The (not so) Desperate Housewife

Daddy is HOME!!!

2012-08-07T16:34:00.003+09:00

internet safety for kids roadschooling

We are so excited to have The Chief home! It seems like he has been gone forever, even though his trip only lasted 6 weeks. We never quite get a good home routine down with him in and out so often without large periods of time at home but we try our hardest. We only have 16 more months to go being attached to a forward deployed Navy ship so we are literally counting down the time :)

We will be roadschooling this month! We have lots of sights to see while we have some family in town visiting us here in Japan! Kamakura, Enoshima Island, Hakone, Tokyo- just a few of the places for my kids to research and learn about as we explore our beautiful host country.We will also be focusing a little on internet safety before the school year starts. All of my kids spend time on the internet and I feel it is our responsibility as parents to teach them the hazards of the internet and how to avoid them.

5 Year Itch

2012-07-30T06:50:00.003+09:00

This last week Squidward and the Princess attended summer camp at a local Japanese International school. They loved it! They loved getting up in the morning, riding the bus, eating special lunches, spending the day in organized fun and learning and coming home to a scheduled evening. They asked to go for real school. I cannot afford to send both to the international school at a price tag of $1120 a month in tuition costs but we are considering the DOD school on base.

I do not like to direction that US public schools are going but DOD schools are a league of their own, usually scoring better and having having a larger budget to provide services to their students. I have to be honest that I am getting a little burnt out with homeschooling and neither the kids and I are having fun like we did before. I have also been a little unhappy being out of work and really wish to reenter the workforce to help our family financially. We have also had some issues finding a great elementary homeschool curriculum that was complete and I certainly do not want to be doing a disservice to my children. We love a lot of the online options we have, especially learning games offered like fill in the blank, but I just don't feel like any of our hearts are in it anymore.

We are five, going on six years of homeschooling and I wonder if we are in a slump or if it really is time for my family to consider something else.

Summer Camp

2012-07-25T07:03:00.000+09:00

It is time for summer camp in our family's house! Zombie Boy has gone to summer camp the past few years in Washington State while we were stationed in Canada. He really enjoyed it but it was just a normal where the kids did normal summer camp stuff. This year he had the amazing experience of attending Camp Woodward BMX Action sports camp. He LOVED it! He saved all of his money from his paper route and ought a BMX bike all by himself too. The staff was very accommodating and helpful with the fact that he was coming from overseas rather than nearby like many of the children.

Zombie also made the trek from Tokyo to Pennsylvania on his own too. I trusted that he would do ok and he did! It was a little difficult getting him on the flight in Tokyo due to so much being lost in translation but it all worked out. That was the most stressful part for everyone!

Each day Zombie had instruction in BMX bike riding and learned quite a few tricks and beginner skills. His favourte thing was being able to do stunts in the foam pit so that he wouldn't get hurt. He said the food was good, the activities were fun and he loved getting to watch the many BMX pros come out and provide shows and instruction to the kids. He also went paintballing, horse back riding, swimming, and many other fun activities. Zombie wants to go back next year and is already saving him money to do so! I am hoping the camp will publish the pictures of his week soon so that I can share some of the BMX tricks that he learned.

Squidward and The Princess are in summer camp this week. They are attending Hayama International School- many Military kids attend this school during the normal school year and they speak English. They also LOVE it and we are looking into the possibility of sending them there for school- it is very expensive for our budget so I am not sure if we can pull it off. I also do not think that they have a full elementary school and would hate to send one kid and not the other. Each day they do fun activities like water play, go to the beach, arts and crafts and the week they are attending they are learning about firemen and policeman. Each morning the little Japanese school bus picks them up here on base and takes them to school. They even eat traditional bento box for lunch. I honestly think they like the bus and lunch the best! Both are doing well being away from home. Neither have ever been in day care and only Aidan spent a part of a semester in kindergarten. Mia has never stepped foot in any type of school and both are doing wonderful!!!!

Momma has done well these two weeks as well. I have kept myself busy without kids (such a weird feeling) by running errands, volunteering at the shelter and starting to focus on some homeschool stuff for next year. I am designing writing lesson plans for the kids' journals and looking into curriculum that will provide creative writing help.

Ueno Zoo

2012-07-16T07:35:00.002+09:00

It is back to school for my little ones while Zombie is at summer camp this week. We had taken a very well deserved break after schooling through a PCS move and the holidays last year. All of us were a little burnt out so the last two months have been just relaxing time while focusing more on fun unit studies.

Squidward and Princess at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan 2012

We began our "school" with a visit to Ueno Zoo in Tokyo after we dropped Zombie Boy off at the airport. We had a lot of fun and ended up spending 5 hours in the huge park. There were many animals and the kids loved learning in such a relaxed state. We rented little transponders that held an electronic map of the park and showed educational videos of the exhibits we were passing. I loved that they had one on English that we could rent because it really did make our experience worth it as an educational field trip.

Those sure are some cute monkeys!

The maned wolf, the huge brown bear and the mouse holding station were favourites for us. The big bear even came to the window and Squidward was scared because he didn't realize how big they really were. In BC, our black bears were tiny compared to the huge Japanese brown bear!

Japanese Brown Bear

Maned Wolf

Holding the cutest little mice!!!

We also loved seeing the panda bear but it was very crowded and we could only see them behind glass. Ueno Zoo recently lost a six day old panda that was born in early July so it was very sad to see the memorials set up in honor of him. It was a great loss to the not only Ueno but zoos and sanctuaries worldwide. The kids wrote a special message to the baby panda and we hung it at the memorial site.

Great Panda

RIP Baby Panda

I even took a small lesson in origami! This man was so nice (and patient!) and the end result was the cutest little panda bear!

I have skillz, one of which would be the ability to look absolutely horrible on hot humid summer days in Japan :)

Brave

2012-07-07T21:16:00.000+09:00

Last week we had the pleasure of seeing the new Disney movie, Brave. Here in Japan we don't have real TV channels that shows commercials so none of us had seen the trailers. I saw a little about it online but not much and just told my daughter it was a movie about the new Disney princess. I told her she was a tomboy princess who rode horses that had messy hair because that was all that I really knew about the movie.

