely destroyed hip socket.

We’ve homeschooled through 8 years of the Wilder Pageant taking up most of the months of June and July, along with various other plays and performances.  (In that time, Victoria and Anna  have been seen by roughly 80,000 audience members!)

We’ve homeschooled through the deaths of good friends, beloved pets and loved ones.

We’ve homeschooled through the Feingold Program, a GF/DF diet and various kids going vegan, vegetarian and raw (plus several years of me cooking a vegan diet to cure my CFS).

We’ve homeschooled through our own bouts with depression, angst, anxiety, phobias and personal crises.

We’ve homeschooled through Civil War Days, History Fest, Pioneer Village, The Betsy Tacy Society, the Petroglyphs, telegraphs, old time gamblers, the Ingalls Family and Walnut Grove, old time musical instruments, old time games, the atlatl, flintknapping, winter counts, prairie life, Dakota life, flim flams and Civil War balls.

We’ve homeschooled through raising dozens of monarch butterflies, taking part in real archeological digs, watching kittens being born, dissecting owl pellets, taking part in survival camp, experimenting at the kitchen table and using science conferences, CSI workshops, nature walks, memberships to zoos and science museums, Netflix shows, iPod apps, board games, ant farms and close encounters with all different wildlife.

We’ve homeschooled through fixations with lapbooks, altered books, the Civil War, photography, artist trading cards, Harry Potter, Tokio Hotel, the Gold Rush, Twilight, Pokemon, Legos, fairies, endangered animals, Mario, Taylor Swift, Germany, Hannah Montana, Van Gogh, tigers, the 39 Clues, trains, social justice, abandoned houses, Minecraft, Homestuck, Sadie Rose, crime shows, screenwriting, astrophysics, ghost hunting and anything medical.

We’ve homeschooled through potty training, first periods, lost friendships, crushes and the tween/teen years (if you haven’t yet entered the middle school and teen years as a parent, you may not be aware of what an accomplishment it is to survive those years intact).

We’ve homeschooled through financial crises, personal crises and general malaise.

And at every turn, our homeschooling was different.

The only things that are consistent in our homeschool are:

  • Our house is almost always messy, and all of us (except Daryl) are generally behind in chores.
  • Our house is almost always noisy.  You will hear talking, hooting, laughing, barking, bickering and far too much TV.
  • We are generally together.  The kids congregate wherever we are, no matter how much they say they’re annoyed by noise and each other.  ;)
  • We talk all the time.  It is the biggest way we homeschool, by sharing interesting information (the kids too) with each other.
  • Our house is cluttered.  We collect everything from books to bones to crystals.  We have all kinds of science gadgets, strange musical instruments, fossils, art supplies, electronic toys, materials for projects and assorted nifties.
  • We love to read.  We have more bookcases than I can count, including a floor to ceiling bookcase wall on our front porch, and we still don’t have room for all of our books.  We are always reading — library books, Kindle books, antique books, Calvin and Hobbes books, psychology textbooks, gluten free cookbooks, giant astronomy books, you name it.
  • We love to learn, and to share what we learn with each other.
  • We love adventure.  We seek out travels and new things to try, whether it’s archery or a camp across the country.
  • We love to homeschool — however we happen to do it that day.

Last weekend, we were homeschooling at Tiffany’s in Nebraska again.  That involved learning to knit, making new friends (and finally meeting a lovely HS family I’ve known online for years!), photography at the lake, talking about England, Wii games, reading about Einstein and sampling chocolate, among other things!

We got home yesterday.

Today, we rest.  Okay, sort of.  Daryl, Victoria and Fiona have made a run to Windom for some groceries for the next couple of days.  The boys are watching Cyber Chase on Netflix, Anna is writing a book, and I’m trying to catch up on writing and cleaning (but instead am blogging!).

It should be noted that I am still in my pajamas.  And I’m okay with that.  :)

Tomorrow, Alex has an appointment in Sioux Falls for a recheck from his surgery. We’ll probably stop by the zoo or the science museum while we’re in town.

