Catholic Christian Homeschooling

How the new routine/schedule is working!

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:16:00 +0000

Back in January I mention how I was going to reshape our day. So that I 'school' superstar in the morning and web-princess in the afternoon. Well after some trail and error I found a routine that seems to be working for everyone.

This routine allows me to focus on one child at a time. In the morning Superstar does Math, Spelling, and English. I'm there to help him with those subjects, but I also do some house work, or little projects that need to be done, but can be easily put to the side if Superstar needs help. While Superstar is working on those subjects Web-princess does some reading, wii fit, and piano practice.

After these things are done we do science and history together then break for lunch. After lunch it's Web-princess' turn to do Math, Spelling and English while Superstar does some reading, wii fit, and piano practice. This allows us to be done around 3:00 pm which good because Superstar has made some friends via scouts and they are home by 3:30 pm and at least twice a week are calling here asking if Superstar can play.

After dinner I've put in their time to read their McGuffy Reader lessons with mom. I think this works best, because it does allow us to be done by 3:00 pm and if daddy wants he can read the lessons with them.

It took us a while to figure it out, but so far so good!

Santorum and Duuggar Surprise

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:06:00 +0000

So Sunday I went and seen Romney, I also mention then that I would be going to see Santorum in person. That's exactly what I did yesterday morning. Santorum was schedule to speak at 9 am and the doors to the club he was speaking at was going to open at 8 am, so the kids and I went and got there at 7 am. We stood at the door and waited until it was time to get in.

At 7 am it was just myself, my children and 1 other person. It stayed that way until about quarter after when a few more showed up. At a quarter after secret service came to the door and said we had to wait till 8 am. We said we understood that was fine --- they allowed us to stay. At about 7:50 they open up the door and let us come in. So the kids and I got to stand right in front of the podium.

There was nothing between us and Santurom other then a rope to mark that we could not go any closer. The kids were getting excited because it meant that they would be able to SEE and HEAR what's going on.

We stood there and waited, by 8:30 the room started to fill in more. I was surprised by how slowly it took for the space to fill up. I know the closer it got to 9 the more it filled in and people were no longer allowed into the actual room that Santurom was in, but had to stand in the OTHER room -- those poor people didn't get to see anything. Santurom never walked the crowd or passed over his side of the rope line. So only those that were standing at the line got to meet him. We were apart of the lucky ones. Santurom did pose with the kids, but he moved on before my phone was done taking the picture so I didn't get a very good shot. That and I was trying to back up to get the shot and the crowd behind was trying to push forward so the picture was all blurred, but I tried.

After we got the picture I moved the kids away from the crowd and took a picture of them with the poster that Santorum sign.

Then on our way out the door to my surprise I seen some Duggar children. As soon as I seen them I knew they were Duggar children.

I got a picture with Jinger (and one of the younger Duggar boys); then asked her if the rest of the family was there or not. She said the whole family was there. So we went out, but because of the rain no one was really outside so I went back inside to see if I could see Michelle. I seen Josh and Jim Bob. I took a picture of Jim Bob.

It was then I seen Jill. So I approached Jill and asked her if she knew where her mom was at. She said that mom was on the bus with the little ones. I then got a picture with Jill.

So I went back out and asked Jinger if they were all going to Dixon, IL with Santorum. She said yes, but wasn't sure how that was going to turn out seeing it was raining. The Dixon event was schedule to be outside. On the way out that time, we seen Jana so I got a picture of her too.

So I got in the car and debated if I should take the hour drive to Dixon. It wasn't so much the drive but the weather. I just wasn't sure if it would be worth my efforts. However I decided to do it. I drove to Dixon and was able to meet and get a picture with Michele Duggar too!

It was in Dixon I was able to see many more of the children as as well. I seen them all really, but my phone started acting funny so I wasn't able to get any more pictures.

And as you can see in the picture with Michelle it stopped raining.

My kids were excited to see Santurom and be apart of that, but they were more excited and surprise to see the Duggars. Web-princess when she seen her dad last night said "Daddy my life long wish came true! I got to meet someone that has a TV show!"

