Tonight, we found a folder of things I wrote when I was 14. Oh my goodness, it was embarrassing! There were love poems and pathetic poems about not fitting in. Very sad. I was totally ok as a teenager; I had friends. What was I thinking? I was never popular, but I truly didn't care. At least I think I didn't. Maybe I did, and I just don't remember.
You know, sometimes when our kids worry about something, I just want to say, "This isn't going to matter to you at all later." I do say that sometimes, but generally I don't want to make them feel like I'm minimizing their experiences. I'm just glad we don't stay the way we are as teenagers. They all had a howl reading my stuff. At least it was good for a laugh. Good enough to bring tears to my eyes from laughing so hard.
The kids had youth night at church, and Jeff and I were going to sit in the foyer and wait. But we decided to go into the scout court of honor since Sam was in there. He doesn't work on merit badges; he just likes to do the activities. It was nice, and I'm proud of the boys for their hard work; but I was so bored. In all honesty, our family just never has liked those things. Our boys have never wanted to be recognized, especially Sam. They were asking each one of them to tell about their favorite part, and I was thinking that would be like torture to Sam to be asked questions in front of the whole group and their parents. He barely answers my questions at home. If he ever does decide to get some badges, I'll have to tell the leaders not to ask him about it in front of everyone.
The girls were making cute paper flowers to help decorate for someone's wedding. They looked like they were having tons of fun talking and laughing with the other girls there. We were just talking to someone today about how we don't like making crafts in a group at church because we don't have anywhere to put them. So we had to laugh that it was a crafty activity, but it was a service too so we didn't have to bring them home and find a place for them. Best of both worlds.
I had Sam choose some quotes from Anne of Green Gables to include in his response to a Think Piece Question that we're working on from the Brave Writer Boomerang. He chose some good ones. He's going to write about Anne telling Marilla about her past, and he chose, "My life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes." Isn't that the best quote? I can't remember the other one, but it's just as good. Jeff also had him write about some Lego stuff he's planning on buying. He wrote almost a page! That's more than he usually wants to write. By a lot. He needs more exciting things to write, I guess.
See you tomorrow!
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Monday, January 30, 2017
Day 107--House Closing Postponed
Here's a dose of reality: houses don't usually close the first time you schedule them. Or the second. Our buyer wanted to close Jan 6th originally, and we still don't know when it will happen. It was supposed to be today, but the lender was missing some information or something. Hopefully it will be in the next week or two. Always learning from life.
Jeff took Sam and Sarah out today since it was a little sunny finally. They went for a bike ride and played whiffle ball in some park I've never seen. Apparently it's only a few blocks away, but I guess I've missed it the whole year we've lived here. I'll have to have them take me there when it's not cold any more. Being outside is so good for their mood. Rachel never wants to go when it's cold though, like me. But she's the one that really needs the sun on her. I've been thinking of getting one of those happy lights.
I can hear Rachel reading to Sam and Sarah down the hall, but I can't tell what she's reading. I guess she reads them books she's writing sometimes, and I never get to hear them. She usually doesn't want anyone reading them until they're finished, but I'm glad she decided to read some to them--even if I want to hear too! She's writing a sequel to Becoming Sencra's Queen and another one that's set in another time, but I can't remember what. The Civil War maybe. I finished my huge writing project today, so now I can concentrate on finishing the editing and get going with publishing. We are way too excited to get that books in our hands!
We read the first principle from The 5000 Year Leap today, but I think that's another one of those books that might be better understood if they read it to themselves. I'm finding that the books they need to read in high school are too much to listen to, but I don't have multiple copies of anything, so I read aloud. It didn't work with The Making of America either. I guess it's a non-fiction/history/government thing. Everything else is fun to read together. I want everyone to like to read aloud as a family even when people are adults. We love it! I like to do the reading though. I have a hard time listening.
See you tomorrow!
Jeff took Sam and Sarah out today since it was a little sunny finally. They went for a bike ride and played whiffle ball in some park I've never seen. Apparently it's only a few blocks away, but I guess I've missed it the whole year we've lived here. I'll have to have them take me there when it's not cold any more. Being outside is so good for their mood. Rachel never wants to go when it's cold though, like me. But she's the one that really needs the sun on her. I've been thinking of getting one of those happy lights.
I can hear Rachel reading to Sam and Sarah down the hall, but I can't tell what she's reading. I guess she reads them books she's writing sometimes, and I never get to hear them. She usually doesn't want anyone reading them until they're finished, but I'm glad she decided to read some to them--even if I want to hear too! She's writing a sequel to Becoming Sencra's Queen and another one that's set in another time, but I can't remember what. The Civil War maybe. I finished my huge writing project today, so now I can concentrate on finishing the editing and get going with publishing. We are way too excited to get that books in our hands!
We read the first principle from The 5000 Year Leap today, but I think that's another one of those books that might be better understood if they read it to themselves. I'm finding that the books they need to read in high school are too much to listen to, but I don't have multiple copies of anything, so I read aloud. It didn't work with The Making of America either. I guess it's a non-fiction/history/government thing. Everything else is fun to read together. I want everyone to like to read aloud as a family even when people are adults. We love it! I like to do the reading though. I have a hard time listening.
See you tomorrow!
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Day 106--Freewriting Fun
This week we've been in crazy-town! We had to have the car towed to the shop, had two doctor's appointments and a teeth cleaning, had to get a ride to the airport to pick up the other car so we wouldn't be trapped at home, had to get a different ride to pick up the car from the shop, gotten too little sleep, and I've been working on a very big, very important writing project that has a deadline. And I'm sure that's not half of it.
