Sunday and Monday (Day 16)

Michael got quite ill on Saturday. So, he stayed home from church.

When Paul and Dad returned, Michael and Paul had an "Amazing Animals" and "Bill Nye" fest. Lots of science for one sick boy and one suportive brother.

In the self-education department, I read from page 20 - 360 of The Good Earth because I couldn't put it down! I will discuss Part 1 with my Oprah Book Club on Monday, October 4th.

TODAY in homeschool:

Michael is still sick. So, it has been more low-key. We did a great experiment by rubbing a balloon on our hair and directing it toward an inverted plastic cup that is over a "paper tent" suspended on a tack that is imbedded in modeling clay. The negative charge on the balloon from the electrons in our hair attracted to the positive paper charge to make the paper move through the plastic cup. It did not work through a glass cup. Glass must not a be a conductor of electricity!

We did write ups of the experiment, and I could tell Michael was definitely dragging.

After this, we had "couch time" of Bible, John study, prayer, and ITA.

Then, we finished up by watching Colonial Life for Children: Roger Williams and Rhode Island. I am SOO impressed with these videos! I am learning so much.

I told Michael he was done for the day, and I will finish up with Paul doing math/spelling this afternoon.

Off for a bike ride to pick up The Salt Garden from Laura Gannon!

Book Babes Breakfast

I am going to enclude my "homeschool" learning too! Why not?

This weekend, I hosted our annual "Book Babes Book Selection Breakfast." I made Ham, Egg, and Cheese Strada. Margaret brought cinammon rolls. Cathi brought a fruit plate. Michelle brought Orange juice. Lisa brought Banana Bread.

Here are the selections for the year:

OCTOBER - Shelly
The Salt Garden
by Cindy McCormick Martinusen 300 pages
(She is a personal friend of the Book Babes leader and will come during our discussion!)

Claire O'Rourke is a young writer looking forward to a glowing career in publishing. Sophia Fleming is an aging recluse whose painful past has kept her hidden away for decades. Each woman brings to the other a different view of the same God--one from unbroken faith and great expectations of what God can do, the other from a faith that wavered as a young woman but found healing through years of prayer and seeking God alone. In spite of their differences, their hearts are drawn together, even as circumstances threaten their relationship and their dreams.

NOVEMBER 20 - Margaret
Winter Wheat
by Mildred Walker 306 pages

2003 One Book Montana Selection For this Bison Books edition, James Welch, the acclaimed author of Winter in the Blood (1986) and other novels, introduces Mildred Walker's vivid heroine, Ellen Webb, who lives in the dryland wheat country of central Montana during the early 1940s. He writes, "It is a story about growing up, becoming a woman, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, within the space of a year and a half. But what a year and a half it is!" Welch offers a brief biography of Walker, who wrote nine of her thirteen novels while living in Montana.

DECEMBER 18 - Millie (with an "ie")
Blackbird House (Hoffman, Alice)
by ALICE HOFFMAN 240 pages

From Booklist
Perhaps Hoffman writes so confidently about magical occurrences because her fecund and radiant creativity is itself a form of magic. It certainly seems as though her entrancing and mythological tales flow like water from a spring, and her new book is no exception, although its form, linked short stories, is a new one for Hoffman. Blackbird House echoes her haunting novel The Probable Future (2003) in its lush and evocative Massachusetts setting, focus on indomitable and witchy women, and spanning of 200 years of life anchored to one place, in this case a humble abode on Cape Cod. Each beautifully arcing and surprising story is presided over by a white blackbird, an emblem of mourning and remembrance, and enacted by stoic yet passionate characters, among them passoinate mothers, a math prodigy, a wily gal with a conspicuous birthmark, a Holocaust survivor, and the angry daughter of self-absorbed hippies. As the stories leapfrog from colonial times toward the present, Hoffman, a subtle conjurer of telling details and ironic predicaments, orchestrates intense romances and profound sacrifices. Those who live in Blackbird House, by turns brilliant, crazy, and courageous, follow their dreams, endure nightmares, and find that their numinous home is as much a part of their being as their parents' DNA.

JANUARY - Carol
Cry, the Beloved Country (Oprah's Book Club)
by Alan Paton 312 pages

Cry, the Beloved Country is a beautifully told and profoundly compassionate story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son Absalom, set in the troubled and changing South Africa of the 1940s. The book is written with such keen empathy and understanding that to read it is to share fully in the gravity of the characters' situations. It both touches your heart deeply and inspires a renewed faith in the dignity of mankind. Cry, the Beloved Country is a classic tale, passionately African, timeless and universal, and beyond all, selfless.

