[I had a wonderful visit with my grandmother today.]

She sounds like one heck of a lady.

 

hugs to you both.

[Curious about how long folks homeschool in your circles...?]

There seems to be a wide range here. I knew one family whose daughter took high school classes at the local public school part-time and homeschooled the rest. But the vast majority of families I know have very young children, so the junior high/high school issue hasn't arisen for most.

[My 12 1/2 year old boy has gone sappy on me]

Thanks for the heads-up. My 11yo son is full of surprises, so "Duckie-Wuckie" would fit right in these days.

 

Good story -- I hope you're writing all this down!

[I got my white board at Lowe's AND went to the Library book sale!!]

If your littles are anything like mine were, they should *adore* the "Ready, Set . . . Read" book, edited by Joanna Cole. A great variety of fun things to read, jokes they can tell you over and over, and silly poems. It's a gem.

[Poll: Are you a member of the Moms are No-Fun Club?]

Card-carrying member. :D

[Big score at the museum book sale today]

I carried off a laundry basket full of books today at the members' preview sale.

 

Two Teaching Company audiotape series

lovely old volume of Huckleberry Finn

Your Money or Your Life -- I've always wanted to read this, but couldn't bring myself to pay full price!

a few glossy decorating books

a steak cookbook so I can do a better job on those expensive pieces of meat for my carnivore DH

a National Geographic world geography trivia game

a leather blank journal

A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch -- I minored in Russian but never had read this book!

a critique of modern advertising in our culture

R.A. Rey's famous book about star-gazing for children

and a few other odds and ends

 

[deep, satisfying sigh] I love a good book sale.

[Anybody have suggestions for making a pinata?]

We usually make them for my boys' parties. They are a pain, yes, but the boys love it. As a card-carrying member of the No-Fun Moms Club, I normally abhor crafts, but for a birthday I'll make an exception, especially since I despise paying royalties to kiddie-oriented cartoon media empires. :mad:

 

You cover your work area with plastic, because you're making a *glue* that will stick to everything. Blow up a sturdy balloon. Tear up newspaper into . . . oh, about a hundred strips. Cough, because of all the paper dust flying around. (Did I mention I don't like crafts?)

 

Dip the strips, a few at a time, into your flour + water glue in a bowl, then apply them sorta randomly around your balloon. You want nearly complete coverage. Leave an uncovered spot at the top where you can pour in the candy and loot, or else you can choose to cut open a flap after it's dry. They both work.

 

Once it's covered and a big, ugly mess, let it dry thoroughly. Then you get to clean up. And a day or two later (depending on humidity) you get to do it all over again. See, one layer isn't strong enough to hold more than a few measly handfuls of mini-Tootsie Rolls. Now's your chance to apply "extras" like toilet paper rolls for bug legs, or oompa-loompa legs, or whatever. Just don't try adding more long balloons to make spider legs. I'm here to tell you, it won't work. They won't stay attached. A leg-less spider is not an aesthetically pleasing spider.

 

Now let your mess dry again, before you pull out the poster paints to glop on. (Golly, aren't crafts fun?!!) Go for bright color rather than precision effects.

 

Some adventurous souls will glue on paper streamers for color rather than painting their masterpiece.

 

Dry (again). Pour in your junk food, and hang it up either by magic or craft a sling-type affair that will still allow the candy to escape once it's banged hard enough.

 

My boys have very enthusiastic and energetic pinata-breakers as guests at our parties, so we never have a problem getting them to open. In November, we hang them up in the garage, having taken the precaution of sweeping the garage floor beforehand, so no one scoops up dead leaves and dirt.

 

Homemade pinatas -- there's nothing better! :p

[I'm so behind in my number of posts. It seems like each time I try to log]

in the boards are busy or something. I'm way behind I may always be a larvae!!!!

 

Can I complain about something else? We have company for a few days and they, well one person in particular, are driving me crazy!!!!

 

Bye.

 

Yeah, I tried to read everything on this board when it first went up, but that quickly became impossible. Now I guess I'll just do my normal half-hour in the morning and in the evening, and try to post if I think I can add something useful to a discussion. I have no plans to post just to raise my level -- that way lies madness!

 

And feel free to grouch to us about the unpleasant guests. We won't tell. Remember Samuel Johnson's famous dictum: "Fish and visitors both start to smell after three days."

[Do you snack during the day?]

If my blood sugar level takes a dive, so do I. Not good. I aim for a steady-state, so meals always include high-quality protein and a whole grain. In the summer I frequently make a frozen banana-yogurt-milk-vanilla extract smoothie. In winter it varies as the wind. But I'll never go back to the days of artificially-set eating times that don't mesh with my body's rhythms.

[Why do I always feel as if we're not doing "enough" schoolwork?]

1)Is this just inexperience and paranoia

 

2) Will this pass as we get more years of hsing under our belt? OR, will it plague me forever?

 

Quick answer: 1) yes, and 2) yes.

 

Longer answer: If you were a public or private school mom, you'd be stressing about the same things, just with less information to go on. We are all subject to the human tendency to see the parts of others that they want to show to the world, and golly, they are looking pretty good! What you don't see (because we don't feel as good about airing it) is the times when everything is like slogging through mud.

 

Most of us at some level are continually assessing our schedules, our choice of activities, our time spent on each subject. If you're really concerned, ask an experienced and wise homeschool parent to shadow you for a day, to see if he or she can offer any suggestions. Or just bounce ideas off of him/her.

 

Take heart, get lots of sleep, do your best, and realize that it won't be too long before your children will be the ones primarily responsible for educating themselves. We want to create little autodidacts, yes? After a certain age, there is no more teaching, there is only learning.

