Utterly Exhausted -

There is no other way to describe how I feel right now! I awoke at 1:30a to complete blackness in my room, no idea why I woke up, but there I was laying there wide awake. Suddenly there was a huge flash of green light - honestly I thought I was dreaming that they aliens had arrived - then there were three power surges and another HUGE flash of light. The transformer blew three houses down and the power was out for our grid of the neighborhood.

Normally most people wouldn't have a problem with a power outage in the middle of the night, but you see it was 23 degrees out and we noticed that it was still snowing - it was suppose to stop that hours ago - We look out in the driveway and their is a good 4 more inches on the driveway that CJ had plowed before he dropped himself into bed last night - he had been plowing all day -

Of course the first thing I thought of was I am hungry - don't ask, I am always starving when I wake up in the middle of the night - so I go out to the kitchen and I hear this faint humming noise coming from KM's room, she had also woken up and was listening to her MP3 player with her battery powered speaker. She jumped right out of bed when she heard me in the kitchen - she gets that hunger trait from me - so I made her, CJ and I PB&J sandwiches, we lit some candles and had a picnic in our bedroom.

As we were sitting their, CJ's phone rang and he was off again to plow some more. He decided to get a fire going as we had been without power now for a little over an hour. He also got the generator ready before he left in case I needed to hook up the oil burner to it. Our oil tank is outside and exposed to the elements so he gets very nervous about the line coming into the house freezing. So I sat down in front of the fire with the Brian Jacques book I have been reading - Mossflower, the sequel to Redwall - and made sure it stayed going.

140 pages later, I realized I should probably close my eyes for a bit. So I put the book down, but within minutes - OF COURSE - the lights came back on. Now there were multiple things beeping and going off around the house that I needed to fix. I finally got everything quieted and made sure the heat was working properly, before I headed to bed.

So now I am sitting here, drinking coffee, waiting for SC to come...hopefully I will get to take a nice long nap with her this afternoon!

Changes...again...

We have been revamping how things work again!
~~~ BIG SURPRISE I KNOW~~~

The first thing is our vocabulary program - KM has been using Wordly Wise 3000 second edition, since I brought her home from PS last year, as she "really liked the way it was set up." Last year they had let her keep the workbook copy that she had started with and since it was a fairly inexpensive system and she did seem to be learning from it we kept it going this year. However over the last few lessons, I noticed that she was having more and more problems with the testing part of it. She just did not seem to be understanding the definitions, when they were taken out of the content of the book or if she couldn't check the definitions. You see the workbook is set up with the words and definitions listed at the beginning of each lesson, then through out the week you do one part each day Monday through Thursday and then you test on Friday. So I sat down with her and had her show me exactly HOW she goes about doing the work. What I found was that she was never actually "reading" through the definitions of the words, she had been taught/instructed by her PS teacher in 4th grade on how to figure out the answers to the different sections using different types of context and scanning clues. Great for building "TESTING" skills, but not so great for "VOCABULARY" skills. I spoke with CJ about this for awhile this afternoon and we have decided to scrap the Wordly Wise for the time being. I am by no means knocking the product at all. I really do like the way it is setup and the different approaches, but my daughter has been trained to cheat her way through it and that just seems like busy work to me. By the way on the test she doesn't have the definitions available and that is why she can't use the system that they taught her in order to pass this test, so I wonder how well those testing skills do actually work?

So in lieu of the Wordly Wise for vocab skills we have decided to try a few different things. For one I had gotten her the My Word Coach for the Wii for Christmas - before the price shot through the roof, guess people found out how great it is!! - so we are going to incorporate that in, as well as some really cool free sites I have found online for vocab building including -

1. Number2.com
2. Free Rice
3. Learning Vocabulary Fun
4. Prepme.com

We have started Ancient History and I think the outline that we have planned is going to work really well. The hands-on project booklets, lapbook sets and ancient science are going to tie the information from the textbook together really well. I downloaded the audiobooks of the Story of the World from our library network site and I think that as we get into each section I will introduce it by using one of the stories from the set. I am stressing to her that they are stories though. I know that many, many, many people have said that SOTW is a secular program and I get why they think that since it covers all religions. At the same time, in my opinion, the way they present the stories just doesn't feel right as a "History" curriculum. However the stories themselves are great little tidbits of "this is the type of stories that they told at this time" or "these are the things that they believed at that time." I will be sure to post pics as we get more into our ancient science and kits that we will be using.

We are also adding in some more math practice review days as she is starting to get into some unfamiliar territory. Each time she comes across a new concept I am shocked at how much I thought she had learned at PS, but she really never even touched on the subject. She is using the Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra as that is where she tested into in the system and she really likes how the system is set up, but it also assumes that you have a really good understanding of a lot of the basics and while she does in some areas she is REALLY lacking in others. At the moment we have taken a step back and are spending some extra time with percentages. These can be tricky little buggers and she just doesn't seem to want to follow all the steps in the process. She starts out fine and gets so close to the answer, but somehow gets tripped up on one or two steps. The weird part is that each time it seems to be different spots as well. So we will be taking this next week to reinforce the concepts with some hands on things and real-life math problems to see if I can get her to understand that completing ALL the steps is the only way to get the right answer. As I have said a gazillion times before, I really do not like to bash the school system, but they teach the kids that any answer is better than no answer. You see on the MCAS test they get points as long as they put something for an answer. If they leave an answer blank they get 0, but if they at least take a guess, even if it is the complete wrong answer, they get 1 point. If they take a guess and get the answer that is "almost" the right answer they get 2 or 3 points. If they get the right answer they get 4 points. ---hmmmm

I adore math! I always have and the 1 and only reason for that is that math is not a subjective topic. The answer is either right or wrong, even if you can have more then one solution to a problem ~ i.e. name a prime number that is less than 11 - the answer could be 1, 3, 5, or 7 ~ the answer that you give is either right or wrong. There is no arguing about it. There is no teacher saying that THEY don't interpret it that way. It is a truly black and white subject. So it baffles me that things like this are going on in our school system and I am having to retrain my daughter's brain.

When I started typing I never intended for this post to turn into another rant about the PS system - HONESTLY I DIDN'T! Since it has been a year out of that system I really should be beyond that by now - shouldn't I? But the more I am thinking about it, the more amazed I am that I am still discovering things about the system that I somehow missed when she was there. I also think that the scary part of that is that I was a very involved parent ~ I was even a substitute teacher for a while at the school and volunteered all the time ~ so how much are the uninvolved parents missing. The parents who barely have time to read through the mass of papers that come home from school or to check their kids homework. I am not saying that they all choose to be that way or making a judgement on them, but it is a little bit frightening to me to think that their kids are just being shuffled along and taught strategies to get through the test instead of being educating in order to be a productive and prosperous member of society.

I do apologize for the twisted route that this post has taken...I guess you just never know where you will end up once you start out -or what kind of changes you have to make along the way - so maybe I didn't get so far off topic as I thought I had!

Appreciate a Dragon Day!

Hip Hip Hooray for Dragons!!!

I am so excited about this one!!! Check out this site - here! There are lots cool ways to appreciate dragons today!

I will be back later to fill you in on what we have done!