We did a freewrite today, and I decided we'd just write about what we were reading in the Bible this morning. It was in Luke 1, about when Mary goes to see Elizabeth when they're both pregnant. I don't want you to think we're irreverent, but we had to laugh at how some of it sounded. Sam read his first, and he was telling how Zacharius was made mute after he laughed at the news that Elizabeth would have a baby; and he said, "Mute button, I'm muting you." That's a quote from the movie Ramona and Beezus, in case you didn't catch it. So we had a good giggle. Sarah read hers next, and she said that Zacharius had been muted, which made us laugh even more about the mute button quote.
Rachel's made us laugh too, but I can't remember why. By the time I read mine, I was laughing so hard I was crying. Mine said, "Elizabeth's baby, John the Baptist, leapt in her womb." Now doesn't that make you want to laugh? Like he was already baptizing people. Don't worry, we don't laugh at the scriptures, but freewriting usually amuses us in some way.
We're almost finished reading Anne of Green Gables again. We're going to do a Think Piece question from Brave Writer's Boomerang issue for the book tomorrow. Kamille decided to read it too, but she's only on page 18. She's never read it; I think she'll love it. I told her I would send her a Think Piece question when she's done, because she likes homework. She's so fun.
See you tomorrow!
We did a freewrite today, and I decided we'd just write about what we were reading in the Bible this morning. It was in Luke 1, about when Mary goes to see Elizabeth when they're both pregnant. I don't want you to think we're irreverent, but we had to laugh at how some of it sounded. Sam read his first, and he was telling how Zacharius was made mute after he laughed at the news that Elizabeth would have a baby; and he said, "Mute button, I'm muting you." That's a quote from the movie Ramona and Beezus, in case you didn't catch it. So we had a good giggle. Sarah read hers next, and she said that Zacharius had been muted, which made us laugh even more about the mute button quote.
Rachel's made us laugh too, but I can't remember why. By the time I read mine, I was laughing so hard I was crying. Mine said, "Elizabeth's baby, John the Baptist, leapt in her womb." Now doesn't that make you want to laugh? Like he was already baptizing people. Don't worry, we don't laugh at the scriptures, but freewriting usually amuses us in some way.
We're almost finished reading Anne of Green Gables again. We're going to do a Think Piece question from Brave Writer's Boomerang issue for the book tomorrow. Kamille decided to read it too, but she's only on page 18. She's never read it; I think she'll love it. I told her I would send her a Think Piece question when she's done, because she likes homework. She's so fun.
See you tomorrow!
Monday, January 23, 2017
Day 105--Write like you talk!
Sam just hates the way he feels frozen when he's supposed to write something for school. Like I've talked about before, I usually just try to have real things to write; but today, I just wanted to have him write something about Mr. Rogers. He just finished reading The Simple Faith of Mr. Rogers (one of my favorite books), and he talked to me about it along the way, but he's been working on some sentence structure and I wanted a few original sentences. He just did not want to do that. So I told him to write just like he talks; just write what he would say. This is what he said: "It would be unintelligible if I wrote like I talked." What? He speaks in complete (and very detailed) sentences all day long!
I told him that that was the lie his dad learned in school, and that's why he (Jeff) has so much trouble knowing what to write still. I just don't want his brain to freeze up like that. Remember, this is the kid that told me he likes to write if he knows what he's going to say. I guess I'm going to have to go back to the beginning. Maybe I'll write down the next big explanation he gives me about something and show him just how intelligible it really is.
He did tell me that the structure when you write has to be different than when you speak, which is totally true. So I said, "You write it down like you speak and then go back and change it to sound like writing." Easy right? I think that just sounds like more writing to him. I would love everyone in the world to feel like I do about writing. Love it! I think so many more people could feel like that if they had the support they needed. Peter Elbow says that if you just let go and write and write, you may end up with a lot of stuff you have to throw out; but at least some of it will be worth reading. If you try to get it "right" the first time, it's usually not any good anyway.
It's so true. I've noticed that recently as I've been working on my book about weaknesses. I write and write and have to cut most of it. But there are some good parts in there that I may not have gotten if I had tried to write with the hopes of not editing. You have to stop too much and fix things along the way and can never just get going.
Oh, Sarah was so cute today during science. She's working on problems using the speed formula (distance divided by time), but they have her making unit conversations first (like from minutes to hours). So they give you how many miles in how many minutes and you have to convert that to hours before finding the speed. Each thing is fine separately, but she forgets where she is and which part to do next. So she was working on a problem and all of the sudden, she gets excited and says, "Look, Mom! I'm setting it up right! I'm doing it!"
It was so nice to have her sitting by me excited to tell me that. A picture flashed into my mind of 25 kids in a science class trying to understand how to do these problems and one of them is so happy that he's got it he can't contain himself, but there's no one to tell. I'm so glad I homeschool.
See you tomorrow!
I told him that that was the lie his dad learned in school, and that's why he (Jeff) has so much trouble knowing what to write still. I just don't want his brain to freeze up like that. Remember, this is the kid that told me he likes to write if he knows what he's going to say. I guess I'm going to have to go back to the beginning. Maybe I'll write down the next big explanation he gives me about something and show him just how intelligible it really is.
