adventures in unschooling

busy unschool week

2012-02-02T21:33:00.000-08:00

I have been letting go ever so lightly to more of our "structured" stuff now that we arent in a charter. I started "strewing" books around from the library that wernt getting picked up. This is a BIG deal for me because I am kinda anal about stuff all over the house. But I wanted to see what would happen with thse books everywhere. No surprise at all, they are being READ! Also Tami is reading chapter books now! do I think she is actually READING them? eh probably not, but this is what she said to me this morning when I asked her about the junie b jones books she was checking out from the library. I asked her, "are these books for YOU to read yourself?" and she said "well YEAH mom...at least Im gonna try!" this is from the girl who last year couldnt remember all her letter sounds!! I let go and let God with her. and in her own time and in her own way she joyfully in reading. I still think there is "something" with that girl. But what benefit would there be in testing her or labeling her special ed? She isnt going to be tested in a classroom, so she doesnt need "special attention: for that. Her first experiences with that kind of stuff will be in highschool and by that time the labels wont matter. I cant believe we spent a whole year with the special ed services drudging through red tape for nothing! they wouldnt even test her for LD's!

UNSCHOOL FIELD TRIP!!!

2012-01-27T19:44:00.000-08:00

how cool is THAT??!! that right we went on a field trip with only other USers!! that has never happened before for us, it was SO nice to be with other families who view education the same way we do. We went to the Hilmar Cheese Factory for a tour and ice cream making. Then after we had some time to chat and hang out and the kids played outside. What a wonderful afternoon just being with other people who think like you do, a place where you can be totally honest and upfront. Now not get me wrong, I hang out all the time with "regular" homeschooers and even PSers. But you always have to be careful what you say/dont say so as to not start "the conversation" unless you REALLY like getting into it with others. Me...Im not always a fan. We got to excahnge thoughts and ideas, lift each other up and support each other. I walked away on cloud nine

unschool reading

2012-01-26T19:30:00.000-08:00

My 2 youngest girls are learning to read together. They are almost 3 years apart but probably only 1 "grade" apart in skill. My middle girl learns at her own pace, which is much slower than the "standards based learning" I really had to learn to pull back and let go of the strings and let her learn at a pace that felt comfortable to her. This was all new to me. My first children were ready to read at around 5 or before. We took it slow and steady and they learned at a quick pace. Tami on the other hand just stalled and it always turned into a crying tantrum. I KNEW this was BAD. The last thing I wanted her to feel about reading was that it wasnt fun or interesting. So I backed off and let her do her own thing. I left fun books out everywhere and read to her whenever she wanted. She is now 8 1/2 and reading at a solid 1st grade level. Yes that is "behind" but that just seems to be how God made her. She is our turtle! I know when she is 30 it wont matter that she was 2 grades behind in school. AND I succeeded in keeping her love of reading in tack. Hannie her baby sister is "normal" in her development and will probably lap her sister in a few subjects is she keeps going. My prayer for Tami is that the Lord protects her spirit from outside attacks. Other children, sunday school teachers, parents and even my frustration at times. Thank you LORD that she is special and unique. The most fantastic child!

what do you do with anti-unschoolers?

2012-01-23T17:53:00.000-08:00

How do you deal with the nay-sayers? the frienemies and the friends who just do things differently? I am working though a few of these right now. Loving friends and "neighbors" who are "concerned" that my children aren't "doing" school. I try to be pretty gauge with outsiders on what my kids do every day until I can figure out why they are asking. If the REALLY want to know, then I REALLY tell em! I don't feel weird talking about our families lack of curriculum styles or need to paperwork each day. The workbox system gives me a rash and I am repelled by most boxed sets. And I don't have problem telling people! non-homeschoolers don't have a clue so we are gentle with them, but since I run a co-op and a curriculum lending library from my garage I come into contact with traditional homeschoolers on a daily bases. I have been getting a lot of questions about our style as of late...more than usual actually. I am seeing a lot of stressed, dejected, overwhelmed and anxious homeschoolers coming through my doors. And here I stand in sweats with a BIG smile on my face and no new wrinkles from worrying over my curriculum syllabus etc. Now mind you I do not hit others over the head with MY way of homeschooling or how MY way is the best , most awesome way to live...its just OBVIOUS! So questions always arise..questions like " why is your 13 yr old in the back yard with the 3 yr old playing ball instead of doing his homework" Or why are all your kids at the park...its during school!" etc etc. I usually use it as an excuse to plug unschooling, but lately I have been getting looks of horror from other moms...kids like I am ruining them for life or something! its very strange, and I am pretty sure I have lost a few friends over our choices. I didn't realize it at first, but I have noticed a few charlotte masoners in my area that have been very absent from our homeschool activities. I guess the classes aren't structured enough! lol! But on the flip side, being honest with our choices has brought more interested and desperate homeschoolers closer to peace with relaxing their schedules or curriculum or even taking the plunge into unschooling so I say keep sticking your nose out there...yeah it might get chopped off, OR you might just make a new friend for life!!

manic fridays

2012-01-20T20:02:00.000-08:00

Every good intention....right? I always wake up thinking that all will go well, it will run smoothly. All will be completed! Wellllll it does not always happen. My ds had a neck ache. He need a trip to the chiropractor, so off we go. math for him?? no way. and he thinks I have forgotten! HA! my dad who lives with us part time was irritated that his room was used for house guests with out him knowing ( guess in hindsight I should have asked first) I banned mine craft for the afternoon, you would have thought Jonah was going to DIE! he survived, and so did his braincells. the kids played a few board games nicely together instend. Micah is still on restriction so she has basically been in the house all the time, but she is making fairly good use of her time. I note she behaves so much better when she isn't around all her friends all the time. The pleasant nice girl I remember comes out for a visit! I am really starting to see that too much socialization for her is NOT a good thing. Tami is enjoying her Bernstein bears book we got for the lending library, and speeding through the teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons. Hannie is learning to count by 2's and more addition. she is also learning to read but at her own pace. We read from "window on the world" today, I LOVE that book!

nature walk

2012-01-17T19:05:00.000-08:00

The girls decided this afternoon to go on a nature walk! Its freezing outside! One of the coldest days of the season so far. and CLEAR out side. I think the only nature they will find is starlings and dead trees! But they went and made a list of everything they saw. Micah wanted to practice her cursive writing. they filled a few pages with stuff! Can I read it...no, but they can! lol! Jonah is still on his minecraft thing, BUT today was the first day of his online astronomy course. He was SO excited! He spent 2 hours on the computer talking to the other students and the teacher. I dont really know what they were doing but it sounded educational! The girls spent some time giving each other mani-pedis. We created something entirely new for dinner with about 3 or 4 leftovers. Leftover casserole! The kids said they liked it! You cant go wrong with cheesy topping I always say!

MINECRAFT ACK!

2012-01-16T18:55:00.000-08:00

I cannot get my 13 yr old to do anything else! I undserstand that its normal for people to have interests that consume them. I am trying to keep him to an hour or 2 a day but sheesh! He would eat in front of the computer and sleep with it if I let him! I prefer a more well rounded day. I am so not in my comfort zone of knowing what to do here. I am flying blind. But I feel at peace when I bring this to the Lord in prayer. He knows what He is doing here. I am working on stepping back and allowing God to work in his life. but I still wont let him sleep with the computer :)

sick day

2012-01-10T20:32:00.000-08:00

thank God I have good kids...I came down with the stomach flu today...I was OUT and they did fine. I have NO idea what exactly the DID but it was good! I know Jonah spent several hours on mine craft videos. Micah made a volcano? or something similar. Tamarah read to me, although I don't remember any of that. Hannah and Isaiah played treasure hunt all around the house. I slept and spent time in the bathroom. a full day!

minecraft day

2012-01-09T17:28:00.000-08:00

Jonah is HOOKED! I can hardly get him off of the computer! I am kinda tired of it now, but thanks to the other Christian Unschoolers I am starting to realize how creative etc this program is! so many neat things you can do with this! and the CU server is so neat. Jonah is enjoying hanging out with all of his new friends. It is keeping busy doing that and checking youtube for mine craft videos. Tami is all over the reading and writing words on the magic white board. Hannah is teaching Isaiah his numbers and letters. Its SO cute! Micah is on restriction for a while for being naughty. It seems that when that happened, she kinda stopped wanting to do anything but read books and write. Im OK with that :) I am in the beginning of a BIG lifestyle hang and that keeps me pretty busy. But Im trying to remember to blog more about our day so I can remember what we do every day!

unschooled christmas

2012-01-07T20:10:00.001-08:00

what a year and what a chirstmas! we have pretty much fallen off of the traditional road now. Joyfully into the unschool path. SO much relief lies there. My kids are so happy. They love learning...that was always my goal. We still have math most days, but hey pretty much have a say in what kind of math it will be. the girls are using teaching textbooks for now, but Jonah who is in 8th grade has lost interest with it and is using more living math books. Right now he is in Everest math, which is supposed to me used in a classroom environment with a group, but he loves the logic problem solving requirements and the hands on building it requires...I say go for it!! He is all into astronomy, so we got him a new telescope for christmas. Yea! I am just as excited to use it as he is! we had a fun filled holiday filled with lots of traditions both new and old. We do the "Jesse tree" now. and the daily stories to go along with it. WE also have been doing what we call "ding, dong, ditch Santa" which is leaving present and treats for families who need a little extra Christmas cheer and ringing the doorbell and running away! the best!! The girls are enjoying reading, drawing and writing a lot these days...Turns out a big white board is magical for littles1 I can't get them away from it!! My 3 yr old is addicted to the television..what else is new. At least its nick jr right?? I can say he is learning!! LOL! Things are going along at a quick pace. Unbelievable that 2011 is already gone. I need to write more :)

the boy REALLY likes astronomy

2011-12-08T20:33:00.000-08:00

I couldnt be happier...tickle me PINK! He has become obsessed with the stars...he knows words that I have never heard. He is doing college based math on quasars....but get this...he hasnt even completed grade 7 math yet!! He kinda veered off of the Teaching Textbooks a while back an onward towards anything astronomy math related. I explained that a lot of this may be over his head and he will need to be patient etc. no problem...he has no problem spending HOURS figuring out a difficult problem to get the right answer to a equation about the distance between the earth and a particular star far, far away etc etc etc. LOVIN IT!! He has also taken to writing "essays" of star related things...go figure! It turns out you dont have to TEACH writing if the student actually wants to write!! I always knew this, but now I have PROOF!