~~~~Evening Update:

We had a rather difficult time getting ourselves together today, so we did not get as many fun dragon things done that I had hoped. However we did talk about different dragon myths from around the world, watched Puff the Magic Dragon and colored some print outs. We got a jump start on our decorations for the Chinese New Year as well, but you will have to wait to see those later!!
When I was looking for some cool printouts earlier I came across an incredible site Phee's Coloring Pages. If you check it out you will see why I liked so much! I think it is going to be my new favorite printable site!!!

Hope you had a great day, appreciating dragons!

Quick Recycling Project - Art Smocks

I had some old towels laying around that I had been trying to figure out something to do with, when it hit me this morning - Art Smocks!

Here's what to do:
Very simply fold the towel in half one way and then fold it again the other way, mark off the center and cut out a hole, big enough for ~ whomever it is intended for~ head to fit through. Pinking shears would obviously work best, but since it is a towel and they are weaved, holes made from regular scissors will work as well. Then WALLAH -


If you want to make it last longer, have the time, and ability - you can also seam off the edges of the head hole. For now I just want to see how long it will last without the seaming.


I am going to save the extra circles that we cut out of the neck - to make bean bags with! 2 for 1 project deal today!!!

I have been TAGGED,,,

Six Random Facts

Leigh over at Wingbeats and Reflections has tagged me. Since I am up at the crack of dawn, it is fairly quiet, it is cold I don't want to move from the arm chair, in my fuzzzy pj and blanket - I will play along.

Rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write six random things about yourself
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them
5. Let each person know they've been tagged

Six random things - hmmmm -

1. I grew up ten miles from where I currently live and although we moved around a bit (LOT) when KM was little I have lived in the same area for 27 of the 30 years of my life.
2. My favorite anonymous quote about homeschooling is completely true - "I survived Public School...that is why I homeschool!" I dropped out of HS days after turning 16, got my GED and was off to college.
   
3. Ironically as Leigh alluded to in hers - I took Auto Mechanics in High School for a Semester.
4. My favorite color is purple and when I see it, any shade of it, my heart jumps just a little bit - don't know why, doesn't matter how mad, sad, frustrated or whatever I am, purple makes me feel better!
5. I have had the same cell phone number for 11 years!
6. MC is having another girl!!! Another wonderful little neice will be arriving in late May/early June!

I think those were random enough for ya and most of you wouldn't know them - I don't think so who to tag, who to tag....I am heading to my followers list for this one!