I have to say that we LOVED the movie- even the boys! In the beginning of the movie, I thought it would be like all of the other movies about the girl needing her prince charming, I was pleasantly surprised when I realized it was about NOT needing a prince. I loved that the relationship that was focused on was that of child and parent, a relationship that is often ignored or not focused on as important. This is a welcome change for the "Disney Princess" and I hope future princesses follow suit :)

It is full swing summer at our home now. Zombie is getting ready to go back to the States for BMX camp for a week. He is super excited! Squidward and Princess are both going to be going for a week of summer camp at a local Japanese International school. They are excited to ride the little school buis and get traditional bento box for lunch. After that, they have a week of VBS and then Grandparents come for a visit! We have kept up with our unit studies of caves and Buddhism. The Princess is still learning to read and all of the kids are enrolled in the summer reading program at the library. All three kids are looking forward to reading books by homeschoolers. We are enjoying the summer and spend lots of time at the pool enjoying the sunshine. After three years in Canada, it is lovely to be somewhere with heat and sunshine :)

Kurihama Flower World

2012-07-02T09:02:00.001+09:00

This past week we came face to face with GODZILLA!!!!!

The kids and I took a little field trip to Kurihama Flower World. The kids were excited because they heard there was an awsome long rolly slide and I was excited to see the flowers after seeing so many beatiful pictures. The flowers were a bust.. instead of seeing feilds of gorgeous flowers, we saw this:

I guess we will need to come back in spring. There were many hydrangeas, which I did enjoy because they always remind me of the ones that were planted at my Grandfasther's home when I was a little girl. I was also p[retty disappointed because the herb foot bath was closed- after all of the walking we did, I only wanted to soak my feet in healing waters. At least the park was free... I would have been very upset if we had o pay admission.

The park was definitely the highlight! There were two huge rollie slides after climbing up and down ladders, bouncy bridges and rope bridges. We first encountered rollie slides at Showa Park when of vacation and love them! Instead of being a solid slide, there is just little rollers that roll you down, causing your speed to go very fast. It is painful to sit so we just squat and go down on our feet :)

You can't miss the huge Godzilla at the park either... I wonder how many kids can say they ate a picnic with the huge dinosaur?

The kids have just been working on our unit studies and playing educational games for school. Their new favourites are hangman for kids and animal games. We are knee deep in our study of caves and hope to visit some very soon.

Evolution or Creation?

2012-06-25T09:35:00.003+09:00

We recently visited a horse museum in Negishi. The kids had a lot of fun. It was a bittersweet day for me- memories of my beloved horse that we are currently boarding in Seattle hit me and left me very upset that we were not together. Sigh, only two and half more years until we transfer and I can have my horse at home again. As a natural trimmer, I also couldn't help critique the horse's feet and cringed sat quite a few of the unbalanced, high heeled and long toed hooves I saw. I really wish there was not such a large language barrier that prevents me from being able to help these guys.

The museum set up is very nice and focuses on the role horses served in Japan. We couldn't read any of it but the pictures and artifacts helped. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed in those sections. There was a neat interactive kids section though that had saddles to sit i and a few other cute activities. There was also a skeletal section that showed how horses evolved throughout the years in body shape and size. This spurred on a question about evolution or creation.

Our family is Christian and we do believe in God but we also believe and support science. Evolution/creationism has been a sticky topic in the past because we knew so many that did not support the fact that we discuss evolution with the kids. it is always nice to find fellow open minded homeschoolers. Does your family teach one or the other; or does your family, like mine, focus on the fundamentals of one but the proof of another? This is one of the many "pros" that I love about the many pros and cons of homeschooling- the freedom to explore EVERYTHING and make our own decision about how to present it!

New Homeschool Curriculum

2012-06-18T09:12:00.002+09:00

I am SO excited! The past couple of weeks we received so much homeschooling resources and curriculum in the mail. The kids cannot wait to begin- the only problem is deciding what to begin with!

For the summer we decided to do unit studies. We love unit studies and I am am actually a little sad that we got far away from them this past school year. I chose some of the topics but there are two that the kids picked: Buddhism and Caves. I feel so fortunate to live somewhere to let my kids chose these topics and get to learn about them with hands on experience. I ordered many books and documentaries about both subjects but the bulk of the learning will be when we get to visit different Buddhist temples and explore local caves!

We also ordered NEOE Complete Science Kits. They look amazing and i cannot believe how much we got in them Brandon got the physics and chemistry kit. Squidwad and the Princess are sharing biology, physics and chemistry. Tonnes of research book were included in each kit and everything needed to do many experiments! I am happy to have found these because we neglected science this year, instead focusing a bulk of our learning on language arts for the little ones, history for Zombie Boy and Match for everyone.We are actually beginning them today- I cannot wait to post a review of each kit!

It is also nice to let the kids enjoy playing learning games to continue to help with their spelling. We will still make spelling flashcards but they can use the words while having fun, helping them retain the spelling.

This will be our first year without the comfort of an umbrella school. It is a little intimidating but I feel it is the right time in our homeschool journey. All summer long I will be preparing for our next schoolyear and we might just continue with unit studies:)

Baby Crow Rescue

2012-06-11T07:53:00.000+09:00

Last week we took in a bird that needed a little help. This baby crow was picked up by a family on base because it couldn't fly or move very well. Upon further inspection, it looks as though his legs are crooked and one of his wings is injured. The Chief thinks he got these injuries from falling out of the nest too soon because he isn't quite a fledgling yet.

Our goal is to rehab this guy and hopefully release him to the wild. Unfortunately, Japan does not view animals culturally like we do and I do not have a wildlife rehab centre to take him to. I realize that I may take my views on animals, both wild and domestic, to an extreme as well but honestly, I don't see how having respect for animals is a bad thing. I have already been questioned as to why I would waste my time with "just a crow" but in my mind this crow is still a living being and I just want to ensure it is given the best chance and treated humanly. We do have some experience with birds form raising chicken, goose and turkeys as well as fostering doves in Florida so I am hoping we don't do anything to injure him further, both physically and mentally. I also stayed up all night on Saturday talking to various wildlife rehab centres in BC and the PNW to help me decide the best course of action with this guy.