The next day, we leave for Rochester, where we’ll be in a hotel extended stay suite next to the Mayo while Daryl gets a new hip.  It will be me, five kids, and a dog.

Victoria will be accompanying her dad for his day of tests and classes beforehand, and then we will all visit him when we can until he’s released on Sunday.

That should be quite an adventure.

I have a mental list of all sorts of things I want to accomplish today, on the homeschool front, the cleaning front and the work/personal front.  I won’t get to half of it and I’ll still be behind in everything, and I’ll go to bed with a sore neck and a pile of kids surrounding us still wanting to yap and hang out with us.

And it’s the perfect homeschool day to me.  :)

 

Filed Under: Daily log, Full Disclosure, personal

Checking In and Catching Up

January 17, 2013 By Alicia

What a long couple of weeks it has been.

Alex had surgery (adenoids and tonsils removed) with a difficult and painful recovery that’s still ongoing, Daryl saw doctors at the Mayo and scheduled surgery to replace his hip, I had a birthday that we celebrated out of town, and a long-time online homeschooling friend (a beloved mother of six) died in a heartbreaking accident.

I have been too busy, absent, grieving, sleep-deprived and overwhelmed to do much in the way of writing of any sort.

But we are slowly inching back towards normalcy (if that word could ever be used in our family).  I feel that’s important.

We’ve managed a bit of homeschooling and fun despite all the pain, busyness and tragedy.

We watched a bunch of the fabulous history lovers videos and learned about the French Revolution, Henry VII’s wives (Anna’s favorite video — warning:  Henry, Henry, Henry will be stuck in your head FOREVER), gladiators, the Renaissance, Chinese Dynasties and such.

I had Jack do lots of copywork of his name, address, phone number and state, so he can write all that really well and practice his (just a little bit dreadful) handwriting.

Alex did Dreambox, which he loves, with his dad.

Anna is back to work on a previous novel.  She’s also working on a top-secret project which I can’t post about here in case someone reads it.  ;)

I’ve been writing out math and doing it side by side with Jack.

I found an addition practice test my grandmother sent last night and went over it with Alex just for fun. He knew most of them and pretty quickly figured out most of the harder ones.  Clever little guy!

I’ve been researching Vedic math.  Fascinating stuff.  Expect a blog post or article about that soon, as I consider it a really brilliant way to teach math, kind of like short division.

I gave Victoria free reign over a bunch of my mother’s old books.  She was a prison psychologist and for a while she was also a college psychology professor, so she had some great textbooks.  Toria especially got into the one about psychological tests, and we all talked about what we saw in my mom’s Rorchacht cards when some friends were over last week.

Jack and I have been playing Elementeo, which he loves.  Alex always wants to play too and while it’s supposed to be for older kids he can play pretty easily at 5, too.  I am so impressed with that game!

We’ve been doing a fun simple fun things like colored shaving cream play.

Victoria went with her dad to the Mayo and learned a lot there, plus texted me updates and pictures of his x-rays and such throughout the day to keep me updated back at the hotel with the kids.

Quiz:  Can you find the bad knee?

The kids swam and played at the hotel.

And we stopped in at Grandma and Grandpa’s house on the way.

Victoria even got an awesome trench coat from her great grandmother.

We’ve also been reading books, talking, cooking, playing and all the usual mayhem.

Daryl is scheduled for hip replacement surgery on February 1st.  That should be quite an adventure for all of us.

But it’ll work out.  Despite all the pain and the sorrows and the chaos, I still know that life really is magical and we’re all so lucky. I’ll enjoy every minute that I get on this lovely planet, and every minute I get with these wonderful children and the incredible man I married and all of the fabulous friends I’m fortunate to have in my life (online and off) and fortunate to have known.

And now, I promised to play Elementeo with a certain nine year-old…

 

Filed Under: Daily log

So Busy!

