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!!