That One Kid

I just enrolled Matthew in public middle school part time. It will be his first time in a public school setting. He'll have to check into the office and out again. He'll also try the school lunch. He was only going to take Spanish, Industrial Tech, and Gym during that third period (rotating days) but the counsellor told me that it wasn't next to lunch (the only "class" he was REALLY interested in haha) so I signed him up for science and math too! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THAT'll show him! I told him it's not it's all cracked up to be, but he's a boy and might actually enjoy it...lunch, that is.

He and Wade were in the backseat the other day, talking about how he'll act at school, since he's the only one in that school who will have that weird schedule. I told him that he could invent an identity for every class. We came up with cool states he could possibly have come from or some kind of secret spy identity. I told them both about what the witness protection plan is all about and how he could say that "Matthew N." is just his cover name and his real name has to be kept a secret or some nefarious group would find him. I told him he could really achieve the status of "The Most Interesting Man in 8th Grade", if he played his cards right.

No matter what his secret identity story, or how shy he decides to act, I know he'll make a lot of new friends and the teachers will really enjoy teaching him. I've already got the office staff excited about a new student. I think that they are jazzed about proving to a home educated child that public school is not bad and can be a good thing (we already know that, but I'm okay with the teachers/staff going that extra mile to try to prove it heh heh heh!).

Matthew just turned 13 and though I've been trying not to highlight the older kids, out of respect for their privacy, I have to say how proud I am of the man he's becoming. He just finished firearm safety training and I watched to see how he responds to someone else teaching him. He sat at attention, took notes, followed along, all with a cool expression...as if he's been public schooled his whole life. He didn't offer any know-it-all answers (even though he DID know everything they were talking about), but I know he's taking it all in and he even studied when he came home.

I know that doesn't sound like any big deal, but since he mostly hangs around public schoolers, he's under the impression lately that he's a freakazoid because he homeschools and that homeschoolers are anti-social weirdos who regularly wear capes and pretend to joust well into their twenties.

I set him straight and show him how he knows all kinds of different weirdos from all walks of life, but then he points out to me how I'm married because I went to public school.

?

So, since I won't let him go ALL day and get institutionalized and zombiefied by "The Man", and since he wishes to experience life outside this pukey, poopy, chaotic, baby crying, "I can't concentrate when people make NOISE!", no I didn't yes you did no I didn't yes you did infinity...household, we compromised with this modified schedule for the school day. I think it's just perfect! Wouldn't you just LOVE to go to school at 10am and then head home after lunch around 1:30ish?

I don't usually like to predict what my children's vocations will be, but I can see that kid in the military. He is obedient, hard working, dedicated, strong, smart, handsome, and makes friends very easily.

He's also a total goofball with a smart-a sense of humor.
I think he was switched at birth with some other baby because no one else in this house is like THAT.

By the way, doesn't it bug you that NO spell checks recognize the word "homeschool"??? That's always kind of bothered me.

Way Out West

I've always said that if the kids wanted to go to college, they'd have to pay for it themselves. I don't believe that if WE paid for it (which we can't, anyway), they wouldn't truly appreciate their education and would slack off and probably drop out or take it for granted and screw around in school. I remember from my sisters' school years, how they would be so appalled by the classmates who had everything paid for and acted spoiled and rude.

Well, I'm going to try to get all of the children to do the post-secondary option and, at least, get their first two years under their belts for free. I hope that will help them decide what they "want to be when they grow up" and how much they are willing to sacrifice to achieve an education beyond homeschool/community college/tech school.

BUT, if I DID have the money, I would use it to send them HERE in a heartbeat! Father's description of the place makes me want to sign them all up!

3 in 1

Beach Party

I took Weazy, Bocker, and Mari to my friend, Megan's house for a "beach party" on Friday. I finally met Kelly (her sis in law who comments here quite a bit) in person and we had a fun time with the kids. It was a very nice way to beat the cold weather and a good time catching up with friends. The kitty in the pictures wasn't real but it looked SO real! The girls enjoyed the shells that Megan's daughter had strewn about (beach party!), and Bocker enjoyed the juice and hot dog lunch. I enjoyed the "Smog Story" poster that traced the lineage of the can't-be-defined-by-genre, TC city bands of the late eighties/early nineties.