The little guy eats every couple of hours and I have to physically put he food in his mouth. He is on a diet of dog kibble, eggs, salmon, raw meat bits, meal worms and small veggie scraps. Crows are scavengers so thankfully their normal diet is a mess of things they happen to find (usually in the garbage here in Japan). His little hungry call is so cute and he has associated me with food so he gets very excited when he sees me. I also ensure to keep the ruckus ofour kids and other animals away from him so he doesn't get too stressed out.

To try to help his legs, we have constructed a sling to hang him in for short periods throughout the day. The goal is to get his legs stretched out and encouraging him to clutch with his digits. If he is unable to do this as he grows, he will not be able to live in the wild.

He does have mites, but thankfully with further research, I found they were bird specific mites that do not like people as hosts. I still think they are gross since they still crawl in us when we handle him so I have ordered some DE that will hopefully begin next week to dust him with. Until then, I am keeping handling to a minimum. Thankfully, he seems healthy and alert. I am really hoping for a full recovery. Please send all of your good energy to this little guy- he really needs it!

Zombie has shown interest in going to summer camp once again this year. He found an awesome on in Idaho that is all about BMX and the instructors are actual x-game champions. He is also interested in a snowboarding one in Utah. We are applying this this week and will hopefully hear back on his selection soon. The little ones are glad to be done with school and are enjoying their break. What is funny about that, is the fact that they are still focusing on learning without even knowing it! The Princess enjoys reading everyday and playing literature games online. Squidward is learning the importance of spelling as he is writing his own research papers on a variety of topics that he is interested in. I highly doubt this would be happening if we didn't homeschool but when learning is just a normal part of the day it just happens!

Unit Studies

2012-06-04T06:12:00.001+09:00

Least week was our last official week of school wit our umbrella school in Canada. My kids are so excited to be "done". I use the term loosely because we never really are done with learning, we just tone down the actual curriculum learning in the summer.

A few years ago, we did unit studies as a family and enjoyed them very much. This summer, and possibly in to the fall, we are going to dive in to unit studies again. The concept is wonderful- find topics that interest your child, find resources to support learning within that subject and incorporate specific learning goals while studying.

For example, my kids are so excited to learn about caves this summer. On Amazon, I ordered many books for us to read. Since I have a middle schooler, an elementary reader and a beginner reader, I ensured to get varying level of reading books so that each child could enjoy reading. I also ordered books about cave animals so that each child could pick one they really like and research into that animal. I personally love having my kids make presentations and I am sure each child will pick something to do with caves to present. Zombie enjoys making power points, Sqwidward likes creating online stories and The Princess loves making posters to hang on the wall. To really solidify the learning of caves, I have found some local caves to visit and explore- how fun!!! Each child has picked a few subjects to study and we are very excited!

Over the summer, the little ones will continue on with their elementary online curriculum and Zombie has interest in classes for an online writing curriculum. While they will still complete these, it won't be as strenuous over the summer as it is in the fall and winter.

Mikoshi Festival

2012-05-28T10:27:00.001+09:00

We went to a festival this past week. In May, many Japanese communities celebrate by carrying around small replicas of their community shrine, called a Mikoshi. It takes quite a few people, taking turns, to carry the "small" replicas on their shoulders. They are dressed in traditional tops with headties and usually no pants (us American just cannot help giggling, although we try not to, lol) The day is spent carrying around the Mikoshi around the city followed by a parade of celebrating people and large drums. It is considered good luck to be passed by Mikoshi! We had the awesome experience two years ago of seeing the seven Mikoshis being carried around in Tokyo from one of the biggest shrines.

At this festival, we ate so much yummy Japanese festival food. Here n Yokosuka, a bulk of the food is centered around squid. All of us like squid, even before coming to Japan, so we love taste testing as much as we can! We had squid balls made with a sweet batter, yakisoba noodles with cooked squid and even had whole (small) squid grilled in a stick! Yumm!!!! As treats, we had candy covered apples and candy covered bananas. Japan has really grown on us- we love it here!

As we enter summer, our family enters into our unschooling phase. We use the world around us as a teacher, at my children's pace. We also like to focus on unit studies and have been planning a few:

Historic Japan with a visit to Kyoto
Buddhism with visits to many Buddhist temples and shines
Japanese sea life with visits to aquariums and boat rides in the water around us
Traditional Japanese cooking

Needless to say we are very excited. We will still be keeping up with T4L each day and playing games such as sentence match but that never feels like doing doing school to the kids!

Solar Eclipse

2012-05-21T11:24:00.000+09:00

We had the amazing experience of getting to see a solar eclipse this morning! Yesterday we made pin hole viewers since I was unable to find glasses in time. I got the direction online and they were super easy to make using a shoebox, tape, foil and a pen.

We got up early and waited outside. The sky was cloudy so I thought we wouldn't be able to see anything. Luckily, the clouds were moving and we were able to see bits and pieces of the eclipse. I didn't photograph it but here is a picture that was taken by MC3 Steve White from Commander Fleet Activities Okinawa.

We feel so fortunate to be able to see it! I have heard the next one will not happen for 18 years!

I have been getting many questions about how to homeschool by friends here at base. Many people are displeased with the base school system here and are seriously considering pulling their children out. They are starting to see the benefits of homeschooling, and how it can be more personalized for their child and their family.

Derby!!!!!

2012-05-14T16:27:00.000+09:00

What a week full of fun!!!! On Saturday I had my first roller derby bout! I have been practicing for a little over two months and I feel like all of the hard work paid off :) My team, The Yokosuka Sushi Rollers, are comprised of women form the Yokosuka area- some are Military spouses, some are government sponsored civilians or active duty themselves. I love the camaraderie and strangely, having your butt handed to you while skating is actually fun!

