i took the advice of the freely educate blog, and tried out this site for spelling and other educational games! freely educate never fails to dish out fantastic sites. this one was a hit! click here!

on friday, i taught two homeschool co-op classes. in one class i had the children mummify an apple. they loved, loved, loved this! here's the directions: mummy!

in the fall, i attended a used book sale. while there... i picked up a stack of michigan history magazines for my husband... for winter reading~ little did i know.. i'd be implementing them into our homeschool lessons!

i'll give you an example: one article was about postal carriers that delivered mail from mackinaw island to beaver island in the winter time! the story told of the many challenges the carriers faced. how so many lost their lives falling through the ice and even a brief history of the island and the murder it holds. this story... i counted as history. i also used it for geography, and required tommie to do the "5 finger paragraph," assignment.

he read one story about life as a shanty boy. again... for history. this time... i had him make a comic strip of the events and how they happened.

today... he read a very interesting story about the presidents who visited mackinaw island and the u.p. this covered history.. which led to a you tube video of jfk's assassination and who really did kill him? was it the secret service? ummm? now, i wonder. he learned bits and pieces of 7 presidents who visited the island and how gerald ford served as a boy scout on the island, in 1929. this was followed by the 5 finger paragraph assignment... a rough draft and then a corrected draft.

i realize this isn't on any scope and sequence. nor is it listed in any "what your 6th grader needs to know," books... but, how it is presented and the lessons i pull from it... work for us. it's real.. and i'm sure he'll remember it for a long time to come... rather then a fake-mass produced curriculum.

just my opinion.

when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

maybe i'm a bit late in teaching tommie typing... other then the hunt and peck method. or maybe i'm right on time with his natural ability to process it. either way... he's getting it now-and he's getting it good! this winter, i've scheduled 20 minutes of typing a day into our lessons. aside from math on-line. and visits to you-tube!

i purchased typing tutor. it worked fine. he loved it. but now, needs something else. being the cheap, okay thrifty mom i am... i looked around on-line for something free.

found them and sharing them with you:

dance mat typing the audio is a bit crazy-silly-annoying... but if it helps your child learn... i'm just saying.

peter's on-line typing course

goldenrod gall dissecting website

the goldenrod gall dissecting website is: here!
thanks karen... for your comment!

winter nature walk!

there's nothing better in the winter time, then going on a snowy nature hike!
...a few days ago we went on a goldenrod gall hunt on the back of our property!
i found a great goldenrod gall dissecting worksheet on-line. if you're interested in it... leave a comment. there's a lot going on inside that swollen stem!

eeeks!
i'm having a terrible time downloading snaps to this blog.

stay tuned...

next post: "our winter nature walk!"

remember in the last post.... i mentioned that math was giving us trouble? the program... is wonderful.... however, it was becoming too challenging for our homeschool. and, i didn't want to spend our days fighting our way through math. just for the record... i took the curriculum to a family gathering during christmas, showed three family members who recently graduated from college... and all were surprised and stunned at what was required for the sixth grade level. all mentioned the lessons he was challenged with were what they learned in high school. if you know me... i'm not in a rush. nor do i drive competition into my son... i'd rather he be secure at his level... then a stressed out, math-hating, little guy.

that said.... look what i found on-line!

it's been a blessing. tommie has had a ball doing math on the computer! it's free, too.

all grade levels... even up to 8th. and many subjects. there's even a printable overview of what percent (grade) and time frame.

i no longer hear... "i hate math" or "i can't do this!".... i am hearing testostorone filled "yeah's, i did it!" and other sounds of hooting and hollering!

happy me... it is tommie's idea to do vocabulary and spelling on-line.... same good site.

click here! we both love it!

our read-aloud is, the newberry winner, by margurite de angeli, a door in the wall.

today, we started back to homeschool lessons.

honestly, everything was going perfectly excellent.....
until..... math.
it seems like math... i won't name what curriculum we use and have used throughout elementary school... because it worked very well, until 6th grade. however... math lessons turn into world war three, melt-downs, tears, whining, complaining and yes... me wondering why i even chose to homeschool?
i'm wondering if i should scale back, perhaps have tommie do some on-line interactive math lessons... while we build character training? my heart says yes.

on a lighter note, when things were going good... we started a little hydroponics experiment using different sprouts: mung, radish, alfalfa and red clover. very fun. and we're both interested in learning how to grow more this winter.

we also reviewed sir issac newton. discussed the title of "sir" given by english royalty. which led to a brief discussion on sir elton john, sir paul mccartney and so forth. during this time, we learned about how issac was forced into seclusion, because of the black death in london- which closed down cambridge college, where he taught. he moved to the english countryside to his mom's manor (okay, so this word... manor... led to another rabbit trail)... there, issac discovered the law of gravity, and light/prisms. which led to a science experiment.

then math.

for bible study; we've begun the book of romans.

our other core subjects followed.

at 4pm, tommie's boy scout patrol came over and spent two hours making 40 lunches for our church's homeless shelter. the boys were turned loose in the kitchen and required to clean-up, which they did well.

here's a snap of the brown bag lunches:

so what should i do about math?