FEBRUARY - Lisa
My Own Two Feet
by Beverly Cleary (Her autobiography) 288 pages

This second installment of the Newbery Medalist's autobiography (after A Girl from Yamhill) begins during the '30s, with the young Cleary leaving her home state of Oregon to attend junior college in California. The volume ends in 1949, with Morrow's acceptance of Cleary's first novel, the now-classic Henry Huggins (initially written as a short story entitled "Spareribs and Henry"). The author's unsentimental recollections of herself as a student in the Depression, a librarian and a newlywed are told humorously and candidly. Friends and adversaries-her ever-critical mother, formidable professors, congenial classmates, gentlemen acquaintances (including future husband Clarence)-are as colorfully sketched as the characters appearing in Cleary's beloved novels. Able to laugh at her own mistakes and to recognize universal truths in everyday life, Cleary will endear herself even more to her fans with this account of her struggle for independence. Ages 12-up. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book DescriptionThe New Yorker said of the first volume of Beverly Cleary's memoirs, "It is a warm, honest book, as interesting as any novel, and describes the growing-up process with remarkable clarity and candor." Now the creator of Ramona Quimby and Henry Huggins writes of her early adulthood with humor and insight, making Beverly Cleary's own story as lively and irresistible as any of her novels.

MARCH - Michelle
The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty
by Caroline Alexander 416 pages

More than two centuries have passed since Master's Mate Fletcher Christian mutinied against Lieutenant Bligh on a small, armed transport vessel called Bounty. Why the details of this obscure adventure at the end of the world remain vivid and enthralling is as intriguing as the truth behind the legend.
In giving the Bounty mutiny its historical due, Caroline Alexander has chosen to frame her narrative by focusing on the court-martial of the ten mutineers who were captured in Tahiti and brought to justice in England.

APRIL - Cathi
The Captain's Dog: My Journey with the Lewis and Clark Tribe
by Roland Smith 287 pages (Rec. for 9-12 year old readers)

Born the runt of his litter and gambled away to a rusty old riverman, the Newfoundland pup Seaman doesn’t imagine his life will be marked by any kind of glory--beyond chasing down rats. But when he meets Captain Meriwether Lewis, Seaman finds himself on a path that will make history. Lewis is just setting off on his landmark search for the Northwest Passage, and he takes Seaman along. Sharing the curiosity and strength of spirit of his new master, Seaman proves himself a valuable companion at every turn. Part history, part science--and adventure through and through--The Captain’s Dog is the carefully researched, thrilling tale of America’s greatest journey of discovery, as seen through the keen, compassionate eyes of a remarkable dog.

MAY - Millie
Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation
by Cokie Roberts 384 pages

Cokie Roberts's number one New York Times bestseller, We Are Our Mothers' Daughters, examined the nature of women's roles throughout history and led USA Today to praise her as a "custodian of time-honored values." Her second bestseller, From This Day Forward, written with her husband, Steve Roberts, described American marriages throughout history, including the romance of John and Abigail Adams. Now Roberts returns with Founding Mothers, an intimate and illuminating look at the fervently patriotic and passionate women whose tireless pursuits on behalf of their families -- and their country -- proved just as crucial to the forging of a new nation as the rebellion that established it.

JUNE - Laura
Life of Pi
by Yann Martel 336 pages

The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.
The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional--but is it more true?

JULY - PaigeGod and Ronald Reagan : A Spiritual Life
by Paul Kengor 416 pages

Ronald Reagan is hailed today for a presidency that restored optimism to America, engendered years of economic prosperity, and helped bring about the fall of the Soviet Union. Yet until now little attention has been paid to the role Reagan's personal spirituality played in his political career, shaping his ideas, bolstering his resolve, and ultimately compelling him to confront the brutal -- and, not coincidentally, atheistic -- Soviet empire.

AUGUST - A.J.
Three Weeks with My Brother
by Micah Sparks, Nicholas Sparks 368 pages

Just over a year ago, novelist Nicholas Sparks took off with brother Micah on a jaunt around the world, then chronicled their whirlwind trip in Three Weeks with My Brother (Warner, $22). Having lost their parents to a horse-riding accident and a car wreck, and their sister to brain cancer, the men took this journey to reawaken their shell-shocked selves, hoping to recapture lost faith and shore up ailing optimism along the way.

Day 15

After a great time in James this morning, Paul and I did math while Michael slept in until 9 a.m. I find it works to have that one-on-one time when it comes to math. Paul is more independent, in many ways, than Michael is when is comes to math. I like having that time with just Michael in the afternoon for math. I think I will just continue to do that as much as possible.

Paul continued to numbers in expanded and written form. He completed his Chapter Review for Place Value. Writing out those long numbers are hard for him as they were also hard for Michael at that age.

