The First Day of School

I love seeing the pictures that have been flooding Facebook and blogosphere for the past few days - so many kids looking so excited for all that is in store... kids in front of school buses, front doors, school signs, in their classrooms, at home at the kitchen table... lots of different firsts, and all of the them look pretty wonderful!

Yesterday marked our first day for this year as well.  My homeschool calendar runs from August through July, schooling throughout the year and taking the last week off each month.  And then, here and there, we take off an extra week (or two or three) depending on the ebb and flow of the seasons.  Jordan just got home from his visitation with his mom in Oklahoma, so we took off the beginning of August and waited until he got home to officially start.  We'll go straight through and take off the last week of September.

So here is our "First Day Picture"....

Fantastic....

They look super-excited, don't they?

Here was my soundtrack all day...

1.  How many of these do I have to do?

2.  Can I play Minecraft now?

3.  Hey!  This is actually good so far!  (Jordan, talking about The Phantom Tollbooth)

4.  I have completely forgotten how to do Roman Numerals... what do I do again??

5.  I want to do Math!  (Owen)  (He means 'play' with the new balance scale we got)

6.  Can we watch Phineas and Ferb now?

7.  I'm hungry!

8.  What time is it?

9.  There is gross stuff all over my pencil.  Can I have a new one?

10.  Ewww!  Mom!  Jordan put his eraser up his nose!!!!!!!!!!!!

11.  Why don't you check your email, while we go out and play????

12.  What composition book?

sigh.

I don't think I am ready for day two just yet...

I need another shot of espresso in my mocha.

Hope your 'first day' went better than mine!!!



Curriculum catastrophies



I remember that the first summer before we started homeschooling I spent a minimum of 6-8 hours a day (or as long as 14 mo. old Rylan would let me) digging around on the Internet to look at curriculum and figure out how I was going to homeschool a (then) second grade Jordan.

Two regrets:

1.  I missed out on several precious weeks of Rylan's sweet babyhood - weeks I should have savored after working a full-time job during her first year of life.

2.  Five years later, I haven't learned a damn thing.

I hate the curriculum vortex that happens on the Internet.  You could spend hours.  Days.  Weeks.  And still not be any closer to a decision about what you want to use.  I have spend MONTHS trying to decide what direction we should take this coming year.  And I am still on the fence about a few items.  I want things simple, yet effective.  I've got three kids to school this year (four, if you count the 1on1 activities that I should be doing with Colin), so I need to make maximum use of my time.

When I sit here at the computer (also the 'school room'), all I have to do is cast my eyes upward and side-to-side as I scan our bookcases to see some of my spectacular (ie. expensive ) curriculum failures.  Even though I have spent hours this summer combing through the shelves and purging several boxes worth of stuff I won't use, the shelves are loaded to the max.  I don't even have room for the new stuff that will be arriving any day!  Most of what I purged were things I didn't purchase anyway.  They were relics from my teaching days - and mostly just full of 'busywork'.  Kids don't need 'busywork' - they need to get the meaty stuff and then go off and play.

Why so many failures??

1.  I am a curriculum crackhead.  I love new books.  They're shiny.

2.  Unfortunately, teachers-in-training do not take a college-level course called "Choosing an Effective Curriculum".  When you are a public school teacher, the district's so-called *experts* make the choices and you unpack the boxes that were dumped on your work table, number the books with your trusty Sharpie, and make nice, neat stacks on each student's desk in preparation for the first day of school.  And then you take home the teacher's manual and cram the night before you teach the lesson, while you eat Chinese take-out and watch CSI.

3.  I love the 'idea' of a comprehensive curriculum that pulls in multiple resources and materials.  Case in point: The Story of the World.  I love, love, love how in depth the curriculum goes, and all of the different books you use and the numerous projects and mapping exercises that you complete over the year.  And every year we fail to get very far.  This will be Jordan's FOURTH year learning about Ancient History (and Rylan's first!).  I totally suck.   Also - what I love does not necessarily translate to what they love.

4.  I fail to be realistic.  I always over-plan and under-execute.

5.  I didn't think about the type of children I had... I read the reviews based on other people's children.

6.  I based my opinion on the merit of a workbook by the one stinkin' lousy page that was available under 'preview'.  The rest of the pages to preview were, of course, the empty boring pages at the beginning of the book and the table of contents.  WHY do they only let you see one or two actual work pages?  It doesn't matter if you use Amazon, Rainbow Resource or even the publisher... there are very few companies that let you page through the entire thing.  Life of Fred is a very nice exception, as well as Real Science-4-Kids.

7.  I used the "We might use this... someday...." excuse.  No more.  If it's not being used now, or its proven its merit and is sticking around for the other kids, it's going to a new home.

So... what are we using this year?  I think I have made some pretty good, solid choices, but a post about it will have to wait for another time - so much to do today, and so little time to do it in!



Fifty Shades of sunburn...

Today I took the kids swimming at my mom's neighborhood pool.  While my mom supervised the little ones in the kiddie pool, Rylan and I went in the big pool.  As we were swimming, I noticed three different moms, on three different sides of the pool, all reading the exact same book.