Purse Post For Paula

Here I am on Friday night (after we got home from the party) taking a picture of myself in my lumpy hat. Full disclosure: I applied lipgloss that I had on the counter, before the picture. SO, I did "gussie up" a little but I've posted enough pictures of me with no makeup on my running blog, so I figured a little lipgloss was real enough for this post. I don't carry a purse unless we are in church and I remember that kids need distractions sometimes. I carry a wally world special purse (never pay more than 10 bucks EVER for a purse...FREE is even better)that has diapers, tissue, my wallet, fingernail clippers, my keys (on a curly wrist band thingy so I can slip them on my wrist and they don't get lost), some books, some toy cars, some crayons and a notebook (church distractions), a sippy cup or water bottle, misc. candy, a pen. Most of the time I just carry my wallet in my pocket (the ONLY good thing about winter and having to wear a coat all the time) and all of my misc. items. Here, I have Mari's pony scrunchy that she got tired of wearing, my keys, and I think there might be a coin or two under those. That coat I got a couple of years ago for free from one of Mom's friends that hands down stuff to us all of the time. Come to think of it, I think that wallet I have right now was a Mom hand-me-down too. I like free.



Craft/Game Closet

I am going to be babysitting some neighbor children starting in two weeks so I really want to pare down and get this house in order. The closets are out of control and the craft closet was starting to drive me bonkers. Nothing was organized and things started avalanching on us every time we opened it, so it's the first thing to get gutted. I took some pictures AFTER I started to clean it out and one after it was all cleaned and organized. It started with Weazy asking me if she could make a necklace with me for art class today. She found some old "make your own apron/smock" things I got for free from The Children's Place a long time ago, so she spread the things on the dining room floor and made some for her and Mari...who found the paint box and asked if she could paint "Sure, after I get the closet cleaned out!"...which inspired Trina to make popcorn that the kids were practicing tossing up and in their mouths but ended up all over the dining room floor...which I had to sweep about 10 times today after putting the closet back together...where I found the game "Perfection"...which I had to show Bocker who really wanted to learn how to play...which I did and he abandoned the Lite-Brite that he and the girls had found...which I had to find a new bulb for and get set up for them while cleaning the closet...you see where this is going?

Anyway, after all of that, and reassembling the closet, I was BUSHED! They painted pictures, did lite-brite, made the aprons, played Perfection, Analise even found an entire kit of scrapbooking and made a really cute scrapbook for herself (I'll show pics of that on the art blog later).

Then, at around 8:30pm she whines, "Mooooo-oooom, you said you would help me make a necklace!"

!

Oh My Gosh.


I can't win.











That scrapbooking page was one of TWO that represent some lame attempt I had at one time to start the lovely hobby of scrapbooking. I discovered blogging and scrapped the scrapbooking. I don't have the time, the energy, the money, the will, the space, or the organization to ever attempt scrabooking again so I am taking a picture of it and then I will probably junk that scrapbook page.

I tried to take a picture of the cute haircut I gave Mari the other day but the camera doesn't do it justice...oh, I ALSO trimmed Weazy's hair this morning.

I didn't have time for a run today. Hmmm, go figure.

Need Some Help Here

Mommy Catholic homeschool blogger alert:

I got this whole set of the Blest Are We series for grade school. It looks as if it has never been used. I sent Matty to CCD back when he was in his FHC year and it's the same series the parish has used in the past. I checked it out (perused, really...CORRECTION! I briefly leafed through it. Who knew "perused" meant that? Mah frens is so smurt.) and it looks pretty good except for some really stupid song choices (whatever) and some overly "nature-y" stuff (if ya know what I mean). Do any of you recommend I keep it or is it a good one to sell maybe (so I can buy some other good things for homeschooling)?

Let me know.

Thanks

Homeschool Conference and Stuff

I went to the event (at St. Thomas University in St. Paul, MN) and met some ladies at the "blogger's roundtable". It was nice but the best part was seeing Paula there. I love that girl (she's back there in front of the window).




I went by myself on Friday but didn't plan very well so I went again today at the very end with the girls and Tommy. I RAN to the Seton table and snatched up about 80% of the kids' school for next year (the rest they will send FREE SHIPPING in a little while). We also got 2 big, replica Daniel Boone rifles for the boys, some T-shirts for me and the two big girls, mantillas (Trina has been talking about getting some for a while so I finally gave in) for me and the big girls, some Geo-Deo games, some really cool, super powerful magnets, and an autographed copy of Catholics and the New Age by Fr. Mitch Pacwa (who was there and signed it for me and played with Tommy!). I missed his talks, but getting to chat with him and have him ogle Tommy was even better!

