ThrowingMarshmallows

Throwing Marshmallows has moved!

2006-04-08T22:22:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that Throwing Marshmallows has a new home!

Throwing Marshmallows

I am really excited by the features that homeschooljournal.net offers...the best of which is that I now have categories! It will make finding posts much easier. I have been having fun playing around and getting things set up.

Anyways, I hope that you can stop on by!

Why I love my homeschooling friends

2006-04-01T17:46:00.000-05:00

I have been sick since Tuesday. It started with a scratchy throat which I thought (hoped?) was allergies since the weather has been so nice around here lately. Wednesday I knew it was more then just allergies...we took it easy and went to swimming and came home and read some books until my voice gave out. Had Jason read a little bit from the Secrets of Droon books (he is convinced that all the books he likes to read are too hard for him...he is surprising himself I think by how easily he is reading these). Then I crashed for the rest of the day. Went to bed early that night (which should tell you how bad I was feeling...I never go to bed early!).

Woke up Thursday morning feeling even worse. Although it was supposed to be a gorgeous day, I could not bring myself to do anything. Then my friend Kathi called asking if we wanted to join her and our friend Wendy at a local park. They wanted to do some letterboxing and wanted to know if we were up to it. That sounded doable...pack a lunch and show up at a park. So we went.

What fun! Letterboxing is a blast...basically like a treasure hunt. You go to the website and look for an area around where you live. You go there and follow the clues (stand with your back to 8th road and take 25 steps towards the creek until you come to a tree stump). Once you find the package, you stamp it and mark it with the date you found it and rehide it. We only found 1 out of the 4 that were supposed to be in the park, but the kids really enjoyed it.

We then went to the playground, had lunch and the kids played while we moms talked. How wonderful is that! So instead of being stuck inside with me sleeping on and off and feeling guilty because the boys were playing video games all day on a beautiful day, the boys spent almost 3 hours outside, exploring and having a great time before we went to the Games class at the Y. Talk about a win-win situation.

It is good to have homeschooling friends. Actually I don't think that I could do it without them. A support network of friends who get what we do and why we do it is critical. And so appreciated. And a lot of fun. So thanks Kathi and Wendy for a wonderful afternoon. And thanks to all my other homeschooling friends that are sharing this wonderful journey with us. I couldn't do it without you!

It has been awhile...

2006-03-15T21:55:00.000-05:00

I keep trying to find time to post, but life is getting in the way lately! We are still moving along. Having some good moments, just really busy. We had a bit of a break through with Jason and multiplication...I hope to write about it soon.

Jason woke up this morning not feeling well. I knew that something was wrong when he went back and laid down on our bed. He did not fall asleep, but this is a kid who never slows down. He had a 101 degree fever by noon and needless to say we skipped swimming. We actually had a nice afternoon...we looked at an anatomy book to check out eye muscles (the boys had their eyes dilated on Monday so were really interested) and wound up learning all sorts of neat things. We read some stories and played cards for a bit. I am hoping that a good nights sleep will help.

Here's hoping for a healthy kid tomorrow!

Great lesson to re-learn

2006-02-14T17:34:00.000-05:00

I am constantly learning lessons during this homeschooling journey we are on (probably more so then the boys!). Often I end up re-learning those lessons many times. But it is good to get a reminder every once in awhile. Really good.

A couple of days ago, the boys decided that it was time to go toy shopping. Between Jason's birthday, Christmas and over two months of untouched allowances, they each had a bit of money burning their pockets and I had been putting them off for awhile. My only condition was that Jason needed to figure out how much money he had to spend.

Some background...a few years ago I started acting as bank for the boys, mainly because we tend to forget to give them their allowances. This way we have a written record of when we give them their allowance. When they get Christmas or Birthday money they can either keep it in their banks or "deposit" it with me. Then if they are out and want to spend their money, we deduct it from their "account" when we get home.

It had been a while since we had updated their balance, so we needed to add in Christmas money, Birthday money, 10 weeks of allowance (!) as well as deduct for money spent on snacks after swimming and few miscellaneous purchases.

I have to say that I was duly impressed. Jason did adding and subtracting (much of it involving carrying) in his head without missing a beat. No hemming, no "I can't do this", no "this is too hard". He just did it. Because it was real and it would give him an answer to something that he really wanted to know. And that is the lesson that I need to remember.

Jason has a love/hate relationship with math. He is very instinctual and can completely get math concepts but he HATES remembering math facts. My challenge has been to balance these two sides. As he gets better at remembering the math facts, he gets more confidant at figuring things out on his own. But he does need a push now and then. So we do "do math" but not tons of drill and I try to throw in enough "fun math" (he likes the Marilyn Burns books like The I Hate Mathematics Book which focus more on the fun math concepts).

Now that we have started multiplication, we have been having lots of conversations about not seeing why he needs to know math. Part of this I realize is that I tended to do most of the everyday math for him. The idea being that he would see how I used math and start wanting to do it on his own (please don't laugh...it is working great this way for Kyle! He is constantly telling me to stop so he can figure out things on his own.) But Jason has no problem with letting people do things for him...not because he is lazy, but because he is a perfectionist. If someone can do something easier/better/faster then he can he prefers to let that person do it.

So I now make a point of letting him do the everyday math we come across. It has become a running joke between us and I think that he is seeing that there is a point in knowing his math facts. In fact I think that I scored some points when we talked about how mulitplication would have been a much faster way of calculating how much allowance he was due (he manually added up his allowance 10 times rather then multiplying by 10).

But it is times like these where he does math pretty much effortlessly that help ease my worries that math computation will never be easy for him. It will be. I know that. I just have to remember it. And if all else fails he can use a calculator....

Snow!

2006-02-12T21:28:00.000-05:00

After an incredibly warm winter (temps in the 60s a couple times) the snow finally came! They were calling for a lot of snow yesterday and the boys were disappointed when it was mostly rain. Then in the late afternoon it turned into snow. They went out in it when there were a couple of inches and it was getting dark. Talk about excited kids! Went to bed expecting to wake up to even more snow.

Around 1:30 am (what can I say...watching the Olympics throws me off because I forget how late it really is! Or at least that is my story and I am sticking to it!) the lights suddenly went out. Flickered back on and then went out. Ah yes, perfect. I have absolutely no problem being snowed in...as long as we have heat! Had to hunt around for the flashlights (our power went out last month due to major wind...note to self...make sure to always put the flashlights away!). Couldn't find them but was able to find some candles and matches. With a little bit of light I was able to track down a flashlight out in the garage. I was not sure how cold it would get over the night and Kyle sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night and is very scared of the dark, so I went and woke Jason up and got Kyle and had them come sleep in my room (Jeff was in Ocean City this weekend). We all fell asleep only to be woken at 3:30am by the lights coming back on! (Note to self...when the power goes off, you still need to turn the lights off!). Imagine my surprise when we woke up in the morning with the power back off again! The power stayed off until around 10:30 am. So all in all not bad. We got a bit chilly but can't complain.

Jason takes a bit of a rest from sledding in our back yard.

We ended up with about 6 inches or so which is a lot for us. The funny thing is that it will most likely be gone (or nearly gone) by tomorrow or the next day. It is supposed to be in the upper 50s by Thursday. So we have to enjoy it while it is here. And enjoy it they did. They spent some time going down a really small hill that we have in the backyard and then we went and checked out the school about 2 blocks from us. There was a great hill. Talk about happy kids. We spent a couple of hours (and yes, I joined in!). Jason loved the speed. Kyle kept saying that he was doing the luge...laying all the way back and moving his legs back and forth to steer (can you tell we have been watching the Olympics?).

Enjoying the "big" hill.

Came home and had a nice relaxing rest of the day...hot chocolate, watching the Olympics and welcoming Jeff home. They are really looking forward to tomorrow. And so am I!

Jason gets ready to go down the hill in our back yard.

Kyle takes a break

I love our yard when it snows! This picture is taken looking towards the back of the house. We are lucky to have so many trees.

The benefits of having two kids with different learning styles...

2006-02-03T22:03:00.000-05:00

This past week Kyle was digging through a box and came across our Cuisenaire Rods and Math Wrap-ups. He loves them! I had bought them years ago thinking that Jason would like them. But Jason had other ideas and never showed any interest.

I was actually able to find the Cuisenaire workbooks and Kyle has been having a blast working through the problems. I carry the Math Wrap-Ups in my purse in case we need something to pass the time.

I find it fascinating that the things that they enjoy doing correspond to their learning styles (ok…this really should not surprise me, but I still find it really cool!) Jason does not learn by memorization and hates repetition. He is a whole to part learner…needs the big picture before he can break it down and understand the parts. Jason understands complex concepts well, but struggles with the easy skills. Kyle definitely learns by repetition and actually enjoys “practicing” and flash cards. He is a sequential learner and needs to learn the details in order to move from easy to hard material.

So now I need to go dig through my stuff and find all the things that Jason showed no interest in…more then likely Kyle will love them!

Yes Virginia, you can homeschool without a college degree

2006-01-26T21:38:00.000-05:00

Well the misinformation is starting again. A new bill has been introduced into the state legislature that would remove a couple of extra hoops that parents who do not hold a college degree need to go through. This would be a great improvement in the law, because it really is unfair to require more info from those parents who do not have a degree. Holding a college degree does not make you any more or less qualified to teach your children. I have so many friends who do not have a college degree who do an absolutely awesome job homeschooling their children.

What is required is not a degree, but rather a love of learning and a love of your children. Sounds a bit corny, but that is what it takes. You do not need to be up on the latest teaching trends because most of that does not apply when you teach your own children. And what is great is that what you need to teach your children is out there...on the internet, on homeschool email lists, in the libraries. Half the fun of homeschooling is learning right there with your kids.

I do hope that this bill passes. It will definitely make taking the first step and filing your Notice of Intent (NOI) much less intimidating for first time filers. It will make the law more equitable for all homeschoolers. What it will not do is give parents the right to homeschool if they do not have a college degree. They already have that right.

