NOT Back to School Day - TAKE ONE!!!

We had planned a NOT Back to School Beach Day for a large group of home learners in our area, but unfortunately we had to postpone it because of Hurricane Irene power outage related issues. We are hoping that it will be able to run later this week, but today we got to take an adventure to a new spot that we have tried to go several times, Ellisville Harbor in Plymouth. We brought a few friends along and ran into some more as well!

It was a really nice relaxing day. The kids climbed on rocks, hunted crabs, relaxed after their lunch and I got to take some interesting photos!

Ironically we had to reschedule our day and our local schools are all had to do the same as well - they won't be going back until next week as they are all in outage zones! 

You Tube Monday - Conversations I've Had As An Unschooler, pt. 1.

Over the past few weeks You Tube Mondays have been dedicated to comical conversations homeschoolers have had. This will be last in this series, but is one of the best I found!

What do you do when...

a hurricane / tropical storm hits on a birthday and you loose electricity for 9 hours?

Play monopoly for 4.5 hours!!! 

Then have the cake after dark so that it glows brighter! 

Longest power outage we have ever had to deal with, but we made the best of it! We finally broke down and hooked the generator up after 7 hours because we were worried about the fridge and we let the kids plug in the t.v. and dvd player so they could watch Eclipse! I don't think this is a birthday that he will forget.

Shakespeare Thematic Unit

I have been getting a lot of emails asking about our Shakespeare Thematic Unit, so I figured I would take a few minutes to outline our plan.

KM has been in a Shakespeare group for three years now and since she has a really good grasp on a few plays and a phenomenal understanding of the language, we have decided to cover a good deal of Shakespeare's plays, some better known and some not so much.

We began the summer using the free educational resource kit we got from the National Endowment of the Arts. This kit was incredible!!! KM also spent a good amount of time researching Shakespeare's life by reading Who Was William Shakespeare? and The World Of Shakespeare. We also have been gathering info on all things Elizabethan, utilizing Teacher Created Thematic Unit, discovering the beauty in his sonnets and were lucky enough to be able to attend a  free Shakespeare on the Common performances of All's Well That Ends Well. 

Starting this week we will begin delving into recordings of the plays - all of which can be found on Netflix. Here are the ones we will be covering -

• Romeo & Juliet - 1968
• Romeo + Juliet - 1996
• Macbeth
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Hamlet
• Taming of the Shrew
• Richard III
• Othello 
• O
• King Lear
• As You Like It
• The Tempest
• Merchant of Venice
• Julius Cesear
• Anthony Cleopatra
• Henry V
• Twelfth Night
• Comedy of Errors
• Merry Wives of Windsor
• The Winter's Tale
• Midsummer's Night Dream
• All's Well That Ends Well
• Love's Labour's Lost

Additional Related Films - 

• Shakespeare in Love
• Rosencratz and Guildenstern Are Dead
• Rosencratz and Guildenstern are Undead

Additional Resources - 

• Rocketbooks
• Scholastic's Unlocking Shakespeare Folders

All our lesson plans are done on Homeschool Tracker so if you use it too and would like a copy feel free to ask! I would not recommend this type of intensive program for a child that isn't familiar with Shakespeare and more importantly the language style.

What I am Reading - August - GCKMom

I have been laughing HYSTERICALLY through the funniest home ed books I have ever read!

"Okay Kids, Time for Bedlam!" is a labor of love. It is the lighter side of life, told byDebbie Harbeson, an average mom who rather unknowingly lobbed herself into the often loopy world of homeschooling.This is what happens to you, when you purposely allow your children to skip school to learn at home... and it's a riot! The whole endeavor, needless to say, has been a learning experience for everyone. And hopefully, a story you all can enjoy from the safety of your own home.

Some of my favorite quotes include :

• "We all watched as a couple of eyeballs rolled past her feet and settled under the porch bench."
• "Yesterday four textbooks made a perfect support for our bike ramps."
• "Melissa sat the cheetah on the cabinet, he dialed the number and the cheetah's belly began to ring."
• The ENTIRE content of Chapter Fifteen - Mother Nature!!!

These are all the things home ed mom's don't want you to find out really go on! Best part Debbie Harbeson has made the entire content of the book downloadable and FREE!!! Take a peek you won't regret it! 