Mari was a big, stink butt while we were shopping there.


THEN, on our way home (actually while we were in the parking lot, ready to leave) Butch calls me and tells me that there is a HUGE hailstorm and tornado warning and we would be driving RIGHT TOWARD it if we headed home! I called my bro-in-law and he watched the radar and the map and got us ALMOST past the storm but it hit us right as we were in front of the KARE 11 studio in Golden Valley. The Perkin's flag was almost stick straight as the front slammed into us and we sped into the parking lot. I pulled onto the sidewalk about 3 feet away from the door and let Trina and Mari out first as the first hailstones started to wing into the back of the van. They got way too intense for me, Weazy, and Tommy so we had to wait about 5 minutes for a window of time to dart out of the van and into the restaurant. We decided to stay and eat because the hail lasted about 20 minutes! I finally got to go out to the van to move it and, as I parked, I saw this in the sky:


(See the KARE 11 sign across the street?)

I got more hail damage on my van. The rearveiw mirror is smashed and the hail knocked my blind spot mirror off!

We got home safely and the boys grilled some burgers on our new grill that we got from the neighbors (it was an extra one they didn't want anymore). We are probably going to have our parents over for grilling tomorrow.

I hope it doesn't hail again.

Mari Thinks...

...That Matthew is much too slow to finish his geography assignment...

...and that he has obviously forgotten that one of the most important aspects of the lovely state of Idaho is it's population of pink-headed face people...

...and that she has yet to hear a "thank you" for her time and effort in finishing it for him!

It's Maple Sugaring Time!

We went to the Eastman Nature Center today.

The kids learned all about Maple sap, how it gets processed, and what it's uses are. They got to try it on pancakes after the slide show, examination of artifacts, going outside to see some tapped trees, and a big cast iron pot boiling some sap. You can see by their faces that they had a GREAT time! They were all very well behaved and helpful toward each other. They also were very grateful for being able to go today. It looks cold in the pictures, but it was really very nice outside and they were out there for a long time identifying maple trees, checking sap buckets, and drilling and placing a tap. Tomorrow, we're going out to the woods near Mom and Dad's and we're going to use the tap that Matty bought at the center to try and get some sap from a maple tree. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Homeschooling rocks! I love days like this! Also, I told them they could have "off" of doing their workbooks, but they did most of their schoolwork anyway this morning because they like to have Friday's free to do what they want.

Niklaus is learning his numbers so he can play "Go Fish" more effectively. He absolutely HATES learning letters and numbers so this is a happy development for us! Also, Analise learned how to tie shoes and is doing fabulous at telling time on the clock.

I learned that if you have a baby in the Baby Bjorn in front, it's much easier on your back if you also have a toddler in the backpack at the same time. Otherwise, you end up slouching a lot. This worked today at the nature center (it probably looked really funny, but I got used to those looks when I had Mari and my sister's Polly in the same situation in D.C. last summer!). It's much easier to manage than a huge stroller that the kids don't like very much anyway. It's much more portable and it's a good abdominal workout to boot!

Back to the Grind

Well, we're back to doing the regular, boring stuff now that the holidays are over. Here is our first day back of schooling:

Of course, it didn't take long for our sophisticated endeavors to break down to a little more realistic level:


Such is life with lots of kids, not much dough, too cold to play outside days, and an almost two year old that associates pretty colors with "must be something to try and taste".

We're Creepy and We're Kooky

I just saw this at The Keeper Of the Monkey House's blog (private). I love it when people don't take themselves too seriously!
I looked all over to find out who these guys are. Does anyone know?
They are a HOOT!

Enjoy!

Principal's Office

Everyday Bullstuff

A few years ago, a neighbor of mine asked me a question. She was sending her kids to the local, parish school (the one I had attended, by the way) and was confused as to why they were starting to teach this thing called "Everyday Math". It was the first I'd heard of any such thing and decided to check it out. My neighbor was on the education advisory committee for the school at some point and tried to buck the system, but there was NO bucking the system. "When the kids go on to public school in the 7th grade (the parish school is only K-6) they will be learning with the public school children who learned "Everyday Math" so we might as well prepare them for THAT." was the standard line of reasoning she had been given.