Political Process

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 01:20:00 +0000

I so wished the kids wanted to come with me today. They didn't want to come because they were afraid that we would get stuck seeing NOTHING like it was in Springfield when we went for the "homeschooling bill". They were disappointed that we were not able to make into the hearing room in Springfield that they didn't want to come with me in fear that the same thing would happen here.

This coming Tuesday is the Illinois primary and the race for the republican nomination is a close one. So much so that 2 of the Republican candidates decided to come to my neck of the woods. Romney was here this afternoon and Santorum will be here tomorrow morning. These are very last minute planned stops for the candidates....it wasn't announced until last night that they would be here.

So I went today and listen to what Romney had to say in person. C-span was there and filmed the whole thing. They filmed him talking to the crowd and filmed him greeting the people. I was seated in the back room of the resturant that Romney spoke at, so I wasn't able to see him speak, but was I able to hear him.

While he spoke he sent his wife into the back room to do a meet and greet. It was during the meet and greet I was able to get a picture with his wife.

We were looking at two different cameras for the the picture. Romney after he spoke came into the room and greeted everyone as well. I didn't get a picture of him and I, but I was able to snag a picture from c-span's video of me shaking his hand.

The kids WILL be going with me tomorrow morning to Santorum's Rally. I think that fact I got to see/hear Romney today is helping them feel better about going. That and they really won't have choice tomorrow seeing Daddy has to go to work! LOL

Making Laundry Soap!

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 22:56:00 +0000

I think I've jumped on that band wagon and will not return. Actually, I don't know if that's true or not! I've been wanting to make my own soap for while, however I've not been sure on which directions to follow. They all pretty much use the same items, but the water to detergent ratios are different in each recipe I found. Sometimes it's 2 gallons, sometimes 5 gallons, or somewhere in between. So I settled on doing a dry powder mix.

The one I really wanted to try the most was just a very big patch to try. The est. cost would have been around $20 and would have last 9 months to a year. However, I just didn't want to spend money making such a large batch in fear I would not like it.

So I found a similar recipe to try. The one I went with only used 1/2 cup of borax, 1/2 cup of washing soda, and one bar of soap. I had the borax, washing soda, and 1 bar of fels naptha on hand, because when I mention to my friends I wanted to try making my own soap, one of them stepped up and gave me the ingredients for free. (She tried making soap, but didn't like the results so she gave me what she didn't used).

I made the small batched and have washed just one load. So far okay, but over time I'll know for sure. If this seems to work out well, then I might step it up and do the larger batch seeing it has other items added to help fight of stains. Right now I'm using the the stain fighters I normally use.

Let's Talk About Blood?

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:58:00 +0000

Oh, boy! The human body, blood, hearts, lungs, etc. are all things that make Superstar very uneasy! Just seeing a cut makes him turn pale, so you can imagine what I'm going through this week, seeing our science chapter is about the circulatory system.

I'm making him get through it. I'm reading the material, reading the questions in the workbook, and having him verbally answer them. It's not a pretty scene. I don't want to skip over the material just because it makes him uneasy, but at the same time I don't want him being so upset.

I know it's not an easy topic for him, but I think on some levels he's being a bit of a 'Drama King' about it all. I don't want to snap and tell him to knock it off, and just 'grow up', but at the same time that's what I want him to do. I know it's hard, my husband doesn't like this stuff either and will actually leave the room or change the channel if any of this stuff is on or being discussed. I know that's exactly what Superstar wants to do, but we have to through it.

As I'm typing this out, I just had a brainy idea. I wonder if I can get my husband to teach this chapter to our son? I know he hates the topic as well, but perhaps the two of them can work it out together! It think I'm going to ask hubby tonight about that!

What's wrong with being quiet and polite?

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:46:00 +0000

It's funny the things people say to you about your own children. Superstar has joined boy scouts recently. Well, at first he was in cub scouts, but just bridged over this passed weekend to boy scouts at the annual blue and gold banquet.

