Bent Grass Prep School

More Lapbooks

2011-12-14T04:56:00.000-08:00

While I'm unpacking the 3 million boxes from our move (Indy IS doing school though!), I thought I'd share 2 other lapbooks we did this past year.

After the earthquake lapbook inspired by the earthquakes in Haiti and Japan, we moved on to volcanoes. This was a very involved lapbook that took about 2 weeks. There was a lot to learn!

Cover

First fold opening:

Second fold opening showing the bottom flap (it folds down):

Inside with the flap down:

Close up of inside a volcano:

The Ring of Fire:

Tsunami spin insert and vocab words:

When we studied Renaissance Italy, Indy became fascinated with Leonardo Da Vinci. We took an entire week off school and learned solely about him and his fascinating life. This too was a very involved and HUGE lapbook because there was so much to pack in. I think we used 3 file folders stapled together. It's quite bulky.

Cover:

Inside the first flap opening:

Inside the second flap opening:

Inside the third flap opening:

Close up of his Renaissance drawing. Inside this booklet was information that he wrote about the architecture of the Renaissance.

Info about Leo's life:

Indy's writing backwards experiment:

I couldn't get a good photo of it, but we also included a Euro coin minted in Italy that had Leo's Vetruvian Man on the reverse of it. In case you don't know, while Euros are all the same on the front, and accepted in any country that it part of the EU, each country mints Euros and puts something representing that particular country. The €1 in Italy has the Vetruvian Man. Every time we get one Indy swipes it and adds it to his stash.

2011-2012 Curriculum

2011-09-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

I meant to do this post a long time ago, but I've been busy homeschooling. This year is a bit different as we got off the 4 year history cycle one year (stupid, shiny boxed curriculum!), so we're playing catch up this year and doing an abbreviated version of Early Modern and Modern history so we can get back on track next year.
This is our curriculum this year (4th grade):

SOTW 3 and 4 (abbreviated!)
SOTW Geography
Growing With Grammar 4 (♥♥♥)
Singapore My Pals Are Here Science 3/4
Teaching Textbooks 4 Math
Latin For Children Primer A
Instant Immersion German
Winter Promise Chess
100 Great Poems for Boys
SuperTeacherWorksheets.com Spelling 4
Violin

We are also reading a lot of fun books this year. Indy reads to me almost every day from the Pirate School series and each week we have a book that I read that ties into what we're learning about in history.
We've already changed a few things up this year. We were using Writing With Ease (made by the same company as GWG), but both disliked it immensely.
We're in week 7 (out of 36) and had a scheduled break after week 8, but since we're doing a big move in a few weeks, we're going to wait until that happens for our break.

4th Grade

2011-09-05T01:44:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that the summer flew by so quickly. Well, to be fair ours was only 7 weeks, but it was a very short 7 weeks. On Aug 8th we started back and Indy entered 4th grade! How did my baby get to the 4th grade already?
Here is is 1st day photo:

Every year on the first day we have the breakfast of his choice (chocolate chip waffles this year) and then we do an "All About Me" page. I paste his first day photo into my template and then print it off and he fills in the answers.

Age: 9
Grade: 4
Year: 2011
Height: 58"
Weight: 82 pounds
Favorite Food: Pizza, Chicken Broccoli Casserole
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite TV Show: Phineas and Ferb
Favorite Movie: Harry Potter
Favorite Subject in School: History and Science
When I Grow up I want to be: An Archaeologist

We put the paper in the front of his history notebook and then I put them in the archives at the end of the year. They'll be great to look at when he's older.

As I type this, we've been in school for 4 weeks already. He's doing great in his reading, which is a huge deal since he's dyslexic. He still stumbles a lot, but he tries so hard and is so proud of what he's accomplished.
In history we've studied from Mary, Queen of Scots to the Jamestown colony to the Mayflower and the 30 Years War (and loads of stuff in between). We've read loads of books for each subject and learned a lot. Tomorrow we start learning about Louis XIV and then on to the French Revolution. He's really excited about this as we just went to Versailles in June.
In science we've learned about classification of things and animals. He finds this really interesting.
He's doing excellent in grammar, math, Latin and German. He still enjoys Latin more than anything.
I'm so proud of how much he's retaining and how he thinks things through.
This year is a bit of a challenge due to having to take care of Han Solo, but we're making it work.

And we're done!!!

2011-06-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

We are finished with 3rd grade! Woohoo!!! It was quite a year, what with the pregnancy and baby and all, but we managed to get through it without losing our minds and we even finished on time! Halleluiah!
We actually had a good year. We learned all about the middle ages and Renaissance and Indy's reading improved by leaps and bounds. This was the most exciting part of the year for both of us. The day after we finished, we took off for Paris for 4 days. I'll be posting more about that on my main blog though. We now have 7 weeks off before we start 4th grade. Actually a week has already passed, so really, we just have 6 left. Today I started pulling all the 3rd grade material out of my binders in preparation for all the new stuff. Next year we'll be doing a condensed version of early modern and modern history so we can be back on cycle by the time we hit 5th grade and the logic stage. While we're both anticipating a nice summer break. We'll keep up on reading and I'll ask him questions about what we learned this past year, but for the most part, we'll just be taking it easy.

Homeschooling with a new baby

2011-05-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

If you aren't a reader of my regular blog, you may not know that 6 weeks ago, I had a baby! Yep, a big old surprise baby who is absolutely adorable. Indy is in love with him and gave him the blog name "Han Solo." This is them 3 days after Han Solo was born. Aren't they precious?

I have been trying to get as much school work done as we possibly could before Han Solo was born, but of course we didn't finish the year. Since Han Solo has been home we've done easy school, but still working hard. It's not exactly easy considering I'm seriously lacking in sleep (I totally forgot what it was like to have to get up at night with a baby-NOT fun) and Han Solo requires so much attention. Sadly he's not quite as easy a baby as Indy was and needs much more holding and face time. Because of all this, our school days have changed. Indy doesn't seem to mind though. Our days have been starting later because after Han Solo eats around 6 or 7am, he goes back to sleep and so do I. Indy gets up and plays in his room with Legos or his Indiana Jones action figures and usually fixes his own breakfast (man, I love that kid). I'm usually up by 9:30 and I'll give Indy some independent work to do while I hop on the treadmill (not every day, but I'm working on it) and shower. Han Solo is generally up by the time I'm done and ready for a bottle. Indy LOVES to give him his bottle, so I set them up with the Boppy pillow (I sit next to them) and read to Indy. Once Han Solo is done eating, I take him and burp him (Indy really wants to burp him, but I won't allow that) and then Indy reads to me. HE reads to ME! He's reading level 4 readers, which is amazing considering he could barely read at all this time last year. After we're done reading, I usually try to do some work that requires my assistance while Han Solo dozes in my arms. This is hard! Once he's asleep though, I can lay him down for a nap and Indy and I can get to the meat of his work before a late lunch (around 1pm). After lunch Indy does his math (which is on the computer and does not require me!) and then we're done for the day. We don't do quite as much as we did pre-Han Solo, but since we pushed so much before and it's nearly the end of our school year I'm not all that concerned. In fact, last week we read about the Renaissance and Indy was so intrigued by Leonardo da Vinci (we read Leonardo's Horse, which is a great, short book). that we took the week off from our regular studies to spend this week reading about him. Indy's working on a (FREE) lapbook from homeschoolshare.com on Leonardo's Horse (it includes other stuff about the Renaisance too) and today experimented with writing backwards. He thought this was loads of fun.
So, homeschooling with a new baby is challenging, but totally doable. We'll see how doable it is when Han Solo is a toddler. ;)

