Week of the Water Heater

I guess we were just not destined for school this week. The solar guys came on Tuesday to install our super cool new solar water heating system and that not only took all day, but it took two days. And the second day we had no water at all because they were working on plumbing the system. Blech. If I had known how that second day was going to go, I would have either planned to be gone (but I just don't feel right about leaving a crew in the house alone) or at least bought us a case of bottled water. Can you believe we had no bottled water at all and no pitchers of it or anything in the fridge? We ended up microwaving glasses of ice cubes by the end of the day, lol. We're a big water family. There was a gallon of juice in the fridge, but it's just not the same. At least that meant that we weren't needing the bathroom too much - toilets don't work without water either, you know. ;)

They finally got out of here at about 7pm on the second day but they left us with piping hot water and a beautiful new tubular skylight in the kitchen. The skylight is the coolest thing ever. We had this dark little kitchen and almost always had the lights on in there. Now the skylight lights it up whenever Mr. Sun is in the sky. It's nice too because it starts out low when you first wake up and then by 10 or 11 it is brighter than the lights ever were. Around sunset it glows this beautiful blue color and Dave the Solar Guy said that it does that during a full moon too. I highly recommend them for all the dark corners of your house!

So we never got any schoolwork done. The crew on the roof was just too interesting. We did go to a 4-H meeting on Tuesday afternoon though. It started with a silverware stuffing party as we filled little baggies with plastic utensils for the Chickenque coming up in a few weeks. Then there was "the boring meeting" and I think Cameron volunteered for a committee or two. After the meeting was chocolate cake to wish bon voyage to one of the former leaders and her family before they make their move to Alaska. OMG, that was the best chocolate cake ever. They should've put a warning label on it

Warning: Consumption of this cake can cause greedy overindulgence in pregnant women and incredibly long-lasting hyperactivity in children.

LOL, it was that good. So anyway, after the children were all hyped up they had pet show and tell day. Lots of happy dogs and several terrified cats and guinea pigs. We decided not to actually bring out pets (I was wondering how I was going to handle three children through all that much less a pet or two!) so Cameron brought pictures instead. Unfortunately, he didn't quite get the concept that the audience couldn't see the pictures while he was looking at them. ;) See Greyson the Blur in this one? LOL, he loved all the pets and couldn't get enough of them.

I guess 4-H always counts as school to me. It's definitely the most schooly atmosphere they are ever in. Wednesday I kept saying, let's just wait for the workmen to finish up before we start school. I don't want to be interrupted. LOL. Yeah, well that plan didn't work. ;) We did get some good lessons in stuff like tools, reflection (the tubular skylight), and career choices. Cassia says she wants to be a worker when she grows up now. We also got a great lesson in patience.

Today was supposed to be catch up day but now everyone is sick. Cassia was actually more sick yesterday but it hit Cameron hard today and he is currently napping on the couch. Greyson has a bit of a cough too but it hasn't slowed him down any. We won't get any school done tomorrow because if the kids are well then we are going to Science class and then the park and then baseball! Actually, I'm hoping we can just go to Science Class, come home to rest, and then go to baseball. I have a feeling though that we're going to be laying on the couch all day watching movies.

I spent the day finally planting my seeds for our vegetable garden. I'm actually doing it a few weeks too late but I really wanted to do it right this time. I ordered a starter kit so that I could do everything "by the book" as told by this fabulous sustainable gardening book that I got from the library last year. Anyway, I forgot that you're supposed to start the seedlings several weeks before the last frost so I'm a little behind but hopefully we'll still have a bountiful vegetable garden to enjoy. It won't have quite as much variety as my mix and match garden from last year but it will be much cheaper and much more salad ready. We're even growing watermelons and Haogen melons! That will be a blast to have fresh watermelons. The starter kit also included seeds for a Calorie Crop (in other words, food like wheat, potatoes, and onions that give your diet a lot of calories for the space they take up in the garden) but I don't really have a place to plant them. The starter garden is supposed to be 100 square feet but we only have a 7' x 10' plot. I really want to dig up another little section somewhere but I doubt that it's going to happen this year. Hopefully the seeds will keep until next year. (Freezer?)

Oh, and one more thing... taking away tv is a really bad punishment to dole out. Cassia's entire class was misbehaving this morning in ballet and so they didn't get their usual stickers for the second week in a row. She was not happy at all and when I handed her her shoes and said "let's go" she threw them at me, crossed her arms defiantly, and said, "No!" Well that lost her her tv for the day but it also gave her opportunity to just get into more trouble!! She and Greyson have been up to no good all day. I miss my tv babysitter/child soother!! I hope I don't have to do that one again. ;)

And that's the news from Bermland. One more quick plug for Dave and the guys at the Sun Connection. The were really, really fabulous. They worked hard and did not skimp a single corner even though the entire process took much longer than they expected. They are currently the only Northern California suppliers of this solar water heating system, so give them a call if you want one or for an amazing tubular skylight if you live in Sonoma or Marin county. Thanks, Dave!!!

No news is no news

Well, I made it back here slightly before a week! I'd hate to become a once a week blogger. ;)

Not too much happening though.

Thursday was ballet class and then the usual schoolwork. We started reading about Greece but I can't really go on because my library books haven't come in yet. (Not that I don't have a ridiculous number of books on Greece in the schoolroom that my aunt passed down to me - but I haven't gone through those yet so we're ignoring them.) Cassia got promoted from the little girl class to Pre-Ballet for this summer even though they had previously told me it wouldn't be until fall. I wish it were because she's so amazingly talented but I think it's just because they want her to take one of the Pre-Ballet summer camps (more $$$). And of course we're falling for it. ;) But it's ok because we should be able to have her in ballet camp and Cameron in golf camp the same week leaving me with only one child. Can you imagine? It's only for a couple hours a day, but still, it's a milestone.

Friday was Science class where the kids learned edible geology. The did plate tectonics with mint Oreos to show how mountains form and then broke up Pangea (a graham cracker) and watched its soil (frosting) and plant & animal life (sprinkles) get distributed over the world (paper plate). It was cute. That was followed by playing swords with the boys in class and then Favorite Park Day which actually ended in a complete melt-down by Cassia because she didn't get to play with L5 long enough. Of course that didn't matter when I couldn't get her to leave R8's house to go to the park! I think we may have to pick instead of doing both every week. Maybe trade off weeks of staying to play or going to the park.

Saturday was baseball and gardening.

Sunday was a Geocaching project for 4-H. That was fun! I kind of had to talk the boys into it, but I knew they would love it... and they did! This was the first meeting and we met at the leader's house to learn the rules and then they had hidden different caches around their property for the kids to find as practice. Cam and DH had a blast and found every single one of them. Of course DH wants to buy his own GPS now, lol. Cassia had a great time just playing dress up with C5 and Greyson had his own little explore going on. We all had a really good time. :)

Monday Greyson finally went in for his long-awaited GI appointment. It was pretty anticlimactic. We just talked and they ordered some blood tests (to appease me, I think) but I have the feeling that the doctor just thinks that "some kids are just like that" and he'll eventually grow out of this. She suggested some supplements that might help and said come back this summer and we'll see if it's gotten any better. I guess the main point is that he is growing well and things have gotten better since giving up dairy so they're ok with where he's at. I'm pretty tired of the constant diaper related infections, but hopefully the supplements will help that.

We got home from there with about an hour before gymnastics, so no schoolwork got done despite my plans to push through it real quick. LOL, as if. ;) So we went to the gym and the kids got their permission slips for the Big Gymnastics Show in June. Thankfully they were both placed in the same show, lol. I could've changed them, of course, but it's nice that I didn't have to. They got assigned to the best show too - Sunday matinée!

And that's what we've been up to since last Wednesday. Tomorrow is the day we've all been waiting for... water heater installation day!!!!!!! So hopefully by this time tomorrow I will be clean and warm and happy. Yay!

Play Ball!

Slacking again! Man, time just gets away from me lately. I meant to blog Monday but DH was home so that makes it tough. I meant to blog Tuesday but we were busy all day and then Cameron and I ended up watching a Giant's game together until 10:30pm (!) and by then I was just too tired. I've been meaning to blog all day today, but here it is 9:45 and I'm just now getting to it. Where does the time go??

So let's see... Monday was a pretty good day. I started the day out with an OB appointment. Blobby is just fine (and we find out if it's Blobby or Blobbi on the 16th!) but I was told that I need to drink more water and try to stay off my feet as much as possible (hahahahahahaha). Just a little more aching/cramping/contracting (hard to tell what it really is at this point) than my doctor is comfortable with. And you know, she must be right because now that I'm paying more attention to it, I notice that it's always coming when I've been standing at the computer too long or have been running too many errands. So I've really been trying to go sit down when I start to feel it. DH is terrified that I'm going to end up on bedrest, so I'm doing my best to make sure I'm getting some rest when I need it.