Introducing Wicked KillHer:

That day we also held a fundraiser for our animal shelter at our base's Japanese/American Friendship Day. We made money and I hope it will help. We recently went through some changes at the shelter but I feel they are needed for growth. We also got two new kitties into the fostering program. These guys were a result of a three hour rescue mission involving a storm drain, a sewer, the fire department and a geji-geji the size of my arm, lol!

We are coming to an end of our "school year" and I have been putting some thought into next year's homeschool curriculum. We do end up schooling through the summer but it is not as rigorous as the rest of the year. The kids have shown an interest in doing unit studies again so we are going to think of some units to study as a family for the next few months- something to get us outside and immersed into the beautiful country of Japan around us! This week the kids are finishing up their grade level subjects for their current grades and having fun playing online context clues games and reviewing their spelling and vocabulary form the whole year.

Cave Adventure

2012-05-06T06:17:00.000+09:00

This past week we had the awesome opportunity to take a tour of a cave on the Yokosuka Naval Base. It is a man made cave, built in WW2 by prisoners of the Japanese. Squidward and the Princess loved their little headlamps I got them and Zombie Boy led the way as the oldest child in our group. The cave is a huge underground maze, very cold and quite creepy. There were many Geji-Geji bugs (the creepy Japanese bug that are long with many long legs) but overall it was a great and educational experience. I couldn't imagine having to work and live down there! This has now sparked an interest in caves in my children and it looks like we might be doing a summer unit study on caves... that is, if I can find some for us to visit in Japan :) This Military homeschooling family loves adventure!

We are on the downswing of school this year. After getting our standardized testing results, we haven't been doing as much since all three kids are at or exceeding their grade level goals. Over the summer, I want to refocus on unit studying. I love unit studies because the kids learn so much without even realizing they are "in school"! Caves are number one on our list and we are still thinking of what else to do. I was thinking about possibly something fishing or water related since that is such a big industry here in Japan. I just want to put away the books for awhile and have fun! We studied hard this year- schooling though our move as well as the holidays and I think we all deserve some free time.

I have also been researching different avenues of learning for Zombie. This upcoming year will be his eighth grade year and then he will be a high schooler! There aren't as many resources for this age for homeschooling so I am not sure what route we will go down. I have considered a distance learning school and asking him if he would like to take extra curricular classes or sports though the base high school. I just want to be sure that he has every opportunity as other kids without sacrificing his happiness of being home. As long as he is learning, given support for increased responsibility, and has assistance with big things like SAT writing help then I am happy. Thank goodness I still have time to think about all of this and come up with a plan!

Silly Questions

2012-04-28T19:38:00.000+09:00

Top Ten Questions our Homeschooling Family Laughs About

The following is a list of questions that we hear often as a homeschooling family. I thought I would share my answers to these questions that are sometimes silly :)

10. What do you mean you aren't doing school today, it's a Thursday?

Our family doesn't typically follow a typical Monday-Friday 8 a.m. -2 p.m. school schedule. Why should we? One of the benefits is that we get to choose ur own schedule! We do try to get our schoolwork done in the morning for our personal schedule's sake but that doesn't always work and sometimes school happens in the evening or even (gasp!) a Saturday!!! I try to add in one educational field trip per week and we also participate in a weekly writing class with our local homeschool co- op.We love being able to set our own schedule for both work time and time off. I also love the freedom to recognize that one of my kids is really having an off day and giving them something else to do, even if that something else is a trip to the library instead of math worksheets.

9. Aren't you worried about them not having any friends (or girl/boy friends)?

There are many pros and cons of homeschooling, but helping my child make wise decisions in who they socialize with is definitely high on my list of pros! There seems to be a general acceptance to force children to deal with adult things very early in their life and I do not see how putting my child in that type of environment will "help" them. We do not ignore social issues like sex, drugs and bullies; but I know that I am able to help my kids learn to make better decisions about who they spend their time with and what they do in that time by not forcing them to process those decisions on their own at a vulnerable age. Our goal is to help them now while they are young and developing to get them better prepared to make those hard decisions between right and wrong when they are older teenagers or young adults.

8. Can they still go to college after homeschooling?

Not only can they go to college but homeschoolers can enter the military, start a business, or decide to become employed in the workforce after their studies- just like their peers in traditional school. The secret is to help your child set goals and help them work towards those goals. Leaving a 14-18 year old to their own devices usually won't end well and a parent must be there to support their children. Both homeschool and traditional school parents need to ensure that opportunities are available for them to study and take tests for college acceptance if college is what they want to pursue or prepare for the Military, or help understand the job application process. It is not different than most kids in public schools, all kids need help and guidance when it comes to getting ready for and starting their life after school!

7. Why would you make your kids do school during summer break?

I cannot for the life of me understand why so many kids are forced to take a three month break, so this question seems to be one of the most ridiculous that I get asked! Studies have shown that children learn much better and retain knowledge when there are not large breaks in learning. I feel it is a huge waste of time to need to review the previous year 1-2 months in the beginning of the new school year due to such a large vacation! The benefits of homeschooling year round is being able to take breaks when we need it. If the Chief's ship is coming in, we take a break to spend a little time with him. We take breaks during the week to go on "field trips" (I use the term loosely because so much of what we do is considered a learning experience). We also are able to incorporate traveling when we please due to having to only take our holidays at the same time as other families!

6. Don't you think they would be missing out on fun things without school like sports, dances, science/art fairs, clubs?

As a homeschooling parent, it is MY responsibility to ensure that opportunities are available for my child. If they want to play sports, we find teams and commit to practice and game schedules as a family. We have, as homeschoolers, participated in science fairs the past 3 years. One of those years, Zombie Boy won a National Canadian first prize! Community Centres, libraries, museums, MWR on base and homeschool co-ops or groups are our best friends to ensure that our family still gets to do these fun group activities. Most public school systems or DODEA schools let homeschoolers access their extra curricular programs- this is a great option for high school aged homeschoolers! It is also our responsibility as homeschooling parents to listen to our kids' interests- they may not want to participate in group activities and supporting them just as important as supporting kids who do want to participate.

