tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43765357749657349562026-05-27T02:00:18.923-07:00I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-58107966913202553482014-05-21T22:24:00.002-07:002014-08-20T13:44:29.589-07:00

So, without going into the details, it has become obvious that we need more than the usual Computer In A Public Room and Mom Has All the Passwords for the computers our kids use. We have tried a lot. The Macs come with Parental Controls settings, with two problematic areas: the application restriction options works backwards. I want to be able to say "Let them use everything but these three."

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-67203113681088540252013-08-18T18:53:00.001-07:002013-08-24T12:56:22.560-07:00

Source: TopMastersInEducation.com

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-64991887387451683782012-10-01T12:35:00.001-07:002012-10-01T12:42:12.545-07:00

Sea Fever I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking, And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking, I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; And

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-687779911398748182012-09-04T10:11:00.000-07:002012-09-04T10:11:00.919-07:00

I find this conversation both revealing and perplexing and annoying: Relative: Ohhhh, you're still homeschooling? Child: Yes (Me, silently): still? Relative: Do you just home-school or do you ever get to be with other kids? Child: Oh we do lots of other stuff with other kids -- book club, co-op classes, basketball . . . (Me, silently): just?  and is education supposed to be about being with

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-89424645966847635602012-06-01T10:33:00.000-07:002012-06-01T10:33:00.196-07:00

Here is what we are doing this year. Math: We will continue with Math-U-See because it works so well for us.  The nice man gives the lesson on DVD, the children do the practice exercises. It's great.  Dandy will also participate in MathUSee's online once-a-week tutorial. We will continue with the  very charming Life of Fred series, which pairs nicely with MathUSee. 

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-5581787517212961112012-02-21T16:17:00.000-08:002012-02-21T16:17:00.072-08:00

The Children's Homer by Padraic Colum, read by Robert Whitfield is a real treat.  A grand adventure, expertly retold for a younger audience and read aloud by a master-story-teller.  What more could you want?

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-48657225344078892882011-10-26T15:48:00.000-07:002011-10-26T15:52:12.709-07:00

October seems like the perfect month for Poe's The Raven: Classic Poetry Aloud offers an elegant reading of this classic creepy poem. StoryNory offers a perkier version. and you can hear the Allen Parsons Project version as the soundtrack to this whimsical home-movie interpretation of the poem: 

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-14799622988498348392011-10-08T11:22:00.000-07:002011-10-08T11:22:00.843-07:00

I've mentioned this before -- using iPod playlists for instruction -- in my post about Breakfast Devotions.  Since then I have expanded it to include: Memorization Work: The BSF memory verse for the week set to music or merely read aloud, if we can find it in iTunes. The poems that we are memorizing from Andrew Pudewa's Linguistic Development Through Poetry.  Our vocabulary words

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-31053237154940980082011-10-07T10:20:00.000-07:002011-10-07T11:49:00.234-07:00

We have just started with this Vocabulary Building curriculum and I rather like it.  I download the audio presentation from the Wordly Wise website and add it to our iTunes "Daily Listen" playlist, which I will tell you about in an other post.   After a couple of days of listening, we tackle the worksheets.  The children get most of the answers right and feel all clever and "

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-46230246690210289002011-08-23T10:38:00.001-07:002011-10-04T19:45:45.630-07:00

Pin It

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-55127950516413256892011-07-31T15:12:00.000-07:002012-05-29T10:05:01.377-07:00

Here is what we are doing this year. Math: We will continue with Math-U-See because it works so well for us.  The nice man gives the lesson on DVD, the children do the practice exercises. It's great.  We've found that when the Epsilon text pairs nicely with the Fractions text from the very charming Life of Fred series. Bible:  Bible Study Fellowship's Study of Acts, AOP's

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-54461926221091312132011-01-04T00:28:00.000-08:002011-01-04T00:28:40.185-08:00

We've moved some of the children's curriculum to online/CD-Rom material.  Of all that we are trying, Alpha Omega's Monarch is my favorite.  Obviously the scope and sequence and delivery all pass muster or I wouldn't even have given them a chance.  In addition, I like . . . . . . that the children's daily work is listed on their homescreens. . . . that I can access their lessons,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-18618134132947512582010-12-15T11:31:00.000-08:002010-12-15T11:31:00.999-08:00

Unit Studies: I need a clue. I have on hand two of the Stewart Unit Studies: Lewis & Clark and Birds -- these are both short -- and two of the longer ones: The Prairie Primer (Laura Ingalls Wilder books) and Further In and Further Up (The Chronicles of Narnia).  What they have listed for a day's work would take us a week.  Do you use Unit Studies?  Can you fill me in?