November 26, 2012 By Alicia

I am so busy right now! Right now, a bit of what’s going on is…

  1. I am writing a novel for NaNoWriMo.  It’s about a crazy family of 7 who homeschools!  ;)   My current word count is about 32,000 words (I need 50,000 to finish and there are only 5 days left!).  Eek!
  2. Daryl has a play that he wrote being performed in two cities.  The first is this Saturday.  It’s a short Christmas play with a surprise funny ending.  He and I are going to see it on Saturday.
  3. Jack has been doing oodles of science tinkering with the odds and ends we got him from American Science and Surplus.  Anna had fun with it too.
  4. Daryl took all the kids (plus an extra) to the merchant movie last Saturday.  Local businesses pay for area children to see a children’s movie for free each weekend during December.  While they’re there, parents are invited to shop downtown at the stores!  So brilliant and so great, huh?  :)
  5. I’ve been very busy with THIS BABY.  Look at that face?  I love this little bug… 

Oh yes, and we all learned about Buddhism at our UU church yesterday and had a vegan feast, and we’ve been playing with friends, and Victoria has introduced us to the British series “Sherlock” (so good!) and we’ve been baking and making messes and all the usual trouble!  :)

Filed Under: Daily log

10 Ways We’ve Learned and Played Lately

November 20, 2012 By Alicia

I’m still trying to get into a new rhythm when it comes to keeping up with everything, but I thought I’d pop in and do a quick 10 thing post.  No pictures, or I’d never get it done.  ;)

Here’s a bit of what we’ve been up to…

  1. Victoria finished Animal Farm from her 9th grade reading list. She did not really like it, and especially did not like the pigs.  (I think this is the first book from her list that she didn’t actually enjoy, which I think is great.)  She asked me all sorts of questions about Stalin and communism, since she read that the pigs were supposed to represent Stalin.  I had to read Animal Farm in school but nobody ever taught me a thing about Stalin, so I had to refer her to her father and a google search.  I now know lots more about Stalin than I ever did.  I love how I learn so much because my kids homeschool.  ;)
  2. I ordered a bunch of odds and ends from American Science and Surplus for Jack to tinker with, such alligator clips and tiny motors. He had a blast creating all sorts of electrical experiments with his dad’s supervision and assistance.
  3. Alex has been playing on Dreambox. We bought an inexpensive membership a few months ago for both of the boys and Alex really likes it.  Daryl does it with him and feels that he may have run out of things to do at his level, though.
  4. Anna has been learning history through the History Lovers for You-Tube channel. She came in the other day and started rattling off facts about King Henry VIII.  I asked where she learned it all and she said “History Lovers! I love their videos!”.  I call that a win.
  5. We started fires. Yep!  I told all the kids that we were going on an adventure yesterday and to dress for hiking.  Anna swore up and down that she didn’t want an adventure and I finally told her she could just stay home then and we took the other four kids.  We drove to a nearby park with a creek and campground and I told the kids they got to start their own campfires.  Well, Jack and Victoria, anyway.  Alex will be able to once he’s a little bit better at following safety rules.  We set them both up at fire pits and we assisted as little or as much as they wanted.  It was awesome.  They loved it.  They learned quite a lot about how to properly start a fire and what fire needs, plus how to keep it going.  We ended up having a ton more fun with all sorts of other activities and adventures too.
  6. Anna is doing chemistry with a friend. We’re into our third week of Friendly Chemistry.  We meet once a week and do the games and activities, plus read over the chapter together.  It’s going pretty well.
  7. The kids are entering the Neuroscience for Kids drawing contest. Okay, technically this isn’t something we’ve done lately because we haven’t done it yet, but it’s on the agenda for this week and if I blog it I’m more likely to remember.  ;)
  8. Alex did baking soda and vinegar experiments with a friend. He gets to do easy science experiments with his friend while Anna and her friend do chemistry.  He loves it.  This week it’s painted soap clouds.  (Okay, one picture, since I just linked to the post!) 
  9. Jack has been making LEGO stop action movies. He made a nearly 100 frame movie of a space battle scene he wrote and then he took each picture on his camera and moved the pieces for the next shot.
  10. Jack, Anna and a friend are on the set crew for Daryl’s Christmas play. They go with him every Saturday to Pioneer Village to set everything up, help paint, etc.