5. How do you know if your kids are actually learning what they need to know?

I, rather than a teacher, get to see first hand what they love, understand or need help with instead of relying solely on test scores and report card grades. We also are not held to a cookie cutter public school curriculum so I am able to tailor our program to the needs to each of my children.

4. I couldn't imagine having my kids home everyday. I need the break! How do you do it?

I couldn't imagine sending my kids away for eight hours a day.... I legitimately enjoy the company of my children (although this teenage thing is a little rough). I love exploring with them, discovering new things and helping them learn. I would be lying if I said everyday was perfect in our household. We have our days, just like every other parent but I feel our good days outweigh our not so good days. I also still do things on my own. Prior to living in Japan, we lived on a farm and I was sole caretaker of our land, garden and animals. I was very involved with my horses and volunteering. Here in Japan, I a member of a women's roller derby team, I volunteer with my husband's command, help run the animal shelter and even own my own business. These are all things I do outside of homeschooling, so to think I don't have a life of "my own" is quite a ridiculous idea.

3. How do you know what to teach them?

I know my kids are learning what they need to know because I have researched curriculum, read state/national standards, and familiarized myself with many different types of learning styles and programs. I love having the freedom to pick and choose different curriculum or learning platforms to teach my kids. We do book work but I am big on learning outside of books to and homeschooling gives us this option.

2. What about socialization?!?!?

Tell me when in the world (other than school) a person is locked up everyday with 30-40 people of the exact same age and expected to learn in a group environment alone? Never, because the world doesn't work that way! Not to mention traditional school shouldn't be a time to focus on socializing because when else will they get an education? My children get to socialize with kids of all ages through our homeschool group. They regularly socialize with adults and people of different cultures. On top of this, my kids meet weekly with our homeschooling co op, and have participated in sports, dance, music, scouts and various other interests, we participate in The Chief''s Command's events and volunteer regularly at an animal shelter. It really bugs me that the word homeschool means hermit to many, our family is far from hermits!

1. I bet you can't wait to get back to the States so that the kids can go back to a normal school, right?

I have to admit that this questions bugs me more than makes me laugh. Our family did start homeschooling because it does fit so well with our Military life but that wasn't the only reason. We have done back to back overseas tours and will possibly do another to help The Chief's career goals and for us, homeschooling is the best option. Homeschool statistics show that more and more parents are deciding to homeschool for a variety of reasons: moral, education quality, safety, travel, special needs. Most people have a big reason to start homeschooling and many more supportive reasons to continue. At this time, we don't have plans to return back to the States for a few years but when that time comes, we will most likely continue to homeschool because homeschooling is the norm for our family!

Journey to the Centre of Science

2012-04-21T09:21:00.000+09:00

This past week, we participated in a home school Science Fair! It was so much fun and we enjoyed meeting other Military homeschooling families. Zombie Boy did an experiment and Princess and Squidward both did presentations. The cool thing about it is that their projects had to be connected to one of Jules Verne's books!

Zombie started researching hot air balloons after reading "Five Weeks in a Balloon". He knew from his research that balloons used hot air to fly. Zombie wondered if he could try to make his own homemade balloon out of a plastic bag and test its flying with different temps of air. He followed the scientific method and carried out his experiment by testing plastic bags filled with hot air form a hair dryer, room temp air form a room fan and cold air form fanned air from the freezer. His hypothesis was proven when the bag with hot air from the hair dryer not only flew but also rose into the air!

The Princess did a presentation project on stars. Her presentation was based on the book "Around the Moon". We read this book as a family over the past month and Princess wanted to find out more about stars. In her projects she found out that stars can be three colors: red, white and blue. She also found out that the sun is a huge star! Mia had fun researching facts about stars online and watching space documentaries. She also enjoyed the craft aspect of the project which involved covering the board with black paper to simulate the night sky, cutting out colored stars and finding a picture of a big bright sun. In the store, she also found these neat stars that blinked with lights and she helped me figure out how to adhere them onto her project using rubber cement. Princess was afraid to actually present her project, this was the first time we had met with the home school group, so I helped her by asking her questions based on her project and facts she learned about stars.She loved learning about constellations and we tried finding some in the sky. Princess thought it was fun to make our own pictures in the sky using stars :)

We have read (and seen the movies) for "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" and Squidward knew that he wanted to do a project based on this Jules Verne book for the Science Fair. Since Squidward was a toddler, he has been fascinated by rocks and has quite the collection of rocks and minerals. His family around the States has sent him rocks to add to his collection. He knew that he wanted to show off his collection for the Science Fair. Squidward worked very hard at classifying and naming the rocks he chose for the project. He then researched them online and in his rock and mineral field guide so that he could write a few facts about them to present on his project. I was so impressed by his hard wok, especially considering how he did a majority of the work on his own. He was definitely proud of his project and even stood up and spoke in front of everyone in the homeschool group to present his project. Squidward does not like public speaking so this was quite a feat for him! He chose to first paint his project board a beautiful gold shimmery colour because he said it reminded him of Pyrite (fool's gold). He then tried to group his rocks together- different onyx in the onyx, different quartz with the quartz group, etc. He then figured out how to best put them on the board so that the description would fit and everything would look good. Last, he super glue everything on the board. His favourite rock that he displayed was bornite or "peacock rock". Over the summer, Squid had the chance to see peacock rock that was bigger then him when we visited Arizona! He loved showing off his collection and hard work to his new friends and I was so very proud of him!

We are exited to get back to a "normal" school week. Zombie Boy is working hard on a huge Social Studies Thematic unit about the history of the U.S. from discovery to present day. Currently he is at the George Washington time frame. Squidward is focusing on how to type correctly and without looking at the keyboard. He will be playing many keyboarding games to help him along. Princess and I will be focusing on reading. She is coming along so well and I am super proud of her progress as a "kindergartner". In addition to studying phonics, she will get to play many reading and ABC games. We are also goignt o be coming up with something speacial to do to celebrate Earth Day. Here in Japan the holiday was actually on Saturday but we always try to come up with a special way to change our lives or the way we do things o help better the Earth and try to actually make it a life change rather than just focus on that one day.