As preparation for the banquet the boys were invited to go to another scouters house to decorate cupcakes. It was an open house type event -- just show up whenever you can between 5-7. It was decided I should take him because the host was another homeschooling mom and we thought it would be nice for me to able to meet her. It was nice to meet here!

Anyway, when we showed up and all the boys that were there were already downstairs playing games, because they had already decorated their cupcakes. As soon as we arrived Superstar washed his hands, decorated his cakes, rewashed his hand, and then walked up to me and said "Okay I'm done, we can go". I then said to him "Well, didn't you want to go downstairs and say hi to the other boys?" He looked at me and said "Oh, okay" and then asked our host if it was okay? She said sure go ahead. Clearly Superstar didn't catch the other parents mentioning how the boys were downstairs playing because they already decorated their cupcakes.

Another mother, not our host, said "Superstar is always so quiet and polite. We really need to break him out of his shell?" I really didn't know how to respond to that, other then to give an awkward little chuckle and smile and say "Yes, he can be a bit quiet at times".

I've been thinking about these words from some time and I really don't know why being polite is such a horrible thing! I will admit that when he doesn't know someone or at a new place he can be a bit quiet, but when he gets to know you he opens up more. I think that's normal. I wouldn't have given much thought if this mother only mention the quiet part, but given she mention in being "polite" too, I'm taken back the whole thing.

Are kids 10-11years of age no longer polite? Is it no longer acceptable?

The Wonders of Physics

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 01:20:00 +0000

Today we traveled to Madison, WI and attended the Wonder of Physics at University of Wisconsin. This was a free program offered by UW physics department. Even though it was a free program we had to preregister in order to be sure that we would have seats.

It was just over an hour long and we had a great time. UW does have PASS shows available to watch on their site. We found that the videos don't download correctly. So the best way to watch them is to copy the link and then paste it into your windows media player. The videos are free to watch. Enjoy!

Review: Toad Hats

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:34:00 +0000

We bought the kids a wii for Christmas and with it came Super Mario Brothers Wii. One of their favorite character from the game is Toad. I'm not sure why, seeing I've always pretty much like Mario. It's funny how you think certain characters play "better" when in reality they all have the same functions. Or at least with this Mario game and the Mario game I grew up with.

So I had Toad Hats made by For The Love Of Scarves. We got them today! Don't the kids look great in them?

Superstar and Web-princess in their toad hats.
See how much taller SS is then WP?

I've bought other things from the For The Love Of Scarves. Like the hats I gave to my nieces for Christmas.

I swear the kids since getting the hats this afternoon have not taken them off! Well they did take them off for lunch, because we went out to eat and they didn't want anyone to steal them. They also took them off for baths. Those have been the only exceptions this afternoon. I'm thinking they may even sleep with them on!

Everything that is made by For The Love of Scarves are custom made. As you can see from her store the toad hat is shown has white and red. I just asked her to change the colors so they were the colors my kids wanted and give her my kids' head measurements!

Not only do I think she does great work, but by buying her products you are helping to supplement the income of a homeschooling family.

Disclosure: I was NOT paid or given anything to share my thoughts about For The Love of Scarves and their products.

Kids: When they stand side by side now I can't believe that they are only 10 months apart seeing SS stands so much taller now. At 10 1/2 years of age he's standing at 5 foot! I only stand at 5'6"-5'7". It won't be long and he'll be taller then me!

Mealworms!

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:25:00 +0000

So we've completed chapter 3 of our science book "Behold and See 5". The lab works at the end of this chapter suggested we catch some animals, feed them, and observe their behavior for a period of time. Seeing its the dead of winter catching animals isn't the best option right now. The book did suggest if we can't catch any to buy some mealworms or crickets to watch, feed, and observe.

I chose mealworms over the crickets because with the mealworms we can watch metamorphosis take place. The beginning of the chapter dealt with metamorphosis so it seemed to be more fitting. Plus from reading the book taking care of the mealworms seemed like an easier task. Keep them in a jar with some dry oatmeal and with some fruits or vegetables.

