At times, I wonder if I'm doing too much? Or not enough? Or am I dropping the ball, with homeschooling? This blog-journal, really helps me "see" what really is getting done! And, not to beat myself up too much... if you're a homeschooler and struggle with these thoughts, I urge you to open an account and start blogging about your days! And, be sure to send me your link! I love hearing about other homeschool days! That said, here's what was done today:

• math with ratios and fractions
• read a great book on The Maya's and did oral discussion about Central America and map work.
• spelling words from Li Lun (wow! Tommie really missed a lot!) He wrote them 10x ea.
• Reading Comp workbook page from a workbook! Yep, every now and again I throw in a time-filler workbook! This story was about recycling.
• read a chapter in Li Lun out loud
• learned about inference and how to apply it to literature
• lunch for Tommie- ham leftovers. lunch for me- salad with turkey pepperoni
• cursive handwriting practice- Bible scripture Romans 14:19 with discussion!
• tonight: he spent lots of time on my laptop. returning email replies and self-taught how to download pictures and use a site my friend Lisa's son gave him. He's had a ball with faceinhole.com and self taught lots of different/fun stuff to himself!
• tonight- we'll continue our read aloud: From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

I didn't realize schools in this area were off school today. Sure glad Tommie didn't know! It would of been a doozy of a day! Surprised? Oh, now really...you didn't think everything was perfect in the house! We're entering preteen HorMOnes!

HERE'S A LOOK AT OUR HOMESCHOOL TODAY...APRIL 9TH, THURSDAY:

• DIVIDED FRACTIONS, WORKED ON RATIOS AND TURNING RATIOS INTO FRACTIONS. MATH WENT QUICK TODAY. I VACUUMED WHILE HE WORKED...EVEN WENT AROUND THE BASEBOARDS WITH THE VACUUM HOSE.

• ATE CHEESE-IT CRACKERS FOR MID-MORNING SNACK.
• TOMMIE WORKED ON HIS ERECTOR SET- INVENTING SOMETHING WITH CHASSIS? WHILE I READ A SHORT BOOK ON DAVY CROCKETT ALOUD. RECAPPED ON THE ALAMO.

• DID AN ART LESSON ON THOMAS GAINSBOROGH, THE ENGLISH ARTIST. I REQUIRED TOMMIE TO BASE IT ON OUR LI LUN UNIT. IT'S THE PICTURE ABOVE...CALLED PORTRAIT ON LANDSCAPE. I WAS PLEASED HE CAPTURED A FEW DETAILS WHICH I FORGOT ABOUT...I GUESS HE IS RETAINING AND "GETTING" THE BOOK, AFTER ALL. USED ACRYLIC PAINTS, WATERCOLOR AND SHARPIE MARKER.

• LUNCH:PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICH AND CHIPS.

• WORKED ON PRESIDENT GRANT. HE READ TWO PAGES ABOUT HIM AND ANSWERED A HOMEMADE WORKSHEET I MADE UP IN HIS NOTEBOOK. THE WORKSHEET GAVE HIM PRACTICE OF DECIDING WHAT AN OPINION OR FACT. RECITED PRESIDENTS IN ORDER...MIXED UP A FEW OF THEM.
  

QUIZZED TOMMIE ON PREVIOUS SPELLING WORDS AND GAVE HIM A NEW LIST. HE MISSPELLED PRECIOUS AND MILDEW. COPIED EACH WORD 10 TIMES AND ONCE IN CURSIVE. CURSIVE IS IMPROVING, IF I LET HIM STAND UP TO WRITE. GO FIGURE?

I HAD HIM DO COPYWORK, ABOUT THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH. HE WROTE A ONE PAGE PAPER ON HIM. HANDWRITING IS IMPROVING, SINCE IF IT'S SLOPPY, HE HAS TO RE-DO. WHICH HE HATES.

READ ONE CHAPTER ALOUD OF LI LUN. GUESS WHAT? HE'S LIKING THIS BOOK, AFTER ALL. I'M GLAD I DIDN'T CAVE IN AND TOSS IT ASIDE.

WORKED WITH BRAD IN THE BARN...I'M NOT SURE HOW MUCH. BUT, BONDING WITH HIS DAD, A KENWORTH SEMI AND GETTING YOUR HANDS DIRTY COUNTS FOR SOMETHING, RIGHT?

WATCHED HISTORY CHANNEL ABOUT MAGNETS. WITH DAD.

WATCHED A SHOW ABOUT OIL DRILLING ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL. WITH DAD.

I'LL READ MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER TONIGHT. YES! I STILL READ TO HIM BEFORE BED. DON'T TELL ANYONE.

(last week, i was out enjoying the first signs of spring and found this beautiful dried out wild carrot...i kid you not...the flower head was as big as a dinner plate!)

here's a peak at what we did in our homeschool today:

1. math.. dividing fractions, dividing mixed fractions, division story problem fractions.
2. since i knew nothing about the story of the alamo, i decided to use it as our read aloud, today. never knew davey crockett died at the alamo.
3. i brought out a tray of a dozen different toys and objects. i had tommie write a good sentence with good adjectives for each object. truth is, he was being lazy and using the word "big" to often....so I handed him a thesaurus.
4. tommie read one chaper of Li Lun to me out loud. he still complained about it.. we both learned about bird nest soup and how the chinese collect the bird nests from swifts in caves. it's a delicacy in asia.
5. lunch. salads and wheat thins and grape juice with fiber.
6. i read several chapters in the book of Mark out loud... all about Peter, the roosters crowing twice, the crucifixion, and mary magdelene...
7. spelling (words taken from Li Lun)
8. dictation one paragraph from Li Lun- punctuation was 100%...spelling- missed three words...will review them tomorrow and friday.
9. discussed and did hand's on geography, with china and four different hemispheres.
10. watched the u.s. ship being hijacked on CNN. brad explained several facets of the ordeal. located somilia on the map.
11. tommie did silent reading on "electricity" and did a reading comp worksheet. also covered atoms, neutrons, protons and electrons.
12. i read one chapter in our read aloud, from the mixed up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler.

well, my hot shower is calling for me more tomorrow...

