What's going on around here...

Well, well, well...it has been a busy month - WHERE DID FEBRUARY GO??

We survived Nemo and the four day power outage it brought with it by camping out in the living room ~~~

There were some moments when I seriously didn't think we were going to make it with our sanity in tact...

There was lots of playing with the critters in the house and this was our version of Bernard in the Box...

We also have been spending a good amount of time getting my great niece and nephew settled into their new apartment - with their mommy & daddy of course...

All and all we are trucking along ~~~ although CJ is of course the only one actually "trucking" and has been doing quite a number of really long hauls. He has been going out to No. Dakota and Missouri to name a few and this has left me and KM to deal with the majority of the snow --- which we are QUITE sick of at this point!

On the home ed front KM is finishing up Applying Algebra, Physics and the GED Writing Book. She has also decided to take a break from her cosmetology studies for awhile so that she can focus - I mean HARD CORE FOCUS - on essay writing for the GED. The writing book I just mentioned  focuses specifically on the multiple choice section of the test - editing, grammar, mechanics and spelling - but we have the GED Essay book which will take her through the step by step process to cover exactly what GED testers are looking for. This is of course one of those UUUUGGGHHHH areas with us - see the multitude of posts on our frustrations with writing HERE. The essay for this test is judged differently - far simpler really - than any other type of standardized test though. You are given a topic to respond to and they are looking for a clear, concise answer. There is no "right" or "wrong" as they are opinion questions that the student needs to back up with experiences and observations. This is where KM lacks confidence and this is why we really need to just work on this until she builds her confidence. It is more about getting past her own blocks than building her skills in the area.

Flocabulary - The Date

Another great Flocabulary freebie just in time for Valentine's Day - this song includes sixth grade vocabulary words that students are likely to encounter on state tests. It teaches the following words: abundant, beacon, clarity, consent, convenient, cultivate, deteriorate, evolve, exclude, idiom, legislation, reluctant, subordinate, trait and verdict. In this song, find out what happens when Joe scores a date with the most popular girl at school. It doesn’t exactly go as planned!

Flocabulary - The Date
Lesson Plan 
Exercises
Test and Answer Key
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Iditarod - A Unique STEM Learning Experience

The Iditarod Dog Sled Race offers a unique learning experience for your family. The Iditarod is a tool of instruction that leads students to academic success and educators to enhanced STEM instruction. 

Although the race doesn't start until the first Saturday in March you should check out this great article - Educators, Prepare for the Race Now - for some super tips and tricks to incorporate this into your education plans.

Then view these presentations and links to learn about the exciting opportunities for learners around the world!

• Iditarod Education Department Presentation (Overview of Department Activities)
• PowerPoint Presentation on Math and Science (Using Iditarod as a tool in math, science, and other classes of instruction.) 
• I Kid A Rod PowerPoint:  Get a glimpse of an example of an I Kid A Rod held at an elementary school in Alaska.
• Zuma's Paws Iditarod K9 Journalists
• View and/or print this brochure and learn more about the Iditarod Education Department.
• Iditarod Student Page
• Iditarod’s Education Department:  An Overview in 21 slides, presented at ITC Board Meeting, June 2009: Iditarod Education Department Summary
• An Overview of Iditarod Education Department Activities:  Iditarod in the Classroom (PowerPoint presentation)

Scholastic also has a pretty detailed lesson plan outlined HERE

Balto - an animated film about the roots of the Iditarod Race and Iditarod: The Toughest Race on Earth are also great "ice breakers"

Vocabulary Building

I posted before about these great lists of 100 words middle schoolers should know and 100 words high schoolers should know and now we are working to ensure KM has all of these down pat. One of the things that we will be using is Quizlet flashcards -

The New York Times - The Learning Network

I just came across this and it seems as though it could be a very useful tool! Check it out -

A weekly collection of lesson plans and Student Opinion questions from The Learning Network, a free blog that uses Times content to create daily cross-curricular materials that teach skills, invite inquiry and engage students with current events.

To sign up visit - The Learning Network: "

World Education Games - Training Begins TODAY!!!

World Literacy Day - 5 March 2013  NEW! 

World Maths Day - 6 March 2013


World Science Day - 7 March 2013


KM has always had a great time participating in these events!! 

Be sure to register early to get in as much practice as you can!!!

Chaos Abound - What's been going on around here!

The last few weeks have been quite hectic around here. I have been working between 25 & 38 hours a week outside of our home, whilst CJ has been making much longer trips west and KM has had to take on a lot more responsibility around the house. Although we knew that there would need to be some sacrifices and a tremendous amount of adjustments, we were all willing to do so.

My work schedule is very chaotic and constantly changing, so I am having a bit of trouble finding a good balance at the moment. I am fully committed and unwavering in my efforts to keep KM on a routine and am strict in keeping her regularly scheduled activities - even if that means I have to ask for help in doing so.