1. Candace
2. Stace
3. Jodi
4. Fairyluver
5. Rainbow River
6. Lorna

ENJOY ---I can't wait to see what they come up with!

Another Nifty Science Experiment...

...from the free homeschool Classic Life Science curriculum by Mr. Q. Although we have found some small errors in some of the text - more grammatical than anything. This program still rocks!!! The fact that it is free is even better, but the BEST part is all the really cool, simple experiments that are included that can be done with things you have right around your house. Some of the other experiments I have posted have come from this curriculum as well and I do try to credit him whenever I can!

So today we were discussing the digestive organs and how they break down food. We then did the experiment for this unit which was called Cat's Meow -

Please excuse some of the spelling errors and/or homophone mistakes in the video! She did this one pretty much all on her own!

Rave Reviews for Wii Music

KM got this game for Christmas and I didn't really have too high hopes for it, but it is actually a really cool game! It teaches pitch, helps tune the ear, helps improve rhythm and so much more!

Here are some screenshots of KM's Mii..

Here is the very intriguing instructor, whom KM says she loves!

She was so into it...

It was soooo easy to play that SC even got to try it out in
Jam Session Mode.

Of course she had NO idea what she was doing, but she thought it was great that she even got to hold the controller. I honestly think the Wii is one of the best investments that we have made in a long time! I am constantly impressed with the quality of the games that they come out with!

Yet another bloggy award....

So Stace, one of my new favorite bloggers, has listed me for this wonderful blog award! Here are the rules...

*List six things that make you happy.
*Pass the award on to 5 other bloggers
*Link back to the person who gave you the award.
*Link to the people you are passing it on to and leave them a comment to let them know.


Ok so first things first - 6 Things that make me happy:
1. the smell of something baking
2. the light that goes on when a child TRULY GETS a concept
3. savasana
4. a giggling baby
5. first snowflakes
6. warm cozy bed after a LONG day

Now for the second task - Pass to 5 other bloggers
I have come across so rather interesting new-to-me blogs lately so here are the 5 that I have become hooked on recently:

1. Cynthia
   
2. Spooky
3. Sarah
4. Lorna
5. Sagedust

So I have also completed the third and fourth tasks as I was posting, so I think I am done!!!
Thanks again Stace!!!

Playin' in the Snow

Some Pics I forgot to post the other day ---- our first time playing in the snow with SC!

Sooo much to put on!

Trudging through the snow!

Determined to climb up, even with the extra garb!

Still just wants to swing!

The joys of 3 dogs!!!

and the LOVE of two cousins!

International Programmers Day!

For decades, programmers have made major contributions to our lives. Programmers are ultimately responsible for many of the conveniences we enjoy such as DVR, direct deposit, web surfing, online bill paying, cell phones, etc. Behind most modern day convenience, there's a computer programmer.
This website is dedicated to those programmers who make our lives easier. - check it out
Here is another site specifically for kids to learn about programming - Click here!
Find a programmer and thank them for all that they do to allow us to live our lives with a little bit more ease - or fustration depending on how you look at it! The above listed site has some cute little e-cards you can send.

This site - click here - has a huge list of resources to teach kids about programming on several different levels.

----EVENING UPDATE ----

We had a very fun afternoon, we discussed codes and how every language is a code of its own and what programmers do. KM had a friend over this afternoon and they made a few video clips on Scratch. They had some difficulty at first until they actually read the instructions! I will try to upload one of the video clips tomorrow, but now I am off to bed!!!

Hope you had a great International Programmer Day!

First Art Project of the New Year and updates on older projects!

We have been getting antsy around here with holiday things slowing down so we decided to work on a project today. KM got this incredibly cool book for Yule and so we thought today would be a great day to try some of those marked pages - can you see how many she has marked off, there are more tabs coming out of the bottom that you can't even see!
KM picked "Past, Present & Future Picture Show" - but of course, as with everything around here, we had to tweak it a little, so we did past, middle and present.

These are the three pictures that she choose to work with:

We used butcher paper instead of construction paper, as we didn't have any big enough for all three pictures across - she measured the 1/2 inch increments diligently.
Since she was pressing into the soft top of the card table while she was drawing the lines it actually made it easier to make the creases.

The hardest part was making sure that the picture strips were in order and right-side up as they were glued onto the paper.Final product - even front view

View tilted to the right:

View tilted to the left:

There were some other things that we thought of to try for next time, like leaving a small amount of space between each for the fold, so that it comes out with cleaner lines. We also thought the if we had used bigger pictures and stuck to close ups it would look more even and clean, but I kinda like the differences in the context of the three that she chose.