About Paul, he is a great, self-motivated learner. He is so much more motivated in the morning. I think Michael is tired from aquarium and trampoline yesterday. He finally got to work at about 9:40 a.m. He is on Day 15 in his math. So, he is right on target for the year.

Michael is up and writing a "Flat Freddy" letter to the Krauses. Uncle Andy lived right next door to the house that Sterling North lived in when he had Rascal. How cool is that??????

Paul got a 93% on his Spelling (Lesson 28 - Number words since he was having to spell expanded number words for math).

Paul just set a reading goal of twenty books a month. We will start the Pizza Hut Book It reading on October 1st and go it for six months.

We did usual grammar and Paul copied a passage from Rascal while Michael did spelling.

We did out couch time after all this. We did Bible, Indian Prayer, Study of John, ITA, and Science (Nuclear Reactors) during this time. We also watch another Colonial Times for Kids about Jamestown today. I am so impressed with these 23 minute productions.

Michael and I will do math alone after lunch.

I need to clean and bake for my book club breakfast tomorrow!

Day 14 - A Field Trip to The Oregon Coast Aquarium

Another full day! We awoke and read a bit of ITA. Then, it was off to the Oregon Coast.

The Kinkades picked us up at 9:00 a.m., and we met the Kings there. We all got in for just 10.50, and it was a great time. All the kids got along very well which made me happy. There were nine boys, but it wasn't overwhelming.

We loved the otters and sea lions. The boys did a octopus dance, and I figured out how to capture it on our new camera that does video! I have almost three minutes of video. This will be so nice when birthday time comes around!

The shark talk was very good. The microscope room was also quite fun. We had never been in there before this year.

I had a great day talking to Dee in the car on the way there and back and with Mary at the aquarium. Dee said she was a nerd in high school. I think that is funny to think of her as a nerd.

We got back at about four, and I rushed to get an apple crisp into the oven for our neighborhood BBQ. I met a neighbor who does triathlons, marathons, STP, duathon. She is amazing! During the BBQ, my kids jumped to their hearts content on the trampoline in the King's backyard. What a great thing for them!

After the BBQ, I rushed off to get the last hour of Acts Bible Study. I am so going to like this. it is neat to be with other people and to just go and learn instead of be in charge. It is relaxing for me.

Came back to watch the tape of Survivor!

Tomorrow, we are having a REGULAR school routine after two very unusual days!

Well, I could NOT sleep last night. I didn't fall off until 3 a.m., and I woke up at 7 a.m. I had Bible Study at 9:15. So, I had to get the kids up.

We listened to more of Rascal during Breakfast and read a bit of Introdution to Art.

Then, I had a GLORIOUS Bible Study. Lisa couldn't come because SHE was up all night with her 6 year old who stayed home from school. Another woman called and canceled (going on a cruise). So, I had two wonderful hours talking to a 59 year old woman who moved here from California two years ago who grew up Jewish and came to Christ on Christmas Eve of 1999. The other woman was in her 60's and came to Christ as a co-ed at UCLA through Campus Crusade. I had such a great time. I asked them why they came, and they both shared all about how they came to Christ, and I am ALWAYS encouraged when I hear the unique way that God draws us. You probably didn't need to know that, but I was struck at how much I enjoyed the time. I have been mourning and missing my old study. God keeps telling me that there are great things in store.

We read through the whole book of James together, too.

After this, we went and did our Dial-A-Book deliveries. We have been delivering books to MayBelle for a year. She is 99 years old, and her son met us at the door with her old book bags and said she wouldn't be needing any new books. I looked at him, and he affirmed with a look that Maybelle is on her deathbed. I immediately burst out in tears. Her two lovely caretakers whom I have developed a relationship with over the year were behind the big son saying thank you for everything as I sat on the porch and bawled like a baby.

I wanted to say how sorry I was, but I couldn't through my choking tears.

Maybelle was such a special lady, and she read her books to the end. She had a beautiful rose garden (I love roses, passionately.), and only a couple of months ago she sat in her chair and urged her caretakers to take me to her garden so I could see that she loved roses too.

As we left, I told the boys, and Michael, who always picks the best and brightest flowers for Maybelle said, "I had a feeling that this was going to happen. She won't make it to 100!"

We sat in silence as we listened to the last chapter of Rascal that just made me cry more because it has a sad ending! I apologized to my kids, and they said, "We understand mom, and it doesn't bother us."

Then, we delivered Bible Study books to the two women who couldn't make study and went back to the library.I found a TON of videos about Colonial America.