And the branch from the 'essays' from the boy are that the girls are now wanting to write "essays" for themselves...or stories etc. I dont know how long this train will last but Im riding it to the station! All this, today anyway, happened while I wasnt even home...I LOVE unschooling!

Piano Day

2011-12-01T22:39:00.001-08:00

the kids had piano today. we usually have a busier day on thursdays when there is piano. We had to run to the grocery store afterwards. the usual looks from unfamiiar faces wondering...who is this lady with all these kids and why arent they in school? no biggie. an older lady was pushing her cart and my oldest stopped what we was doing to offer a hand. she was grateful and was so suprised at the nice young man who helped her...that he was so polite! I was like oh yeah...its cuz we r homeschoolers! But I kept it to myself :) Then this afternoon J had his lego club meeting. Boys ranging from 5 to 13 were spread out over our large dining room table. The boy is a great leader and I am amazed at how all those ages work so well together, they all meshed into one legotastic body. Then it was chore time...the rooms were NASTY! all through it all there were some tuffles and a few harsh words....none too bad. I let them work it out amongst themselves. Now all are upstairs exited about tomorrows christmas parade downtown

unschool 11/30/11

2011-11-30T14:29:00.000-08:00

today we did the fourth day of advent, we read samuel ch 17 and read about old st nicholas on dec 6th. the kids each did a lesson of math. J has been diving into "astronomy Math" that we found on a website looking for some math that would tie into his love of astronomy. I wanted J to see what kind of math he will need if he goes to college to become a astronomer. we found this site http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/hdf/orientation/two as well as this one http://sciencespot.net/Pages/classastrolsn.html this is the pdf we downloaded that he is currently working through http://physics.bgsu.edu/~tiede/class/bmastronomy1.2.pdf T worked with expanded notation. I have no idea what M did...she was upstairs. H did basic addition and shape finding. Then I worked lesson 1 in "how to teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" with H and did the same with T only we started in lesson 8. she wasnt thrilled but I used this book with J and M and it worked...so I thought I would give it a try with her...we will see how it goes.
Then we cleaned up the downstairs to we could continue putting up christmas decorations. We are still working on that now...we are missing some boxes I think:)

free of charter...well almost

2011-11-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

We left our charter!! after 6 years or so with a public charter, my 3 oldest are now under a private affidavit. CLAY academy is the name of our school and our motto is 2 cor 4:7..."we hold this treasure in jars of CLAY to show that this all consuming power is from God and not from us" I want to make CLAY an acronym for something....either biblical, family, or homeschool related but I cant think of anything yet. Its funny after my week or so of mourning about the loss of the funding from the charter, I feel so much FREEer ....my kids are free as well1 no more silly worksheets stuffed a a random day etc so I can have something to show the school...no more doing useless busywork for the cume file etc. its nice. My kinder gardener is still enrolled so we have a few $$ worth of funding, and we get to keep all of our stuff for now...But Im feeling the call of the wild now like never before...this may be our last year in a charter...we will see how it goes.

fun day.....cool day :)

2011-08-31T15:25:00.000-07:00

Today was such a good school day!! it turned out to be a very ordinary day, and its only 3:30 right now but I was just sitting and observing my kids this afternoon, thinking about our morning. First off, my hubbie and myself are making more of an effort to be present for our kids, we both noticed a trend of exaustion and irritation from both of us of late. we are TIRED!! and it shows. So we are making an effort to spend time in the morning before breakfast etc by ourselves and then with the family. This is new for us. The kids usually are on their own for bfast, and are free to do what they want until devotions at 10. Now we are eating or trying to eat as a family and do cleanup afterwards together. then we hang out till devotions and group time. We were actually ready for devotions at 9am!! COOL! we prayed for a church family as usual and today was the day we do 5 in a row, so we read "papa picolo" and did the art activity described in the book. We also read a chapter of the bible (judges 5 to be exact...learned about Deborah) then the kids all have a math to work on at their own pace, so they wandered off to do that. I read with little I...at least 3 books about baby animals...he loves that. And did spelling, Rocket phonics, and Dianne Crafts visual sight words with T...all in all everyone had fun before lunch. Now the kids are playing school "teaching" the 5 and 3 yr olds. and the oldest is using the computer lego creator. And rhe girls are playing family game night on Wii....all is well, all is calm...homemade pizza and dessert twists for dinner, made with help from 2 kids. lovin it!!

man...sometimes my kids are COOL :)

2011-07-06T18:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, so, I was gone ALL day today at meetings with our area homeschool convention board....I know I know right?? an "UNSCHOOLER" on a Christian Homeschool Convention Staff?? ssshhhh.....dont tell em and I wont OK?? lol!

I get home, all hot and sweaty I might add, to find that my kids or at least the girls had been diligently working on making homemade storybooks. M has a 20 page story that she is illustrating page by page and T was working on a 10 page book. ( now remember T is th one who is REALLY struggling with learning issues right now so YEA for her!!) and little H was trying her best to remember her whole alphabet from heart with NO helps from sissies. All This was for ice cream. I think I created a monster!! I promised T some Baskin if she read a book all by herself yesterday because I had a free scooop coupon for her anyway. This created a vortex of language "stuff" where each kid was asking what they could do to earn Baskin as well. Well of course I had to come up with something!! And there was the Book making and alphabet learnin' and all the rest. I cant wait to see what a dinner date with dad will get me!! thats right, Im not ashamed to bribe my kids!!

I think I am going to STRANGLE as child.......

2011-07-05T14:43:00.000-07:00

thats IT!!!! the WHINING must stop!!! I believe I am the only one who is allowed to whine around here!!

I think that dogs are probably the only things who hear can you now... you have gone into the stratosphere child!!

Where in the world do you get this attitude from?? oh yeah...probably from me :)

what exactly IS unschooling anyway??

2011-07-05T14:42:00.000-07:00

You know I think I like the title more for its shock value that anything....I am not really a fan of the word "unschool" it just sounds like "uncool" or something :) You know the "official" ramirez title for the way we live our life and learn should be something like "every day is a learning day and life is our classroom" but we use curriculum when it suits our needs? I dont think our family reallly fits well into any preformed idea of natural learning. but I DO think "natural learning" is the best way to describe unschoolers in general...and it sounds nicer too! I have been working through a charter school for years now...its becoming harder and harder to continue using them while educating our children in a way that suits our family without outright lying to them about what we are doing. So far I havent had to start lying, but I fear that with every passing year we may have to dissenroll. Now dont get me wrong, its not the end of the world for us to private school affidavit our kids, its just the end of funding for fun stuff like piano and karate and endless trips to rainbow resource and nasco for crafts and cool games etc.

J is going into 7th grade in our charter, a whole new world for us. They are saying that nothing will change and I hope that is true. I am very spoiled by the funding that we have recieved each semester and it has afforded us a cushy homeschool library etc. And this fall my sandwich girl will be able to get formal testging for a learning disability, which would be extremely difficult to get if we private schooled. So there is definate pluses to using a public charter. Still my heart is a bit torn, I think I would feel a bit more free and relaxed in what I know is right for my family if we had no one else to answer to. I wonder if I am REALLY as OK with it as I think I am?? It sounds wierd huh....to not really be sure houw you actually feel about something as important as your choice in home education, but Im not. Some days I am 100% and some days (like today) I'm feeling more like 40%. I think sometimes I would not require things of my children that I now ask if we private schooled. There probably wouldnt be any LA workbooks or programs after they learned to read if they didnt want them. but becuase I have to show my ES something each month, I have them use workbooks because its easier. Am I ompromising?? Yeah, probably....it it over the the line?? not today I guess. I think its probably still worth it. but I may change my mind tomorrow :0)

first day of school in July

2011-07-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

we did "school" today, first time in a few weeks because of all the house stuff going on. I felt bad for Jonah because he had just started some hard new stuff in math before our unscheduled break and he had to start from scratch today because he had forgotten most of it :(
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Leah Lambert Ramirez on the flip side both micah and jonah decided to do some writing on their won. I tolf Micah that I would take her for a scoop of ice cream if she finished her 20 page book she wanted to write, with correct punctuation I might add. We will see how far she gets this week :) and Jonah grabbed a thesaurus and picked about 20 "hard" words to spell and define. I told him he should make a comic strip using those words ....that should be interesting!! and Tami finished reading a REAL BOOK ...star wars jar jar makes a mistake. a level 1 reader. So she got to go for ice cream at BR (its her birthday scoop for free) but she need not know that. All in all a very good start to a very HOT day!!

