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I happened upon this very interesting article:

Brit kids learn to Twitter in School over at Strollerderby.
Here's a short quote from the article...

But it's not all about technology. The proposal also calls for less usage of calculators and more of a focus on life skills, including learning to handle peer pressure and develop relationships.

So, what do you think? If your local school district made a move in this direction, would you be up-in-arms?

My thoughts- (cuz it's my blog, and this is where I get to go on and on with my thoughts, ha!..)

Well, in our state, the school districts are doing a dismal job educating the kids...In many areas, less than half of the students typically test lower than proficient in the basic subject areas- the high schools have been struggling for years to get more than half the seniors to pass exit exams that are not even 12th grade exams...

Sooo, I would be up in arms over this. I would rather the schools work on the basics first.

Something interesting I've noticed about new technology and kids; they seem to pick it up amazingly quick. It's like magic. Can't use your new iphone?...hand it over to your kindergartner and he'll figure it out in 10 minutes.

I'm thinking the kids will learn to text, twitter and Facebook just fine, outside of school.

What do you think? Should I count my kid's time on Club Penguin as school? Maybe hand out some High School credit to Meg for getting a Facebook page? hmmm, I'll have to tweet on that...

First, because I was sitting and thinking about the things we used to do...

Admit it, you owned a tape by these guys...

Go see Extreme Sheep-herding! it's a treat!

Okay, and finally...you HAVE to go here, and see the dancing!! This one will plaster a smile onto your face, and check out the grandmas joining in on the fun toward the end...

I'm wondering why my town doesn't rock like this?? That's it!...I'm moving...

oh, my! So many things are a happening here! This is a catch-up post of sorts.

First, we have moved from the position of considering getting a dog, to that of having placed a deposit on a soon-to-be born Labradoodle puppy. I am mostly very, very excited...but also a little bit anxious and a little bit not looking forward to house-training.

I predict that Oliver will be very, "put out"...when our new family addition arrives. I feel sort of bad for his position of absolute ignorance of the future.

And, what will the girls think?? I am sure they will have much to discuss.


Next, we are wading through curriculum changes and planning. Meg is starting Highschool next year, I'm suddenly very awake to the fact that I need a plan...Looks like it will be Sonlight, now the chore is to figure out which cores and in which order.

We are also likely looking at leaving the homeschool charter school program for Meg for High school and possibly enrolling her into a private Christian umbrella group. The new group has been chosen for the wider social and academic opportunities Meg will enjoy.

We are re-evaluating the many outside enrichment activities Meg participates in, big discussions about these- and we are looking at some outside science classes through a University program.

It's just all getting a little tooo serious

Josie is about to start fencing.

The garden is coming along nicely, we are enjoying Spring here.

Labels: Emma-doodle dog

So, we are trucking along with Sonlight Language Arts 2. For week 3, the kids completed
a copywork passage from "The Beginner's Bible". The next day the notes directed me to explain compound sentences and conjunctions. We were directed to find the conjunction used in the copywork passage, and the two simple sentences that the conjunction connected.

My mind took a leap from there, and I put on "Schoolhouse Rock" so we could watch the song, "Conjunction Junction". ahh, childhood memories. The kids tried to ignore me as I heartily sang along...

We actually watched the song first, and then I got out my whiteboard and taught the lesson.
Like my train-cars?
Day 3 notes directed me to teach about dialog. The example in the notes- for the story of
"The three little pigs" was a good one, I thought. The assignment for that day was for the kids to write a few dialog sentences on their student activity sheet.

Day 5 was an assignment to write a longer dialog, 6 to 8 sentences. I gave some examples, and the kids took off writing. Sadly, (I think) all of their dialogs had much shooting in them.

The hands-down favorite was Teddy's, which ended somewhat this way...

"what was that?" asked the boy. "A horse just got shot" said his father.
"Steak tonight!".

..the last line, I am ashamed to admit, was mine. I was trying to teach him the importance of wrapping it up in a meaningful way.