We also went to BiMart to pick out special drinks for our Field Trip to the Oregon Coast Aquarium with the Kings and Kinkades tomorrow. No math this afternoon. We are opting for a Peanuts Video about the Mayflower. I just can't handle math today.

Dinner will probably be leftover Lentil soup, and I will watch Part Two of the Sigmund Freud/C.S. Lewis "The Question of God" show on PBS. Fascinating!

We didn't have alot of "official" time, but it was a very good day.

Day 12 - Great distractions!

Well, it started out that while we were listening to Rascal (We couldn't stop and listened for about an hour) that Michael asked if he could put together the United States puzzle. SURE! I love this easy way to learn geography. Then, it came to me needing to move on. I read about Jacob and Esau and the stolen blessing and birthright. Then, Michael got the OLD United States puzzle that George used growing up, and Paul decided that he would do the one Michael was working on. So, I ended up reading all about the Lumbee Indians and we prayed and puzzled at the same time. I skipped John study today in order to roll on with geography! I also read several more pages than expected of ITA. We were able to get through Ancient Art and into Medieval. Then we played a fun game of removing the state and guessing what state was missing. Michael is really getting them down, and Paul is coming along.

Michael also drew a "Flat Freddy" that we will send to several friends throughout the country in order to learn about their state. It is like "Flat Stanley," but with Michael's comic flare.

The boys wrote up their Potato Circuit experiment and did spelling and grammar. Michael narrated a "Flat Freddy" letter that he will copywork tomorrow for the Krauses.

Michael is dismantling the state puzzle so that he can do it downstairs and Paul is reading away (I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew). I am just going to have Michael do his reading at night and keep him while Paul is downstairs reading for more important projects in language arts.

I had a good time in prayer this morning and time overviewing Acts. I am going to go ask my neighbor Jan to join our bible study and walk to the Aquatic Center to register the kids for swimming. What should I have for dinner?

HS: 8:45 - 12:15
Math will be 45 minutes to 1 hour from 2:30 - 3:30
Reading for Michael and Read-Aloud for Paul will be 8:15 to 9:45 tonight
(They say they will start early in order to finish Ramona Forever!)

Day 11

We schooled from 8:45 - 12 noon today and will do another hour in the afternoon for math. Mondays and Fridays will be my days to get to everything since we have swimming on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Spanish on Wednesdays.

We listened to Rascal during breakfast. I love his beautiful descriptions of Wisconsin. In this chapter, they went to Lake Superior and stayed in the woods. I was swept away with his word pictures. It really is a lovely story. I took the opportunity to teach a bit about Wisconsin geography, and we talked about sending a Flat Stanley to Auntie Barb, Uncle Andy and the girls (Former teammates in Malaysia) in order to learn about Wisconsin. I printed off a Wisconsin map, and we will color areas from the book. I also sent an email off to the Krauses, and I hope Michael will write a letter to them regarding Flat Stanley tomorrow for his writing experience.

Then, we read about Isaac and Rebekah and how the servant prayed that he would be led straight to Rebekah. Again, I am hit with prayer. Sermon yesterday was about prayer, James hit me with prayer, Acts and the early church hit me with prayer. With this "funk" that I have been in, I feel the need to pray for direction in ministry. This was just another confirmation; but one thing is for certain, my primary ministry is this 4 hours a day that I spend investing in my children during homeschool and our bible time. No doubt about this. It is a season of my life that I relish.

After this we studied John 2. They continue to like doing the story boards, and I am tickled that it ties into the DVD. I think they have the potential to be the next brother producing team for movies. So, this is a way for them to understand the process, but more importantly, they are looking more deeply at Scripture for the first time in their lives. They are not rejecting it either, and this makes me so very happy.

Then, we prayed for the Lumbee and highlighted the tribe in our American Indian Map that we have as a bookmark in the American Indian Prayer Guide. What a great tool Sonlight has made for us to enjoy.

After our Bible/Prayer, we feasted on the paintings in Introduction to Art (Blessing to Colleen for her hot tip!). We read about portraits and landscapes. Paul fell in love with the landscape by Hopper. He exclaimed with enthusiasm, "It is just like a photograph!" Reminded me of the Hopper in the Art Institute of Chicago. Makes me want the boys to experience this art in person. Another reason for us to visit the Rohrers in New Hampshire and take a trip to D.C. and New York with their world-class art museums! I have decided to get through the pages of Intro to Art to where we are caught up with where we are in history. This means getting through Ancient and Renaissance art. So, we won't be doing SOTW/SL history for a couple of weeks. Then, we will go at a slower pace through ITA.