I bought the mealworms at a local pet store just over a week ago. I bought 50 of them for just over $3. Several of them didn't "wake-up" after warming up. The pet store keeps them in the refrigerator and I was told to put them back in the refrigerator so they don't move around. Of course moving around is what I wanted so I didn't follow that advice.

We measure several of them last week when we bought them and the average length was about 1 cm. Now the average length is about 2 cm. We think we have lost about 20 of the 50 we started with, but are hopeful that several will make it adulthood. I'll have pictures to share in a future post about our mealworms.

Consuming Kids!

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:03:00 +0000

If you have just over an hour to spare I suggest you watch the video above! I watched it and was amazed on some of the things I was hearing and seeing. Then I started to wonder if my kids were "abnormal".

I say that because my kids still use make believe. They'll grab a stick and pretend it's a wand, sword, or whatever it is they want it to be at the time. However, the video gave me the impression that's abnormal compare to "today's kids". What's your thoughts about the video above? Is there truth in it? What are you doing in you home to help curb any of the effects advertising had on your children?

Digging, Reading, Baking, History.....

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:49:00 +0000

Thankfully Superstar is not sick and even though today is Martin Luther King Day we did school work today. This morning started off rough. Superstar had a bit of an attiude about math. He picked it as is first subject but started to cry over it because it was division. He really loaths division and if he had his way not do any.

I did allow him to pick a different subject to start with so after some science, history, and reading he decided to tackle those division problems. Thankfully the rest of the day for him went well, school was done for him by noon, and he got to enjoy the rest of his afternoon doing other activities.

Seeing I've split the kids up Superstar in the morning and Web-princess in the afternoon, Superstar is free to do other activities in the afternoon. He spent his time digging for dinosaurs bones (a kit he got for Christmas) and making corn bread to go with tonight's dinner.

He did these activities while Web-princess did some reading with the McGuffey reader and online tutor. I've only used the online tutor videos for two days now. I'm not sure if that's the direction I want to go to completely, but so far Web-princess does enjoy it. We've had the readers for a while now and have been using them. The tutor was something a friend of mine told me about. I've had the link for a while now and just started to use it. Web-princess also read some of her history text book while Superstar was busy being a baker!

Oh and if you use currclick and have any times in your wishlist go check them out. I got an email from currclick today saying that some of my items on my wishlist were on sale. One item on my wish list was $25 dollars but it was mark down to $2. So you know I got that today. I'll have to look it over more closely now that I have it, but I'm thinking I can use it for some American History in the near future.

Recap Of Our Week

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:05:00 +0000

Last week I shared how I was going to split the kids up and work with Superstar in the morning and Web-princess in the afternoon. It's only been one week, and Superstar has been sick for 1/2 of it so I haven't been able to really test it out. Although the days that I was able to follow this new schedule/routine it worked out pretty good. The house was quieter, there was less stress for everyone, and the days seemed to be more productive. Of course it will be only a matter of time before we know for sure.

I'm starting to miss my friends and our co-op. I-HOPE, the co-op, has been on break since the beginning of December and won't start back up until February. In the mean time I'm planning to meet up with some of the families before February if my kids are well enough.

Since Christmas we have been battling fevers, runs, vomit, etc. This week just happens to be Superstar's turn. The only symptoms he has had this week is sore throat and fever. Today is temp is closer to normal, but seeing he had a temp of 101-102 the previous 2 days I decided no school again for him today.

It's been a bummer for him seeing yesterday we FINALLY got snow fall and a good amount of snow too. The kids have been itching all winter for snow! Our first snow fall this winter season and Superstar is to sick to go out and play in it. Web-princess on the other hand has been enjoying the snow. I gave her a snow day yesterday and she spent the nearly the whole day outside in the snow. I could have done school, but honestly it would have been an battle seeing I know all they have wished for the last month now is for some snow to go play in.

SAHM ARE LAZY!!

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:55:00 +0000

Clearly I do NOT think that! Seeing I AM a SAHM! However there are some moms that do feel that way:

I'm in shock that we have come to the point where working mothers would label stay at home mothers lazy!! I'm not sure why they would label stay at home mothers as lazy.

