Been MIA

Sorry I've been MIA - but life outside of homeschooling sometimes has a way of taking over one's life.

Lately it's been Beaver Scouts. Every weekend there's been something going on - as well as our weekly Beaver meetings. Camp-outs...Bottle drives...Recruitment drives - which happens this weekend with a Scout carnival happening at one of the local malls here - anyone can come and take part in our Penny Carnival and learn a little about Scouting.

And this year, we are also taking the little Beavers to Drumheller, Alberta as our wind-up! They are so excited! We leave on the 26th and return on the 29th and are going to be touring the museum, the Hoodoos as well as one of the coal mines in the area - and visiting the splash park if weather permits.

Add to this the regular life stuff - home schooling, house cleaning, yard work - since we finally got rid of the snow and have had some decent weather of late - and I still have to find time to go and get some flowers and plant them around this old house.

Anyways, I've also been trying to get some planning done for the next school year since Beav informed me that he was NOT under any circumstances going back to regular school - insert exclamation here. He loves being home schooled - and he was honest about it. "I like being at home with you and I like being done school in 2-3 hours instead of 5-6 hours like E and R" (his friends).

I think I've got pretty much everything figured out except for the grammar portion of the language arts.

And here is where I am stuck.

He hates writing but this year's language arts curriculum ("homemade" again as I get bored with the "cookie cutter" curriculums myself) takes on more writing than he's used to - stories, letters, sentences and paragraphs, synopsis of books and stories, etc. So I've been looking for a grammar program that is straight forward but with very little writing as he's going to have enough of that with other things.

As a former teacher I think grammar is very important. I occasionally do proofreading for university students in this area and get so annoyed at some of the mistakes they are making - mistakes that would never happen had they been taught the basic grammar skills at an early age and spent the rest of their schooling simply reinforcing those skills.

"I don't believe the author of this books nows what he is talking about and maybe the publisher should rethink there willingness to publish such under-researched books and maybe next time they take on a new author actually read the books they are handing in because it was boring and lacked any kind of consistency and they should maybe have a word with their printing department as well because the book was filled with all kinds of spelling errors in the book and it was just lousy and very hard to read with all the spelling mistakes but it did have some good points to it but the author could have fleshed them out a bit more rather than just stating this or that as a fact taken from this source or that source and" Do I really need to go on? YES, this was the opening paragraph of an actual five page essay that I proof-read for a second year university student! AND I was supposedly proof-reading the final draft! Needless to say, I had a headache by the time I was finished and the paper was filled with red marks.

So the point I am trying to make is GRAMMAR is important. Knowing a noun from a verb is important - even if you can't point out a verb to save your life (like me) at least KNOWING that what you are writing and saying does or does not sound grammatically correct is important.

Believe me. Being 22 years old and still saying "I gots a new truck today" is no longer cute!!!

So I've been looking at two different ones - well, three, but the third one is simply too far out of our price range to justify it. Yes, I will actually be purchasing a grammar curriculum.

So I need some opinions.

Growing with Grammar is one...

Easy Grammar is the other - and I like the "Daily Grams" idea to reinforce and practice the lessons rather than taking Grammar for two days a week and forgetting everything you learned (like me - I honestly have to take a refresher course in grammar I am thinking).

I was also intrigued by Basic Cosy Grammar (it's Canadian) but at $170 plus shipping and all that I think I will skip that. It states "from ages 9 and up" but Beav already knows more about grammar than the average 9 year old so I figured it might be a good choice for him since he likes to watch videos for lessons - but at that price I don't think that will be happening.

So if anyone out there in blog land has used either of these programs, please let me know and give me your opinions. Or if you happen to know of any other great program out there I will be willing to listen...er...read?

Anyways, for now. I am hoping to wrap up another chapter of Story of the World today. Beav loved this program so we'll be continuing with it next year for sure.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all.

Mother's Day is bittersweet for me. I lost my own Mom on Mother's Day, 2007. This is our second year without her.

It is hard but I get through with the hugs from Beav (who by the way gave me a beautiful silve locket he picked out himself).

And I know my Mom was proud and loved each of us and her grandchildren so it makes it all a little bit easier.

Miss You, Mom.

Happy Mother's Day where ever you are.

May the 4th Be With You

Kiddo loves Star Wars. Everything Star Wars. He's decided he would like to be a Jedi when he grows up "IF they really had Jedi's".

So this morning we were sitting at the table and I told him to remember to write today's date on the top of his paper.

He says outloud "May the fourth...May the fourth...May the fourth..."

Then...

"Hey, Mommy...May the fourth be with you!"

Gotta love a kid with a great sense of humour!

A struggle...