I did manage to copy off all the American Maps from the Knowlege Quest Blackline Maps of American History (www.knowledgequestmaps.com) through the War Between the States, and I am so impressed by this CD-Rom and the upgraded quality of her maps! I realized she had a 9x11 foot map, but it wouldn't print and she offered to send me a preprinted one for free. We will put it in our office and mark the states as we learn them this year. I still need to go through the World History maps for this time period too. We put these in their history section of their notebooks.

Then, I read a couple of pages from Usborne Science Encyclopedia about Radioactivity. They watched a couple of free Brainpop movies because it said we had already exceeded our daily limit (which we hadn't!) Still debating whether a $80 yearly brainpop subscription would be worth the money when I can do two free movies a day.

After this, we set up our potato and battery experiment. It takes an hour to complete. So, we set it up and went to our seatwork.

We copied John 2:23 on notecards, and I showed them their notecard file boxes which they thought were pretty coolacious.

I figured this was a good time to introduce them to greek and latin words from Vocabulary Vine because this is the original reason why I bought those card boxes. I have simplified Paula's writing on notecards. They just wrote TELE and the definition and words that give examples of tele, but I didn't have them write out definitions for each word. I also had them write the word in large caps on the other side so they can use the cards as flash cards. We just went over the definitions of telescope, telephone, telegraph, etc. verbally.

We did our usual grammar, but I am having them use the answer key to check their own work now. Spelling is smoothly sailing too. Paul prefers writing his answers on a white board, and I feel like I am in an old schoolhouse when they wrote on slates. It saves a tree to not write on paper, but Michael likes the paper route (not to be confused with the other kind of paper route!). I am so happy with my grammar and spelling choices. I will switch Michael to spelling power after 6th grade, but I love the other things he learns through the Spectrum method.

We checked the results of the hour long potato experiment and the positive charge of the battery reacted with the negative charge of the potato to make a green ring from the penny on the one marked positive. The one connected to the negative side made no ring. We talked about the whys and we will write it up tomorrow for our writing time.

Michael has been reading aloud about an hour each night in his Ramona books. So, he isn't reading during the day, but Paul went downstairs and read a book. They are both rereading all their Dr. Seuss and Dr. Seuss-a-likes. I want Paul to have joy in reading because he keeps saying he doesn't like it. So, I am not stressing over his choices that are really easy for him. He read Because a Little Bug Went Ka-Choo, . Reminds me of our time in Malaysia when Michael was 6 and Paul was 3. Our second nanny, Bega, gave them this book as a gift, and we have read it over and over and over and over since then! He forgets how well I know the story because he excitedly narrated the whole story back to me after he was done reading it!

We ended at Noon (Paul read later than this.) and will pick up Math for about an hour in the afternoon. I am off to spend some more time in Acts and prayer about all the things that are swirling in my head lately! I also hope to read a bit of Uncle Tom's Cabin. I am loving this classic. What a story and what a stir it must have caused in the 1850's South!

Days 9 and 10

The kids and George are at Kid's Day for Conservation, and it must be good because they have been gone for quite a few hours. I am counting this as a homeschool day since it will tie into our energy studies in Science/Physics. Can't wait to hear about what they learned today! George is the substitute teacher, and I am getting some much needed rest from homeschool. I don't think I am any busier than I was last year, but I am much more tired now than I was before. I think it is because of my surgery. So, I spent much of today soaking in the Word which was so wonderful to my soul. I spend the morning in Acts and this afternoon in James. They both go together so nicely!

I didn't journal on Friday (Day 9). We finished up our study of John 1 and watched the Gospel of John DVD for just that chapter. It really helps cement this, and I am praying that this will send our kids on a lifetime of loving God's word and digging into it.

I know I did history, but I can't, for the life of me, remember what we studied yesterday. Isn't that terrible? We also worked on geography by putting together a puzzle of the United States two times. We did it in 12 1/2 minutes the second time. I am hoping this helps cement the states in their mind.

We did not get to science today. What did we do for the 2 1/2 hours? I am drawing a big blank!

We did our regular seatwork. I did do math with Paul before Michael got up this morning. So, I only had Michael in the afternoon for math. I have a system down for the problems, and it is going well. I am saving the answers for when Paul uses the same book in order not to have to figure out the problems again.

We saw the Rohrer family again, and it is so nice to be with old friends! Their kids were so kind and loving and fun with our kids. We came home and looked up New Hampshire on the map and dreamed about going to the East Coast for a vacation some day.

I spent a good part of the day after homeschool typing out a game plan for history. I had made a timeline, but I hadn't incorporated the Story of the World Volume 3 because I didn't have it when I listed out all the readers, read-alouds and history books. I also hadn't redone the schedule for this year since I had made it to get through last year, and the book didn't come until most of the year was over. So, it took me hours, but I managed to complete it by the time we went to see the Rohrers.