Earthquake lapbook

2011-03-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

In my previous post I mentioned that with all the media coverage of the Japan earthquake, we would start a unit study of them. We opted to make a lapbook with our study. Indy really enjoys making lapbooks and I do too, I just forget about them. Homeschoolshare.com has loads of FREE lapbook components and information on a wealth of subjects (we started on their HUGE volcano unit week). All of the parts of this lapbook came from them.

Cover:

Inside:

We didn't have enough room in the basic folder for all the components, so I added another sheet of heavy card stock to make a flap that opens and give him more room to put things. Here it is open:

Close up of top part of flap open:

Area under the flap. We made booklets with info on the Haiti and Japan earthquakes:

Close up of one of the components (notice the neat handwriting!):

Indy really enjoyed learning about the earthquakes and has been riveted to the news to get the latest information on what's going on in Japan.

Natural Disasters and Science

2011-03-15T04:07:00.000-07:00

Ugh, poor Japan. I don't know what else to say. Every day it seems to get worse and worse. Indy has been glued to the NEWS watching what's going on over there and started asking questions about the earthquake and tsunamis and all that they encompass. We've been really slacking in science, so I got the bright idea to study earthquakes and volcanoes. Is that wrong?
We started working on an earthquake lapbook (it also includes tsunamis) this week (FREE from homeschoolshare.com!) and when it is completed, we we will move on to the volcano lapbook (also FREE!). Some part of me feels kind of weird to use a horrible event like this to kick start our sadly lacking science, but I figured we're getting loads of information on it via the news and Indy seems really interested in learning about it, so why not?

Latin!

2011-01-16T06:37:00.000-08:00

Wow, two posts in less than a week? What's going on? I don't know!
In my previous post, I mentioned I was thinking of changing our Latin program and that evening I bit the bullet (or debit card as the case may be) and bought the Big Book of Lively Latin 1 download. Holy cow! When they say big book, they mean it. It's seriously huge. I've barely printed off half of it and my 1" binder is bulging. We started working on it the next day, and guess what? IT IS FABULOUS! Indy loved it. He begged to do more! He begged to do Latin the next morning! I have to say, it is rather fun, though I can't really pinpoint why. I'm learning right along with him and enjoying it too. Indy likes the worksheets (who knew?) and the audio vocabulary. He actually asked to do the audio vocab a second time to make sure he got it. Huzzah! The format is engaging and not too much to handle at one time, which I think he really likes. I only wish we'd been using this from the beginning! The only issue we're having seems to be technical. For some reason, on two different computer, trying 3 different browsers, the video lessons won't work. It's very frustrating, because that's one of the reasons I wanted Lively Latin, but the company is trying to see if they can figure out why and I have to say I'm impressed with their customer service. If you're looking for a Latin program, be sure to check this one out. You won't be sorry.

Back in the saddle and griping about books and maybe some changes

2011-01-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

Whew, we've had an entire month off school and now we're back! I was worried it would be hard to get back into the routine, but we fell right back into it. Huzzah! This week we're learning about Robin Hood and Richard the Lion Heart (who was not a great king if you want to know the truth). Our book of the week is Robin Hood (A Stepping Stone Book). We've read several of the Stepping Stone Books and the more of them I read, the less I like them. I know they are aimed at children reading them to themselves, but Indy's not at that point yet, so I have to read them to him. They are sooooo basic in their writing and grammar. I find it insulting to be honest. Some of the sentences aren't even complete, but fragments. This drives me insane. I'm not even sure I want Indy reading them once he gets to that point. The stories are also pretty much dumbed down and that's really irritating too. I think I only purchased 2 other Stepping Stone Books that we haven't read yet and I'm not sure we will. I may get different books to replace them. Sigh.
I'm also thinking of replacing our Latin program. Indy really, really likes Minimus (mostly because of the comic strip at the beginning of each lesson and the fact that it's based on a real family who lived in Roman Britain), and I think it's cute, but I don't have a Latin background and find it hard to teach. I've heard a lot of good stuff about Lively Latin and like the samples I've seen online, so we may switch to this and use Minimus as a supplement once our Latin knowledge has increased. Indy really enjoys finding words in English that are actually Latin or Latin based. It's become like a game. I'm glad I decided to introduce it this year. If we can keep it up, one day he'll rock the SAT's. :)

The Ultimate Field Trip: Warwick Castle, England

2010-11-18T12:40:00.000-08:00

At the end of September, Indy and I flew to England for a few days to visit Warwick Castle in Warwickshire, England. We had just learned about castles and their uses and construction. It was the perfect time to take a field trip to one of the best preserved Medieval castles in Europe.

Indy was fascinated by this HUGE tree in the castle entrance.

The original outer bailey walls and towers.

This is what happens when you don't listen to your mom!

The castle gate. Indy was fascinated when a lady explained to him about the "murder holes."

Of course he loved all the weapons and armor.

This is up at the oldest part of the original castle on top of the motte, founded in the late 900's.

We climbed over 550 very tight spiraling stairs.

A view from the top of the battlements looking to the bailey and the motte.

This archer was amazing! He demonstrated the long bow and a crossbow with amazing accuracy.

The birds of prey show was amazing. This is Sid, a type of vulture.

We had a great time and learned a lot about Medieval castles. Indy had a great time and came home with loads of stories about things that had gone on at the castle he'd been told by costumed workers. It was the "best field trip ever."

Celebrating NOT going to "regular" school

2010-08-31T04:26:00.000-07:00

The schools started here yesterday and for the 3rd year in a row we celebrated NOT going. Everyone makes a big deal about the first day of school (we do, but not to the extent of public/private school), so we decided to celebrate the day the other kids go and we get to stay home. We go get milkshakes! What a way to celebrate. This year we took James Bond with us and we had lunch in addition to our milkshakes. Of course we forgot the camera. There is a train car diner just up the road from us (it's made from 2 train cars put together to make it wider) that serves American style diner food. It's not as greasy though, so it's not completely authentic, but still, it's good and they make the best milkshakes I've ever had. Seriously. They use the most delicious ice cream and add milk. And that is all! No syrups, no extra stuff, just ice cream and milk, the way they should be. The strawberry shakes have huge hunks of strawberries in them. YUMMY! I got strawberry and Indy and James Bond both got chocolate (they were made with dark chocolate ice cream. Indy loved it. He said he can't wait for the kids to start school next year so we can do it again!