Lately I've been struggling to get Beav to read...ANYTHING. He used to continually read the back of cereal boxes or flyers, take one of his magazines or books into the bathroom with him and read while doing his business, read while sitting on the sofa or read to Daddy at bedtime.

But lately he's just seemed turned off to reading. He didn't even want someone reading to him so assignments were great fun and often a struggle just to get through.

Then this morning, I happened to send him to his room to do a daily 15-Minute Tidy (15 minutes to a timer where he has to go through his toys and declutter his room) with the hopes of eventually being to the point where we can see the shelves and floors in there once again.

But then it was eerily silent. There was no complaints. No whiny little voice saying "where does this go?" and "I didn't make this mess...R took this out and didn't put it away", etc. Just silence.

Now, having only one child and that child being a relatively quiet child, you would think I would be used to the silence. I am. But there was something "not right" about this particular silence. Something that told me I'd better go and make sure Beav was alright.

What I found was Beav laying on his belly on his bed...

READING!!!

He had found a book of Bible stories we had given him a long time ago and Ward would read one of these stories to him every night. He was laying there and he looked up to me and smiled and said "Daddy will sure be surprised to night when I read to him from this book, huh? Last time I knew where this book was, I didn't know how to read very well and now I can read almost all the words and the words I don't know, I can sound out or just read on and then figure out what the word means!"

Yeah, being an avid reader a bit of relief washed over me. My boy was reading again, and enjoying what he was reading. By the time he came out of his room, he said he had read FIVE of the stories in his book! At 3+ pages per story that was at least 15 pages he had read! I was happy.

And now, he's sitting on the sofa reading his latest copy of National Geographic Kids.

He's back :)

Back to School

We took the Easter week off since all of Beav's best buddies had the week off. He enjoyed the free time but I think he actually missed the routine! He was up at 6 this morning - he is NEVER up at 6 in the morning (except for Christmas morning, of course, when he wakes up at 5 am) and I had no trouble getting him to the table to do his work!

This week we are starting to examine Aesop and his fables. I have gathered together a stack of books I'm going to be taking various activities from but the bulk of our study will be from EMC 2733 Literature Pockets - Aesop's Fables. I like using "pockets" activities because if I am busy doing something else, I can just pull out a few folders for the day and he is able to work independently or with minimal help.

Of course, the first thing he asked was "who was Aesop" and then "Why do they spell his name so weird?" to "what are fables?"

Now, Beav has also taken to playing darts along side Ward and I. For anyone who has never played this game, let me tell you this...

Go out, purchase a dart board (soft tips if you are concerned about safety - Beav has always been around us when we played darts and so he's learned to stand back, etc as well as watched how we throw. 9 times out of 1o his own darts stay in there without bounce-back).

Here's the thing. The game of "501" (or any of the "01" games) begins with the concept of subtracting what you hit from your score. You begin with 501 (or 401, 301, etc) and if you hit 20, 18 and 12, you have to add your score and then subtract it from 501. On your next turn, you subtract what you get from 451 and you keep doing this.

BUT if you hit a "triple" or a "double" that triples or doubles the value of what number you have hit. So, if you hit a triple 18...that is 18 multiplied by 3...so with your one dart you have 54. Perhaps you hit a triple 13 on your second dart...for 39...and with your third dart you hit a "single bull" - not the exact center but the ring around the center...for 25.

So...you have 54+39+25 which brings your total to 118 points...

AND

You have to do this IN YOUR HEAD because the game of darts does not allow the use of calculators :) You can write down your score on a chalkboard or white board or paper and subtract it, but you are not allowed to use a calculator to figure out your score!

And, once you are below 170, you can start thinking about "doubling out" which is how the game is won. Let's say you are left with 75...you can hit a "single bull" and then the bull's eye...Or if you left yourself 40 points, that would mean you have to hit the "double 20" or the outer ring of the 20. And if you miss and hit a 20, then you have to move to a "double 10", etc.

So the math in the head is really working and put into practice. I know my own personal math skills have improved immensely since I started playing darts.


So, what I've noticed is that Beav's math skills are wonderful...but he's also figuring out DIVISION! The other day he figured out that not only was a triple 20 worth 60 points BUT that there were 30 groups of 2 in 60...and 3 of 20...and 6 groups of 10...His mind was working fast and furious picking out triples and their different combinations.

So not only was he working on basic math skills of addition and subtraction but he was also working on multiplication AND division!!!

AND he was having fun!!!

Who could ask for more?

T'was the Week Before Easter...

First, we've done nothing but Easter stuff this week. Beav seemed to think that Easter was simpy about a magic bunny that hides eggs around the yard with the end result of his frantic search being a basket filled with chocolate, games, toys, movies, and more chocolate.