The Comedy Mass

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 01:25:00 +0000

My kids and hubby made a video while I was out today. I think it's hilarious and I hope you feel the same way.

New Year, New Schedule, New Routines

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 03:42:00 +0000

Or at least that is the plan. I've been reading, my dear friend, Judy Dudich's book: I Surrender and have been participating in the discussion group on facebook.

Recently Judy mention, in the discussion, how she's been reconstructing her schedule and not doing "school" with a few of her children until the evening. This is because her family structure is such that it's easier for her to give more attention to those children in the evening. With 10 children I'm sure that makes more sense. In response several other moms mention they did similar things.

I may have only 2, but it gets difficult for me. Often Superstar is waiting for me to help him with one thing because I'm helping Web-Princess. Web-Princess has to wait for me because I'm helping Superstar. They get annoyed with each other and impatient. I'm jumping back and forth like a pinball and often feel bad because we get the bare minimum done. That's good, but I would like more. If only I could just focus on ONE.

Out of the two Web-Princess is the child that needs my help more because she's a struggling reader. I don't just want to focus on her I want to be there for Superstar. Jumping back and forth just isn't working. Some subjects go every fast others take longer. There is no way to really plan it well.

Judy's post, in the facebook group, was I light bulb moment for me! Why don't I just restructure our day and focus on just ONE child at the time. I'm not a very good morning person. It's a bit of a struggle for me to get into the grove of things. Superstar like to start first thing in the day and seeing he often doesn't need my help as much I figure I would focus on him in the morning. I can still get other things done, but be available for him when he needs it. So I could not only be there for him but get some housework done.

Then after lunch it will be Web-princess time to start school. By lunch Superstar should be done if not soonner and I'll have the rest of the afternoon to work with Web-princess. I choose to put her in the afternoon because she does require a lot more of my help and in the afternoon we'll have more time. Seeing it will be easier to work up to dinner if needed or pick it back up right after dinner and finish it up.

I don't foresee us going that late all the time but the possibility is there so I thought it was best to put her in the afternoon. The other bonus of putting her in the afternoon is that if Superstar gets done before lunch, whihc I see happening several days, I can start her early

I'm going to start this new schedule tomorrow and see how it goes!

We have some ovaries on our kitchen counter.

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:10:00 +0000

We've been working with our science material: Behold and See Science 5. The current topic we are working with is the anatomy of a flower. Our book describes the ovary as the part of the flower that will become fruit.

So my kids, thinking that it's funny, has decided to use the word when asking for the apples, oranges, or whatever other fruit we've had on hand this week. Mama can I have a red ovary? (apple). Mama can I have a orange ovary? (orange). We have NOT discussed human reproductive anatomy yet, so they have NO idea that this is a name of a female reproductive part. They just think it's a funny sounding word and are proud that they have understood the lessons.

They even said it public at the store today. Mama can we buy more red ovaries? I love that my kids are learning and absorbing the materials. It's good that they can look at the fruit and understand that when it was a flower that was the ovary and the seeds inside were the ovules.

However, given the word you can imagine why my face turned flushed at the store while doing a quick look around to see who heard and if they were given me some crazy looks.

It's beginning to look a lot like.....

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:47:00 +0000

Christmas! No, not really; or at least not in this house. We don't deck the halls until the 3rd or 4th Sunday of Advent. Seeing this pass Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent we won't decorate the house until Dec 11-18th. It however may end up being a bit later then that seeing the kids and I will be going to TX to visit my sister at Ft. Hood.

As many of my long time readers and friends know my sister was station in Iraq and during the course of her deployment her 3 (now 4 year old) son stayed with us part time. My nephew rotated homes on a 2 month rotation for the length of the deployment. 2 months here-2 months at my mom's house. My sister's deployment ended about month early due to an serious hand injury. In short 500lb fell unto her right hand causing serious damage -- damage that will take AT LEAST 1 year (if not more) to recover from.

