Saturday, September 25, 2004
Thr trip to Austin on Thursday was fantastic! My mom was down in Austin babysitting a 6 month old girl, Sarah, who
she watches quite often in Wichita Falls. The baby's mom was at an education conference so my mom went along as a "nanny"
so Sarah and Grace, the mother, wouldn't have to be apart. Anyway, KJ and I picked up my mom and Sarah from
the hotel and then headed over to
Book People. I got to carry Sarah around the store and she picked out several things she liked. ;-) She is SUCH a sweetie!
(I really need a baby around here to borrow more often.) Then we went next door to
Whole Foods for KJ's spelt tortillas, but they were out. :-( We were trying to find a certain restaurant, but couldn't, so
we ate lunch at
Opal Divine's Freehouse. It was totally unhealthy, but delicious! After dropping my mom and Sarah back at the
Doubletree, KJ and I went on to the
Bob Bullock Texas History Museum. I think KJ's favorite parts were the "Star of Destiny" movie in the Texas Theater and the IMAX movie, "Bugs."
He liked the exhibits also, but not as much as the shows. We left Austin about 5:00 and got back to Waco about 7:00.
(heavy traffic in Austin) I've uploaded a few more pictures. You can either click on "More Pictures" at the top
of the page or click
here.
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
learning vs. bookwork
As most of you who educate classically know, there is quite a bit of "bookwork," especially once you get to the
logic and rhetoric stages. Sunday evening when I was planning out this week's work, I was concerned, because we had
several activities away from home. Due to time constraints, I simply could not plan for the usual amount of work.
On Monday, we had the hike I mentioned a couple of days ago. KJ learned about native plants, erosion, and some
geology. On Tuesday, he worked his tail off at the Community Garden and also learned about composting. Today,
he had a class at the zoo, "Wild About Texas" where he learned about and got to touch native Texas animals. Tomorrow,
we are driving to Austin to see my mother who is down visiing and go to the
Bob Bullock Museum to learn about Texas History. (Yes, I realize that we are studying the Medieval and Renaissance periods.) Anyway,
we did squeeze in some Math, Typing, Literature, Logic, and History, but KJ learned more from the field trips than I
ever anticipated. Gosh, I sound like an unschooler...perish the thought. (Just kidding to you unschoolers out
there.)
7:54 am cdt
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
Oops
I forgot to publish yesterday's blog.
Monday, September 20, 2004
comments on comments
Mom,
I'll try keeping a food diary and see if it helps.
Dy,
Thanks for the kind words. I'm in so few pictures, because I'm always the one taking the pictures.
:-)
Lisa,
Thanks for the encouragment. I don't think we've "met" before. Do you have a blog?
Cheryl,
The music history book is a workbook that I bought years ago. Let's see..it is called
Music A.D.
450-1995 by Mark Ammons. The cover also says "Interdisciplinary Units, Time Line, Historical Overviews, Biographical
Sketches, Develops Higher-level Thinking and Research Skills, Multi-cultural, All Units Reproducible." It is supposed
to be for grades 5-8+, but I've had the most success with 7th and 8th grades. I used it with 5th some, but the reading
level was too hard for many of them. Anyway, KJ can read just fine so I thought I would pull it out and dust it off
for him. I plan to do one page (front and back) every other week and listen to that composer or style in between.
Here is a link to the book.
School went better today. Since the new motherboard and hard drive, KJ's computer is crashing left and right.
I had him do typing on my computer today and he loved the keyboard ($9.99 at Best Buy) so much that he was a typing fool.
We went on Park Ranger-led hike with some homeschool buddies through
Cameron Park this afternoon. The weather was absolutely beautiful!
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Wetlands - a whine
KJ and I went to volunteer at the
Lake Waco Wetlands on Saturday morning from 9:00 to noon. I knew that it would be wet and muddy, but I was soooo unprepared for the reality
of it all.
We arrived about 9:15am and went to join the group of "planters" rather than the "bench assemblers." The planting
group included me and KJ, a man and his high school senior daughter plus two of her friends, a freshman boy, 3 college girls,
and an Army Corps. of Engineers man and his wife. The first task was to pull up duck potato making sure
to get the roots since we would be replanting it elsewhere. The water was about knee deep and muddy, but the plant pulling
was pretty easy and went fairly quickly. We filled up several large tubs with the plants, loaded them on the trailer,
and headed to the replanting area. Meanwhile, I'm thinking to myself that this isn't too tough and that KJ and I should
come more often.
Then I saw where we would be planting...I could smell the nasty stagnant water before the trailer even stopped.