Two weeks down, thrity four to go!

2010-08-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

Whew! We made it through the first 2 weeks and I still have (most of) my sanity! Huzzah!!! I have to say it's actually gone really well. Last week we studied the fall of Rome (which marks the beginning of the Middle Ages) and I learned things I didn't know! Actually, I probably learned them, but forgot, so this was a nice refresher for me. The Roman Emperor Diocletian decided to split the Empire into 2 sections, the Western and Eastern Roman Empire come from. The Emperor of each half was called Augustus, and they picked a junior Emperor, called Caesar, which meant that there were a total of 4 Emperors at a time! Crazy. This was called the Tetrarch period. We learned how Rome was sacked by the Gauls, the Visigoths, the Vandals and the Ostrogoths. Indy found this very interesting.

This week we studied the Byzantine Empire, which was what was left of the Western Roman Empire. Indy was fascinated by the Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora (who was a circus performer, actress-courtesean, though I left that out-and wool merchant before marrying Justinian, who was in the Army at the time of their marriage). We learned all about the Justinian Laws, and Indy found them extremely interesting. He thought some of the laws were very fair, while others weren't. We also learned about the split of the Catholic church into the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox churches.

Indy's math is done on the computer (with some writing in a workbook), but and he loooooves it. He begs me to do math every day! I've discovered that if I hold math off until last he'll get through his other work faster to get to his math. I'm so clever.

Language arts is still his least favorite subject, but after the Davis therapy, it's going much better and easier. He's actually asked me several times if he can read to me! He's still reading simple books and I have to help him with some of the bigger words, but he wants to read and it's much easier than it was before. Yay!

We've done 4 science labs in the last two weeks and he loves it. We learned about atoms and molecules and how they move and how temperature affects them. He really enjoys doing the labs, but honestly, while they're fun, I kind of dread them. The prep and the clean up do me in.

Indy's hands down favorite subject is languages. He loves to do his German (on the computer) because he hears it on a daily basis. He gets excited when he recognizes words. Latin though, this is his absolute favorite thing. He loves Latin. He's learned a few basic words and likes to pepper his sentences with them. He calls me mater (mother) at every turn. Silly boy. The program we're using is based around a real family that lived at the Roman Fort in Vindolanda (in northern England) during the 100's AD. Their home has been excavated and the author of the books has included real bits of their daily life. Indy really likes this. Roman Numerals were a huge hit with him. He was excited because the next time we go to Rome he will be able to decipher dates on buildings. :) We did a quiz every day where I wrote a number on the board in Roman Numerals and he had to decipher it. He really liked it and was quite good at it, even when I went to really high and complicated numbers. I can see why the system of Roman Numerals fell out of favor, it takes an awful lot to write some of the numbers. Yikes.

So there you have it. Next week it's on to Charlemagne!

First Day of 3rd Grade and School Room Photos

2010-08-11T01:44:00.000-07:00

School has started!!! I can't believe it. We had a short summer break, but since we take long breaks throughout the year, that was okay. To be honest, we were both kind of ready to get back into a routine. Plus, we were just bored. Doing nothing all day sounds good, but in reality, it's kind of dull. The first day started off with a special "Back to School Breakfast." Indy wanted waffles, so I drug the waffle iron out from the cabinet (and dusted it off, it's been in there a long time) and whipped up a plain waffle for Indy, a blackberry waffle for James Bond (he picked a ton of delicious blackberries the other day) and a blueberry waffle for me. Yummy! We also had turkey bacon. Indy was very excited by the waffles. Probably because he doesn't get them very often.

After we cleaned up, it was time for first day photos. Indy is a ham when it comes to photos, so getting something relatively normal takes some work. I think we did pretty well though. Isn't he handsome?

Then it was finally time for school! We had a really great day. This year we are studying Medieval history, geography of the middle ages, chemistry, math, spelling/language arts, Latin, German, and chess. It's all rather ambitious, but I think we'll do fine. We don't do every subject every day (because we'd never finish) so that helps. On the first day we did history, spelling, language arts (Indy's least favorite), Latin and math (which is on the computer so he loves it). We also did some of our Davis dyslexia therapy words in clay. He really likes to do these. We had some issues getting Indy back into the swing of writing (he's PAINFULLY slow), but that will come back in a few days (I hope).

At dinner that night, Indy told James Bond all about his day and how awesome it was and how lucky he is to be homeschooled where he can learn fun stuff and not "regular" school where it's boring. Hurrah! We also verbally went over our Latin words, which impressed James Bond mightily. :) I think we're in for a great year.

I've never posted our school room, but thought now is as good a time as any. Our school room is our 3rd bedroom and also doubles as our guest room (I won't be showing you that half though as it's still in the works-almost done, but not quite ready to be revealed). Our third bedroom is really weird because it has 2 doors which makes furniture placement difficult. One of the doors (the one we use most) leads to the hall (Indy's bedroom door is opposite) and the other door leads to our bedroom. It's very odd considering the room we're in isn't technically the master, though it's bigger. Indy is in the master because the bedroom we're in is close to the front door and I didn't want James Bond waking Indy up every morning at 5:30am when he goes to PT. I've tried to make the room as functional as possible and it was set up this way most of last school year, so I guess I did okay.

Since it does double as a guest room, I didn't want to put too much cutesy school stuff up (plus, we find all that rather distracting), so I kept it to a world map, a framed wipe board (I spray painted a hideous gold frame that was 75% off at Hobby Lobby red) and found 2 beautifully framed chalk boards at Home Goods. The bookcase as desk attachment are from my favorite place in the world, IKEA! The chair with its back to the chalk and wipe boards is mine. It was a hideous brown chair that someone threw out. A coat of the same paint I used on the frame and it's as good as new. The chair opposite came from IKEA and was already red. It was in the Fundgrube section (scratch and dent/display models) and I picked it up for about $15, which isn't bad considering it started off at almost $65.

Another view. The walls are actually a very bright yellow that Indy and I both love. I chose yellow because I read somewhere along time ago that kids learn better in yellow rooms. I went with red accents because, well, I love red and the combination is really pretty.

This photo is much closer to showing the true color of the walls. You can also see how we start our morning. On the large chalk board we write the day (also in German), date, and do the weather (also in German). Indy loves this part. I also use the space under the chalk board on the door to hang posters or charts if we need them.

I keep all the books we'll need for the week in the cubby next to my chair, which is much easier than going to the shelves in the closet every time I need something.