Our fault, I fully admit. We had never taken the time to teach him anything else simply because of the "funness" and "magic" of the Easter bunny.

So this year we took to teach him about the true meaning behind "Easter". We've been working on a few hands on activities, such as making unlevened bread and resurrection cookies. Unlevened bread because that is what Jesus and his disciples at at the last supper...and resurrection cookies - well, that was a process in itself :) Here's what we followed....
http://www.squidoo.com/resurrectioncookies

Only I had Beav actually TASTE the vinegar...for maximum impact and understanding. (plus it's just so darned funny to watch their faces squish up!)

Everyone recommends that for maximum understanding of how Christ rose and Mary found the tomb empty to make the cookies on Saturday night and open the oven Sunday morning to reveal the cookies. BUT we're not going to be home on the weekend. So that is the great thing about homeschooling - you do what fits your family and schedule :) We made these last night and examined them this morning.

Needless to say, he was quite impressed...with the fact that the cookies were empty not with the cookies themselves. Quite frankly, if the cookies aren't double chocolate chunk, he is not impressed.

We have also been looking at some of the more secular traditions of Easter. The Easter Bunny... The decorating and hiding of eggs around the yard. I think he was quite impressed with my own memories of hunting Easter eggs around my grandparents farm - back when my grandparents still had cattle. I can remember climbing on stacks of hay and finding coloured eggs nestled in the bales...just as I can remember Gramma telling us "if the eggs aren't coloured, just leave them be!"

One thing he was quite fascinated with were the Faberge eggs. He was most impressed with the egg that opened up and revealed a miniture gold train set inside (1900). You can read the history of the eggs here http://www.mieks.com/faberge-en/index.htm and by clicking on "pictures" you are taken to photos of the known eggs. Of course, we had to look into tsars and tsarinas, Russia, Moscow and St. Petersburg and find those places on the map as "places we've visited" but it was done in both a light and fun way.

He was also quite impressed with Pysansky. He already informed me "Mommy, I don't think I can make one this year because I'm still too little but next year, we ARE going to make one of those eggs!" Alright...noted...Next year we are making Pysansky. Now to find everything we need for that (at least I have a year to do it!) I think I will have to bookmark this site to give me a hand next year... http://www.learnpysanky.com/

So today we are going to continue with our study of Easter. We are going to do some notebooking using Bible quotes as well as a few vocabulary words. He is also going to do a stained glass cross using tissue paper - a gift for his grandmother who has Beav crafts decorating her fridge. (It should be noted that while Ward is now 50, his mother still views him as "her baby" and thus, Beav is "her baby's baby")

Now, all I have left to do is create a map for the Easter Bunny to find us at Grandma's house. I am wondering if this is the last year for the true excitement of the egg hunt tho. Beav has already asked me if it is really me and Ward who hide the eggs around the yard....

"Doing School" In a Different Way...

It's so hard to "do school" when the sun is shining and the snow is finally melting.

So for the last couple weeks we've been taking it rather easy school-wise. Once breakfast is done and the nip is out of the air, we get dressed and muck around in our yard.

We've explored icicles. Our eaves decided to spring a slight leak this spring resulting in a rather large icicle down the length of the tree (which gets the bulk of the water from the roof and as a result has grown from a cute little three foot pine to well over 15 feet in a little over four years). Beav was looking at the tree wondering when the new needles would begin to grow when he saw it - over 6 feet long and almost 4 inches wide at the widest point.

He was in little boy glory!

So we discussed why icicles form and how, while that tree is in direct sunlight, the icicle still hasn't melted (shaded by the branches of the tree, of course!)

Then cleaning up exploring the yard he wondered why we had no snow here, but there was still "a ton" over here - the south side of the yard but the north side of the fence still had lots of snow, the south side of the garage was almost bare but the north side had a full three feet yet.

Again, the sun's reach - the fence provided shade to that part of the same southern facing piece of yard.

Then there were the gardens. Some of my early bulbs were popping up through the sprinkling of snow left. He was fascinated by the fact that there were flowers beginning to grow (which have since disappeared thanks to neighbourhood cats using the flower beds as litter boxes and digging and scratching in the dirt). But they were there, for a while, and Beav was quite impressed by the touch of greenery peeking through the snow.

He was also quite disgusting by the amount of garbage that accumulates around our yard through the winter. Pieces of paper, plastic shopping bags, even single serving pizza boxes and pop cups complete with lid and straws.

"Doesn't anyone know how to use a garbage can, Mommy?" he said more than once in a huff as we gathered together the garbage, only to find more daily as the snow continues to melt.

One of these days we'll return to "regular school" but right now we're enjoying our time outside after a long cold Canadian winter.