Poor Alandis. A cap gun is a baby toy; my kids moved on to a Glock and an M4 long ago.
Recently in Homeschooling Category
Since my son was asking last night about the carol, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," I told him I would search for the lyrics. In my search I came across many related links and here they are:
No pencil stabbings from nine-year-old classmates.
By the way, is accidentally stabbing yourself with a pencil some sort of normal childhood event? Both H and I did it, but I wonder if we were just klutzy.
Because I went to the Doctor and he said I have Bronchitis (more on that in another post), I have declared this an Unschooling Week. For Unschooling, I require activities to be of educational merit. You want to watch TV all day? Okay, as long as you watch educational programs. Sorry, "Top Sniper" doesn't count. You want to sing folk songs while you research Roman insulae and then build one? That's good. You want to go outside and practice basketball? That's fine. Playing Army vs. Insurgents, however, does not count.
We also have unschooling sometimes during a normal school week. If a child has completed all of his or her due activities, he or she may work on "educational stuff" of his or her own choosing. The children learn a tremendous amount just by working on their own. Or they come to me with questions or ideas and we work on something together.
I'd love to go whole hog on Unschooling, but that would not be possible for my children. There are many things they would never do if I did not force them and then they would miss a lot. There have been hundreds of times I have made them study a topic which they eventually enjoyed or at least no longer viewed with disdain. It is unfortunate, but true, that my daughter would never write one iota or study Spanish. She'd probably skip Math, Spelling, and Language Arts, too. In fact, I think her days would be filled with nothing, save History and Art.
Now, my son is different. There isn't really a subject he doesn't at least like and most he enjoys greatly. However, if left to his own devises, his education would be built solely around Legos.
And that's why we don't Unschool all of the time.
There was one thing that kept bothering me, and by and by I says:
"Tom, didn't we start east?"
"Yes."
"How fast have we been going?"
"Well, you heard what the professor said when he was raging round. Sometimes, he said, we was making fifty miles an hour, sometimes ninety, sometimes a hundred; said that with a gale to help he could make three hundred any time, and said if he wanted the gale, and wanted it blowing the right direction, he only had to go up higher or down lower to find it."
"Well, then, it's just as I reckoned. The professor lied."
"Why?"
"Because if we was going so fast we ought to be past Illinois, oughtn't we?"
"Certainly."
"Well, we ain't."
"What's the reason we ain't?"
"I know by the color. We're right over Illinois yet. And you can see for yourself that Indiana ain't in sight."
"I wonder what's the matter with you, Huck. You know by the COLOR?"
"Yes, of course I do."
"What's the color got to do with it?"
"It's got everything to do with it. Illinois is green, Indiana is pink. You show me any pink down here, if you can. No, sir; it's green."
"Indiana PINK? Why, what a lie!"
"It ain't no lie; I've seen it on the map, and it's pink."
You never see a person so aggravated and disgusted. He says:
"Well, if I was such a numbskull as you, Huck Finn, I would jump over. Seen it on the map! Huck Finn, did you reckon the States was the same color out-of-doors as they are on the map?"
"Tom Sawyer, what's a map for? Ain't it to learn you facts?"
"Of course."
"Well, then, how's it going to do that if it tells lies? That's what I want to know."
From Tom Sawyer Abroad by Mark Twain. Brought to my attention by my daughter during Geography this morning.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
S did his first Daily Grammar.
S did a lesson from Intermediate Language Lessons.
S drew a map of Northern Ireland for Geography.
D completed a page of handwriting.
D wrote a letter and mailed it.
S installed Encarta on the family room computer.
S researched Christopher Columbus and made a time line of his life.
D made several things from her Model Magic in various clay colors. These little pots and such were for her Roman clothespin dolls. She also used the hot glue gun for the first time to make her Roman baker a shop. D took pictures of her Roman shopping at the new bakery.
D and I researched various Roman dwellings.
We watched an A&E Biography on Christopher Columbus. Yay, Netflix Instant Watch.
We watched part of a Viking documentary on Netflix.
D did her first Daily Grammar.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
S completed three pages in his math workbook.
D looked at the pictures she took last night with her new-old camera. It's new to her, but it's so old it uses a floppy disc. Photography is Practical Life.
D started writing a narration on Bees, of her own accord.
We had a Morning Meeting.
We had Latin Lesson IV - numbers and the conjugation of the irregular verb to be (sum, es, est, sumus, estis, sunt).
We read Titus Flamininus lesson 10.
S wrote a narration on the Olmecs and the Chavin.
D wrote a narration on the Aryans of India.
We examined International Time Zones. (D has many international friends.)
S read and wrote a narration on "They all want to play Hamlet" by Carl Sandburg.
S listened to Latina Christiana CD - lesson IV.
S wrote a narration on the Chalcidians. This was extra work.
I looked for Jean Fabre's book on bees, as that is the Nature Study topic we are learning this week.
We looked up the Indian Caste System and the territory of the Ottoman Empire.
S read the bee section of The Handbook of Nature Study.
D copied from Washington's Rules of Civility for handwriting.
D worked more on her Triptych.
D and I read Gilgamesh Tablet III and she wrote notes for it.
Finally, a few days ago, D finished painting her clay pumpkin. Gracemom, she was inspired to finish after she heard your children also made pumpkins. She and I would love to see their handiwork.
This is such a tiny pumpkin. Really, it could be for a Barbie or GI Joe. D painted it black first. Then, she used pumpkin orange and some dark green for the stem.
I like it very much. It will not rot and can outlast those real things sitting on my porch table. I must find a safe place for it, though; I think it's breakable and we're a clutzy, wild bunch here.
About this Archive
This page is a archive of recent entries in the Homeschooling category.
History is the previous category.
Housekeeping is the next category.
Mrs. Happy Housewife
I am... a Christian, a woman, a wife, a mother, a housewife, a homeschooler, a Conservative, a Republican, Pro-life, and 32.
I'm full of opinions and curiosity. I'm not an expert, but on a quest of self-improvement.
Welcome to my life.
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