Her son was having great trouble with this "new math" and had always excelled at math before. She asked me to take a look at the book and see if I could help him (and her) understand it a little better. Another neighbor (one of my best friends)'s child had recently enrolled in the local public schools and she, too was befuddled by this "new math" so I checked out HER book too.

(This, whole thing is pretty funny since I'm not exactly known for my wonderful math skills. I never learned properly myself (just wasn't that interested in math) and I totally regret that I didn't pay more attention to this day! I think they just wanted an "alternative schooler's" point of view or something like that.)

Even a dummy (in math) like me could see that this program was incredibly STUPID and a waste of time. I sat there absolutely STUNNED that someone would invent such a way to confuse children and NOT teach them the basic facts. The books were SO bad that I could only encourage the parents to fight it with all of their hearts and not give up. I told them to teach their children the way THEY were taught and maybe the kids would "go along to get along" but at least would learn the easier/more efficient/old-fashioned way and have a CHANCE of understanding how math really works in the end.

The whole experience made me REALLY happy that I decided to homeschool, but it made me extremely sad for the parents who don't really feel that they have that option and are forced to capitulate to the school's demands that their children receive a sub-standard education. If the parents went to the teachers (and they did) and demand to know why their child is learning this non-sense, or complain that they find it impossible to help their children with their homework...they were encouraged to "learn the new method themselves" and that was pretty much IT.

I'm all for adapting and learning new things, but RE-LEARNING something that you ALREADY KNOW one, really efficient way is like...

Let's say I am a hairdresser. I've been a hairdresser for 30 years and I'm really good at it. I have lots of repeat customers and new customers who LOVE me and my style. Now, the state recommends that I take a remedial course to learn basic, hairdressing skills in order to keep my license. "No big deal!" I say, figuring that I have the experience and knowledge to do quite well. "Oh, by the way..." says the state, "you'll have to learn the 'new hairdressing' wherein you actually do all of your haircuts with a manicuring scissors instead of a full-size one, you have to do buzz cuts with a nose-hair trimmer instead of that Wahl that you're used to, and you MUST use toothpicks instead of perm rods from now on!". "Gee, that's kinda stupid." I say. "WHAT?" says the state, "These, new methods work just FINE. We have been testing them and teaching them for over 4 months to the new hairdressers-in-training and we are finding that they work. If you rock the boat, or refuse to learn the new methods...well, I'm sorry, but you'll just have your license taken away. End of discussion."

Crazy analogy? Tell me what YOU think after viewing this video I just found on this post at Michelle Malkin:



I watched the WHOLE THING with my mouth on the floor.

There is hope. This is a portion from MM's post:

But don’t give up and don’t give in. While New York City remains wedded to “Everyday Math” (which became the mandated standard in 2003), the state of Texas just voted before Thanksgiving to drop the University of Chicago textbooks for third-graders. School board members lambasted the math program for failing to prepare students for college. It’s an important salvo in the math wars because Texas is one of the biggest markets for school textbooks. As Texas goes, so goes the nation.

God bless Texas!

Question # 463 For God When/If I Get To Heaven

What on Your green earth did you invent yellow jackets for?

They completely freak Analise out to the point that she becomes totally unhinged. Because she's more afraid of being left home alone, she moans and hollers, cries and howls for about HALF of the daily walk that we take when we have a break right before lunch. I surely can't WAIT until the first couple of freezes when we don't have to worry about these things anymore. She's become so jumpy, that if she even sees a friendly, little dragonfly, she makes this howl/scream noise that's enough to make me want to crawl out of my skin. I absolutely CANNOT reason with her (and they say that 7 is the "age of reason"...HA!), nor convince her in any way that it's safe to go outside and that even if one of those things bit or stung her, she would live. I have NEVER been stung by one of those things and I've been here a heck of a lot longer than her, but she's not buying it.

Okay, enough about that.