The guest half of the room is on the other side of the bookcase. I used it to divide the room so we can focus on the school half and so guests don't have to stare at all our school stuff. We use the daybed to sit together and do our reading. There's also a black and white checked chair that I love (also a steal from the Fundgrube section at IKEA) and a TV that Indy can watch movies on and play the Wii (but the Wii is reserved only for weekends).

I hope you've enjoyed hearing about our first day back and touring our school room. I'm linking this post up to the Not Back to School Blog. Click to see other school rooms.

Davis Dyslexia Therapy

2010-07-28T11:18:00.000-07:00

So, last week we went to Stuttgart for Indy's dyslexia therapy. I researched for a long time to find something that I thought would work for him and after reading The Gift of Dyslexia, I decided the Davis method was the way to go. Finding a provider in Germany proved a bit more difficult, but we were fortunate enough to find someone who offers it in English (very important) and who could fit us in. Actually, we could only get 3 days this time and will finish it up in Sept. In just 3 days though, we saw amazing results.

One of the big things for picture thinking dyslexics (which both Indy and ~~Mr. HH~~ James Bond are) is that letters don't really mean much and "trigger" words like a, the, and, in, with, etc. have no no meaning to them. Think about it, can you picture "the?" Part of the therapy involves making the alphabet out of clay so he can hold the letter, flip it over, and see it in 3D. Here he is making his upper case letters.

After making both upper and lower case, he starts to work on making models of trigger words. The idea is that they look up the word to get a definition, then make something in clay that to them represents the definition (for children we simplify the definition). The word "make" is defined as creating or building something from other materials. He then has to come up with at least 5 sentences using the word. Once the model is built, the word is then made out of clay and an arrow points from the word to the model. Here is Indy's MAKE:

It's 2 boys making a wall out of blocks. He points to the model and says "You are MAKE, meaning something created or built from other materials." He then points to the word and says "You say MAKE." He spells the word, touching each letter, then closes his eyes and spells is forwards and backwards (again touching each letter) and describes the model.

Here is MADE:

He used the same original model, but put a thought bubble around it with a person thinking about MAKE in the past tense.

Here is MAKES:

The idea here is that two figures talk about someone else, as in "He makes a good wall."

There was more to the therapy, including setting the "mind's eye" which I did not get at all, but James Bond totally understood. Indy really got the most out of defining trigger words with pictures. He was reading the first night of his own volition. Reading! I almost cried. The next day he begged to bring the book he had been reading to lunch. Sure it was a Spongebob graphic novel (like a comic, but in book form and longer), but still, he was reading the word bubbles! Out loud to me and James Bond. It was amazing. This is an expensive therapy, but thus far it has been worth every penny.
We have exercises to do every day and he's super excited about reading now. I can't tell you what a relief this is. Hopefully this will make school a whole lot easier.

2010-2011 Curriculum

2010-07-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

We're gearing up for next year! School starts August 9. I can't believe it. Didn't we just finish? Oh, wait, we did. It was the middle of June. Sigh. We don't take long summer breaks because we take lots of breaks during the school year, which is nice because we can vacation while everyone else is still in school. Indy starts 3rd grade this year! Third! He'll be 8 in a week and a half! Where has the time gone?

This year we're going back on the Trivium cycle, but because we went off it last year we're now a year behind. D'oh! That's okay though, we'll catch up. This year we'll be studying the Middle Ages! Indy is very excited. Knights and castles, what could be better?

Here are the programs we're using:

History Odyssey-The Middle Ages, level 1 What I really like about this is that it covers not only medieval Europe, but also the East, Africa, South America, North America and the Pacific Islands.

The main books that go along with the program are:

SOTW-2
A Child's History of the World
Days of Knights and Damsels

The other books (readers and read alouds) that go along with this are fantastic:

Robin Hood
King Aurthur and the Knights of the Round Table
The Sword in the Tree
The Door in the Wall
The Samurai's Tale
Margerite Makes a Book
The Marvelous Blue Mouse
The Great and Terrible Quest
The Making of a Knight
Beowulf: A new telling for children
The Minstrel in the Tower
Son of Charlemagne
The Red Keep: The Story of Burgundy in 1165
Meet Christopher Columbus
The Trolley To Yesterday (Constantinople)
Stories of the Caliphs: The Early Rulers of Islam
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
Viking Ships at Sunrise
The Smashing Saxons
Ivanhoe
Joan of Arc
Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess, Page
Canterbury Tales for Children
Richard III (Shakespeare Children's Series)
Ghingis Kahn
Prince Ivan and the Firebird
El Cid
Good Morning Gorillas
Lions at Lunch Time
Tales From India
Silent Lotus
The Master Swordsman and the Magic Doorway
The Travels of Marco Polo
The Singing Snake (Aboriginal Folk Tales)
Arctic People
Coyote and the Fire Stick
Arrow to the Sun
Lost Temple of the Aztec
The Boy Who Wouldn't Obey: A Mayan Tale
Lost City: The Discovery of Machu Pichu
Suleyman the Magnificent and the Ottoman Empire
Fine Print: The Story of Gutenberg
Forgotten Voyager: The Story of Amerigo Vaspuci
Explorers of North America
Explorers Who Got Lost
The Mughal Empire
The Boy, The Bear, The Baron, and The Bard
Elizabeth I

That's a lot of books! Some of them are simple chapter books and others are books that we will only read part of.

R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey-Chemistry-level 1

Teaching Textbooks Math-3

First Language Lessons-level 3

Minimus: Starting Out In Latin

Instant Immersion German

Map Trek: Medieval World Geography

We are going to have a fun and busy year. Only 3 weeks until it start!

Dyslexia

2010-07-07T00:45:00.000-07:00

School is on summer break! Hurrah! I'm not sure who's more excited, Indy or me (probably me). One of the good things about homeschooling is that as a parent, I get to see what works, what doesn't and what, if any problems there might be with Indy's learning. For a while I suspected Indy had a reading problem. He wanted to read so badly, but it just wasn't coming together for him. He struggled, he cried, I cried. It was awful. At first It thought there might be a problem with his eyes, so we went to the eye doctor for a check up. His eyes were perfect. I then started taking note of the specific issues and took to the internet to research what they could mean. Over and over I came up with dyslexia. It shouldn't have been a surprise really, as Mr. HH is dyslexic. I did not want Indy to struggle the way Mr. HH has and started researching methods to help. We went to his ped for advice (she verified the dyslexia, even though I already knew) and finally found the Davis Method. Mr. Davis is dyslexic himself and devised this method on his own. I picked up a copy of his book, The Gift of Dyslexia, which, if you're not dyslexic is a fascinating read. I had no idea how it worked. After reading this book, I knew this was the method that would work best for Indy. On the main page of the website, they list the Davis Providers in the US and around the world. There happens to be one about an hour and a half from us that works in English. I contacted her and set up a consultation. We spent a few hours with her so she could evaluate Indy and see if she thought this would work for him. I already knew it would (I'm a mom, I know these kinds of things), and she agreed. Of course our insurance won't pay for it, but we decided that any amount of money was worth it to help Indy read. Mr. HH, who still struggles, would have paid twice the fee if it meant Indy wouldn't have the same issues he had while growing up. We are going to Stuttgart in 2 weeks for Indy's therapy sessions. I so hope this works. Indy is crazy excited because he too is convinced (he concluded this all on his own) that he will be able to read better afterward. Cross your fingers. I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh goodness!

