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A living-books curriculum is rich in content- but what does that look like? What does that look like when your 9 year old needs reading help?

"A living-books curriculum uses the content areas-science and history-as the framework upon which learning is built. Language Arts are taught in the context of content-history, science, religion, and literature. Needless to say, these courses of study move well beyond "neighborhood helpers" and "why we need the rain forest". They also move beyond the facts. Literature reaches the heart of the child. It inspires him. It engenders enthusiasm for learning and a desire for discovery. ...Well-written literature offers both content and context. Together, both the parent educator and the pupil ponder deeply truth and fallacy. They consider God's hand on the world as it was and as it is. And they are moved to consider His call regarding how it should be."
-Elizabeth Foss, Real learning: education in the heart of the home

I love to read, I am always reading several books at once. My children love to read- we have a library basket that typically hold 30 books from 2 libraries, continually.

But, as a homeschooler- I was faced with some decisions to make when I began to suspect that my 9 year old was reading quickly and voraciously..but did not seem to be understanding or remembering what she had read.

Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education is what I agree with, whole-heartedly way down in my bones. But, when side-swiped by a hole in our learning...I usually run by instinct to a textbook type workbook. Why? I suppose because that is what I grew up with, and because it satisfies this panic in me that " I must actively do something to fix this". So, I did check out the workbooks my local bookstore had to offer and also seriously pondered ordering a series of old fashioned Christian readers I saw in a catalog that boasted of comprehension and spelling work right in the reader...hey, more bang for my buck!

Mid panic, I checked myself though-and decided to try something much simpler, much more pleasant, easier on my pocket-book, and above all- delight driven; I simply picked up a much loved story from my own childhood and sat down and read with my daughter. I took the approach of team reading: I read the first page out loud and my daughter read the next. This approach drew her into the story, made it less labor intensive for her, had the bonus merit of allowing me to see just what problems she was encountering in her reading, and allowed me to ask comprehension questions naturally as we read. I discovered right off that she liked to read quickly and would skip over words she had difficulty with, either guessing them half-read or skipping them all together. The result was poor comprehension of the flow of the story and half-guesses at the meaning. Ah-ha! Diagnosed with one page of reading, with no tears, diagnostic tests, boredom or money spent.

The book I chose for this reading work was "No flying in the House" by Betty Brock, a cute story I remembered reading at about the same age, that I had stumbled upon on ebay. - about a girl who discovers she might be a fairy...who could resist?

We are currently starting comprehension review again with the same daughter, since yearly testing is looming on the horizon here. My living book of choice this time is
"Little House in the Highlands" by Melissa Wiley. A series about the great-grandmother of Laura Ingalls, written by a homeschool mom who loves her subject and researched it very thoroughly.

"...A child forms relationships with the content because his education is integrated; he spends unhurried time interacting with the subject matter, reading it, writing about it, discussing it. This approach is a stark contrast to the conveyor belt education that is the norm in the United States today. The scope and sequence chart in a typical textbook looks impressive. There are a lot of facts mentioned there and it looks like the child will learn a great deal. In reality, he will survey a great deal and look at nothing in detail. Education is an art; it is not a science. There is no perfect method, perfectly applied, which will result in perfectly educated children. There is constant evaluation and adjustment."
-Elizabeth Foss, Real Learning: education in the heart of the home pg. 88

I will let you all know how it is going...

Labels: Charlotte Mason, homeschool

My first Spring reading thing 2007 book review! To see my list for the challenge, go here.
I picked up The city of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau to skim through as a possibility for our girl's book-club. I had noticed the book mentioned in the Chinaberry catalog and thought it looked intriguing. The book is marketed for young readers, you will probably find it in the kid's section of your bookstore. While simply written, the story is remarkable and very well written. I was really wowed with the story concept, how original a tale to spin...and the way the author told it left me really in awe of her talent. I was telling my husband about the book, and I remarked that beyond a good story idea, her ability to draw you in by only revealing pieces of the puzzle as you read-utterly captures you. The same story, told with less ability would not have been half so enjoyable.