As far as the update on the other projects, I have been a bit side tracked with them lately, but I have converted all of our VHS videos to DVD. I have not as of yet burned them to DVD, I have them backed up though as AVI files for now. I also got HP SimpleSave for some of my families members and myself for christmas and after hearing multiple stories over the last few weeks of people losing ALL there pics from computers crashing, I have all the photos backed up and stored safely away! Yippee!!!

I also had a sudden urge - or I guess it could be a realization of sorts - when I was putting the Christmas decorations away, to put out some new pictures. I realized that I hadn't printed any new pics in quite a while and didn't have any pics of SC up anywhere - of course she is here sooo much do I really need pics of her up? (JK) So I went in search of pics to hang up, I also had CJ bring up a box of frames from the garage that I had left over from Noni's stuff. Of course a lot of the pictures that she had were duplicates to those that I already had up, so I thought I could reuse some of the frames. Well as I began taking pictures out, I realized that she had been reusing these frames as well, and I found some HYSTERICAL pics of MC and I when we were young. They are sooooo bad I can't even post them here as I would have to fear for my life - really her hair was just soooo big! I don't know how they didn't realize that something that could hold your hair up that HIGH was not good for the environment. So that was a good little chuckle I had going through all the old photos, half of which I had forgotten about or thought were gone forever!

Now that I have all the older photos that are already digital backed up. I am going to start, over the next few weeks, going through the older baby pics and scanning them into the computer. That is going to be the time consuming part, but I figure that computer and scanner are in our Play/School room so I can work on it while KM is doing her independent study stuff and I can still be within reach if she needs me and if SC is here I can stay contain in the room with her. I think it will work out, I just have to get it started!

The Year in Review

As I went along my merry route through my blog list today, I noticed that quite a few people were reminiscing of happenings from the past year - of course this led me to think of all the things that have transpired during 2008.

I would say that here at GCK Homeschool the word for the year would have to be:
revelations - an enlightening or astonishing disclosure

The first revelation would have to have been how wonderful homeschooling can be! We began our jaunt into Homeschooling in January and we will never turn back! She really has blossomed over the last year. Of course we have had some challenges, but that has generally been more about getting our rhythms and schedules in order, than any kind of reluctance or lack of interest in learning - in fact her love of learning has been reignited! She gets truly excited about what we are investigating and experimenting with. Anything hands-on is better than sitting in a classroom reading about what you could be doing - right! The favorite experiment would have to be the growing crystals:

The second revelation would have to come from the fantastic local resources that we had been missing out on while KM was in PS. We have had some wonderful field trips with our local homeschool groups and on our own, for that matter. I have been trying to think of what my favorite would be if I had to choose one and I would have to say that there were 2 favorites. The first one would be our trip to Concord's Orchard House - to see the home where Louisa May Alcott grew up - and Walden Pond - where Henry David Thoreau went to the woods -

Running a close second would be our day going to the Big Top Circus and the GIANT Build-a-Bear Store in Faneuil Hall!
The third revelation is one of our familial codependency. Our family has become extremely close during the last year and though we have had some sadder moments, the trials and tribulations have brought us to realize how important we truly are to each other. We lost some wonderful family members during the year and had some close calls with some others. I tried to stay on the lighter side of things here, but I felt I should mention it so that no one thinks it is all just sunshine and textbooks around here. Real life events and experiences can be so much more intriguing than anything you could read about in a book. We have had a lot of anatomy lessons come about from some simple explanations of illnesses!

I have never really been big on New Year Resolutions, as I have seen so many get forgotten within days - sometimes hours - of the ball dropping. However this year I am resolving to put our family's true beliefs into practice, to create our own traditions, and to be a united front against anything that stand in our way! We have become a better family and we WILL continue to keep moving in this direction!

My Favorite New Years Quote :

This bright new year is given me

To live each day with zest

To daily grow and try to be

My highest and my best!

By: William Arthur Ward

Best Wishes for a Bright and Happy New Year!

A Fantastic Holiday Week in Review

With such a multifaceted family structure our Solstice/Christmas Holiday lasts at least a week. With the visits slowing down I thought I would share some of our favorite pics from the week!

Matching aprons to help with the baking!

Playing with Grampa!


Some favorite presents:SC's was a box and...

& a new step stool!

KM's was her Nintendo DS - she was VERY surprised!

Mine was my new mixer!!! - Life will be sooo much easier!

Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday!!!

Who Really Did It?

KM claims it was her!

But I caught her twin working diligently!

I registered....

This looks as though it will be a very motivational group of mommies! After a few too many Holiday treats, a lack of gusto, and a very sporadic yoga practice lately, I can feel my flexibility fading, but I am turning over that new leaf ~ I am also teaching a kids yoga class at the Coop this next session, so I kinda have to get myself back on track. ~ I also need to do it for me and my sanity, to keep me centered and on track! I will keep you posted and if you decided to register my username on the forum is GCKHomeschool!

Maybe I'll see you there!