Field Trips

So many field trips, so little time!!!

Field trips I want to take-

Mark Twain House in Connecticut

Statue of Liberty boat tour

Cleopatra exhibit in philadelphia (only here short time)

Liberty science center exhibit (new mammal fossil, limited time)

Teddy Roosevelt House (uggh, wanted to go here for over a year now)

Not a good week

This has been a horrible horrible week.

R went to doctor on Monday (unplanned).

I went to doctor on Tuesday (planned)

D felt sick on Wednesday

R goes to two doctors on Thursday (unplanned)

R has another doctors visit in NYC on Friday (unplanned)

I think we have barely squeaked by with 2 full days of school. I already put everyone on notice that Saturday is a school day.

How to teach your child to hate science

IGNORE PREVIOUS POSTS WHERE I LOVED SCOTT FORESMAN. I CHANGED MY MIND.

Thus the title of this post which says it all. Switch to Scott Foresman and teach your child how to hate science. I feel so guilty. I don't think he is loving science so much this year. The book is sooooooo dry and I think it is written at times to an 8th-9th grader. Definitely not a 5th grader.

Uggh. Besides kicking over $100 goodbye it is now October and we are no where in science.

I hastily ordered from Rainbow Resource Apologia Science Anatomy and Space. Then I was thinking of doing Oak Meadow. I need to do something!!!!!!!!

Day 32

We just finished Day 32 of school.

Things are going amazing!!! Yippeeeeeeee!!!

Saxon Math 65 is going beautifully for D. He is doing sooooooo well in it. He does every single practice problem in record time and gets between 85-98% correct. Progress!! Last year math could be torturous at times. Several times we just closed the book and worked on word problems till my head was going to crack in half. This year he is zipping through word problems at a record pace. I think we are on target to finish the book in February/March. Wow!

R is doing amazing at Saxon Algebra 1. She has an A+ average at the moment. No big surpise there. No I have to decide if we do Geometry next or go straight into Algebra 2. Or both. She is a math whiz so she can handle whatever I throw at her.

Love love love!!!

I only did day 1 of Scott Foresman Science with D but I really like it. I ordered the activity book which has kinda like lab activities to do with each unit. So far so good.

Today the teachers manual arrived ($110!). I like it soooooooo much!

Even better I discovered there is an assessment book ($56!!) that has amazing questions and quizs and all kinds of useful stuff. Happy happy happy!

For 2-3 we did whatever science D wanted to do. We did subject after subject after subject. That child adores science. For 4th grade we did Apologia Swimming creatures and part of Apologia Flying creatures. I liked swimming creatures for the most part and tried to make it a more complete curriculum on my own. By the time we hit flying creatures the books were feeling repetitive. We got the lapbooks and notebooks for both books but something was missing. So we switched to Scott Foresman.

Love love love!!!!!!!

2 days school=1 day off

We have completed 2 whole days of school and we are already taking a day off.

What the !!!???!!?

Its not that school is not going well. Its been an amazing two whole days. Its just that it is going to be 95 degrees today. And it will be the last day D can go to the town pool before it closes. So I promised him we could go this afternoon. Then R has a skating lesson at 12:15. So we were just going to do school in the morning.

Its now 8:28am and my kids are still in deep sleep.

So I decided to give them the day off. D will skate from 10-12, then R from 12-1 and then to the pool we go.

Everyone will read tonight and we will start again tomorrow.

I love homeschooling!!!!!!!!!

1st day of school!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was the first day of school!!!!!!!!!

We went to Dunkin Donuts for an early morning sugar rush before school started.

I told them school was starting at 8:30am and so I dragged everyone out of bed at 7:30am. Hair & teeth brushed, dressed, quick trip into town and we were ready to go at 8:30am.

Everyone was quite cheerful about starting school. Lucky me!!

We began by reading together The Mystery of the Cupboard and then R went to get started and I began working with D.

We had a lite day for the first day of school and everyone was done by 1pm.

Off to a good start!!!!!!

Budget?

I am continually amazed by people that can homeschool on a budget. I use free worksheets and appreciate a free website as much as anyone else. I probably check out 100 books/month from the library. But I spend a ton of money on curriculum. I am trying to figure out (actually I am afraid to know) how much I spent per child.

5th grade-

Math-$60

Megawords-$25

Science-$200 (gasp!)

History-$150 (gasp again!)

Easy grammar-$50

books to read-free from paperbackswap (yes!!!!)

