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Give this photo a name and win this picture book, "Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken" - click over *here to see my review of it.

I have 1 copy of this book to give away to the best entry as judged by Sky
Runner-up will win a $10 Barnes & Nobles card.

entries will be judged by Sky. Contest ends Friday November 6th, 9 P.M. Pacific time.

Labels: book review, contests, hens

Homeschool Blog awards 2009 have begun over at The Homeschool Post. Click * here to nominate your favorite homeschool blogs (once there, click on the award button at top of page).

Blog awards are a fun way to discover new and interesting blogs; Who knows you just might find a new favorite, or make a new friend.... The nomination process ends this month and voting begins November, so hurry on over. (I'm always late on things, it seems!) :)

We had a fun day at Classical Conversations today, we dissected owl pellets! This is something I've always had a hankering to try...when I was young, I read a lot, and somewhere I read about owls coughing up pellets- yet I wasn't sure exactly what that meant, or what one would look like, but I went looking for them out in the orange groves that were near our house.
Now that I've seen one, I doubt I would have recognized one! We found a bird and a shrew in our pellet. I divided the room into two groups, the other group found a rodent and a shrew.
My van wouldn't start after class. It just had to be the day I decided to not pack lunches and to just go home for lunch. I had a van-full of hungry kids. Luckily, it was just the battery, Sky came down and gave me a jump. Later, he came home and presented me with this...I'm a lucky girl! He then installed it, filled up my gas tank and washed my windows. He's a full-service kind of guy! Again, I'm a lucky girl!
This is the first year my dwarf apple tree is bearing apples. Look, they are turning red! Apple trees in So. Ca are not an everyday thing...we don't get the cold spells needed, this tree is a special tree for our area.
Lastly, here's my baby. Who could not love a face like that? Again, I'm a lucky girl!

Labels: classical Conversations, Emma-doodle dog, school year 09

This week at Home, October 19 - October 24, 2009

The Home crew had a busy homeschool week, here is a look at some of the things we did, in and out of homeschool...because of course, the learning never stops:

Early in the week we had our Classical Conversations classes, this week we dissected a crayfish. I teach the 4th/5th grade class, which has 6 boys and 1 girl. It was about what you would imagine...I tried to stay with the physical parts on the outside of the crayfish, but at some point the boys tore into it, looking for the heart and brain and finding instead, the spine. The lone girl in the class fled when body parts began flying. !!!

We also started playing the Irish Tin Whistle for music theory. I had a difficult time playing the D scale on that durn thing..but for some reason I was able to play "Mary had a little lamb" Well- Go figure. **This lesson series on youtube helped me out , saved my bacon, really!

We had the monthly learning record meeting with out charter school teacher. We went through all our work for the past month. It went well, as always, but it always stresses me out a little the night before..

Josie and Meg continued with their readings for Sonlight Core 6 for history and literature. Meg is going through it at a double pace, Josie at normal speed. The 3 littles began reading
A Child's History of the World for Sonlight Core 2. We read about Monks in Monasteries.
I gave up reading Red Sails to Capri...the kids had little comprehension retention, why beat a dead horse...but I think I will finish it myself, I'm hooked into the story now!

Amie and Demi started new math books, they all wrote essays for a writing assessment, and Meg had a high school Science class and photography/year book class. Meg had a violin lesson. Josie, Amie and Demi all had piano lessons.

Josie, Demi and Amie had an art lesson, Meg and I went to a bagel shop and had our history discussion and worked on Science homework. This is the day that Teddy does not come to our house, his mom is home this day and works with him at their house. Later, we took Emma to the vet to have her stitches removed.

We completed the bulk of our schooling one morning and then headed out to the skateboard park for p.e.

That same evening, Demi had a hockey game and Josie had her very first fencing lesson. Josie is my Eeyore child. If you have an Eeyore child, you will know what I mean...it was very exciting to watch her immerse herself wholly into this class. She loved it.

Friday we took advantage of returning hot weather to head to the beach, thinking this might be the last nice beach day of the year. The kids body-surfed and rode boogie boards..again, I count that as P.E.!

