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wondering about homeschooling a high schooler? me, too! My friend Lisa is giving us a taste -- an input of information, nice little nuggets of tips...for you and I to use immediately or just tuck away for future! ready to go? then follow me over to ... CORNERSTONE HOME LEARNING BLOG!

after our field trip to the art gallery today.... we stopped at a little-tiny emu farm. i mean why not? we had a little extra time on our hands..saw this sign and pulled in. you know, us homeschoolers have to take advantage of as many unique opportunities as we can in one day!


i bought four emu eggs. they measure just about six inches. and the shell is very, very thick. this is their natural color. much like an acorn squash!

my idea was to buy several of these and paint them funky for Easter. but, my dear brad...really loves the original color. he is not easily impressed...but these were an exception! they knocked his socks off. well, almost.

this is the emu farm... look close, you can see the world's largest non-flying bird- cousin of the ostrich... black head right in the center of this picture...the mate is right up near the fence... stooped down. the birds are native to australia. and grow up to 6 feet 5 inches tall.

i didn't buy any vitamin supplements. nor did i buy the emu body creme. i don't know, maybe it's just me...but emu body creme? emu pain reliever? ugh.

This week, we're spending three days on Easter Island... in the South Pacific. I got the idea from a reading comp., workbook page that I found. Since, I had never learned about this remote island..owned by Chile..and its oh-so creepy and mysterious...I thought this would be a perfect adventure to dive into. To explore. Something different then what we've been doing. Isn't homeschooling great? If you're burn out of learning/teaching about the Revolutionary War...you can set your sails south... take a break and go into uncharted territory!

Here's one happy kid. We've got the globe. The table map. A bag of pretzels. A few pencils. And the Venn diagram. I am requiring this precious tween-ager to write a three-day diary of "my journey to Easter Island." He is smiling...because he's actually writing about the cannibals and how he "thinks they probably used blow guns a lot." Oh, I'm sure they did. Only a homeschool family can get away with discussing blowguns at great lengths and the different gross stuff you could blow through them

Here's the poster, with a Venn diagram that Tommie worked on. It has artwork- using oil pastels, vocabulary words, a map and lots of comparison facts. You know, it really is quite an interesting island. And, the statues are amazing...they say, all but one face inward. One of the websites I used for such detailed information is: Easter Island. If you scroll back up and look at the actual statue...they say about 20 feet of it has been dug and buried beneath the land.

Tommie is still pressing on with his Presidential study. He's on Abraham Lincoln. You know in Abe's speech, where he says, "Four score and seven years ago?" Well, I didn't know how long a score is? Do you? It's 20. Geesh, what else didn't I learn in public school?

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I was happy to find The Diary of Anne Frank, video, at Goodwill some time ago. Still had the price tag, I paid... $1.99. I clearly remember, lining up like cattle, in 8th grade and being led to the auditorium....single file, to view this movie. Up to that point in my life...I had absolutely no clue that WW2 even existed. In a nutshell.... this movie..done in black and white, and filmed in 1959...most certainly had a profound effect on me. Since our lessons centered around Anne Frank..and Tommie reading the book... we all laid around the living room watching this! Something about the horror of this lifestyle...did not interest us in making a bowl of popcorn. This movie was very, very suspenseful. The actors were outstanding! Very real. In doing research for this movie...I ran across this awesome website for Teaching With Movies! It has lesson plans and everything. There is a fee. But, it's not bad. I didn't sign up for it. But, I am certainly going to make notes of the suggested movies and age group. Here's the link: Teach With Movies!

why is it.... that when i go downstairs to do a simple load of laundry... i usually come back to find my boy NOT doing his lessons..but rather doing something like this? yesterday..... bouncing from room to room on my body ball? crashing, falling over and bouncing some more? until i had to yell. yes, i do yell occasionally. okay, a lot. surely, they won't be picking us for the cover of a homeschool magazine!

Today, I made a hand's on game for using semi-colon's. I wrote several sentences out on construction paper... as you can see...I drew a semi-colon's on popsicle sticks. Tommie then worked independently on placing the semi-colon in it's proper place...which was a no brainer for him....however, I did make a homemade semi-colon worksheet up to use afterwards... but, it proved to be very challenging, since it was based on Anne Frank. I just love having homemade re-usable games on hand... because this household needs review!