He did tell me that the structure when you write has to be different than when you speak, which is totally true. So I said, "You write it down like you speak and then go back and change it to sound like writing." Easy right? I think that just sounds like more writing to him. I would love everyone in the world to feel like I do about writing. Love it! I think so many more people could feel like that if they had the support they needed. Peter Elbow says that if you just let go and write and write, you may end up with a lot of stuff you have to throw out; but at least some of it will be worth reading. If you try to get it "right" the first time, it's usually not any good anyway.
It's so true. I've noticed that recently as I've been working on my book about weaknesses. I write and write and have to cut most of it. But there are some good parts in there that I may not have gotten if I had tried to write with the hopes of not editing. You have to stop too much and fix things along the way and can never just get going.
Oh, Sarah was so cute today during science. She's working on problems using the speed formula (distance divided by time), but they have her making unit conversations first (like from minutes to hours). So they give you how many miles in how many minutes and you have to convert that to hours before finding the speed. Each thing is fine separately, but she forgets where she is and which part to do next. So she was working on a problem and all of the sudden, she gets excited and says, "Look, Mom! I'm setting it up right! I'm doing it!"
It was so nice to have her sitting by me excited to tell me that. A picture flashed into my mind of 25 kids in a science class trying to understand how to do these problems and one of them is so happy that he's got it he can't contain himself, but there's no one to tell. I'm so glad I homeschool.
See you tomorrow!
Thursday, January 19, 2017
Day 105--My Kids Are So Fun
Me: What's the last thing we did for math?
Sam: You expect us to remember that?
(I guess if I can't remember it, I can't expect them to!)
I think I need to start writing down the funny things they say all day. That's not just for little kids, you know?
I was out visiting some ladies from church for a few hours tonight; and when I got home, Sarah was all excited to ask me what I wanted to do. I didn't know what she was getting at, at first. So she finally said, "What do you always want to do when you get home?"
I said, "Watch a movie."
"What else?"
"Eat cookies."
"And?"
"Get into my pajamas."
Apparently she had been telling Rachel and Sam that those are the three things I would say I wanted to do after being out all evening. They know me so well. On my last birthday, the three of them made me a card that included drawings of all the things I like: pajamas, cookies, writing, reading, movies, family. And when Wilson called to tell me happy birthday, they asked him what he thought they had drawn. He guessed every single one of them.
When I got home, I found my mini trampoline fixed up with a grid made from the jumprope and several matchbox cars in each square. They said it was the Titanic. I didn't even ask. I guess I'll have to untangle the rope from around the legs of my trampoline before I can jog in the morning.
See you tomorrow!
Sam: You expect us to remember that?
(I guess if I can't remember it, I can't expect them to!)
I think I need to start writing down the funny things they say all day. That's not just for little kids, you know?
I was out visiting some ladies from church for a few hours tonight; and when I got home, Sarah was all excited to ask me what I wanted to do. I didn't know what she was getting at, at first. So she finally said, "What do you always want to do when you get home?"
I said, "Watch a movie."
"What else?"
"Eat cookies."
"And?"
"Get into my pajamas."
Apparently she had been telling Rachel and Sam that those are the three things I would say I wanted to do after being out all evening. They know me so well. On my last birthday, the three of them made me a card that included drawings of all the things I like: pajamas, cookies, writing, reading, movies, family. And when Wilson called to tell me happy birthday, they asked him what he thought they had drawn. He guessed every single one of them.
When I got home, I found my mini trampoline fixed up with a grid made from the jumprope and several matchbox cars in each square. They said it was the Titanic. I didn't even ask. I guess I'll have to untangle the rope from around the legs of my trampoline before I can jog in the morning.
See you tomorrow!
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Day 104--A Reason to Learn
I've mentioned finding real reasons to learn to do things. I think about this a lot in relation to writing, even though I know it works for most other things too. Rachel rewarded me for my thinking by telling me something about herself today. Actually, I knew this thing, but I hadn't put it into these words before.
We were talking about sending her book to Wilson to go over before we publish it. We were saying that even if we waited until after it was published to have him read it, he would find things to change--he reads like an editor whenever he reads, like me. So then, we went on to talk about how Wilson and I are both like that; but I said when I read a regular published book, I don't notice myself doing that.
Rachel said she has noticed herself being more like that since she's been editing her book. She also said that before this, she wouldn't notice changes that needed to be made in her own writing. That's the part I guess I knew, looking back. Also, she was recognizing the help that will be to her because of starting college in the fall.
I love the process! You will do what you need to do, and you will learn what you need to learn. My responsibility as a homeschool mom is to create the need to do and to learn. For example, at times in our house, we have each person's name on a cup, plate and bowl. They are not allowed to touch anyone else's dishes, and their dishes will only be clean if they wash them. So a need is created. Necessity is the mother of action as well as invention.
When we're hungry, we eat; when we're tired, we sleep; when we need to use the bathroom, we find one! Why wouldn't we be interested in using this principle in our learning and teaching? Now if I could only figure out how to create a need to learn algebra!
See you tomorrow!
We were talking about sending her book to Wilson to go over before we publish it. We were saying that even if we waited until after it was published to have him read it, he would find things to change--he reads like an editor whenever he reads, like me. So then, we went on to talk about how Wilson and I are both like that; but I said when I read a regular published book, I don't notice myself doing that.
Rachel said she has noticed herself being more like that since she's been editing her book. She also said that before this, she wouldn't notice changes that needed to be made in her own writing. That's the part I guess I knew, looking back. Also, she was recognizing the help that will be to her because of starting college in the fall.