Meg had another riding lesson. We've ended our relationship at one stable where she was working for lessons- it began to be a negative experience...I was kind of hoping her enthusiasm would wane...but she called around and found herself a new teacher and a new stable. I like her initiative! So, the horse craziness continues. We informed her that this year we could not continue to pay for any riding lessons...so she has come up with some interesting ways to earn money, -dog walking being a more traditional way, playing on the corner at the local antique district is the other, more non-traditional way she came up with. This weekend, the owner of a restaurant invited her to play for his patio customers. She would do this several days a week, if we would let her...but my parental caution holds me back, we let her do it every few weeks for a few hours.

We came home from her surprise invitation to play at the restaurant...and Amie and friends were inspired to set up shop on our street and play the tin whistle and clarinet for money. They hope to take it on the road soon...

It's been a busy/productive week, thanks for visiting!

Labels: homeschool, school year 09

Labels: Emma-doodle dog, Wordless Wednesday

Labels: classical Conversations, homeschool planning, school year 09

So, what do poodles and tin whistles have in common?
Plenty, since they are both running around in my head.

Should I share?
Yes!

Sky has a no-dressing the dog edict. I negotiated a bandanna clause...but there is no way he'd let me do this.. transformed poodles link*

my favorite was the panda bear... how about you?

Irish Tin Whistle lessons on youtube. -I'm thinking of taking it on the road!

A Stolen Life -by Jane Louise Curry is written for kids ages 10 to 14. It's a well-written historical novel with engaging characters, lots of action and some suspense.

Jamesina Mackenzie, lively, educated, living in her clan's highland homelands of Scotland is kidnapped by "spiriters' , taken on the ship Sparrowhawk to be sold as bond slave in America. The book takes you from the clan life of Scotland to an ocean crossing and then to southern plantation life, even to a Cherokee village. This pre-revolution story is historically accurate, giving readers a look at the indentured servant system as well as the slave trade. Jamesina's sorrow and helplessness as an unwilling indentured servant is profound, she is very likeable, resourceful and in the end- couragous. The very happy ending, with her surprise re-uniting with her brothers in a Scottish regiment is a little contrived, but it's the ending you really want, so it works.

A really good read for kids looking for a little bit of suspense, and the historical facts tucked in makes it a little bit educational, too. There are many subjects touched upon in this novel that would make for very good parent/child or group conversation.

Labels: book review

There is more than one way to cone a dog...or fit a dog with an e-collar, the more precise term...

Are you eager to begin? Emma was not, either....



1. gather your supplies.

A) dog in need of a cone B) the cone of shame or e-collar C) the magic

2. bring out the magic (a delicious people food treat she rarely gets...in our case, it was small pieces of hot dogs)

3. bring out the cone of shame, let her sniff it. Put cone of shame on one of your kids (just hold it there, no need to fasten it) let dog sniff kid and cone. Put cone around your dog's favorite person, let dog sniff. Praise dog the whole time and share a few pieces of magic.

3. place cone of shame on doggy's bed, let her sniff it, praise and treat.

5. put leash on your dog just in case

6. ask dog to sit, and have someone stand behind dog so she cannot back up

7. praise and treat, place cone of shame around doggy, praise and treat very liberally.

8. give some more treats

9. don't do this in the middle of the night, it scares them. ask me how I know...

10. place mushed up towels under food and water bowls so they are tipped at an angle so the dog can use them with the cone on.

Labels: Emma-doodle dog

Labels: Wordless Wednesday

I took Emma the Wonder-labradoodle for a walk the other day. She is now wearing the cone of shame, and though she is doing well with it for the most part, she was starting to look a little depressed...so I decided a walk was in order. I invited Demi-Sky to come along, thinking we could get in a little good conversation.
He did, and we did.

At one point in the walk, Demi-Sky said, "Mom, I'd like to learn English".
Amused, I replied that he already speaks English, and very well. He went on to explain that he was desiring to learn the mechanics of English. A light bulb went on in my head...these are the moments I live for, as a homeschool mom.

Sky began a story club with Meg and Josie 2 years ago, the purpose; to encourage the girls to write creatively and to better their writing skills. They each work on their respective stories, Sky included, and then every once in a while they read each other's continuing stories and offer critiques, or just enjoy. 3 days ago, Demi suddenly wanted to write a story on the computer. It's a joy to watch him working on it, creatively making a story-world. It's very rough, very creative...spelling-wise. I loove it.

