Practice Makes ~ You Laugh!

You would think after having her here 6 out of 7 days this week, I would be exhausted (well I am), but I had to take these snaps of her at lunch today practicing with the spoon! She thought it was the funniest thing eating the applesauce herself! She didn't make too much of a mess, but she did have us rolling when she starting acting like it was a lollipop!

Turn Up Your Speakers!!!

In my blog travels today I came across a posting that inspired me!!!

http://thecluesacademy.blogspot.com/2008/06/music-ive-been-listening-to-lately.html

Music makes us happier people!!!

I have updated my music player with some of my more recent favorites, as well as some oldies but goodies!!!

While reading the posting by the CLUES academy, I was reminded of the one song that really makes me HAPPY. I mean not just smiley, but really singing at the top of my lungs, head bobbing, spinning & bouncing around the room happy! That song is:

Blister In The Sun by Violent Femmes!

What is your all time favorite HAPPY song?

The Great Turtle Race II

This is a great site to engage kids in this very important topic! It just started today and looks like it is going to be really cool!

We signed up and KM is cheering for Shelby, CJ for Jing Jing, and I am rooting for JK Turtling! Take a peek and let us know who you are cheering on!!!

http://www.greatturtlerace.com/

June 1st - Brought some interesting 1st!

1st - cook-out of the season

~ nice small gathering to kick off the season!

1st - time the pool was not green when we opened it

~ generally we spend most of the month of June trying to get the water clear, but for some unknown reason when we took the cover off it was crystal clear and all the levels were perfect!! - YIPPEE

1st - day in the pool

~ the pools temperature was 62, but that did not stop the children from swimming in the crystal clear pool! I thought for sure they would go in for a few minutes and that would be it but they were in there ALL DAY!!!

1st - back strokes

~ we spent all last year just trying to get her to think about floating on her back, but when she got in there this afternoon before everyone else showed up she just did it! - YIPPEE Again!!

Task completed!

Yippee, my mind is at ease! All of the curriculum for next year has been purchased and arrived.

I can now relax and enjoy the summer. I have even setup files in my mail program to organize things that come in so that I can look at them later in the summer if the correspond with what we will be doing in the fall. I think I will be turning my curriculum brain off! Of course I am waiting to see if I get a request for a portfolio or not from the school district ~ I have decided that if they don't request one I will not be sending one! Hope all of your planning goes as smoothly as mine has!!!

Breaking News

She babbles incessantly, has cut her second tooth, wants to eat everything, will be one in 2 weeks and is now:

We are sooooo done for!!!

Summer Vacation?

Everyone has been asking me lately, "When does school get out for you guys?"

This is a difficult question for me to answer because I am rather torn right now. I have always felt that summer was really a waste of time ~ don't get me wrong, I don't think kids should be chained to their desks in classrooms 5 days a week 52 weeks a year, but I homeschool so I don't really think they should be chained to desks period. I do however think that the 3 months that they are off in the summer leads to three months of review in the fall. At PS they generally don't start learning anything new until after Christmas break and that was one of the reasons that KM used to get so bored with school. We have always done workbooks, projects, field trips and of course TONS of reading in the summer and during other vacation breaks before we started homeschooling, that is just what we did in order to keep KM entertained and engaged during these break times. So here is where I am torn, I don't want to waste the summer, but I don't want to overwhelm her, and I would like some more relaxed time. I know I am not the only one out there wondering the same thing because lots of newbie homeschoolers have been asking this same question on lists lately.

When I asked KM what she wanted to do she said "Can't we just do what we have always done?" So that is the plan we are going with. This will be our last week of full-time homeschooling, then we will be on summer break. By Friday she will have completed the full 5th grade curriculum on Time4Learning and we will be starting some starting our "Homeschooling Lite." We will be doing review of math daily, lots of reading, LOTS of outings, and I think we will try out my latest discovery ~ lapbooking. I guess that sums up what we will be doing. Of course we will continue to post all of our adventures here.

What are your families plans for the summer? Do you do any "schoolwork" over the summer? How long of a break do you take? Let some newbies learn from the wisdom of those who have been around a bit longer!

Day of Art & Music

We had a great afternoon with some friends attending the Spring Planting Moon Pow-Wow & Crafts Festival today ~ http://tinyurl.com/3urf2r ~ the kids had a great time. One of the other mom's said to KM "I wish my music classes were this much fun when I was in school!" Which put a smile on her face.

KM could not get over how detailed their beadwork was and kept commenting on how much patience they must have to make such precise pieces. The intertribal ceremonies were incredible and the drum circles was a fantastic site as well. She got some great photos of some of the formal tribal attire.

The cost of everything!

Just about every blog that I have been on lately has had some reference to the astronomical prices of gases and how it is effecting their families. I really don't like to get political in general and though we have had to make some changes along with everyone else, I thought I would bring to light a story that I heard from my neighbor.