What I am Reading - August - Music Kid

MANGA, MANGA & MORE MANGA!!!

NOT Back to School Planning

I was in a big buy store today picking up pet food and some other things and I was so disturbed by the parents shouting at children, juggling school supplies and seeing the children agonizing over the choices that the parents were presenting to them, that it seriously turned my stomach into knots. Each year with all the craziness going on as mainstream schools are starting back up  I appreciate more and MORE that we are NOT going back to school!

In fact we are planning an incredible NOT Back to School Beach Day for area home learning families to meet up with us to celebrate the day that our local school will be back in session! This is the first beach day we have done for this, but in the past we have celebrated with things like a Park Day, Bowling Party, and Family Hikes. This is a great way to get new home ed families together with veterans and to meet back up with friends who may have been busy over the summer! If you don't have a large home ed community around you, you can also have your own "Not Back to School Day" by enjoying things that you have been avoiding all summer, here are some posts of how we have celebrated in the past.

Does your family do anything fun to celebrate NOT going back to school?

You Tube Monday - Tim Hawkins - Homeschool Comedy & Homeschool Blues Song

Over the past few weeks I have been sharing some of my favorite xtra normal and you tube videos on "homeschooling". This guy is really funny! One more to go next week!

All alone with little G!

For the very first time EVER I had my niece GC - the younger 1/2 of the Little - all to myself! SC was off on a field trip with the day care and MC wanted to take the Itty Bitties in to have a trial run before she heads back to work this weekend.

It was so much fun to play with her uninterrupted and you could tell how much she was enjoying playing with things without having them ripped out of her hands because it was time to share. She got dress up, we made some scrambled eggs, played outside and then she got the music box ALL to herself! So much fun!

Hammond Castle - a Medieval Castle with a twist!

We went to Gloucester to visit Hammond Castle today. It was a great trip, the castle was definitely a one of a kind experience. Beautiful structures, incredible stained glass, and indoor swimming pool, intricate woodcarvings, and some rather odd modern pieces and inventions from the original owner and designer of the castle John Hays Hammond, Jr. - one of America's premier inventors.

You Tube - Homeschool conversations I really have had part 1

Over the past few weeks I have been sharing some of my favorite xtra normal videos on "homeschooling".

Some of these are freakishly close to conversations that I have had and are always good for a chuckle!

All's Well That Ends Well - Shakespeare on the Common

This was one of the best performances I have seen in quite sometime! It was also KM's very first Shakespeare performance that she was not permforming in!!!

 Before the show she had a great time chasing squirrells and pigeons - you can only truly chase those creatures in the city if you want to have a chance to catch them!!!

I was amazed at the backdrop - seemed to be some sort of metallic surface - and the lightning and mood effects that it caused were incredible! The other coolest thing was that the center stage was on some sort of casters and the stagehands could spin it like a lazy susan! It was the coolest thing I have seen in an outdoor theater space!  

    

   It was a great night and we can't wait to go back next year! 

Critical Thinking for Kids – A must watch!! – Review

Critical Thinking for Kids – A must watch!! – Review

Step away from the curriculum – an alternative view to what curriculum choices can mean

Step away from the curriculum – an alternative view to what curriculum choices can mean

You Tube Monday - PUBLIC SCHOOL PRINCIPAL MEETS SHELLY THE HOME SCHOOL MOM

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some of my favorite xtra normal videos on "homeschooling".

Some of these are freakishly close to conversations that I have had and are always good for a chuckle!

On a rainy day

we like to make treats!!!! So we tried out a new Zepole - Italian Fried Dough - Recipe!

 

This was not the best that we have tried - we like the dough a bit sweeter - it did puff up nicely and was VERY yummy! 

Education Evolution - a MUST See

Deer in my yard

I heard crunching and looked outside and couldn't believe my eyes.

It just stood there watching me, even with the my neighbor chopping wood - that is the thudding in the background - and my dog standing right next to me, it just kept staring and eating. Such a beautiful creature! I do wish it wouldn't eat the flowers though!

Fabulous Concert - Greyson Chance and Miranda Cosgrove

You Tube Monday - Homeschool Conversation with public school teacher's kid Xtranormal

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some of my favorite xtra normal videos on "homeschooling".

Some of these are freakishly close to conversations that I have had and are always good for a chuckle!