I love the process! You will do what you need to do, and you will learn what you need to learn. My responsibility as a homeschool mom is to create the need to do and to learn. For example, at times in our house, we have each person's name on a cup, plate and bowl. They are not allowed to touch anyone else's dishes, and their dishes will only be clean if they wash them. So a need is created. Necessity is the mother of action as well as invention.
When we're hungry, we eat; when we're tired, we sleep; when we need to use the bathroom, we find one! Why wouldn't we be interested in using this principle in our learning and teaching? Now if I could only figure out how to create a need to learn algebra!
See you tomorrow!
Monday, January 16, 2017
Day 103--The House is Ready
Well, we finally finished all the required "repairs" of things that weren't broken so the buyer could get a loan. Now I think it's going to take a couple weeks to actually have the paperwork finished so we can close. I wonder why things like that take so long. At least our part is done. Now if we can just get the inspector to agree when he goes back.
We were having math before lunch today because we knew we'd have to go over to the house and meet a plumber to replace some perfectly good pipes, and I was cooking lunch. But I didn't get it going in time; so when the plumber called to say he was on the way, we had to run out all of the sudden. We were all going because we were going to paint while we were there. So I had to dump the not-quite-finished split pea soup into the crock pot and take a bag of nuts and a couple apples as well as school books.
On the way, we thought maybe we don't really have to paint the bathroom. The tub was replaced and they put new wall board up because of that, but does that mean we have to paint it again? I asked the realtor because the contract says that we have to maintain the house in its present condition, so that could actually mean the bathroom should be painted because it was painted when they saw it and offered to buy it. The realtor said she didn't think so, but I'm not so sure. We didn't paint it though.
Thankfully we were only there an hour, and when we got home the pea soup was done, and after we ate, we did some more math and Sarah took a science test. They had done some reading while they were at the house. Then the girls worked on a slide show they're doing for Wilson and Kamille's second anniversary tomorrow, and we played charades. We had to laugh when Jeff picked "pilot"--since he is one. He pretended to take off and then pointed to himself. You had to be there.
I don't remember if I mentioned making the video where I show the process of critiquing papers for my website. I'm pretty happy with how it came out, except it's a little dark behind the computer as I'm showing the screen. I published it, but I may go back and redo it some time to get rid of that. Here it is. You can tell me what you think.
See you tomorrow!
We were having math before lunch today because we knew we'd have to go over to the house and meet a plumber to replace some perfectly good pipes, and I was cooking lunch. But I didn't get it going in time; so when the plumber called to say he was on the way, we had to run out all of the sudden. We were all going because we were going to paint while we were there. So I had to dump the not-quite-finished split pea soup into the crock pot and take a bag of nuts and a couple apples as well as school books.
On the way, we thought maybe we don't really have to paint the bathroom. The tub was replaced and they put new wall board up because of that, but does that mean we have to paint it again? I asked the realtor because the contract says that we have to maintain the house in its present condition, so that could actually mean the bathroom should be painted because it was painted when they saw it and offered to buy it. The realtor said she didn't think so, but I'm not so sure. We didn't paint it though.
Thankfully we were only there an hour, and when we got home the pea soup was done, and after we ate, we did some more math and Sarah took a science test. They had done some reading while they were at the house. Then the girls worked on a slide show they're doing for Wilson and Kamille's second anniversary tomorrow, and we played charades. We had to laugh when Jeff picked "pilot"--since he is one. He pretended to take off and then pointed to himself. You had to be there.
I don't remember if I mentioned making the video where I show the process of critiquing papers for my website. I'm pretty happy with how it came out, except it's a little dark behind the computer as I'm showing the screen. I published it, but I may go back and redo it some time to get rid of that. Here it is. You can tell me what you think.
See you tomorrow!
Friday, January 13, 2017
Day 102--Ever Have a Terrible Day?
Ok, I like to keep my blog positive and not post about too many problems, but today was really hard.
I've been going to bed too late this week, so I may have been a bit grumpy because of that; but when Jeff got home today he said something sort of insensitive without realizing it and I blew up. I told him all about why he shouldn't have said that; the poor guy. I think he was just trying to "fix the problem" for me, but it was definitely not what I needed him to say. So we had this huge emotional conversation, and I cried.
Then it was time to walk out the door to my dad's 81st birthday dinner. So we went and when we got there, my brother was lying on the couch with a fever. Both my parents and my brother had been throwing up last week, and we have done all we can to avoid getting it here (it's going around). So I was thinking maybe we should leave, and I still felt like crying. He went to another room while we had our celebration, but that was kind of sad.
No school today. Although I was listening to Julie Bogart the other day and she was talking about how everything that goes on is school. I know that, and I've always lived that and I even advise others of that. But they still have to learn math! I always say math because that's the one that kills us. I guess it's that way all through life isn't it?
So was there any learning today? I guess I don't know. I boiled several pounds of pinto beans for the burritos we had for my dad's dinner. We figured out that taping a towel on the microwave above the boiling pot (to keep the steam from condensing and dripping into the pot) wouldn't work because it would fall off when the tape got wet with steam. So we draped a towel over the pot and got a little steam burned moving it. I guess we might have learned from that.
