We traveled to Texas with Hubby on a business trip and visited the Fort Worth Zoo. The favorites were the little monkeys and the rock climbing station.

The boys did their 1st dissection in Zoology class at co-op. Here’s the Gremlin with his shark.

We went to a wild cat sanctuary in Florida and the 10 month old “baby” bobcat took a liking to Sarge’s shampoo.

This blog has been neglected for several months because I’ve been working on our homeschool group’s web-site and getting ready to do a chat-forum launch for them. No time for hobbies these days! The launch is this week and will be followed up by several weeks of tweaking and fielding “Help Desk” type questions. I must admit that it’s been fun, I’ve learned a TON in the process, but realize that there is still so much I will never comprehend I need to learn. Hubby is amused that I have dipped my toes into his technical world……Momma can be taught!

The children left yesterday to spend some time with the grandparents traveling all over Michigan. They’ll be visiting cousins, eating fudge in Mackinac Island, driving out to the Tahquamenon Falls, ski-doing up at the lake, and swimming in 3 of the Great Lakes. It should be big fun and they are always exhausted after traveling with Hubby’s folks.

In the meantime, things are very quiet here. I’ve been working on the yard, a little cleaning, and LOTS of lesson planning for Co-op (and for our personal school year). I miss the kids and the craziness, but will try to be disciplined and get stuff done now, so that we can focus on family when they return.

Off to reboot the laundry and work on more lesson plans!

So now that we are back in the land of the living, we are ready to move quickly to get schooling into full swing. We’re joining PE class this week, Co-op is in its 4th week, most of our books for school have arrived and we have begun to jump into another year. Our relaxed schooling over the summer (reading and math only) has been ramped up to include Bible, History, Math, Reading, Spelling, Language/Writing, German, Typing/Keyboarding, PE, Choir, and Science. We are the poster children of educational alternatives.

In real life however, the Imp has been reading beginning chapter books just fine, but is now dissolving into tears about having to read the DIRECTIONS in her math book (or any other book) because she still believes firmly that she is not able to read unless I am sitting next to her holding her READING book. (What’s THAT about!?) She has also told her co-op teacher that she doesn’t write…..at all…..ever. (AARGH! When did this occur….we write every day?!) The Sarge has decided he does “not recall” any math steps that would require him to write out his work, so he guessed his way through and bombed his review test, which was supposed to spring board him effortlessly into the wonderful world of Beginning Algebra, Geometry, and Calculus. (May the Lord walk closely with us through THIS math year!) The Gremlin has relegated punctuation and capitalization into an “optional” category, and has accused both of messing with his writing “flow” and handicapping him needlessly. (This child needs to study law some day. The fact that he explain these things with a straight face and without running for cover after presenting this audacity is disturbing.)

We’ve made it out of the starting gate with a flourish and good show…….and promptly……. landed on our heads. Please pray for my sense of humor to remain and lots of patience and wisdom……it’s looking like a really, really LONG year, and we’ve only just begun.

We are half way into “push week”. This is a crazy hectic week that is an intentional product of my own scheduling. I worried that, as home schoolers, the children would get lax in taking deadlines seriously…….also, that they would never have the unmitigated joy of finding out that they have a due date in almost every subject, and life, chores, and outside activities that must continue as usual. (Welcome to reality, my child!) My solution to counter this is Push Week. Every once and awhile, we take two weeks of schoolwork and get it all done (well) in one week.

This requires the ability for them to multi task, plan their time, be flexible, and deal with unexpected things like mom being busy with another sibling longer than usual. It is a wonderful way to build character and it forces them to prepare for a life when their college professor does not grant extensions or take into consideration that they stayed up to late, or goofed off for the 1st week and a half that the project was assigned.

The Sarge is working on a major research paper. The project was assigned last week and discussed the week prior. I noticed he was piddling around with doing the research and his notes were sadly BRIEF. As in, some were missing completely, (”Oh, but they are in my head, Mom!”), others were unreadable, and the few pages I did find, had more doodling than actual notes on them. This week he has been amazingly focused. He has been working through double pages of Algebra, Language, Reading, History, and Science this week…….and yes, the paper is still due on Friday to be presented both written and orally to his siblings.

The Gremlin is not working at his potential in his geometry chapter. He has been making silly mistakes and not applying himself. Hubby sat him down and made sure he understood the materials and then got after him for attitude last night. He has also been doing double of everything this week. I’ve been impressed with his work in every other subject and he only had one melt down.

The Imp is joining in on push week too. She doesn’t seem to mind too much, because she likes to do school. I noticed her reading comprehension is improving because she is focused less on the mechanics of reading. (It goes in surges, but the extra practice has helped.) She really dislikes all the extra writing though!

