fun freebies... don't miss out! click on any place the description is to go to the site!

for all educatiors: dvd's, posters, books and stickers. this site has a peta-type flavor. but, if you homeschool like me, we're open to learning the pros and cons of everything.

from subways: a free fitness kit.

little samples of taster's choice coffee... you know, for "those" homeschool days, when you need a little kick!

on saturday, tommie took his homemade rocket to a boy scout rocket launch event. it was one of the requirements for the space exploration merit badge. which, wow... although there's a lot to it... i've woven the requirements into our homeschooling. works out nicely. it was a chilly, damp, windy and rainy afternoon... but that didn't stop the boys and their dads from jumping around with excitement, each time the rockets were launched. even though i'm not into how the rockets work... it was pretty exciting to see them soar up until you couldn't see them again. this experience has peaked tommie's interest in "setting things off with lighter fluid." he insisted we go to home depot and buy pvc pipes... he built some sort of launcher... used lighter fluid and cheap hair spray and set something flying. i think it was a tennis ball... i'm not sure. i am sure however, that he tied his cousins barbie doll to one rocket and tried to launch that through the pvc pipe. it didn't go very far, but it was pretty funny! did i just say that?

today in science, he'll be building an orange smoke bomb. something weird about building bombs in "school" and having your mom encourage it. well, i'm just saying.......

my boy and i are still in the middle of our homemade unit study: the 21 balloons. it is SUCH a good book! without giving too much details away.... let me just share something that we... yes, "we" did... we lettered a sheet of paper a thru z.... then with our big floor map spread out on the living room floor, we both had to come up with ethnic restaurants: a-american, b-british, c-chinese, d-denmarkian (i made the suffix up!) and so on. fun? yep. and covered social studies and geography, too. try it.... it's a fun way to school!

quality or quantity?

is it quality or quantity for your style of home-education? for us, it's not about how many subjects we can squeeze into the day. it's not how many workbook pages that can be filled in correctly. or endless lessons of cause and effect... which by the way, you can teach in the car. nor is it about grades or testing.

it's about the quality of education. it's about offering things that public school kids cannot get. or, if they do... it may be taught by a secular educator that doesn't have my family values.

that said, i rented a wonderful dvd from our library about mother teresa. i knew bits and pieces about her life. my husband knew very little. and my son, knew nothing. after watching the dvd by myself on saturday and again monday night with the boys... i thought, how can one not go through life without knowing about hers? what she sacrificed, what the white and blue signify on her robe, her missions, etc. want to give your children quality education? rent this or read about her! i love her. and happily, my son learned really wonderful things about this beautiful person by laying on the floor with a popcorn bowl. i'm glad we have this freedom...away from the public system.

we've also turned the corner from "history." there is so much we need to cover... yet so much we've already covered. so, for awhile... we're covering "current events." since, he is "growing up in history and this era will no doubt go down in history, as a really tough time." we've been using this site:

http://www.izzit.org/events/index.php

some topics are just way over tommie's head (and mine, too), but i pick and choose... print off and discuss and work on.

quality or quantity?

today, we did a fun little science project... comparing phophates. we took three different kinds of detergent. filled glass jars with lids with one cup of water and one teaspoon of detergent. shook the jars for one minute. and measured the bubbles at 1, 5 and 20 minutes. dove shampoo has the most phosphates. which, we learned when washed into the enviornment.... causes algae to flourish, hence killing living things in streams, lakes and oceans. never knew any of this.

i'm finding a lot of really excellent rabbit trails in our homemade unit study with the 21 balloons. one day last week, our entire home lessons were centered around my favorite newspaper, usa today. let me back up a bit... in the first chapter, the story focus' on newspapers. so, i thought to myself... i'll make another newspaper treasure hunt up! i had no idea how much can be learned and taught from a newspaper. the stock market and how to read it, the international weather section, politics, entertainment (tommie learned who the rock group kiss was), and even how to read and find the top 10 songs of the week. i also took this time to explain how advertising works and where the most costly ads are located and why. our morning was also spend figuring and learning how to calculate percentages in our head. something i do all the time in real life, when i'm shopping. the real estate section was a very fun part of our morning... reading all the different offers and prices. we wrapped up the day with tommie writing a nice letter to his cousin in college.

monday, was the kick-off of our unit study, the twenty-one balloons! i've been wanting to dive into this book for some time, now. i'm creating the unit study myself. if you've used five in a row and beyond... your sort of trained to easily create your own. that said... in just the introduction section alone... we've spent two days delving into new territory. India, the great volcano explosion in Krakatow in Indonisia, and most fun... the history of balloons... more on that later.

i have to say good-bye for today.... we're heading to a couple garage sales.

our homeschool world... would certainly never make a cover or even an article for a homeschool magazine. depressing, ugh? want to know what our day(s) look like? read on... (note: sarcastic and exaggerated)....