WOW!! What a couple of weeks we have had!!

2010-10-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

My lovely MIL was visiting for the last 2 weeks and this week was another busy one. If you know me, you know that I am a BIG homebody. I prefer to not leave the House at all at least 3 days a week, and the other ones maybe just to the park or something. But after a month of almost daily visits and trips, I am POOPED!!

We have had so many wonderful learning experiences these last few weeks, some of them traditional ( zoo, and a trip to the giant sequoias) but most of them were natural daily experiences, the kind that pass quickly almost without notice. I wish I had taken a moment then during these last weeks to jot them down because most of them have already passed my memory!

Today the kids and I put together a fence for the chickens. Its a pretty sad sight but it works!! Better than nothing I suppose. We went to our first Renaissance faire. That was a sight I tell you! I can say do not go to a ren faire if you are actually looking for historical Renaissance stuff. You mostly just see drinking and cleavage.

I found out that I am kinda bilingual!! How can you only be kinda bi-lingual you ask?? Well for the most part I dont say that I can speak spanish. But having the opportunity while hanging with my MIL who does not speak ANY english, I surprised my self with my ability to speak spanish with her! Its like I was storing nouns, verbs and conjugations beep within my soul that were just waiting to seep out if given a chance.

I had a meeting with the special ed people though our charter for superT. It was very uplifting to her a "professional" say that I am doing the right thing and that I am teaching her correctly. We have set up a testing day to REALLY get to the knitty gritty of exactly where she is struggling with her reading. I am so excited!! I really hope to see where I can help her more.

J received his very first lego robotics kit this week...I havent really seen him since. I think he has already gone though 1/2 of the book on different robots you can make or some such thing...I guess I should mosey upstairs and take a look.

Riffeyroo my rambuncious 4 yr old has taken it upon herself to learn her letters an numbers. I LOVE that about her. She says "Mommy I am going to do my school now" and goes and finds a dollar store sticker book or something and starts working. She calls it "unicorn school" I asked her if it was school to learn how to be unicorn? She said no....lol!!

Big M is blazing though her studies both planned and natural. I cant keep up with her voracious appetitie for reading. Sometimes I wish she would read something else other than magic tree house or julie b jones, but that is what she is into right now. I know she will mature into great literature...I think I will just leave anne karerena lying around until she picks it up right??

banana bonanza

2010-09-14T18:50:00.000-07:00

Since friends gave me about 20 lbs of RIPE bananas I had to "process" them before they went bad. I had several options. Freeze them whole or peeled, mashed and frozen, or make something up and freeze that. I chose the glory road. BAKE, BAKE, BAKE!!! I took pictures with my ancient digital because my 2 new cameras were either dead and needed recharging or their cards were full.

I was SO proud of myself baking and taking pictures for all of you to see and be proud of me too! You should have seen the oven! there wasn't an inch of space in that thing! I probably had 3 pans on each shelf and I have 3 shelves in the oven. I took pictures of the finished product all baked and beautiful. But you may never see these pictures because my camera is SO ancient that the memory card is gigantic and wont fit on any of my computers! ( we have 4 of all different sizes and ages!!) I took some pics on the other cameras but everything is all wrapped up already)

"stick" with the stick

2010-09-14T18:40:00.001-07:00

today started out as so many other days. Me screaming and yelling!! well I AM trying to NOT scream and yell so instead I have started a new parenting approach. Discipline. I know I know its as old as Adam right? Mu problem is that I am lazy....it is SO much easier to threaten and scream to get the kids to do what they are supposed to do than to speak quietly and carry a big stick. Well my stick might not be that big but I have been convicted again as of late to "stick" with the stick. So at 10:30 am, after I got back from the store and the morning chores were supposed to be done, I found to my surprise that it hadn't! SO instead of pulling out the lazy routine of "didn't I tell you...and why cant you listen.."etc etc I directed their attention to the undone chores and proceeded to explain that since they didn't finish their chores before devotions and reading, that they would be finishing them after devotions and were now grounded to "chore duty" for the rest of the day. I pulled out all of the odd and end chores from the binder that seem to get forgotten about and sent them to work. there was no yelling, I didn't even raise my voice. It was very matter of fact. A cause and effect discipline. Hopefully it was also a discipling of the children. Now I know that tomorrow I will be challenged again, and they will also be challenged. I just hope that I can remember NOT to be selfish and lazy when it comes to my children. If I love them, I will discipline them effectively.

spicy "sweet" peppers

2010-09-10T19:06:00.001-07:00

its SO unfair!! that is the LAST time I buy seedlings from Home Depot!! I purchased several and I mean SEVERAL seedlings from HD in the spring to make up for the untimely death of over 1/2 of my babies before I could transplant them. I got butternut squash and sweet bell peppers among other things like tomatoes and other squashes. Well imagine my suprise when ALL of the squashes turned out to be zuichinni!! Not my favorite but oh well right? I hand planted some butternut and am now watching my babies grow! Imagine my dismay when after waiting for my peppers to bloom and grown and watching them emerge from their blooms, I see that they are in fact NOT sweet peppers AT ALL! I acually dont know what these tiny red and yellow peppers are but they are SO not sweet they are BIG TIME SPICY! total bummer. Now I will have to still get my peppers from Costco. My garden yeild is SO not as much as I wanted this year :0(

where does the day go?

2010-09-10T18:55:00.000-07:00

I swear some days it seems like I woke up only minutes ago and its already time to get the kiddoes to bed! I am truely blessed by these little mess makers...they sure do keep me busy! We had aour regular bookwork today as the kids havent quite finished their summer lang arts workbooks yet. BigM is almost done with her 4th grade one (she just started 3rd!!) so way to go for her! J is plowing through his 7th grade one. and SuperT just has to keep going till she can read and write well enough to do a reading/writing during project during english time. J is still wanting to use natural learning form math, and I still want to let him! but we are just not there yet in the year. Maybe when he finishes his grade for math that he is in. There is just too much other "life" stuff going on for ME to make sure he learns something! I know eventually this year we will get to it. till then 30 minutes of bookwork everyday wont kill him! We had the best day at the park this afternoon, it was beautiful and lots of friends were there. I miss going as much as we used to, but with the other co-op classes and park days we are going to, it doesnt leave much afternoon time to hang out at the park anymore.

We made homemade pizzas tonight and I took some more time this afternoon to quaduple the batch of pizza dough and freeze em. I hope that I will get at least 2 more meals out of the frozen dough. I also recieved a donated bucket of ripe tomatoes and since I didnt have all the ingredients for homemade salsa, I made homemade spagetti sauce but I put some poblanos from the garden in them to give em some pep!

gearing up for another unschooling week

2010-09-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

I am checking out this amazing blog..."life as a MOM" its so awesome!! She has such great ideas for organizing your cooking such as Once a month cooking for the new millenium
( this is so not your moms monthly casserole cooking) and lunch ideas for the kiddoes and easy breakfasts etc. It really get s my juices flowing but I dont know if I will EVER actually do it all. But I am sooo tired of not knowing what is for dinner each and every night, searching though the freezer to see what we have and dont have etc. I might just have to take the plunge! I know we are supposed to do some "school" this week, I am just not feeling it so we will see what happens. I am sure we will at least do some workbook stuff, and maybe we will spend the rest of the time in the kitchen. It is after all zone 2 week! Kitchen all week! Today although it was supposed to be a day of doin' nutin' DH and I ended up de mousing the dishwasher. ( yup found a live one on the glue trap...YUCK!!)thats the second one this year! Ah well we really have no one to blame but ourselves, we never did get around to closing up the holes behind the cabinets where the plumming came in. So while we were at it and just to make sure there wernt any other critters behind anything, we pulled out the fridge and the stove, cleaned behind them (double yuck), and filled the holes with that expandible stuff from Lowes! To see behind that stove you would have thought we had lived here for YEARS without cleaning! its only been about 6 months since we last pulled it out and scrubbed. geeerrooss! anywhoo, the kitchen is now rodent free once again ( hopefully it will stay that way!) Unfortunatly nothing else really got done this weekend but a lot happened! Oh well ce la vie!

colorful pizzas

2010-09-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

It was girls night 2nite...I decieded to make homemade pizzas but with a twist!! I know Im not the first mom to think of it and I wont be the last but it was FUN! I got out the food coloring and we all went to town! BigM picked blue LittleH used yellow SuperT tried on pink...and I mean PINK! We all colored our individual pizzas and picked a variety of toppings. I used my peach salsa YUM! I will be doing that again!!

smells like school in the air!!

2010-09-02T15:48:00.001-07:00

Ah September! that new backpack smell! Gotta love it right?? It all seems so foreign to me now. Even my homeschool friends are starting school again for the year and breaking out all of the new packages of curriculum. The excitement is building....but will it last?