It is a constant war here with trying to get creative writing out of them, vs. keeping things nice.
ugh.

I am glad they are not in a school, the counselor would have called me by now...

Labels: homeschool, starting with Sonlight

I was pulled out of sleep, very early this morning by a sharp-"Mom!!" -we are talking like 2 a.m.

I snapped awake, eyes open in the dark...tensed, wondering what was wrong. I listened hard a moment, trying to detect which child needed me. I heard nothing.

Just as I was about to get up and go check on all the kids, wondering if I was just dreaming, or did I really hear one of the kids call me in some kind of distress...

I hear

"mmeeow" right next to my bed.

I guess in my sleep, I translated that to "Mom!"

he did need me...to let him outside, post haste...

Labels: Jen's world

*re-post from March 17, 2007

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 offered 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 inter-tribal 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

I protect my children from dragons; -the real, the imaginary, the conceptional and the ones found only on the inside. That's my job, you see- I am Mom.

Wednesday, Amie met a dragon while walking down the street to visit with neighbors. I, mighty Mom, stood on the front porch and watched her walk along the sidewalk- vigilantly watching for any strangers-in-cars-dragons. I watched as Amie greeted a neighbor boy, and I watched as she bent down to pet his small dog.

This quote from a book has always stayed with me, "You know how it is when you're doing something you think is important and you miss the thing that's really important. And so it was that we missed it..."

And so, I missed it this time. The dragon, disguised as a Chihuahua, jumped up and bit Amie in the face. I'm thinking at least twice. No bark, no growl, no warning.

She has 5 stitches, mostly on the upper lip. She's recovered very well. The only lingering reminder, beside her face, is her fear of walking in front of this neighbor's house. Amazingly, she is not afraid of dogs.

Mom has recovered too, except for the lingering guilt for watching Amie look the dragon in the face..and failing to see the dragon. The what ifs...what if I had walked with her? What if I had taken them to Disneyland that day like I had intended? What if I had instructed her not to pet small dogs, or any dogs, unless I am right there?
What if the Dr. didn't do a good job with the stitches?

Mom-guilt is a powerful thing.

The photo above is of Amie writing about her ordeal in her diary, veery phonetically.

Labels: family

I see this lovely meme done on a few blogs I read, and I've been wanting to join in...This is done every Monday, and is hosted by The Simple Woman.
You can click on over to see other entries, and to participate.

For today; Monday, March 9


Outside my window I see the lovely poppies in my neighbor's yard.


I am thankful for my thoughtful husband.

From the learning rooms I see finished creative writing projects from the 3 littles. They used similes to describe an animal. I also see the stack of math and grammar books that Meg and Josie used this morning.

From the kitchen we are enjoying roast beef sandwiches on sheepherder bread and fresh fruit for lunch.

I am wearing jeans, a long-sleeved shirt and my chicken-farmer's-wife shoes.

I am creating all about spelling card files for the 3 littles...a paper cutter can be such a nice thing!

I am going out for date night this evening with Sky. We are going to The Cheesecake Factory and then to Barnes & Nobles.

I am reading Brisignr and I am enjoying it almost as much as I did the first book.

I am hoping that the New Sonlight catalog arrives sooner than later, so I can order some things for Meg.

I am hearing the kids finishing lunch and laughing.

Around the house, we are enjoying a clean house as a result of having the bible college boys over for dinner last night. The house is still 'company' clean, let's see how long that lasts?!

One of my favorite things is the silk flower branches I brought home from Potter Barn, they are very nice to look at.

A few plans for the rest of the week; take Teddy to his tutor session today, maybe take the kids to Disneyland on Wednesday, plant the poppies Sky bought for me.

Labels: daybook

We have been studying The Odyssey for the past few weeks. Tapestry of Grace had a book about Troy scheduled for the lower grammar students (my youngest 3 ) and a portion of Story of the World Vol. 1.
Josie and Meg were assigned first, Black Ships before Troy, and then The Wanderings of Odysseus. Meg so enjoyed these that she asked to read the original Odyssey, so I ordered the Norton Anthology scheduled in TOG for rhetoric students.