The City of Ember is a different kind of place. Here, everyone has a job and does it for the benefit of the city. Here supplies are retrieved from huge underground supply rooms to then be sold in the stores, supply rooms filled by "the builders" ages ago. Ember is a city of light in a world of darkness, the only light among the endless darkness. But, whispers of the supply rooms nearly empty and the flickering of the great lights of Ember leave everyone afraid.

Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow-newly graduated from school and beginning their new jobs in the city of Ember are the two main characters of the story. As you read, slowly you piece together how Ember functions, and you slowly try to piece together where is Ember? Why is it so dark? How are they so isolated? Doon hopes to learn how to fix the generator to keep the lights working. Lina discovers a clue to the possibility of a way out of Ember, a hope to save the dying city. No one has ever left the city, flashlights do not exist here, and fire is an almost unknown element. With no way to go beyond the city walls into the utter darkness, the concept of anything beyond is unthinkable. Will Lina and Doon find the way out, and will anyone believe them or help them?

I do not want to say more lest I ruin the story for you. I just have to say that by the end of the book, with 10 pages remaining...I could not put it down and was salivating for the sequel.
A great read! Go get it, now! Get thee to a bookstore...

Labels: book review

We hosted our girl's book-club tea on Friday. We finished up "Ella Enchanted" Our discussion ranged from *what part of the story was their favorite? *Did Ella have a good relationship with her father? and give an example that reveals the state of their relationship. * Why didn't Mandy like to reveal that she was a fairy? *And what was the effect on others when Ella attempted to communicate to them in their own language? -Is this something we have experienced ourselves?










This next photo is the state of my kitchen Saturday night after having friends over for dinner. We had a wonderful time fellow-shipping with an old high school friend of Sky's and his beautiful family. We really had a sweet time of fellowship and enjoyed the Lord together. I wish they didn't live so far away!!
















The next night we had the bible college brothers over, and my kitchen looked pretty much the same in the aftermath. This picture is of the guys cleaning up, a sight of beauty to behold indeed! Darling Hubby is 2nd on left in brown shirt.







This last picture is of the guys hanging out, playing a game with Meg.


It's been a little quiet here at our blog...I have been pretty sick, and on top of that I have been hit with a bout of insomnia. Last night I was trying to pull a late night working on homeschool records...figured might as well since I cannot sleep anyways... I went to bed sometime after 3 a.m. because I was getting dizzy, and I could not believe it, but I laid there awake for two hours.It was an ugly morning, I must tell you. I took a nap after lunch time, which I am sure will help continue my round of sleepless nights. I really do not know what to do at this point. I have tried tylenol p.m, on top of my heavy duty cold medicine while sick...nothing.
We will see how tonight goes... see you all around the internet my bloggy friends. If you see a comment in the wee small hours, it is probably me, roaming sleepless...

Labels: family, Jen's world

The thought of ample time for our kids to play, imagine, create, read, or just "hang out" and think made homeschooling very attractive to us. We wanted afternoons free from yet more schoolwork for the kids to just be kids and enjoy their childhood. For the non-homeschoolers around us though, this concept is somewhat mystifying. "How will they know how to do homework?", and "How can you get through your school day so quickly, shouldn't you have lessons until 3:00 like the school does?" are questions often put to us.

Jeannie Fulbright shares some thoughts on studies regarding actual instruction time in public schools here.

One of the aspects of Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education that I found intriguing is her emphasis on short lessons, with afternoons free.

"The method consists of short morning lessons with a large variety of subjects. Charlotte says it is the hours the children spend working, not the quantity of subjects, that fatigues them. Their minds are invigorated by switching to different subjects as often as every fifteen to twenty minutes when the children are in younger grades...They have all afternoon and evening free to enjoy being a child, to pursue hobbies, and to read. They are not assigned homework...they are not allowed to dawdle during lessons." -Catherine Levison, "A Charlotte Mason education" pg.8

..."In the first place, never let the child dawdle over copy-book or sum, sit dreaming with his book before him. When a child grows stupid over a lesson, it is time to put it away. Let him do another lesson as unlike the last as possible, and then go back with freshened wits to his unfinished task." -Charlotte Mason, "Home Education vol.1 pg141