And herein lies the biggest problem with this bill...the newspapers keep getting it all wrong and spreading the misinformation that homeschoolers without a degree can not homeschool. And that is a shame because I wonder how many people will read that and not look further into homeschooling because they think they would not be allowed to.

My friend Barb's blogpost gives a great synopsis of the Virginia homeschooling law and what this new bill would and would not do, so I won't take the time to rehash that here. It will be interesting to see if this bill gets any where. It came very close two years ago. I guess we will wait and see what happens this year and hope that some reporters will get it right.

And for those who want more information on homeschooling in Virginia without a college degree, check out this great article.

Beach Pictures

2006-01-19T23:18:00.000-05:00

We spent this summer in Ocean City, Maryland and had a wonderful time. This picture was taken on the beach waiting for 4th of July fireworks.

This blowfish was outside the Kite Shop on 4th Street. Pretty cool!

Enjoying the beach

Enjoying Icees on the boardwalk

Trying something...

2006-01-19T22:30:00.000-05:00

Decided that it was about time that I figured out how to load pictures to my blog. Turns out to be pretty easy! Obviously this is Jason and Kyle. :o) Nothing like a box to play in...

Hmmmm...now I need to go and find some of my favorite pictures...

Did you know?

2006-01-18T23:48:00.000-05:00

That pushing the elevator button on the outside is not the same as pushing the elevator button on the inside? It it is definitely more desirable to push the inside. And is worth running over your brother to get there first. And worth arguing and debating with said brother until an agreement is reached where you both will press it at the same time.

This is Very. Important. Stuff.

More info on Homeschoolers getting into college

2006-01-18T00:06:00.000-05:00

Tara on the VaEclecticHS email list forwarded this article about how college admissions folks are coming to view homeschool applicants.

“Homeschooled students, by and large, are a liberal arts college’s dream,” says Sabena Moretz-Van Namen, associate director of admission at the University of Richmond. “We want more students who think outside the box and color outside the lines. Homeschoolers often have developed into self-directed learners. Traditional high school students sometimes lack that trait.”

My feeling is that it is going to get easier and easier as time goes on for homeschooled kids to get into college with a non-traditional transcript. Very good news indeed!

I am addicted to audible.com!

2006-01-16T23:20:00.000-05:00

OK…so I have been looking at audible.com for awhile and finally took the plunge around New Years. How cool is this? They have a great selection of audio books that you can download to your computer and then either burn to CD or load on your MP3 player. And their prices are great! I had been looking at buying some Redwall books on half.com and they were running about $25-$35 apiece…audible was having a sale and I got 5 for $40!! Even without the sale, most of the kids books (Redwall, Eragon, DragonRider, Diana Wynne Jones, Susan Cooper) that I was looking at were all around $15 or so.

They have several different membership options…I am only signed up for the basic…$10/year which got me 1 free book and great discounts. They seem to have a good selection (other then Harry Potter which I think you can only get exclusively through iTunes). I already have a pretty good wish list made up. I am going to keep looking around and might need to upgrade my membership!

Jason loves audio books (as do I) and we go through them like crazy from the library. It will be nice to add more to our personal library.

For some reason, when I downloaded my first books (on New Years Eve...yes, I live a very exciting life!), they took awhile…usually about 2 hrs or so for ~5hrs of book. However, now it only takes around 5 minutes...not sure why, but I am not complaining! Burning them to CD only takes about 5 minutes as well. Extremely easy to use.

What fun!

Too many good books out there...Part 1

2006-01-15T23:53:00.000-05:00

I have come to the realization that there are just too many good authors and books out there. I have so many books I want to read with the boys and just not enough time to do it! Not to mention books I want to read for myself.

We always have an audio book going in the car, Jason listens to books in his room every evening and I read with the boys as much as I can...but there are still so many books out there! Currently I am reading Stuart Little with Kyle, Eragon with Jason and we are listening to The Boggart in the car. I picked up a few poem books to read to both the boys. One is entitled Exploding Gravy: Poems to Make You Laugh...Jason actually picked it up after I got back from the library and read two on his own! I am finding that he seems to enjoy poetry (if the subject matter is fun)...I think that he likes that they are short and he likes the rhythm. And I am just starting The Golden Compass (actually a young adult novel by Phillip Pullman that is supposed to be really good) and John Adams by David McCullough which I am really enjoying.

I have decided to periodically share books and authors that we have discovered along the way with you all. Hopefully you will find something that strikes your fancy! And please remember...all kids are different, so I recommend that you pre-read (or at least skim) these books to make sure they are age-appropriate for your kids. Don't just take my word for it!

Diana Wynne Jones
My favorite new author we have found so far. I find myself getting lost in her books...and Jason enjoys them too! Interestingly, I have found that sometimes her books start a little bit slow but as I keep reading I get more and more hooked. Please note that she writes for all ages, including young adult, so be sure to check the books out first before choosing them for your child. I have to admit that I am enjoying this part!

The Chrestomanci Chronicles Volume I
Made up of 2 books: A Charmed Life and The Lives of Christopher Chant A very unique take on wizards and witches. In these books, there are multiple parallel worlds created when a major event takes place which could have more then one outcome (such as a war being won or lost or a major event like the Industrial Revolution taking place). In some of these worlds, witches and wizards exist. In order to keep them from taking over worlds without magic, the Chrestomanci (a very powerful enchanter with 9 lives) must keep watch. These stories are about how 2 Chrestomancis come to learn about their special gifts and destiny.

The Chrestomanci Chronicles Volume II
Made up of 2 books: The Magicians of Caprona and Witch Week These books take a slightly different approach...instead of being about the Chrestomanci, they are actually stories where the Chrestomanci plays a small but key role in the outcome of the book. The books themselves focus on different characters. The Magicians of Caprona focuses on a magic family in a culture similar to our Italian culture. An unknown enchanter is capitalizing on an ongoing feud between the two main magical families in Caprona. The two youngest members of each family find that it is up to them to figure out what is going on before it is too late. Witch Week is set in a boarding school in a world where witches and wizards are feared and hunted by inquisitors. Someone in class 6B is a witch but no one knows who. This story has a wonderful message but also deals with some of the more cruel kid behaviors. I actually have not read this one to Jason because he has not had much exposure to this type of behavior and I am not sure he would get why they were acting this way completely. Those of us who have been in school would definitely be able to relate though. So I will let him get a little older and bit more wordly ;o) before we read it.

Mixed Magics
This book is made up of 4 short Chrestomanci stories. Since the stories are shorter, they do not have quite the same depth as the other books, but they are still fun. They pull familiar characters from Volumes I and II.

Conrad's Fate
The newest book in the Chrestomanci series. We have not read it yet, but are looking forward to it!

The Dalemark Quartet
My favorite series so far of her books. I started pre-reading these and got totally swept up in them. The Quartet consists of 4 books: Cart and Cwidder, Drowned Ammet, The Spellcoats and The Crown of Dalemark The first three books seem to not have much to do with each other...other then being set in the same place - Dalemark. However each holds a piece of the puzzle which is pulled together in the fourth book. I could not put the fourth book down...I was fascinated with how it was all coming together and needed to know how it ended! I still want to re-read these to see what I missed in the first reading. Which is a good because I still need to read them to Jason!

Well, this has gotten really long and I have not even gotten off my first author! Or mentioned two other books of hers that we really enjoyed: Howl's Moving Castle and Castle in the Air.

I will have to continue tomorrow...and the next day...and the next day....and the next day...

Help for those addicted to blogs

2006-01-15T23:47:00.000-05:00

I found out about this from another blog, so I figured that I should probably pass it on. If you are like me and have several favorite blogs that you like to check out, you can use Bloglines to more easily keep up with them.

It is free and easy. You just tell bloglines which blogs you want to track. Then you go to your "feed page" and bloglines will tell you which blogs have new posts. You click on the ones you want to read and you are off. So now I do not need to check each blog individually each day. Whew! Talk about a time saver. Good stuff.

Moo Cow Fan Club

2006-01-15T01:40:00.000-05:00

The boys and I just finished reading the latest issue of the Moo Cow Fan Club on Egypt. It was wonderful! We really love, love, love this magazine.

It is relatively new and only comes out 4 times a year and is really great. No advertising, no pop culture tie-ins and the boys love it. Jason is not big into magazines...does not like Spider, Highlights or Ranger Rick but he really likes Moo Cow. And Kyle is just now starting to really enjoy it as well.

They cover a single topic each issue (prior topics include Japan, Aztecs, Space, Forests, Scotland, Ancient Greece, Sports, Baby Animals, and Games) . It is really well done with a mixture of article types including comics, hands on activities, recipes, stories, articles and some pretty funny regular columns and characters.

I met the creator at a hsing conference a couple of years ago and really liked her approach and what she wanted to accomplish with the magazine. She was just starting to reach out to homeschoolers (and later I saw that she published a letter to the editor from a homeschooler which Jason thought was really cool). They publish pictures/drawings/letters from their readers and since they are small there is a good chance that if you send one in it will make it in.

Definitely check it out and spread the word!

It is good to have days like today

2006-01-11T22:14:00.000-05:00

Got off to a slow start this morning. Not sure why. The boys pretty much played game cube and watched tv until I got breakfast. I have been trying to find time in our days to start reading The Story of US (a US History series) that my in-laws had gotten for us awhile ago without much success. Today I decided to try reading it during breakfast. Went over really well! They were asking a lot of questions and we have a few things that we want to follow up on. Generated some good discussion so I think that we will keep this up. :o)

We then got moving for Jason's OT at 11am. It was our first day back since before Christmas and Jason really enjoyed it and did well. He really liked the game that they played where Torrey traced letters on his back and he wrote them down. He played it a bit with Kyle while he was waiting for us to leave and he wants to play it with me as well. This is a good thing as Jason does really well with writing if he copies the words, but if he does not see the letters (mostly lower case) he has a harder time remembering what they look like. So this is great for helping him visualize the letters and he enjoys it. A great combination!