My wonderful mother-in-law called me the other day and said to me, "So, your oven's not working?". It seems she gets the latest messages from our local yahoo freerecycle group and saw my message that asked if anyone wanted to get rid of their toaster oven (until I figure out what to do with...well, you know). So, tonight I actually made COOKIES in the toaster oven she lovingly gave me to use and they were fabulous! I didn't have a teeny pan to put them on so I was talking to my cousin and she suggested I use aluminum foil (duh, I thought to myself, why didn't I think of that) so I could make more than one at a time (I couldn't find anything small enough except Analise's easy bake pan) It worked great! The only thing is, now I think it will take longer to figure out what to do about the oven situation. Oh well, I've bought a little more time!

School is going great! We are getting into a very good routine of keeping the little ones busy while the biggers are rolling along with their books and studies. Katrina really likes her new math program (I urge you to check it out! She really likes the explanations at the beginning of each lesson and we haven't even seen the cd-rom lessons yet because our cd-rom needs to be replaced) Matty's math won't be ready until this December so we are using his 4th grade MCP book that he never started last year because he had been a year behind in math anyway. He's really good at basic facts, but he lacks the patience for longer problems and word problems. Our doing the Mad Minute every morning is working wonders for their basic fact recall! Especially since we chart their progress every day and they can see how much better they do from day to day.

I give them a lot of credit for doing all of their work and not complaining much about the noise that Niklaus and Mari make (even though I TRY to keep them occupied). I joke with them that, "I'll bet your friends in school don't have the extra challenge of all of this NOISE while they're trying to do their school work!". Trina just laughs and puts Mari on her desk while Mari "helps" her do her math problems. She is like a school mascot and keeps us laughing.

Niklaus has been pretty good and is calming down juuuuuuust a tad (the playdoh has helped). He comes up with the craziest stories. I've come to the conclusion that if I DID send him to pre-school, the teachers would be calling me for daily conferences or maybe even questioning my parenting skills for the following reasons:

1. He often says nonsense words that he thinks are hilariously funny and repeats them until the kids scream, "STOP!" then he laughs and says it one more time.

2. He has an imaginary friend named "Dah-doo-beeder". Say it really fast, I'm not sure how it's spelled so I had to spell it out phonetically so you can see how funny it sounds when he says it. He used to say that word when he was just learning to talk and we never knew what it meant. Since he started watching Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, he learned of such things and now that word is actually a name for his "imaginary friend". He knows there's no such thing but we humor the attention that he gets and loves by asking him what Dadoobeeder looks like, what size he is, what he likes to do, etc.. When there is an empty chair, or the horse at the store is not being sit upon and things like that, a little light will go on in his head and he'll say, "Hey! Dadoobeeder is sitting there!" or "It's Dadoobeeders turn!". He laughs because he knows he's just being funny and that's what I like about it. He reminds me a lot of my brother, Pete. He is full of beans most of the time and has lots and lots of really long, involved stories to tell.

3. Because of his VERY active imagination, his stories can get really scary. Today, for instance, we walked past a dog that had an invisible fence. I knew this but Niklaus didn't and he freaked out when the dog stopped short about 4 feet away from us and started barking REALLY LOUD! So, after we passed the "danger zone" and the dog stopped barking, we discussed "dog safety" like how you shouldn't run up to a stranger dog, or run away from them. So, Niklaus started telling me this story about how...

"One time, this doggie was chasing Matty and he was so scared and crying and I had to go get him so I grabbed a knife and I poked the doggie with the knife and I KILLED him and there was blood EVERYWHERE and Matty was so happy that the doggie was dead and it couldn't get him anymore!"

Um. "Niklaus! Was that a dream?"

(smiles sheepishly) "Yeah, it was a dream and it was SO SCARY!"

I SWEAR I don't let him watch the nightly news. I never have let him watch anything more violent than spongebob. He is not exposed to violent video games or any kind of violence at all. I think he hears bits and pieces of news stories that the bigger kids talk about, or maybe hears bits of stories on the radio that I have on in the morning and that fuels his imagination? Whatever the cause of his overactive imagination, can YOU imagine what other people (i.e. pre-school teachers) would think about some of this stuff? Okay, lest you think he is hopelessly weird, I have to tell you that he is fiercely protective of my belly button region and tells Mari all the time, "Don't jump on my baby brother!" and tickles the baby through my belly button, and covers my belly with a blanket so the baby will be nice and comfy. No, I don't know if it's a boy or a girl but apparently he does. I used to think he lives in another world and doesn't pay attention, but really I see that he pays SUPER attention to a lot of things and is really, hyper-aware of things most people aren't. I swear, if there's a crane (or any kind of large machinery) within view (even if it's 20 miles away), he'll spy it and tell everyone all about it.