"This idea of definite work to be finished in a given time is valuable to the child, not only as training him in habits of order, but in diligence; he learns that one time is not 'as good as another'; that there is no right time left for what is not done in its own time; and this knowledge alone does a great deal to secure the child's attention to his work. Again, the lessons are short, seldom more than twenty minutes in length for children under eight;..."-ibid, pg. 142

There is no need of homework for the elementary aged child because using this philosophy, the child immediately handles the lesson or book by narrating it orally or on paper, proving his mastery. Homework would be less effective than this immediate opportunity for reinforcement.
Short readings from several different living books, spread out throughout the week has the added advantage of supplying to our children "something to think about". Charlotte Mason proposed that we insure that each day our children have-

• someone or something to love
• something to do
• something to think about

more on those thoughts in a later post...

Labels: Charlotte Mason, homeschool

Suffering with insomnia here, several days in a row. I am a night-owl sort of person, but being sick, miserable and tired and not being able to sleep-it just stinks. My head is too stuffed to do much deep thinking, so I am sitting up reading Emily Dickinson:

The Spring Reading thing 2007 is up at
Callapidder days!

My list for my spring reading challenge:

• Real Learning: Education in the heart of the home by Elizabeth Foss -(just started it, not even 1/4 of the way through yet)

• Life Study of Romans by Witness Lee (from last list...it usually takes me a year to get through one of these)
• The original home education series vol. 1 by Charlotte Mason (I've been jumping around thru these off and on, going to commit to reading thru these one at a time, in order)
• The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
• Orbit by John Nance
• The Novelist by Angela Hunt
  
• Miss Julia speaks her mind by Anne Ross
  

Read aloud with Josie

• Little House in the Highlands by Melissa Wiley (look for the unabridged version)

Read aloud with Josie and Meg

• Laddie by Gene Stratton Porter -one of my all time favorites! so excited to finally share it with my kids!!
  

Read aloud with all 4 children

• 50 famous stories re-told by James Baldwin
• How is was with Dooms by Xan Hopcraft

• Burgess Bird book

this is not counting lots of library picture book reading we do together, or the sonlight selections we do. These are just special projects I would like to commit to getting through.

I can't wait to see everyone else's lists, go on over to Katrina's to find more reading inspiration.

Labels: reading basket

Labels: homeschool, nature

Labels: Angel Bear, memes, Wordless Wednesday

thoughts I am pondering from my reading...

From The Organized Home Schooler:
"...If we're too busy to consider the consequences of how we spend our time, then we're too busy.
There's a time to be busy, and there's a time to be still. Being still is required before being busy. "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). Without the stillness, we don't know how to be busy, when or where to be busy, or with what to be busy. When we're not still, we can't hear God or know His will. When we're too busy, we're about our own business and not His." page 51

From Real Learning: education in the heart of the home:
"A nature notebook, filled with drawings and descriptions of discoveries becomes a personal diary of growth for a child. Looking back upon what he has encountered, what he has learned, and what touched him, he begins to understand himself a little better and he is drawn ever closer to his Creator.
...Don't look on nature study as something to cross off your "to do" list, look at it as food for your soul-and your child's...A nature walk will offer you endless opportunities for lively discussion and equal opportunities for reverent silence." page 97

From A Charlotte Mason Companion:
..." I think Charlotte was very clever to encourage a child's further study into the things he naturally "takes to". Most children want to learn more about the world around them. The best way to do this is to give them opportunities for direct contact with nature where they live.
...As Charlotte said, "There is no kind of knowledge to be had in these early years so valuable to children as that which they get for themselves, of the world they live in, let them at once get into touch with nature, and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight through life. We are all meant to be naturalists, each to his own degree, and it is inexcusable to live in a world so full of marvels of plant and animal life and to care for none of these things." page 255

Labels: Charlotte Mason

According to legend, St. Patrick's cathedral in Dublin, Ireland was built on the site of a well that St. Patrick used to baptize converts in the 5th century. It is thought that a small wooden church existed on the site as early as 450 A.D., and a stone church was built in 1191 by the Normans. It is Dublin's second great Protestant cathedral, the largest church in Ireland and the national church.