Luckily with the chaos, comes flexibility. I am not away from home for 8-10 hours at a time, most days it is only 4-5 at a time. Some days I am gone from 7:30a-11:30a and then 5:30p-9:30p, others I am only gone 10a-1p. This has led to KM taking on a wide variety of chores around the house and they vary from day to day. She has been doing exceptionally well at completing her lessons and all the tasks I leave.

As I mentioned I have been very strict in keeping KM's activities and any other commitments that I make to her. This is not an area that I am willing to be flexible in so she is continuing her bowling, chess club, and youth activities. In addition we have added in a day when her and a few friends go to the library to work on their lessons together and have lunch at a nearby restaurant. I am very fortunate to have some great friends who are assisting me in getting her to and from these consistently.

There are constantly ideas floating around that you can home educate if you have a parent at home full-time, but we are proving - along with MANY others - that this not the truth. It takes some ingenuity, creative scheduling and a whole LOT of cooperation, but it CAN be done!

Three Free Tools for Creating Stopmotion and Timelapse Videos

I stumbled across this and had to share - Free Technology for Teachers: Three Free Tools for Creating Stopmotion and Timelapse Videos:

Creating stopmotion and timelapse videos can be a good way for students to tell a story that they have developed. Stopmtion and timelapse videos can also be helpful when teachers are trying to help students see how a lengthy process like osmosis works. While good stopmotion and timelapse videos can take a long time to create, there are some tools that can make the process a little easier. Here are three stopmtion video creation tools that are worth trying.
JellyCam is a free program for creating stopmotion movies. Using JellyCam you can create stop motion movies using images from your computer or images that you capture via your webcam. Once you've selected images you can quickly arrange them into a sequence. After the sequence is set you can specify how many images you want per frame. A soundtrack can be uploaded to your video. JellyCam uses the Adobe Air platform. If you don't have Adobe Air Runtime it takes just a couple of minutes to install.
Stop Frame Animator from Culture Street is a neat tool for creating animated stop motion movies. Creating your animated stop motion video is a simple drag and drop process on Stop Frame Animator. To get started creating your stop motion video select a background scene then drag your characters into place. While you have nine background scenes to choose from, the only characters you can use are wooden manikins. You can position the manikins' arms and legs in every scene. After choosing your scene and characters you can add some other props like chairs and beach balls. And if you want you can add sound effects and music to your video by selecting them from the Stop Frame Animator gallery.
OSnap is an iPad app (available in a free version and in a paid version) that you can use to create stop motion and time lapse videos. The app is quite easy to use. To create a video with the OSnap app you simply need to start a project and take a series of still pictures using your iPad’s camera. Then adjust the number of frame per second to edit your video. If you want to, you can add a sound track to your video by selecting audio files that are stored on your iPad. You can go back and edit your videos by removing images and from the project at any time. Completed projects can be stored on your iPad, uploaded to YouTube, or shared via email.

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Recap Lesson of Pres. Obama's 2nd Inauguration

Utilizing one of the Flocabulary Daily lessons - State of the Union and Inauguration Lesson -  that I shared HERE, we discussed President Obama's second inauguration speech this morning and created a word cloud of the transcript using Wordle.

Link to the official video of the inaugural speech and the transcript.

