This video, A Wrinkle In Time... is due back at the library tomorrow. So, I made an early dinner of soup and salads, and on this rainy night... decided we should honker down and watch it. Put it this way... I'm glad it was free. I figured it would be wonderfully entertaining, since it was Disney and based on the Newberry Award Winning Novel, but it was way out there. I'm thinking it would of made sense if you were using drugs... hard drugs-- the kind from the 70's. Perhaps the actual book is better? Hold your tomatoes.... this is just my opinion. smile, wink, nod.

duck tape is our friend!

It's official. My son has jumped on the duck-tape bandwagon! He's been busy ripping and pulling and designing wallets, PSP holders, cell phone holders and tote bags. You know, at first when I heard about this, I sort of snubbed my nose at it. But, you know what? It really is an art. To watch the design come together and accessories added... well... it's not the worst project for kids. However, I do have to put my foot down when it comes to covering the entire couch with CAMO colored duck tape. But, I assured him, it would be just lovely in his home, someday! Here is a link to the Duck Tape Club. They have lots of ideas for girls and boys. Click right here : DUCK TAPE CLUB!

DIP STICKS ARE OUR FRIENDS!

On Friday, I started Tommie reading The Hardy Boys! It's just good, squeaky clean, wholesome reading... with enough boyhood adventure to hold my boy's attention. Our local library has a shelf full of them.... he thought Farming Fear sounded good. I am just happy that we've seemed to find a series that seems to be working so far.

Friday, also found me chatting with Holly and my pastor's wife at the local park... while, our kids played baseball! Afterwards, the walking path was screaming our name so we walked! The snakes were out in full force, we spotted lots of turtles the size of fifty-cent pieces and looked at wildflowers! It was just nice to see the kids being healthy and carefree in the sunshine!

Below is that boy of mine.... tearing apart an old lawn mower engine. His dad and him did an experiment, to see how long a motor would run without oil. They timed it... 8 minutes before the engine seized up. Brad said he did this experiment specifically to show Tommie THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING MOTORS OILED and DIP STICKS ARE OUR FRIENDS!

No homework.

Today was the day we had 4 additional children in my small home today! My plan was to do an hours worth of Shakespeare with them... oh yes. I had visions of all 4 boys ages 9-13... and one 5 year old girl... all attentively listening to me. All joyfully asking questions about Stratford -Upon-Avon. All, sitting perfectly around my kitchen table. All ready to learn. I mean homeschool kids are suppose to have this unconditional passion and love of learning, right? Well, that's not exactly how this big idea of mine unfolded. The boys decided to make Lego Movies with the video camera, instead. And, play guns and pellet guns with targets outside...for a good long time. I enjoyed the five year old girl. Wow. Girls are sure different then boys. This little gal just loved to color and her attention span exceeded all of the boys put together. I really enjoyed her.

The agreement was...after Tommie's friends left... math and reading needed to be tackled. And, it was.

The one thing I am grateful for... is we don't have homework to bog down our evenings. Where am I going with this? You see, homeschooling allows kids the freedom to pursue their God-given interests.... instead of sitting at the kitchen at night doing busy work .. they can follow their passion...maybe take the pistons out of an engine or transmission from a junk riding lawn mower... yeah, okay...so that's what Tommie's done the past two nights. And, homework isn't the only way to give kids responsibility, either. No, we've got that covered...Tommie had been working back over at the neighbors filling in potholes with dirt and a wheel barrow and earning a little pocket change. And, learning a lot about working for someone else.

I went to our library today. I picked up a couple of Hardy Boys books. Fingers crossed, I'm hoping he falls for these...since there's a gazillion in the series. I don't recall the name of them....but one's about a tractor and the other is about WW2.

Is it almost Friday...again?

Tuesday and Wednesday Homeschooling:

Besides basics?

We did a short unit on conifers and identifying different trees found in a conifer forest. Spruce, Fir, Cedar, etc. We were also able to recap how there's really very little decomposition in those types of forests, hence not a lot of humus happening, either.

Today we did a mini-lesson on flower parts. We've done this in the past...but, I really don't expect Tommie to retain the parts of a flower from year to year...so, review is good for us. What's a pistil and where is a stamen and what does the sepal do? He did a little sketch and labeled the parts.

Yesterday, we covered Joan of Arc. Have you been to this website?
Garden of Praise. It's a great site for free printable stories and fun printable worksheets on tons of famous people! I was glad to have it in my favorites for a quick printable living lesson!

Well, I must get busy...tomorrow, I'll be homeschooling 4 boys and one little girl.. I've decided to have a Shakespeare Camp. Tomorrow, the boys will be building house with thatched roofs and a model of the Avon River. And, whatever else I find on-line!

Homeschooling on Monday, May 4, 2009:

After an over stimulating weekend of Boy Scout camping and horsing around... Monday was a very, very relaxed homeschool day.

I set Tommie up at the computer for on-line lessons of 5th Grade Interactive Activities (the link is in my sidebar) and let him self-teach himself how to make movies with "rolling credits" and organize his computer files and pictures. I called this the morning in the "computer lab!"

He did a lot of silent reading... The Living Mountain and his Boy Scout handbook on ax, saw and knife safety.

To tell you the truth, this afternoon found him overwhelmingly crabby. Very argumentative. He needed a nap. A long nap! After his attitude cooled off... he settled in to making a leather craft. I intended to do our read-aloud at this point...but, honestly...just wanted to go in the kitchen, alone and make peanut butter cookies. So, I did.

We had 4H tonight...and as long as I've been attending these meetings...I never knew rabbits had two uteruses (spelling?) and can coceive one time and give birth on two seperate days.

Tomorrow's a new day...I hope my over-tired, hormonal pre-teen is a little bit happier. Did you know, I'm the only mom in the whole world who yells at their child?

Homeschooling yesterday, Thursday 4/30/09;

Trying to get Tommie motivated yesterday, was like pulling a cement block around. Sure wonder what that's like to have a kid up and ready and cheerfully honker down to begin math? I decided I need to make decimal flashcards... reading decimals is not coming easy. He needs a little boost.

We're just about done with the swan unit. Again, yesterday... I used it for dictation, spelling words and reading comp.

He worked on one page of his President's book...and homemade reading comp. questions. He's on Grover Cleveland or Harrison...I can't remember which. He practiced reciting the President's in order... I made a cheesy little card game up to help him retain it... hand's on.

After lunch:

Silent Reading, The Living Mountain.

Science: a small unit on soy beans and what they are used for... soy bean diesel, soy bean everything, literally! Also, used the microscope to view: strawberries, celery and my favorite.. a tomato! Reviewed the slides of our dead June bug. (pictured above).

Did a quick little art study on Salvidor Dali. I am hoping to teach an art class for our homeschool co-op in the Fall and I'm experimenting before hand... Salvidor was from Spain, he was a sculptor, jewelry designer and dabbled in film making... he also did art work like above- called the impossible! Using pictures of people or stuff and creating them into the impossible. We used oil pastels, like he did. Tommie did a piece on Jon and Kate plus Eight's kids... an underwater theme with an octopus and their kids faces as fish... the emphasis being on the word "oct" and I did the other one.

I love this twisted thinking.