Our homeschool week is centered around this Newberry Winner, Li Lun-Lad of Courage. We're using it for science, geography, dictation, grammar, vocabulary, spelling and reading comp. I think the book is awesome. My 11 year old is either being defiant or truly doesn't like it. Regardless, I am requiring him to read it. You know, when you're the mom and teacher... you really have a decsion to make... do I let him off the hook and read something he likes? Or should I push and challenge him? Let's hope he grows from this and his mind is stretched. We'll see.

At our homeschool co-op... many families have been touched by this rocky economy. My family included. Our co-op is filled with tons of like minded moms...who are happy to help each other out...whether it's childcare, carpooling, giving out free books, or even bags upon bags of free bread. One lady even brought in tons and tons of broccoli last week...yours for the taking! I don't have a lot to offer back. But yet, I do come home with freebie's. So.......... I thought I could head up a "Blessing Box!" It's open to everyone. You just look through your cupboards or closets... find an item(s) that you no longer need... toss them into The Blessing Box then...rummage through and take what you might use from the box! We've had a lot of wonderful items.. Mott's Apple Juice, soups, tampons, nice clothing, books, crackers, cookbooks, etc. Whatever is leftover at the end of our semester, I will donate to the woman's shelter. I hope to do this next year for our co-op...only I think I'll make it a theme! Like: scrapbook week, kitchen week, book week, beauty items week... etc. Here's a peek of our box... I had to take a lot out, so I could get a good picture...it's loaded!

Appalled, shocked, humiliated, livid and helpless....is what I felt last night.

You see last night, we went to a local variety-comedy show at a local high school. The cast were local business and professional people...who put on a very good show...so I was told. We went with the in-laws and niece and nephew from Illinois. Sat right in the front row....good seats. The entire auditorium was jam-packed. No sign of recession here.

The constant flow of political jokes, the slamming and belittling the government, illegal immigrants, making fun of consumer products, cutting down neighboring outside communities and mocking local citizens..... was not my idea of humor... in fact, call me stiff like the queen of England- but I was hard-pressed to even force a smile. I was the minority. The majority of people whooped it up and laughed uncontrollably. Pathetic. Pitiful. Just having a good old time at the expense of others.

The worst part is yet to come.... one of the female characters, a middle aged lady kept messing up on her lines. Not a big deal. She handled it well and had good come backs...or so I thought. She mixed up her verbs...something like replacing were with was or vice-versa. It sounded really slang...haven't we all done this and caught ourselves? Well, I have.

So, she turns to the audience and shouts, "GEEZE, I'M TALKING LIKE ONE OF THEM HOMESCHOOLERS!".... and then the audience clapped, roared and cheered. Including my in-laws. All of them. They all leaned over looking at ME! Tommie's jaw dropped. My eyes were wide open like coffee cup saucers! Then, if that wasn't enough...she had to say it AGAIN.... "I'm talking like a HOMESCHOOLER!"...AGAIN, the audience loved it. She then turned to the audience and shouted proud and loud..."Did I tell you I am a public school educator? And our school district is the best around???"

After things settled down... I couldn't concentrate on the rest of the show. I felt heavy. Like I couldn't breathe..sort of felt like I was carrying the cross for every single homeschool mom I've ever met! All of them. All of you who are sitting reading this NOW. All the mom's who have sacrificed most of their adult lives and devoted themselves to raising good children and creating wonderful future generations... all the hard work, day after day...struggling at times and pressing on. Yep, that cross was heavy, last night.

I admit, a million things were ping-ponging in my head. How, I'd like to march right up to her and give her the what for and how come! I easily could of went backstage...the door was very near my front row seat... oh, how I wish I could of gotten "even" with her. Teach her a thing or two. Give her my two cents. Even thought I'd mention she could stand to loose a few pounds and get a new hair-do. I wondered when the last time she read her Bible was? You know, the do onto others rule? The Christ-like spirit that Christians strive for?

But I didn't.

Instead, I said a couple of quiet prayers for her and for the audience. One for forgiveness and grace. By the end of the show... my inner voice...God... had validated my homeschooling choice, yet again. It became very clear to me that this public outbreak from an educator, winning the audience over with sarcasm and humiliation...is in fact the very reason I don't put my child in an educational institution. How and why would you want to send your innoncent child into a classroom for 7 hours a day with someone like this? It's no wonder that kids today are rolling out of schools with negative attitudes... seeing the glass half empty and such extreme liberal thinking. Not all...but probably more often then not...educators have such control...such an influence on children. Truth is, I think it would be utterly awesome if all schools across the nation... had a manditory "Kindness" class, for just one hour a day. Now, wouldn't that be something?

Walking out to the car...my son said to me, "mom, what that lady said about homeschoolers, was so insulting!"... My 11 year old, homeschooled son knew better. "I know Tommie... forgive her, for she knows not what she does."

exhale, smile and rise above it.

yesterday, the fedEx truck pulled in my yard, rang my bell and left this behind. i totally forgot i signed up to receive a free lemonade stand...back in january! here is the link SUNKIST LEMONADE STAND...just incase you'd like to order one for free! i am not totally sure of the size..but you may find it on the link above? also, if you google free lemonade stand...you'll find links for math lessons!