Anyway, after that Cameron and I did some schoolwork. We only had time for Phonics and Grammar before it was time for gymnastics. We learned something new in Grammar though (which is always a nice surprise since there is so much review, lol), the definition of a sentence. Neither Cameron nor Cassia had any trouble picking out which was the sentence and which was the fragment in the examples. We took Math and Spelling along with us to the gym. Math was multiplying and dividing by fours and Cameron had a couple interested people at the gym asking what grade he was in and what school he went to and such, lol. He's a very proud homeschooler. I love that. I also noticed that even though he's doing a 2nd grade math book - and he knows that - he told people that he was in first grade and that this was his first grade math book. I like that he doesn't feel the need to brag about the level. Maybe he just doesn't realize that all first graders don't do level 2 math? He does like to brag about the fact that he's got me teaching him cursive even though I told him that most kids don't learn that until 2nd grade. LOL. People don't seem very impressed by that though. ;) But where was I? Oh yeah, we were doing math at gymnastics. We ended up not having the time or the inclination to do Spelling there so we were going to do that and History back at the house afterward.

Both Cameron and Cassia did FABULOUSLY in gymnastics this week. It was Star Week where they are tested on their skills and Cassia got 5 out of 6 stars on hers. That means a new star on her name tag which she is just thrilled over. We've missed the last couple star days and they don't have make-ups for her class, so she was feeling a little behind/left out. Cameron, if you remember, only got two stars at his make-up last month and was absolutely devastated. He was convinced he would *never* pass level two. Well, he got SEVEN stars and earned his level two ribbon. WooHoo! I was so genuinely proud of their hard work that I told them that I'd give them a pass on the rest of their schoolwork for the day. Cam said that he'd take the pass on Spelling but he still wanted to do History. :) So here's what we did for History:




Frescoes! Just like the Minoans covered their palace walls with. Those were really fun. I don't know how authentic they really are (painting with poster paint on wet plaster of paris) but they were fun and we will probably all now remember that frescoes are the ones done on plaster.

Tuesday we had our EcoArts project for 4-H. We made kites out of paper bags. It was a fun project to make but the cutting was actually a bit hard for the kids (most of them 2nd grade or under). I'd say their education was lacking but a public school teacher recently told me that she has 4th graders whose cutting skills are practically non-existent because the school took cutting practice out of the Kindergarten curriculum. Guess why... yep, because they aren't tested on that particular skill. *roll eyes* We went out for ice cream with a couple people after the meeting and as is typical of a 4-H day, we never got around to doing any book work. Oh well. They got cutting and painting practice in... no test required. ;)

Today, Wednesday, we didn't actually get around to much book work either. We ran some errands in the morning and then came home to find that the mailman had delivered a new game: Smath! Of course I was just as bad as the kids and had to open it up and read all the directions the second we got it, lol. So we decided that we would do a quick Phonics lesson (plurals ending in -es) and then we would play Smath for math. What a great game! It's really just Scrabble with math equations instead of words but, man, is it fun! I love Scrabble anyway and I love equations so it was just heaven to me. Cameron and I had a pretty close game going on... until Greyson toppled the board, that is. But it was time to go to baseball anyway so we geared up, strapped ourselves in the car, and... and... nothing. Dead battery. Somebody had been playing in the car and left all the lights on. That somebody is not allowed to stay in the car after we go in the house anymore, no matter how much she begs. So we had to walk to the baseball game. Luckily it only takes ten minutes to walk there so it wasn't a big deal. We were going to just drop Cam off and then hit the grocery store but obviously that didn't happen. I guess I'm going to have to get up early and make muffins or something for breakfast since we don't have anything else, lol. And it looks like I'll finally get a chance to use my AAA card tomorrow morning. DH won't be home to jump the car for us until late Friday night, and I'm sorry, but we've got plans. No time to wait so I'm calling in the professionals.

Speaking of professionals - we finally get our new water heating system installed on Tuesday!! WooHoo!!! T minus 6 days until we have hot water again!!!!!

Hello there!

Sorry I've been gone so long. I have had password "issues." Let's just hope that they're resolved now and I don't have to reset my password every time I want to log in. Eeek.

So much time has passed since I last blogged, I don't even know where to start. Easter was good. We took a 4-day weekend for Easter Break. Can I tell you that I love being able to call it Easter Break? LOL, all of our outside classes were taking Spring Break and while I acknowledge that it is indeed springtime, that's not the reason we took a break. We took a break because we were going out of town to spend Easter with some relatives. So, therefore, it was Easter break... and we're not even Christian, lol. It's the little things that make me happy. ;)

School has been very bipolar. We've had a very reliable schedule of one fantastic day followed by one cruddy day. I could set a calendar by it. I should just only plan on doing school Monday/Wednesday/Friday to plan for that, but then that would ensure that MWF were our bad days. (No really, I am an optimist!)

But let's see... we've made steady progress in Phonics, Grammar, and Math. Spelling has been done once a week, but I doubt that anything has been retained. I really need to get Cameron back in the habit of doing Spelling Time several times a week. For History we have read about the Minoans in SOTW and our History Encyclopedias. The kids have had a great time practicing bull-jumping. If they remember nothing else about the island of Crete, they will know that the children there did gymnastic vaults over live bulls. Of course, C&C were practicing over a padded rocking horse, but it sure was fun and yet, still dangerous! LOL. They also enjoyed the story of King Minos and the Minotaur. Cameron informed me that if he lived then there was no way he would have allowed that to happen. I love how powerful he feels. He really feels that he could change the world if he wanted to. Maybe someday he will. :)

Today we went to science class and they learned about optical illusions and a little bit about the eye. They made those little flippy cards where you put a cage on one side and a bird on the other. Cassia made a flower on one side and its petals on the other. I helped her with it but we didn't get it lined up too well. The teacher saw it and said that it looked like a picture of that Simpons character, Sideshow Bob. LOL. He was right. Cameron made a really cool one that was a treasure chest on one side and a dagger on the other. After class, the kids played this elaborate sword, shield and elf game again. They all get along really well. We left a little earlier than the kids would have liked so that we could at least spend a couple hours with our friends a Favorite Park day, but there were only a couple families there. And it was cold. And it started raining. Thankfully I didn't hear a single instance of "we should've stayed at R's house!!" but that's what I was thinking! So we came home to hot chocolate and a movie and now we have to go see if Cameron's baseball game is actually going to happen or not. It's sprinkling, but who knows how hard core they are with rain. It's only game #3.

...And the answer is, Little League is pretty hard core!! The game went on despite intermittent showers and then it was pouring during the entire 4th inning. All the parents were complaining but the coach said as long as the kids weren't complaining that they were playing! They finally called it at the end of the 4th inning after almost an hour and a half (regulation game time). Crazy people!! LOL. We have another game tomorrow morning. I hope it's not still raining then.

Super-Productive Day vs Barely Functioning Day

Super-Productive Day
Tuesday started with an early morning trip to the pediatrician which got us up dressed and ready to go much earlier than usual. When we were leaving the pharmacy, Cameron asked if it was almost night, lol, but we were home and ready for school by 10:30 am! So Cameron did Phonics (contractions) and Language/Grammar (writing dates properly) and then I asked him if he wanted to do Math or History. He said "Science!" I told him that I had decided to take a little break from our science book while he was in that science class but he reminded me that there is no science class this week because of Easter!

He was quite insistent so we dusted off the MPH Science and finished reading the chapter on water and its changes of state. He was all excited to do the associated workbook pages and even did the writing himself! We did at least 4 pages of workbook and he thoroughly impressed me with his knowledge and memory of the subject. The activities in the the Activity Book all required a lab thermometer (which I still haven't gone out to buy!) so instead we did a "try this" activity that was listed in the text and expanded on it a bit. We filled 3 containers with equal amounts of water and added a heaping tablespoon of sugar to one and a heaping tablespoon of salt to another. We then put them in the freezer and charted their progress every half hour. It was actually really fun and the kids were so excited to check each time the timer went off. The were also really surprised to see how differently they all acted.

Once we finished off all the science stuff for that chapter I said, "Math now?" to which Cameron replied, "No, History!" Even when I reminded him that he would still have to do math afterward, he emphatically voted for History. So we read Chapter 17 in SOTW on the rise of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar and the Hanging Garden. It's so funny, sometimes I'll think he's not listening and then all of a sudden he'll pipe up with, "Oh I know about this! I saw it on Time Warp Trio!!" I had no idea that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were featured on Time Warp Trio, but he was right! And then we did Math (multiplying by 4s) and there was nothing too exciting about that except that he didn't even complain or dawdle too much. It was a very good school day. Oh and Cassia learned the lines for X in The Consonant Rhyme.

Barely Functioning Day
And then there was today. So today was supposed to be a relaxing catch up kind of day because we didn't have anywhere to be. Woo Hoo! So after a leisurely morning, I announced that I was going to go get cleaned up and dressed, we would do schoolwork, and then we would tidy up the house for DH's arrival tomorrow. It was close to 11:00 by this time, lol, so they had plenty of time to play and enjoy themselves all morning. I had also given a big "heads up" to the daily plans when we first got up. So yeah. Let's just say that nothing went the way it was supposed to and I ended up putting the school books away in a hormonal huff, picking up all the toys around the house by myself, piling them on the dining room table, and announcing that anything that wasn't put away by the time I was done vacuuming was being thrown away.