She's been state side for little over a month now, perhaps 2 months. She was home for several weeks before my nephew was able to be transported down to TX to stay with her. My nephew has been in TX with his mom for about a month now. The kids are excited to be able to see Auntie and Little Man.

They are excited, but at the same time not thrilled with the idea of doing school work while in TX. My sister was not able to get block leave for when I'm going down; so she'll have to "work" Mon-Friday while I'm there. Seeing we will be on base the kids and I can't really do anything without her or my nephew with us; so I told them we'll do some school work while Auntie is working and Little Man is at school.

They aren't thrilled by it, but I had to reminded them that Daddy is taking nearly 2 week off over Christmas/New Years and we'll have NO School during that time. This is a first for us. Hubby has never had so much time off around Christmas/New Years. We have always done school minus the days that Hubby is home (Christmas Eve, Christmas Day; New Years Eve; New Years Day).

If I didn't make them do school while at Auntie's then it would mean they would have the whole month of December off and I couldn't just do that! I know many homeschooler do, but I can't do that. The more days off we have the harder it is for us to get into the grove again. So I really try to limit the number of days off.

Do you take days off during the month of December? Is your house beginning to look like Christmas? Do you celebrate Advent?

Who doesn't love a good deal?

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:46:00 +0000

Have you heard of nomorerack? I just heard about it this week via facebook. They basically every day have new deals that are posted (noon est) time that stays live till 11:59 (est) time the next day. Unless they sell out of the deal. Many of the products they offer are 75-90% below retail price. In addition to that they have what they are calling their INSANE deals.

Nomorerack insane deals show up on the homepage in a purple box and will have things like Kindle for $15. You never know when those deals will show up you would have to be able to visit the site often at various times through out the day to catch an INSANE deal. I haven't been able to catch an insane deal, but have heard about them after the fact.

Besides checking out the site at various times the best way to catch an INSANE deal is to register with the site that way if you happen to visit the site and see an insane deal you want you don't have to waist time registering. Registration is free. You have to register with the site in order to buy anything including the insane deals. Just thought you would like to know.

Yard Work!

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 22:31:00 +0000

Seeing it's fall and we are having warm weather today, warmer then what is normal for this time of year, the kids and hubby did some yard work. It's 65 outside! Hubby let the kids take control of the leaf blower and needless to say they had a little bit to much fun with it this afternoon. I don't think any real 'work' was accomplished.

Their goal was to get the leafs to the backyard near the burn pit. However the leafs really didn't get any where. At first they were just blowing the leafs with the leaf blower....towards the back yard, but seeing there is only one blower and two children they decided to come up with this lovely but not every practical way to work together.

Web-Princess blowing leaves into the wheelbarrow.

Yep, that's right they decided to blow the leafs into the wheelbarrow. Web-princess was able to get some leafs up into the wheelbarrow.

However after getting a few in she would try to blow more and end up blowing the leafs out of the wheelbarrow. Hubby decided to let them be and after an hour of doing this and getting nowhere they put away all the tools and told hubby they were done for today! HA-HA.

Hubby in his wisdom told the kids that was fine and thanked them for their help. While the kids were ~~playing~~ working I told hubby that in a few minutes you should have them do the work for real. He said no, I'll just let them be today. Sometimes it's just better to see them have fun then worrying about if it's done "correctly". We'll get the yard later. Besides I told Superstar I would play some yu-gi-oh with him and he's already been waiting long enough today for that. I rather do that with him then worry about the yard right now.

Thank-You Vets

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 03:04:00 +0000

Last Sunday coming home from church Superstar, my son, seen a sign that said "Thank-You Vets". In response to the sign he asked us "On what day do we honor veterinarians?". That made us chuckle. We explained to him that's NOT the type of VET the sign was talking about. We explained who the vets are and shared with him that Daddy, my husband, is a vet.

In honor of my husband we did not have school work today. Speaking of my husband my daughter, Web-princess, has a bit of my hubby's humor. Before leaving the house my hubby always tells the DOG to be good, no parties, don't eat the garbage, no girls can be over, etc. Well he does this only if everyone is leaving.