I find myself being drawn further and further away from the mainstream of homeschooling. Don't get me wrong, we still have school time and play time and we use different curriculum's pretty much every day for something or other. But the more I think of a box set of something or "doing" school, the more foreign it feels! I LOVE natural learning. Some days more than others but pretty much every day is a learning day. We don't ever "start" or "stop" learning, we don't have a summer vacation, or a spring break.

My oldest is REALLY wanting to try learning upper math using different strategies other than curriculum and I am all for that! I say GO for it!! But yet I am scared, still after so many years of natural learning and seeing the amazing results of letting my kids lead and facilitating their learning. What if he never learns geometry because we didn't get a curriculum for it?? I feel pulled. I don't want to waste his time and mine using a book that we will momentarily forget after test taking has come and gon. But I am not a math whiz, do how does one go about teaching all this heavy stuff in real world situations? Are there even real world situations for it? another day another mountain to climb. But you know what they say....the higher the mountain the better the view right??

this post was GREAT!!!

2010-08-30T22:24:00.001-07:00

you gotta read it...it says everything I think but oh so much better!!

http://simplehomeschool.net/balancing-character-education-with-academics/

Garden giants!! well not really

2010-08-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

our latest harvest from the garden. I havent seen carrots like these ones before!! we looked up why they grew like this and it seems like carrots usually grow this way! go figure!!

mezo america monday

2010-08-30T21:52:00.000-07:00

So after a impromptu trip to the eye dr. because BigJ was complaining that something was in his eye all weekend (he's fine) BTW. We got back to do some history as a family. SOTW has us in mezo america. The Incas, Aztecs and Mayans. Yea I thought....I have SOOOO many cool books on this stuff! So out shopping to the garage I go and I come back with an arm full of "living books" about the mezo's and we dig in. Somehow I feel that my interest might be a bit stronger than theirs but oh well. Im interested and thats what counts right?? They held on and then after I was done yaking away for what Im sure seemed like hours to them I let them at the books and stepped back. They sniffed around for a bit and then Big J decided to make aztec headdresses that he saw in one of the books and they were off! I sure hope they are interested in these books for the rest of the week, Im going to leave them out till friday so we will see what happens.

Ok so I know how this is gonna sound...

2010-08-29T21:44:00.000-07:00

My 11 yr old just asked to unschool his math. I know I know we ARE unschoolers!! BUT my last hold out has been math because I couldnt figure out how to DO math any other way. But my heart has been leaning for a while in this area and as we were sitting down to have Bible study tonight we were discussing James 1:1-12 and considering trials joy etc etc. We were talking about what might be a trial in the next week and Big J was saying how he really does not like his math work. Well being a crazy unschooler I jumped at the opportunity to see where his mind was headed. I asked him " well if we dont do math curriculum, how are you going to teach yourself all of those complex math problems etc etc?" Well He figured that he could find out how to do those things other ways using science or history or art (his favored subjects). I have to say this really spoke to my heart. I was actually just reading in "the unschoolers handbook" that I picked up at convention last month a personal story that resonated with me. It spoke of worrying about our kids never learning "enough" math. What about the "higher" math? you know prea lgebra and above? The stuff "regular" peaple never really use? Arent we supposed to know that stuff? why, Im not exactly sure other than college courses etc. But if that is the case and he needs to now something in order to get into a specific class for his major, then he will learn it. Self motivation is a much better teacher than teaching textbooks or math u see. Big J wanted to read more about math. To understand it on a conceptual level not a algorithim a+b=c level. ( a boy after my own heart). I really want to give this a try. I think it will really work for our family. BigM LOVES her math and her workbooks but J and T not so much. They are more into the "natural learning"

Now I KNOW that God has given each of our children a natural gift. It is my job to help them grow and explore that gift while facilitating them and helping them along where they struggle. simple homeschool.net says this wonderfully..."Thankfully, it’s not all about academics. Man cannot live on books alone. We need to develop quality relationships, enjoy one another’s company, and learn to get along with one another. Better that my sons be godly garbage collectors than arrogant men with initials at the end of their names." another great quote from them is ..."good teaching isn’t filling a bottle, it’s lighting a fire."

I want to fan the flame of the love of learning. I dont want my kids to hate math or writing or whatever. And workbook pages turn me SO off....I can see how they would turn off a child. SO how to unschool math? I guess its time to find out!!

just going along

2010-08-19T18:19:00.000-07:00

I realized I hadnt written down anything in a few weeks and since this blog is the only way I will ever remember what happened even yesterday, let alone what happened during a month of school, I figured I had better write something down! Oh well I am the only one reading this any so what does it matter? hehehe. Well life has finally settled back into routine around here. Public school started this week and the sense of routine and schedules is in the air once again. We have gotten back into the math and lang arts each day until the kids finish their summer workbooks. Once I reminded J that he didnt have to do any more LA after he finished the summer workbook he was thrilled into action and completed 6 pages! BigM as always LOVES workbooks so I doubt she will ever not be using one. SuperT is plodding along as usual. She is doing alright in the math and LA dept.s but not spectacular. It hink she willget it when she is ready but I am still having her meet with the education specailist with our charter school. I want to make sure we arent missing anything. We are using more manipulatives and Living math during the day for her, and using this new (to us) curriculum called " rocket phonics" that teaches sounds instead of names for letters. She is enjoying it and I am getting the hang of it as well. I just wish I could more easily figure out Al Abacus, right start math. Maybe its to concrete for my abstract mind to understand!! Oh well I am going to keep trying to get the abacus thingy and the math games becasue I think that is the key to SuperT's door. LittleH has been doing "school" a lot lately. I found my self rmembering when J was her age and there was only him and baby BigM. Oh how I used to spend about 45 min a day with him learning all the ABC's and 123's. We drilled and drilled and drilled poor kid.

jammin' saturday

2010-08-07T16:04:00.001-07:00

I just spent about 5 hours in the kitchen makin jam with the kiddoes. My kitchen looks like a fruit massacre happened in there ( it kinda did! ) I started out with plum jam and our japanese exchange student helped a lot by peeling and chopping the peaches. We made 4 batches of jam today and they turned out AWESOME. That is until the last batch anyway. i turned my back for a moment to deal with the 2 yr olds "soup" that he created with the dogs food. And in that moment my glorious beautiful yellow marmalade that was perfect in everyway...(well in my eyes anyway) went from yellow to dark brown. 4 lbs of lemons and 6 cups of white sugar down the drain. not to mention the 1 hour or so I spent of my life making it. Oh well challk it up to a learning session on how to NOT walk away from candymaking or jam making

Yea!! the veggies arent dying!

2010-08-04T20:52:00.000-07:00

So superT went out to the garden this morning and came back with a GIANT!! zuichinni that is. Now I know that lots of other people grow giant zuichinnis and pumpkins and other things just to have giant veggies to show off. I on the other hand am just trying NOT to kill anything. So I am very exctied to see that not only have they manageds to stay alive despite my childrens best efforts to squash and mame, but are actually GROWING veggies! We have, from what I can see, 3 count them 3 watermelons and all the corn stalks are producing multiple ears. The tomatoes are a little on the squashed side from the lack of proper care and trellising. so I didnt get the hoped for over abundance of tomatoes this year. I am learning from my mistakes for next year. I even bought a backyard homesteading book that I am reading voracously while my husband laughs! I am looking forward to canning what I can (hehehe) and eating the rest. The giant zuichinni isnt good for anything but schredding for soups, bread, or anything else I want to add shredded zuichinni too! I made a "ragu" with garden yummies from the neighbors on monday and it was so good we were eating it with chips like a italian salsa!

a sad day

2010-08-04T20:45:00.001-07:00

Well as we all know in like there is learning from happy times and from sad times. Today we had a glorius day at the river. playing and learning about the river currents and local inhabitants. When we got home, one of the neighborhood dogs a nice dog but still a dog, had gotten into our backyard and in an instant...while I was home killed carmel, BigJ's chicken. It was carnage! He is devistated. Its going to take a few days for him to start feeling better, then we will go and pick out a new group of chicks. We need a total of 10 or 12 so I havent quite decided how many to pick up. My moms heart breaks for him, but it is a teacable moment on animals and life. Scooter isnt a "bad" dog, he is an animal with insticts. We just jot REALLY lucky with our dog Buddy, who had NO instincts and thinks he's people!

too much curriculum talk;)

2010-08-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy these past few weeks...doing what exactly Im not too sure. We have working on bookwork and H hasss been digging into her prek curriculum we have lying around. She has discovered the sticker book and sometimes we wont be able to find her! She will be hiding somewhere with her "school" putting stickers all over her new workbook. Thank you dollar tree! SuperT had been working with momma on her new borrowed curriculum for reading. Its called rocket phonics and so far she is REALLY liking it. I have used pretty much any curriculum out there for reading as well as no curriculum at all for SuperT's reading issues and so far no luck. We will see where this one leads. Not to say she hasnt made progress over the last year or so, its just that its glacierly slow! But slow is better than no! We had Vacation Bible School last week. so no book work then. Big J has been working on his teaching textbooks and doing GREAT! M is going along with her 4th grade lang arts and math. We will have to get a new computer for the kids so she can work on her teaching textbooks ....I feel all rashy now...too much "curriculum" talk.

summer lazy days

2010-07-17T20:24:00.000-07:00

my baby is BACK!