So, those were the assignments from TOG, but then I had to include this;
The Adventures of Odysseus by Barefoot books. It is a simplified, but poetic retelling of
The Odyssey for children.

and the artwork is wonderful, beautiful, inspiring, artistic...I could go on and on about this book.
(actually, I already did so, read my review *here)

..and then, I found this Wishbone episode, "Homer sweet Homer" at the library. Unfortunately, Netflix did not carry this one, but one of our library branches did.

The kids loved it. I have to say that the attention to detail in this show was pretty impressive, right down to the bed carved out of a massive tree. Raise your hand, who can tell me about the symbolism with the bed? Anyone, anyone?...Bueller?

The actors were really good, too.
Unfortunately, when we came upon the very stirring scene of Odysseus revealing who he is to his son, Telemachus-who he hasn't seen in like 19 years...

-having the big, strong actor playing Telemachus turn very emotionally towards Wishbone the dog- calling out, "Father!" ...was just too much for my young audience. They shouted with laughter.

And I had to pause it, because we had all lost our concentration, we were laughing so long and hard. And then I had to rewind and play it again. And we laughed some more. It was a vicious cycle... and then we had to replay it yet again, because it was such a good laugh...


Okay, and then I found this book for Demi, it is part of a graphic novel series. What young boy wouldn't gobble these up? (We own 3 of these, and the Beowulf was stellar!)
And then, someone stop me!...I also found Mary Pope Osborne's Tales from the Odyssey, which includes 6 unabridged books, an audio collection...

It's becoming glaringly clear why I cannot get through 1 week in TOG in one week, isn't it?

I can't resist adding on books. I love the hunt.

We are going to have to move on this week. Meg will have to finish The Odyssey on her own. This includes mom, too. I have to pre-read ahead of her...sobbing/Sabine women and all (quick, name that movie!..okay, wrong ancient civilization, but you know what I mean...)

Last parting thought,

Extra-curricular activities around here include building a better hen-trap. This one was supposed to be self-activating.

Labels: curriculum, homeschool

The Sonlight catalog proudly proclaims, "The way you wish you'd been taught. Guaranteed." I have to admit, when I browse through the listings of books in the catalog- I would have loved to be schooled this way. I am a book lover, and listed in the catalog, beside great history reads, I spy many favorites from my childhood.


This claim kept running through my mind as I weighed my options for homeschooling next year. While I have enjoyed the history program we are using-and my first aim in looking elsewhere was not a lack in the program, but a lack on my part in getting through the material at a respectable pace...I had to admit upon reflection, that my kids don't beg me to keep reading a history read aloud, and I don't have to lock up the books lest they devour them ahead of schedule. A big part of the lure of Sonlight for me, were the daydreams of children begging for one more chapter, begging to start school early, and having the dilemma of whether to put away the literature out of the kid's reach- because they would read them all ahead of schedule-or to just let them have at it.

The first week into our Sonlight language arts 2 adventure, I had one of 'those' moments..I could not find our reader for the day, "The beginner's Bible"...and I found it in Demi-Sky's bed, where he had taken it the night before to read.

The first day into our second week, I sat down to do some 'catch up' reading with Amie. She is able to read the book, but is tiring quickly. I let her quit the readings early, and so we were a few behind. She read out-loud for a respectable amount of time, and I bookmarked the page, ready to let her go. She begged to keep reading and finish the chapter. And then, she begged to keep reading and read 2 more chapters.

Demi is enjoying the extra, "intermediate" readers he is reading, along with the regular reader's schedule.

I think we are unto something.

Labels: curriculum, homeschool, starting with Sonlight

Are violent video games adequately preparing children for the Apocalypse?

click over *here for an interesting news piece. And then, talk amongst yourselves.

...I had to link it...