Then it was on to swimming. Had a lot of fun...lots more kids in the class this time around. One of my friends, Linda, has signed up her daughter so we will get to see them each week! Yea! Jason and Aurelie really get along well...they have very similar personalities. Jason unfortunately was not happy (an understatement) because the water was very cold (the Rec center is fixing their heating system so hopefully it will be better next time). He wanted to skip the class and go home. After talking a bit, he agreed to try the class for 10 minutes and if he was absolutely miserable, he could come out. He stayed in for the whole class and enjoyed it. Although he did say he was still cold.

Came home and the boys asked how many more days until their new Gamecube game would come in. They ordered it on www.half.com and it is being shipped from Texas. While we were talking, Kyle wanted to know what country it was coming from. I told him it was coming from the state of Texas. Then Kyle wanted to know what the difference between a state and a country was and Jason was trying to remember where Texas was. I went and got the US and World Atlases that we have (yes, I was actually able to find them when I needed them! Always a good thing...) The boys were full of questions...we looked at where Virginia was and then where Texas was. Jason commented on how big Texas was and counted the states between there and Virginia. We looked at the Virginia page and found where Grandma and Grandpa were in Virginia Beach. They really liked reading a bit about the Chesapeake Bay bridge/tunnel and how it is the longest such structure in the country. We then found where Ocean City was and how part of Assateague Island is part of Virginia and part of Maryland. We then looked at Texas and found that it is the 2nd largest state by area but not by population, which led us on a search for the largest state in the US (Alaska). There we noted that Alaska was actually ranked 48th for population and Jason wanted to know which state was the least populous. Spent a lot of time looking at a US population map (Jason was really interested in analyzing this) and narrowed it down to a western state and then found out it was Wyoming (almost 50% of which is owned by the US government). Spent some time looking at the World Atlas and looking for countries that have shown up in several of the books that we are reading. Kyle enjoyed this as he likes playing with the globe that we have and kept going back and forth between the two. It is times like this that I wish that I had a tape recorder to catch the conversation.

Kyle started asking me if it was day or night in the different countries which reminded me of this awesome website It shows a satellite image of the earth in real-time...so you can see where it is day and night and you can see where the more populous areas of the earth are based on the light pollution. If you check out that website, be sure to play around with the different views...you can see the earth from the where the sun is, from where the moon is, the dark side and the whole world view. And you can zoom in on any part of the world for a closer look. And if you come back after a couple of hours and refresh, you can see the daylight move across the world!

So after we played around a little bit with that website, the boys wrote some more Christmas thank you notes. I never know how that is going to go...sometimes Jason has an awful time and drags it out, other times he does it happily and quickly...this was a happily and quickly time. Kyle had a bit more trouble...he was doing fine, but getting frustrated with himself.

We finished up with reading the last part of their Moo Cow Fan Club magazine on Egypt. This magazine is awesome...it is a smaller magazine, only published 4 times a year and both boys love it. It is wonderfully written and has no advertising. It has a great voice and is really a lot of fun to read. Great characters, good columns and articles and always looks at the subject from different, interesting angles.

All in all a relaxed, learning packed, fun day. And the best thing is that it was driven by their own curiosity. What more could you ask for? You need days like these every now and then and I am finding that we seem to be having more and more of them lately.

Major Technological Breakthrough

2006-01-08T23:22:00.000-05:00

This came through on my UU Homeschoolers email list and just cracked me up! Go out and get yours now!

Introducing the new Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge device, trade named: BOOK BOOK is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It's so easy to use, even a child can operate it.
Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere -- even sitting in an armchair by the fire -- yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc.
Here's how it works:
BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of paper (recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. The pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder, which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence.
Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs. Experts are divided on the prospects for further increases in information density; for now, BOOKs with more information simply use more pages.
Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain. A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet. BOOK may be taken up at any time and used merely by opening it.
Unlike other display devices, BOOK never crashes or requires rebooting, and it can even be dropped on the floor or stepped on without damage. However, it can become unusable if immersed in water for a significant period of time. The "browse" feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet and move forward or backward as you wish. Many come with an "index" feature, which pinpoints the exact location of selected information for instant retrieval.
An optional "BOOKmark" accessory allows you to open BOOK to the exact place you left it in a previous session-- even if the BOOK has been closed. BOOKmarks fit universal design standards; thus, a single BOOKmark can be used in BOOKs by various manufacturers. Conversely, numerous BOOKmarkers can be used in a single BOOK if the user wants to store numerous views at once. The number is limited only by the number of pages in the BOOK.
You can also make personal notes next to BOOK text entries with an optional programming tool, the Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Stylus (PENCILS).
Portable, durable, and affordable, BOOK is being hailed as a precursor of a new entertainment wave. Also, BOOK's appeal seems so certain that thousands of content creators have committed to the platform and investors are reportedly flocking. Look for a flood of new titles soon.
- Original author unknown

I love Jon Scieszka!

2006-01-03T22:31:00.000-05:00

I can't tell you how much fun we have been having with his books! I have already blogged about the fun we had with The Stinky Cheeseman and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. The boys absolutely loved the parodies and it inspired them to write their own (Jason's and Kyle's) . They were so thrilled to read what they had written on the internet! They still love this book...so much so that Santa just had to bring them their own copy.

I decided to check out some more of Scieska's stuff from the library and picked up Math Curse and Science Verse and Jason loves them! Science Verse is really funny. Scieszka takes commonly known poems like nursery rhymes, Casey at the Bat and The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and parodies them with a science theme. Jason has a few favorites that he likes to recite to friends now. There is also a CD that came with it where they mention the original poem. And Kyle was so cute...he kept repeating precipitation, evaporation over and over (from the poem It's raining, its pouring, the water cycle is boring. Precipitation, evaporation, precipitation, evaporation...).

Math Curse is a lot of fun and Jason really likes it as well. It throws in some interesting to think about math stuff along with goofy stuff like what is tunafish plus tunafish? Fournafish...Well, you get the picture. It really plays I think that he really is drawn to the cadence of the poems as well as the general silliness. His favorite part is where the main character is trapped in a dream of the ultimate math problem...she then revelationlation and breaks her chalk in half...after all, two halves make a whole and she can use this "hole" to escape! It totally appeals to Jason's enjoyment of plays on words.

And it gets better! Not only have these books sparked tons of creativity and interesting discussions...but Jason has been picking them up and reading them!! Jason did not start reading until last year around 8 (perfectly on time for him) and although he has "caught up" quickly, he still feels that he is "not good at reading". His words, definitely not mine. I have not worried about it because he actually reads quite a bit...his video games and manuals, the lego catalog and other miscellaneous things. But he has not shown any interest in reading books for pleasure despite his great love of stories. Partly because the books he wants to read (we are currently reading Eragon) are still above his level and he is a perfectionist. I know that once he gets a bit more confidence he will love reading on his own...so it is so cool to see him curled up on the couch reading to his brother!

And it has seemed to give him more confidence...today he picked up the I Hate Math Book we had gotten from the library (he saw it and had asked me to get it for him...yes...this is my kid who hates anything schooly who has never been to school!) and was reading me some of the math puzzles from it. He was still reading it on the couch when Jeff got home from work...needless to say Jeff was pleasantly shocked!

Scieszka also writes a series called the Time Warp Trio which is similar to Magic Treehouse (but so much better! Sorry...even though Kyle loves the Treehouse books I find them BORING!). Three boys find a magic book that takes them on all sorts of adventures. They are meatier then the Treehouse books, the kids are a bit more real (and not as annoyingly perfect as in the Treehouse books) and the topics are fun..DaVinci, the Brooklyn Bridge, King Tut, Pirates, Cowboys etc.

Just had to share. This really is why I love homeschooling. I feel like I did when Jason was learning how to walk. One step at a time. On his own time. Not saying that every kid will like Scieszka's books, but it is so much fun when you find an author that hits it off with your kid!

I have found that much of Jason's learning comes from reading books. He is much more into concepts then into details...so while he says he hates math, one of his favorite TV shows is Cyberchase on PBS which is about...you guessed it! Math! He does not like to do computations, but he loves playing around with concepts and problem solving. So for us it is about finding a good balance. And books are playing a large part of that. I think that one of the things that I most enjoy is all the great books I get to find and share with the boys. Another perk of homeschooling!

Christmas Stress

2005-12-29T22:06:00.000-05:00

Well, I debated about posting this, thinking that it might be better to maintain my image of having my act together, but decided to go for reality. If you read here long enough, I am sure you will realize that I am anything but together.

I love the Christmas season. I really do. But for the past 4 years, it has been mostly a matter of survival for me. Four years ago, I had the worst Christmas season...I wore myself ragged, staying up late, trying to do I don't know what. I wound up getting depressed and taking a lot of it out on Jeff and the kids. It was not a happy time and I never want to go there again. Jeff called me on it and I luckily got help (more on how in future posts). Since then, my goal has been to survive the holidays without becoming a raging lunatic.

Each year has gotten a bit better. I have scaled back on my expectations and this year I hit the turning point...I found myself surviving fairly well and wanting to start thinking about how to actually enjoy the season. I have also started thinking about why we try to cram all this wonderful stuff into a short period of time...why don't I send out more pictures of the boys to family during the rest of the year? Why don't I write more letters during the rest of the year (actually I guess that I kind of use this blog to accomplish the same thing - letting folks know what is going on with us). Why don't I try to get together with friends more during the rest of the year? Why don't I do more baking during the rest of the year? Why don't I have the boys send more of their creations to family during the rest of the year?