Sam was able to get a couple additions to a stop action movie app on the iPad. Then he figured out how to start using it. The girls both were writing stories before going to sleep; that's very valuable. Rachel did some editing on her book. Jeff learned something he should probably never say to me. Maybe there are other things, but none of them are math! I guess I'll get over it since everyone's asleep now anyway.
See you next week; it'll be better!
I've been going to bed too late this week, so I may have been a bit grumpy because of that; but when Jeff got home today he said something sort of insensitive without realizing it and I blew up. I told him all about why he shouldn't have said that; the poor guy. I think he was just trying to "fix the problem" for me, but it was definitely not what I needed him to say. So we had this huge emotional conversation, and I cried.
Then it was time to walk out the door to my dad's 81st birthday dinner. So we went and when we got there, my brother was lying on the couch with a fever. Both my parents and my brother had been throwing up last week, and we have done all we can to avoid getting it here (it's going around). So I was thinking maybe we should leave, and I still felt like crying. He went to another room while we had our celebration, but that was kind of sad.
No school today. Although I was listening to Julie Bogart the other day and she was talking about how everything that goes on is school. I know that, and I've always lived that and I even advise others of that. But they still have to learn math! I always say math because that's the one that kills us. I guess it's that way all through life isn't it?
So was there any learning today? I guess I don't know. I boiled several pounds of pinto beans for the burritos we had for my dad's dinner. We figured out that taping a towel on the microwave above the boiling pot (to keep the steam from condensing and dripping into the pot) wouldn't work because it would fall off when the tape got wet with steam. So we draped a towel over the pot and got a little steam burned moving it. I guess we might have learned from that.
Sam was able to get a couple additions to a stop action movie app on the iPad. Then he figured out how to start using it. The girls both were writing stories before going to sleep; that's very valuable. Rachel did some editing on her book. Jeff learned something he should probably never say to me. Maybe there are other things, but none of them are math! I guess I'll get over it since everyone's asleep now anyway.
See you next week; it'll be better!
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Day 101
I'm thinking quick post tonight. It's midnight after all. I didn't take any notes about our day today, and after school we went to see my brother Scott again. So my memory of school is wiped out. The kids got educated by Scott tonight, though. He loves to say things that you're not sure if he really believes or not. Or if you're sure he doesn't, he likes to convince you that he really does. He's got the kids thinking he might actually think the earth is flat!
I can't believe he would think that, but he insists that he does. So I was telling the kids that there's no way he thinks the world is flat, and Sarah said, "But you're not really sure are you?" I guess you never can know for sure what someone else is truly thinking. He had them going with all kinds of scientific theories and questions. It was pretty funny. I just listened and worked on dinner. Tomorrow, we're going to go see our great aunt who is very cute and fun. I'm sure she must be 90. My grandma and all her sisters were fun--kind of silly in a fun way. Well, I think there was one that was pretty serious.
Oh, I know something we did for school today. We planned. I wrote all the things the kids have to finish by the end of the year and figured out how much of each they would have to do every week to get done. You can't do that with everything, but we had several things we worked out. We also looked at everyone's semester grades. I don't give grades, but I use an umbrella school so they'll have diplomas at the end; and I have to report grades a couple times a year. They like seeing the grades because we never talk about them along the way. Yes, they get A's. I mean really, we work on everything until it's mastered. Who doesn't?
I guess that's it for now. It really was a quick post.
See you tomorrow!
I can't believe he would think that, but he insists that he does. So I was telling the kids that there's no way he thinks the world is flat, and Sarah said, "But you're not really sure are you?" I guess you never can know for sure what someone else is truly thinking. He had them going with all kinds of scientific theories and questions. It was pretty funny. I just listened and worked on dinner. Tomorrow, we're going to go see our great aunt who is very cute and fun. I'm sure she must be 90. My grandma and all her sisters were fun--kind of silly in a fun way. Well, I think there was one that was pretty serious.
Oh, I know something we did for school today. We planned. I wrote all the things the kids have to finish by the end of the year and figured out how much of each they would have to do every week to get done. You can't do that with everything, but we had several things we worked out. We also looked at everyone's semester grades. I don't give grades, but I use an umbrella school so they'll have diplomas at the end; and I have to report grades a couple times a year. They like seeing the grades because we never talk about them along the way. Yes, they get A's. I mean really, we work on everything until it's mastered. Who doesn't?
I guess that's it for now. It really was a quick post.
See you tomorrow!
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Day 100--Not Really
Well, my post is called Day 100, but I actually have missed posting on some school days. I'm not sure when we hit 100; I don't really care. I don't keep track of the number of school days very well, because it just doesn't matter to me. We used to keep track, but it drove me crazy. And there's no way we ever do fewer days than we have to. Actually our state requires hours, not days. And we hit that number so far before the end of the school year that it's not worth counting. But I'm excited I made it to 100 with this blog. That's totally fun!
The other day I listened to Julie Bogart and Rita Cevasco on Brave Writer's Facebook live. I'm just dying to get Rita's book, Trees in the Forest. So I downloaded the "Cartooning Characters" activity guide from it at the Brave Writer blog. We did the first 2 days' activities today, and it was so much fun. Here are Sarah's, mine and Rachel's. Sam had his clipped face down on his clipboard, so I didn't want to share a photo of it without his permission.
We had to draw a character from a book or movie and really think about that person and what they were like. It was kind of hard, but pretty satisfying too. I suggested that we all pick characters from the old Dick Van Dyke Show, so the girls both picked Laura Petrie and I chose Millie. Sam chose a Lego character--Master Wu. His picture was phenomenal. He loves to draw Lego characters, so he gets a lot of practice. Can't wait to continue this tomorrow.