So the house got clean.

Later, after Greyson finally went down for a nap we were all a bit calmer and I brought out the books again. This time went much better but there sure was a lot of moping, bellyaching, and general complaining from the Peanut Gallery. But we did Phonics (more contractions), Grammar/Language (reviewed Mr. Nobody but skipped the date writing copywork), Math (more 4 x tables), and read our history encyclopedia entries on Babylon. Cameron must be growing up because there was a picture of an alabaster statuette of Ishtar and he bursts out with, "Look! A naked lady!!" We've seen lots of naked people in our studies so far, but this is the first time it's been pointed out in quite that way. Cassia will go into her room to change her clothes now because she doesn't want anyone to see her naked. Hmmm. I guess they're growing up.

Anyway, we were all just wanting to get it done as quickly as possible so that we could get back to less annoying pursuits. Not my perfect homeschool vision. Oh well. Tomorrow is another day. Isn't it great that you always get another day to do things over? :)

Entirely too long post

Gosh, I'm such a slacker! What is up with me not being motivated to blog lately?? I have good stuff to show you too! Who abducted my brain? Oh yes, it was Blobby. ;) And for the record, we will find out if it is Blobby or Blobbi in about 6 more weeks, I'm guessing. I don't have a date yet, but I'm 14 weeks now and the "big ultrasound" is usually around 20 wks. DH says the u/s picture looks like a boy face to him. I think that little one looks like sugar and spice and everything nice. Anyone care to place a bet? I should put an official poll on the sidebar.

Anyway, for one of the first times ever, I'm going to actually have to look at my lesson planner/log to remember what we did to blog! Usually my planner is what's not up to date and I have to read my blog to fill that in.

Wednesday: Wednesday was a quiet, catch up day at home. Cameron did Spelling (s blends), Phonics (two-syllable review), Language/Grammar (review Mr. Nobody), Math (subtracting 98 or 99 from a number), and History (Assyria's Ashurbanipal and the Nineveh library). I can't remember anything remarkable that we did besides that.

Thursday: Ballet started the day and there was something remarkable that I do remember. We were running a bit late so I told everyone to hustle - and they DID! We made it out the door in plenty of time. Wow, what a difference when you actually have cooperation! LOL, it really is the little things that make my day.

You know, that actually reminds me of an article that I read in a local homeschool magazine, California HomeSchooler. It said that there were many ways to define success and that if you depend on external verification of your successes then you are bound to be disappointed by them at some point. They (things like degrees and awards) represent things you have done in the past and also require other people to be impressed by their meaning. People's views may change and your ability to still do those things may change... does that mean you are no longer a success? A better option, they said, was to define your own internal measure of success based on integrity, authenticity, acceptance & adaptability (resourcefulness), and purpose. The author said that people who seem genuinely happy possess these traits and feel successful regardless of their current circumstances. (Apparently, the entire article "Four Elements of Success" can be read at the author's blog http://justenough.wordpress.com though I haven't actually gone there.) I know that I don't completely possess all those qualities, and even where I do, I don't possess them to the extent that I feel that I could/should BUT I can definitely see the value in them. And I definitely look at my life with that sort of a measure. My DH has every degree and every award he's ever received hanging on his wall. I never even bothered to request a copy of my University degree, lol. It's just a piece of paper after all and I have enough clutter around here. ;)

But I digress. Thursday was actually a great day scholastically. Cam did more two-syllable word review in Phonics and read a passage whose length he was sure would literally kill him. ;) For Language/Grammar we reviewed Mr. Nobody again and Cameron surprised me by knowing almost all of it. Then I read them a poem called The Star by Jane Taylor. Go read it if you're not familiar with this poem. I guarantee you'll be surprised! Then Cameron drew a picture inspired by the poem and copied the first stanza. It was quite a bit of writing for him (especially since I was a Mean Mommy and made him actually form all the letters correctly without any silly embellishments) so he would basically write one line in between each subject. Here is the final result:

Math was a review exercise. For History we read about the Assyrians in our history encyclopedias and then - get ready - actually did a couple of history projects!! There were two in the SOTW Activity guide that sounded fun so I did what any good homeschooling parent of more than one would do and assigned different projects to different kids based on what I thought they would enjoy most and get the most out of. Cameron made a Assyrian siege tower out of LEGOs and then attacked the castle in our history encyclopedia and then a LEGO castle that he and Cassia made, lol.



Cassia made a book for Ashubanipal's library in Nineveh. (Picture a smile somewhere in between the first one and the last, lol.)




It was a great day for school and I followed it up with something I didn't really think I would ever do.... I dropped Cameron off for baseball practice. It was cold and windy and I just plain didn't want to sit out there in the cold for an hour watching Greyson dissolve into shivers while Cassia kept begging to take her jacket off. I'm sick of people being sick so I opted for the easy route and dropped Cam off at the edge of the playground and popped Dora Dance To the Rescue into the minivan's DVD player where we sat in warmth to wait. I feel like a slacker and a hypocrite for all the things I think about the moms who normally just drop off their kids, lol, but it was COLD. (Yes, I know I wouldn't survive one day in the might-as-well-be-arctic Midwest.)

Friday: Now I know Friday is normally Favorite Park Day and doesn't usually get blogged but last week we started something new: a really super fun Science class! The teacher is one of those traveling science guys who does workshops and programs for schools, rec centers, and homeschoolers. A local homeschooler decided to hire him to come to her house and give lessons to a group of no more than 10 kids for 10 weeks!! It's really hands-on fun stuff and although I had only signed Cameron up for the class, I let Cassia sit in and within five minutes it was obvious that I needed to sign her up too. The teacher is great and we all (even the parents) learned a lot. This week's lesson was on magnetism and they each got a bunch of magnets, paper clips, and ball bearings to take home to experiment with. Afterward, several of the kids stayed and played Epic Castle Warfare Battle* (*not a real game, lol, but an epic battle involving many children and many plastic swords and shields). I tell you, it was hard to drag those kiddos away from there to go to the park! But we made it there too and, as always, were glad we didn't miss it. There we had an adventure to hunt down a golden treasure which ended in a stand-up comedy showcase in a gazebo. Let me tell you, six-year humor is universal! (Universally bad, that is.) Phew! Busy day!

Saturday: Saturday was Cameron's very first Little League game. *sniff sniff* They looked so cute! I was so proud! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures. The one wonderfully amazing thing that did happen - besides the kids playing extraordinarily well for being the first game of a brand new team - was that Cameron got to hold the American flag while everyone sang the National Anthem during the opening ceremony. Want to know how to make a proud pregnant momma cry? That's how. It was actually quite funny - DH didn't realize that the kids were supposed to stay with the team and go out on the field during the ceremony so he had Cameron with him in the stands. Well, the boy who was supposed to hold the flag wasn't there for some reason so this lady just came out, saw a cute kid in uniform and said, "Hey kid, want to hold the flag for us?" LOL, he was thrilled to do so. If you remember, he carried a flag in a 4-H parade last year and it's just one of his all-time favorite things to do. They really couldn't have picked a more enthusiastic volunteer. He even started waving it around proudly after the song when everyone was clapping. I really wish I had had my camera.

Monday: And that brings us, finally, to today. For school Cameron did Spelling (y as a vowel), Phonics (possessive 's), Language/Grammar (Mr. Nobody review and an oral narration of The Boy Who Cried Wolf), and Math (multiplication by 4s). Cassia has also been doing Phonics every day and is all the way up to "W" in The Consonant Rhyme. We've actually almost got a little routine down where we do her phonics while Cameron works on his spelling or math. The trouble is that Cameron likes to join in on her lessons too and doesn't really get his own work done in that time. But it's ok. I think it makes them both more excited to do it. I'm really nervous about next year though when I'm going to have to make a real effort to get her schooled every day - and hopefully in more than one subject at a time, lol. And with a newborn too!

And that is my entirely too long catch up post. I promise to try to be more regular so I don't have to bore you with these epic sagas. The mundane details of my life are much easier to take in small doses, I'm sure. ;) But hey, you know what? Based on my internal definitions, my life is a success... so there! :P

Meet BlobbyBerm - part II

♥ Finally got around to scanning this in from Monday...

Roughing it!

Things are going well here. Lots going on...

Saturday our water heater started leaking. Just so you know, that's a bad thing. We attempted drainage pans for a while, but quickly gave up on that thought. So now we are just plain without hot water until our new solar water heating system can be delivered... in April. Sure, we could've had a replacement put in on Monday but when you've gotta redo everything you might as well do it right, right? This system is so cool. It is everything we were hoping for and more. If anyone wants more info I'd be happy to ramble on about it... but not right now, lol. So the good news is that even though it is pretty pricey, we are getting a hefty tax refund that will completely cover it and still leave us with a couple K in our pocket. The exciting news is that we will be one of the first in the US to get this system! They've been using it in Europe for decades but it's just making its way over here now... which leads to the bad news. They can't even ship it until April 1st so were looking at an install maybe the 3rd or 4th. But we've been surviving by boiling water on the stove for dishes and laundry and have been making good use out of our solar camp shower. The kids actually really love the "sun shower" as they call it. So we should be just fine roughing it for a couple weeks.