So this week while hubby was at work the kids and I were setting off to leave. My daughter told the DOG to be good, no parties, and no girls can be over especially POODLES!! I had the biggest belly laugh when she said that. I asked her why especially poodles. Her response was that they are especially "dangerous" with their fancy hair cuts, and "poofy" ankles. I guess they are a temptation that male dog can't resist?

Happy Veteran's Day!

Spelling Power

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:15:00 +0000

Spelling Power. Have you heard of it? Have you used it? Do you like it? What are your thoughts of the program? I was able to buy the book used along with the resource CD and quick start DVD. This is our second day of using it and so far so good.

The kids seem to enjoy it. Set up hasn't been to bad. We are still trying to get into the flow of it. I think things will move much smoother then they do now once we are use to the program.

Because of using this program I realized that my daughter doesn't use lower case letter or capital letters in the correct format. For example she'll right things like SEvEnTh. I've, also, noticed that certain letters like B, D, G, E, T are always written in the capital form. She did this before when working with spelling list, but I never really correct that, nor did I really pay attention to how often she did that. Spelling Power wants you to correct those kind of mistakes. So I've been correcting her. Luckily that doesn't bother her much. Hopefully it will stay that way.

We haven't done much "traditional" writing. I've let my kids over the last few years do writing on the computer, because I wanted to build on their computer skills. However now I'm seeing that perhaps that wasn't the wisest thing seeing their true writing and penmanship skills have suffered.

Do any of you have any suggestions for workbooks and activities to improve writing and penmanship for OLDER children?

He really does LOVE her!

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:20:00 +0000

My kids being 10 and 9 now! Wow 10 and 9 (Looking back at this blog it's hard to believe seeing when I started this blog and homeschooling they were 7 and 6.)

Anyway Superstar, 10, doesn't always want to admit that he does LOVE and care about his sister. He's never really mean to her, but doesn't want to hug or kiss her when she ask. Web-princess still like to give her brother hugs and kisses, but he hasn gotten to the point where he doesn't want to give back that type of affection, but his LOVE for her does come out. --like today--

Web-princess is sick. She has been complaining about a sore throat for a few days now and this morning starting vomiting. We attempt to make it to Mass seeing Superstar was schedule to serve, but when we arrived Web-princess ask to go to the bathroom and started vomiting (thankfully in the toilet). So I had to get Superstar tell him we are leaving; we can't stay because of Web-princess vomiting. (I also explain the situation to Father.)

We got home and Web-princess was vomiting some more. I'm helping Web-princess out and Superstar comes down to the bathroom and said here Sis. He hands her a small garbage can with a fresh, clean, garbage bag in it. As he handed it to her he said you can use this in the living room so you can watch cartoons and don't have to worry about getting to the bathroom.

See he really does care and loves her. I wish he would be willing to give her a hug every once in while so Web-princess will realize that he does, because that's how she shows love (and how she would like love given back).

Worms For Dinner!

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 00:38:00 +0000

Yuck!!! I know, but it's true we have been having worms for dinner guest for the last 2 nights! They also have been our breakfast and lunch guests as well. You know you're a homeschooler when the jar that hold the worms has been sitting on your kitchen table for the last few days, even during meal times and it doesn't wig you out! (In part because if we put them somewhere else we may just 'forget' about them!)

The kids just finished up chapter 1 of their science book, Behold and See 5. The topic of this chapter? Do you want to take a guess? (I'll give you a glue it has to do with our guests). The topic was the earthworm. We dug up earthworms from our yard Thursday afternoon and place them in a jar so we can observe them.

newspaper covering jar of worms

We decided to keep the jar covered in newspaper to help keep the jar dark and hopefully encourage the worms to tunnel at the edge of the jar were we could observe them. The book suggested this lab experiment. It said to feed the worms lettuce or apple peels and sprinkles of water. The book also suggested the filter on top to allow air in but keep flies and other pest out. The food would atract flies.

Jar without newspaper. The green stuff is lettuce.