I was talking with a friend who said that part of it is that doing it all at this time of the year makes it more special. Maybe. But I am thinking that what our family needs is to try to have more special times throughout the year which might take some of the pressure off of Christmas and allow us to have more space to focus on what makes the season special for us. I am not talking big things...I read about one family that made DIY ice cream sundaes every full moon. Little things that are meaningful and special, but not draining. Then maybe it would not put so much pressure on Christmas. I think I need to think about this a bit....

Some things that I learned this year:

It is OK to not put out all the Christmas decorations. I usually go all out...decorations all over the house. This year I put out two boxes worth and meant to get the rest out the next day, but it never happened! And I still think the place looks great. My snowmen are up in the family room, the advent calendar, the boys stockings, the Christmas tree, the door hangings on the boys doors, my Santa from when I was little, the wreath on the front door, the icicle lights. The neat thing is that usually by now I am feeling very claustrophobic with all the decorations out...but this year I am still enjoying them! I also usually dread the time putting them out and putting them away, but this year it only took a couple of hours during which the boys and I really enjoyed rediscovering our favorites.
It is OK to not get the Christmas cards out until after Christmas. I have been enjoying writing our family letter so much more since I took the pressure off myself to get them out.
If the computer program you use to make the Family Calendars is not working because you have a new computer it is OK to give IOUs and finish up later instead of staying up until 2am in the morning cursing the printer.
There is no need to stress over the presents you are giving. Everyone appreciates the thought.
Wrapping presents goes much faster and enjoyable if you get to watch your new Pride and Prejudice DVD while your husband entertains the kids.
It is much better to wrap presents before Christmas eve. We actually had a wonderful relaxing evening.

Well, I am sure that there is more, but I have to go get my Christmas cards out....

For Cat Lovers

2005-12-29T09:15:00.000-05:00

My Mom sent me this and I just thought that it was hilarious (and true of course). I think that most cat owners can definitely relate....I might need to run this by our two kitties....

And, yes, I do plan on getting back to blogging about the boys soon. I am still trying to get my Christmas cards out, but once they are gone, I have a few ideas ...

Cool Christmas Light Display

2005-12-26T00:19:00.000-05:00

A friend sent this video to me back around the end of November...I have just noticed that it has been made into a Bud Lite commercial. Go figure.

I can only imagine how much time it must have taken.....Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-25T19:29:00.000-05:00

What a nice relaxing day. The boys woke us up a little after 8am, opened their stockings and dragged us out of bed to open presents. We took our time, enjoying each other's presents. The boys had decorated wooden picture frames with my Dad and his wife Dawn last week and they were just thrilled to have presents that we had no clue about. The weather turned out pretty blah...it was raining and very gray. The boys were disappointed because they wanted to try out a glider and rocket they had gotten and could not go outside. Luckily there was more then enough to distract them inside.

My Mom had gotten Kyle an "Experiments with your Cat" kit which was a big hit. They really liked the effect that catnip had on Lapis and Sammie. We made pink lemonade slushies with the ice cream maker and Jason made plastic bubbles with "Super Elastic Bubble Plastic" which he loves. Kyle's favorite present by far was the collection of 20+ Lego Minifigures that I had won off eBay (is Mommy good or what!). Kyle has this thing for those little guys...he loves carrying them around and comes up with all sorts of stories for them. The Antarctica books from Uncle Vern and Aunt Nancy were a big hit as well (they recently had taken a trip to Antarctica and the boys have found their trip really interesting). Jason got the new gold bionicle that he had been hoping for.

We had a nice relaxing day, ordering pizza for dinner (had to go with Pizza Boli's since Pizza Hut was closed!) since we had our big dinner the night before and had leftovers for lunch. The boys are now in bed (well, Jason is up in his room anyways!) and I am getting ready to start on our New Years day cards (one of the ways that I stayed sane this year was to not go crazy about getting everything done on time. Much better this way (the kids liked having a non-crazy mommy this year) and hopefully none of our family and friends will mind!).

Here is wishing everyone a wonderful holiday time. All our best from our family to yours.

Jason turned 9!

2005-12-12T17:38:00.000-05:00

Wow. My oldest baby turned 9 on Friday. Hard to believe. 8 still seemed "little boy". 9 is not quite big boy yet, but definitely getting close! Who would have known that 9 years ago this little (well, not really so little...he was 9 pounds!) bundle that we brought home was going to become the wonderful boy he is today. Well, we knew that he would be wonderful, but had no idea of how that wonderfulness would manifest itself. ;o)

The Jason of today is incredibly bright...he seems to instinctively understand the "big picture". He grasps concepts quickly and makes them his own. His mind is always working. He loves good stories (we go through audio books like crazy). He is a boy of extremes...he either loves something or hates it. He has ups and he has downs...rarely any in betweens. Because of this, he really enjoys life and has an enthusiasm about things that is wonderful to watch. Jason is high-energy and bouncy. He knows what he wants and how he wants it...and how to advocate for it. He can be challenging, but this trait has helped me grow as a parent and a person. And I am thankful for it.

I have noticed over this past year that he seems to be coming into his own...dare I say it, showing some signs of a growing maturity. He is more accepting of structure and limits...we have been butting heads less. He seems to understand why he needs to have some limits. We seem to have come to a good balance in our relationship...and I am enjoying it while it lasts!

While at a holiday party, a friend was asking if we did the combo birthday/christmas present thing (he had a December birthday as well). I reassured him that most definitely was NOT the case. This kid had a kid birthday party (played laser tag), celebrated his actual birthday by choosing where to go for dinner (and getting to make most of the decisions that came up that day) and finished it off with a family birthday party with the grandparents. All before Christmas. It definitely helps that my boys are the only grandkids on both sides of the family. There is definitely no lack of attention for birthdays or Christmas.

So Happy Birthday Jason! We are glad that you are here. And you are loved.

Listen if you dare....

2005-12-08T23:51:00.000-05:00

I can blame this one on Jeff...ever since he saw the diet Dr Pepper ad, he has had that song on the brain. It was driving him nuts when no one at work seemed to remember the Muppet skit it was based on (we aren't that old are we??). So he spent most of this evening trying to track it down. And thanks to the wonders of the internet, he even found video!

Fair warning....once you watch the Mahna Mahna skit, the song will never leave your head!

And again, thanks to the power of the internet, I found some more history about the Mahna Mahna guy....

And yes, thanks to the internet, two grown people can blow an evening researching this kind of exciting and important trivia and re-live a good memory from our childhood. :o)

Don't say I did not warn you!

Kyle's Parody: The Stinky, Stinky Cheese Man

2005-12-08T00:02:00.000-05:00

The Stinky Stinky Cheese Man was like "A Ha Ha! I am the Stinky Stinky Cheese Man! You can't catch me!" He runs up to a mouse and says "A Ha Ha! I runned away from a kid who is a little girl kid and a little boy kid and a dad and a mom".

He runs into a chicken and he was like "A Ha Ha! I am the Stinky Stinky Cheese Man. I ran away from a girl kid and a boy kid and a mom and a dad and a mouse".

Now he runs into the Chicken Licken story. And then he met up with Chicken Licken. "A Ha Ha! I am the Stinky Stinky Cheese Man. I runned from a girl kid and a boy kid and a mom and a dad and a mouse and Chicken Licken".

Next he runs into the Tortoise and the Hare story. And he met up with the Tortoise and the Hare. "A Ha Ha! I am the Stinky Stinky Cheese Man. You can't catch me! I runned away from a girl kid and a boy kid and a mom and a dad and a mouse and Chicken Licken". The Tortoise and the Hare didn't go after the Stinky Stinky Cheese Man.

"OK Stinky Stinky Cheese Man. Don't run into any other stories except yours. I'm the Author" said Kyle. The Stinky Stinky Cheese Man says "OK. I'm going back into my own story. "

And then he's like "Hey, how am I going to get past this icky lake. There isn't any bridges. And he met up with a hippo. The hippo said "I'll swim you across". Then the hippo said "What is that horrible smell?" Then he realized it was the Stinky Stinky Cheese Man. Then he threw him off his back and the Stinky Stinky Cheese Man came apart.

The End.

"No, it can't be The End - I want enough time to be back together!"

"I'm the Author" says Kyle. "OK, not The End. I'll let you just get back together."

The Stinky Stinky Cheese Man gets back together.

The End.

Jason's Parody: The Three Fat Pigs and the Straw Eating Mouse

2005-12-07T23:52:00.000-05:00

Three Pigs went into the wilderness to buy themselves some houses. They all got one big house and made it out of straw. The Straw Eating Mouse came up the path. And the mouse said "Let me in by the hair of my chinny, chin, chin. Or I'll just come in." Then the little Straw Eating Mouse ate a hole in the house the size of a mouse and the three Big Fat Pigs ate the mouse for lunch.

And then the Big Bad Wolf came walking down the path and he said "let me in or I will huff and puff and I'll blow your house down." Then the Big Bad Wolf saw the little hole.

The End.

Well, actually not The End.

The Big Bad Wolf said "You are not supposed to end it now. The story's not done yet!"

"Hey, I'm the author here" said Jason. "Well, OK, fine. It's not the end. I'll let you eat the Three Little Pigs."

So the Wolf goes in the little hole and eats the Fat Pigs for supper.

The End. (OK Wolf?)

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales

2005-12-07T23:03:00.000-05:00

We just read this book by Jon Scieszka and the boys LOVED it. It can be hard to find one book that both boys want to listen to but they were both absolutely cracking up on this one. I think that we will have to pick up our own copy. It is really funny...great parodies of the classic fairy tales including The Princess and the Bowling Ball, The Really Ugly Duckling, Jack's Bean Problem and, of course, The Stinky Cheese Man. I have to say from my perspective, I really enjoyed reading it to them. And it led to what every homeschooling parent loves...a great conversation! We talked about what a parody was, what made these stories funny, what we liked about them. Not in a teachy sort of way, but in a comfortable, natural because we really enjoyed the book sort of way.