2010-06-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

Finally and shes running better than ever! Purring like a kitten! We have been rolling along with our summer workbooks. I have decided to use Rocket Phonics with super T. She is still having a tough go with reading and I'm not opposed to a curriculum when it suits me....and this time it TOTALLY suits me! I had to get a crash course in the curriculum ( It was too far above my head I guess!) I couldn't understand the sounds and blends etc. lol But it looks like something SuperT will totally get. So I am game for anything that helps my child love to learn!

On another note I found a baby blue Jay while on my morning walk. Buddy saved it from being a snack for another dog and we brought it home. The kids were so excited about feeding the fledgling and caring for it, I thought what the heck right? So off to the pet store to get some formula and a baby bird feeder. Then as I am reading all of the things you have to do for the bird to not die, my wonderful friend who is also a licenced annimal and reptile rescuer tells me that if we kkep the bird we will probably kill it for varous reasons and it might give our chickens a disease AND will become domesticated and hang out not being able to care for itself etc etc. so we gavew the baby to her to take to a rescue bird zoo or something or other...it was an open adoption however because we will still get pictures and can visit if we want to!

Still carless.....

2010-06-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the mechanic showed up for a few hours, enough time to take apart my van's innards. They are currently strewn all over the table in the garage. At least he is generous enough to allow Big J to "assist" in the mechanics shop. I didnt even see J for those 2 hours! He was fetching tools and unscrewing "thingies" ( I know there is a technical term for those things but I have NO idea what they are) We went to a wedding yesterday, it was SO beautiful! we havent been to a wedding since OUR wedding! The munchkins stayed behind and spent the day at the neighbors birthday party. Im sure they had much more fun there then they would have had if forced to go to a wedding. But I sure had FUN! It was great to get away from teh kids for an afternoon and spend some quality time with the hubs! He sure cleans up nice too!

Today is fathers day(and our anniversary)....guess which one we are clebrating? Fathers day of course!! It homemade tacos for dinner and cute cupcakes that the kids are making. The BIG gift is a new "fancy" commuter mug for Dad, because one of the kids boke the old one....perfect huh?

So starts another carless wekk in the household. You would think iit would be cleaner and I would have gotten a lot more stuff done huh!

Big chickies!!

2010-06-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

Our babies are getting soooo big!! I took some pics of them in the garden which is also getting soooo big! It turns out that the butternut squash I was SO looking forward to was in fact....get ready....ZUCCHINI!! I know I know be greatful for the abundance that is growing...blech...I SO am not a fan. But we shall partake joyfully anyway. Luckily I have been squirling away butternut seeds for a few months and we planted a LOT of them today, that oughta get me somewhere.

bad news (of sorts)

2010-06-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

We did get some bad news (of sorts) this last week. The family fan broke down and its going to take a couple of weeks to fix, so I am out of a car until then! Grrrrr! And we were supposed to go camping this week, so instead no camping stay home. However my darling had already taken the week off! But wait!! There’s more!! He found a job that he was very interested in getting so this week he has been upstairs in the office for hours and hours working on his portfolio and resume so he can apply for this position by the weekend. So providence prevailed. The car was already acting up and I was very concerned about taking it camping and it breaking down somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Instead it broke in our driveway and our mechanic was able to come right away for a diagnostic. Its just a spark plug issue…..but it’s a BIG one! Its going to take him several hours to repair and he needed a day off from work to do it hence the wait time for repair. It seems God has truly protected us from disaster and provided time for my darling to work on his portfolio. If we had gone camping, he would have had to do it in pieces when he had the time.

buzy with life...

2010-05-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

OMgosh!!We have been super busy doing something or other....you go to finally write something down to have proof of your existence and....well....I KNOW we have done things....

Oh well The garden has been GROWING!! I believe this is my new pet project. I really enjoy hanging out in the garden and the new backyard with the family. I find my way out there at least once a day. Super T has been reading gardening books from the lending library about how to grow flowers etc. we have planted some seedlings as well flower seeds we got from the dollar store ( yea dollar store!!) J had been focused on everything and nothing at the same time. He is currently ( and I mean this minute currently) trying desperately to finish His AWANAS book. I gave an ultimatum that he MUST finish his book before the end of the year (tonight) or we would not be able to go back again next year to the Jr. High AWANAS. He has to fulfill his end of the bargain. AWANAS isnt just about hanging out with your friends, you are supposed to be learning as well. Seems he did not feel obligated to work on his book this year. I am so hoping that he does finish because I REALLY do not want to have to live up to my end of the bargain and make him stay home :(

interesting week....

2010-05-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

well it HAS been! I was sick mon and tues, now little H is under the weather. SO I have NO IDEA what the kids did monday but the garage looks like a glitter fairy exploded and there are many mobiles and weird little thingies abounding in there. I recovered enough to to laundry and the basics over the last 2 days so there isn't a mountain of house stuff waiting for me (thank you Jesus) We go the backyard finished last Friday so we have been enjoying that immensely! Big J has been grounded form T and computer AND Lego's for a week because he fibbed about chores so he could do those things. although we actually did "school" yesterday...math for all and LA for the girls, we kinda did home ec etc more so. We gardened a LOT and worked in the shed cleaned that out and then hauled all of the Christmas stuff upstairs to the attic area...where it sat till today because I was too tired to do anything else with it ( I was sick remember!!) So today we did devotions after chores and then we watched 2 hours of the story of us civil war. (it was only supposed to be an hour but it was so interesting!!)then I went on a field trip of one to the local store to pick up a NEW dishwasher!! very exciting a new stainless Maytag is currently on its way. Antoher unschooling moment will soon follow as we all learn together how to install a dishwasher and remove a really nasty one filled with icky water. wiki how anyone???

math turned into science??

2010-05-05T14:32:00.000-07:00

Every day is a new and exciting day around here. It is rarely the same. I almost always start the day out with a stroll. (notice I said stroll NOT walk) Its more about time alone that anything. That helps me focus for the day and prioritize. But even then its fluid. Insead of the math english stuff I was thinking of this morning we made stuff out of the family fun magazine and played in the sand in the backyard. Totally worth it. Followed by lunch and game room tidy up. a fulll morning. And very rewarding.

J was reading the magazine and saw how much COOL stuff was in it. He wanted to make the DIY lava lamp and for once we had all the materials. So I said go for it! It actually turned out really cool and the girls and J learned about mass and weight from the water and oil and watched a chemical reation with the alca seltzer. Also watched the colors chnge in reation with each other and the other liquids floating in the lamp.

landscaping and computers

2010-04-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

My butt is numb. I have been sitting at the dining room table all day. I didn't plan on doing that. I sat down to answer some email. That was all. It is now 10:30 pm. Good news is...I answered the email! I have absolutely NO idea what the kids did today. Must have been unschooling:) There is a crafty mess in the garage...a PE mess in the backyard....a toy mess in the game room....and wii everywhere. no wonder it was so quiet! They were all occupied with stuff around the house. I got SO much stuff done! It was awesome, well except for the no lunch part and the numb butt. However the kids are happy and house is clean and I am peaceful. All is well. Oh yeah and there was math in there somewhere....I'm pretty sure they did it while I was at the DMV. But that's another story.

las maraposas civil war days

2010-04-22T21:25:00.000-07:00

Ok so without further adieu, the last Friday civil war reenactment day was TOTALLY AWESOME!! We had so much fun ad we learned so much! all of the actors were so great. They took the time to really interact with our group and answer untold thousands of questions. Just goes towards homeschoolers that they were NOT surprised that our group was so interested. They said that most of the groups with questions were the homeschooled groups! We saw the sutlers village, learned about laundry and lice. Saw how a proper lady would dress, including their underclothes! MAN you should check out the "panties" the ladies would wear. I'm so glad that I live in the present day. Thank God for Hanes Her Way. We watched the skirmish and I think the south won that one. If it wasn't for the car trouble we were (and are) still having the day would have been perfect!

super crazy wednesday.

2010-04-14T22:48:00.000-07:00

MAN haow much CAN you pack into a 15 hour day? lets all find out! Most of it was without even leaving the house so score double points for me!

so we started out the day first with a quiet walk before the insanity for me. (that is when the mob gets breakfast and does the kitchen chores supposedly:) then after I get back from the stroll we have music and devotions. Then the girls anyway did their math and Lang arts stuff and I went outside to work on the backyard. See the landscapers were SUPPOSED to come tomorrow to start on the yard I was VERY exited....too exited I guess because the inevitable calll came "sorry maam we are backed up cant come until next tuesday" waa waa whaaa. Oh well Guess I will probably have to clean up the backyard AGAIN next week.

Big M and Super T wandered out with the wonder twins as I was working out there. They helped pick up the craziness. Then We moved into the garage. Miraculously my oldest appeared as if out of a mist. (he was supposed to be upstirs doing some math) suddenly I see them ALL chasing bumble bees and captuing them in plastic tubs. They were trying to force pollination between the bees and various outdoor flowers that we have in the yard. so I ignored the fact that his math was undone. its not going anywhere but the bees are. Then he decided to get out all of his rocks from his ever increasing collection. spread them out on the driveway and started to classify and teach his 2 year old brother aqbout all the rocks he has. Izzy promtly dropped a fairly large one and turned it into 2 smaller ones! J was ok with it. He said thats how you see whats inside. so sweet.