I know I am missing something.

Total: $485

Not as bad as I had feared.

8th grade-

History-$75

Science $75 (does not include labs)

Spanish-paid for last year (thank goodness)

Literature-$165 (ouch!)

Easy grammar-$40

books to read-free from paperbackswap!!

Math-$100

Total: $455

Grand total for 2 kids: $940

I still have about another $200 worth of stuff I need to buy next month (Lively Latin, some teachers manuals, etc)

Finally!!!

I have finally decided on this years curriculum. Thank goodness!!

5^th grade-

Saxon Math 67

Spanish

Vocabu Lit

Easy Grammar 5

Reading, reading and more reading

History-Oak Meadow (6th grade)

Scott Foresman Science

Megawords

8th Grade-

University of Missouri writing course (still undecided, may do in January)

Vocabu Lit

Saxon Algebra 1

Spanish

Oak meadow Science

Oak Meadow History

Easy Grammar

Prentice Hall Literature

5th grade reading

So far this is what I have selected-

The Incredible Journey

The Sign of the beaver

Dear Mr. Henshaw

Strider

My side of the mountain

Wringer (not sure)

From the Mixed up files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler

A Long Way from Chicago

The Phantom Tollboth

School is in session?

School is not officially scheduled to start until August 31st. But I am getting tired of being camp counselor and D is antsy to begin learning about Mesopotamia.

So......................

We began our first read aloud together-The Mystery of the Cupboard. We began reading the Indian in the Cupboard during last years school and have been working our way through the series. Its amazing!! Each book is as good as the last one.

I also printed out some multiplication and division worksheets for D to begin. Not sure how happy he is going to be.........okay I know how unhappy he is going to be.

R was excited to begin using her new assignment book. We shall see how long the excitement lasts. Keeping my fingers crossed!!

Take your kids for speech therapy!!!!

Uggh. There is nothing that gets me as upset as people not taking their kids for speech therapy. I know all about. I had a child that went for nearly 9 years!!! I know how much it costs. I paid every penny out of pocket!!! I may not have the fanciest house or the fanciest car. But my child has perfect speech!!!

Lets see the comments from this week online-

My child is 10 1/2. Do you think I should take him for speech? I can understand him most of the time.

No-I don't think so. Idiot! Why the hell did you wait 10 1/2 years! How about taking him when he was 10 1/2 months!!!

If I take her for speech then I can't get that new carpeting.

OMG!!! Please tell me you did not just write that. Oh but lets not forget. She is a good christian women. Apparently good Christian women have their priorities mixed up. Let us pray about this.

I stopped taking my daughter to speech two times a week because it was too much traveling. My kids prefer to be at home.

She does manage to make it to "bible study" two nights a week. Someone has their priorities mixed up!!!!!!!!

And the winner of them all................the women whose son is now 15 and last had speech when dinosaurs roamed the earth. His speech is so bad he had to change his name!!! No one could understand what he was saying. He got a job at a fast food place but can't work the take out window because no one can understand what he is saying.

I wanted to cry when I read this. Its hard to fathom that people can be so stupid and selfish. But lets not forget that she is also a good christian women. So I guess that makes it okay.

End of my rant.

To read or not to read........that is the question.......

I assign my kids books to read non-stop. You finish one book, you begin another. There is no other choice. Thus they read a ton of books during the school year. I give them a tiny break over the summer.

Last year I pre-read some of the books I assigned to my daughter and then I just got busy with other stuff and stopped. So this year I am trying again.

I have begun reading The Phantom Tollbooth which I am enjoying very much. I am fairly certain I have never read it before. I also began reading Roll of Thunder, Hear my cry. Love llove this book!! I am so excited for R to read it. We both just read The Watsons go to Birmingham. I love this book! I can't wait for D to read it. R thought it was good. The weird thing was I wanted her to read it at the end of 6th grade (it was one of the choices for summer reading). R vetoed it and never read it. Now that we are homeschooling she has no veto power (insert evil grin). I have given her some books to read that may be assigned to lower grades but they are classics and I want her to read them anyways.

So far for 8th grade I am planning on having R read-

Bud, Not Buddy

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

Number the Stars

The Giver

A Wrinkle in Time

Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy

Anne of Green Gables

Hobbit

Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Flowers from Algernon

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Great Expectations

Happy reading!!

Intrepid Air & Space Museum

Trip #99999 to New York City.