KM was quite mesmerized by the president - she usually becomes bored and lost during speeches, but she hung on his every word. I guessed the biggest word would be citizens and she guessed people - her guess was quite a bit larger than mine. This was a really interesting quick project that we both enjoyed!

~~~Tip~~~ when we did the cloud the first time, we got a giant APPLAUD through the middle of the cloud because it was in the transcript 24 times! if you make your own use your find tool to remove all the noted "applause" points to get an accurate cloud.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day - I Have A Dream Speech Analysis Lesson Plan

Find Every Literary Term in Martin Luther King Jr.’s Most Famous Speech

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. led a march on Washington, D.C. The speech he gave that day is one of the best known in American history. When people remember the “I Have a Dream” speech, as it has come to be known, they recall King’s message about civil rights. But perhaps the reason it is so memorable is because King was a master of literary and rhetorical devices. His word choice matched the strength of his message.

This lesson plan allows students to review literary terms, rhetorical devices and figurative language with a scavenger hunt through “I Have a Dream” speech. Then you can have students discuss or write about the speech using the literary terminology. This lesson can be modified to work well for everyone from students just learning about metaphor for the first time to AP students reviewing for their upcoming exams.

I Have A Dream Speech Analysis Lesson Plan

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Presidential Inauguration 2013 - Free C-SPAN Classroom Resources

Presidential Inauguration 2013 This Sunday, President Obama will officially be sworn into office in a private ceremony at the White House for a second term. With January 20 falling on a Sunday, the President will also be sworn in during a public inauguration ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on Monday. This is the seventh time in U.S. history that the constitutionally mandated Inauguration date has fallen on a Sunday. The last time was for President Ronald Reagan’s second Inauguration in 1985.   Our coverage of this 57th Presidential Inauguration begins Sunday, January 20 at 10:30am ET on C-SPAN. Events will include: A look back at the President’s 2009 Inaugural Address. Later, a discussion with former presidential speechwriters about this year’s address and how past inaugural addresses have been crafted. Guests will include Terry Edmonds, former director of speechwriting for President Clinton & John McConnell, former speechwriter for G.W. Bush. Then, live coverage of the President’s official swearing in by Chief Justice John Roberts. On Monday, January 21, Barack Obama will be sworn-in publicly for a second term as the nation’s 44th President.  Live coverage begins at 7:00am ET on C-SPAN. Events will include: Gavel-to-gavel coverage of the inaugural ceremony from the West Front of the U.S. Capitol at 11:30am ET. Includes the swearing-in of Vice President Biden by Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, then President Obama by Chief Justice John Roberts at noon, followed by the President’s address. Later, the Inaugural Luncheon from inside Statuary Hall at the Capitol. And, the Inaugural Parade along Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House.  Viewers can also join in the conversation by phone and on Facebook at facebook.com/cspan as well as on Twitter at #inaug2013. Resources for Teachers and Students: Inauguration Speech Guide and Evaluation (.PDF) Inauguration Speeches in History Guide (.PDF) Historical Inauguration Ceremonies Guide (.PDF) Additional Historical Inauguration Programming will air this weekend on C-SPAN3 The History of Presidential Inaugurations Historians Peter Onuf, Ed Ayers, and Brian Balogh each specialize in a different period of American history, and host a weekly radio show called “BackStory with the American History Guys.”  In this program LIVE from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, they’ll explore the traditions of presidential inaugurations, as well as the social and political forces at work around them. Saturday, January 19 - LIVE at 11:00am ET (Re-air at 8:00pm ET) on C-SPAN3 American Artifacts: National Building Museum & Inaugural Balls The first Inaugural Ball held in the National Building Museum was Grover Cleveland’s in 1885, when it was known as the Pension Building and was still under construction. Composed of over 15 million red bricks, the Pension Building contains a Great Hall that’s 316 feet long and 159 feet high. American History TV toured the building to learn about the Inaugural Balls of several presidents, including William McKinley, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. Saturday, January 19 - 9:00pm ET on C-SPAN3   Presidential Inaugurations from the C-SPAN Archive To coincide with the second inauguration of President Obama, American History TV airs presidential inaugurations from our archive. We’ll begin with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s in 1933, and end with President Obama’s first inaugural in 2009. Sunday, January 20 - 1:00pm ET (Re-air at 7:00pm ET) on C-SPAN3

More on the science front ....

After the continued issues earlier in the week and a long discussion we have decided to streamline KM's chemistry program. She feels like it is much more in depth than she will ever need and although I do agree I am also not willing to let her just quit, so we have made a compromise. KM will do the reading for each unit, answer only the review page questions and forgo the other exercises. She will also continue watching the ChemMatters videos and do the HHMI interactives to reinforce the real world connections.

With this adjustment KM will have her chemistry finished in just a few weeks and wants to start right into her Physics when she has completed it. She will be using the Steck-Vaughn Physical Science workbook along with activities from the following sites -

• Magnetic Field Activities for the High School Classrooms
• The Physics Classroom
• A Plus Physics
• Activity Based Physics
• Einstein's Big Idea
• Motions and Force
• PhET Interactive Simulations - Physics
• Molecular Workbench

If you know of any others feel free to post them in the comments section!

Oh why oh why do I open my mouth!

So of course I made the proclamation that things were going well and we weren't going to have to make any adjustments to our programs only to be slammed with a hard core dilemma in Chemistry - KM is just NOT grasping equations! She reads the section and answers the review questions, but as soon as she is asked to work on any sort of equations she is completely befuddled!

I have never taken a chemistry course - EVER! - so I am little help in this predicament. We look up you tube videos and scroll through Khan Academy topics to try to find something that will make it more clear, but nothing seems to be TRULY working. I am not sure where we are headed at this point with it, but I am not willing to let her just give up and feel that she needs to keep working through it - even if that means that we go over each and every answer together with the answer key because I would rather that she see the correct answer than keep doing it wrong and getting frustrated.

Things don't always run as smoothly as many home educators' would have the outside world believe, but this is one of the greatest benefits of this educational choice - customization to the student! We WILL find something that works and won't give up until she has it!

Flocabulary - Lessons For The Rest Of The Year

Flocab on the Daily

Plan out your year with Flocabulary lessons for 2013

Flocabulary's new feature, Flocab on the Daily, will help you:

• Get ahead on your planning.
• Make lessons more fun and engaging.
• Get your students prepared for high-stakes tests.

Flocab on the Daily is our brand new selection of Flocabulary songs, videos and activities for every month of the year. Whether you want a lesson for MLK Day, Pi Day, Shakespeare's Birthday, the last day of school, or some educational enlightenment in between, we've got you covered.

January | February | March | April | May | June
July | August | September | October | November | December

Flocabulary - Lessons For The Rest Of The Year:

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100 Words ______ Should Know -

Stumbled across this and had to share!!! 

100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know and 100 Words Every High School Graduate 
Should Know

I also found this great PDF with the definitions for the high school list - HERE - BONUS!!!