One of my favorite stories around St. Patrick's Day is, Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato by Tomie DePaloa. Each year, since Tommie has been a tot...I'd pull it out and read it. Don't laugh, but...this year- his 5th grade year, was no exception! Today, we sat on the couch and casually read it... I took this opportunity to teach him "cause and effect." I noticed in the spines that I use, I haven't covered that part of language arts. See, that's what's so good about homeschooling... you can catch up in a heartbeat...just by reading an Irish Folktale.

The latest trend in homeschooling is something called workboxes. I love the idea. I love the concept of being so very organized. Having your student "know" what's coming next and knowing..."how much more do he has to do!" I also like the fact that you pull out all those learning tools, games and activities-which you bought and just never have time to use. However, the suggested idea is to use small plastic containers. Honestly, I can't live with that much plastic staring at us all day long. So, I went to Dollar Tree and purchased pretty floral bags. On Sunday, I enjoyed filling them. I enjoyed knowing school was all set to go. I even hid them from my darling, obedient son. I was excited to pull them out Monday morning... thinking, "gosh...he's going to be thrilled!" Well, he wasn't thrilled. Maybe I put too much into each bag. Maybe I got to carried away with unused workbook pages. Maybe I used too many bags? Of course, everyone else kids use 12! Our day ended completing all twelve bags...yet, the joy of homeschooling had zapped our spirit. There was the spontaneity. No rabbit trails. Very little communication. At the end of the day... our homeschool had no depth. It felt to schooly. It occurred to me that, if I had my act together..."I could" make Charlotte Mason/unschool/unit study, workbags.... But for now, our old method works... which is, choose a living book and build everything around that. This week, it's Ann Frank...upon reading, Tommie learned that Ann's dad worked for a pectin powder company. So, I pulled out my box of pectin and we discussed. Also, copywork, handwriting, spelling, grammar and dictation came from it. And, geography. Tommie also wandered off to pull out a WW2 book and enjoyed looking through it... and narrating things he's learned. He was able to have lunch at Subways with Grandma, today. He took a Horizons Math test. And, we went on a nature hike. We also watched a dreamy video of Ireland. One I had picked up at Goodwill for a dollar.

I am sure the workboxes or workbags would be a wonderful plan, if you had several children. It just didn't feel right for me.

suprise gift!

Some boys draw beautiful pictures for their moms. Some, create love notes or cards just because. Or maybe a keepsake craft. Mine doesn't. And, never has. But, what he does do....is collect nature treasures for me. You see, here is where this story begins...all day yesterday, he was helping his dad in one of our vacant apartments. He helped tape and mud drywall... vacuum and general picking up--- while I was at Meijers taking big time advantage of their Tyson chicken breasts for just $3.99 a bag! My husband Brad, let Tommie run around the attic of this very old apartment house! To Tommie's surprise he discovered a whole bunch of mud wasp nests! They're hard as rocks! He wiggled these two (above) off the walls...put them in his cargo pockets and brought them home to me! It was really heartfelt... when he got home...he ran in the kitchen, hid them behind his back and took great pride in announcing..."Mom...I gotcha something you're really going to like!" Indeed, I do love them!

Probably....Art is one of the most neglected subjects in our homeschool. I'm not sure why? Recently, I was inspired by this blog and seeing Holly's blog .... I dug into our Prang paint supplies, grabbed a couple of black crayons and paint brushes and a couple of pieces of cream colored construction paper... and decided to "just do-it!" It really was a welcome change of pace. It's Jan Miro Watercolor Painting.

This week, I've decided to pull out the fun and games...which I've stashed for "someday, we'll do this ________!" Make sense? I mean, fess up here.... haven't you bought things and thought, "Oh, this will be really great for homeschooling!" ------ yet you seldom use them, if at all? I've posted a picture of just a few things we've used this week...

--From the bottom up:

-a homemade geography box, filled with geography questions...the questions were cut up from an geography question and answer booklet.

-punctuation bingo game: do you know how exciting playing punctuation bingo is with an only child? Need I say more? This is heading to the sale box at our homeschool co-op! I'm sure it would be fun and effective with more players! What was I thinking?

-a deck of memory match-up bird cards! I had to laugh to myself, when Tommie wanted to play this.. this is a game we played often when he was much younger...5 and 6 years old! Regardless, memory match up is a good exercise at any age.