 

So wear those excellent homeschool shoes with pride!

[Man, I hate that. I bought the wrong thing.]

I need a level three and four of something and I bought a level two and three. I already own two so now I have to do an exchange and pay for postage both ways. This is not the first time that this has happened to me. I am such a space cadet!

 

Hey, you've come over to my world -- how many double copies of cool books have I found in my collection over the years? Lots.

 

Our big library booksale begins tomorrow. I'll make it my special mission to NOT come home with more of what I already have.

[How do you tell it is just a tummy ache and not the appendix???]

The pain I took my son in for subsided a bit once we were in the doctor's office. The nurse immediately calmed down. Seems that if it subsided at all, it was more likely to be muscular, i.e., poop impacted in his colon.

 

Seems my dear son was experimenting with his body by *not* going poopy for as long as possible. A little bit of laxative resolved the problem.

[I saw this elsewhere...You might be a homeschooling family if...]

They make associations that to other people are just . . . odd:

 

"Wow! That cloud looks just like Madagascar!"

 

"If we go run errands today, can we also stop at the library? Can we go there first?"

 

"Let's play Egyptian mummy. This suitcase can be the sarcophagus."

[What stores with what? Potatoes/apples/onions, etc...]

Don't store apples with carrots in the fridge. Apples will make the carrots taste bitter.

[Pole: how often do you change your sheets?]

Every week, when I do my Saturday Home Blessing. :) We have the boys trained (finally) to change their own sheets & pillowcases. Whew. That took a while.

[Introductions Please!! Newbies and Regulars!]

I am a newbie here. I posted this message on I have begun to work with DD1 in the evenings after dinner (not the easiest time of day for either of us). I hope to supplement the school's curriculum, spend quality time and stimulate her desire to learn, among other reasons.

 

Hi, Michele,

 

I love all the great advice I've gotten on this board, and one piece of advice that seems to be consistent is: Don't push too hard when they're young. Enjoy them. Cuddle them. Read to them. If the time of day you are focusing on extra educational things is rough, then they're going to associate 'aftershooling' with that emotional state. You want it to be a good thing, so keep it positive and enjoyable.

 

They'll be able to handle more work-type activities as they get older. But their emotional approach to learning will inevitably hinge on your attitudes and how they feel when they're with you. So . . . everybody, have fun!

Read fairy tales, read bible stories, read simple science picture books. Plant beans, blow bubbles, see what floats & what sinks, sing folk songs, sing skip counting songs, dance Skip To My Lou.

 

HTH

[Tightwad Gazette - this is even more daunting than WTM....]

Therefore it's not re-written as a book. Really, it's best for browsing, so snippets of time are perfect. Just dive in and make a note of ideas you want to consider -- maybe paperclip a piece of paper to the front with your notes.

 

I used Amy's ideas to:

- cloth diaper my baby, and how to launder the diapers

- label my children's hand-me-down clothes to see who will inherit what next

- make a price book

- I make her Create-A-Muffin recipe at least once a week

- freeze vegetable scraps for broth

- make pizza

- disguise vegetables

- focus on the low-cost option for everything from breakfasts to new tires

- talk to the children about money

 

And lots more. Does that help at all?

[Cleaning off the bookshelves today....I need help!]

I decided to donate about 100 books to the thrift shop on post and give the rest away to friends. Since cleaning off that...I was able to restore order to the shelves and keep all my resources together.

 

Good for you! I decide what to keep of my books based upon several criteria:

- classics in good condition that I will want to use later

- reference works in good condition to be consulted later

- paperbacks I'm currently reading or on my To Read list

- recently read books that were important to my understanding of the world

- parenting books that I want to be able to loan out or quote from in writing or posting

 

For the children:

- classics in good condition

- historical eras we haven't gotten to yet

- historical eras we will return to, if the book isn't too easy for the age the kids will be

- science books that are interesting to read

- age-appropriate experiment books (current age and up)

 

I get rid of easy readers once my children are in chapter books. I move out twaddle as fast as possible (e.g., Spider-man picture books). I get rid of historical books that are not going to be re-used once my boys have finished them.

[Introductions Please!! Newbies and Regulars!]

Hi, I'm a regular, though these boards have me a bit intimidated. [blush]

 

I've been using TWTM as inspiration ever since my oldest was a toddler, and he's 11 now, in 5th grade. My younger son is 8 and in 3rd grade. Married for 22 years, have my MIL living in an attached apartment next to us.

 

We spend about two years doing a SOTW book, and we're on the third volume now. I have about a thousand books of children's historical literature and science that we supplement with!

Some other programs we use:

Latina Christiana I & II

RightStart math

Andrew Pudewa's poetry memorization course

First Langauge Lessons 3 & Spectrum Word Study for grammar

Kimber's Classical Reading and Writing Copybook for cursive handwriting & copywork for the elder DS, Memoria Press' Copybook III for the younger

Natural Speller for spelling

 

Younger son takes piano lessons and ballet; older son is involved in every sport known to the park district.

 

It's wonderful to have this resource for support and my own enlightenment. As so many people have said, I've learned more about homeschooling here than anywhere else.

[So what are your HS kids reading?]

My 11 yo son is reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond, he's reading avidly, but is too proud to admit he likes an assigned book. He's a fairly strong reader, but my 8yo son isn't, so he's enjoying The American Girls series, the first ones about colonial life.

 

Can you tell we're studying colonial America at the moment?

 

I'm reading this thread carefully. I always take notes to see what literature other WTM moms suggest. Thanks for starting the discussion.

 

BTW, I'm going to enjoy this new, private format. Thank you so much.

[Poll time! How many children do you hs?]

Just my two boys, 8 and 11.