2010-06-09T01:19:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I have let this poor little blog languish for so long! We've had a busy year. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
Since we did our little raclette dinner for Switzerland, we've studied Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Russia, Poland, Japan, China, Korea, India, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, The UAE, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Columbia, Mexico, Canada, Cuba and the US. Whew! It's been a whirl wind trip. Indy has loved it. He really likes learning about other people and how they live. He also really enjoys getting to sample the native foods.

His math skills are amazing. He's been doing 3rd grad math since Jan (including multiplication and division) and I think we'll be doing 4th grade math next year. Numbers seem to come fairly easily to him. Lucky duck.

His reading is, well, if not exactly on grade level, getting better. We discovered that he is dyslexic and are working the Davis method to help and we seem to be making progress. I'm looking into going to a Davis therapist (we have a consultation next week), but it will depend on the cost and if Tricare will cover it. Cross your fingers on that! He's trying so hard and is so proud of himself when he get something right. On the down side he gets so frustrated when he can't figure it out. It's heartbreaking to watch. I want so much to be able to help him, but there are some things I can't do.

We're still working hard. We will officially finish school next week, but will continue to work on reading and fun stuff during the summer. Our next school year, 3rd grade, (which I am about to lose my mind over) will start the first week of Aug, just after Indy turns 8. 8! How on earth is my baby already 8?

Switzerland!

2010-01-08T10:59:00.000-08:00

Oh, it's been so long! We've been busy little bees in the last 2 months. We've studied England, Ireland, Scotland, Christmas around the world and this week we've been studying Switzerland. Chocolate and cheese! Yummy! Tonight, as part of our cultural study, we did Raclette for dinner. If you're not familiar with it, click the link (after you read this) to find out more.

Indy with the raclette grill and all the fixings.

Throwing some duck on the grill. Fun!

Waiting! We cooked duck, beef and pork, potatoes (pre-boiled), mushrooms and pepper strips. And of course bread and the raclette cheese!

Indy pouring cheese over his food.

I now love Switzerland! An entire meal based on cheese! Heaven.

After dinner we had Toblerone for dessert. Dark chocolate with almond and honey. See how excited he is?

Oh, so good!

Is it wrong that we are having just as much fun with the food as we are with learning about the country? Next week we're studying Spain. Paella!

New Curriculum!

2009-10-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

We started our new program yesterday and it was fantastic! Today was great too, except that I have almost no voice, so I couldn't do much reading aloud. Indy was so excited when the new books arrived and wanted to start that day. I had to put the Instructor's Guides together and get myself prepped first. We are still missing a few books, but have enough to do most of the daily assignments. Indy loved doing the map assignments and looking up all the places we've been (and it's a big list).
As I mentioned before, we're doing a program by Winter Promise. If you've never dealt with them, let me just tell you have have amazing customer service. They are the nicest, most helpful and friendly people you can imagine.
I really like the books that are included in our program (Oliver Twist, The Three Musketeers, Anne of Green Gables, Swiss Family Robinson and a host of others that I can't wait to read together) and there are sooooo many activities suggested in the IG that we are going to have a hard time choosing which to do. Our first "cultural gathering" is going to take place next week and is an English Tea and a celebration of Guy Fawkes night (which happens to be next week!). Indy is so excited. We're going to have some of his friends over (dressed up of course) and he's going to wear a tie (which he loves to do).
There are days (especially when I'm sick) that I think about how much easier things would be if I just sent him to regular school, but the days I get to watch him figure something out or get excited by something new he's learned, I remember again why I do this.

Field Trip to Saalburg

2009-10-05T05:24:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Indy and I went with our local hs group on a field trip! This time we went up to Saalburg (about 10 minutes north of Frankfurt) to the reconstructed Roman fort. Kaiser Wilhelm II, when he wasn't ticking people off and starting wars, was very interested in the Roman history in Germany (and probably a few other countries) and had the fort reconstructed on the site of the original ruins. He did take a few liberties, though. The crenelations on the outer wall are too narrow for the Roman weapons, but Wilhelm thought they looked better slim, so slim they were built. The buildings that have been reconstructed are now used mostly to house artifacts found on the site. Just a little ways from the fort is the Roman Limes (LEE-mess) which was the northern border of the Roman Empire.

The entrance, with the Emperor Hadrian, who had the Limes and fort constructed. Apparently Hadrian really liked walls.

They have some interesting interactive things for people to do, like try on chain mail. I think it weighed about as much as Indy.

This was one of the highlights for Indy. It's an entire Roman Legion composed of Playmobil soldiers. Indy has quite a few Romans, but not quite a Legion.

The back gate.

This barracks room (the part behind the glass) housed 8 soldiers. Eight! See the bunk bed? Four on the top bunk, 4 on the bottom. Yikes!

To make the buildings look more "Roman" the army would cover the stone with limestone and whitewash, then use brown paint to make the brick lines. They did this to every building and the outer wall! They must have had a lot of time on their hands. You can see a small patch here on this building.

Here is an entire building done up to look "Roman."

Indy in the guest house outside the fort.

We had a lot of fun and learned a lot of interesting stuff about the Roman experience in Germany.

Change in Curriculum

2009-10-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

One of the cool things about home schooling is that if something isn't working, you can change it. We started doing Sonlight Core 1 about 8 weeks ago and I was really, really hoping we'd love it, but it's just not a good fit for us. I was disappointed that it didn't work for us, but after much research (hours of scouring the internet), I decided we'd change from Sonlight to Winter Promise. We're going to use their Children of the World Theme with Language Arts 2, Horizon Math and the World Around Me Science. I'm hoping this will be a good fit for us. I'm going to continue with Story of the World 1 (which I had added to Sonlight) and see what happens. He likes SOTW and so do I. WP is a literature based curriculum, so we'll still be doing a lot reading together and he's excited about that.
Sonlight fortunately has a fantastic return policy, so now I just have to pack it all up, ship it back and wait for my refund.

Celebration and Field Trip 2

2009-09-28T03:48:00.000-07:00

Oh dear. I had such good intentions of updating this blog more often and then, well, life went on. What has been going on? Well, school! The schools on post here started back on August 31 and Indy and I celebrated "not going to 'regular' school." We went to a local cafe and had HUGE strawberry milkshakes. What a lovely (and delicious) way to celebrate homeschooling.
A few weeks ago we got together with our local hs group and went on a field trip. And what a field trip it was! We first met up at the Mauer Rathaus (city hall) where they have a small museum devoted to finds in the area, including the jawbone of the Heidelberg Man (which we visited on our first field trip).