Then we turned to the GARAGE! the bain of my existence. I think little gremlins come into it at night and move the books around and take out all the crayons and paper. Oh wait maybe its the kids? Oh well we got to work. WE had to move several shelves worth of books around to make room for yet MORE books ( thanks Poppie) Then I moved my giant and I mean GIANT file cabinet from one wall to another to make room for 2 more shelves:) This particular file cabinet has been laughing at me since we moved ( 8 months ago) I have all of the stuff IN the cabinet but not usably since everything is just shoved in there from the moving boxes.

then quick change and run over to teh dentist to get my teeth fixed. I called J becasue I forgot to put dinner in the crockpot. Instructions as follows. open bag of meatballs. dump 1/2 of bag in pot. add maranade. turn on! and voila!! we have din din! way to go J!!! add rice and a quick and tasty meal comes our way. ( thanks for the recipe patricia!)

Then it was a dash to the finish in the garage for one more hour and dinner and rush to awanas and babysitting for me. now its stime to put op my feets and relax! For tomorrow is another day!

Civil war!!!!

2010-04-12T17:24:00.000-07:00

We are gearing up for friday. Big civil war reinactment nearby! Soooo we spent hourds on learning all about what started the BIG war! read the bio on harriet beacher stowe. Read the first 2 chapters of uncle toms cabin. The kids put together paper dolls of abrahams lincolns family and civil war soldiers and battlefields. The coolest thing was we found all of that in our library int he garage. very spur of the moment. so cool. The unschooled portion of the day was when it started hailing outside. (very unusual for this part of CA) we spent the better part of a 1/2 hour outside in it. taking pics and enjoying the moment. It was also bread day here. we needed more sandwich bread so we whipped up 3 loaves. they are currently doing their second rise and awaiting baking. This is a learning curve for all of us as I am new to breading as well.(update they came out SOOOOO GOOD! yummy!one loaf is already gone.)

fun times....at casa ramirez

2010-04-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

interesting week. very... Monday. zones, chores etc etc oh yeah and "school" stuff. Math and Lang arts for all. yippee! then, Tues basically park and home stuff. Wednesday, dentist in turlock. Thursday history we watched leo da vinci flying machines and how the states got their shapes. Friday math and lang arts. Tghats the regular version of what happened, but do you really want to hear what we did? I spent a crazy amount of time on our backyard. we all researched chickens. WE wanted to know what would be the best breed for us to have. Good layers vs cuddly feathery cute ones. Everyone has their own opinions. I told the kids I was open to ideas, they just had to be good ones! They are off making their cases right now. WE have interviewed landscapers galore, I have seen every price and idea out there for our martian landscape. Any where from 2500.00 for the whole lawn to 20,000! This was an opportune time to teach the kidlings about knocking the top and bottom bids out and weeding out from the middle.
so after deciding on a landscape company, we had to jump into gear with our raised planters for the garden. This admittedly is so my baby right now. I have spend probably untold hundreds of minutes (hours?) online "researching" beds, pricing, going to home depot to find out about wood. Trying to keep my champagne wishes and caviar dreams in line with my beer budget. Originally I figured 50 bucks outta cover it! Then I went to the store and realized how much wood is! and screws! OMG!! Plan B...Plan C... PLAN D!! even all fell through either because it was a silly plan that would never work or still to expensive. Who knew dirt cost so much!!?? I mean ITS DIRT! Its supposed to be FREE! Well in my little world it is anyway. SO finally after some god sent free lumber (yes!!) and 150.00 in 2x4's and 4x4's and screws. We are there. Well almost. I HAVE the stuff now but it hasn't been assembled yet. That will occur this weekend! I'm so exited. The landscapers will be here next week. I need to have them all done before they get here. so Sundays the limit. My babies are going in the ground! I'm going to take pics of before and after this weekend for y'all to see

weak week??

2010-04-02T23:15:00.000-07:00

well everyone is probably wondering "what did they DO this week?" Good question all! For one I tortured myself with diet and exercise...still 2 days to go before the big weigh in. I'm hoping to drop 3 lbs this week. I even made a chart to "help" me reach my weekly goals. we shall see. The kids on the other hand did a myriad of things this week which I am struggling to bring from the recesses of my mind. It seems we did a lot of tidying this week. lots of baking and cooking ( much to the chagrin of my diet I might add) I guess we just did regular stuff...fun stuff...life stuff! J has started paying a computer game where you are a miner in a mine or something and he's walking behind me spouting off all the different things you have to do to get such and such out of the ground. He was using all this tech jargon for at least a few minutes before my radar went off and I started asking questions like "huh? what was that? what does that mean?" etc etc. I didn't want him to know I hadn't really been listening for le last few minutes, but he was VERY exited...I'm thinking segue to ca mining history? Ya know my brain is always on the lookout for new ways to pique my kids interest ( and mine) to learning something new and different! The girls have taken up reading to one another ...so cute...and me. I started using LA workbooks with the older ones. I think it will benefit them both for the time being to help them learn more quickly what they are interested in. Just this week super T has gotten much better with her reading and is probably up to her grade level ( if we cared... which I do if it looks good for us;) Big M is only interested in keeping her nose in a book and her hand on a mixing spoon. The cookbook is coming along. This weekend we are going to make homemade Oreo cakesters! Or try to anyway! Will post to let all the people in nowhere land know how it goes!

snow day!

2010-03-31T16:26:00.001-07:00

snow day! sonora. soooo much fun!

piano days

2010-03-31T15:59:00.001-07:00

The 3 amigoes LOVE piano and their teacher mrs Gerstenberg! She is so caring and patient! here are some pics of them at practice for school stuff.

pet store day

2010-03-31T15:55:00.000-07:00

learning about habitats and animals at the ceres exotic pet store. J was a bit ols but he still had a good time. Dont know if they learned anything new BUT we do know the scientific names for the different kinds of trees now! Thanks Julie!

Rock Day

2010-03-31T15:52:00.001-07:00

the annual trip to the rock show was a success as it is every yer. Jus tone more reason we lived closer to modesto. MAN everything is over there!

sickie poo

2010-03-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

we are still trying to get over the yucks that we had over the weekend. The big girls are working again in their LA workbooks. Super T really likes it and needs the extra help Big M does not really need any LA program but its good for her character. :) She is already in a 4Th grade workbook and shes only in 2ND! To each their own. J had been plodding along ( and I mean plodding) in his Teaching Textbooks grade 6. He feels , and I somewhat agree, that he has "learned" fractions and should be able to go do something else. My unschoolerness totally agrees with him, BUT, the stickler mom sees that he really does not have ALL of it down and keeps making small mistakes. SO we are trying to remember all of the rules of each thing divide then multiply while reducing etc etc etc. Makes MY brain hurt! But so far the interest is still there and I don't have to pull teeth just yet. Guess we will see what to do when we get there. He still have like 60 lessons in this book before going on that's like 3 whole months! Super T is flying with her reading! She Loves it and she is OK with the fact that she cant read everything. The Drama Queen of reading had been vanquished ( for today anyway) Big M is only interested in reading and cooking. Its a bummer that she isn't that great at the later yet, or I would be out of a job!

awanas olympics

2010-03-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

kids went to the awanas olympics last saturday. They placed 4th for the girls and 1st for BigJ! they placed all sorts of games and sports. Both team and individual. They were Awesome!

Science day

2010-03-26T18:08:00.000-07:00

WOW what a fun day! We had soooo much science stuff! I thought that most of the kits that I was saving up on the top shelf of the library were used up and missing a lot of pieces! But to my surprise only 2 had missing pieces and replacements were easily gotten. All the other parents brought science stuff and we set about getting stations ready and lunch on the table. We probably had close to 40 people here. Didn't really count heads though. There was enough everything to go around and enough different stuff for all interests. Big M was upset that she had to wait to use the perfume kit though. She didn't want to wait while others were doing electricity and magnets. Oh well to bad...so sad! Super T was the only one left outside with the dissected frog. She was in heaven! It was so cute! she cut that hing all to pieces finding both known and imagined organs. Very unschooly...

a star filled week......

2010-03-24T21:35:00.000-07:00

We have had star testing the last 2 days....it makes for a whirlwind of activity! Yesterday after running higgelty piggelty everywhere we also went out of town to take superT to the dentist...so far so good. Her x-rays show no damage as of yet, we go back in 2 weeks for another set of x-rays to check again. hopes and prayers are that we come off unscathed. Also today we have been running the race so much that by behind has yet to sit even to eat until just now! I am NOT a fan of days like these. Im looking forward to next week when we can get back to real life. Enjoying the company of our family AT HOME!! Everyone remind me of these words when nest week I am complaining about the noisy children climbing all over me! Oh yeah and after testing we went to the Missoula Children's theater to have a free acting class for ALL of my kids! they even let the 3 yr old participate. Very cool!

leonardo da vinci

2010-03-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in. -Leonardo da Vinci

unschoolishous!!

2010-03-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

that's right....I said it! a great unschoolishious day! It was a productive and happy one. Got our chores done, had time with dad, played hard, watched a video about Leonardo DA vinci, very cool btw. The house is mostly clean. The kids are happy and dinner has been cleaned up! Turns out bribery of ice cream dessert works wonders! The kids are now trying to train the dog to do something...no idea what. but they are all screaming and running and yelling buddy buddy! they are technically supposed to be upstairs finishing up the game room but there will always be messes to clean....there wont always be fun after dinner dog training exercises! Uh oh looks like the dogs gettin' tired. They are really having to coax him to run now. The time for cleaning up might be drawing nigh'!

tooth troubles:(

2010-03-21T21:58:00.001-07:00

SuperT bit it HARD on friday. Will post pics. teeth all jammed up in her gums. Blood everywhere. Poor girl. It was awful. dr says she might lose the teeth....might not though! Tues we go back to find out.