So what else? Monday I went for my integrated screening which included a really, really long ultrasound. The little bugger wouldn't get into the right position for the test so we just had to wait and prod and wait. Ah, but I am so in love! Blobby was just wiggling around, kicking, twirling, and sucking his/her thumb. Did you know that they are already sucking their thumbs at 13 weeks? I got a fabulous picture but, of course, I haven't scanned it in yet. Everything looks great - two arms, two legs, etc. It was such a cool ultrasound though. It was a really high quality machine and I got lots of nice long looks at Blobby's skull, brain, ribs, spine, and those cute little hands. It's just amazing. Life is a true miracle.

Today, Tuesday, we had a 4-H meeting. It was the "boring meeting" so there's not much to report on from there. Oh Cameron did volunteer to head up a community service project in which we hand out money to all the poor people who need it on the side of the road. I tried to explain to him that there were just too many people out there to do that but he said that we could just give money to one person then and then when the club gets some more money we can give it to another and so on. So sweet. So idealistic. Anyway, he was given this project so I think it is now up to me to help him figure out a more practical way to help the poor and homeless. We have a great homeless shelter here so I guess we really need to call them to see what we can do to help.

Also at the meeting we judged posters for our yearly 4-H fundraiser known as Chickenque. Here's Cam's...

The younger kids' work wasn't actually judged, they all got ribbons, but I did hear several people comment on how cute his was. Maybe I'm just biased, but I agree.

And that's about it lately except for the usual gymnastics and baseball. We haven't actually gotten around to any bookwork this week but Cameron did spend about 45 minutes this morning playing Timez Attack. So that's math and we certainly learned a lot about solar energy on Monday, so there's science. Oh and Cameron read the little tag on the back of his 4-H ribbon and insisted on filling it out with his name, entry, and ranking so let's call that Language Arts. We can throw a couple bedtime stories into that group too. OK, school is accounted for. Now I need to go boil some water for dishes. Oh joy.

In lighter news...

So I realize that I haven't updated in a while. Sorry for that. My days just seem so short now! Once I finally make it through the day, I'm just ready to crash in front of the tv and my poor blog has become neglected. When did I find time to blog before? I guess it was while I was cooking dinner and lately my dinner cooking has been less than gourmet, lol. Tonight it was "baked" potatoes in the microwave. Last night it was pizza (at least I did make it from semi scratch - Trader Joe's dough). The night before bean burritos. So when is the first trimester fatigue over??

So let's recap the week...

Monday: I was supposed to have an OB appointment in the morning but it got rescheduled due to an emergency c-section. She sure seems to get a lot of those! I hope these aren't all her patients or I may have to find someone less scalpel happy! I finally got in at around 5:30 pm. She couldn't find the heartbeat with the Doppler so we had to go check things out with a quick u/s. Darn. ;) Little Blobby was rabbit kicking around in there like a hyper little Berm babe should. So much for my theory that I'm due a mellow child this time around. I go for a NT scan next Monday. I wasn't actually planning on this particular test. I'm not going to have an amnio unless there is a DAMN GOOD reason for it - as in something that is fixable in utero or something that must be dealt with right at birth - so I didn't see much point in this particular test. I was told that I was being scheduled for a Quad Screen. I figured this was just another layer to the Triple Screen that I've had for all my other kids (blood test correlating with 20-wk u/s). I didn't realize that the fourth layer was the NT scan. But, in researching it, I found out that it can identify cardiac problems and that is definitely something I would want to know about. So I go in for that ultrasound Monday morning.

School was squished in before gymnastics. Cameron did phonics which included some whiteboard writing. Whiteboard writing always leads to cursive practice but I have no idea why, lol. He just loves practicing cursive on the whiteboard! I call it a bonus subject. But this bonus subject meant that he only had time to finish half of his math assignment (1 of 2 pages) before we left for the gym. Once we got back we "did Science" by watching the new Discovery Channel series The Human Body: Pushing the Limits. What a great show! Make sure you check it out this Sunday if you haven't seen it yet.

Tuesday: Tuesday was the day of our 4-H EcoArts project so we definitely did not have time for bookwork. Cameron did manage to finish up that second page of math but that was it. For EcoArts we made homemade finger paint! The kids mixed up 1/2 cup flour and 2 cups water and I then thickened it on the stove. We then put it into little containers (old spice jars that I had lying around - reduce, reuse, recycle!) and then the kids added food coloring to get the color they wanted. We got some great shades. Luckily it was a nice day so we took it outside to the garden and the kids really had a blast painting away. Even Cameron, who did not want to do it because he hates getting his hands dirty, gave it a try and really enjoyed himself. He made a green rainbow with a green happy face under it, lol. Perfect for St. Patrick's Day! After that we had to rush home for baseball practice where everyone had a great time. Cassia has a little 3-1/2 yr old friend there and they just have the greatest time together. I think they're both just so happy to have another girl to play with in the midst of all those boys! We finished off the day with another episode of The Human Body. This one on strength.

Wednesday: Finally a non-rushed day! We did Phonics, Spelling, Grammar, Math, and History! Grammar was fun. We've been learning this funny poem called Mr. Nobody. It's quite a challenge compared to the other poems we've learned because there are three stanzas and many of the words and phrasings are poetic. But they're doing a great job with it!! They both have stanza one down and Cassia is halfway to knowing stanza two as well. For History we read about the Phoenicians in The Ancient Israelites and Their Neighbors. What a fun book that is! If I ever get another Amazon gift certificate as a gift, I think I might pick up that whole series. They have a good balance of history told in an easy-to-read way and fun projects.

Thursday: Today we had stuff to do, but it didn't seem crazy. We started with ballet and then came home to schoolwork. We did Phonics (oh Cassia has been doing Phonics all week too! She's really into it now), Grammar (more Mr. Nobody), Math, and some more reading in Ancient Israelites and Their Neighbors. Today we read about their clothing, exports, and their alphabet. Cameron finished off with writing his and Cassia's names in both Egyptian Hieroglyphics and Phoenician letters. Then video games. Then baseball. Then dinner. Then bed.

Then blog. Then tv. Then bed.

Tomorrow is Favorite Park day so you know I won't get around to blogging. Send some positive energy or some prayers (whichever you are inclined) to the homeschooling community here in California. Ugh, I just don't even want to think about it anymore because it puts my stomach in knots. Ok, revision to my above list: blog, tv & chocolate pudding, then bed. ;)

Sickened

I'm sure you've all heard about this by now, but in case you haven't...

Here is a news article from today's (3/6/08) LA TIMES regarding this story. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-homeschool6mar06,1,4399394.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Ruling seen as a threat to many home-schooling families

State appellate court says those who teach children in private must have a credential.
By Seema Mehta and Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
March 6, 2008

Parents who lack teaching credentials cannot educate their children at home, according to a state appellate court ruling that is sending waves of fear through California's home schooling families.

Advocates for the families vowed to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court. Enforcement until then appears unlikely, but if the ruling stands, home-schooling supporters say California will have the most regressive law in the nation.

Related
- Read and talk about education

"This decision is a direct hit against every home schooler in California," said Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, which represents the Sunland Christian School, which specializes in religious home schooling. "If the state Supreme Court does not reverse this . . . there will be nothing to prevent home-school witch hunts from being implemented in every corner of the state of California."

The institute estimates there are as many as 166,000 California students who are home schooled. State Department of Education officials say there is no way to know the true number.

Unlike at least 30 other states, home schooling is not specifically addressed in California law. Under the state education code, students must be enrolled in a public or private school, or can be taught at home by a credentialed tutor.

The California Department of Education currently allows home schooling as long as parents file paperwork with the state establishing themselves as small private schools, hire credentialed tutors or enroll their children in independent study programs run by charter or private schools or public school districts while still teaching at home.

California does little to enforce those provisions and insists it is the local school districts' responsibility. In addition, state education officials say some parents home school their children without the knowledge of any entity.

Home schoolers and government officials have largely accepted this murky arrangement.

"This works so well, I don't see any reason to change it," said J. Michael Smith, president of the Virginia-based Home School Legal Defense Assn.

The appellate court ruling stems from a case involving Lynwood parents Phillip and Mary Long, who were repeatedly referred to the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services over various allegations, including claims of physical abuse, involving some of their eight children.

All of the children are currently or had been enrolled in Sunland Christian School, where they would occasionally take tests, but were educated in their home by their mother, Phillip Long said.

A lawyer appointed to represent two of the Long's young children requested that the court require them to physically attend a public or private school where adults could monitor their well-being. A trial court disagreed, but the children's lawyer appealed to the 2nd District Court of Appeal, which has jurisdiction over Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

The appellate panel ruled that Sunland officials' occasional monitoring of the Longs' home schooling -- with the children taking some tests at the school -- is insufficient to qualify as being enrolled in a private school. Since Mary Long does not have a teaching credential, the family is violating state laws, the ruling said.

"Parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children," wrote Justice H. Walter Croskey in a Feb. 28 opinion signed by the two other members of the district court. "Parents who fail to [comply with school enrollment laws] may be subject to a criminal complaint against them, found guilty of an infraction, and subject to imposition of fines or an order to complete a parent education and counseling program."

Phillip Long said he believes the ruling stems from hostility against Christians and vowed to appeal to the state Supreme Court.

"I have sincerely held religious beliefs," he said. "Public schools conflict with that. I have to go with what my conscience requires me."

Public schools teach such topics as evolution, which Long said he doesn't believe in. He said his wife spends six hours each day teaching their children reading, writing, math, science, health, physical education, Bible and social studies. Court papers say Mary Long's education ended at 11th grade.

It's unclear if the ruling will be enforced, given the likely appeals. Typically, these rulings take effect 30 days after they are issued.

Other organizations that plan to get involved include the Pacific Justice Institute, Home School Legal Defense Assn. and the Home School Assn. of California.

Meanwhile, state Department of Education's attorneys are reviewing the ruling.

Teachers union officials will also be closely monitoring the appeal. A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, said he agrees with the ruling.

"What's best for a child is to be taught by a credentialed teacher," he said.

While many educators and officials remained unfamiliar with the ruling Tuesday, news about it has been sweeping websites and blogs devoted to home schooling. Organizations have been getting tense phone calls from parents worried that they will be targeted.

Families who home school includethose whose religious beliefs conflict with public schools and those whose children are in the entertainment industry or have other time-consuming activities that require them to study at an individualized pace.

Glenn and Kathleen, a Sacramento-area couple who requested that their last name not be used for fear of prosecution, home school their 9-year-old son Hunter because their Christian beliefs would be contradicted in a public school setting, Glenn said. He is troubled by the idea that his son would be exposed to teachings about evolution, homosexuality, same-sex marriage and sex education .

"I want to have control over what goes in my son's head, not what's put in there by people who might be on the far left who have their own ideas about indoctrinating kids," he said.

If the ruling takes effect, Glenn vowed to move his family out of state. "If I can't home school my son in California, we're going to have to end up leaving California. That's how important it is to me."

seema.mehta@latimes.com

mitchell.landsberg@latimes.com

And the HSLDA response...

This is the HSLDA response: http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/ca/200803060.asp
Response to Ruling of California Court of Appeal
‘Homeschooling is Illegal in California’

On February 28, 2008, the California Court of Appeals issued a ruling in a juvenile court proceeding that declared that almost all forms of homeschooling in California are in violation of state law. (Private tutoring by certified teachers remains an option.) Moreover, the court ruled that parents possess no constitutional right to homeschool their children.

This family was not a member of Home School Legal Defense Association. They were represented by court-appointed counsel throughout the proceeding. Since it was by law a confidential proceeding, to the best of our knowledge neither HSLDA nor any other legal advocacy organization had any knowledge that the right of all homeschoolers in California was depending upon the outcome of this family’s case.

There are two appellate options at this time.

First, we have been told that the family is appealing this decision to the California Supreme Court with their California counsel.

HSLDA will file an amicus brief on behalf of our 13,500 member families in California. We will argue that a proper interpretation of California statutes makes it clear that parents may legally teach their own children under the private-school exemption. However, if the court disagrees with our statutory argument, we will argue that the California statutes as interpreted by the Court of Appeal violate the constitutional rights of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children.

HSLDA welcomes other organizations and persons to assist with the amicus process so that a full defense of home education, religious freedom, and parental rights can be given to the California Supreme Court.

The second appellate option is to seek to have this particular decision “depublished.” Depublication is a decision that can only be made by the California Supreme Court. If the Court determines that the decision should stand, regarding this family, on the facts presented, but that the general pronouncements of law for all of homeschooling should not be determined by this case, then the Court has the option of “depublishing” the Court of Appeal’s decision. This would mean that the case is not binding precedent in California and has no effect on any other family.

HSLDA will take the lead in an effort to seek to have this case depublished.

Homeschooling has offered a great opportunity for families to give their children a quality education with a moral and philosophical approach that is consistent with each family's beliefs.

The ability to homeschool freely in California should not depend upon one family in a closed-door proceeding. All families should have the right to be heard since the rights of all are clearly at stake.

Can I throw up now? So... who's ready for a fight? (And please forgive the copyright violations - I did source them - but apparently I'm the criminal type.)

You're OUT!

Yes, Cameron was kicked out of baseball practice today. He really seemed so much better. I told him to tell the coach that he couldn't run today because he has a cough, but to go ahead and practice his catching and throwing. Well, just the exertion of throwing the ball in the quickly chilling evening air was enough to send him into coughing fits so we were sent home after less than ten minutes. Does that get me the Bad Mommy Award or the Good Little League Mom award?

The rest of the day was pretty productive... after I finally got my lazy butt out of bed! I finally crawled out to face the world about half hour before we had to leave for ballet so I quick fried up some eggs for everyone and got out the hustle alert. Amazingly, everyone listened and we actually made it on time!! That was nice. Cassia and I had a small disagreement over her teacher's name. She swore it was MissL (who was her first instructor over the summer) but I knew it was MissM. At least I thought I knew... she was so insistent that I finally said, "OK, let's go ask her." So I hauled everyone back out of the parking lot and back into the ballet studio just so I could say, "Ha! I was right!" to a 4 year old. LOL, mature aren't I? But the funny thing was that MissM told us that she and MissL had actually been friends since they were toddlers and were often mistaken for sisters. How sweet is that to be life long friends and to teach the same class in the same ballet studio as young adults.

Back at home, we wasted away the rest of the morning and early afternoon doing random things and then started school around 2:00 again. Cameron did a Phonics lesson on some of the more obscure silent letters. He was reading really well until we got to the "story" that he was to read. He panicked because it was "so long" - 8 lines. He totally froze up and started guessing all these words that I knew he knew. He kept saying that he was just nervous because he'd never read that much before... until I flipped back two whole lessons and showed him the nine lines that he had just read the other day without a problem. The difference? The nine line story had been broken down into two or three line paragraphs. This one was all one long paragraph. After seeing that he had, in fact, read that much before he relaxed a lot. He's been doing a lot of that "nervous" stuff lately. It seems so unnatural for him that I don't tend to take it very seriously. I guess I should try to be a little more sympathetic to it though.

Grammar/Language was working on memorizing Mr. Nobody and then studying the capitalization in the title and throughout the poem. Cassia already has half of the first stanza memorized after only two days on it. Speaking of Cassia, we worked on the letters P and Q today. She was really excited to do double Phonics. If only that enthusiasm lasted. ;) Next was Math which took over an hour for two pages. Ugh. And much of it had to be done twice because either I couldn't read the numbers that were doubling as hearts and clouds or he and Cassia were so busy laughing over the heart and cloud numbers that he wasn't paying attention to the actual problem. Somewhere during this, Cassia decided to break my part of our special mother/daughter necklaces by chewing the clasp off of mine. Nice huh. That put me in a really bad mood. Luckily, we only had a few minutes before baseball at that point so I read a quick entry in the Usborne Book of World History on the Phoenicians and then piled everyone in the car. Only to come home 10 minutes later, as previously described. But by then my mood was more one of sympathy to Cameron so we finished History with an entry in the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia and then they went off to build puzzles.

They are supposed to be putting all the puzzles away right now, but it doesn't sound like they are, lol. I'd better go check on that and get everyone to bed. Have a good night everyone.

P.S. If you're lurking, post a hello! I like comments!! Speaking of lurking, Sandy, if you are, sorry to her about M's arm! Ouch!! Cameron wanted to know if he was snowboarding "in real life or in a video game" and if he was doing flips when he broke it. LOL, apparently the story wasn't dramatic enough alone.

Workbookless Wednesday

LOL, I get so jealous of everyone's "Wordless Wednesday" posts sometimes. As if I could think ahead to find a picture appropriate for the day! As if I could use no words. ;)

So today was Workbookless Wednesday. We had some friends come over today to play a Pokemon Championship. OK, there were only three of us who played and it wasn't really a championship, but both Cameron and I faced off against R11. (P.S. All age references in the names are approximate because I cannot for the life of me remember how old these kids really are!) Cameron won his match and I let R11 win. ;) I didn't want him to feel too badly after just losing to Cam. And if you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell you! Cassia and E6 played Pokemon Yahtzee. J9 walked our crazy dog all around the house and the backyard. A8 hid in various places around the house, avoiding the dog of whom he was terrified. She's a pug, by the way. Very terrifying dog.

It was a great day. MomK and I chatted a lot. I realized that having seven kids in the house was actually not any more chaotic than having three, lol. Well, having seven kids and two moms in the house, that is. Greyson absolutely fell in love with MomK. He's not the type to let anyone else hold him. It's either Daddy or Mommy and he decides which one it is to be. Well today it was MomK. LOL, he would not leave her alone and she was happy to oblige. She said that her recent 40th birthday has left her with a bit of baby fever and a few cuddles from Grey was exactly what she had been needing. He was so sweet with her too, giving her the back rubs and pats that he usually reserves for me.