We headed to the Intrepid Air & Space Museum. We have not been there in years. Last trip was less than successful for many reasons (tired child, mother bought her friend along???). This trip was amazing!! The day was cool (78 or so, compared to the other 90 degree days we have been having) and it was not crowded at all.

It is ridiculously expensive to get in. Around $22 for adults and $17 for kids. We got in for free!!!!!

We belong to Newark Museum ($60/year) and so far have gotten into Queens Hall of Science for free, museum in Philadelphia for free (whose name I forget) and now the Intrepid. I love getting in for free!!

This year I am going to purchase a Liberty Science Center membership ($160--gasp!) and use that to get into all the museums for free.

Back to Intrepid-

It was really cool. We spent hours there. We saw where the soldiers slept and the officers slept. We went on the flight deck and saw an amazing array of airplanes. We saw a short movie that made quite an impression on D. Then we had a guide take us to where the anchors are and give us a private tour (no one else wanted to go). We must have talked to him for 20 minutes. D peppered him with question after question. The child is a walking encyclopedia. He can't wait to learn more about World War II and Vietnam. Okay then!!

Why not high school?

I was reading on WTM a thread about people not homeschooling through high school.

All I could think is if I had to choose I would probably pick high school to homeschool. I think our high school is so awful. Let me clarify-it is probably #1 in academics in New Jersey (or so all the polls say). But past the good test scores are cliques, bullies, tracking (you get in AP, Acc, college prep A or the dreaded college prep B).

The average class size is over 30 students and despite expanding they are still holding classes in every available space (including non-classrooms).

I have no doubt that my kids are going to learn as much and I am fairly certain more by being homeschooled through highschool.

Why do you not trust your kids?

I am constantly reading on the WTM boards about how people don't trust their kids. I just don't get it.

They are worried about an Ipod touch because their may not be parental controls and they may download an inappropriate app. Are there such things? You probably have to search for years to find one. Or they may go onto the internet and look at...........? I'm not sure. I can't see much pleasure in viewing pornography on that teeny little screen. Plus you need flash to watch any videos. There goes all the fun!

Now someone is concerned about their Netflix on the Wii. Their kids may watch something inappropriate. Huh? I have Netflix on our Wii. I have yet to find anything that I would be overly concerned about my kids watching. They are just thrilled they can watch endless episodes of Man vs. Food and Cake Boss.

I wonder. Are their kids really that bad? Or are they that overprotective?

What would happen if they did watch something they deemed "inappropriate"? Would it be the end of the world? Maybe an amazing discussion would ensue and X child would never do it again.

In conclusion, lighten up!!!

7 books?

My new hobby is obsessing over what curriculum to use for next year. I don't think I have ever been as indecisive as I am this year.

R is not quite 9th grade yet but she is kinda.......but not really. Very confusing. She is doing Spanish (same books as Oak Meadow) and I am most definitely giving her high school credit for that.

I picked out Prentice Hall Literature stuff that I really like. Added to that would be writing assignments and we usually land reading 2 novels a month.

I was comparing my plans to Oak Meadow for 8th grade english. They read 7 novels for the school year. Thats it!!! 7 novels!! Helloooooooo...............that is not nearly enough.

Then to make me even more happy I decide to go investigate Indiana University high school. They had sent me info and I had read positive feedback about them. Their 9th grade English class is like a 7th grade english class. Very easy. Very odd. Definitely not for us.

I'm trying to make things simpler for me and have R be more self-sufficient/interested/finish her work on time, etc.

Still more planning to do.

Not to mention I had 3-4 books for R to read through this summer and we have made it through 1. Not a happy parent.

Why do I do this?

I seem to have this nightly routine. My kids finally go to sleep and I go online and obsess over curriculum for next year. I stay up till 12-1am and then am sleepless all night as my thoughts are overrun with what curriculum to use for next year.

Why do I do this???!!!!

So what am I doing. Its 10:43pm and I have been online for the past hour obsessing over curriculum. I figure I am good for another hour or two.

I need to stop this. I really do.

I don't obsess as much over my 5th grader as I do over my 8th/9th grader. You would think that if I made the wrong choice that they won't get into Harvard. Or college at all!

I need to get a grip.

It would be so much easier if I liked Oak Meadow better. I like Oak Meadow. The problem is that I am not sure that I love it. If I loved it I would use it for all subjects. I really like their history for my 5th grader (we use 6th grade history book) and 8th grade. I just can't decide if I love their English for 8th grade. They read a ton of books and analyze stuff which is all well and good. But their are no tests. And its just a little too unstructured for me. My 8th grader needs to be challenged a tad bit to keep her on task.