Oh and I cut BigM's hair by accident.....looks cute though. Im thinking of becoming a full time barber. whatta ya think?

exploding bread recipe!

2010-03-17T21:33:00.001-07:00

well I'm sure the kids did SOMETHING today...I wouldn't know I was at a meeting for VHE most of the afternoon. I DO know that we all went on a walk this morning before I left, we made pancakes and french toast for breakfast because we ran out of bread. Then after lunch the kids tried to make banana bread from the recipe that I had quickly written down from memory. I reread it to make sure that it was correct...looked good to me so I left it out for them. Sometime later I got a phone call at my meeting "um the bread kinda exploded" is what I hear coming from the other end of the phone. When you hear something like that your mind has a tendency to wander...to BAD places. So after I went down the emergency contact list I found out that there was a goopy, sticky, banana flavored mess waiting for cleanup when I got home. At first we couldn't figure out what went wrong! I looked at the recipe and asked what they had done etc etc. Then a few hours later it dawn in a cake recipe will make it explode all over your oven!! I smell a teachable moment! ( and a little burned banana too...kinda smells like kettle corn!)

trip to see "exotic" pets....

2010-03-16T13:14:00.000-07:00

yesterday we went to see some "exotic" pets in Ceres. I "" because the wernt so exotic as advertised but still very fun. The kids were there learning etc for over 2 hours and got some goldfish for the tank. Julie H. really did a great job with them. This is the first time I really realized that J is outgrowing a lot of this "little" kid stuff. He really was to old for this trip ;) He didn't mind though, he had a fun time anyway! The Kids learned about habitats and animals etc. Had a scavenger hunt and made mini oceans. Then we topped it off with in-n-out burger for lunch (a treat for us since we don't have one here in the big city. After all that fun we came home and got the house ready for a party that lasted late into the evening...8:30 pm ;) Today is a "school" day. More regular stuff. We pulled out the history pockets for some family stuff. did the beginning of going west. We will see how the interests hold but so far so good. Then the 2 older kids had testing from cwcs upstairs on the computer. and superT did some math. MAN she is really getting it now! I'm so glad I didn't push her before she was ready. She really likes doing math now and feels confident in her abilities. Now they are cleaning up from the lunch they made. J is still working on his testing. And the girls are contemplating the rest of the day. So many options! cooking. art play time choices choices choices. I will let you know what they decided to do!

joy filled weekend

2010-03-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

well we went hither to and yon this weekend. The kids had the awanas Olympics and today we went to the rock and mineral show. It was super cool. The kids got the loot and some popcorn. A very satisfying day. I am now hanging out for a while with my dad before hauling myself off the couch and tidying up the house for my friends candle open house here tomorrow. Come one and all to my house for candles and food! Must clean now because we are heading out of town on a field trip to check out cool and amazing animals etc tomorrow. Will post pics etc tomorrow. hope everyone had a blessed weekend because we did!

the cookbook begins

2010-03-11T19:27:00.001-08:00

well the girls started in on their cookbook today! BigM came up with the recipe. "peanut butter and chocolate freezer cookies" I think it needs some tweaking before perfection. I'm trying to teach the girls that less ingredients is sometimes better. Just because you have the ingredient in the pantry does not mean you need to use it, AND just because the ingredients are all things you like separately does not mean they work well together! I have let them go and experiment with different ingredients (even though I fell like we MAY be wasting food...which makes me kinda twitchy thinkin' about it) I realized that it is not a waste! They are learning by doing...which is kinda my mantra now. They learned tonight that you cant add extra coffee powder because you really like that flavor, it messes up the finished product. So they are going to try changing the ingredient list and remembering to USE the measuring spoons...I'm posting some pics to show all they are so cute!

unschooling reading

2010-03-10T21:55:00.000-08:00

Its so funny I cannot get my ABC function to believe me when I tell it that unschooling is a word! Anywhoo.....My "superT" is learning to read. She is my first "unschooling" reader so far, and MAN is she perfect for it! She is pig headed and stubborn and a "bit" of a drama queen. She is 6 1/2 and a little "behind" where her siblings were at her age. She is the one who forced me to consider "maybe kids really DO learn differently?" Because we were sooooo not learning/teaching the same! For the past 3 years we fought the battle of phonics and reading as well as math and pretty much everything else! I even had her evaluated because I thought there MUST be something wrong with her! But No she is just different. The door to her mind had a key, a key that was different than the key I had. I just needed to find the right key to unlock her! Well seems unschooling really is unlocking her mind. I just let go. That's all. I gave her the reigns and let her go at her own pace. We turned reading from "school" to fun! Now BigM is teaching her to read. Shes only 12 mos older than superT but she reads like a pro already. And instead of M making T feel bad for not being smart enough etc. she is graciously and lovingly helping her sound out words and sentences. I am seeing the fruit right before my very eyes! T is LOVING reading! Its not a fight....and I managed to not kill the love of learning by forcing her when she was not ready and fighting about school, which we had started to do when she was 5. There were days where she would spend hours and hours doing busy work and crying and pouting and the power struggle between us was heart wrenching. I KNEW that God was doing a work in my heart, and that T needed me to change...so I could help her grow. So here we are now. I'm still struggling with the key....I don't quite have it yet. I think her key might just be love and patience. But can tell you for certain... You CAN learn to read without curriculum. It is possible and likely that your child will learn to read all on their own. I now have an example right from my own house! And trust me....If superT can do it ANYONE can!

Hike to dino point

2010-03-10T17:21:00.000-08:00

So yesterday we all went on a hike up to pig pond. yup you heard me PIG POND Im not really sure why its called pig pond there arent pigs around just cows and its pond shaped not pig shaped. so..... anyway we went there. it was a 2 mile round trip hike with friends and you should have seen the complining!! you would have thought that we were making march like the donner party to their deaths! Little I walked most of the way uphill before requesting to be carried. Thank goodness I remembered the sling. I packpacked him for the rest of the way;>P He was pretty heavy but I did it! So could not have done that a few years ago. We got really muddy and squishy and got stalked by a bull, saw a 2 lb toad that we played with for about a hour....man that thing was HUGE! Le learned about nature by experiencing it it was sooo unschooley! yea for us! We finished it off with a great picnic. awesome day!

fans and recycling

2010-03-10T17:14:00.001-08:00

so we got the fans upstairs installed today. It kinda messed up my plans for geniusizing the kids but oh well! We had already read from the Mystery of history and story of the world and watched a video about recycling and garbage that J was interested in. Then I got the "call" buh buh bummmmm!!!! THEY were coming! the installers. Quick.... clean!!!! they cant see how we really live!! So after a tornado of tidying up upstairs and downstairs we made it by the skin of our teeth. we only had about 15 min. So the morning of math and reading was pushed aside for fellowship with some friends and learning about fan installation. After lunch we went to the junior college to look at wildflowers they were BEAUTIFUL! then a field trip to walmart for light bulbs for the fans topped off with little ceasers for dinner cuz its wacky wednesday! Now the irchins are reading up on their AWANAS books for tonight and I am getting ready to babysit at church for the couples bible study. all in all a fruitful day! The only bummer was I was too tired to wake up in time to go on my quiet time walk. try again tomorrow!

Im back a year later

2010-03-08T20:14:00.000-08:00

Ok so I forgot about this blog for about a year. But I kinda like the idea of blogging our daily events. It will help me remember what the heck I did that day! So Today was monday...we had our devotions after my morning walk/quiet time. The kids got the kitchen cleaned up pretty quickly today after bfast. That made me happy as we have been working on that. Then after devotions we had monday zone chores. that went fairly smoothly and now the house no longer stinks like feet! The kids still have a daily math assignment from teaching textbooks or math u see. I would love to completely unschool but Im still a little to paranoid to let it all go. My heart says yes and my brain says wellll maybe we will see. The kids do their own thing for everything else. J wanted to build a house today but realized that we do not have all the materials hanging around for that. he adjusted to building a house on the internet instead. The girls have been working on plays for easter and brainstorming ides for a cookbook they want to make. they go back and forth about doing it together or separately. H has been working in a workbook for PK she LOVES "doing" school. I know the kids are learning this way and Im so proud of them and me for being able to let go and let God direct their learning. I am constantly reminded of his grace in their daily lives and how amazed I am that they DO learn if given the opportunity all by themselves! And when they discover something on their own they are delighted by it! It had been learned for life. Not a waisted moment in each day is my new motto. I am constantly asking myself. Is this worth the moment? Are we wasting our time with this? It really has weeded out a LOT of fluff in our days making it easier to focus on the things that REALLY matter. Faith and Family topping the list. I am daily asking myself will this help my children grow to be Godly adults? You will be surprised the amount of things that do not fall under that category.

