High School is a lot more time consuming then the younger years. I find myself with little time for blogging and that makes me sad. I like going back and reading about the things we have done and seeing pictures of the places we have gone. Between course work and swim team it seems we have little time for all the fun things we used to do. Come the spring I want to figure out a way to get some of that back in to our days.
In the mean time, Mister B has gone to his first high school dance. Swimming for the high school swim team allowed him to attend the freshman dance. He went with some friends and had a great time. My little man is growing up so fast. Not so little anymore (he has got me by a good few inches in height but he is still my baby boy).
Little Miss is writing a short paper on Galileo. I took her to the library to use the encyclopedia. Lets call it retro day. Sure she could have used the internet but there is something soothing (quiet) about working at the library. I think there is value in knowing how to research something without electronics. Sometimes you just don't have access.
The Good Things jar is filling with good things. Although I seem to be the only one putting anything into it. I remain hopeful that the rest of the family will catch on.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Friday, January 11, 2013
The New Year is off and running
We are grooving along in the New Year. We have some slips of paper in or Good Things Jar. I am hoping we can keep it going all year.
Mister B and Little Miss are chugging away at their lessons and making progress. Mr. B has been reviewing Commutative and Associative Properties along with finding the Lowest Common Multiple. Little Miss is dividing with decimals and a review of adding and subtracting fractions.
In English Little Miss has been reading Lyddie and learning about life as a servant back in the day. Mister B is working on Run On sentences and will soon be starting Animal Farm (one of my favorites- 4 legs good-2 legs bad).
In History Little Miss has started to learn a bit about the Age of Enlightenment and will be writing a report on Galileo (good news-she remembers getting to look through his telescope at The Franklin Institute a few years ago). Mister B has been studying about State origins. I was unaware that we have North and South Carolina because farmers did not want the North. The South had a better climate for growing sugar cane.
In Science Mister B is learning about bacteria and Little Miss is working on volume and mass.
Mister B is making progress in Spanish. He knows his seasons, how to count to 100, how to tell time, and the months and the days of the week.
And swimming, lots of swimming.
And the countdown to Little Miss' Bat Mitzvah. I can not believe it is a few months away. It seems like just yesterday that Mister B became a Bar Mitzvah. No more babies. Just teenagers. 2 teenagers. 2 teenagers who are taller than me.
Mister B and Little Miss are chugging away at their lessons and making progress. Mr. B has been reviewing Commutative and Associative Properties along with finding the Lowest Common Multiple. Little Miss is dividing with decimals and a review of adding and subtracting fractions.
In English Little Miss has been reading Lyddie and learning about life as a servant back in the day. Mister B is working on Run On sentences and will soon be starting Animal Farm (one of my favorites- 4 legs good-2 legs bad).
In History Little Miss has started to learn a bit about the Age of Enlightenment and will be writing a report on Galileo (good news-she remembers getting to look through his telescope at The Franklin Institute a few years ago). Mister B has been studying about State origins. I was unaware that we have North and South Carolina because farmers did not want the North. The South had a better climate for growing sugar cane.
In Science Mister B is learning about bacteria and Little Miss is working on volume and mass.
Mister B is making progress in Spanish. He knows his seasons, how to count to 100, how to tell time, and the months and the days of the week.
And swimming, lots of swimming.
And the countdown to Little Miss' Bat Mitzvah. I can not believe it is a few months away. It seems like just yesterday that Mister B became a Bar Mitzvah. No more babies. Just teenagers. 2 teenagers. 2 teenagers who are taller than me.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
January 2, 2013
The holidays are over. We are all rested and recovered from our New Years Eve celebrating and today we jumped back into school. With my resolve strengthened from our school break I am making an effort not to raise my voice (yell) so much.
Me, yell? How can that be? Don't my blog posts practically shimmer with the joy and rainbows that is homeschooling? A little secret...It is not all unicorns and cupcakes. Some days I want to load them into the car and drop them off at the local school and let someone else deal with them. I may have mentioned that before but I have been feeling it with greater intensity lately. Hormones. Theirs not mine. Well, sometimes mine.
Today started off decently. After the initial raising my voice moment I sat down with them and reminded Mister B and Little Miss M that I need their help in achieving that goal.
They both got back into the swing (for the most part). I think today had the crowning achievement of Little Miss writing 2 Haiku.
Flowers grow in dirt
They need water and sunshine
or they will not grow
Family is good
They are very important
You need them always
Also for 2013, in an effort to focus on the positives in our lives we have started a good things jar. (Right now it is a ziploc bag but it will be a jar). When something good happens you write it on a scrap a paper and put it in the jar. At the end of the year we will read all the good things that happened.