Then we went to the park for a local park day that we haven't actually attended in months! It was fun, but I was reminded of why we don't go anymore. The park is set up kind of strangely and it is almost impossible to keep track of where your kids are. Add a rambunctious toddler to the mix and it can get frantic. Of course, Greyson wouldn't let go of MomK so I knew where he was, lol. It was so funny too because there was a woman there who has actually babysat him once or twice where he pretty much screamed the entire time. We did a little experiment to see if it was just his mood or something personal. So MomK tried to hand him off to MomM and he got this terrified look on his face, turned his head, and hung on to MomK for his life. It's so bizarre. She has a daughter just a month younger than he is and they get along great. He just doesn't like MomM for some reason!

Anyway, we had to leave the park after only about 45 minutes. Cameron came down with a case of the sniffles yesterday which turned into a cough after baseball practice. He woke up feeling better this morning, but after about 15 minutes at the park he was ready to go home. At home he crawled into bed and then came out about 20 minutes later saying that he couldn't stop coughing. I gave him some Vicks and then realized that he had a fever too. Poor guy. Some Tylenol and a nap later, he was feeling better again but I sure hope this isn't that dreaded flu that everyone has been complaining about. Greyson's the only one of us who got a flu shot.

So there is Workbookless Wednesday for you. We had lessons in logic, strategy, interpersonal relations, PE, human physiology, zoology (Go Diego Go), and history (Time Warp Trio). And all on a sick day, too. ;)

Monday & Tuesday

Nothing too exciting to report around here. I guess that's a good thing though, right?

Monday we had a slow start to the day and only got Phonics and Spelling done before it was time to go to gymnastics. At gymnastics, I made Cameron do his math while Cassia had her class. At home again we read about the Phoenicians for History and then reviewed all of our poems for Grammar/Language. See, I told you, nothing too exciting. ;)

Today, Tuesday, we started our day with a few errands. We went to the library to pick up a Bill Nye video on the water cycle and coincidentally, Cameron picked up a Bill Nye video on ponds and lakes for his video choice! Cassia picked I Love Toy Trains, lol. She's always picking things like that and Baby Einstein. I don't think she realizes that she's growing up! Or maybe she's growing up so much in other areas that she likes the comfort of toddler videos. Our TiVo choices certainly are very advanced for her, so maybe she needs that balance. OK, next time she picks up Baby Einstein, I'll actually let her get it, lol. Next we went to the drug store for this anti-staph stuff that I saw. Yes, it's back again. *sigh*

Finally we got back home got got school started at the bright and early time of 2:00 pm. LOL. Yeah, we're morning people, can you tell? At least everyone was dressed and beds were made before 11:00am. That's the sign of a good day around here. ;) So anyway we learned "sci" words in Phonics, started work on memorizing a new poem for Grammar/Language, did a page of Math, read half a chapter on evaporation for Science and then watched both of the Bill Nye videos.

Then we planted trees. When I pulled in the garage earlier I had spotted a little brown caterpillar coming into the garage. We studied him for a while (I love homeschooling - we were able to point out his 6 real insect legs and his 8 other knobby pseudo-legs) and then dropped him into our winter garden for a snack. Cassia had meanwhile been collecting acorns and then proceeded to play with them while Cameron did his schoolwork. Just so you know, you can play a lot of different things with a couple handfuls of acorns! Anyway, she noticed that some of them were cracked and I mentioned that that was where the sprouts were trying to break free to grow more trees. (Truth is, I'm not entirely sure if that's why they split or not - we get a lot of acorns in our yard but no new trees! - but it sounded logical enough.) Anyway, she got so excited over that prospect that we had to rush out back and plant all ten of them along the back fence. She is imagining this huge wall of trees along the back and is so excited for them to grow. Too cute. Even Cameron and Greyson could not be left out of the excitement. Cameron helped to dig holes and to pat the acorns down and Greyson has, so far, made about 300 trips back and forth from the fridge to the acorns bringing them cups of water (and ice) to drink. LOL. Nature study at its best. Gotta love a 70˚ day after a week of rain and thunderstorms.

Soon we'll be off for baseball practice. Too bad I never got around to planning anything for dinner. We may have to resort to fast food - ick. Maybe Papa John's instead. I think if I pick up a pizza there after practice we could still eat by 7ish. I really need to plan baseball nights better, lol.

Insert Creative Title Here

Well, that beautiful weather we had on Wednesday gave way to more rain. It's been so bizarre today: sunny one minute and pouring rain the next. Even though Cassia is begging me to go to Favorite Park Day today, I just don't want to risk it. Both Cassia and Greyson have had the sniffles the last couple days and getting stuck in the wind and rain would not help that at all. Of course, it's been sunny here for the last two hours but who knows what it looks like half an hour northwest at the park. So I made them an alternate deal... do your chores, do your schoolwork, get the house tidied up for Daddy's return tonight and we can make cookies and hot chocolate. They readily agreed to my deal, making beds without a fuss, etc.

Cassia was the first one done with her morning chores so I took her into the schoolroom for a little bit of long neglected personalized schooling. We learned the "N" line for The Consonant Rhyme, sang Old MacDonald Had a Vowel, A-E-I-O-U, and then moved on to a couple pages in Earlybird Math. (Darcy, if you're reading, I always think of you when I pull that book out, lol.) It has been way too long since I really sat down with her and did concentrated schoolwork rather than just pointing a workbook in her direction while trying to do something else with Cameron. It felt good and she did great. I also finally had a chance to sit down in the schoolroom and clean up the mountain of foamie letters and crayons that somebody poured all over the ground a few days ago. That feels like a giant colorful weight lifted off my shoulders. Remind me never to buy little foamie pieces ever again. They suck in every possible way. Too bad the kids love them.

Next was Cameron's turn for school and we started with phonics. There was a section where they were saying something about certain "or" words having the /är/ in car sound instead of the normal /ôr/ in door sound... but 3 of the 5 we pronounce as /ôr/ in door! LOL! There was a note that said there were great regional differences in some of the words - I guess so! The words were forest, foreign, orange, borrow, and sorrow. Borrow and sorrow were the only ones that we use the disobedient /är/ in car sound for. How about you? Next was Grammar and a review of titles of respect. I guess our school outside day wasn't as productive as it was fun because Cameron barely remembered them at all. Good thing FLL really beats stuff into you until it is forever ingrained. ;) Spelling was next and we finished up a review section. Cameron did really well with that, especially at recognizing misspelled words in a list. Next was Math and a delightfully (for Cameron) short exercise on mental math and breaking a number into parts to add it (as in 63 + 26 = 63 + 20 + 6). He rocked. We finished up with reading a section on the Israelites in the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia.

Next on our list was supposed to be tidying up the house, mainly the floor, so that I can vacuum but certain children... like ALL of them... suddenly disappeared into the bedroom. I should go hunt them down but they're all playing so nicely together (and with phonics toys to boot) that I hate to disturb them. Besides, it gives me a few quiet minutes to blog. ;)

Yesterday was a busy, busy, busy day but unlike the busy, busy, busy day we had on Tuesday, this one left me feeling good and productive instead of exhausted and cranky. We started by dropping Cassia off at ballet and then running to the drug store to grab a couple of things that we still needed for our 4-H Cooking Project. By the time we got back it was pouring rain and Cameron decided that there was no way he was getting out of the car to go wait in the boring ballet waiting room. So we just hung out in the car for the remaining 15 minutes which wasn't too bad since I wasn't too keen on dragging a million kids through the pouring rain either. Greyson only set off the car alarm once. ;) Next we were off to 4-H to lead our Cooking for Primaries (kids 5 - 8 yrs old) project. We made fruit and nut granola (yum) and raspberry-swirl yogurt (double yum). The only hitch was that the oven wouldn't heat!! We finally found out that it was because the pilot light was out but since we were already running over schedule we decided to just cook the granola on the stovetop instead. It worked surprisingly well and most of the kids really liked what we made. In fact, many of the boys from the adjoining project popped over and asked if they could have some too because it smelled so good! I'd say that was a success.

From there we headed off to baseball practice. This time we actually found the rest of the team, thank goodness. One of the families had donated their barn for us to practice in on rainy days so that was really fun. They even had a 3-yr old girl that was showing Cassia all the ins and outs of the barn and farm. I was pretty impressed with the practice and how they really strove to teach proper technique. Cameron wasn't the best on the team, by far, but it is a mixed team of 6 and 7 year olds and this was the second year of Little League for many of them. One thing that Cameron did excel at though was behavior! Can you believe it? My little Hellion was one of the best behaved boys there. Phew! Of course, he did insist on telling the coaches that his way was better than theirs, lol, but he wasn't kicking up dust and hay from the floor or climbing the hay bales and he was paying complete attention to what the coaches were saying. Yes, you read right, Cameron was paying complete attention without fidgeting! Woo-freakin-Hoo!!

