today we started back to homeschool. the beauty of this thing called home education as you know... is being able to tweak and twist things up.. to suit your needs.

originally, i had planned a unit study around the 21 balloons novel. i thought it would be a blast! mentioning it to my son, he sort of rolled his eyes and very seriously said, "mom, you know when i grow up i want to be a diesel mechanic and work on heavy equipment.... why can't i learn about things like that?"

what a relief to know what his interest is and have the freedom to redirect our sails ... i pulled out a christian liberty reader about inventors. as of today... our homeschool is centered around this book. (i'll post a picture later). we're both learning about James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine. there is so much information in just the first few pages, that i'm able to break subjects down: scotland, geography, applied math, copywork, spelling and lots of good science. by the way James Watt was homeschooled until he was 14. for science today, tommie made a turbine out of a milk carton.

above: removing honey and honeycomb! and chewing on it! of course! we were able to get one quart and one pint.

first day back? as nice as could be. exhale.

really, this is not a fake, plastic spider.

it's the real thing. a fishing spider. the legs measure 1 inch and body measures 3/4 inch. the egg sack is nestled underneath. we've counted 40 eggs released so far. this snap shows her on my kitchen table. we're really keeping her in a big jar. with her eggs. go ahead ask... "where did you find her?" it was a gift from my in-laws.... this baby was in my mother-in-law's furnace room! they know we like odd nature... and really, we do! except snakes.

unschooling day: tommie and i canned more pizza sauce. a trip to the military store, watching a pbs ww2 show about Mussolini and canned apple sauce. he really is a big help in the kitchen.... wouldn't this be classified as home-ec? think so! we are both looking forward to starting lessons next week. STRUCTURE. WE NEED STRUCTURE!

crafts for boys who like power tools!

just another good reason why we choose homeschooling. our official start was suppose to be today. instead, i gave tommie the nod to go out and experience life with his dad. this week, there's some pretty exciting stuff going on. things we'd never be able to teach in a textbook. things like: breaking up cement with backhoes, dealing with miss dig when you hit a gas line, cutting phone lines, mule farms, and other things i'm sure i don't want to know about: junk food, swearing, man talk and man-stuff.

while at the 4H fair, i took a couple of clicks with my camera of these trellis' made from twigs. before the snow blows and the pulp is covered.... i'm hauling a handful into the garage. on a gloomy day in michigan...when there's nothing to do... i'll send tommie out to the barn to put a few of these together. i'll keep several myself and give them for gifts. and tommie will be proud as a peacock.

so, when does school start for you?

rumor has it..............

rumor has it..... mcdonald's is offering an "after-school snack coupon booklet," for just a dollar. the coupons inside include:

3 coupons for FREE baked pies

3 coupons for FREE apple juice or milk jug

3 coupons for FREE small cones

3 coupons for FREE apple dippers or small fries

and, rumor has it.... the coupons don't expire until 12/2011! i'm not sure which mcdonald's are participating... but, i betcha most are. one good thing is.... there's a mcdonalds in every direction... so one is bound to be participating!! wouldn't ya think?

*snap taken at our local 4H fair.... this cow was being milked at the time of the flash.

happy was i.... when i spotted two paint-your-own matisse and picasso tee-shirts for tommie! for just $2.50 at a dollar type store. obviously, some things are priced slightly higher. what a cheap way to force us into a small artist study on picasso and matisse! i'm sure he'll end up wearing them as a nightshirt... or maybe i will take ownership of them? i also picked up a box of oil pastels for a dollar! whew-whew!!

In one week, we'll be starting our homeschool lessons. I don't have a mountain of textbooks. Nor do I have a stack of black-lined fill-in-the-blank busywork books. No, I'm not knocking those who have kids that thrive on it. Those are simply not effective for my son's learning style. One more good reason, I choose to home-educate. Freedom to choose.

I have two books this year for our curriculum. Okay three, if you count Story Starters by Karen Andreola... which I'll use as a fill-in.

We'll be using Horizon's 6th grade math. Horizon Math has served us very well for the past five years and has never let us down. Considering a spiral approach to math? This one rocks!

The second book in our homeschool is, the Newberry winner, The 21-Balloons. After skimming the book, it no-doubt will take us on weeks of rabbit trails! I'll use it for geography, language arts, history, science (much!), spelling and lots of vocabulary and art. And, plenty of computer researching. As we get going with this... I'll be posting our activities... so stay tuned.

For the first time ever... my babe is ready to start back to school. Can you say.... "ready for structure?"

today found me signing up for classes at our homeschool co-op! treating myself to lunch out and a full day of errands! the classes i signed tommie up for are:

world war 2
gym
lunch
night at the museum
cpr

i'm teaching:

the world of peter rabbit
and
night at the museum
i am hoping to take a crochet class, as well.

this is a picture of a sunflower in my yard. i just love them.