Me, yell? How can that be? Don't my blog posts practically shimmer with the joy and rainbows that is homeschooling? A little secret...It is not all unicorns and cupcakes. Some days I want to load them into the car and drop them off at the local school and let someone else deal with them. I may have mentioned that before but I have been feeling it with greater intensity lately. Hormones. Theirs not mine. Well, sometimes mine.
Today started off decently. After the initial raising my voice moment I sat down with them and reminded Mister B and Little Miss M that I need their help in achieving that goal.
They both got back into the swing (for the most part). I think today had the crowning achievement of Little Miss writing 2 Haiku.
Flowers grow in dirt
They need water and sunshine
or they will not grow
Family is good
They are very important
You need them always
Also for 2013, in an effort to focus on the positives in our lives we have started a good things jar. (Right now it is a ziploc bag but it will be a jar). When something good happens you write it on a scrap a paper and put it in the jar. At the end of the year we will read all the good things that happened.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Happy Holidays!
Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Solstice, Happy Festivus (I really should pick up a Festivus pole). May you experience the joy of the season.
When I started this blog at the beginning of this adventure I always seemed able to find the time to post something about our days. The older the kids get the more difficult this seems to be. And now that Mister B is a high schooler I seem to have even less time. Academics take up a large part of the day for both kids and then they swim, and swim, and swim.
Mister B is loving swimming for the high school team. So far they are 4-0. A good start to the year. The high school team seems to be easing his social needs of hanging out with kids his age frequently. When he is not with the high school he is with the club team. This is a great relief to me, and as we all know, it is all about me.
Little Miss M is enjoying her time on the club team. Unfortunately, she is getting a little lost in the shuffle of getting her brother where he needs to be. I am hoping this resolves itself over the next couple of weeks as she is feeling the effects.
Academic wise we are plugging away with the usual subjects and all is on target in that area. Today they had philosophy, a class they continue to love, where they have been discussing rights. Today they talked about animal rights, vegetarians and do plants have rights. Moral rights vs. legal rights. So much to talk about here. They could probably spend the whole year on this topic.
When I started this blog at the beginning of this adventure I always seemed able to find the time to post something about our days. The older the kids get the more difficult this seems to be. And now that Mister B is a high schooler I seem to have even less time. Academics take up a large part of the day for both kids and then they swim, and swim, and swim.
Mister B is loving swimming for the high school team. So far they are 4-0. A good start to the year. The high school team seems to be easing his social needs of hanging out with kids his age frequently. When he is not with the high school he is with the club team. This is a great relief to me, and as we all know, it is all about me.
Little Miss M is enjoying her time on the club team. Unfortunately, she is getting a little lost in the shuffle of getting her brother where he needs to be. I am hoping this resolves itself over the next couple of weeks as she is feeling the effects.
Academic wise we are plugging away with the usual subjects and all is on target in that area. Today they had philosophy, a class they continue to love, where they have been discussing rights. Today they talked about animal rights, vegetarians and do plants have rights. Moral rights vs. legal rights. So much to talk about here. They could probably spend the whole year on this topic.
Friday, November 30, 2012
High School Swim Meet
Today Mister B attended his first swim meet for the high school. As the first homeschooler on the high school team I thought it was important that he shine. And shine he did. He wasn't a superstar. He only swam in 2 relays but he did the team proud by keeping his lane in the race.
The high school team has been a great social outlet for him. As much as he loves swimming on the club team he is also on those kids are from all over and it makes getting together socially next to impossible. Plus, his two closest friends on the team decided not to continue this year. Unlike the club team the high school team does team building stuff. They have to take the bus together to and from practice and the meets. After the first two weeks of practice they have a pasta night at the high school together. The night before a meet they get together at a local pizza place for dinner. I have to say that Mister B (social butterfly that he is) is loving every minute of it.
Even though my 9th grader did not lead the charge to victory the team did win the meet. And they won against a private school known for its athletic prowess. All in all it was a great afternoon.
The high school team has been a great social outlet for him. As much as he loves swimming on the club team he is also on those kids are from all over and it makes getting together socially next to impossible. Plus, his two closest friends on the team decided not to continue this year. Unlike the club team the high school team does team building stuff. They have to take the bus together to and from practice and the meets. After the first two weeks of practice they have a pasta night at the high school together. The night before a meet they get together at a local pizza place for dinner. I have to say that Mister B (social butterfly that he is) is loving every minute of it.