My philosophy for language arts has been that less is more while in the younger grades. We just started using a language arts program for Demi, Amie and Teddy late last Spring..we took a break for summer and have continued on with it this fall. Sonlight Language Arts 2 fits well with my gentle LA philosophy, I've been delighted with the small portions of work for each day. It's good, solid LA without overwhelming. I am not an unschooler, I'm more of an electic/Charlotte Mason homeschooler with a classical bent...but for LA, I tend to run closer to the unschooling thought; for me, less is definitely more while young - I concentrate first on the mechanics of learning to read, and then aim for a joy of reading.
**The unschooler part of me stood up and cheered when Demi took the gentle bit of learning, began to apply it for his own creative interest and then asked for more instruction to improve his creative effort. Love, love, love it.

"Demi, I think you are asking about learning more English Grammar", I replied. "Yes, we can do more of that, in fact, the worksheet you did today on exact verbs was a grammar lesson." - and then I watched the lightbulb go off in his head, I could see the wheels churning as he considered the fact that mom doesn't make him to do schoolwork just to torture him, but that it was stuff that actually might be useful....

I love being a mom, and better, I love being mom who is always right.

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire" -William Butler Yeats

Grammar material I have used and found worthwhile;

** Sonlight Language Arts 2

** Flashkids writing workbooks

** Growing with Grammar 3, 5 and 6

Labels: homeschool, school year 09

Where I'd Like To Be by Frances Dowell is written for ages 10-14. This is the story of 12 year old Maddie who lives in a children's home. The story is told in 1st person, beginning with the the appearance of the new girl, Murphy, who is exciting with an exotic past- someone Maddie is hopeful will be her new friend. Murphy tells Maddie right off that Murphy is not her real name, along with stories of traveling with her parents before they were killed in an accident. Maddie is intrigued with the new girl and wants to believe her wonderful stories, even though part of her knows she shouldn't.
Maddie, Murphy and several other unlikely friends with different backgrounds/ different stories come together to build a playhouse- a real life extension of the dream homes they each carry in their hearts.

This story was sweet, innocent and a really great introduction to some of life's hard truths...that some kids do not have families, some kids are abandoned, some kids have parents that cannot care for them, all these kids hide hurts and hopes in their hearts. This story is a gentle look into these hard truths, without being brutal- shows the shadows and hurts without bruising the soul.

Where I'd like to be is a worthwhile read for this age group, a good first step into more mature themes. I firmly believe that even though there is much evil and ugliness in this world, that we do not need to bury our young children in it at a young age. This book told an interesting story without ugliness, the characters range of emotions are believable and change as the story unfolds, and best of all, hope and friendship are woven throughout.

a good read, I enjoyed it and your children will enjoy it also.

Labels: book review

We've reveled in the delights of dog ownership, specifically-we've delighted in dog ownership of the right sort of dog...Emma is frankly, delightful- and as I've said before, practically perfect in every way. I've reveled/danced/gloated/done the llama-llama and now pay-back has come in spades. or spays, actually. This week we had Emma spayed.
The dancing is over. over, I tell ya.

We suffered through the first night, which was really hard on Emma and on us. I insisted on taking home pain medicine for a day or two for her, even after being assured by the lady at the vet clinic "dogs are more resistant to pain then we are"...um, I can't type out my response to that without probably offending some of my readers...It was very plain after I gave her the first dose of superfluous pain medicine, that relief visibly came calling.
Poor, poor doggy.

Enter the cone of shame.

They put it on at the vet office. Emma let the weight of it drop her head floor-wards, and then refused to move a muscle, the picture of fear and misery. We removed the cone of shame and put it away for another day. This worked out well, because she was in so much pain and misery that she didn't move much and so it wasn't needed. At 4 a.m exactly...ask me how I know...she perked up a bit. We instituted the cone of shame, and Emma had a panic attack. I didn't know dogs could have panic attacks, but that was what it looked like. She got up from her bed at one point, I assumed to move to her other bed, was still...and yet I heard panting, panting that got louder and faster until maybe 5 or 10 minutes later I turned on the light and discovered her standing, frozen next to her bed with her head down.