And now you're caught up on our lives. Oh, in case you didn't figure it out, we did not find the time for bookwork yesterday. Not by a long shot! We were only home for about an hour between 10am and 6:30pm. But I'd say that we did P.E. and Home Ec at the very least. Actually, the cooking involved math and reading too and I don't think that I'd be stretching it too much to say that baseball also involved Social Studies and the ever popular "socialization." ;) I also got to practice my Homeschool Speech at baseball, lol. "Oh, you homeschool? How does that work?" LOL, I think I was enthusiastic enough about it without sounding too condescending or freakish but you never know. ;) OK, time to whip the monkeys into shape and get this house clean so we can dirty it up again with cookies. Mmmmm, cookies.

School's Out!

Outdoors that is!


It was a nice day for a change, at least for a few hours, so we decided to do school outside today. Little did I know that they would want to play school too! LOL, so we set up the chairs and filled the classroom with plastic animals and babies (real and plastic). Cameron, Greyson, and I were the teachers and Cassia and the rest were the students. Greyson was actually a "student teacher" because he couldn't decide where he wanted to sit. ;) Cameron would demonstrate the lesson to the students by reading from his phonics book and Cassia would copy down what he said. OK, she would just doodle, but it was fun. When it was time for Grammar/Language, I brought out our slate boards and chalk and C&C learned the abbreviations for titles of respect (Mr., Dr., etc). Cameron did some copywork on the concrete. It was a fun change.

But by the time we got to math, it was getting chilly again and Cameron was more interested in playing than working. It took him over an hour to not even finish one exercise. He was doing well and then suddenly had a major brain freeze and couldn't remember how to do anything. I made him finish up the section and then said we would move on and he could finish it later. So we read a chapter in SOTW about Moses' birth and the story of the Exodus. The kids were pretty enthralled by the whole thing. They were shocked that people could be so mean and kill so heartlessly. That actually led to a discussion of the UN and human rights and war crimes and such. Somehow, I don't think the topic would have gone there in a brick & mortar school, lol. After that we went to the store to get supplies for our 4-H cooking project tomorrow. Once we got home, Cameron got right back to work on his math. He's doing much better on it now that he's had a break. The number of problems on a page seem to have taken a huge jump in this book. It's been a bit of an adjustment.

Backtracking a bit, we had a crazy day yesterday! We started out with a field trip to a local recycling center. That was pretty uneventful (and boring) except for the fact that of all the kids there, guess who didn't know how to keep a safe distance from the giant piles of broken glass bottles? I mean, it didn't even occur to them that it might not be safe to walk right up to the 8-foot high piles of broken glass and investigate! On one hand, I really, really like that they are so adventurous and curious. They probably got more out of the field trip than the others because they were so busy exploring everything. But on the other hand, don't they have any common sense??? Man! Cassia was being pretty contrary too. The guy was showing them the little bricks of aluminum cans that go together to make the large bales and said, "Now don't touch these because they can be really sharp," and what does she do? Of course, she immediately reaches out and touches it. And then Cameron has to because she did. *sigh* Oh well, they'll grow out of it, right?

Next we came home and did some quick schoolwork (Phonics, Grammar, Spelling, and Math) before heading out to gymnastics. They were closed Monday for President's Day and so we had a make-up class. Cassia, Greyson, and I had to spend Cameron's class waiting in the car though because Greyson decided that it would be fun to start throwing toys over the edge of the Mezzanine and onto the gym floor. They have a little toddler toy area that's enclosed (everywhere but the top) but it just seems like all the toddlers hate it, lol. I can convince him to spend a few minutes in there sometimes but not yesterday! He started by throwing puzzles out in my direction and then I thought he had calmed down but one of the coaches yelled up that he had tossed a plastic bowling pin over the edge and it almost hit someone in the head!! At least that was light. Next he picked up this big elephant pull toy - very hard, very heavy - and started to hurl it over the edge. Luckily, I got to him first, but that was the point where I gathered everyone up and headed out to the car instead. There he proceeded to just scream the whole time instead - but at least he wasn't hurting anyone. And I actually managed to get half a nap in too, lol.

When Cameron's class was over we headed home to change shoes and then headed right back out for Cam's first Little League practice. The only problem was that the coach never showed! So Cam and this other little boy just played catch for about half an hour and then we left. About an hour later we get a call from the coach telling us that they were there, just in a different place! Turns out that he forgot to tell several of us that in case of rain we would meet in front of the school, not around back. In the directions that he gave me, you turn just before you see the front of the school so I never noticed that there was anyone out front. I think that the other people just parked in front of the school automatically rather than driving around the side like our two families did. Anyway, you'd think that he would have taken a walk around to where we were just to make sure no one was there, wouldn't you? Well, he didn't. Grrrr. But the second practice is tomorrow and now I have his cell phone number to make sure we're all in the same place.

Monday, we took the day off of schoolwork for President's Day (aka DH is Home Day) but it was no vacation!! We spent the day purging old toys. Here's the before picture...

Scary, huh! We had the kids help decide what was to keep, trash, or donate. We ended up with 4 big trash barrels filled with broken and otherwise useless toys, a trunk full of nice toys for donating, and a bedroom full of toys that can actually be contained in their containers. WooHooo!! AND with all this extra floor space, we were able to move the toddler bed in there for Greyson. Yes, we now have room for four in one bedroom: bunk beds, toddler bed, and crib. Grey's still not quite ready to sleep in his big boy bed even though he loves to play in it. It's hard convincing him to actually stay in it though, lol.

OK, I'm done with my novel now. Hope everyone else is well. Love to all. :)

Water, water everywhere!

Wednesday was supposed to be our catch up day, but we went to the park instead. Guess what that meant... yep, no schoolwork! Oh well. We did start out the day with a scientific field trip though. We went to the pediatrician's to get Greyson the booster for his flu shot. I am more and more impressed with this doctor. I was just expecting this to just be a nurse appointment - wham, bam, thank you ma'am - but we were scheduled for a full appointment. She knew we didn't have anything specific to see her about, since he just had a check-up last month, but she checked his ears, chest, and throat to make sure his cold was going away the way it should. She checked out a few of his scrapes (he has so many, lol) to see if they were healing ok. She cleaned some gunk out of his ears. I mentioned that I was still concerned with his digestive system because even cutting out all dairy does not seem to have totally solved his "issues" so she is referring us to a GI specialist. All in all, it was thorough, friendly care. I like that. The front desk lady is a bit of a dingbat, lol, but I don't care.

So then we met a friend at the park to get back our Grammar book that they borrowed. They forgot it, lol, but we had a great time anyway. After that we came home and napped. ;)

Today we started the day with Cassia's ballet class. We got a notice about the annual show. Can you say "awwwww!" It's not till June, but I'm so excited I can barely stand it, lol. I would love to invite you all, but we only get 6 tickets total and our immediate family will take up most of those, lol. Maybe I'll actually figure out how to You-Tube a portion of it or something.

After that we went out to a Valentine's Day brunch. Nothing says love like strawberry pancakes that you don't have to clean up after! I'm also making salmon for dinner. That's pink. Don't tell me I didn't make an effort this holiday. ;)

I finally convinced Cameron to do schoolwork at around 2:00. We did Phonics (can I say again how impressed I am with his reading now?), Spelling, Math (adding/subtracting to 100, as in ___ + 67 = 100), and then Science which brings me to the day's title. Our topic was... the water cycle! We read the text book stuff on the states of water last time we did Science (gosh, I think that was last week!) and so today we read a bunch of library books on the topic. By the third book, when the author was asking those rhetorical questions like, "Did you know that the same water that you drink used to be a part of the ocean?" they were both saying, "yes, yes, we know!" LOL, I guess I can't complain about them not listening when I read aloud. We didn't do Grammar today because we don't have our book. And then I took a nap. And that was our exciting Wed/Thurs. Thank for stopping by. :)

Tut Tut!

It's a record! We actually finished a chapter book in three sittings! Those three sittings did take about a week to accomplish, but I was pretty proud of us. They loved hearing about the Time Warp Trio characters that they know and love so well from the Discovery Kids' show. Some may say that tv is bad, but tv is definitely my friend and I am not ashamed to admit it.

So anyway, Monday we had a very productive school day. Cameron did Phonics (words ending in -ing); Grammar (review); Spelling (words with the "ow" sound); started his new math book with some algebraic type addition and subtraction problems (__ + 24 = 35); and then we read about Thutmose I, Hatshepsut, Amenhotep, and King Tut for History. It was fabulous that the TWT book tied in so nicely with our History reading. It was almost like I planned it. The truth is that we were at the library and I suddenly thought to myself, "Oh, I wonder if Time Warp Trio has an Egypt book?" and they just happened to have it in our library and it just happened to be about Hatshepsut and Thutmose III. Happy coincidences are also my friends. The kids were really intrigued by the story of Howard Carter's discovery of Tut's tomb so I brought out this neat book I have called, Into the Mummy's Tomb. (Thank you, Aunt P!) I actually have two copies of it so both Cameron and Cassia were able to flip through their own copies looking at the real life treasures of King Tut. Cameron especially liked the photographs that Carter's expedition made... the discovery of the staircase, the first lamps in the dark, the unwrapping of the mummy! Very exciting stuff! I love when History is exciting. :)

Today was mostly taken up by 4-H. It was the monthly business meeting, or The Boring Meeting as we lovingly call it. ;) Nothing too exciting there except for Greyson repeatedly running out the front door or screaming if I prevented him from doing so. *roll eyes* The Community Service Project for the month was bagging up Valentine's cookies for the underprivileged. The bonus of that one is that you bring three dozen cookies to donate but get to take home a dozen mixed cookies for yourself. The dark side of that is that you get to bring home a dozen cookies. Need I say that several children were sent to bed early tonight??