This activity sparked a little bit of a Dick Van Dyke marathon today. Just a little--maybe 3 episodes. We were tired and grumpy today, so a little comedy helped. I think it was because of the weather. We are SO affected by it. It was gray all day!
I've got MyWritingCheck.com pretty much fixed so it'll be easier for people to pay for our service, and I tried it myself today. There's some little glitch that has to be ironed out about the email on the account, but it's getting there. I think I might start doing videos for the site too. Things like showing my thought process as I do a critique or reading my blog posts and talking about them a little bit. It could be fun, as long as I don't have to do them live. That makes me so nervous and I can't think.
See you tomorrow!
The other day I listened to Julie Bogart and Rita Cevasco on Brave Writer's Facebook live. I'm just dying to get Rita's book, Trees in the Forest. So I downloaded the "Cartooning Characters" activity guide from it at the Brave Writer blog. We did the first 2 days' activities today, and it was so much fun. Here are Sarah's, mine and Rachel's. Sam had his clipped face down on his clipboard, so I didn't want to share a photo of it without his permission.
This activity sparked a little bit of a Dick Van Dyke marathon today. Just a little--maybe 3 episodes. We were tired and grumpy today, so a little comedy helped. I think it was because of the weather. We are SO affected by it. It was gray all day!
I've got MyWritingCheck.com pretty much fixed so it'll be easier for people to pay for our service, and I tried it myself today. There's some little glitch that has to be ironed out about the email on the account, but it's getting there. I think I might start doing videos for the site too. Things like showing my thought process as I do a critique or reading my blog posts and talking about them a little bit. It could be fun, as long as I don't have to do them live. That makes me so nervous and I can't think.
See you tomorrow!
Monday, January 9, 2017
Day 99--Great Conversation
Today we got to go to my parents and see my brother that lives far enough away so we only see him twice a year. He is hilarious. We always spend all our time laughing when we're together. He'll be here all week, and we get see him almost every day. He loves to talk about everything: aliens, the earth being flat, totally made up stuff. Love the conversation when he's around!
Don't you love conversation? I think that's where so much of our education and our kids' educations find growth. Sharing ideas, listening to others, willingness to consider other opinions in kindness, laughing, reading body language, finding out what's acceptable to say in different situations, so much valuable learning.
In the car on the way home, the kids were talking about this book series they're all reading. And Sarah isn't sure she wants to continue it. She thought she'd stop with book two, but she took a peek at the first few pages of book three to be sure. The problem is that the main character's wife dies of cancer at the beginning of book three. She hates that, so she'll have to decide whether to go on, but I love what Rachel said about it.
She pointed out that the author didn't have you get too attached to the wife like you did the husband. There isn't that connection to her, so you're less affected when she dies. What an amazing insight! Maybe having written a fictional book helped her see how plot is related to what's actually written. I don't know, but I loved that she could see that from the author's point of view.
I feel like so many times, I write about what we did that isn't school and how we learned from it anyway. I guess I could tell you that we did math, history, science, copywork, reading aloud, etc. I think that would be nearly the same every day though. I'd really rather talk about something else. I guess that explains why my kids would rather do something else!
I do want to talk about copywork for a minute. I want to love it, I do. I just can't get myself to. I think it's like eating vegetables; people believe it would make them healthier, but they just can't make themselves do it. Now, we love our vegetables, because we make them delicious. We roast them with garlic or sautée them with garlic, or even bread and fry them (zucchini), eat them raw dipped in yogurt dressing, put them in with a roast, or put butter and maple syrup on them (sweet potatoes). We never boil them. I think a lot of people make boiled veggies or used canned ones--something we only do when we're making pot pie.
I believe copywork is important and effective, but it's so hard to do. So I guess I need to sautée it and stop boiling it. Actually, my kids like copywork just fine; it's me. I never feel like having them do it because it seems bland to me. I think it needs to be more meaningful for me to feel better about it. A couple years ago, we started to sew books for ourselves to copy quotes into. We felt so powerful; we could make books! We never did finish them. Maybe it's time to get those done and copy meaningful quotes into them.
See you tomorrow!
Don't you love conversation? I think that's where so much of our education and our kids' educations find growth. Sharing ideas, listening to others, willingness to consider other opinions in kindness, laughing, reading body language, finding out what's acceptable to say in different situations, so much valuable learning.
In the car on the way home, the kids were talking about this book series they're all reading. And Sarah isn't sure she wants to continue it. She thought she'd stop with book two, but she took a peek at the first few pages of book three to be sure. The problem is that the main character's wife dies of cancer at the beginning of book three. She hates that, so she'll have to decide whether to go on, but I love what Rachel said about it.
She pointed out that the author didn't have you get too attached to the wife like you did the husband. There isn't that connection to her, so you're less affected when she dies. What an amazing insight! Maybe having written a fictional book helped her see how plot is related to what's actually written. I don't know, but I loved that she could see that from the author's point of view.
I feel like so many times, I write about what we did that isn't school and how we learned from it anyway. I guess I could tell you that we did math, history, science, copywork, reading aloud, etc. I think that would be nearly the same every day though. I'd really rather talk about something else. I guess that explains why my kids would rather do something else!