I am leaning towards University of Missouri 8th grade english. Its lots of different styles of writing (assignments) and analyzing different types of literature (mainly passages, not whole books). Plus I will assign a stack of books to be read and some kind of questions answered or paper written or something.

I just have this mental block about letting go and let someone else dictate the class. I need to get over this and move on.

Is school fun in your house?

On the WTM boards someone was asking about how to make school fun. Their children were at vacation bible school and thought it was so much fun yet they hate homeschool.

On the one hand I know nothing about vacation bible school. Zip. Zero. Nada. I'm assuming its like camp but in a church setting. Not quite sure.

But it got me thinking as to why school would not be fun. School should be fun!!! Granted I am a proponent of learning the three R's but there is still plenty of time for cooking lessons and art museums and theatre and bowling and all the other fun things there are to do.

Why can't school be fun and educational at the same time?

Its a miracle!

Its Saturday afternoon and R is cleaning out our attic room instead of watching television!!!!

I believe in leprechauns!

My plans went kaput

I had grand plans for doing school this summer that did not work out. Okay. I am getting over it (kinda).

I was planning on beginning Oak Meadow 6th grade history with my son and stocked up on books on Mesopotamia and the Sumerians, etc. He already watched a really good video about them. He is all excited. The books now have to be renewed as we have not even cracked them open.

In June we began our second or third attempt at Real Science 4 Kids chemistry level 1. I give up. We made it 1 chapter. D likes it but is lacking his usual enthusiasm and has not asked to continue. I had planned on finally finishing the book this summer (it is only 9 chapters long). Now I think I am just going to sell it. I don't think I can stand a 4th attempt at teaching it.

Sayonara cable!!!

Two cable boxes gone and 1 left.

On the plane home from Florida (thank you Jet blue!) I started watching Man vs. Food. I discovered that we get the travel channel at home and I can watch it. I ordered the dvd from netflix as I disconnected cable from my television in my room.

Last night as I sat on couch watching portable DVD player my kids ask what I am watching. Next thing I know I am kicked off couch and they are watching man vs. food.

Now they want to go visit all the places he goes to eat. Hello Katz's deli in NYC!

As a reward for giving up cable 90% we went to Game stop and purchased two new Wii games. They have been busy playing for hours.

Even I have found new things to do (when I am not posting here).

Adios cable!

Change is in the air.......

Things are changing around here. For the better I hope!

For starters I have 2 cable boxes that are getting turned into cable this week. First I cut our number of available channels in half. Now I am getting rid of two boxes. If my resolve holds we shall be cable free by December. Yippee!!!!

Secondly, I installed a window a/c in the living room. Hallelujah!!! Now we can finally do reading out loud on the sofa instead of climbing onto my bed (the other room with a window a/c.). It is amazing what a 90 degree house (103 outside) will make you do.

Still no progress (or to my satisfaction) on year round schooling. I am just beginning to believe it is not going to work for us. I am done stressing about it. I am going to take pleasure in the math review/reading/vocabulary that we get done and not stress about the rest.

On a happier note D did an amazing week of nature camp and another amazing week of cooking class. Not bookwork but good just the same.

Year round schooling is not working

Year round schooling is not working for us. Either is this font. I digress.

This is my 4th year homeschooling and I have always done some school during June, July, August. Usually math, reading and history because it is D's favorite subject. And according to him it is really not school. Okay then.

This is R's first year homeschooling and it has gone unbelievably well.

We were all burnt out by end of May (no break since early January, big mistake!) so we did standarized testing and called it a year. We were finished with all our 4th and 7th/8th grade materials and already moving onto the next grades so it was a logical time to end.

I tell my kids we are going to do school over the summer. D is not phased while R is having a hissy fit. I tell her to get over it.

We do 1 week of school then go on vacation. We get home from vacation and D has a week of camp. Finally I think we are going to start school. The car does not pass inspection and I am in a frantic rush to buy a new car. Another 2 days wasted.

New car is sitting in driveway and I tell children to open up summer reading books and get crackin. D goes off to read, R gives me a 10 minute argument.

I remind her of all the years she wasted in public/private school, the work she "forgot" to do last year and how she does not get homework like the public/private kids.

I know this can work. I just need to figure out how.