Michael finished Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by reading late into the evening. He only has Ramona Forever and Ramona's World to finish the Henry/Ramona fest. They are home, better go!

A Full Day

We started at 9:00 a.m. by listening to Rascal by Sterling North. We also did copywork for a passage for just 5 minutes. This wasn't as enthusiastically received as the first copywork, but that is OK.

John continues with enthusiasm as does praying for the Lenape Indians.

We learned more about life on the Thirteen Colonies.

We learned about art that tells stories in history and how they impact society.

Seatwork included a great spelling test by Paul (100%) and grammar. Michael started his new spelling chapter without complaint and grammar. I am liking Nitty Gritty Grammar for quick references and Easy Grammar for more detailed explanations. What a great combo. My kids don't mind grammar at all now that it is just in small doses. What a great plan we have now. The boys read too, but I can't remember what they read.

Then, Mrs. Vincent and Mrs. Stewart came to visit. Lisa wanted me to meet her mom.

Then, the Kinkades came over for about 4 hours, and we had a blast with them. They are such a nice family. We are planning to go to the Aquarium for homeschool day and Philip Foster Farms with them too.

We ended with Math that is going well. I love the practicality of BJU math for Michael. The daily application questions are just what he has needed in his math program.

Now, I am eating dinner and off to Bible Study.

Gilbert House Field Trip

We left at 9:30 a.m. with the Kincade family for the Gilbert House Kid's Museum "Not Back to School" Day for homeschoolers in Salem, Oregon. It was a great time.

From Paul:
In the recycle room, I made a sort of kooky robot. It has a weird face and arms and legs and a little antenna on top.

Michael made a plasma cannon gun. I guess it is a Sci-Fi thing. He went into the recycle room and came out with this elaborate gun. He played with it outside, and the heads of all the middle school aged homeschoolers turned. Next thing you knew, the whole outside play area was innundated with guns made from recycled materials. Michael is such a trend-setter.

They had fun running around outside. There had been rain prior to our time, but the sun broke through the clouds once they were done spending a bit of time inside in the Ball room and magnetic hall.

There were many vendors there, and I had such a good time talking to them! The women from SASH were there, and they were really great to talk to. I also had a good time talking to the Sonlight Curriculum Representative there too.

Dee and I talked about what we will do this year. We are planning Phillip Foster Farms, OMSI, Eugene Science Center, and maybe a cooking class. It will be nice because they are also taking Beginning Spanish in North Albany.

I am feeling a bit under the weather. I am glad we had a first field trip, but I think I am going to hit the sack for the rest of the day while the kids play downstairs.

The Kincades will come for lunch and play tomorrow.

Why do I love this so much?

I have to say that I love to homeschool. I love teaching these boys, and I love learning right along with them.

One thing that is startling me is how much they are enjoying the inductive study in the book of John using the book Jesus in the Spotlight. I was so happy when Paul said, "Aren't we going to do John?" This was music to my ears. They are learning such great skills that will help them in all areas of study. Today we observed all the names of Jesus in John 1.

(As I a side note, I totally enjoyed my inductive study of James this morning!)

We prayed for the Lenape Indians and went to the Mark-It Map to discover where these Indians were located. This led us to read a bit about William Penn in our history. He didn't think the land should just be given to him by the government. He insisted on paying the Lenape for land in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

We also read about the fire and plague in London in the 1600's. We also did some reading about the founding of seven of the thirteen colonies: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut (Both started by outcasts of the Puritan Massachusetts Colony), New York (Dutch), Pennsylvania (William Penn who believed in treating all people equally), Maryland (Started by Lord Baltimore, a Catholic.) , and Georgia (Started by Ogelthorpe to fend off the Spanish and create a colony for poor people. We did some geography work on the thirteen colonies also.

Michael received a 93% on his first spelling test, and Paul opted to do journal writing and proofreading practice instead of his "Write on Your Own" in his spelling practice. He journaled about "Why I like Nintendo."

We also had grammar. I love Daily Grams. Such a no-fuss, effective approach to grammar.

We opted out of science today and will be getting science exposure on our first field trip to the Gilbert House Kids Museum for their "Not Back to School Days" festivities.

Orthodontist, WinCo, Library hold pick-up, bank run, and millk pick up rounded out our fun day today.

After this, we did some serious Math. Maybe an hour and 15 minutes or so.

Michael finished another Ramona book last night for bedtime. He is Ramona Quimby, Age 8. Paul is in a Dr. Seuess phase right now with The Cat's Quizzer.