Kitten Season

2012-04-14T20:35:00.002+09:00

After arriving in Japan, I took a board position with our base animal shelter as the Kitten Coordinator. It has been an amazing opportunity and I enjoy the people and animals I have the pleasure of working with each day. I have been working with animals for the past 14 years, both as a volunteer and a career with a degree and training certificate connected to animals. I have had quite a few different types of species to deal with including dogs, cats with severe medical issues, ferrets, doves, goats, pigs, chickens, abused/neglected/starved horses and many more throughout my years connected with the Army Vet Corp and fostering at various rescue organizations.

As the Kitten Coordinator at our base shelter, I am responsible for all of the kittens aged 0-12 weeks old that come to the shelter. We have many feral cats on base so with that comes many kitten litters that are born in weird places (inside cars or bbq grills) and the moms end up abandoning the babies because the people accidentally scare them away. My job is to train foster homes to hand raise these kittens and ensure everyone is healthy and happy for adoption! Of course, I also will take in litters throughout the season. This is also such a great lesson for the kids and fits perfectly with our eclectic homeschool family- I certainly think that ABCs and 123s are mandatory education but life lessons with hand son experiences are invaluable and just as important for children to learn. Raising kittens will help teach my children responsibility and the life cycle but most importantly it will also teach them empathy and love towards those who cannot speak or care for themselves.

Just last night we got our first litter of the season! Six cute little kittens- a mixture of orange and dark tabbies! My coworkers caught the kittens but the mom wouldn't come to us so we left a trap. We would much rather take the kittens in with mom so that she can raise them in a warm and secure place and then get spayed before being released back outside. Around 10:30 pm I got the call that mom had been trapped so I hop out of bed and my dear friend who is the president of the shelter meets me to help load her up- we didn't get home until close to midnight!

Momma was quite traumatized so I wasn't terribly shocked when she wanted nothing to do with her kittens after we got home. I ended up staying up all night ensuring the kittens didn't miss feedings, stayed warm since momma wouldn't snuggle with them and just ensuring she wouldn't hurt them. Thankfully in the morning, she started letting them near her and shortly after let them start to nurse. She was still super nervous and would tense up if I looked at her but by the late morning, she started cleaning the babies. Once I saw this, I knew they would all be ok so I was then able to move them out of the kennel in my bedroom and into the storage room. I have checked on them once a hour all day and momma seems much more calm both with the kittens and with me. I am so thankful!

This week will be a fairly inactive one with the little babies here. I have to really stick around the house to ensure that mom doesn't begin to reject her kittens early. We are just coming off of two weeks of spring break which was desperately needed after not taking a summer or Christmas break due to our move to Japan. I think we will slowly get back into the swing of things by doing some printable worksheets and working on our science fair projects.

Appreciating Every Miracle of Life

2012-04-13T21:56:00.000+09:00

I was recently contacted by an inspirational woman who asked to guest post on my blog. It is with great pleasure that I help share her story, may we all take a lesson in just how precious life is as we live our day to day lives and realize that many of our struggles do not compare to those that have literally fought for their lives. I pray that Heather remains cancer free and am humbled by her strength and will to live.

“Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death….”

I first heard that line in the movie Auntie Mame, and I laughed at it. It struck me as funny, and I thought it related to me quite well. I liked it so much that I adopted it as my personal mantra and quote for all occasions. What struck me as funny prior to November 21, 2005 took on a completely new meaning after that fateful date. It’s still my catch phrase and favorite quote, but for different reasons.

I suppose being diagnosed with cancer will do that do you. It was November 21st, 2005, and I wasn’t diagnosed with any ordinary cancer. No, I was diagnosed with one of the most lethal forms of cancer known. When I heard the words malignant pleural mesothelioma come out of my doctor’s mouth, my heart stopped beating. I didn’t exactly know what it meant, but I knew it was bad.

Making matters worse was the fact that my only child was just a little baby. At three and a half months, there was no way my daughter could understand what was going on. All the occasions I would miss flew through my head. Her first steps, words, school, dates, driving…I was facing one of my greatest fears and I knew that I had to find a way to beat the cancer. I had to win this battle not just for me, but also for my precious daughter.

With the courage to fight and a spirit that would not be destroyed by the “C” word, I found myself meeting Dr. David Sugarbaker of Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He said that there was hope for me. He acknowledged the battle I had facing me, but he supported it. Somewhere along the line I had read that only 2% of people survive past 5 years of their diagnosis. Someone has to make up that two percent, and I was determined to be part of it. I didn’t care what the cancer threw my way, I was going to survive, thrive and raise my precious daughter.

That first year was nearly impossible. My left lung was lost to the cancer, but I still had my right one. What killed me more than the surgery, or the loss of a vital organ, was being 1900 miles away from my daughter. My mesothelioma treatment and surgeries took place in Boston, and it killed me to be so far from my child who was now six months old. I wanted to be with her to watch all those first milestones, and I had to remind myself that being there for her now would be little consolation if it meant I wasn’t there for her later.

Fortunately, my parents kept my daughter while I was fighting for my life. While I was sick from chemo and radiation, my parents were making sure that my daughter was loved and cared for. I was constantly sick from missing her, but she glided through this time without any issues. By the time dear Lily turned a year old, I was nearing the end of my battle and I was winning it. Eleven months after my diagnosis, I was free of the cancer and I was committed to keeping it that way.

This incredible, painful battle for my life happened many years ago. I now refer to that quote all the time. I refuse to take anything for granted, not a beautiful sunset or a moment spent with Lily. Every blooming flower is a miracle to me and I cherish every second spent with my family and child.

I am thankful for the people who helped me along the way. Not only my parents and family, but also the doctors and nurses who helped me fight the mesothelioma, beat it and become a survivor. I not only think of the professionals who help patients fight this disease, but I also think of the people who didn’t win against it. It’s not a name; it’s a disease that takes lives every day.