It smelled like raw sewage and was covered in a green film. Obviously this area needed some plants to filter out the
waste (the reason Waco has a wetland). In order to plant, we had to dig a hole in the muddy bottom, stick the plant
in, and tap the mud back into place. If you didn't do a good job, then the duck potato would float back up and
you started over again. After some trial and error, KJ and I worked out a system. He dug into the mud with a shovel,
leaned back to level the shovel out a bit, and then twisted it to make a hole. I slid the plant in under the shovel
bottom as he twisted and he would slide the shovel back out so I could pat the mud down around the plant. The water
was about knee to thigh deep so in order for me to plant without squatting down and getting my rear in the water, I had to
bend over at the waist which unfortunately, put my nose right above the smelly water. (and made my lower back extremely
sore) I forgot to mention that the muddy bottom in both places tended to try and suck the shoes right off our feet.
The replanting took much longer than the pulling up did, but our hard work looked good when we were finally finished.
I was really hoping that it was close to noon, but it was only 11:00 so we moved to another area to pull up cattails.
They are apparently very aggressive and will take over an area so these were just being pulled and tossed. This time
we were working in a channel of sorts and the water was close to waist deep. On the trailer ride over, I was thinking
that it should be easy since at least we weren't planting anything. We all happily hopped off the trailer and into the
water and started to pull up the cattails for about 10 seconds. Then we all noticed that the cattails were COVERED in
spiders. Once the horror of the situation wore off, we figured out that if we pushed the plants into the water with
our legs, most of the spiders would fall off and float downstream. These cattails were sticking out of the water about
3-4 feet so they weren't small plants and could hold a lot of spiders. I made sure that I was upstream so the spiders
would not be floating towards me. KJ cut himself on a cattail and stayed out of the water after that since I wasn't
sure what bacteria might be living in it. After that we washed the mud off, sat on towels in my car for the drive home,
and threw our clothes immediately into the washing machine. I had to wash them 4 times to get the stench out and I'm
not positive that they might not still stink if they get wet. Overall, I'm glad that we did our part to help clean up
the lake and we will probably return again, but we'll bring elbow length rubber gloves and wear clothes that can be burned
when we're through.
FYI:
On another note, we all went to my great-aunt's house for lunch today and had a wonderful visit and fantastic food!
Friday, September 17, 2004
Okay, I have had many bloggy-type thoughts over the past few weeks...now what were they? Here are a few, in no
particular order.
We're still having trouble getting all the school stuff done in a timely manner, but I think it has improved somewhat
from last week. I made the executive decision that Math must be done before lunch. KJ tends to always put it last
so if we run low on time, guess what gets pushed to the next day?
My 35th birthday was this past Wednesday and between that and my monthly hormone imbalance; I was in a major funk.
I am doing exactly what I want to be doing in life. I love being a wife/mother/home educator. I couldn't ask for
a better husband and son. Doesn't sound like I have much to be depressed about, but physically, I am SO not where I
thought I would be at 35. I'm fatter than I've ever been, my body seems to be falling apart, my hair looks terrible
no matter how I style it, and despite numerous facials, daily scrubbing, and sunscreen; my face is getting wrinkles (specifically
one right in the center of my forehead). *sigh* Gee, I just read that and I sound like some prima donna princess.
Really, I'm not. My main complaint is being overweight and just generally not feeling very well. I'm eating vegetarian,
watching my portion size and trying to walk at least once daily. The weight is just not budging.
On a positive note, I have all of my Christmas shopping for KJ done and plan to finish the shopping for everyone else
by mid-October. Can you tell that I really hate to shop during the rush?
Speaking of shopping, I met up with my Great-aunt Olene and her daughter-in-law, Heather last Saturday for a fun-filled
day of shop 'til you drop. It is so nice to have a "ladies day" every now and then. I actually didn't buy very
much at all since I didn't really
need anything. However, I did make an impulse buy of a
"Flip 'n' Flyer" for KJ since it was on sale for $5. He has played with the thing for hours and thanked me profusely so I
guess it was a good deal.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
I'm back but too sleepy to blog
Thank you to my darling husband for getting my new computer set up tonight. I'm can finally blog more regularly,
but unfortunately am just too tired to do so now. Catch you tomorrow...
Wednesday, September 8, 2004
Still sharing
I'm still sharing a computer with KJ which unfortunately limits my blogging time. The problem is that my "free
time" is the same time as his free time which quite often involves me doing something with KJ. If he wants to hang out
or play alone, it usually means that he is on the computer, and I tend to let him have the computer if he wants it.
I could get on after KJ is in bed, but the computer is in his room. I do sometimes get on in the morning before he wakes
up since if I do wake him, he needs to get up anyway.
We started back to school full-time yesterday and most things have been fine so far. KJ's attitude has been great!
I think that I may have to modify my schedule somewhat though. KJ always does his reading at bedtime, that is just when
he has always preferred to do it...until now. He threw a monkey wrench into my carefully prepared schedule by doing
his reading during the day. KJ gets a daily checklist of assignments and he chooses the order. Yesterday morning
as he was looking over the list, this was our conversation.
