as much as i wanted my boy to be in boy scouts...

his heart wasn't in it. truth is, he was doing it "for me."

that said, i signed tommie up for future farmers of america.

it's an agri-science program with a smorgasbord of areas to explore.

there is homework each week. and report cards. the class is being

taught by a michigan state professor. i am hopeful that this is a better

fit for his personality.

and, i'm happy that this is "his" thing...

rather then mine.

given his passion for farming, mechanics and livestock... this feels right.

a quick little lesson on a 100% compostable sun chip bag!

will it or won't it.... decompose?

the instructions are on the back of the bag.

we'll see in a few weeks!

what do you think?

well, now.... the full-blown, computer based curriculum...

that i thought would be just the ticket, during this busy season of our lives,

didn't work out to well for us. read all about it here.

which leads me to the next question.... why does most of society think that learning can only happen during school hours? and subjects can only be covered from 9 to 3? and, if your not in a brick and mortar building, having homework, being lectured to... then you're not being educated?

i'm not trying to sound braggy... really, sincerely, i'm not. but last night at 9 pm, my son, decided he wanted to take the head of a sunflower and make sunflower seeds. i have no clue how to do this... so i asked him to google it. he researched it and followed the you-tube step by step, tutorial. willingly and self-motivated. at this time, it was 9:30 pm. if i stopped him, said something like, it's too late, you'll make a mess or it's time for bed.... i would of squashed his idea and more then likely, he wouldn't have been as passionate as he was that moment.

new goal: seize the opportunities... any time you can.

now let's see... should i document this under science or culinary arts?

today.... we'll learn about shakespere's herbs and anne hathaway.

i said i never would.

ever.

but i am.

tomorrow, starts the beginning of our homeschool computer based program, in all subjects. switched on schoolhouse: language arts, science and history/geography and teaching textbooks math, grade 7.

we'll continue to seize the opportunity to unschool on the side... and watch educational dvd's, read classic books and life skills.

i love the unschooling, eclectic style, greatly. it's worked for us. and, it worked well!

however, i seem to be spinning too many plates at the moment.

and, the end of september and october... looks to be a whirlwind time for me and my little business i created. and, i'm still learning to cook and bake- gluten free... which is very foriegn for me.

using SOS, which was basically dropped in my lap...will free me up from lesson planning, correcting papers and the stress of pulling things together, on weekends, etc.

i'm not sure if this is a forever thing. or if we'll both miss our natural style of learning.

time will tell.

geesh!

the past week has been pretty dog-gone busy for me.

read all about it on my smile, wink, nod blog.

that said, i was so relieved to have teaching textbooks, for my son to plug-in to.

how great it is, that i can require him to do two or three lessons of math, a day...

without complaints.

don't get me wrong, i did require a bit of reading and writing.

just not real meaty stuff.

this short labor day week, we'll continue

with our shakespere study,

culinary arts (fancy name for helping me can baked beans in the kitchen!),

and free reading ... a short list of living books i am requiring him to read by the end of september.

this week, the plan is to get outdoors-- bike ride and running for homeschool gym.

have a happy tuesday!

yesterday, we started back to 7th grade homeschool lessons.

i've decided we would move forward homeschooling like we always have. with living books. i just can't imagine any other way, for us. i did consider purchasing computer curriculum to cover all subjects. but, can't phantom having my son plugged into the computer all day. i did step up to the plate and purchase, teaching textbooks math 7. which is, computer based.

the past couple of days, we've just eased back into it....

here's a little of what we did over the past couple days:

- 4 lessons in math

- tommie read: jacques cousteau short bio.

where spelling words, science and vocabulary words, handwriting were pulled out.

-project and poster on nitrogen narcosis (rapture)

-edited tomi de palo's children's book, "pancakes for breakfast." the book is wordless... i required tommie to write the storyline. he did swell.

-watched the agricultural documentary, "corn king" and "food, inc."

yep, i'm counting it as science and economics.

tomorrow kicks off a new unit study for us... with, island of the blue dolphins.

and my oh my... look what i found to help us!? an interactive island of the blue dolphins interactive and printable activity worksheets!

click here to see what i'm talking about!

every year, i "say" we're going to homechool lightly throughout summer. always with a rip-roaring good intent. we loose momentum around june 18. and then it fizzles out completely by july 4th. a few weeks ago, after six years of homeschooling and suggesting and trying to sell my son on the benefits of plugging along through the summer....

he

decides that he'd like to homeschool during the summer.

now, if you know my sweet boy.... you'll find this hard to believe as i do.

i'm secretly excited... since i love schooling outside in such nice weather. and enjoy nature studies and outside learning so much!

today, we worked on our plant study. the seven principals of living organisms. we also put a mixture of bits and pieces of morel mushrooms under our ash tree for next years harvest.

we had to skip a lesson in math.... couldn't find the protractor.