Here is a pic of the kids that I took yesterday during 3pm "tea time".

(Notice how Mari just watches her brothers and sisters. Can you imagine having those goofballs to follow and copy everything they do and say? She's learning a lot of things that I maybe wouldn't choose to teach her, but they do add character, that's for sure!)

We read Catechism during this time and I ask them questions. I read a chapter of that book about the periodic table too. Even though they groan and laugh and complain when I whip it out, it's become sort of a joke because it sounds like the most boring book you could ever imagine, but actually...they're learning all kinds of stuff from it (I think they know that, but it's more fun to make fun of it than admit that they secretly like it)! Matty just keeps going on and on about, "when do we get to the part about Mercury? I just like Mercury!".

He's another strange one.

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

I wrote a while ago that I would post about our homeschool. I don't write often about it because I am living it and it's just so much a part of our everyday lives that I forget sometimes that most people don't even have a clue about what goes on in that kind of lifestyle.

I don't think of myself as the best teacher in the world (or even in the town) or the best example of what to do to teach one's children in the best, possible manner, but the kids are happy, learning, and want to do it for one more year so here we go!

This year I have:
Katrina, 7th grade

Matthew, 5th grade

Analise, 1st grade

Niklaus, Wish I could send him to preschool, but hopefully we can come up with enough things to occupy his time. I did buy a new thing of play-doh the other day, and it will probably be cracked open by 9 am tomorrow! I have lots of ideas to keep him busy and the biggers will have to take breaks to help teach him. I hope they will learn a little patience in this as well.

Mariela, will bother everyone because she never plays with toys, only her brothers and sisters who will be otherwise occupied when we start school tomorrow. She does like the learning to read dvd's and I am going to borrow some of the signing time ones from Trine. Her kids love those and if the stinkin' tv is going to be on at all, they should have something sort of educational to watch, at least!

I am not a naturally organized, list making kind of person so this time of year is hard for my brain. I worked really hard last week to come up with a school plan to make the year run smoothly, but truthfully, it gets harder and harder with each little one we add to the family. I cleared a whole bunch of junk cupboards and desk drawers and even cleared a "curio" cabinet and made it into sort of an art and activity center because the hall closet was getting awfully cluttered and crowded! When I get overwhelmed, I constantly have to remind myself that GOD is in control of our school year, not me.

I just finished (well, not really, we kind of tweak our plans all year long) the final copying that I had to do for this week. We run a four day week and if they get all of their work done and with reasonably good behavior, we do something special on Fridays. The four day week might seem lazy, but we pack a lot in during the week and with five children, we need possible free days for special things like field trips, dr. and dentist visits, various appointments, illness or family emergencies, you get the picture! I have pretty much done this the whole, seven years and it works well.

Here is Analise's desk with her books for the year all lined up, and ready to go! Also, is a closeup of her schedule so you can get an idea of how we order the day (all three biggers have these, I only do one week at a time because our plans can and do change from week to week. Basically, this will be the format for the year.)




I did realize that this week is off by one day because of the holiday, so I'll have to adjust a teeny bit, but we will still attend Mass on Friday morning. We'll come home and get our school done and try to go somewhere fun. The kids haven't decided yet...got any suggestions (Keeping in mind it can't involve the out of doors yet, because Analise is deathly afraid of being stung by a bee. Today she folded multiple loads of laundry with a smile because Butch said if she did that, she wouldn't have to go outside!)?

Here is Katrina's desk and a view of her "corner of the classroom" with her drafting table desk that she inherited from Anna who has graduated college and has no place to put it (we can't wait 'til she comes home from Alaska!). Analise inherited Trina's old desk and Niklaus got Analise's. I love family recycling!




Here is Matthew's desk and his fish, which lives there. I'm surprised that thing is still alive considering Niklaus' easy access to him and the funny things he likes to plop in the tank on occasion. One time, the water was pink. I'm still not sure what caused that anomoly, but I'm pretty sure it involved a certain three-year-old who likes to bug his brother. A LOT. I wonder if the fish is smarter for being so near all of those books and learning?