Even though my 9th grader did not lead the charge to victory the team did win the meet. And they won against a private school known for its athletic prowess. All in all it was a great afternoon.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Thanksgiving
We had a lot to be thankful for this year. The only damage to our home after Sandy was to the chimney. We had no power for over a week but we had good friends and neighbors to take care of us. We had family that also lost power from the storm but no other ill effects. We are rich in the things that matter. Good friends and family.
Now that Thanksgiving is over, today was our first day back to school. Instead of easing back in we went full throttle. Diving in to all our subjects and catching up on work that we let slide before Thanksgiving.
Little Miss M and I had a lovely discussion about Hinduism and its history. She continues to work on note taking skills. Vocabulary seems to be a bit of struggle this year for her. She understands the meaning of the word but is struggling to use it correctly in a sentence. I think she just does not like taking the time to think up a thorough sentence.
Mister B continues plugging ahead in all of his subjects. He finished up his unit on ph values in the stomach and the intestines and learned the valuable lesson to read all the instructions first. A lesson that he seems to need to relearn every few months.
Today Mister B has his first swim meet for the town high school team. It is an internal meet so the coach can see what you've got and make the line up for the first competition meet this coming Friday. He has been enjoying the team practices and they have definitely given him some tips that have been helping on the club team the kids swim for. He has been finding the practices challenging and enjoyable. The high school team does a lot of team building. You have to take the bus too and from practices, swimming in a meet or not you have to attend to support your team mates, and after today's meet they are having a pizza party. All of this definitely assists with the social needs that are always such a challenge with homeschooling in my area.
Now that Thanksgiving is over, today was our first day back to school. Instead of easing back in we went full throttle. Diving in to all our subjects and catching up on work that we let slide before Thanksgiving.
Little Miss M and I had a lovely discussion about Hinduism and its history. She continues to work on note taking skills. Vocabulary seems to be a bit of struggle this year for her. She understands the meaning of the word but is struggling to use it correctly in a sentence. I think she just does not like taking the time to think up a thorough sentence.
Mister B continues plugging ahead in all of his subjects. He finished up his unit on ph values in the stomach and the intestines and learned the valuable lesson to read all the instructions first. A lesson that he seems to need to relearn every few months.
Today Mister B has his first swim meet for the town high school team. It is an internal meet so the coach can see what you've got and make the line up for the first competition meet this coming Friday. He has been enjoying the team practices and they have definitely given him some tips that have been helping on the club team the kids swim for. He has been finding the practices challenging and enjoyable. The high school team does a lot of team building. You have to take the bus too and from practices, swimming in a meet or not you have to attend to support your team mates, and after today's meet they are having a pizza party. All of this definitely assists with the social needs that are always such a challenge with homeschooling in my area.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Hurricane Sandy
It has been a crazy couple of weeks here. Hurricane Sandy came and knocked out our power. No lights and no heat (except for our much loved fireplace). Fortunately we have friends who let us hang out with them all day. They fed us and let us charge our electronics. We also discovered we have generous neighbors. An hour after we lost power they were knocking on our door offering us an extension cord from their house for our fridge.
The biggest discover we made-None of us wants to be a Mennonite. Our evenings in our chilly house was a nice break from our daily routine-but leave the living room and you really noticed the chill. I told the kids this was just like camping only better because we had hot water (thankfully) and a private bath that was not in the woods. I am not sure they were buying what I was selling but we had fun.
After our break from school (did I mention those days with friends while the schools in town were closed) we are now trying to get back into the swing of things. It has not been easy. There is resistance and tempers flaring. Mostly my temper but I am trying to control that. There seems to be a desire to fall back into bad work habits. Lets face it, it is easier to be lazy in the short term. I know we will get back into the groove but the road there is not pleasant.
The biggest discover we made-None of us wants to be a Mennonite. Our evenings in our chilly house was a nice break from our daily routine-but leave the living room and you really noticed the chill. I told the kids this was just like camping only better because we had hot water (thankfully) and a private bath that was not in the woods. I am not sure they were buying what I was selling but we had fun.
After our break from school (did I mention those days with friends while the schools in town were closed) we are now trying to get back into the swing of things. It has not been easy. There is resistance and tempers flaring. Mostly my temper but I am trying to control that. There seems to be a desire to fall back into bad work habits. Lets face it, it is easier to be lazy in the short term. I know we will get back into the groove but the road there is not pleasant.
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