-cheerful mom tending to laundry in the basement. knowing darling pre-teen son is dutifully doing his math lessons. mom skips up the basement stairs, laundry basket on her hip... to find son has taken apart all the ink pens and playing with the parts and has not even attempted to start math. tisk-tisk tommie... back to lessons, please. "oh, sorry mom.. you're right!" i pleasingly think to myself, how nice it is that he's always telling me "i'm right."

-"how many more pages do i have to read?" is what darling pre-teen son says to mom... and it's not because he wants to read more... it's because he wants to get outside and work and take apart his lawn mower. he's into dad's grinder and electrical tools. in the barn, he blasts the country music station on the radio. well, how's that for music appreciation? i mean willie nelson was one of the best songwriters of all time. thinks i. and afterall... you can learn a lot about life when you listen to the words to country music. especially kid rock's, summertime in northern michigan. ahh, but not my son... he would instantly saunter over to the radio and turn the volume down when a song like that came on. i just know he would. (not.)

-i smile sweetly, look over at dear pre-teen hormonal son and see he is doing his math. oh, the joys of our homeschooling. wait.... he's managed to get every problem wrong. and he joyfully (always happy) complains that "gosh mom, the squirrel distracted him." i make him re-do the problems... and he really enjoys it. doesn't mind a bit. not one bit at all. "can i do more mom? you know, for practice?" he asks. ahhhh, my over-achieving son. no darling, says i.... you've done enough. (not true!!!)

-now, i run upstairs... to put laundry away. with his list of daily academic achievements all listed out for him... i just know my self-directed child will continue checking lessons off his list. i smile knowing how in control my parenting skills are and what a spectacular homeschool mom i am. trying not to let my ego inflate... i hear the grind of the electric pencil sharpener... and nod knowingly. the grind runs on and on and on.... how many pencils is he going to sharpen? thinks i. quickly, i redirect my thoughts and smile to myself thinking.... ahhh, it's just like him to be prepared and plan ahead is all. i skip down the steps to find he has taken apart the pencil sharpener and enjoying learning how the motor works. that boy just loves the sound of the motor. no pencils were sharpened. now or ever.

-hunger pangs strike in my hormonal, eating machine pre-teen and he asks for lunch. it's 11. okay 11:30... and we're still working through math. my jaw begins to tighten. my neck is breaking out in an itchy rash.

-i try not to compare myself with other homeschool families. those i know. and those i've never met. i envision a houseful of complying children. all who are overflowing with the love of learning. i think i am the only one on the planet who has ever encountered a day like this. (okay...many days). my enthusiasm fades. i get grumpy. i compare some more.

-i'll stop my story now. except, i should mention that my moody, hormonal pre-teen son... decided it would be really cool to wear this watermelon on top of his head during spelling. and, yes.... he thought it would be cool to cut off the sleeves of his new camo shirt and make it sleevless.

if i was really creative and flexible... i could justify all this as: home-ec (t-shirt designing), creative arts/ self expression (watermelon on head), music appreciation and shop or vocational training (ink pens, pencil sharpener)....

but, that's just between us. smile, wink, nod.

have you heard about president obama's new educational plan? if not do a google or just click here. it's basically his plan for extending school hours, days and no summer's breaks... so american children can strive to be competitive with asian countries and the cookie-cutter children they're popping out. you know... so ALL of the kids in american can keep up globally.


look, i could beat my son over the head with a bag of wonder bread... and he would never understand greek mythology. i could threaten to make him sit at the kitchen table until 9 am every night... pushing academic excellence. i could enroll him in every enrichment class available to him. but, if that's not his passion. or his God-given talent... then i would be wasting valuable time.... time he could spend pursuing his own interests. not the government's.

what is it with you anyway? shouldn't you be working on resolving the wars that are happening? especially iran's nuclear ambitions? deciding whether or not you should send more troops to afaganistan... which by the way, i thought you were anti-war... but since you're heading to denmark today... shouldn't you be inviting the olympics to michigan instead of your backyard in chicago? michigan could sure use the economic shot in the arm... regardless if it's a few years away. i'm just saying... and another thing... perhaps good education starts at the top? with a better curriculum and better teachers. let's not play the blame game... the kids are just learning what the guideline says. they have no control of pushing their education. nor do the teachers.

not all of our children are meant to be engineers. doctors or lawyers. quite frankly, i don't want those type of stressful jobs for my son. God knows and has the plan. not the government. while, we are certainly grateful for those who've achieved high scores on their act's or sat's.... but, let's also be greatful to the man who picks our morning garbage up in the morning.

that said, let's not forget.... that we also need plumbers. we're grateful for tow-truck drivers. we need certainly need good local mechanics. and, we need the crane operators to give the white collar's a place to earn a living.

as a mother of a son... i often think what type of wife my son will have? i am hoping she's out there.... learning homesteading lessons from her parents. i'm hoping her mother is teaching her to be a good keeper of her home. and love her family and God. how to be thrifty, bake and be a good mother. these lessons will serve a happy life to herself and those around her.


Ecclesiastes 3:22. enough said.