Here we have the dining room/library. I had to move the bookshelves out of the classroom because of too many desks! We have such a small, broken up house for so many people to fit in, so I can't have a lot of clutter or junk taking up space and need every available nook for useful things. I just love maps, can you tell? I need some more framed maps for my walls. Maybe it's my secret (not anymore!) wish that my kids will absorb good geography skills through some kind of visual osmosis? Oh well, it certainly can't hurt to have lots of maps around!







Okay, if I haven't ho-hum bored you too much by now, you're in it for the long haul so I'll show you two more pictures!

This one is of my corner, kitchen "closet" which used to be a huge, hodgepodge MESS until I cleaned it on Friday. Now, it is a media cabinet/sewing cabinet/toy cabinet. I hope to clean Mari's and Niklaus' toy boxes that we are tripping over in the living room, reduce their toys down to the things that they actually play with, and tuck them into this cabinet and Niklaus' desk drawers. This will free up a lot of space in the living room for wrestling, and fighting, and tickle torture fights.



Back to our school work. I have some extra books that all of the kids will be working on. These are books that I keep on my shelf that we will work on every day, time permitting and that I have to guide them through by reading and asking questions appropriate for age and skills.




The Mad Minute is a math book that acts a little like flash cards and charts their basic skills. I'm excited to do this because they are a little rusty after summer and this challenges them back into the swing with less pressure than a huge math lesson right off the bat. The American history book is one we did two years ago and I think it's so important that they understand how this country was founded that I am doing it again for all of them this year (especially since the trip to D.C. is still fresh in my mind and we can look up so many things that I remember on the internet as extra study). I hope to develop a time line for them that we can post around the classroom or down the hall (or maybe up the stairs?). I think they will think that is fun!

Butch asked the other day, "Hey, when do they learn the periodic table?" so I found this book all about it. It presents the idea in sort of a novel form so I will read it out loud for all of them and post a periodic table for them to learn the symbols. It will be good and relevant for them because they also have a big interest in geology and mining because of all of those Discovery channel shows they watch!

I didn't show it, but I'm starting to teach them Latin this year. I will be learning at the same time, so it will be an adventure, for sure! I hope to get some cds for the van of some Latin church music or repeat-after-me-type ones for reinforcement. I won't start this until next week. I am bringing the lesson book to adoration with me this week so I can make a plan for the year and figure out how it will fit in with their schedules as they are now.

Okeydokey, now you have the story. I do want to add that there are some really, handy things that we like to have around for our schooling:

-Tabbies for marking where we are in our books and notebooks (3m)

-Dymo Letratag labeller for multiple uses. I got this for about 5 bucks last year at Target when they were clearancing their school supplies. I'm hoping to find some clearance re-fills this year!

-3 ring binders (for loose art drawings so they don't take over the house...they are ALL so important, you simply CAN'T throw any of them away, you know!)

-Staplers, mechanical pencils (I hate sharpening and hearing, "I can't find a pencil...I can't find a sharpener!" so I buy them in bulk), multi-subject notebooks, folders, rulers, manymanymany pairs of scissors (they always seem to disappear), copier/printer paper (we use it for everything, it's so cheap that I don't mind wasting a little).

Bigger things that I find invaluable are:
-paper shredder
-Copy/printer/scanner (an absolute necessity!)
-High speed internet
-laminator (just bought one super cheap from Walmart, about 26 dollars and about 7 for the sheets)
-LOTS of easy to prepare/healthy groceries for breakfast, lunch, and snacks (3pm tea/snack time will be new this year, I hope it goes well)

These are the rules for the school year:
-set our our clothes the night before/shower or bathe either the night before or before going down to breakfast in the morning.
-mom sets alarm for 7am every morning and we try to start school no later than 8:30
-we get dressed, eat breakfast, do morning cleanup, pray, then start school!
-1 hour of TV only per day
-NO Nintendo DS before chores or school are finished for the day and behavior was good.
-We end the school day with prayer and snack time (at the same time) and then find out if our friends can play or talk about what we will do with the rest of our day (or finish things we missed earlier).

One, more thing! Every morning, the kids will wake to find a little surprise on their desks. Tomorrow morning (oops, today!) they will find two chocolate kisses. I stocked up on chocolate for just this purpose! Sometimes it will be something non-chocolate, but I love surprising them. I'll be sure to blog about their reactions!