Monday, Monday: September 13

We started at 11:00 a.m. today due to a very BUSY Sunday. We went to a party at the Howards for the Rohrers being in town. Then, Melinda's got a call that her dad died. So, we all went to prayer. So, we were there later than we thought. Then, we went the Welcome Night at church for the new college pastor, Tom Ramsay. Then, we finished watching Emma.

So, the kids slept in, and I went and made phone calls for my new bible study starting on Wednesday.

We did a simple science experiment demonstrating static electricity by rubbing a comb in your hair and seeing how it moves a strip of cut tissue paper. The kids drew and wrote with exuberant spirits about it. So nice to see the writing!

We watched two Brainpop movies on nuclear energy and electricity. We used the activity sheet from the one on electricity and added it to our science notebooks.

We also read the page in our Science Encyclopedia about heat transfer.

We had a great Bible study time, and I taught the kids about finding and marking key words in John 1. Jesus is the word and light. They did it so cheerfully. When I mentioned that we were also going to watched the movie of the gospel of John, Michael became very concerned because it is PG-13. He had read the back of the DVD that I had borrowed from Kim and was concerned it might be too violent. Paul tried to assure him, but he was very resistant.

We also prayed for the Delaware Indians and read about Cain and Abel, and Paul was so excited because this was their Sunday School lesson yesterday! We also read about the Flood.

For History, we read about Charles I and his persecution of the Puritans and rejection of Parliment which led to the Civil War which led to him being beheaded and Oliver Cromwell becoming Protectorate and being just as bad as a king by persecuting the Catholics! Power corrupts. We learned about Cavaliers and Roundheads. There wasn't any follow up writing or timeline work due to the time taken for the experiment.

We did some more spelling and grammar, both of which are going on without a hitch in our household! I explained articles and comparative adverbs to Paul and Michael, respectively. The writing was the follow-up of the science experiment. Precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little: they are learning!

Paul read Dr. Seuess and Michael read If I Ran the Zoo.

This all took about three hours. We will do math a bit later. I am tired!

Sunday can be a learning day too: September 12

Today, we went to church. Paul was able to take apart an old DVD player and learned about "sin was crouching at the door, but you must master it." (Genesis). Cain could have been repentant, but he chose the sin of anger. Richard Clark taught the lesson and Dad is his small group leader. Brett, Jayce, Joshua, Tyler, Jordan, Ricky are in Paul and Dad's group.

Paul came home to complete the song, "The Planets from The Animaniacs." This is the 6th level! He has five more levels to go!

Michael sat in church with me because middle school hasn't started yet. We learned about the first key to thriving in life. The key is partnership. He talked about how to partner.

It will be interesting to see how Michael does with the "rowdy" side of middle school!

Talked to Judy Finley about maybe doing some art with our boys. She talked about making masks. :)

The First Week Down - September 7-10, 2004

Well, we started on Tuesday, and we were off to a great start! What a difference a summer makes. My biggest prayer this summer was for an increase in enthusiasm about writing. This prayer was answered in a BIG way after we sat down to write about our experiment with conductors. Experiments are always big in our house, but the follow-up write-up sucked all the fun out of the room! Not this week. We attached aluminum foil to a D-size battery on both ends and connected it to a flashlight bulb by wrapping one end around the bottom with a clothespin (We used Physics for Every Kid by Van Cleave). We used coins, paper, rubber band, and knife to see which were conductors and which were non-conductors.

After it was all said and done, I had them draw a picture of the experiment and write whatever they wanted about it. Michael (6th grade) did a step-by-step description that was almost a page! Paul did about a half of a page of very coherent writing. Hallelujah! Writing is underway at the oue household, and I am doing the happy dance!

I am also continuing through about 100 pages of the Usborne Internet-Linked Science Encyclopedia in the sections on "Energy, Forces, and Motion" and "Light, Sound, and Electricity." We are also watching two BrainPop (www.brainpop.com) videos a day. I was going to subscribe to their family plan, but it is $80 now! OUCH! I will just limit them to the two free videos a day. So thorough and reinforcing of the science concepts. BrainPop is first-rate in my opinion.

We also started reading The Story of the World: Volume 3. We learned about the Moghul Empire and the reason behind why the Taj Mahal was built. I found a picture of the Taj Mahal on a website, and we pasted it in our Sonlight Book of Time and on our Knowledge Quest Wall TimeLine for the Early Modern Period (1600-1850). They each wrote a little paragraph and colored a Knowledge Quest map after I read to them. Again, history is going to be quite the hit.

We also read about all the American Indians in a little Gorsline book just to review what we learned last year. We are also praying through the American Indian Prayer Guide. We prayed for the Inuits last week.