Exit the cone of shame.

So, I have to sleep, alert to sounds of licking...and if she goes outside, I have to follow to watch for said licking. And someone has to watch her all day.

I bought her a new, better cone of shame- this one is see-thru and not as long/tunnel-ish and easier to get on and off. Tried it out at bedtime, same, but slightly less panicky result...but still panicky. And she cried. Off came the cone of shame, gone went my sleep.

It's going to be a long 7 days.
Any advice?

Labels: Emma-doodle dog

I stumbled onto CJane Enjoy its blog during the time she was caring for her sister's children while she was in a burn unit in Arizona. CJane was rejoicing that her sister was waking up.

Nie Nie is her sister, and survived a small plane accident with her husband. They were both enjoyable, creative, well-spoken bloggers before, it's the after that I stumbled upon that just captured and humbled me by their grace and fortitude.

Nie Nie was on Oprah Wendnesday, here is a short link. I dare you to not be moved.

Stephanie Nielson on Oprah

double-dog dare you

I know this will be in my heart in the everyday mornings of my mommylife, and I know it will be a good thing.

amen

This week we enjoyed a trip to the Kid's Science Museum in the big city nearest to us. Another homeschool mom called to remind us that is was a free day for us, and to tell us that the museum had a neat hockey exhibit...Demi is all about hockey these days, he just tried out for a roller-hockey team...

Nice perk of homeschooling, we were able to drop what we were doing, and head on down!


Here is one of the neat hockey exhibits, a movie screen in front with a hockey player approaching to shoot at the goal. There are 3 slots in the wall, and the hockey puck shoots out of one of them. The kids got to dress up in goalie gear and try to stop the puck. Red lights and roar of the crowd added to the fun.

Amie tried out the harp with no strings. It had lights instead. Sounded like the real thing and was fun to experiment with. Mom played with it, too.

The whole crew had to try out the rock climbing wall. Love these! I wish we had one in our backyard, just the sort of thing I would have loved as a kid.

I've learned through experience to not arrive at the Science Museum until after lunch. I think they try to schedule all of the school field trips on the city-free day. It's a real zoo in the morning. Arriving 1 pm or later works out well, the kids are out having lunch and then being rounded up on buses. We have the place to ourselves, pretty much after 1.

A perk of homeschooling, ....avoiding the crowds. :)

Labels: field-trips

Labels: Wordless Wednesday

First, for some eye-candy, go over to Red Letter Words and drool a little. It's an Etsy store, and I'm in love.

School answer machine message. Sometimes you just have to say what you really want to say...

I think fall may have finally arrived in So. Ca! I hope, I hope. -we were just at the beach 3 days ago and it was hot there...so maybe I'm jumping the gun here.. Fall is my favorite season, blink and you miss it here, but while it is here I love it so!

This means pumpkin cheesecake, people!! oh yeah!

We are using Janice VanCleave's 201 Awesome, Magical, Bizarre & Incredible Experiments for our Classical Homeschool group. I have to give it 5 stars out of 5 stars. The experiments are simple, the ingredients are easy to gather and best of all, the directions are easy to follow. We have done maybe 8 or 9 experiments so far, and they have all worked the way they are supposed to, and they all captured the interest of the kids.

The explanations for each experiment and discussion on concepts are brief, to the point - important science concepts are in bold to catch your eye, such as "osmosis" ...you are then free to find more resources on the subject if you wish, to flesh it out, or to just leave it be...which is nice, too, sometimes.

So far, the favorite experiments were the shrinking and na**ked egg. Big wow factor with all the kids, and again, very easy to set up.

If you are looking for just a little bit of science to round out your school year, short but not overwhelming..not a full on science curriculum...this would fit the bill.

Labels: book review

I stepped outside my house this morning for my daily walk with Emma, the wonder-labradoodle. Frankly, I was already having a bad day...feeling bad about something from the night before.

Still in my doorway, I heard a bunch of screeching and squawking- I looked and saw one of our resident hawks...

Chasing one of these guys.......


and he was very, very close. I don't think the parrot escaped. But I hope he did.

They flew over the house across the street.

Suddenly, my complaints didn't seem so large.

I guess it's all about perspective, sometimes.