St. Patrick is thought to have lived around 385-460 A.D. His father was a Roman government official. His family's name was Succat. When Patrick was 16, he was kidnapped and carried away to northern Ireland and sold as a slave. He lived the hard life of a shepherd-slave on the slopes of Slemish mountain in what is now Ulster.

"The life of a shepherd-slave could not have been a happy one...The work of such shepherds was bitterly isolated, months at a time spent alone in the hills. Deprived of intercourse with other humans, Patricus must have taken a long time to master the language and customs of his exile, so that the approach of strangers over the hills may have held special terror. We know that he did have two constant companions, hunger and nakedness, and the gnawing in his belly and the chill on his exposed skin were his worst sufferings, acutely painful presences that could not be shaken off... Like many another in impossible circumstances, he began to pray...
...Patricus endured six years of this woeful isolation, and by the end of it he had grown from a careless boy to something he would surely never otherwise become-a holy man..."
-How the Irish saved civilization by Thomas Cahill page 101

Patrick heard God's voice in a dream telling him a ship was waiting for him, and so he headed for the sea coast-200 miles away. Patrick studied several years in Europe to attempt to make up for the education he had missed and then returned to Ireland a bishop to convert the people who had once held him slave. It is very striking to me that Patrick returned to Ireland, at the time they were a very wild, violent, pagan people. The Romans in their first encounters with the Irish, were afraid of them. "The Irish, like all the celts, stripped before battle and rushed their enemy n*ked, carrying sword and shield but wearing only sandals and torc...The Romans, in their first encounters with these exposed, insane warriors, were shocked and frightened. Not only were the men n*ked, they were howling and,it seemed, possessed by demons..."
-Cahil page 83

Irish society at that time was ruled by different tribal kings, they were a people of war and offerred up human sacrifices. Patrick, in returning there to preach the gospel was a real life portrait of one loving his enemy. Cahil writes,..."Nor was he blind to his dangers, for even in his last years "every day I am ready to be murdered, betrayed, enslaved-whatever may come my way. But I am not afraid of any of these things, because of the promises of heaven; for I have put myself in the hands of God Almighty.".. His love for his adopted people shines through his writings...the horror of slavery was never lost on him...In his last years, he could probably look out over an Ireland transformed by his teaching...Within his lifetime or soon after his death, the Irish slave trade came to a halt, and other forms of violence, such as murder and intertribal warfare, decreased." -Cahil page 108-110

"In becoming an Irishman, Patrick wedded his world to theirs, his faith to their life...Patrick found a way of swimming down to the depths of the Irish psyche and warming and transforming Irish imagination-making it more humane and more noble while keeping it Irish..." -Cahil page 115

"Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!" Acts 28:28

Labels: devotional, Ireland

We celebrate sightings such as these because in our old neighborhood, the only birds we saw were sparrows, mockingbirds and crows. Our new neighborhood is lined with mature trees and we have a much larger variety of birds visiting. We still do not have the excitement of other places, we do not see colorful cardinals, bluebirds and such. We do have some jays that visit, and we do see western bluebirds in nearby towns. Today we had the pleasure of sighting bluebirds in Long Beach.

Bird watching inspired books in our bookbasket; Birds of North America, The missing sunflower,
Crinkleroot's 25 Birds every child should know, and Linnea's Almanac.

Labels: nature

Monday Meg and Josie had the treat of spending the day with Grandma. Such a day usually includes lunch out, a day spent exploring old town Orange (think lots of shops) and Barnes & Nobles.