This all led to Jason telling his own parody, incorporating elements from the book and of course then Kyle wanted to tell his own as well. I wrote them down and told the boys that I would put them up on the blog tonight. Which led to us talking about what a blog is and who might be reading this. LOL! I think they really liked the idea that their stories would be read by others (even if it is only the grandparents!).

All in all a really fun afternoon. They were so excited and enthusiastic...it warms this homeschooling mom's heart. ;o)

The Better Get Used to It Principle

2005-12-06T01:00:00.000-05:00

While discussing the idea of sheltering kids on the Nova Unschoolers email list, someone posted a link to this great article by Alfie Kohn. He talks about how the "Better Get Used To It" principle is used to justify the continuation of bad educational practices and that it immediately shuts down all arguments.

Well, he makes the argument much better then I can, so definitely check it out. And while you are at it, be sure to check out the rest of his site. Great stuff. Really great stuff.

Sheltering kids

2005-12-05T23:51:00.000-05:00

We recently had a mom join our Nova Unschoolers email list who is not happy with how the school experience in going for her kids. She wanted to find out more about homeschooling and to help allay some of her fears. One of the issues she brought up was the fear that she might be "babying" her kids and that school is necessary for kids to be able to manage in the "real world" (where else will they be able to learn how to deal with those "hard knocks"?).

This is actually a very common argument against homeschooling. "Kids have to learn how to cope in the real world where everything does not revolve around their needs." and "Kids need the discipline that school gives them".

The funny thing is, do people really think that homeschoolers do not want their kids to grow, to be more responsible, and to learn self-discipline? That we don't want our kids to be able to deal with "real life" issues? Of course we do! Thousands of kids are being homeschooled, and you know what? They are turning out to be able to function very well! Even without 12 years of school to "teach" them how.

I wonder if, on some level, the people who make this argument need it to be true...otherwise all the BS they put up with in school was not needed! Or maybe school did help them become more disciplined and focused...but my theory is that it was more their personality type rather then school. Yes, school helped them nurture it, but it was there to begin with. Not all kids who go to school turn out to be disciplined after all.

Really though...to think outside the box for a moment...I wonder if making kids "learn discipline" for over 12 years actually backfires? I remember hearing an argument that going to school helps teach a kid how to get up on time (a skill they will need if they want to hold down a job). Putting aside the questionable assumption that all kids will eventually go on to jobs that require them to wake early, this argument seems to make sense on the surface - as we know for sure that left to their own devices, kids would never want to get up on their own...I mean look at how hard it is to get kids up for school on time!

But what if kids were not made to get up on time for something that they may or may not like (school) for 12 years? What if they were given the freedom to sleep in sometimes (or always?). What would happen? Well, lots of homeschool kids have this option and it seems that if there is a good reason for the kid to be up (good to them), they can wake up early even without years of training.

I have seen this with Jason (8 years old). Several months ago he asked to have an alarm clock so that he could wake up at 7am and watch tv/play gamecube without having to share with his younger brother (who usually sleeps until 8am). He also asked his dad to make sure he is awake before he leaves for work. Shocked me I can tell you...a kid who wants to wake up earlier? Yup. And what makes this more surprising is that he is more of a night owl and definitely not a morning person! He even remembers to set his alarm clock at night without me reminding him. The reason to wake up is important enough to him. And you know what? This is the discipline that I want him to develop. Self-discipline. Not the "because I say you have to" discipline with artificial consequences (what do grades really mean anyways?)

So it can and does happen. Now, will every kid decide to wake up early? Probably not...maybe some kids will decide that sleeping in is more important and will get a later starting job. Who knows? I just don't think that 12 years is necessary to develop this "skill" or any other skill. I know that as soon as I went to college I tried to schedule as many afternoon classes as I could and I slept many a weekend morning away...often times just because I could! (OK...and sometimes because I had to after staying out too late the night before, but that is another blog post....)

Another problem I have with this "need to cope in the real world" argument is, do these folks really think that we are able to totally construct an environment where our kids never have to do something they don't want to do? Really? If so, please show me how to do it, I will do it for myself! The fact is that our kids will be living in the "real world" (much more so then if they were in school!) and will naturally have to deal with situations where they have to do things they don't want to. Shoot...every day my kids have to deal with that just because I have 2 kids who do not always want to do what the other one wants. They also have classes they take where they deal with other kids (yes...homeschoolers do not always spend all their time at home!). And they have to deal with me as well, as I am sure that Jason will tell you.

The thing is, they will learn much more about compromise and coming to a consensus in these situations because they will have more control over the situation. If they are being bullied, they don't need to learn how to deal with it...they can decide that they do not want to put up with it and drop the activity. Or they can decide that the activity is worth it and I can help them determine what their options are and plan a course of action. The important part is that I am there to help...they are not thrown into the deep end and told to cope the best they can.

Where else in the "real world" other then school (and jail) are you given no choice but to be there? Yes, you often have to deal with undesirable things where you work...but you are still there by choice and you can decide if it is worth working in that kind of environment (and most times you also have some sort of recourse available). Kids in school do not have that choice and they do not have the guidance of a parent that they have if they homeschool. I prefer that my kids look to me when learning how to deal with difficult people and situations...not their peers.

I remember when I first started out and had similar worries...a wonderful hsing friend asked me if I really thought that it would take 12 years for my kids to learn how to wake up early. Or to learn how to take a test or how to ....It was a big "aha" moment for me....

But how will they adjust to college?

2005-12-01T00:22:00.000-05:00

There was a great article in the Daily Nebraskan on how some homeschooled kids are making the transition from homeschooling to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Talks directly to how homeschool kids deal with the whole socialization issue (which seems to be one of the biggest worries of non-homeschoolers). I have heard many times...how will they transition into college if they have never gone to high school? From what I have heard from friends with older kids and read in articles like this one is that, on the whole, homeschooled kids make the adjustment just fine.

What many homeschooling parents find, is that if their kid decides that college is where they want to go, more then likely they will be motivated to get there because it is their choice. What many colleges are finding is that homeschooled kids have a love of learning...they are there to learn, not just get a grade. Many kids also take community college, co-op or self-study courses while in high school, so going to a 4 year college is not their first taste of structured learning. Yes, sometimes depending on the kid there might be more of a learning curve when heading to college, but they do manage to adjust in most cases.

This quote sums up the article (and my personal feelings) very well.

“You’re going to meet people who are homeschooled who can’t (socialize), but you’re going to meet public schoolers who can’t socialize either,” Anderson said. “It depends on the individual, not the method of schooling.”

My kids are still young, so we have plenty of time to figure it all out. But hearing stories from those who have gone before me is very reassuring!

The times are a changin'

2005-11-30T17:26:00.000-05:00

My friend Marjorie posted this on her Unclimber blog. Someone has compared the 1961 and 1991 versions of Richard Scarry's "The Best Wordbook Ever". I got a real kick out of this as I remember my brother really liking them. I did read some Richard Scarry books with the boys, but they were not my favorite...I guess I prefer picture books with stories!

Anyways, check it out for a chuckle (I know that you will get a kick out of it Mom!)

Simple Machines

2005-11-28T23:59:00.000-05:00

I love my homeschooling email lists. You never know what neat thing you will come across.

The Edheads website was posted on the Baltimore/Washington Home Educators list and the boys and I had a lot of fun with it this afternoon. We spent most of our time in the simple machines section...the boys now know a heck of a lot about levers, pulleys, gears, inclined planes, screws and wheels and axels. The Edheads did a great job of helping us identify all the simple machines around us...did you know that a car windshield and shoelaces are both simple machines? (An inclined plane and a pulley). And we did not even get through the whole website. There is still much more to learn about complex machines as well as more info on weather and a virtual knee surgery section (go figure!).

Lots of fun!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

2005-11-21T22:46:00.000-05:00

Went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with Jason yesterday. All in all we enjoyed it. They obviously had to cut a lot and change some parts of it, but we knew that going in and I think that knowing helped. I did get the feeling that they were trying to cram a lot in...jumping from one important part directly to another without much transition. But the movie was long as it was, so I guess they had no choice. It was definitely darker...scarier overall. Jason was fine with it, but definitely would have been too much for Kyle.

I did feel that they captured the overall feel of the book...that is one thing that I have liked about the movies. I love the kids who play Harry, Ron and Hermione. I am not thrilled with the new Dumbledore. I read an interview where he said that he has not read any of the books and does not think that he needs to. I personally think that he is missing the essence of Dumbledore which is a shame. I do think that they got the graveyard scene dead on...it was very much like I had pictured it. They did mess up the wording of the incantation to bring Voldemort back to life...seems like a simple thing to have gotten right, but what can you do. I did miss that Harry did not win gold by winning the tri-wizard cup and therefore did not offer it first to Cederic's dad and then to Fred and George, I missed seeing the Winky story line and how they had to switch quite a bit around to make it work, I missed seeing more of Snape and Sirius, I missed the Rita Skeeter as an animagus story line, I missed seeing the blast-ended skrewts and seeing Hagrid and the kids' relationship develop.

I do hope that the kids don't grow up too fast and will be able to do all 7 movies...it will be interesting to see. In my eyes, Ron is getting a bit old already (he had stubble on his face in the opening shot!) but maybe that is because I know that he is 18 already.

One thing that the HP movies have really helped Jason understand is that the book is almost always way better then the movie. We talked a lot about what they changed and left out and why they probably had to. What I really miss is the development of the characters...we never really saw why Harry, Ron and Hermione became so close and we never really saw why Harry and Snape are at odds. In the books, this comes across more slowly and much better. In the movie, they don't have the time to get into it in much detail. They just kind of assume that folks know the background and go from there.

Considering the amount of pressure there is to bring a loved favorite book, I do think that they have done a good job overall. Jason came out of the movie saying that he can not wait for book 7...and neither can I.