I do want to talk about copywork for a minute. I want to love it, I do. I just can't get myself to. I think it's like eating vegetables; people believe it would make them healthier, but they just can't make themselves do it. Now, we love our vegetables, because we make them delicious. We roast them with garlic or sautée them with garlic, or even bread and fry them (zucchini), eat them raw dipped in yogurt dressing, put them in with a roast, or put butter and maple syrup on them (sweet potatoes). We never boil them. I think a lot of people make boiled veggies or used canned ones--something we only do when we're making pot pie.
I believe copywork is important and effective, but it's so hard to do. So I guess I need to sautée it and stop boiling it. Actually, my kids like copywork just fine; it's me. I never feel like having them do it because it seems bland to me. I think it needs to be more meaningful for me to feel better about it. A couple years ago, we started to sew books for ourselves to copy quotes into. We felt so powerful; we could make books! We never did finish them. Maybe it's time to get those done and copy meaningful quotes into them.
See you tomorrow!
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Day 98--Rachel's Book Cover
Rachel finally said I could show you a picture of her book cover! We're having so much fun figuring out all there is to know about self-publishing. And editing. We're hoping to finish the editing by the end of the month. I thought it would just be another week or two, but let's be real. I have the hardest time being real about how long things will take. When I was helping with the editing of Self-Motivated Kids, it was so much faster. I don't know if it's because Rachel's my daughter or if it's because non-fiction is easier for me than fiction. Maybe a little of both.
Don't the description and quote just make you want to read it right away?
I just asked Sam what we did today, and he said, "We ate pizza." I guess our school day was not extremely memorable for him. Maybe he doesn't want to remember things like working on solving for an unknown in Pre-Algebra. He says all the problems look the same. I have to admit he's right.
We did eat pizza for dinner. We eat a lot of pizza, but at least it's pretty healthy. We almost always put sautéed vegetables on it and tons of garlic. It kind of hurts my gal-bladder if I don't put the veggies on. We usually have carrots, but cauliflower is good too. We had feta cheese on it tonight; we love feta.
I started reading Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl aloud a couple days ago. I think it would be an easier book to read silently, but none of them have read it so I thought we'd just have it all at once. Right now all the kids are reading different books from the Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites series. I think this is Sam's third time through the series. We have about 10 of them, and he wants us to get the rest; but I don't think the story will end with the ones that are out already. It's a cliffhanger every time, which is fun but eventually we want to know what happens.
Science is rolling right along for everyone. I think I mentioned before that Rachel is enjoying reading through her Advanced Biology from Apologia without taking tests. She's still answering questions, taking notes, and telling us all about our bodies. Sam and Sarah occasionally seem concerned that they won't get all the way through their books by the end of the year, but I'm sure they will. We don't have any more major breaks scheduled until summer, so I think they'll be fine.
We've let history slide for a little while, but we'd better pick it back up since both the girls have to be earning credits. I use an umbrella school that keeps grades and generates transcripts, and they issue a high school diploma at the end; but that means I feel a little more pressure to categorize than I normally would. I know I don't have to, but I don't want to complicate things. They don't want your transcript looking too strange, like too many home-ec credits or something.
We need to get serious about our research projects tomorrow. It's just hard to spread out the computer time between everyone when they all have research to do at once. I feel like I need to be with each of them for that and they all need me for math. By the time I do both of those things individually with three people, I'm spent. Actually, I don't know if Sam and Sarah are going to share their project yet. I think they probably will. Sam would love Sarah to be the scribe!
See you tomorrow!
Don't the description and quote just make you want to read it right away?
I just asked Sam what we did today, and he said, "We ate pizza." I guess our school day was not extremely memorable for him. Maybe he doesn't want to remember things like working on solving for an unknown in Pre-Algebra. He says all the problems look the same. I have to admit he's right.
We did eat pizza for dinner. We eat a lot of pizza, but at least it's pretty healthy. We almost always put sautéed vegetables on it and tons of garlic. It kind of hurts my gal-bladder if I don't put the veggies on. We usually have carrots, but cauliflower is good too. We had feta cheese on it tonight; we love feta.
I started reading Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl aloud a couple days ago. I think it would be an easier book to read silently, but none of them have read it so I thought we'd just have it all at once. Right now all the kids are reading different books from the Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites series. I think this is Sam's third time through the series. We have about 10 of them, and he wants us to get the rest; but I don't think the story will end with the ones that are out already. It's a cliffhanger every time, which is fun but eventually we want to know what happens.
Science is rolling right along for everyone. I think I mentioned before that Rachel is enjoying reading through her Advanced Biology from Apologia without taking tests. She's still answering questions, taking notes, and telling us all about our bodies. Sam and Sarah occasionally seem concerned that they won't get all the way through their books by the end of the year, but I'm sure they will. We don't have any more major breaks scheduled until summer, so I think they'll be fine.
We've let history slide for a little while, but we'd better pick it back up since both the girls have to be earning credits. I use an umbrella school that keeps grades and generates transcripts, and they issue a high school diploma at the end; but that means I feel a little more pressure to categorize than I normally would. I know I don't have to, but I don't want to complicate things. They don't want your transcript looking too strange, like too many home-ec credits or something.
We need to get serious about our research projects tomorrow. It's just hard to spread out the computer time between everyone when they all have research to do at once. I feel like I need to be with each of them for that and they all need me for math. By the time I do both of those things individually with three people, I'm spent. Actually, I don't know if Sam and Sarah are going to share their project yet. I think they probably will. Sam would love Sarah to be the scribe!
See you tomorrow!