For background, Meg and Josie have a night out with daddy weekly-and they always go to Barnes & Nobles. Demi and Amie are very much looking forward to the day when they will be invited along. They don't go now, for a few very good reasons.
I could sum them up with: the time we went with gracefulmom and her two littles, and the four of them were stopped mid-reach for the fire alarm pull. (spidey senses to the rescue!). Or the uncountable times I ventured forth with them and they just could not sit still, could not be quiet. The many spills we have had in as many trips... Or the time they knocked over a large book display. Or my current adventure: Monday's;

They did really well, I can tell they are getting older and not so squirrelly. We read a pile of Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles and Clifford the big red dog- cuz we are just into that high-brow stuff... had some hot cocoa, real mom and her offspring bonding time. Until the obligatory trip to the restroom and Amie's fall down the escalator. I was right below her and caught her, but not before she got scratched up and frightened. And then, somehow Demi managed to spray the 1/2 teaspoon of cocoa remaining in his cup (with a lid!) all over himself. It was amazing the square footage he was able to cover with such a small amount of the stuff. So, I came home and laughed about it with Sky, while saying...again..."never again!"...

The whole thing with B & N and my struggle with mom guilt, which is why I usually take them..again, made me think about mercy. Mercy that is extended towards us, and not because we've earned it, but because of love.

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

It is because of love that I take my little ones on such a trip, when it would be much easier on me to stay home. I extend grace toward them because of love.

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God," Ephesians 2:4-8

We are in need of God's mercy because of our pitiful situation, our dead situation. God is so rich in mercy to make us alive out of our deadened- by- sin state, to be alive together with Christ. He shows the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us. His grace is a free thing, a gift we do not deserve. This grace we are unable to resist.

"I have loved you with an eternal love, therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee." Jer 31:3

I love my boy because he is mine, because the Lord gave him to me. I have grace and mercy towards him, not because he is such a good little boy that he deserves it, but because my love is a free thing. I take him to Barnes & Nobles not because I believe he will behave perfectly, but because my love is unconditional.

[Mom] suffers long and is kind;...[mom]... does not behave rudely,..[mom] is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; [mom] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

I hope my children see love, and that this love will draw them to the One that is love made real.

Labels: devotional

Amie's Birthday- extravaganza, what a day!

This was Birthday #5 for my baby! sigh...


*The photos are: Amie with her cake.



*Amie and Demi playing cotton-ball relay race

*the kids working on craft (painting rocks-idea from this book)

*close-up of Amie's rock.

It was a beautiful day for a party. I survived the prep, the cake was yummy, the game was fun-if a little rule-less, and the paint eventually washed off the kids.
A pretty good day!

Labels: family

Friday afternoon we hosted a book club and tea for my girls and two of their friends. We just started this club, we will be meeting on the 2nd and 4th Fridays and reading one book a month. This month's selection is Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. A post on meeting the author here. This was our very first meeting, so we listened to chapter 1 on audio and enjoyed tea and home-made cookies. For our listening pleasure, we had Solitudes-Pachelbel in the garden playing. Just beautiful renditions of Pachelbel's Canon with soft birdsong added in, very relaxing. We also enjoyed Lipton's Vanilla Caramel Truffle tea, delicious! I had been on the lookout for a good caramel tea after enjoying some at a tea house a few years ago. Thumbs up on the Lipton! For our non-tea drinkers we also had hot cocoa, served up in tea pots with my best china-of course! The girls had a fun afternoon. This idea had been in my mind for a while, I was glad I finally did it.

Labels: bookclub, homeschool

These past few weeks I have done much thinking about our homeschool in practice and in relation to my philosophies and goals. My thoughts drove me to a long-time favorite book
A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola, and towards a new purchase of mine;
Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home by Elizabeth Foss.

I often find myself just trying to "do" school, trying to make sure we cover important learning matters, trying to plod through the workbooks I purchased during fits of panic that I might be missing something or feeling like I am not doing enough or not doing what I should be doing. My philosophy and desire of what homeschooling should be does not fit into this thing our homeschool has become. Time to get back to the basics of my convictions, I finally decided.

This week has been a nice one. Not a major over-hall of direction or course of study...just a subtle, gentle adding in of what I believe is essential, what I believe truly does work best if I would just commit myself fully and consistently to the practice of.