Greetings from Virginia Beach

2005-11-21T20:19:00.000-05:00

We made it! All in all the trip was not bad...I spent the day packing and mowing the lawn (had to get those leaves now since we are going to be gone a week...I cringe to think of how many would have been there when we got back...actually I still cringe but it won't be nearly as bad). I had resigned myself to the boys playing video games all day so I could get everything done (Jeff was not due to return home until after we left) and what did they go and do?? Surprised me. Came out and jumped on the trampoline for quite a bit while I was mowing. Then when I went inside I found that they had found the battleship game and were playing with each other! And not fighting at all! Wonders never cease. And they were big help with packing...making sure that we had everything and reminding me of quite a few things.

So after gassing up the car and a quick trip to Starbucks for a pumpkin spice latte and hot chocolates, we get on the road at 4:30 (only half an hour behind schedule...good for me!). We hit a lot of traffic getting out of Northern Va...I tend to forget how bad it can get at times. But soon hit open road.

The boys are very good at car trips...as long as we have a good audio book we are in good shape. We are listening to Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke...an absolutely wonderful story (thanks for the recommendation Kathi!). This one is definitely worth getting on CD...the voices are wonderful and it is incredibly well read. The boys were just about beside themselves while we were going through the Chesapeake Bay tunnel, laughing hysterically. And I consider myself lucky to be able to discover some wonderful books right along with them. There are some great books out there! Makes me doubly glad that I did not get the DVD player option when we got the new car. I debated, but I thought that we would miss out on enjoying our audio books. I figure for very long car trips we could always play a dvd on Jeff's laptop, but for shorter trips, like those to the beach, books do just fine.

We got to my in-laws a little past 8. The boys wound up staying up pretty late as they were too excited once we got here. I realized quickly that it would be futile to try to get them to fall asleep. But they did eventually. All in all, not a bad day...especially one that was spent mostly packing and traveling. As the boys get older, things are definitely getting easier. They are getting downright enjoyable. :o)

Breaking dishes

2005-11-19T22:47:00.000-05:00

Why is it, when you break a plate, it is never the one that already has a chip??

Rare day today...the boys were over at a friend's house and Jeff is on a "guy's weekend" so I was in the house absolutely alone! Got some more raking done (still sort of on top of the leaves...although it is a bit disheartening to realize that I am re-raking the same areas for the 3rd week in a row and there are still tons of leaves left on the trees), pulled together some birthday/Christmas ideas for my dad, cleaned up a bit. The problem when you have the whole day "free" is that it can be overwhelming to decide what to get done...and then you spend the whole day doing a little bit of everything and feeling like you got nothing accomplished.

Well, I am determined to make it to bed by 11pm tonight. We (the boys and I) are driving to Virginia Beach tomorrow afternoon to spend Thanksgiving week with my in-laws (Jeff will be joining us on Wednesday). Another perk of homeschooling is that we can go and do what we want, when we want. :o) I am hoping to go to a few museums, squish a few pennies and see Harry Potter IV with Jason.

Off to pack some more and then to bed!

I never thought this would work

2005-11-17T23:45:00.000-05:00

But it has! A few weeks back, completely out of frustration with the amount of name calling going on, I told the boys that we had a new house rule. That anytime you called someone a name, it bounced off them and stuck back on you. (Original, huh??) Well, dang it if it did not work! Whenever one of the boys calls the other one a name, I just have to ask him why he is calling himself a name. They actually get mad at themselves and immediately stop. Who woulda thunk?

If only everything was this easy....

We are loosing our marbles!

2005-11-13T21:15:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned yesterday, the boys discovered a marble book and all of a sudden are into all things marbles. So today, Jason wanted to know how marbles are made. What would we do without Google! We found a neat article on how they are made as well as information on the different types of marbles. Who would have known that there is a whole marble subculture out there on the internet! The boys have decided that their favorites are the bloodies (scroll down a bit to see the red, white and brown marbles).

Kyle especially has been doing a lot with them. He seems to be a collector by nature, so he has been sorting, building (he used them to make his footprint, go figure), lining them up and deciding which ones are his favorites.

I have to admit they are rather soothing to run your hands through. Uh-oh. Just what I need...another collectible....they even have a newsletter....

Nothing to do days

2005-11-12T08:36:00.000-05:00

It is really nice to have a nothing to do day...no classes, doctor's appointments, no places to be. It has worked out that Fridays are our only totally "free" day. And people worry about my kids being stuck in the house all day with no interaction with kids or people. Sometimes I wish that we had less interaction! But they do really enjoy their classes and activities and it helps me appreciate our "home" days even more.

Yesterday was a fun day...I guess that it was not a totally "nothing to do day" because we did get our hair cut (and man did we need it!). Jason and Kyle have both decided to let their hair grow long, so they just got a trim around the ears. I got a couple of inches off and it feels great. I love Stefano, the guy who has been cutting my hair for probably close to 12 years now. He gave both the boys their first haircuts and even Jeff has been going to him for quite some time now.

After haircuts, we stopped to pick up food for the guinea pigs (we have 4 - I think they go through more veggies then we do) and came home. The boys found a book on marbles that Kyle had gotten for his birthday last year that had been lying around the bookcase unnoticed. I caught Jason reading it to Kyle. ;o) So then they wanted me to dig out the marbles sets we had. They played together with those for quite some time while I tried to clean up a bit. After that, Kyle wanted to work on his reading (yes, this kid begs me to do his reading. And math. Try not to feel too jealous.) I gave Jason the choice of doing some math or writing another thank you note (he only had one more to do from Halloween). He choose the thank you note. Kyle and I did about 3 lessons until he started getting goofy...he did not want to stop, but I told him that he needed to take a break and let what he learned sink in.

So then I had Kyle write his thank you note while Jason and I worked on some math. I mentioned in an earlier entry that things had just recently clicked in math for him and it is nice to see that he definitely still gets it. This stuff is easy for him now and I think that surprises him. What surprised me today was that he also now gets how to add things in columns! I have tried many times over the past year to explain how you could add the ones column and 10s column but it just did not click for him. Well, we were working on 3-digit addition in his workbook and it once again showed how to line up the numbers and it clicked! He got it. No problems at all. My theory again is that he needs to understand in his own way how the big concept works then he can more easily fit the details in. So he had to understand first how to break numbers down into their components (245 being 200+40+5 etc) before he could understand column adding (completely backwards to the way I remember learning this stuff). The great thing is that once Jason gets something, he owns it. We were flying through things today, no struggles, no arguments.

The boys also went through some catalogs today to get some ideas for their Christmas lists. They seemed to be circling most everything, so I asked them to put a star next to the things that they really wanted! I have some ideas for them, but it is always interesting to see what jumps out at them. I had some phone calls to make, so they ran off to play Mario Party 7 on the gamecube. It just came out on Tuesday and they had saved and combined their money so they could get it. It is great that Jason can read his games without any help (and that is where a lot of his reading practice comes from..shhhh...don't tell him!) New games are also a source of frustration for my perfectionist and we have had to have several talks about taking breaks when the frustration gets too much. But for the most part the boys are having fun with it and have been learning lots from playing.

We had dinner (Jeff is out of town until Sunday) and then watched a Wallace and Grommit dvd we got from Netflix. I really am glad that we have kids...there is a lot (books and movies) that I probably would have missed out on including Wallace and Grommit! After that it was reading and bedtime and I got to watch my own movie, Oceans 12.

All in all a busy, filled day. These are the days that I enjoy. We had a really good balance...some "school", some free time play, some gamecube and lots of time together. I need to make sure that we get plenty of these "nothing to do days"....

Right brained learner links

2005-11-11T00:05:00.000-05:00

As I have mentioned before, Jason is a right brained learner (also known as a visual/spatial learner). The realization of this was a huge turning point in our homeschooling journey. It totally changed (for the better) the way that I approach things with him and has helped me understand him and where he is coming from. I have also learned a lot about myself (as I am a left brained learner but never realized it). I have realized that I am not a visual person, but rather a feeling/relationship person, which is kind of a cool thing to know about myself. (I always wondered why I could never relax while picturing myself on a secluded beach...it wasn't until I focused on how I felt (or would feel) while on that beach that it actually worked...but I digress...).

Since I seem to constantly be talking about right brained learners, I figured that I would list some of the resources that helped me. An online friend Cindy was the person who pointed me in the right direction and I am eternally grateful to her for that. She started an email list called Homeschooling Creatively to talk about homeschooling these creative kids. The list can be quiet, but over all it is a great place to talk about and appreciate these awesome kids and Cindy is a wonderful resource.

If you are wondering if your kid is a right brained learner, there is a good article that gives an overview of how these kids think as well as a great list of right brained traits. If you see your child in this description, then check out Linda Kreger Silverman's book Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner. A very good overview of visual/spatial learners and how they learn differently then what is traditionally taught in schools. This book gave me a lot of insight into Jason's learning style. The only thing that I didn't like about the book is the emphasis she puts on IQ testing...even though she admits that testing does not always give good results with right brained kids! She also focuses on highly gifted kids and that can be intimidating (especially if your kid was not making maps of the neighborhood at age 2!) But that is where she is coming from so she spends a fair amount of time on the subject. There is definitely enough good info in the book to make it worth reading though.

Another good book with practical suggestions for helping right brained learners learn is Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World: Unlocking the Potential of Your ADD Child by Jeffrey Freed. Although it is subtitled Unlocking the Potential of Your ADD Child, this is more of a book about right brained kids then it is about ADD (Freed makes the point that most ADD kids are right brained and that is the type of kid he worked most often with). Jason does not have ADD but I found much that was applicable to him in this book. It really helped me better understand how Jason thinks.