We put all the dirt in first and then put the worms on top. We put in about 5-8 worms and had to remove 3 of them this morning because it was clear they didn't make it. We had a few we thought would be iffy on survival, but thought we would give them a shot. We for sure we have 2 left in the jar. Out of the two we have left (maybe more) we only have been able to observe one.

The one we have been able to observe has been hanging out at the edge of the jar. We have been able to see it eat and move along. I tried to get a close up of this worm, but it's a little hard to make out. I did my best to show you by circling where the worm is.

Thing inside the circle is the worm.

You can also see where this worm has been. The moisture trail that follows behind this worm shows you where he has been. In an attempt to show you this I have put red arrows in the picture below to point out the moisture and a purple line to show you the trail.

Archaeological Dig

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 23:51:00 +0000

Last Friday we had the opportunity to go to Shabbona Grove, IL for an archaeological dig. The dig is apart of the Shabbona Grove Archaeological Project. The kids along with other kids from I-HOPE were able to dig, clean artifacts, sift through the dirt, and later catalog items all under the watchful eye of Ms. Croyl.

SS digging on site.

When digging they were told to take small thin layers at a time. This was so they could tell what layer things came from. Also by digging small layers at a time if something clearly unusual pops up then we would see it. Like this red rubbery/plastic thing that we dug out.

unusual red rubbery/plastic thing

When we found something unusual like the red rubbery-plastic thing pictured above then we took measurements of where in the square it was and how deep it was from the surface. We also record it's orination: was it standing up? laying on it's side, etc. All of that data is recorded into a computer that will give a detail picture of the area.

The above are up-close pictures of that mysterious red thing we found. If you, dear reader, have any idea what it could be PLEASE let me know. Sometimes archaeologists find things they aren't exactly sure what it is, and it is the case with this red thing. So if you know please share! This could really help them date other artifacts that were found on the same level, such as a nails and Lincoln log. Lincoln logs go back to the 1916 closer to the time period they were hoping to find. So you never know....

When cleaning artifacts we found coal and bullet shell.

WP in red and friend cleaning artifacts

circled thing is a piece of coal

circled thing is a bullet shell

Side Notes: Yes I know WP (Web-princess)'s hair is SHORT! She had me cut it like that over the summer. It's longer now then it was, but still very short! Also please, if you have facebook, share I-HOPE's fan page with everyone. I'm trying to reach as many homeschoolers I can, especially local homeschoolers! I realize you may not be a local homeschooler, but given how paths can cross, because of social networks, you may know someone locally to me via the internet or your friends may know someone locally to me.

The co-op is new I started it last summer and I'm trying to grow it! Thanks a million for sharing the facebook fan page. Also all of the pictures belong to I-HOPE and were used with permission.

Green Eggs & Ham

noreply@blogger.com (SAHMinIL) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 23:58:00 +0000

Little Man, my nephew, is going to be here for a few more days then he goes back to my mom's for her 2 months with him. Note For Newer Readers: My sister is serving in Iraq so her son, whose 3, has been living with us for some of the time and living with my mom for some of the time. It's on a 2 months rotation. She's been gone since Christmas 2010 and we hope she'll be home by this coming Christmas.

Seeing he's going back soon one of the many things the kids wanted us to do before he went back was to have green eggs and ham for dinner. So that's what I made tonight! To make the eggs green I added food coloring and spinach. Don't they look YUMMY?

Our Green Egg and Ham dinner!

It's okay if you say NO they don't look yummy, because honestly I didn't even want to eat them at first! However, I sucked it up and ate. Really they didn't taste bad it was just getting pass the visual. Little Man had a hard time getting pass the visual too. He begged me to make them and now that I had he didn't want to eat! So what did we do? Well we played the story for him. I found a clip on Youtube and played it!

Boy did that make a difference! Playing this clip 4 times in a row sure changed my little nephews tune about eating the green eggs and ham! Now that dinner is over he's chanting the story. I would not eat them here or there, not in car, not anywhere....

Not only did Little Man ate his meal but he covered his eyes just like the guy in the movie!! LOL