I added in regular narration-for all 3 students, and introduced written narration to my two oldest students. We have done narration off and on in a casual, once in a while-way. Since we have not been in the habit of regular narrations, I choose a book with short stories. Fifty Famous Stories retold by James Baldwin. It is in the Ambleside Online curriculum list. The stories are short and a gentle way to introduce narration or in our case, stepping up narration. The stories are of legendary tales of well-known heroes or histories of people that are the subjects of frequent allusions in poetry and prose. Stories and references that I feel a well-educated person should know. Brianna finds writing laborious and I have been guilty of not requiring much of her in this department. She surprised me by happily working on the narration, giving me a page and a half of written narration and an illustration. I was shocked at how pleased she was to work on it.

The next subject I added in that had fallen by the wayside was regular poetry reading. We do read poetry, but not regularly every week. I tied poetry to lunch time, reading out loud to the children while they ate their lunch outside on the front porch. We really had a lovely time. Our poem for today was "All the world's a stage" by Shakespeare from the play As you like it. This was the first piece in the book I am using, but I had skipped it thinking it would be over the kid's heads. Reading it really caught my imagination, and while I don't think the kids actually 'got it', I think the exposure and the rhythm were beneficial to them. It was a good discussion starter for the older girls, and gave them something to think about.

We have done much bird watching lately, after spying an exciting newcomer to our birdfeeder. I am going to add our nature journaling back into our routine. A practice we used to keep, but one that has fallen away the past few years.

I found a Charlotte Mason discussion group in my area, and was able to attend a meeting last night. I had such a wonderful time, and was so inspired by these knowledgeable but very real homeschool moms. I am so pleased to be working back towards a lifestyle of learning environment.

"It was Miss Mason's belief that children are educated by their intimacies...The goal of such an education is to surround the child with noble people and books and other things with which to form relationships. For a {Christian} parent, the first intimacy we want for our children is a true and personal friendship with the Lord. All our educating is directed to that end.
We also recognize that the child living in a home that is also his "school" will form very close relationships with his parents and siblings. It is these relationships that we pray about unceasingly. We endeavor to be good examples and mentors. We want strong, loving bonds between siblings...
The child will also have intimacies with literature and nature and music and art. With an eye toward the ultimate goal, only the finest of these are set before the child. Children need the time and space to meet fine ideas and to make them their own. The atmosphere of the home and, indeed, of the child's entire environment can be ordered toward the purpose of presenting living ideas." Elizabeth Foss, Real Learning: education in the heart of the home

"We, as persons, are not enlightened by means of multiple-choice tests or grades, but rather by the other people in our lives that we come to know, admire, and love. We are educated by our friendships and by our intimacies...Whether it be gardening, keeping house, or governing a state, love of work-like love of people-teaches things that no school, no system, can. Children are inspired by relationships, and this helps form their personalities. And so, throughout their educational life, we put them in touch with persons, places, and things." Karen Andreola-A Charlotte Mason Companion pg. 23

I really can't believe how adding these little things has made this week such a good one.

Labels: Charlotte Mason, homeschool

Or, field trip to the science museum...

Tuesday we went to the science museum with my friend gracefulmom, and her two girls. (yes, you've been blogged...and I think you are always full of grace with your girls!)

#1 Important thing I learned that day: plan to arrive after 1pm, because then the million kids there on school field-trips have been lined up and magically whisked away. We arrived before noon, and the noise, crowds and confusion had me ruing the day I thought this trip sounded like a good idea. Once they left, the place was magically empty and quiet. (and yes, I did just use "rue" -we've been reading Shakespeare, can you tell??)

#2 Important thing I learned: the interesting sculpture you are leaning against in the outdoor, life-size dinosaur exhibit is a life-size dinosaur p** p** replica.

#3 Don't share that factoid with your kids 7 and under

IMHO the new dinosaur exhibit was the best thing about the center, it was really well thought out.

All in all, a really was a nice day for the visit, we will try to go back next month...after 1

Labels: field-trips, homeschool, science

The Spring reading book challenge is coming! It's official title is The Spring reading thing 2007 go to Katrina's blog to read more.