I had always thought that right brained people were more traditionally creative types like musicians, artists, dancers, etc. None of which I really identified with Jason. He has never really been drawn towards any kind of musical instrument, he has fine motor issues and hates writing/drawing/coloring and does not really like painting or other art. Yet, once I started looking into it, I recognized a lot of Jason in the descriptions. Since then I have realized that there are many ways to be creative...although Jason has shown no interest in playing an instrument (yet), he is actually extremely musical. He notices music and often makes comments on how it makes him feel. He will go into the extras on his video games and play the different music themes and pick his favorite (it drives Kyle crazy when he does this!) He has a definite sense of rhythm and likes music with a strong beat. He notices the music in movies and how it is used to make you feel...our favorites happen to be Star Wars. There are other things that I have noticed, now that I am paying attention and I am seeing that creativity can take very many forms.

Learning about this right brained/left brained thing has really expanded my outlook on so many things.

The results are in....

2005-11-10T23:41:00.000-05:00

Well, Virginians did not take the bait of negative campaigning - they rejected Republican Kilgore and elected Kaine (52% to 46%). Yea! I can breath a bit easier. Hopefully that will make future politicians think twice about negative campaigning. Unfortunately the democrat Leslie Byrne did not have as good luck with her bid for Lt Governer (lost 51% to 49%). And the jury is still out for Attorney General (50% to 50%).

So none of the wins were a huge victory...let's hope that they get the message that we need to find a common middle ground...(but I will say I am glad that it is a Dem in the top position!)

So now I just need to find out why Virginia has a one consecutive term limit for our governor...I would have loved to have kept Warner for another 4 years.

Election day in Virginia

2005-11-08T18:26:00.000-05:00

Well, it is election day. Virginians are in the process of choosing their governor, lt. governor and attorney general and some state representatives. I have to say I have been really appalled at the negative campaigning by the republicans...way too many attacks and misrepresentation (do people really believe what they hear about the opposition in political ads?). But I guess that they think that it works. Let's hope that it doesn't. I am just tired of all the polarization...is there a middle to be found anymore?

I volunteered to work at the polls for 2 hours today...basically checked off names from a list of potential democrat voters as they came to vote. Folks who had not voted yet would be called and reminded to vote. We also serve as "poll observers" which usually means nothing, but I did get to officially observe (with my republican counterpart who happens to be my neighbor) when they had to shut off and re-calibrate a malfunctioning machine to make sure that no votes were changed or added. I feel so official. :o)

Great time in Annapolis

2005-11-08T07:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we had a doctor's appointment in Annapolis (an hour away) and instead of coming straight home we decided to spend some time down on the city dock. Talk about bringing back memories! I spent the summers of my college years running sound and lights for the Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre. It was interesting to see that many of the same businesses were there including Storm Brother's Ice Cream Factory (which the boys recognized from the photograph we have hanging in our family room). I love the history and the colonial look and feel of the city dock area.

After hitting Starbucks (yes, I admit to my guilty pleasure!) so I could get a gingerbread latte and Kyle could get a chocolate milk (Jason does not like their chocolate drinks there...says they taste too much like coffee) we strolled down the dock looking at all the boats and wishing that we were back in Ocean City. :o) I had forgotten how much I love being on the water. I got some great pictures of seagulls on the pylons that I am hoping to enlarge and frame to hang in the beach house. We checked out the schedule for the bay cruises and I think that we may need to give them a try this spring. The boys found it very cool to be able to see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge from the dock...they have driven over it many, many times but have never gotten this kind of view. There are several nautical gift stores which we browsed and I found some really cute hand-made pottery bowls with crabs (I have a thing for crabs) and the boys got some polished hematite rocks...they love the silver color.

All in all, a very nice afternoon and gave the boys some definitely needed time to stretch their legs before heading back. I think we may need to do this more often and start exploring some of the other areas around the dock.

By Jove I think he's got it

2005-11-07T23:09:00.000-05:00

OK...So being a right brained learner, Jason is not good with rote memorization. It just is not one of his strengths and it frustrates him. So I have been looking for ways to help him with his math facts. He does fine with the smaller numbers (e.g., 2+4, 5-3 etc) but gets stuck with the higher numbers (e.g., 8+7, 14-6 etc). He has no problem understanding math concepts (like adding/subtracting negative numbers) but when it comes to remembering his math facts he struggles. We have continued on with math, but not knowing these facts slows him down and also has started him thinking that he is "bad" at math. I tried showing him different ways to figure them out, including grouping by 10s (e.g., figuring out 14+7 by adding 3+7 to get 10 and then adding 10+11 to get 21), but nothing seemed to really stick. I had just gotten the Home Educator's Guide for the Singapore Math program that we have been using and one of the first things that it had was an overview of the many different ways of adding/subtracting (counting up, number line, grouping to ten etc). I figured that it could not hurt, so I showed Jason...not sure what it was (probably that they broke it down somehow more graphically) but it clicked. He totally gets it now. It is so cool...instead of looking at a problem and trying to guess what the answer is, he has a method he can use to figure it out. What is great about this approach is that it utilizes his strengths (puzzle solving and logic) rather then his weakness, memorization.

For example...to figure out 14-8 he subtracts 8-4 to get 4 and then subtracts 10-4 to get 6. I will have to ask him for more examples, because I can't really remember how he does half of it. LOL! But what counts is he knows! Basically he breaks the equation down into smaller equations that he can do easier. And he is completely able to follow it. There have been a time or two when I really could not follow what exactly he was doing (he still talks out loud as he figures it) but I kept quiet and he came up with the right answer.

I found previously that a similar approach worked when it came to adding double and triple digit numbers. Breaking things down into 10s and 1s really helped. For example, to add 34+55, he breaks it down into 30+50 and 4+5 to get 89. And we actually realized that he understands negative numbers because he would solve a problem like 54-26 as 50-20 and 4-6 to get 30-2 or 28.

The neat thing is that I can see that the light is back on...he sees that he can do this stuff now. He sees it more as a puzzle then this mysterious thing where he was just supposed to know/remember the answer. I can see him manipulating the numbers in his head and he is getting getting faster at it each day.

I have to say...I am not big on formal "curriculum" but Singapore Math has really been a wonderful resource for us. It is really great for explaining concepts to him in a way that he understands. One of the reasons that it works for Jason is that it is very visual...it starts with the "real life" concept...pictures of objects and talks in English about combining them (they call them number stories). It shows several different ways of figuring out an answer and then gradually introduces the symbolic notation. It also seems to be able to explain things in a way that makes sense to him much better then I can! I swear, when it comes to math, we speak two totally different languages and Singapore seems to be able to bridge the gap. I know that I learned this stuff by rote memorization (which luckily I am good at, but even now I still count on my fingers periodically to double check myself). I am so glad to learn that there is a way besides flash cards to figure this stuff out.

And actually I have been starting to use some of these "tricks" myself lately instead of using my fingers....

The write motivation

2005-11-06T23:41:00.000-05:00

This afternoon Jason came to me and asked me for paper and a pencil. After I picked myself up off the floor (this is the kid who has never, and I mean never written anything unless asked to and who thinks that writing is pure torture) I pointed to where the paper and pencils were. He preceded to ask me how to spell "Kyle is not allowed in my room". As I spelled it for him, he wrote. Yes, actually wrote! While this was going on, Kyle came in and wanted to know what was going on. When he found out, he asked for paper and a pencil and asked me to spell "Jason is not allowed in my room". When they were both finished, they took their signs and taped them to their doors.

It warms a mother's heart. ;o)

How Kyle is learning to read

2005-11-06T23:29:00.000-05:00

The first memory I have of Kyle and books when he was about 6 months old and I had this moment of realization that I was not reading to him! Jason had loved books at that age and I felt like a very neglecting mother for overlooking this critical activity. So that night, after Jason went to bed, I pulled out a board book and snuggled up with Kyle and started to read. Kyle wanted nothing to do with it! He had just learned to crawl and he was too much on the go to want to sit and read. Made me feel much better! I wasn't neglecting my poor second born.

So I continued to read to Kyle periodically as much as he would let me. We gradually progressed to Dr Suess and Go Dog Go somewhere around 3. The interesting thing is that Kyle not only wanted to listen to the story, he wanted know more about the characters and would ask tons of questions on each page. My favorite was when we were reading Go Dog Go...he started telling me how the green bird was best friends with the green dog. Sometimes it made getting through the book rather difficult! I found it very interesting how he saw a story as a springboard to his own imagination...always wanting to know more about the characters or why they were doing things. I still worried because we did not read as much with Kyle as we had with Jason, but I realized that this was by his choice. And I also realized that he loved books and being read to just as much as his brother, just in his own way.

When Kyle was 4, I decided to try reading a chapter book and picked My Father's Dragon, but I could tell that he was not quite following it, so I went back to the longer picture books that Kyle really enjoyed like Mike Mulligan and His Steamshovel. During this time we also played around with letters and letter sounds a bit. He did not at this time know many of his letters although we talked about them often, they just did not seem to "stick" so I did not push him. Kyle enjoyed rhyming games and some games from Games for Reading by Peggy Kaye.

Around the time he turned 5, something seemed to click. He got interested in learning his letters and really liked to play a version of hopscotch where I made a board of various shapes on the driveway with chalk and put different letters in each box. Then I would call out the letter and he had to jump to it. We also put letters in the bottoms of muffin tins and threw pennies into the tins. If he could name the letter, he got to keep the penny. Around this time I also started reading My Father's Dragon again and he really enjoyed it. He still loves his picture books as well so we would read one chapter from My Father's Dragon and 2 picture books before bed.

Kyle is now 5 and a half, and he does know all his letters. He is very interested in learning to read and has been asking me to show him how, so we have started 100 EZ Lessons. I was not 100% sure he was ready, but after about 8 or 9 lessons, he is doing great! And he wants to do the lessons (we only do 1 or 2 at a time and not every day). He is very proud that he can now tell me what sounds different letters make and is constantly pointing out sounds/beginning letters of different words he comes across.

What amazes me is how natural this whole process has been. Every once in awhile I would panic about not doing enough with Kyle (like when he turned 5 and still did not know his letters) but I have to say now that, like his brother, he learns things when he is ready. And the other interesting thing is that his path has been completely different then that of his brother! At this point, I do not really think that he has too many sight words (maybe a few from his video games) but he is not having any problems picking up the phonics we have covered so far. It seems to make sense to him.