Now we all know oil prices are high as well. Most of our neighbors all use different oil companies and are on scheduled deliveries. Luckily most of us also have wood burning stoves or fireplaces so we don't tend to need fills up as often as others do. I am very fortunate that we have had the same oil company since I was little so we have a wonderful family rapport with them. They are great about calling when the prices drop down and asking if we would like a top off at the lower rate or if we are scheduled for a delivery they will call and say hey the price just shot up if you can wait until next week it may drop down. Unfortunately my neighbors company seems to not be as family friendly. She is on a budget plan, so that she pays a monthly price for the entire year so that she doesn't get whacked with a huge bill come January. I think anyone could understand that this years budgets were going to be off as no one really thought it was going to stay cold for so long or that the prices would sky rocket to over $135 a barrel. So when she got her last oil delivery of the season earlier this week (we are all hoping that these tanks will get us through the summer) she was shocked that not only did she have a $900 balance, but their had been a $25 delivery surcharge added to the last three deliveries because of the cost of gas. I nearly fell over ~ are they expecting us to go pick up our oil? How in the world can a company that has always delivered a product - there is no other way to get all of a sudden without any warning to their costumers be allowed to charge extra? That is our wonderful government for you! If that had been someone on a very restricted income - social security for instance- that $25 surcharge could mean the difference between oil or medicine or food. I just don't get it.

I have also noticed that the prices of just about EVERYTHING is increasing. At first most people didn't notice, but even the comfortable are starting to notice a huge difference. We depend way to much on oil-based products to get us what we need. How about your family - what types of buckle-tightening have you had to put into place?

Card time again -

I was spoken to earlier this week about making sure that I am doing Reiki as often I can. The more you use it, the more comfortable you feel with it. The more you use it, the more others become more comfortable with it. The more you use it, the more you help to heal the earth.

This evening at the end of yoga I picked a card from the deck and got one that reiterated the positive effect of energy and light on healing the world. Guess I should be listening!!!

I found this poem that I think very eloquently and simply explains what Reiki is for those who are unaware. ~ Maybe me spreading the awareness will make up, at least a little bit, for not having used it as much as I should as of late.

McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare

I was watching last weeks Boston Legal on my DVR and running through my blog roll when I came across this clip posted on a fellow bloggers site! Just thought I would share!
CJ says he is going to start a write-in campaign for Denny Crane!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c

There is always a reason!

OK so I know that I had been complaining about the TeachingTextbook site being down on Saturday, well Sunday it was still down! I was so frustrated because I really just want to have all the curriculum for the fall decided on and purchased so that I don't really have to think about it until August! I feel like I have spent the last 5 months doing nothing but scouring the net and questioning people about what is the best for this subject or that as there is no way that I could just use a "box set" with KM and have it work. So I had thought after she took the placement test on Saturday I could finally be done with all of it ~ for now anyway.

Well there really is a reason for everything! Right after I tried to get onto the site and it said it was still down for maintenance, I checked my email and had a reminder from ebay that an auction I had been watching was ending soon. I clicked on the link and there it was - YIPPPEEE! The Pre-Algebra set that I had been trying to buy. It had 13 minutes left and it was going for 60 dollars less than the original price!!! I also had a $5 off shipping coupon so the shipping only cost me $3 with insurance! If the site had not been down on Saturday and I had gotten that email on Sunday I would have been FURIOUS with myself! So I apologize for cursing out everyone that I did for the site being down on Saturday and would like to thank whomever was watching out for my finances in such a delightful way!

The ironic thing is that I had only been watching the Teaching Textbooks auctions to see if the resale value was going to be worth it for me to have her write in the consumable book or not. I will be having her use a notebook and act as though the consumable book is a textbook. Less waste and production cost that way and then I can allow someone else the same benefit of the reduced recycling reusing rate! 3Rs of course!

Doesn't it always figure!!!

KM took her placement test for next year's math as we are strongly leaning towards using the Teaching Textbooks series. She really liked the demos and the way they break down the specific problem if you get it wrong, not just one that is similar to it, so that it is easier to see where you made the mistake. I think that it will keep her engaged better than just using a textbook and me at the whiteboard as well.
So she took the test and passed it to start out in Pre-Algebra (yippee), but of course the site has been down all day! I have heard that this time of year most of the educational sites hit bumps in the road but this is crazy how many sites have been down these past two weeks. - I can't imagine what it would be like to try to order things last minute in August. Of course most of you know there is no way I could be sane all summer if I didn't know for sure what we are doing next year!

Book Connection

KM has been volunteering for the last few months at the library on Fridays during the 3-6yr old story and craft time. She goes in each week after lunch and helps set up the crafts for the kids and then helps clean up after the kids are done. She loves being around and helping littler kids so this has been a great thing for her.

Today however they were working on shifting the books and organizing the shelves so Miss J. asked if she would be interested in helping with this while she was reading the books to the children. She was so excited that the librarian trusted her to help with this task!

She has also been reading a lot lately - this seems to happen whenever the weather gets warmer around here. She loves to take a book to one of the back porches and sit there all afternoon. She will often have multiple books going at the same time as well, but seems to manage to keep them straight. Since she has been reading so ferociously lately when we arrived at the library today she proudly brought a large bag of books to the main circulation desk to donate. She figured that way if she wants to read it again it will be there and of course other kids would be able to enjoy the books.

I often wonder if children understand their place in a community and how working together makes things so much easier. I am glad that at least for today KM could feel she fit into a larger scope and that she helped the community even in this small way!

Home Schooling Truly Free

This is an amazing inspirational message from a young adult's point of view that I really wanted to share:

http://www.homeschoolfreestuff.com/issues/soup20/soup20.html
This was a writing assignment prompted by these HomeschoolSoup newsletters. It was written by a 15 year old homeschool student. Aside from it being one of the more touching messages I've ever read, consider it a powerful open letter to all children and parents thinking about homeschooling.

This is an incredibly insightful young woman! Hope you enjoy it!