Indy outside the Rathaus

Rathaus

The X on the photo marks where they found the jawbone:

After we left the Rathaus we went to the site where they found many of the remains. You can't see where the jawbone was found (it's on the other side of the mountain), but many things were found on this side as well.

From there we drove up to Messel just south of Frankfurt to visit their museum and the famous fossil pit.

This is the fossil of a very small ancestor of the horse. They were only 10-20 inches from the ground to their shoulder. IIRC, 74 of them have been found in the fossil pit.

The weather was no cooperating, but we didn't let that stop us. Just as we left the ticket office of the pit, the bottom dropped out of the sky. I tried to take photos, but it was raining so hard the pictures were all blurry. This is the group at the gates of the pit:

The pit itself:

Indy in front of the pit:

Our guide showing some of the recently found fossils. She said they find birds, beetles and bats almost daily, and about 1 crocodile a month. It's a busy place!

He was really excited. I promise.

The guide handed everyone a piece of fossil and told them to take a really good look at it.

Then she told them it was fossilized poop. The kids were all grossed out.

It was a great trip and we had tons of fun and learned an awful lot.

First week back and a field trip

2009-08-19T01:10:00.000-07:00

Ah, school! We are officially back session and so far, so good. We are using Sonlight this year and we are enjoying it. I've had to do a lot of tweaking to it, but it's nice to have most stuff just laid out for me. I open the schedule book and off we go. Heaven! There is a lot of stuff included in this program, but I've already started supplementing it. This is a Christian curriculum, but I actually prefer not to include religion in our homeschool. Why did I choose Sonlight then? Well, the fact that it's literature based and comes with fantastic books is the main reason, but again, having the schedule laid out was a HUGE plus. The biggest disappointment with the program was that the first 17 weeks of language arts (reading done by Indy) was from the Bible. Indy was so not happy about this. He wanted to read all the other books that were included. He knows his Bible stories and really, really, really did not want to read nothing but the Bible (seriously, every day for 17 weeks!). I knew this would not instill a love of reading in him, which is what I'm really trying to do this year, so I ordered a bunch of basic readers from Amazon, took out one of the blank scheduling sheets Sonlight so thoughtfully provides and made up my own LA program. He's so happy with it. I did leave in some of the Bible stories for him to read because he should be well versed in certain stories (for cultural references if nothing else), but 17 weeks? No thank you.
I've also added a section on world religions (using The Usbourne Encyclopedia of World Religions) because I think it is important for him to know about more than just Christianity. He finds the concept of other religions really interesting. We're also supplementing a world cultures program (using Children Just Like Me). He loves CJLM. I find it funny because it was published in 1994 and the fashions are early 90's awesome.
We're currently reading Charlotte's Web for our read aloud and it is great. Story time is his favorite time of the day. We leave the school room to go cuddle up on the sofa and read. I know I'm going to cry though. Charlotte dies, people! She dies! Hope I didn't ruin that for you. ;)

On Friday we took a field trip downtown (I promised him a field trip for our first week) to the Kurpfalz Museum. The jawbone of the Heidelberg Man is there and as we're working on prehistoric stuff (well, not yet, but we will) I thought it would be fun. He loved it! Unfortunately they don't let you photograph inside the museum (boo!) so I couldn't take any cool shots inside.

Indy waiting at the bus stop for the number 29 to the Bizmarkplatz. He's very excited.

Here we are!

We stopped for lunch at a cafe first (priorities people!). Indy ordered a Margherita pizza (cheese and basil). Look how big that thing is!

I had 2 bites! Indy ate the whole thing!

Outside the museum in the courtyard.

After we saw all the cool stuff (and there is lots of cool stuff there, including artifacts from when HD was a Roman encampment), we went to the cafe that is in the courtyard for a little desert. Indy loved the fountain.

In addition to some postcards we bought to show what we'd seen (since I couldn't take pictures-bitter much?) he HAD to have the Emperor's ring. He wore it all day at the Roman Fest the next day and told everyone he was the ruler. He's so humble, my boy.

Something he liked more than the fountain and the ring:

By the time we headed home, it was about 5pm and the evening entertainers were coming out to make their money. This guys was awesome! The 'dancing' puppet cracked us up.

The musicians were really good, but the dancer was a bit loopy. She kind of scared me. Plus her dancing style totally didn't match the music. Whatever.

There were actually about 7 more entertainers out, but I decided not to take pictures of them all. If you take photos, you kind of have to give them money, and well, some just weren't that good.
All in all, it was a great field trip. We saw tons of cool stuff and it helped him to relate more to the stuff we've been reading about. Go field trips!

The Egg-cano

2009-07-07T14:07:00.000-07:00

It's funny how learning happens. Sometimes the funniest things can become a teachable moment and sometimes the funniest things can bring back something taught months earlier. Yesterday I was making Indy's breakfast and he was in the kitchen ~~waiting impatiently~~ watching. I was making him an egg and turkey bacon wrap (his favorite breakfast) when the steam building under his egg became too much and a small hole opened up to release it. Indy got CRAZY excited. Crazy, I tell you. He started telling me how it was just like what happens in the earth when a volcano explodes. He went on to explain about magma chambers, epicenters, shifting plates, vents, conduits and all manner of other things. We studied volcanoes in August of last year! I could not believe how much he remembered. I was so proud.
I would have taken a photo of what we termed the "Egg-cano" (it did look like a yellow volcano shooting steam) but Indy was hungry and impatient and I was afraid it might burn. And after the great taco shell fire of 2009 (taco shells can catch fire if they fall on the element, did you know that?) I didn't want to chance it.

Summer Break and still learning

2009-06-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

Ah, summer break! No worksheets, no sight words, no lesson plans. Just relaxing, having fun and....learning? Wait, what? Yes, that's right, just because school is out, doesn't mean learning can't still happen. On our trip to Disney last week we went to The Land in EPCOT and road the boat ride through the garden where they grow most of the food they serve in the 2 restaurants they have (in the Land-there are obviously way more restaurants in EPCOT). At the end of the ride, tey tell you that if you'd like a guided walking tour of the gardens to check at the desk. Well, that just sounded interesting, so we decided to do it. I am so glad we did! It was really cool. They do all sorts of experimental growth, hydroponics, aeroponics (which I didn't even know existed), grafting, and other things I can barely remember. They're also working with NASA for experimental plants to be grown in space. It was all very Star Trek. :)

This is Harry, our very cool guide. I told him to smile for my blog and he was happy enough to do it. He's just graduated with a masters in botany and works primarily in the grafting garden (IIRC).

This is an herb garden. Very vertical. Great for small spaces. Also, there's no dirt in the containers. Just sand and nutrients.