I am not sure exactly when Kyle will make the leap to reading. But he is definitely on his way there. And I am glad that I am along for the ride.

How Jason learned to read

2005-11-06T22:15:00.000-05:00

When Jason was younger, I never really set out to "teach him to read". But he has always liked books and being read to so we did that a lot. He loved board books starting at around 6 months. We moved on to Dr Suess and short picture books. At around 2 he would easily sit through Cat and the Hat and longer picture books. Around 3 or so we started on chapter books...Thomas the Tank and Winnie the Pooh (AA Milne not Disney). He loved them! During that time we also played around a lot with letters...had the refrig magnets and read alphabet books (Dr Suess again was a fav).

Jason loved anything that rhymed. We would play rhyming games in the car...I would call out a word and he would give me something that rhymed...sometimes a real word sometimes a goofy made up word. He knew the names of letters somewhere around 3 (maybe 4??) or so. That, coupled, with his love of books led me to believe that he would be reading "on time" if not early. I was in no rush though (I have always believed in letting kids do things in their own time) and in my research into homeschooling had learned that kids can and do learn to read without being pushed or formally taught. So I continued to read to Jason and we played around with words (he was really interested in how words that sound the same can be spelled differently or how words that are spelled the same can have different meanings). He slowly started picking up sight words..his first being stop (from seeing stop signs) followed later by play and exit (from his computer games). Occasionally I would try playing a game from Games for Reading by Peggy Kaye, but he pretty much was never interested and I never forced the issue.

Sometime around 5, we were talking and he told me that he was afraid to try to learn how to read because he thought that it might be too hard. I reassured him that when he was ready, he would learn just fine and that everyone became ready at different times. He has very perfectionistic tendencies so I did not push the issue (not to mention he was only 5!).
So I kept reading to him and talking about letters and letter sounds and words etc. At 5 he was thoroughly infatuated with Harry Potter and the Redwall series. Jason also picks up words incredibly easily...he has always had an awesome vocabulary...if he hears a word in a story it becomes his and he will go on to use it appropriately (my favorite was telling me that his little brother "cut a comical figure" when he was 5 and my mom loves to tell the story of how at 2.5 he told her that the puddle had evaporated!).

So we pretty much went on in this manner for the next year or so. I continued to read to him (and he also LOVES audio books...we go through so many of these..thank goodness for the library). He gradually picked up more and more sight words. I would talk about/point out letter sounds and sometimes try to show him how to break down words into phonics but it never seemed to click and he honestly was resistant to hearing it. I could tell that he was not ready. I will admit though when he was 7 I started worrying about if he would ever be ready! Luckily I had heard many stories on homeschool email lists about kids who read "late" and caught up quickly so I just kept doing what we were doing. One nice thing about homeschooling is that his not being able to read did not stop him from learning...I just kept reading to him about the subjects he was interested in and we also watched a lot of discovery/science channel shows. Not reading did not slow his learning down but I do know that it bothered him to not be able to read...he was very aware that other kids his age and younger could read. We had lots of conversations about kids being ready to do things at different ages.

Somewhere around 7.5 I realized that he actually had amassed a pretty large number of sight words that he could read...mostly from seeing them in books we read and from seeing them in video games. He did not consider this reading, however, even though I did. I also realized that he seemed to not quite understand that there were rules for figuring out how to sound out words (despite my talking about and showing him phonics informally throughout the past years). He seemed to be struggling a bit at pulling the whole thing together. At this point I thought that he could benefit from something that explained phonics in a more structured way. At first I checked out Phonics Pathways from the library. It was an utter disaster...it focused very much on letter sounds and letter blends. Jason hated it and did not see the point...he did not want to sound out letters...he wanted to read words! We did not stick with it very long.

I then decided to check out Teach Your Child to Read in 100EZ Lessons. I was a bit turned off by the strange notations they used and the directions to the teacher that said that I had to read the text exactly as written or it would not work! Needless to say we ignored that. Actually we ignored a lot of the directions and just took what we needed from it...we did not do the writing section, I stopped doing the reading comprehension questions after the first couple of ones when it became clear that Jason had no problems understanding what he was reading. We did not do the number of repetitions they recommended either because Jason did not need them (and had no patience for them). Basically we used it to explain the basic phonics rules and as practice in reading words and sentences. It got him reading words in the first lesson or so and sentences very quickly so he could see results while still giving him the phonics info. It also turns out that since he is such a visual kid, the strange notations they used were just what he needed and he progressed naturally from needing the visual cues to reading normal text.

I would say that his reading has really clicked only in the past year or so since he turned 8. But now that it has clicked he has be progressing very fast. He still is not reading books for pleasure but that is because his reading comprehension is well above his reading level. He wants to be reading Star Wars, The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, the Spiderwick Chronicles, Redwall, and Harry Potter, not "easy readers". One easy reader that we have found that he enjoys is the Commander Toad series by Jane Yolen. He has absolutely no problems reading his video games now and he is constantly catching me off guard by reading something that I know just a few months ago he could not (menus, signs, posters etc). I have no doubt that he will in time become a voracious reader...he loves books too much not to. He goes through audio books like water...I just brought about 10 home from the library which will probably last us a bit over a week.

One thing that I notice also is that even though he does know phonics, it is NOT his reading method of choice. He very quickly stores sight words (as opposed to me who has to sound out an unfamiliar word many times before "knowing" it) and is awesome at using the context and look of the word to figure out what it is saying. He is a visual/spatial learner ( also know as a right brained learner) and as I read more about his learning style, his journey towards reading makes more and more sense. He sees things in pictures, not words. So he needed more time to be able to recognize and make sense of words (in the beginning I noticed that the words he had the most trouble with remembering were words with which he could not associate an image...the, and, what, here etc) Basically he is a big picture/concept break down type of learner (as opposed to a learn the individual parts and build up learner). He needed a large number of sight words in order for phonics to make sense to him. Traditional phonics made no sense to him until he had a context in which to put it into...learning the "building blocks" made no sense until he knew what he was building. But even now that he knows the building blocks, he still prefers not to use them! And it is not holding him back. I am amazed at how quickly he adds to the words he knows by sight...there are many words I know that I have never shown him that he has just picked up from the context of things that he has read.

It has been a very interesting journey and I am not sure who has learned more...him or me! Although he did not follow a traditional path when it came to learning to read, he followed the one that works best for him. And knowing him, I am sure this won't be the last time he takes a different route to get where he is going!

Beautiful fall day

2005-11-06T21:29:00.000-05:00

Today was absolutely beautiful! Spent a lot of it raking and mowing the lawn. I actually do like doing yard work when I have the time (need to work on finding the time more!). It can be very zen for me and there is something satisfying about cleaning things up, be they weeds or leaves. Add to that the wonderful smell and sound of the crisp leaves and you have my favorite time of year.

I am bound and determined to stay on top of the leaves this year. We are on 1.3 acres with over 16 mature trees (one of the things that drew us to the place) so we get tons of leaves. They have only just started coming down, so today it was not too hard to get all of them. Thank goodness for our mulching mower (which we own along with 2 of our neighbors).

I am hoping that it does not cool down too quickly. We tend to only get a week or so of really nice fall weather before it gets cold. Looks like it should be nice all week...let's hope so!

My first letter to the editor

2005-11-05T09:15:00.000-05:00

This past September, someone wrote a letter to the editor in a Fredricksburg newspaper.

While I definitely get and appreciate the sentiment of this, this was not a message on an email list between homeschoolers, this was a public letter to the editor by someone who is not even hsing yet (and not even very original as I have seen many versions of the same idea throughout my 3 years of homeschooling). I have to wonder, did he really think that this would reflect positively on homeschoolers? I think that homeschooling has enough to offer on its own merits that we do not need to go publicly bashing the school system. This did nothing to promote acceptance or understanding of hsing. In fact, it made us look very close-minded and judgmental. I was not alone in my perceptions as can be seen by the 2 responses that it generated:

Why slam our public schools?
Homeschool if you like, it is your loss

These letters illustrate how much homeschooling is misunderstood, an impression that the original letter did nothing to help. It bothered me so much, that I actually ended up writing my first letter to the editor. Kind of exciting to see it in print (although I was annoyed that they put hyphens in all my references to homeschooling!)

Neat bumper sticker...

2005-10-30T23:43:00.000-05:00

CAUTION: Unsocialized Homeschoolers On Board

More on homeschooling and socialization to come.....(what homeschooling blog would be complete without it!)

Where to start...

2005-10-30T08:52:00.000-05:00

Well, I have finally taken the plunge into blogging. Not 100% sure what the focus will be, but I will play that one by ear. Probably a collection of musings, observations, and personal thoughts. But that is what most blogs are, huh?

I guess to get this thing started, I will introduce myself. My name is Stephanie, I am a homeschooling mom to two boys, Jason (8) and Kyle (5). Married to a wonderful guy, Jeff for the past 14 years. In my previous life before kids, I was an IT consultant but I have been home with my kids and loving it for around 6 years now. Yikes! Did not realize it had been so long. We are die hard Va Tech Hokie fans (Jeff and I met while in the Marching Virginians there way back when).

I have found that I am utterly fascinated by how kids (and adults!) learn (hence the name of this blog). And the fact that everyone learns so differently. There really is no "one size fits all" when it comes to education. My oldest is a right brained learner, very visual,very non-traditional and very smart. Normal teaching methods do not work with him and he has led me to stretch what I had previously thought about learning. My youngest, I am still trying to figure out. But he is definitely more traditional. He loves his workbooks, especially math. He is very tenacious...if he wants to learn something or figure it out, he sticks with it until he does.

Well, that is us for now. Hopefully I will have time to update this now and then. :o) Thanks for reading!