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Day 97--Writing Tip
We had school today, but right ow it seems like anything I'd write about it would be boring. So I thought I'd share one of my writing tip blog posts from MyWritingChreck here. It's from July. Enjoy!
In William Zinsser's book, On Writing Well, he tells about an adult writing class he taught "in which no writing was required." (page 255) He told his students to think of a place they wanted to write about and come prepared to talk about how and why they could do it. They would discuss it as a group and help each other figure out what might work. They never actually had to do the writing. He was setting them free from the pressure and letting the process happen. Many students wanted to go on and do the writing, and some did. Even several years later.
Your students need time, like all writers, to find out what they want to say and how to say it. They need to research or read at a comfortable pace instead of rushing to paraphrase some piece of information they haven't digested or don't even care about. The phrase "having something to say" implies ownership. They need to actually know a thing before writing about it. That is, if you want to be interested in reading it.
At least two of my kids have always wanted to change the topic of their papers after they started to research. I used to let it bother me; but I figured out that when they said they couldn't find any information on a topic, that just meant they hadn't found anything interesting enough to want to know.
I don't have the answer to the "topic change" sickness, but I do know it's hard to write what anyone wants to read if you don't own what you're trying to say.
So your job is to give your students time to take in and digest what they want to write about. Let it become part of them like last night's dinner. Trust me, when kids know something, they want to tell you about it. Usually in a lively and engaging way.
Then you can let us check it over for you at MyWritingCheck.com
See you tomorrow!
In William Zinsser's book, On Writing Well, he tells about an adult writing class he taught "in which no writing was required." (page 255) He told his students to think of a place they wanted to write about and come prepared to talk about how and why they could do it. They would discuss it as a group and help each other figure out what might work. They never actually had to do the writing. He was setting them free from the pressure and letting the process happen. Many students wanted to go on and do the writing, and some did. Even several years later.
Your students need time, like all writers, to find out what they want to say and how to say it. They need to research or read at a comfortable pace instead of rushing to paraphrase some piece of information they haven't digested or don't even care about. The phrase "having something to say" implies ownership. They need to actually know a thing before writing about it. That is, if you want to be interested in reading it.
At least two of my kids have always wanted to change the topic of their papers after they started to research. I used to let it bother me; but I figured out that when they said they couldn't find any information on a topic, that just meant they hadn't found anything interesting enough to want to know.
I don't have the answer to the "topic change" sickness, but I do know it's hard to write what anyone wants to read if you don't own what you're trying to say.
So your job is to give your students time to take in and digest what they want to write about. Let it become part of them like last night's dinner. Trust me, when kids know something, they want to tell you about it. Usually in a lively and engaging way.
Then you can let us check it over for you at MyWritingCheck.com
See you tomorrow!
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Day 96--I'm an Editor!
Rachel and I have been doing a lot of editing on her book, and it seems like we'll never get done. We were talking about how editing involves tons of cutting, and she made an pretty accurate observation. She said, "It's a strategy to keep editing and editing until you hate your book so much that it doesn't bother you to cut everything out." I'd say that's true. You get so sick of reading it, you just don't care what you throw away.
Of course, it's easy for me to throw out words that aren't mine. I guess that's why I love editing other people's work so much more than my own. I just got a book in the mail today that I helped to edit (I've probably talked about it here before), and I was so excited to hold it in my hands. I guess Rachel's book will be the next one in my hands that I edited. Then hopefully, one of mine will be next!
This week, I'm working on making the MyWritingCheck website easier to use, and easier for people to pay for the service. I'm also planning a blog post for it about editing and cutting. I might even read some of the blog posts on Facebook live or youtube and talk about them. I'm thinking about a little push of "advertising" or getting the word out because most of us panic in January and feel like we need help in our homeschool. I really want the critique service to be a help to homeschoolers.
We were a little more productive for school today. I taught Sam and Sarah a couple new things for math. I just hope they remember tomorrow. Sometimes it takes several days of teaching the same thing over and over before they remember it, which I'm sure you know. I feel like there were so many things I had to do today besides school too: cooking 10 pounds of ground round to freeze for easy lunches, haircuts for Rachel and Sarah--I do that myself, youth activities at church, making New Year's cards for a few people, and on and on. By the time all that was done--and whatever else I did--I had started getting a tension headache.
Thankfully, it's almost gone and I get to go to sleep soon. I'd actually love to just stay up all night reading a book or something, but I think the sleep will do me good.
See you tomorrow!
Of course, it's easy for me to throw out words that aren't mine. I guess that's why I love editing other people's work so much more than my own. I just got a book in the mail today that I helped to edit (I've probably talked about it here before), and I was so excited to hold it in my hands. I guess Rachel's book will be the next one in my hands that I edited. Then hopefully, one of mine will be next!
We were a little more productive for school today. I taught Sam and Sarah a couple new things for math. I just hope they remember tomorrow. Sometimes it takes several days of teaching the same thing over and over before they remember it, which I'm sure you know. I feel like there were so many things I had to do today besides school too: cooking 10 pounds of ground round to freeze for easy lunches, haircuts for Rachel and Sarah--I do that myself, youth activities at church, making New Year's cards for a few people, and on and on. By the time all that was done--and whatever else I did--I had started getting a tension headache.
Thankfully, it's almost gone and I get to go to sleep soon. I'd actually love to just stay up all night reading a book or something, but I think the sleep will do me good.
See you tomorrow!
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