Bible is our favorite, yet simple Lady Bird Bible Story Book. We are also making a movie of the book of John using the Jesus in the Spotlight inductive study for kids by Kay Arthur. We made "Story Boards" of John 1 and will look at an actual movie of the book of John that has word for word from the book. I thought this was a fantastic way to reinforce the book and the concept of making a movie!

The kids are really excited about their new zip up notebooks. It came with pencils, pens, ruler, scissors, and a calculator! All for $10 at Fred Meyer! They had fun organizing all their sections.

Bob Jones Math is going to be so nice. Michael was so bored with Math U See, and he hasn't complained after two days of math. I can see that it is organized it a much better fashion, has more interesting application questions, and I will be able to overlap some things with the two kids even though they are two grades apart. I will just have to rearrange the order a bit in their books, but I don't think this will cause serious problems to either of them.

This is my second year of Spectrum Spelling for Michael, and he does really well at this. Paul was a bit apprehensive, but I told him that he could write his answers on a white board instead of on notebook paper, and he was tickled.

This is my second year of Daily Grams (Easy Grammar), and they both love the simplicity of this. I do too. I am so thankful to Michelle Briggs for telling me about this useful series. They get little doses of 10 minutes a day of punctuation, capitalization, parts of speech, dictionary skills, library skills, and sentence combining. I am also supplementing it with Nitty-Gritty Grammar, and they love the cartoons sprinkled throughout the book.

In addition to all of this, I am reading them the book Rascal by Sterling North. It is the true story of the author as a boy in the early 1900's. I am using my subscription to The Arrow (www.bravewriter.com) to do their copywork and dictation with exerpts from this book. They will do this in their new composition books. They really enjoy this. Michael's cursive has improved tons and Paul's manuscript is more and more legible.

I noticed Paul reading in bed a few times this week. He is reading Calvin and Hobbes, Hank the Cowdog, and The Bionicle book series. Michael is still reading the bedtime story of the Beverly Cleary Ramona Books (He finished the Henry books in the middle of the summer) to Paul before he goes to bed, Hank the Cowdog books throughout the day, and Calvin and Hobbes during reading times.

Paul has started doing Piano Discovery. He got through 5 out of the 11 lessons in 2 days! We are still trying to figure out music forMichael. He says tuba, and we wonder where he could get lessons for this. Still praying and looking. Guitar is another option. We will also be listening to The Time-Life Story of Great Music records starting in the Baroque era. I will probably resurrect the Classical Kids CD's too.

Art is fun. I got this great book called Usborne Introduction to Art. It is internet-linked, and it is FANTASTIC. Colleen recommended it, and she says we are even in that I introduced her to Story of the World a few years ago, and she introduced me to this book during the summer. We will learn much about looking at art this year, and I hope to take them to a really GOOD art museum, but I am not sure where there is one in the Pacific Northwest! We got a kick out of looking up the painting entitled, "This is not a Pipe." I hope to have them write about this.

We did just a teeny bit of Spanish. I have Rosetta Stone Explorer, and they will go to Spanish class in North Albany in the end of September. We will combine this with our Shut-In's Book Delivery since one of our people is right on the way to North Albany, and it is out of the way other times. So efficient! This will be every other Wednesday. George will take them on the off-Wednesdays.

I will also do a modified version of The Vocabulary Vine for Greek-Latin studies. I am not going to go into quite the detail that her notecards go into, but I will have them do flash cards to memorize the roots. We will probably do this about two days a week.

Still don't know if I will use the Intermediate Language Lessons by Serl. I have mixed emotions about it. It reminds me too much of Simply Grammar which I really disliked. I might pick and chose what I take out of there or sell the book. Haven't decided on that one.

For exercise, we are going to do Homeschool Swimming from 2-2:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we will see if the chlorine is too much for Michael's skin. Paul will also do the Volleyball Clinic on September 25th, and we will see if that leads to games. I can't believe Soccor is $200! Volleyball is only $15!

Oh, we also went to a presentation of dictionaries to the 4th grade homeschoolers at the Republican Headquarters on Friday. That was fun.

Still to be worked out is which plays we will go to and who we will go with to the plays. Mary Beth hasn't said anything about doing it again this year. I have seen that the ones in Corvallis are Fantastic Mr. Fox by Raold Dahle, Treasure Island, and The Seven Voyages of Sinbad. The ones out of town don't interest me as much. This will save time and gas money if we stick to just the plays in town! It was so fun to go to the 5 we went to out of town last year, but I just don't see ones that really grab me this time! We will also try the symphany with the kids.

Kids that came over this week were Jacob and Megan and Sam and Kaylin.

Service this week included helping Teala move into her new sorority and delivering Dial-A-Book books.

Well that was long, but it is my first Blog! This should be a fun way to keep track of our homeschool year.