Well back to our day. We went to the park for a while but it was freezing so we came home early. We had beans for dinner with flautas and papas. I was supposed to go to worship practice but it was cancelled ;( I am now sitting with the kiddoes watching "a world without oil" on nat geo. Its a very interesting special. It would probably make a great disaster movie! Well Im going to try and post as much as possible. And since Im like one of the few reading this blog I will see myself later!!

same ol same ol

2009-05-04T16:20:00.000-07:00

well nothing and everything has been going along just like usual. We had the fair this last week. the kids entered some art projects in and we went to see them. Been working on convention stuff for july and co-op stuff for may. The kids will be doing a presentation on their favorite celestial body next week. so they have been working on that. a lesson a day of math and spanish for all. the younger ones have been watching "plaza sesamo" every day for their spanish and J has been woking on his rosetta stone. T has been woking through a phonics book again. we are learning how to do whole lang for her because phonics isnt working but for now its better than nothing. I have been woking on my orders for next year. I really want my living math stuff! but man what a workout requesting all these books because amazon isnt a vendor I have to get all through borders or b and n. we have trudging through the mud of the early middle ages. we are up to about 1100 or so. just started the first of the crusades. We are starting the book of galations as well. good stuff!

and Im back

2009-04-28T16:19:00.000-07:00

as they say if you fall off the horse you should get right back on. Sooo a few weeks later and I have a month of blogging to do for CWCS. Of course I am bound to forget some stuff. but better than nothing right? Anyway let me start with the group stuff. Im not going to go into the weekly things because my ES knows what we do every week for EXTRA CuRR. activities. WE went to sac and the discovery museum. It was about the human body. fun fun. WE also went on a nature hike and a wildflower hike. We did 4-H as well so now I will start with the ind stuff.

J- Been learning about fractions online as well as using TT grade 6 he has also been practicing long division. we are waiting to use our new living math curriculum until I can get all the necessary books. He has been plodding away daily at spanish using rosetta stone. a lesson a day and he is on to sentences already! He has been working on physics workshop and discovery. he has been making gears and pulleys. he has also been working on a piston engine. We all learned about the history of iceland and greenland and leif erricsen and the vikings and first explorers to america etc.

WE also started on midevil history and we read through matthew-john on the Crucifixion. Biblical history ties with easter. They all created sculpture with recycled materials. We have been going through little house on plum creek a little at a time. The girls have been listing to classic tales on CD at night as well as living bible stories.

M- has been doing large # addition and subtraction with borrowing and carrying she has been watching plaza sesamo every day with T and H for spanish She reads prolifically any girly book she can get her hands on. as well as some science and history magazines for kids. she especially likes the discovery kids magazine's. She has been making LOTS of books and coming up with her own story lines and illustrations. she tags along with her brother for science. but he has been reading up on Flowers and birds in the birds and blooms magazine. she recently found 2 blujays out of their nest and watched and observed them and their mother to see what mom was doing.

T-did mostly the same as M she worked on basic addition and sub and has been working on 5 sight words a week memorizing and writing them.

they all worked on a BIG craft project with the CO-OP. they made big cardboard versions of themselves and glued them on to a big board with everyone else. It turned out really neat!

Well that should be enough to fill out the monthly report with. Its only fraction of what we really did but it gives you the main idea!

a busy couple of days

2009-04-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

monday, tues, wed....what a blur. It seems that the everyday adventures take up all our time! Between church, friends and various group activities I have barely had time to sit and breathe! I am trying not to think that we did no "school" just because we did not spend a lot of time in workbooks. But it is soooo hard to get out of that mentality. We did so much this week already! but the most important thing we did was have fun together , we learned how to be kind to others. to have a servants heart and remember that the world does not revolve around you and your needs. My kids have had some serious prayer requests put upon them this week. many good friends are have some troubles. They learned to help even when its not convenient! I lesson I could take some notes on. On a more "educational " note. J did angles and fractions on the computer. T has been learning to read via sight words. so far so good. M did a little of everything. She reads all on her own now so she is absorbed in a book most of the time. She did a few pages of addition large numbers and some large num sub. as well. they all made brownies and cookies BY THEMSELVES to give as gifts to their AWANAS leaders tonight. Add dentists appts. craft day, bible study, and a home day for dad to the mix and Id say a busy week was had by all.

fun fun friday....

2009-03-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

welllllllll......what did we do today huh. not much I can say. J helped install a new dishwasher. We went to homeschool park day for a bit. J wanted to go camping with some friends but that didnt pan out maybe tomorrow. We went to visit a friend who just had a baby. and had a chat.
J, M and T made a cake for dessert. Im sure there was plenty else just cant seem to remember it anyhow. The day seemed to fly by . But not much to show for it except cranky babies and a messy living room.

fun, fun, testing.

2009-03-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

last day of STAR for J. only took an hour. have NO IDEA what he tested on. Sick Kids + Messy House = one day of nothing but cleaning @ home. only took about an hour to get things back to normal. kids felt better by lunch so we all went to the park for a few hours followed by my dentist appt and thursday night bible study. What did they learn today????? Humm I know they learned how to be good and quiet ALL % OF THEM! in a small waiting room by themselves for an HOUR while I got my fake tooth put on. Amazing they were if I do say so myself! And then J had extra home duties today because of my schedule. he had to empty and fill the dishwasher while I was gone as well as get I and H put to bed. Way to go J! What an awesome kid Ive got. They all did really great in the helper dept. today. lots and lots of home ec. brownies as a reward.

testing tuesday

2009-03-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

Well another year is almost gone. Shown by a new round of testing. STAR is upon us one more. My PSA friends laugh and point out "well WE don't have to do any of that SILLY stuff!" I agree completely. However CWCS owns my heart and pocketbook! So this week will be another eclectic learning experience.

J took his 4th grade STAR test this morning while I took the rest to church for bible study. M& T and the gang had fun with the teens during bible study and then we all came home for lunch.

Fun stuff started after lunch. We had another family over for science. impromptu of course! very cool.

We had started learning about crystals last week at 4-H so I decided to continue and grow some more today. WE pulled out ALL the rock stuff and did several experiments from the Janice Van Cleave rocks and minerals book. Watched a egg disappear in vinegar. Showed how an acid can dissolve calcium. Made Bubbles that showed how crystals form. Did a model of a salt crystal. and of course made salt crystal snowflakes and sugar crystal candy.

Big science and testing day for all.

just another manic monday

2009-03-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

well as usual we always have grand plans for the week on Monday. Get everything clean from the weekend. be amazing unschoolers for the week. learn all there is to learn and be better people for it. And as usual cannot fit ALL of that into any given day. Oh well all's well that end's well!

Today got off to a BANG with waking up about half hour later that I wanted to. as did all of the kids and hubby. Maybe I just need to change my schedule to fit in with a later start huh?
M decided yesterday that she wanted to make bfast. scrambled eggs and Cinnamon toast for all. After cleanup came devos and bible. With a segue to find the right chapter in the bible for the lords prayer to see which kid was right. Does it read sins, trespasses or something else? turns out it depends on the version!

After was Monday chores. thanks flylady! kids thank her too! yeah right! then we learned about St. Simeon from MoH, good lesson! faith that could REALLY move a mountain! The kids were still into china from last week. So we pulled the DK eyewitness book about china out and read through that. learned about the song dynasty inventions. compass, earthquake monitor, paper, and printing press to name a few.

then we discovered a really cool website about kids geography.

http://www.achildsgeography.com/travel-blog/

watched a few of the videos will watch more tomorrow. learned where the biggest quicksand is, the longest waterfall and the space one is REALLY cool!

undersea volcanoes
planet earth views from space
angel falls Venezuela

j did lesson 92 TT 5 adding and subtracting fractions. Were are working on getting some living math books to use more of instead of TT math but until I can get them I will stick with that. Its better than nothing.

m did lesson 16F in m.u.s. adding and sub mult digit numbers and word problems.
t did lesson 9A in m.u.s. basic addition.

j did 2 lessons in Spanish unit 1 lesson 1 and 2 sentence vocab.

all went to park for 1 hour and then to music class at EVFree. www.efclb.org check it out!

not bad for a Monday! cant wait to see what happens tomorrow!

living math yahoo group

2009-03-20T22:56:00.000-07:00

check this group out is GREAT!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LivingMathForum/?yguid=209255108

every day is a winding road...

2009-03-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

well. I figured I should start blogging since everyone else is doing it. Im going to use this tool to journal my kids activities for our school. That way when my ES asks what have they been up to. I can actually SHOW her!

for instance. Today was a "typical" unschool day in our house. J made breakfast. Choc. pancakes and fried eggs with toast. Then learned he must also clean up said breakfast after cooking. as always I asked him, " do you think tiny fairies do it after mom makes bfast?" I clean and so shall you my son. Took AN HOUR for the three of them to get the kitchen clean. maybe I shouldn't expect more from a 5, 6, and 10 yr old. but COME ON GUYS! seriously!

then we FINALLY got down to devotionals (devo's) I cant seem to find our prayer lists or box. Or our prayer postcars since the move. so we winged it again. Studied 2 cor ch 9 I believe ( should remember since I'm the one reading it) and our mystery of history (m o h) chapter 49 on the song dynasty of china. Kids then decided to make paper money and coins from that chapter. some more realistic than others.

Then we had a "field trip" to target for garbage bags. Followed by a trip to the new jack in the box for 1 menu burgers. a trip to the park and home again for chores and dinner. not as much as I usually pack into a day of learnin' but ok for today.

kids did a LOT of home ec I guess.