I savor every moment, enjoy every morsel and am grateful for the incredible blessings I have been given.

Spring in Japan

2012-04-09T14:23:00.001+09:00

Spring is in the air in beautiful Japan! This weekend we enjoyed a few days under the Sakura (cherry blossoms). The Chief ship came home just in time to see the beautiful flowers! We did a small family photo shoot in Yokohama and then enjoyed lunch under the trees on Easter. The chief unfortunately had duty for Easter Sunday so the kids and I enjoyed morning Mass, a yummy brunch at the O Club and spent the day outside int he warm weather. I am so happy to have my windows open! Here are some pictures from the weekend:

This week we are taking an actual spring break form school. It is much too nice outside to worry about being inside, it is our first week of nice weather since winter after all! A few weeks ago the kids got their results back from the California standardized test and each had wonderful results, even on the essay part, so we are on the "downswing" for school now. We are all excited for summer and I think we will take a bit of a break since we schooled through last summer

Goodbye March!!!

2012-03-31T07:17:00.004+09:00

Are you taking spring break this year? We are because March was an unusually busy and stressful month for us. The Chief was in and out to sea throughout the month (it is so much easier to just have them in OR out) which meant that we couldn't get on a normal schedule. Our evenings and Saturdays were booked with basketball games for Squidward and cheer games for Mia and myself as the squad's coach. I had numerous meetings in relation to the base animal shelter and Ombudsman. We spent more time away from the house than home and we are all exhausted. **I should mention that I am not complaining, only a little tired- I am so thankful for all of the opportunities that I am able to teach my children, be a role model for others'children, and give time and energy to help animals and our command families.

I am not sure why this all happened in March but it is officially the end and I am ready for nice, quiet and peaceful April to get here! Despite our busy schedule, we kept up with school. Sometimes it was broken up throughout the day or even on the weekends but I cannot let my busy schedule and the things that I choose to do overwhelm me to the point that my kids are not getting an adequate education. It is sometimes hard to find that balance and usually I do well but March really made it difficult and put my organizational and patience skills to the test!

Of course when I say we are "taking a break" for spring break, it does not mean that we stop learning. One of my favourite things about home learning is that lessons don't necessarily have to come from s book. We will be focusing on gardening and setting up our outdoor greenhouse, planting seeds and researching plants. The kids miss their veggie gardens so my task is to find a way to make a veggie garden easily in a small space!

We will also be preparing our for our science fair projects. Our local homeschool group is putting on a science fair and all of the projects have to creatively based on a Jules Verne book! Brandon chose to make a test a homemade hot air balloon, Aidan chose to do a presentation of his amazing rock and mineral collection and Mia is doing a presentation on the planets of the solar system.

We will also be reading some of our favourite Jules Verne books to help us get excited about our projects. Zombie, Squidward and I can take turns reading out loud but Mia is still a beginner reading. Whenever we read together, we focus on sight words and phonics. She also loves to read Raz-Kid books to herself and record them for me to hear- I am sure she will do many of those over spring break.

What will your family be doing over spring break?

Testing Results!!!

2012-03-23T08:23:00.003+09:00

This week we got the results of the kids' standardized test results! This was our first year testing and we chose to do it mostly to ensure my home school program is complete and I am not missing anything n my children's education.

Mia's totals determined that she was above average in both reading and math totals. Aidan was average in math and language arts and above average in reading. Brandon was above average in reading and math and average in language arts.

I am beyond thrilled because this means we are doing something right at home. It also gives me a little proof that although it seems as though we have "short and easy" schooldays, my children are still getting a good and solid education :)

This week we have been having fun doing online vocab games and short vowel games. I try to make sure my kids have a good balance with fun and studying. The more they are interested in something, the bigger chance they will retain knowledge!

Internet Safety

2012-03-14T06:30:00.000+09:00

Nobody can deny that the internet is an integral part of most homeschooling homes. I feel it is both a huge blessing and still a bit of a curse sometimes. I love that my kids can research the pyramids, watch a ocean documentary, read a book about George Washington and see Grandma and Grandpa in real time by a simple click of a mouse, without ever even leaving the couch! Unfortunately, with these modern day conveniences also come online dangers, the most extreme being hackers, predators, porn and scams! I never want my children to be scared of their world, but I do feel strongly about educating them about some of the not good stuff they may see or experience on the computer. We talk about and practice internet safety for kids in my home by:

1. Supervising computer use. We have one desk top and four laptops throughout our home and the kids are only allowed to play on the computer in the schoolroom which is downstairs in the main are of the house so that I can watch what they are looking at.

2. I stay informed about current internet security- scams and viruses are always changing but knowing how these are targeted to some computers either through use or action helps my family not become a victim.

3.I also share information about risks to my kids. Of course I do this not wanting to scare them but they are learning that ads or attachments are not always true and that any person can pretend to be anyone online easily.

4.Install web filtering software to help become a barrier between your kids and the world wide web.

5. Supply my kids with a list of appropriate child aged websites, online learning games or informational websites to use.

What do you do to ensure internet safety within your household?

Preschool at Home

2012-03-07T06:58:00.005+09:00

I have had many mums ask me what they should do to home school a preschooler. Many times what they are already doing is homeschooling for a child that young- playing! I believe we, as a society, put too much emphasis on kids reaching specific goals rather than developing the base physical, educational and emotional foundations for those goals to be built upon. I always cringe when I hear a parent brag that their two year old can print their name, are starting cursive and they are working on reading because the parent drills them all of the time... I just want to shake them and scream "That may be great for your bragging rights, but your kids is really missing out on achieving skills meat for 2-5 year old children!!!" Of course, I don't do this but instead smile and quickly exit the conversation because reasoning is usually like talking to a brick wall.

A great homeschool preschool curriculum will focus on helping build those foundations needed to attain learning goals later on. Much of preschool is simply introducing ideas, skills and concepts. Many of these things are done simply by doing what we as adults think are everyday things. Singing songs, imaginative play, conversations about themselves and the world around them, play dough or finger painting, or even playground play all help build these important preschool foundations!