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-38207116105885753882010-12-07T17:11:00.000-08:002010-12-07T17:11:51.354-08:00

So yesterday Dandy turns in his homework 100% wrong.  Every bit of it.  It's obvious that he hasn't read the directions. I ask him "What were you supposed to do here?" and he makes up some gobbledygook.  I ask him to copy the directions (there are 5 small sets) and he throws a fit.  The fit and its consequences pretty much eat up the rest of the day and carry over into today.&

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-60849868088174116172010-12-02T00:19:00.000-08:002010-12-02T10:12:36.594-08:00

Every once in awhile I get the urge to revamp, reassess, and revise our home-schooling routines.  We recently set up a computer for the children to use, which opens up a whole new arena of curriculum for us.  I'm particularly attracted to curriculum that does the grading for me. Here is what we are currently using: Language ArtsBASIC SKILLS AND INFORMATIONWe are using the

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-22981830641923497402010-05-17T15:43:00.000-07:002010-05-17T19:40:45.349-07:00

So, I am reading this really good book on teaching -- Teach Like a Champion: 49 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College by Doug Lemov -- and hoping to share its wonders with you, though I know full well that I will lose track of what I wanted to say by the time I finish the book, as I get to read it in 30 second intervals between words on the spelling test or between innings or

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-17336891468003364452010-03-17T13:47:00.000-07:002010-03-17T13:47:09.591-07:00

One of my students called me a femivore in his final essay.  A what?  I only eat females?  I am a female who eats?  I am a feminist (ha!) that eats? What does he mean?  Being well-trained, he kindly provided a definition along with his specialty jargon.  Orenstein defines femivores as women who have renounced the consumer culture and have made the home a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-44681297532328153782010-03-05T08:46:00.000-08:002010-03-08T11:28:28.191-08:00

I need a Nespresso Machineand then I need the barrista (my first-cousin once-removed) to come live with me and make me one every morning because he is just so adorable.Here is my lovely cousin's lovely blog: Walk Along the Way. She and her Swiss ski instructor and their 4 children and their poodle are moving to Switzerland.Which reminds me, the last time we visited, when we arrived they were

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-5161459070968879562009-10-27T12:21:00.000-07:002009-10-27T12:28:45.601-07:00

If you know us in real-life, or even in blog-life I guess, you know that Dandy is not a free-range kid. I always have to know where he is and what he is doing. If I don't, he gets himself into trouble. It's not a lot different from parenting a 4-year-old, only a lot taller.Any way, he has been sneaking off for the last few days. You know where I find him?On his bed. Reading.Oh happiness and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-47237600293874708102009-10-01T11:12:00.000-07:002009-10-01T11:20:42.416-07:00

empty and sort my freezers. grade 50 quizzes and write this week's quiz questions.make soup.process (pay, reconcile, dispute etc.) a month's worth off bills and E.O.B.s. harvest, roast, shred, and freeze beets.put away the summer clothes and get out the woolies.revise the children's daily "to do" lists.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-35366257525573219162009-09-14T16:58:00.000-07:002009-09-14T17:51:46.721-07:00

We are home from a wonderful vacation and back to real life, full of exams and appointments and deadlines.Jamie has a huge test coming up next week, so he is hunkered down studying for that.I am teaching two classes at the community college, both on-line, and those classes launch on Thursday, so I am in a hot panic getting those prepped. Dandy had two assessments today: reading and math. In

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-69314083859227288882009-08-06T13:24:00.001-07:002009-08-06T16:26:32.851-07:00

We just got Dandy's test results from the end of the school year. I am posting this for all of you that question our home-schooling decision.Let's look at Reading first. The top line is the district norm, the triangles are his class norm (pretty much the same). The lower line is Dandy. The first measure is May 2008. Then September 2008, then May 2009. Yes, he is below grade level (

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-46947696022121574082009-07-10T14:15:00.000-07:002009-07-10T15:31:45.398-07:00

We have a new system in place, thanks to all the horizontal time I have had for planning. I am too weary to be up very much, but too well to actually sleep during all my down-time, so I plan and scheme.First, I made a lovely chart for each child.From Drop BoxThen I set up folders for each subject.MATHThey use Math-U-See (which rocks!) and are fairly independent with it. They watch the video and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-983423995521057312009-07-09T07:48:00.000-07:002009-07-09T07:48:00.931-07:00

At the recommendation of our lovely and intelligent home-schooling cousin (a published poet no less), we bought Days Go By for Chickadee. At first glance, it looked to be too difficult, so we set it aside.A few weeks ago, I found it, secreted underneath her pillow, with a bookmark about two-thirds though. At last, we have reached the covert reading stage! I quietly rejoiced and didn't let on,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4376535774965734956.post-14060137666242548782009-05-13T12:10:00.000-07:002009-05-13T12:10:31.344-07:00

I get it now. I get why people send their kids to school now. It is so quiet here. And in an hour it will still be quiet. And an hour after that? Quiet. I can breathe. I can take a long bath. I can clean the house and in a couple of hours it might still be clean, at least until 3:30. Wow. This could be dangerous, like a drug is dangerous, you try it just once and then . . .

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2