I read that same book last month.  The whole trilogy, actually.  In four days. 

I didn't really intend to read the series.  We had briefly discussed it as a pick for bookclub, and then we all ultimately decided against it because the subject matter had potential to be disturbing.  Then, several weeks later, as the kids and I entered the library, there was Fifty Shades - sitting in the Here and Now section.  (A special section of top book picks that are in high demand.)  I guiltily slipped it into our library bag.  It was back on the shelf within 24 hours.  I managed to sit with the dilemma of how to get a hold of book 2 for about 8 hours before I succumbed to curiosity and downloaded it on Kindle.  The next day I ordered book 3.  I have no idea what the kids did that week, or what they ate, or what they wore... but the good news is that they survived my mental vacation with minimal emotional scarring.

I will not discuss the obvious, but I will address the critics who say that E L James cannot write, that she stole ideas and ripped Stephenie Meyer off (???), or that she glamorizes the male in a dominant role.  While it is true that this series may not be for everyone, there is no glorification here.  I also know the kerfluffle over where this storyline orginated from, but this rewrite has absolutely nothing to do with Twilight...

James can write, and she used the narrative tool of describing the main character's inner thoughts to elevate the task of character development to a whole different level - heck, that IS the crux of the story - the transformation of both Anastasia and Christian.  If you read beyond the rather annoyingly constant ...um...er...'events' that advance the plot, you get to read a fascinating stream of inner dialogue as Anastasia comes to terms with discovering her desires, limits, strengths and weaknesses.  It really is good stuff.  I also admire the way James changed up her writing style within the story when it came to the snippets of emails scattered throughout the chapters.  There were some truly witty and hilarious volleys back and forth.

Two things annoyed me though:

1.  The constant use of 'Holy crap'.  I think it was used at least 263 times throughout all three books.  (just a guess).

2.  "He is so hot".  Really?  Is E L James BFFs with Paris Hilton?  That phrase is just...so... 'icky'.

I totally did not intend to write about reading this series.  Number one, because my mother reads this blog.  (ewww).  Number two - I so wanted to totally avoid the obvious.

BUT

Seeing those moms, all engrossed in their books and ignoring their children actually made me chuckle - I would have died from embarrassment to read those books in public like that. 

"Don't mind me, I'm just sitting in my lounge chair.....reading mommy porn!"



One of Betty's favorite things...

Today is my grandma Betty's birthday.  She would have celebrated her 90th year...  When grandma talked about her childhood in the wilds of northern Wyoming, she mentioned that she loved to go to the different community celebrations in the summertime - the county fair (her mother lead the women's cooperative extension), tent revivals, and vacation bible school.

So in honor of grandma's birthday - let's celebrate the agricultural backbone of our community and go to the county fair!

Day one
(with Dean and the kids, and some family friends)

The doggie spash zone was by far the best part of the fair...

(Dude!  Where's my car?)

(Cam the Ram.  ver. 9.1)

"Does this make me look fat?"

The 4-H projects

(all of these projects were completed by various kiddos in our homeschooling group)

(and there were several more that I didn't take a picture of...)

(mainly because I couldn't find them)

(Like sheep.  And goats.  How did I miss them?)

WOW!  What talented and dedicated kids!

Day 2

(Grandma Judy, me and Rylan)

My favorite part of the fair... the quilts!

Collecting plastic eggs from stuffed chickens.  Where's the challenge?

First pony ride!

First amusement park ride!  She giggled the whole time...

That's my girl!!

Love you grandma... you are never far from my thoughts...



Wordless Wednesday

I may be turning 41 today...

but my soul feels much younger!



Feild Trip: Denver Botanic Gardens

My mom took us on a trip to the Denver Botanic Gardens today as a pre-birthday treat for me - and what a treat it was! It may have been in the mid-90's, but there were plenty of shady spots with a nice breeze to cool us off. What a gorgeous place! There is also a children's garden that offers plenty of room to run, explore, create and places to get wet...

This is my favorite.  I love the look of spicy hot florals and cool sage against an adobe wall.  Love.

Thank you, mom, for a wonderful day!!!!  Love you!

School Supplies

Yep.

There you have it. 

My sum total of school supply shopping for this year.

Four, count em' 1-2-3-4, dry erase markers.

Boy do I love homeschooling!

I am celebrating my sixth year of watching half-crazed parents, with 2-page school supply lists in hand, barking at their children to "Just choose a damn folder and find some No. 2 pencils!  Why do you need TEN spiral notebooks!?!?!?  What happened to last year's backpack?  Lunch box?  Waterbottle?"

While I pass by in total.  unstressed.  blissdom.

Lest you hate me... that was school supply shopping I was talking about.

Curriculum is an entirely different financial matter.

I may need to hold a sidewalk bake sale or two, to fund our book order.

Or make Jordan and Rylan do a weekend car wash or something...

So, I guess in that department, you public-schoolers have got it made.

(damn!)