Some ideas to introduce to preschoolers include:

Language:
-Work appropriately in groups. This is the time to ensure that your child is introduced to other both in their age group and other age groups as well.
-Ask/answer verbal questions
-Introduce descriptive words- color, shape, size (describe toys, surroundings, an event)
-Learn to handle books appropriately
-Recite songs and rhymes (Mother Goose)
-Become aware of the written alphabet (I loved using alphabet magnets for this)
-Phonetic awareness (while reading or by playing homeschool preschool games)

Math
-recognize patterns
-introduction to sorting by shape, type, color, size (can use small objects like buttons)
-Introduce numbers and counting objects 1-10

Science
-Discuss and recognize weather
-Introduce characteristics of living things, including similarities and differences
-Compare textures of items (sugar, cotton, flour, paper, etc.)
-Sensory exploration using natural items (water table, sand box, play dough)

Social Studies
-Identify daily routine (getting ready/afternoon/evening/and nighttime routines)
-Discuss roles of family members and community works and their responsibilities
-Recognize own name (verbal and written)
-Show qualities of good citizenship (please/thank you, clean up after self, helps others)

Physical/Self Awareness
*Most of this is done by both verbal discussions as well as modeling behavior for your child
-Aware of the environment and what we can do to be "green"
-Medicine usage
-Hand washing
-Discuss appropriate and non-appropriate touching
-Personal safety (seat belts, fire, hot stove)
-Discuss emotions
-Encourage independent and self help skills (self dressing, hand washing, bed making)
-Practice good hygiene
-Healthy food vs. unhealthy food
*Many of the following is done through simple play such as play dough, finger painting, Lego building, and playing in a playground with climbing equipment
-Build hand eye coordination
-Visual tracking
-Pincer grasp
-Grasp and flexibility
-Build strength and stability of upper body

Art
-Use textures (glitter, sand, sugar, felt, 3d objects)
-Explore mood and emotion with color
-Appropriate use and care of art materials
-create and use props in dramatic play
-listen, create and imitate sounds
-listen, create and imitate sounds and patterns
-Explore melody and rhythm by listening to instrumental music
-Sing songs with repetitive patterns
-Freely move (dance) to music

What are some things that you have done with your preschooler to help build a strong foundation for future learning?

Yunessun Spa

2012-03-04T08:47:00.004+09:00

Only in Japan can we swim in red wine, coffee, sake, green tea, honey and dead sea salt baths; haves pedis from little fishies munching on our toes; and finish the night off with a tuna, corn and mayo pizza!!

Our family had the pleasure of going to one of the best water attractions I have ever seen called Yunessun Spa Resort. It is part onsen and part water park and fun for the entire family!The last time we went to a Japanese Onsen it was quite a ~~terrifying~~ interesting experience but Yunnesun was much more family friendly and we got to wear swimming suits :) At least this time I covered up my bad Kanji tatoo and Josh was allowed to wear a shirt so this time we weren't stared at the entire time.

Yunessun is located in Hakone, about an 1 1/2 hour drive without traffic, although with traffic it can take around 3 hours. The drive is beautiful, half of it is right along the pacific coast and then in Hakone it is up a beautiful green and misty mountain. Inside Yunessun there are several different specialty baths such as green tea, coffee, honey, red wine, sake, charcoal, dead sea minerals, Roman bath, Turkish Hamam. It is the perfect balance of fun for the kids and relaxation for the adults.

They also feature a foot bath where you can get a Dr. Fish pedicure! This type of treatment, orginintaing from Turkish Spas uses special little fish that feed off of the dead skin o your skin, leaving healthy skin. It was a very weird experience- very tickly but we all agreed that our feet felt softer!

The kids' favorites at Yunessun included the fast water slides outside; the dead sea bath that was so salty it makes your entire body float and it is hard to even walk in it; and the misty cave that you can swim through outside. Mine and the Chief's favorite included the coffee bath and the charcoal bath house. Some of the baths were outside and it was so neat to sit in the hot water with snow surrounding you on the ground! We cannot wait to go back and highly recommend it to everyone in Japan.

Is Spelling a Subject?

2012-03-02T07:42:00.000+09:00

Does your homeschooling family focus on spelling as a subject or do you let spelling happen naturally within the realm of your learning throughout the year? In this day of texting, program spellcheckers and email one may wonder why spelling is even something we should teach. Others feel that focusing on correct spelling may hinder a child's creative writing. I feel that spelling is important because it helps a child read.

Learning to spell helps to cement the connection between the letters and their sounds, and learning high-frequency "sight words" to mastery level improves both reading and writing. Joshi, Treiman, Carreker and Moats describe this connection: "The correlation between spelling and reading comprehension is high because both depend on a common denominator: proficiency with language. The more deeply and thoroughly a student knows a word, the more likely he or she is to recognize it, spell it, define it, and use it appropriately in speech and writing." They also note that "the major goal of the English writing system is not merely to ensure accurate pronunciation of the written word – it is to convey meaning. If words that sound the same (e.g., rain, rein and reign) were spelled the same way, their meanings would be harder to differentiate."

We do a formal short spelling lesson each day in our homeschool. Each child has a spelling book that correlates with their "grade" and they complete a lesson each day with a test at the end of the week. They practice writing the words, spelling the words out loud, as well as using the words in a sentence. To keep it fun we also play online spelling games using their spelling list. For my younger ones,we "paint" the words in flour, shaving cream or paint and sometimes try to spell the words with other materials such as pipe cleaners, Legos or yarn. I am a firm believer that to try to teach my kids something, there has to be a level of fun to keep their attention.

Zombie Boy and Squidward also have their written spelling corrected within their daily work. Zombie Boy knows how to use a dictionary and spellchecker and if I see a misspelled work within his reports then he has to find the correct spelling. Squidward writes daily in a notebook and we circle misspelled words, he looks them up in a children's dictionary and then adds them to his Word Wall, a large yellow poster board that has many correctly spelled words written on it throughout the year.

What does your family do for spelling? Do you do a formal spelling program?