Pepper "trees"

These pumpkins are grown from a single vine (looks like a tree). While they are young, they put these plastic cases over them, so they grow in the shape of Mickey! They also do this for the cucumbers so when they are sliced, you have perfect little mouse ears in your salad. Man, they think of everything!
This brussel sprout plant has never been in dirt. It gets rotated through this trough like thing (you can see the conveyer the background) that sprays water and nutrients on the roots as it passes through. Neat.
Indy got to feed the fish. I didn't tell him we would be eating the fish later. Yikes.

This is a tomato "tree" which was amazing. The tomatoes off of it were delicious too.

We had fun and learned so much! What a great summer learning experience. Indy didn't even know he was learning. Awesome.

A little stressed and a little exhausted

2009-05-21T00:21:00.001-07:00

Home schooling is hard work! It can be exhausting (for me). In addition to ~~hiding the mess in a closet or under a bed~~ keeping the house clean, I have to teach the boy. Some days are good and others I feel like I'm just running face first into a brick wall over and over and over (and over). I've decided to quit stressing over his reading, because it will happen, but there are days when it just makes me crazy (though I know it shouldn't). In addition, we've recently added some activities. On Tuesday and Friday he takes German lessons across the river for 90 minutes. This is actually pretty good for me because I can run to Aldi and do some grocery shopping and maybe (maybe) slip off to Mantei for a chocolate croissant and a little time to read. Heaven. On Thursday he has violin lessons over at PHV. Unfortunately neither of these things are within walking distance, so we have to drive. I'd much rather walk, to get in a bit of exercise, but what are you going to do? I'm worn out just driving one kid around to 2 activities. I don't know how parents with multiple kids in multiple activities do it. I need a nap. Seriously.

Now I'm trying to decide what to do next year. It's not really next year for us though because learning is continuous and we take mini breaks throughout the year, so there will be no big summer break before the next year starts. This year we've really kind of done our own thing (while keeping to educational standards), but I've realized I'm just not organized enough for that. I need a plan. Preferably a plan that is done for me because I'm really just too ~~lazy~~ busy to make lesson plans. I'm debating between 2 different curriculums next year: Sonlight and Moving Beyond the Page. Both are good for different reasons. I'm going to have to decide within the next few weeks to make sure I get everything in time to start in mid-July. Ack!

My little virtuoso

2009-05-11T04:35:00.000-07:00

Indy has started violin lessons! He just started a few weeks ago, but is already playing very simple songs. He absolutely loves it. His teacher, Christof (isn't that an awesome name?) plays viola with the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra. He's amazing! His American students gave a recital 2 weeks ago and Indy thought it was fantastic. He can't wait to perform in the recital next year. Look how cute he is with his little 1/4 violin.

Too Long!

2009-04-26T13:47:00.001-07:00

Oh, it has been too long since I posted. We're still schooling (obviously) and some days are great, others...not so much. Reading. READING! We're still working on the reading. Some days I think we're just about to crest the hill, we roll back down it. I know it will happen, but I wish it would be sooner rather than later.
Indy is amazing at math. We've already moved on to 2nd grade math. He takes forever because he likes to talk and he's meticulous about getting the answers right, but he can do it. He has a friend in 2nd grade (closing in on 3rd) at the local PS, and he's doing more complicated math than she is. He can even do simple multiplication in his head. He's 6! He can do math faster in his head than on paper. I think having to write it down slows him up. Isn't that funny? He's also great with math concepts, like odds/evens, greater than/less than/equal to, length and capacity. Telling time on a real clock (not digital) is almost second nature to him.
Vocabulary is another area where he excels. His vocabulary is astounding. People cannot believe how many words he knows and how well he uses them. His talk is peppered with words that most 6 year old's wouldn't use: predict (or prediction), manufacture, investigation, catastrophic, congeal, fluctuating, contagious, complication, situation, centralized, extraordinary, epicenter, indigenous, and thousands of others. He asks me daily what words mean, words he's heard someone use or heard on TV, and then makes is a point to use them throughout the day.
He's got a phenomenal (one of his favorite words) memory. The boy forgets nothing. He'll tell me he doesn't remember something, but that's just him being lazy (a problem I have with him), but when I tell him he can't do something fun until he answers my questions, he "suddenly" remembers the answer. He usually answers verbatim from what I've read to him. It's pretty impressive. He remembers things I don't and I'm the one reading them. Once he starts to read (please, let it be soon) I don't think there will be any stopping. He loves to be read to and takes great pleasure in picking out words he recognizes.
He started violin lessons this past week. It was so flipping cute! He's very excited and has an ear for music. He gets that from M, who was a music major in college. I walks around the house humming classical music. Isn't that funny? I probably have one of only a handful of 6 year old's who walks around humming Beethoven's 5th, The 1812 Overture, Fur Elise, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, or Greig from Pyre Gynt. It's pretty funny when he does it in public, because he gets a lot of stares.
Overall, I'm incredibly proud of how well he's done this year. We're taking the month of June off (we'll be in the States), but will start up with 2nd grade after the 4th of July. I'm going in a new direction next year, but I'll talk about that later. And I'll try to update more often.

Egypt is awesome!

2009-02-18T13:42:00.000-08:00

We're still studying Egypt and it's still all good! Much like our amber dig, way back in August, we had another Fun Friday with an excavation. FUN!

Indy got geared up and was so excited over what we might find.

Arf is watching closely.

Too closely!

Dutch has to get in on the attention.

Indy found an Ankh!

These are the things he dug up:

And here he is sketching his finds in his journal. Just like Indiana Jones!

Here's a little pyramid he built.

And here's what he put inside it.

What we do

2009-01-28T00:04:00.000-08:00

We work hard most days. Indy is making great progress despite the fact that he still can't read. Sigh. Here's a glimpse at our day.

Indy putting his spelling words in alphabetical order. The blue thing there is his "office." It is a great reference tool for him.

Being silly, showing off his Ancient Mesopotamia post card. Didn't he do a nice job coloring?

Here's our board where each day I write down daily info, and the weather, which Indy loves to report on. BTW, einundzwanzig is twenty-one in German and Mittwoch is Wednesday.

And here's the board the next day. Indy decided to "decorate" it while I made lunch. I could hear him giggling, but I had no idea what he was up to.