-the big jar with the hamburger on it .... is a homemade math problems... question and answer jar. He dips his hand in and pulls out a few problems to figure.

Another thing we've done this week... I humbly admit, we haven't done much in the way of human anatomy. I did it... clearing my throat...I pulled out a WORKBOOK and vowed that for just a half an hour a day...each day this week, we'd trudge through it. Of course, I had to have a cheerleader attitude....but, man-o-man, I'll be glad when this is over!

We worked on bones yesterday... I had Tommie fill in the blanks-- label and name the bones. Then, I had him stand up and I'd have him point to his tibula, patella, clavicle, ulna. It's taking some time to learn all the bones...but, standing up and pointing, sure beats pushing the number 2 pencil!

Our chapter in Apologia Astrology, has been quite interesting, too!

So, what were some of your fun and games this week?

The past couple of days, we've been using Five in A Row's unit study, "Grass Sandals." It's about the travels of a 17th Century Japanese Poet who walks across Japan! Tommie and I both needed a a break from American History. And, this is one of the few books we have left to cover with Five in a Row. Like all of their units, this one is refreshing and gives you an exciting peek into a different world.

One of our lessons is learning about the Milky Way! Which led to learning about The Black Hole, which led to our spiral galaxy....which led to... okay, you get the idea of how much fun unit studies can be! I pulled out Apologia's Astronomy and we just rolled with it.... Instead of notebooking, I'm having Tommie create a big poster of what he understands.

I've never taught Haiku in our homeschool. But, this week...we're diving into it. I'm surprised that Tommie actually enjoys it... I thought for sure, he'd groan and moan and try to weasel out of it. I'm having him write a poem each day and I hope to make it into a little keepsake poetry book at the end of this week.

We'll see....

Here's a few freebie's worth sharing... the sign-up is quick and easy! Just click on the red words.....



National Energy Foundation-free educational materials. This site does accept homeschoolers!



Dairy Queen buy one get one free Blizzard! Make sure to use your active email account address.



Free Diet Dr. Pepper coupon! Even if you don't drink it... get a coupon and bless your church, homeschool co-op, friend, scout group or 4H club!

Duncan Doughnuts Coffee sample! I've actually received this and it's nice!

Here's a super fun site...and it's free... for making all different printable graphs! Tommie's Horizon's Math is calling for graph making... the curriculum suggests making it with pencil and paper-- but, living in the age of technology...I think it's important to figure it out on the computer. I mean, after all...in the real world- if you had to make a graph, wouldn't you do it on the computer? I would. Here's the link: Create a Graph! I called this Math-Computer Lab day!

Did I ever tell you that I'm a Cloverbud 4H assistant? I am. That title..as important as it sounds...simply means I organize crafts for the under 8 crowd and try to sustain their attention, so they want to continue with 4H. Oh sure, you might think it's easy- a walk in the park, if you will.... coming up with cutesy, economical, rabbit crafts... each month. Crafts that will keep those clovers begging to come back to the meetings!

I was happy to find this "feed bag tote" idea, on-line. The crafter actually used a dog feed bag. A light bulb went off in my head...and I called my favorite neighbor, who happens to be the 4H leader... he has 200 rabbits...and asked him for 15 feed bags. He gladly obliged. I cut up old bluejeans to use for handles and pockets for an outer accessory! The kids can carry their show books back and forth to the meetings or to the fair this summer. Of course, my 11 year old... didn't want anything to do with this!

You know, when I was in public school...St. Patrick's Day meant you wore green to school and maybe did a circle word about the Irish or a color page of a leprechaun.

My church is teaching us a ton of history! This past Sunday, we had a short message about the life of St. Patrick and the band played and sang a song that St. Patrick wrote hundreds of years ago... Be Thou My Vision. I've heard it for years and all along, I thought Van Morrison wrote it! Listen to this: Be Thou My Vision. I hope it plays for you. It's just beautiful.

So, our read aloud, The Life of Saint Patrick (1955) has blended nicely with our church message that we received on Sunday. Imagine, how exciting it was for me to read this today: "My life belongs to You, Dear Lord. I will dedicate it to You and forever do Your will. Please reveal to me what Your will is," prayed St. Patrick, after realizing God has a very special plan for him. ------This was the exact same message we received on Sunday!

Nice.