KJ - "I think I'll read first."
Me - "But you always read at bedtime."
KJ - "I know, but I want to read now."
Me - "If you wait until bedtime, you'll have more time during the day for your other work or to play."
KJ (picking up the book and heading to my bed where he likes to read) - "That's okay. I can read something else
at night or play with my action figures until I fall asleep."
Me (picturing my schedule flying right out the window) - "OK, let me know when you're done."
Later that evening at bedtime...
KJ - "I'm going to read the first four chapters of The Magicians Nephew since that is what I'm supposed to have
read for class on Friday."
Me - "Well, that is not on the reading schedule until Thursday, but OK."
At this point, KJ is looking at me like I'm insane and I realize how ridiculous I sound.
As David said, I need to relax.
We're already behind today, because Chemistry took longer than I thought, but I'm NOT going to freak out. Relax...relax...relax
Wednesday, September 1, 2004
Oops, I forgot
Joyce just reminded me that I forgot to post KJ's curriculum and schedule for the upcoming year. It looks more daunting than
it is. The time allotted for each subject is the MOST I think it should take. We may only need half the time
depending on the assignment except for Reading and KJ always reads at least an hour at bedtime. Also, KJ often reads
or does work in the car when we are traveling to and from places so that frees up some of his time at home. Since we
live out aways, pretty much every place is a 30 minute drive each way. Lastly, even though piano practice is scheduled
in, he usually does this on his own in the evenings.
Monday
- Math - 1 lesson from Horizon's Math 6 (45 min.)
- Logic - 1 lesson from Mindware's Perplexors A and later B (15 min.)
- Dictation (15 min.)
- Grammar - diagramming sentences (15 min.)
- Spelling - Spelling Bee list (30 min.) - Spelling will end after the Bee
- Typing - Mavis Beacon (15 min.)
- Music - piano lesson (30 min.)
- Latin - Henle Latin 1 (30 min.)
- Reading - at bedtime (1 hour)
Field Trip or Park Play with homeschool group (2 hours + 1 hour drive time)
Lunch (1 hour) - We usually watch PBS or and educational video over lunch.
Tuesday
- Chemistry - a new concept from Chemistry Concepts and Principles and an experiment from either "ChemLab
500," "Crash and Burn Chemistry Kit," or something I find on the internet. Fill in lab report form. (1 hour)
- Japanese - new lesson from "Rosetta Stone" (30 min.)
- Spelling - same as above (30 min.)
- Logic - same (15 min.)
- Grammar - same (15 min.)
- Community Garden (1 1/2 hour + 30 min. drive there)
- allergy shot (30 min. of just sitting there + 10 min. drive from gardening and 30 min.
home) I have been known to teach KJ at the allergist if we're running behind, but we usually just relax.
- Reading - same (1 hour)
Lunch - same (1 hour)
Practice piano (20 min.)
Wednesday
- Math - same (45 min.)
- History - new chapter from Story of the World 2, outline from a paragraph in that chapter, either
supplemental reading or something from the SOTW 2 Activity Guide (1 hour 15 min.)
- Geography - learn about some new countries from DK's Geography of the World, find them on the wall
map, label and color them in on the blank map (30 min.)
- Spelling - same (30 min.)
- Japanese - review the lesson done on Tues. (30 min.)
- Dictation (15 min.)
- Typing - same except longer time (30 min.)
- Reading - same (1 hour)
Lunch - same (1 hour)
Horse riding lesson - this is in the late afternoon and evening (4 hours)
Practice piano (20 min.)
Thursday ( a long day)
- Math - same (45 min.)
- History - read about this week's topic from The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, write a short paragraph
on the topic (1hour 15 min.)
- Geography - same (30 min.)
- Spelling - same (30 min.)
- Japanese - review the lesson again (30 min.)
- Creative Writing - Right Words (1 1/2 hours)
- Reading - same (1 hour)
Lunch - same (1 hour)
Friday
- "Science-Wise" - hands-on science at Co-op (1 hour)
- "Drawing A-Z" - art class at Co-op (1 hour)
- "Study Hall" - at Co-op; time for KJ to fill in the blanks on his lab report form from the earlier
class and read when done (1 hour)
- "Studying Literature With the Chronicles of Narnia"- Co-op class (1 hour)
- Music - at home, study a new composer every other week using "Music History AD 400-1995" We'll listen
to that composer over the next 2 weeks while we work. (30 min.)
Practice piano (20 min.)
Well, I think that's it. I use a checklist with KJ for his daily assignments and he takes breaks as
he needs them. I may have to do some switching around on some days, because sometimes our homeschool group is meeting
on Thursday afternoons instead of Monday.