Let's zoom in for a closer look:

We finished up Mesopotamia last week and started Egypt this week. He is over the moon about this. He loves Egypt. We'll probably study it for at least another week (maybe 2) before moving on to Ancient Greece. Yesterday, we learned about Egyptian home life. He was interested and asked a million questions (thank goodness for the internet!). We decided that it would be great fun to have an Egyptian meal for dinner. Oh, it sounds easy, but really, not so much. First off, finding Egyptian food is HARD. We finally had to compromise and have a late Egyptian meal after the Greeks and Romans had introduced them to some new foods. We had falafel in pita with lettuce and a yogurt sauce, flat bread with hummus, dates, nuts and melons. We sat on cushions on the floor around a low table and talked about Egypt while we ate everything with our hands. It was great fun. M was looking at me like I'd lost my mind when he saw me cooking falafel, but once he tried it, he really liked it. He actually enjoyed the meal more than we did I think. Who knew? Indy loved the dates. He's never had them before. He asked me like 10 times before he ate them though if I was SURE they weren't poisoned. Why? Remember the monkey that ate a poisoned date meant for Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark? That's why. I assured him they were poison free and he tucked in.
After the meal, Indy bounced up and went to play, while M and I struggled to get off the floor. We felt so OLD! We laughed at how, when we were in college, we used to sit on the floor by choice. We eschewed perfectly good furniture to sit on the floor. We loved sitting on the floor. Now we sit onthe floor for 30 minutes and we aching and creaking like 90 year olds.

I'm such a slacker!

2009-01-19T00:31:00.000-08:00

Ugh! I have been so bad about keeping this blog updated. Now that the holidays are over though, I'll try to keep up with it a little more. We have not been slacking in home schooling though. We are so close to getting over the "I can't read" hump I can almost taste it. It gets better every day and all I can say is THANK GOODNESS! This reading thing is killing me! Killing. Me. There are days when I just want to bang my head on the table. He's such a smart kid (if you don't believe me, just ask him, he'll tell you!), but he's super lazy about reading. Ack!
Here are a sampling of the things we've done over the past few weeks:

made a compass (water, needle, cork)
grew borax crystals
made a gingerbread house (and then ate a large chunk of it)
strung popcorn and cranberries
read most of Despereaux (I read it it to him-we're a little over halfway through)
learned about nomads, and the first farmers of Mesopotamia
caught snowflakes on black paper and studied their shapes
cut out paper snowflakes
made a magnetic paperclip chain
planted seeds and watched them grow

Wow, when I look at the list, we've done quite a lot. And this of course doesn't include daily stuff, like reading, writing, math, German, etc.

And mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again

2009-01-01T09:01:00.000-08:00

Ah, the holidays. Fun, family, togetherness. Isn't it great? I think so...most of the time. I'm sure we've all heard It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas eleventy-billion times and sing every word verbatim. It's running through your head now, isn't it? Your welcome.
On the radio and TV for the past 2 weeks (well, the ones in English anyway), they've been giving parents suggestions on what to do to keep the kids occupied until school starts back after the holidays. I have to say I've never really given it much thought before, but now I'm wondering why it's such a chore to have your kids home all day? They make it out to be such a rough thing. Poor parents, they can't cope with their own children for 2 weeks. Home school parents are with their kids all the time and rarely do they end up in the loony bin. Okay, maybe a few (I could be one of them one day). Why are people so dependent on school to keep their kids occupied? Let me tell you that I do NOT keep Indy occupied 24/7. If he's bored, he has plenty of toys, books, games, whatever, to do. I'm his mom, not his entertainment director. Ooooh, now I'm totally imagining myself like that woman on The Love Boat....Julie? Was that her name? Whatever. I'm curious as to why people think children must be entertained or occupied. Sometimes life's most wonderful moments happen in unoccupied moments. I am not saying that because I'm with my kid all the time I'm a better parent (believe me, I am flawed beyond measure), but spending a whole day, a weekend, a week or even a month with my child doesn't strike terror in my heart.

Living History: the Battle of the Bulge 64 years later.

2008-12-16T13:41:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we went to Belgium to do the annual memorial walk. It was amazing. We aren't studying WWII history right now, but this was incredibly educational. Indy loved it. For a full account and some awesome photos of reenactors, you can click here and it will take you to the full post on my main blog.

Thankful

2008-11-25T23:53:00.000-08:00

This week we're learning about Thanksgiving. Go figure, huh? We've discussed the Mayflower, the Wampanoag Indians, the Pilgrims (or Morgrams as Indy calls them. Why? No idea.), and why we celebrate. We've made a hand print turkey, a pilgrim (Morgram) hat, and discussed what we're thankful for. I asked Indy what he was thankful for on Monday. He answered his family and friends. Awwwwww. That's my sweet baby. On Tuesday I asked him what he was thankful for. He answered his dogs and his toys. Sweet. This morning I posed the same question. His response? "Today I'm thankful for the toilet." Aren't we all?

The campain ads have found a listener. Election day 2008

2008-11-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

Generally I tune out campaign ads. They're sooooo....what's the word? Annoying? Sure, we'll call them annoying. I hate election year (or in this case years) because of the campaign ads and all the yard signs. Man, I hate yard signs. Especially when there are like 50 posted along the road. It makes my blood boil. Boil, I tell you! Because you KNOW that they're going to start falling apart after a few weeks and junking up the median, and that the parties aren't going to do anything about it. Also, they're up until sometime the following year. GRRRRRR! But I digress. Back to my point.
One good thing about living in Europe is that there are no comercials. Political or otherwise. I wish we had moved last year then I could have avoided the majority of them. While I may be able to tune them out for the most part, it appears Indy has not. This morning I put out his journal entry-I write it out and then he copies it into his journal after reading what I wrote. Today's journal entry read: Today is Tuesday, Novemeber 4, 2008. It is election day. Yesterday was O'Pa's 60th birthday. Indy asked me what election day meant so I explained that today people would vote for new government leaders, including a new president. He looked at me and said "Did John McCain aprrove that message?" M and I cracked up. I tried to explain with a straight face that John McCain and Barack Obama were both running for president and hopefully by tomorrow morning we would know who won. He then asked if that meant George Bush wouldn't be president anymore. I told him yes it did and applauded him for remembering the presidents name. He responded with "Well, I think he needs a break anyway. Being president makes you look old. He looks old." I laughed and agreed. He started copying in his journal what I had written and then asked, "So tomorrow either the pink guy or the brown guy will be our leader, right?" I nodded and said their names were John McCain and Barack Obama. He said, "Yeah, John McCain is the pink guy and Brarak (his word) Obama is the brown guy. That's what I said. Isn't it nice that we come in so many colors?" Man, I approve THAT message.

Homeschool Blog!

2008-11-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

I decided to start another blog for just homeschooling stuff. See how I use the English language? "stuff" Big vocabulary there. Actually, in real life I'm quite loquacious and have an expansive vocabulary. M likes to say I use $5 words. He's silly like that though.

Anyhoo, homeschooling now has it's own blog. Why Bent Grass Prep? you may ask. Good question. Actually our last name means Bent Grass Meadow and I took the name from that. Doesn't that sound lovely? Bent Grass Meadow. Makes you think of lazy afternoons and resting on a a bed of soft grass below a deep blue sky, doesn't it? I actually wanted to use the word meadow in the school name, but M said it sounded too girly. Also, Grass Meadow may have given off the wrong vibe. I'm just sayin. So, here we are Bent Grass Prep. Welcome. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact me.