The weather has been fabulous, so the boys have been spending lots of time outside.  The kids have all been reading magazines, reading books, watching educational shows, playing computer games, playing educational apps, cooking, playing games, etc. as usual too.

It should also be noted that at 13+ months, Fiona is still not walking.  Silly little girl.  She prefers to scoot at 180 mph instead.

Filed Under: Daily log

10 Things….

September 4, 2012 By Alicia

Photo of Fiona by Annalee Bayer

Super fast, here’s 10 things we’ve been up to…

  1. Jack took his CAT online today. All in all, he did fantastic.  He could use work on spelling and language mechanics (I think this is knowing what an adverb is).  He was especially awesome in Reading Comprehension, Mathematics Concepts & Problems, and Language Usage & Structure.  The online version only tests 9 math and language arts subjects and not science and social studies, which I know are strong subjects for him too.
  2. Anna took the pictures that a local theater production will be using for their posters and their Facebook promotions about an upcoming play. She’s quite stoked!
  3. Victoria is finally home from her adventure in the Twin Cities with friends. She had a fantastic time and made a bunch of new friends in addition to the ones she was visiting.  A certain song about keeping them down on the farm keeps coming to mind.
  4. We all went to the Renaissance Festival last weekend. It was pretty fabulous.  Now we need to find a talent to share there so we can take part and get in free….  ;)   
  5. Fiona is being especially darling lately. She loves to mimic Victoria sticking her tongue out, clapping hands, etc. and also loves physical humor.  The kids bash themselves on the head and say “ow!” again and again while she giggles like crazy.  She is also standing, crawling 50 mph, saying a few words and trying like crazy to walk.  Tooth #4 has emerged.  She can slow down with this growing up business.                         
  6. I’ve started reading “America:  The Story of Us” as a family read-aloud for American History. It was free on the Kindle today (if you’re subscribed to my homeschooling column you knew that!) so I downloaded it and am quite pleased so far.  We have the textbook but I really like being able to just carry it around on my Nexus.
  7. We’ve started a new tradition of hiking every Monday. I’m hoping we’ll wander through a different area each week, including woods, parks, fields, wetlands, etc.  Yesterday we went to Pat’s Grove, a wonderful out-of-the-way park with woods, a river, an abandoned stone house and lots of great stuff to find.  The kids found several small skulls and most of an entire deer skeleton, and brought it home to reassemble.  Homeschoolers.  ;)   
  8. I’ve started a new personal challenge of posting one magical moment each day on Instagram. It’s a fun way for me to keep myself on my toes as a mama.  The goal is to just take one photo of any of us doing something magical each day and post it.   (This is me visiting my dream house in New Ulm… it has a library, and a bannister to slide down and room for all of us and history…. swoon.  Oh how I wish I had an extra $200k!)                                              
  9. I’m going to see if the kids want to try to earn Mensa t-shirts for reading these book lists.  I think it sounds like such a fun challenge!
  10. We’re off to Ohio at the end of the week to see my grandmother and visit with my dad’s side of the family.  My mother hid me from him until after his death and I only found his family a little over 10 years ago, and we’ve only visited once.  I want my kids to know them (and I want to!) and I also want them to know my grandmother before it’s too late.  We’re leaving Saturday or Sunday and will be gone about a week.  We’re taking 5 kids and a big dog in a van for a 17 hour drive.  Pray for us.  ;)

And with that, I’m off to organize a substitute magical moment, as plans for playing with fireworks when D got home from play practice were dashed by a sudden thunderstorm.

Talk to you soon!

 

 

Filed Under: Daily log, magical moments, pictures
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