Well, I totally wimped out of saying anything to the Science teacher at the learning center today. Go here to read the background. I'll sum it up and say that I was uncomfortable with my kids shown scientific theory/hollywood political activism for a science class. I really could not come up with a way to talk to her or email her without, in my mind, the big possibility she could decide that I am some weird homeschooling freak who believes the world is flat and hides my kids in the basement so they will not have to deal with laws of nature such as, lets say, gravity. So, I didn't handle it by just not sending them to class today for the second half. Not proud of my wimpy-ness, but I thought some readers might be wondering what happened with that. I am still debating if I should ask her to notify me next time before she shows lets say- "super size me" or the movie where New York freezes over...scientific, cutting-edge stuff, I'm sure. Gotta figure out a way to ask that without sounding snarky. I don't think it can be done.

I wrote a month or so ago about having a family stay with us. It worked out really well with the wife getting a job in Santa Monica right away and the family decided to get an apartment there. They decided it would be hard on the kids to stay here and start school and then be pulled out again. So, they did not stay with us. I was relieved in retrospect, it would have been a disaster with un-organized me. I love how God knows all these things.

We are having our first book club meeting this Friday for my older girls and a few friends. I am really excited to finally be doing this. Our first book is going to be "Ella Enchanted". We are going to listen to the first chapter on audio-just to hook them in, and then have a real girly tea.
Fun, fun, fun! (in a bookish-lots of good sweets and tea, sort of way)

Amie's 5th birthday extravaganza is this Saturday. I am severely planning- challenged. Should I take bets to see if I can bring this off successfully? I'll have pictures later.

I signed up for the online homeschool record keeping organizer at SimplyCharlottemason. It is really cool. I am having fun playing with it, so far pretty easy to figure out, even for this techno-challenged mom. They are offering a free 30 day trial so you can see if it will work out for you. You can check it out, view a demo video and sign up here.

So, that is all the news that is news today at home.

Go ahead, mom my ride. Actually, it has already happened. The scratch down the side, I've got it on the right rear side. Something broken? Look for the crack on the right windshield and the handle broken off the front passenger console. Empty juice containers and unidentified snack crackers? Yeah, I've got 'em! Things rolling around the back? Check. I'm just wondering who peeked inside my van and told?

You have to watch this, I could not stop laughing. Brought to you by youtube, of course.

Labels: Jen's world

The 62nd edition of The Carnival of Homeschooling is up at Tami's blog. You can find the carnival post here.
I submitted my first entry to the carnival this week, my post below on Peter Pan is listed.
If you are interested in homeschooling subjects, ideas, concerns go on over to see many posts representing many homeschool bloggers. Enjoy!

Labels: Carnivals, homeschool

Labels: homeschool

Thought I would share a few books in our reading basket, we've been inspired by spring!
First is Linnea's Almanac- really sweet and lots of activities for each month.
Learn and play in the Garden by Meg Herd- wonderful hands-on activities, beautiful large photographs, a list of items for each activity and facts about nature. This book is a must have for gardening with children.
Dk's The Gardening Book by Jane Bull- fun activities such as Bonsai trees, pots and people with grass hair, insect stones. Interesting activities and fun facts.
Abe Lincoln the boy who loved books- well, because it was his birthday...I'm a little late, I know! Good story, the little ones enjoyed it. Go to enchanted learning to find a nice book to make.
Last on the list is a new book for mom's reading basket. Real Learning is about the gentle art of lifestyle learning, Charlotte Mason style. I have noticed this book listed on several blogs I visit, so I thought I would give it a try. So far I am enjoying it very much. Book review coming soon!
Enjoy!

Labels: reading basket

Labels: family

I found a neat website for Charlotte Mason type homeschoolers, it is called "Simply Charlotte Mason". They have some neat articles at the site, but the item that caught my eye was their record keeping program-Charlotte Mason style. Go here to read more about it, to take a video tour of how it works and to sign up for a free month's trial.

Hi, My name is Jenny and I am a curriculum junkie...

so yeah, I am drooling over this handy-dandy planning thingy. Not that my system of jotting everything down each day on a blank notebook page, doesn't work just fine.

I do need to keep better records starting next year when Meg begins Jr. High work...this could be just the ticket...

Labels: homeschool