After that we had to go to gymnastics for a make-up Star Day for Cameron. You have to earn stars to advance through the classes. There are 4 levels in each class and 10 skills in each level. You have to get stars on 8 of 10 skills to move up a level. Cameron is working on level two and was really disappointed that he only earned one star tonight. Maybe I should start taking him to the open gym sessions on Saturdays so that he can practice more. I hate seeing him try hard and be disappointed like that. Of course, it's way better than seeing him goofing off and not caring either way, but it still bruises a Mommy's heart to see. Anyway, that got us home in time for dinner and the rest of Tut, Tut! before bed. I was really hoping to get a bunch of stuff done tomorrow but we have a doctor's appointment for Greyson first thing in the morning followed by a playdate in a far off town. We should get home by 2pm, but who knows if anyone will be in the mood for schoolwork then.

My laundry is calling. Talk at you later. :)

Still sick

Blech, I hate colds that linger forever. So, needless to say, we haven't done much lately. Yesterday the library and the grocery store totally wiped me out for the day. The only thing school-related that we did was for me to read the first third of the Time Warp Trio book, Tut Tut, for History. LOL, that counts as literature, right?? In other good library news, Cameron actually picked out a chapter book to check out!!! It was Star Wars: Boba Fett, The Fight to Survive. Quality literature, I'm sure. I'm not even sure if he was planning to read it or if he wanted me to read it to him because he hasn't mentioned it since... but it's a great start!!

Today we made it to ballet early for the first time in I can't remember how long, lol. Some sad news though. One of the moms there lost the baby that she was expecting. She must've been at least 10 or 12 weeks. I feel awful for her, but I really couldn't say anything but "I'm sorry." It all just hit too close to home. I really wanted to reach out to her and say something more profound, more personal but I barely know her and was pretty sure that I wouldn't have been able to open my mouth without crying. :( So sad.

Anyway, after a long afternoon of making Valentines, napping, and watching DOOL, we finally got settled into schoolwork at about 4:30 pm. Cameron did some excellent reading today. We worked on two syllable words ending in "er" for Phonics; practiced picking out nouns, pronouns, and action verbs from "The Three Little Kittens Who Lost Their Mittens" for Grammar; finally finished off that math workbook (I always write down the dates we begin and end and this one took 5 months and 1 week. A little slower than usual but not too bad considering how often we slack!); and finished off with reading about water and evaporation for Science. We were supposed to do an activity for Science too, but I was a bad girl and didn't read ahead so I didn't have the necessary supplies. So this weekend I need to go out and buy a couple of lab thermometers and some beakers. The funny thing is that I will have to go to the hobby store for those. The teacher supply store doesn't carry that type of thing, lol.

And that's our day. I'm ready for a nap now. ;)

We're Back!!

I would like to start out with a big apology to Meesh and Maria for not calling when I was in town. Greyson's cough did subside by Wednesday but by Thursday I was popping Sudafed and Tylenol like candy. Blech. Seems like the first time we met I ended up infecting everyone with a nasty virus so I thought I would spare you this time, lol. I hope Emma's birthday party was fabulous.

We spent the week with MIL and step-FIL for his 70th birthday party. It was a nice time despite the colds and the little spat DH and I got into because I didn't bring Cameron's schoolwork with us. Well, he said he was just "making a comment" and I got defensive. Whatever. Anyway, he said that he thought it was important to keep up the requirement of school everyday to instill structure and blah, blah, blah. He said, "I thought the main benefit of homeschooling was that you could do it anywhere?" I said, "I thought the main benefit of homeschooling was that you didn't have to wait for public school breaks to go on vacation?" Then he said that it seemed that we had been taking a LOT of breaks since Christmas and that's about the point where it crossed the "comment" and "discussion" line for me. Annnyyywwwaaayyyyy... I don't mean to be airing dirty laundry, I just hate when suddenly it seems like you're not on the same page anymore. I think we left it at him thinking me hormonal and me thinking him a Neanderthal. And we never brought it up again. ;)

I did make a point of pointing out all the educational stuff that we were actually doing though. For example, Cameron was watching me doing my Sudoku book and wanted me to teach him how to do it. He even asked if they made kids' versions of it and if we could get him one! Math puzzles? How can I resist?!? So of course I went out and bought him one (and found a great $1 sale and got a bunch of "100 Things You Should Know About..." books and a copy of the Atlas Maior of 1665 for a dollar each). It was really great watching Cam struggle with the puzzles and then finally figuring them out. He was really surprised too at the elated feeling you can get when something seems so utterly impossible at the beginning and yet you still manage to do it. He also drew me a wonderful picture of the solar system... Darn, I just realized that I left that there! I wanted to keep that one. We spent time with their cousins and I don't know about you, but I think that spending time with one's extended family can be extremely educational! They also watched Black Beauty for the first time and loved it which has me thinking that it might be a good read aloud.

All good stuff. I think the problem with DH is that when he is home, he (and so they) spend a lot of time playing video games and watching movies so he assumes that if we're not actively doing schoolwork that we are just being lazy and goofing off. I guess it's just hard for him to be so removed from our lives at times. Anyone else have that problem? But I also made a point of having the kids show off a bit for one of DH's cousins. She was complaining about the lack of English grammar skill among the students in the college courses she teaches and so I started in with, "Even my 4 year old knows English Grammar!" and had them pipe up with the definition of a noun and a pronoun. And then Cameron impressed me by spouting off the entire three part definition of a verb. I don't even have that one memorized yet! That led to a bunch of poem recitation, including The Five Vowels by Cassia and Work by Cameron which led to a discussion on work ethics and the importance of always doing your best. Basically, they ended up looking like a couple of brainy, little smartie pants and I was very proud of them. I didn't even bother to say anything smug or I-told-you-so-ish to DH. It wasn't necessary. I just smiled and didn't give another thought to our taking "too many breaks."

Our last day there we went to the Griffith Park Observatory. That was a real treat. We saw the most amazing planetarium show. I don't know how they crammed so much information into a half hour and yet kept it so engaging. It was really a delight and both Cameron and Cassia loved it too. DH was kind enough to stay outside with Greyson while we watched. Greyson spent the time running up and down all the stairs in the building, lol. The Observatory also had these random little "classes" all over the place. We'd just be looking at an exhibit and suddenly someone would come over and ask any interested parties to have a seat and hear a little lecture on whatever the subject was. They really want you to love what they're offering. I like that. Like I said, we had a fabulous time and you can't beat the price... FREE!

Now at home, I'm trying to find the bottom of suitcases underneath all that dirty laundry. We had a 4-H project today and made little animals out of recycled paper egg cartons. They came out surprisingly cute and everyone had a good time making them. Cassia made a feathered fish, a bunny with a cotton tail longer than its body, and a cat with a curly gold tail. Cameron made an airplane with eyes. Funny how Cameron is the one in 4-H and Cassia is the one who really gets into all the projects, lol. Afterward, several families met up at Baskin Robbins for ice cream and the ever elusive socialization, lol. I really needed the socialization - I don't see nearly enough adults that I actually enjoy talking to. ;)

While we were chatting, I found out that even if I had wanted to hide my pregnancy it is now impossible. We were talking about breastfeeding and I mentioned how I wished Greyson would wean because it is killing me and MomM looked over at me, looked down at my belly, and exclaimed, "Oh! You're pregnant!!" She is convinced, regardless of what the u/s says, that I am having twins because I am showing so much already, lol. I hope she is willing to offer some nanny services if her curse turns out to be right. ;)

We finally got home around 4 after much ice cream, playing, and a couple of mad dashes toward heavy traffic by an unnamed little maniac. Said maniac and I took a quick nap, C&C watched a couple episodes of Little Einsteins and then we all got up to finally do some schoolwork. Cameron learned about words ending in "le" for Phonics; listened to and narrated back "The Three Little Kittens Who Lost Their Mittens" for Grammar/Language; did several workbook pages on the phases of water for Science; did 2 pages of Spelling; and 1-1/2 pages of review for Math. He was supposed to do 3 pages of math to finish off the workbook but he just didn't have it in him so late in the day. I was happy with the amount of work we did though. It was much more than our usual lately. Cassia also learned another line of The Consonant Rhyme and then wanted to work in her workbooks but I had to tell her no so that I could make dinner. I will make a point to spend some time with her doing workbooks tomorrow. We don't have anything going tomorrow except grocery shopping and the library so we will have lots of time to spend. Will we have the patience after the grocery store? Only time will tell, lol.