This week we also had the unexpected surprise of all three children getting various forms of a cold from a play date last week. I wondered about re-scheduling for another week, but the rule stands, if you’re well enough to play and be out of bed….you’re well enough to do school and chores. One is coughing, one is snuffy, and one is almost over it, but all are playing JUST FINE. Thank goodness there are only two more days to this week!

I got this idea from another home school mom, because she saw that this was an area that home schooled kids got caught unprepared when they reached higher academia. I see the benefits, but I don’t enjoy the process. I really hope it makes a difference in the long run!

I’m starting to get excited about Co-op. Yesterday, I gathered up some of the supplies and did a field test of the experiments to work out potential problems. I first tried them with the boys, because if there is a way to make it dangerous, THEY will find it! Then I had the Imp try them to see if the directions or wordings were too high for a 6-7 year old. We found a few safety issues that we corrected and the Imp was able to explain the results and why they happen in her own words. Overall……a success!

Today I need to write out the experiments and class outlines for the parents and organize my notes so the flow is not broken. My kids loved the experiments and the discussion style seemed to work best because filling in a worksheet was too busy for the first week. I’ve already found a few experiments that will work with the text in a couple of weeks, so I’m trying to keep track of them so I don’t forget. This is so much fun, I can’t wait to see how it goes!

Week One: Intro to Earth Science
1. Astronomy- make asteroid craters in a container of flour with a marble, dissolve Alka Seltzer tabs in a clear pop bottle of water and discuss how God uses the earth’s atmosphere to act as a protective barrier
2. Geology – bring son’s rock collection and magnifying glass to look at layers and fossils (for flood study later), float a stone
3. Hydrology- center the cork experiment, look at surface tension of water to lead into pressure fronts and rain later
4. Meteorology – “steer” a bubble, look at air currents using a focused heat source and blowing bubbles, discuss how air currents effect weather

Today we had a teacher’s meeting for Co-op. I have finished second guessing and freaking out. I’ve prayed and handed it over to Him. Before I did that, I was concerned that I wouldn’t live up to the teacher that taught it last semester. She is such a sweet lady, so patient, very artsy, and makes everyone around her feel good about themselves. I don’t think she ever raises her voice and she gets the cutest southern accent going when she is flustered. She was constantly revising the lap books for the children and they turned out so neat!

After much prayer and last minute panic I finally got a word. I don’t have to be HER to be effectively used by God. (Well Duh! I know…… but sometimes it takes kicking me in the head before I realize this.) I have settled on the fact that I won’t be able to pull off the level of crafting and such with my class. I like to do experiments and I’m able to explain things to little kids so that they understand. I can also reflect God in all the things that I teach them. THOSE are things I can do, so that is where I will start. I’m not good with the whole art and coloring thing. I’ll come up with something else and figure out how to get it into a lapbook format so that the parents will have something to review at home and to present for their evaluation portfolios. I’ve got some ideas, but they need to be field tested on the Imp since she is only a year older than my class.

Today I took the kids to the park to do a cookie exchange with a group that we participate in minimally (2-3 times per month). I tend to avoid most of their activities because I get the impression that they are polite and friendly to a person’s face but talk behind one’s back. I asked a friend that goes between both groups about it, and she doesn’t pick up the same red flags that I do. She thought it was just me, so I figured I’d give it another try. Besides, cookies……playgrounds……seemed like neutral territory to me!

We arrived and things seemed to go smoothly. We exchanged pleasantries and were chatting amiably. I found two moms that seemed to be genuine. They were new to the group, so I spent quite a bit of time visiting with them. As one of my new-found friends was leaving, one of the group leaders commented, “I know this is outright gossip, but…….” and she preceded to speak poorly of the mom who had just left. I tried to come to the absent mom’s defense and was met with silence and uncomfortable stares.

Then they preceded to talk about racism and how they “would never” but……. wasn’t this a funny story? The story was not funny. Especially if they were in the shoes of the family they were discussing! All the while, they were nodding that,”While THEY didn’t think that was right, the family should have known better than to move to that part of the city!” (This was from a group that calls itself Christian. One of the leaders was doing the talking and not a single one of her friends stood up for what was right!) It sickened and saddened me that people who claim God’s grace for themselves, treat others in this manner. No wonder the world views Christians so cynically.

I talked with Hubby about what happened and we agreed that we should pull the kids out of the few activities that we do attend within the group and focus on healthier associations. (Pagans that act badly would probably do less damage than duplicit Christians. At least they would have an excuse!) We used the opportunity to discuss racism and gossip with the children, and how even as adults, we need to guard our hearts and speech and always Represent God well.