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Labels: Wordless Wednesday

I like scented candles.

I am addicted to the small votive kind, and an easy way to cheer me up, specially if we are kind of broke...is to pop into the candle store at the mall and buy 3 or 4: instant happiness! :)

My candle supplies were seriously low...so Sky, being the supreme sweetheart that he is, happened to be at the mall this week and decided to pop in and get me a few.

I'll set the scene for ya,....it's lunch time, so Sky is sporting usual construction-man attire; jeans,(dusty) tee-shirt and steel-toed boots.

The ladies working the counter at the candle store didn't quite know what to do with him.

Finally, one approaches him with one of those quart-sized jar candles and says, "This Autumn leaves scent is very popular" and then her voice kind of loses volume and trails off limply as she finishes with..."...if you're into that sort of thing...."

Sky got my candles and skiddaddled out of there, to everyone's relief, I'm sure.

I squealed when I saw the Yankee Candle bag,

he's my sugar-daddy, indeed!

and then I laughed at him when I pictured him walking into that store without me, and he told me the above, and I laughed till I cried. He's sweet and amusing.

Labels: Jen's world

I joined a new Classical Conversations group, without understanding what it was. Actually, I didn't just join, I had to Jenny-fie it and sign up as a tutor, too.
I like things messy.

Not totally my mistake, really, Classical Conversations is kind of hard to explain. Here's my take, as I see it, after going through tutor training and having taught now 3 weeks....

The clearest way I can paint what CC is, would be to say it is closest to a co-op, but it's NOT. Clear?

It looks like a co-op, walks like one...but is not. Classical Conversations is a community of homeschool parents (mostly moms) who come together once a week to hold "Classical" classes. The big lure, the reason it is so brilliant,-- all the decisions about what to learn/memorize, when, how, how much...have all been made by Classical Conversations-the organization; and---- I love this part----they even have ready made materials such as songs and flashcards to help you do it.

I love the thought of Classical homeschool, I agree that memorization is very important at the grammar stage. But.- it just wasn't happening at my house. I'd research, collect some catchy songs to memorize things, intend to put it on my ipod and start me some learning...and never get around to it. Kind of busy doing the basic three R's, teaching phonics, keeping the dog from loving the hens too much, cleaning, laundry, making meals, being taxi mom...

My Classical Conversations day looks like this so far.... stay up way to late Monday night gathering my materials, packing them up...like the bell for family feud game, flashcards, cd player, maps I printed out from the CC website. But, I'm getting better at it and each Monday has been less late.

Tuesday, I arrive early, set up my classroom and then we all meet in a big assembly. There we have prayer, pledge of alleigence, Bible memory work and one family does a public speaking sort of presentation. We run through the history timeline cards with hand motions, too.

Next we split up into individual classes, which are set up by age. I have a 4th/5th grade group. I then have from 9:30 to 12 to push them through all our material before we break for lunch. It is a dizzyingly large amount of material and so far, as I'm setting up, I'm thinking..."why am I doing? This is crazy? I don't want to do this..." I clearly have issues with teaching in front of a classroom, but I knew this going into it... I should mention the class size is 8 students, it's kind of cozy and not as scary as facing a class of 30...

And yet, it is a fast ride, we have a blast, and before I know it, it is lunch time. And, get this...

The kids are eating it up, and they are learning all the material.
The material I keep thinking is too much.
They memorize it, and spit it back at me with glee.

I write up my white-board diagram the night before. People, I have to tell you, the white-board idea is inspired! It's genius! I've decided it's the answer to my life's problems...but that will have to be another post...

ahem, I set up my white-board, it has listed on one side each subject we will go through, including 'review old grammar work' and also I write out the new grammar, such as geography terms, latin nouns, the history sentence, etc. As we work down our list, I erase each item.

It's stinking brilliant, I'm telling you!

The kids start each week with a public speaking turn. We then work through our new grammar, reciting/singing/using flashcards. I throw in some quick review as we are doing it and award tickets that they can cash in once a month. We have a time slot for a science experiment and a slot for a simple art lesson. We have a big slot for reviewing all the old material from previous weeks, this is the kid's favorite part. We play games, such as jeopardy style, family feud style, what-ever the tutor comes up with...and the kids just love it!

and then it's time to stop, and we all meet for lunch...the moms visit and the kids play.

after lunch, there is a class for the older kids covering English grammar, math games and writing. It's like a co-op because all the moms have to attend with their children. But, it's not a co-op because the moms do not take turns teaching, one tutor teaches each class all year. The moms are there to learn from what the tutor is doing, so they can run their children through the material at home. As a tutor, I'm not really teaching...just facilitating, presenting the material. The moms do help out and pass out papers and help with bathroom breaks and such. Or, like last week, I tried to sing the parts of an animal cell to the tune of 'happy birthday' and could not pull it off...I asked one of the moms to bail me out!

So, this is a view of what CC looks like from where I am sitting. In case you were wondering.

did I mention I now know the 5 kingdoms of living things, and the classification of living things? Also the definition of a preposition. I have to say the Latin is just enough to make me dangerous...

homeschool- we are forever learning.

Labels: classical Conversations, school year 09

Labels: Jen's world, Wordless Wednesday

We have so much going on here at Home, bloggy friends...Back- to- Homeschool this year has been the busiest ever for our crew!

I am struggling with how to be prepared for our classical group, because frankly, my normal operating procedure of cram the night before is just um... Tiring! Exhuasting! Making me cranky! Even with the material pre-planned it still takes time to find extras for art - it seems like the prep for that in our manual is really lacking, time to print up maps for geography, extra visuals I might need, and it takes time to gather everything up and pack it up to take with me.
(But I am loving our group, and I am so excited and pleased at what my kids are memorizing!)

Meg had her very first day taking High School classes at the Private Homeschool group. She was so excited and nervous, and I was feeling both those emotions for her. I drove her over there today for General Science (they are using Apologia...and Curricula junkie that I am, I am so excited she is getting to use this!) She got to stay for lunch and study hall and then for photography class. She didn't know anyone there, but the kids were all very nice, and several made it a point to go over and sit with her when they saw her sitting by herself at lunch and study hall.
Yay homeschoolers!!

I am struggling to fit in everything we need to do each day, and I don't even have everything yet!
I just placed our Sonlight Core 2 History order for the 3 littles, it will arrive in a few days and I don't know where I am going to put it!...I need to seriously clean my homeschool closet shelves..and I don't know how I am going to fit it into our day.

Teddy is still struggling with reading, we are adding in All about Spelling for the 3 littles for ah, Spelling!..but also to help with phonics...and yet I feel Teddy needs more. I think Explode the code might be the ticket, but gosh, most days it seems he is itching to bolt from the seat and ready to quit learning, adding more work for him is going to be hard.
I think the solution might be Explode the code online, it might go down a little easier than book work, and with his Auditory Processing disorder I've noticed that methods that deliver in more than one way, -visually, with sound, and having to choose or point and click- seem to have a better impact on him. HeadSprout phonics last year was spot on a great choice last year for him, I wish they had another program for older learners...

I thought I'd stop by the old blog and explain where I am and why I'm not blogging so much...


Look, I have apples!! We bought a tree that is supposed to produce apples in So. California, which has to be a special kind of tree, because we don't get the cold spells apple trees need to produce. The tree did not produce for a year, and then we moved it to a sunnier spot- and it is finally happy and I have apples!!! I am sooo happy! I love apple trees, and you just don't see them around these parts.


We had berries too! Again, have to be a special variety to grow here in So. Ca.

I hope back to school is going well for you all!

Happy Fall!!

Labels: homeschool

We started our homeschool year August 24th, so we just ended our second week of the new homeschool year. It's been good, though on the light side so far. We eased into the year with just the basics for the youngest 3, giving them time to adjust to being back, and giving me time to deal with not only schooling a new year, but also to having Meg in a new umbrella school program for high school, and all the prep time/meetings I've had to do to tutor in our new Classical group. Planning is my weekness, so actually this weekend I am putting the finishing touches on the subjects we need to add on, such as spelling and writing notebooks.
Our summer was such a full one! I cannot believe all we did, and the places we traveled to.
Here we are in front of the Mayflower II !!
Josie attended a week long Tennis camp near our house. In our neighborhood, actually. I appreciated the short drive time!

Labels: homeschool