Look at what's new!!

While googling information on "workboxes" for homeschooling, I came across a blog that had the woman's facebook status in the corner. I loved it and after wasting the better part of an hour trying to get one on my blog that did not have my actual name on it (I'm not sure who I'm trying to kid with that anyway, but still perfer to not have my full name on my blog)...I did it!!

It all depends on how you look at things...

I tend to tell the same stories over and over again. Often when I'm in the middle of a conversation I'll realize that I have already told this to the person I am talking to. Most of the time people are so polite that they just let me keep blabbing. For some reason I on the other hand often say to people, "Yes you told me that already". Why do I do that? Is it better to pretend the person didn't already tell you? I'm not sure. That is really not even what this post is about, actually it is about a story that I often tell. (you've probably heard me say it...it may even be on my blog somewhere) I once read an article about identical twins who were separated at birth and years later found each other. The adoptive parents of both girls were asked to answer different questions about the girls, one of them being about their eating habits. One set of parents responded that their daughter was a wonderful eater, and would willingly eat most things as long as there was ketchup on it. The other parents replied that their daughter was a terrible eater and in fact would eat almost nothing that didn't have ketchup on it. Now for the sake of the story I think we are supposed to assume that these girls actually had the same tastes and it was the way the parents perceived it that made all the difference. I think of this story often. I was reminded of it this morning when I was driving to CVS at 7:30am to get my 11 year old daughter hairspray and blue eyeshadow. What kind of a mother would go out first thing in the morning to get her pre-teen daughter hairspray and make up? It doesn't sound very good does it? In reality it was for Theatre of course, and it was my idea. Madi's hair is supposed to be in a curly ponytail for the upcoming show and I knew her hair wouldn't stay curly without hairspray (actually it didn't stay curly with hairspray either...but her makeup still looks nice). The thing is we don't even have hairspray in the house, I haven't been a hairspray user since high school. An added bonus is now we'll have hairspray to spray Madi's chalk pastel drawings, if it wasn't for the multi-use of the product, I probably wouldn't have bought it at all. The moral of this story is not everything is what it seems. Here's another example... Both of my older kids have a phone right now. A year or two ago we got a "MIGO" as part of our cell phone plan. It can call 4 pre-programed numbers. I like for the kids to have it, it is handy to be able to call them to let them know I am running late. A few months ago the company Mike works for got him a blackberry. They used to give him a "cell phone allowance" which paid for our phones. Now they just get the blackberry bill, but we have to pay for our own phones. We reduced our "minutes" but have yet to get rid of Mike's old phone. This means that right now Jonathan often carries Mike's old phone to Theatre, golf etc... and Madi has the MIGO. I feel good knowing they have a phone. They couldn't care less about it. They forget to bring them places half the time, have never called friends with them, and they don't know the first thing about texting (you can't on the MIGO anyway). They would prefer to leave them turned off at all times, but I've convinced them to at least leave them on vibrate. I like knowing I can get in touch with my kids at anytime if I need to. So yes, my pre-teen, eyeshadowed, hairsprayed girl carried her cell phone with her today, but again, it is not what it seems. Sometimes homeschoolers are prejudged for many reasons lack of socialization often on the top of the list. Clearly these judgements are unfounded. What about the reverse though? As homeschoolers (or parents in general) do we sometimes look at the 11 year old girl with a cell phone, hairspray and make up and prejudge them? Think about that for a while...

My own personal daybook

For today August 10, 2009

Outside my window...it is hot and sunny.


I am thinking...about how much there is to do this week and trying to not get overwhelmed.

I am thankful...for so much.

From the kitchen...it is another "clean out" week because we are going away next week. It is also a "show week" so whatever we have, we'll most likely be eating it at the Theatre.

From the learning rooms...Jake started OWL MOON today for Five in a Row. It is his 16th day of school. He's doing math, language, faith, reading one book aloud, and FIAR each day.

Jonathan and Madi have their last free golf tournament today. It is also the last week of summer theatre camp, and there are 5 performances this week. Jonathan will be doing the lights for 4 of them, as well as working concessions, and is a Merry Man in Robin Hood. Madi is in all 5 shows.

I am reading...The Giver by Lois Lowry. I'm not very far into it, but it is making an impact because I dreamed about it last night. I finished The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger yesterday...I'm looking forward to seeing the movie to compare. I liked the book, but didn't love it.

I am praying for... health for all of us.

Here's a quote to ponder...I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ-- Gandhi

I am listening to... I changed this from hearing to listening to because I figured I could sometimes put music or CDs we are currently listening to, but right now...nothing. In my head I have Fingerprints of God because I was just on Kirsten's blog.

Around the house...too much to do!!

In our yard...we are getting tons of butterflies in all our new planted areas. We also have some io moth caterpillars...that is the kind that I got stung by a few years ago.


One of my favorite things...when Jake is cooperative.

I am "googling"...activities for Owl Moon, and Gandhi quotes because I was looking for the one above.

I am going...to eat something in a minute...I have been very hungry lately and not keeping up so well with wii fit.

A few plans for the rest of the week... soo soo much, just taking one day as it comes, baking lots of brownies, selling lots of theatre tickets, watching lots of shows, plans with friends, schooling Jake, and heading to a lake in Georgia after the last show on Sunday.

Some picture thoughts...

thoughts

Memere would've been 90 years old today. I miss her.

Jake and I found some great things on the computer this morning. He is all about planning his Star Wars birthday party because it is just over 2 months away after all! He's making all kinds of lists. I googled birthday party games and found some good ideas...I'm not going to give anything away here because some of your kids just might be coming to this shindig, but he's pretty excited about it. It was going to be a baseball party originally, but baseball is out Star Wars is in.

Also, in this week's FIAR book Lentil by Robert McCloskey, they play and sing She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain, and I was able to find 2 different versions of that song on you tube, now we'll both be singing it all day. Next I searched Lentil on you tube, but could only find people making lentil soup, etc, so I tried Robert McCloskey and found a great little video of the story. I made sure to point out to Jake how lucky he is to be homeschooled like this:)! We're working on no screen time during schooltime (not for me, just for him), so right now he's taking a screenless break, but later he'll be watching a ton more books on you tube...very cool!!

This weekend Mike has a convention in Orlando and we'll spend Saturday and Sunday night hanging out at a hotel...mostly in the pool.

Next week is the last week of Theatre camp which includes a "caberet" performance on Wednesday night, The Somewhat True Tales of Robin Hood on Thursday night, and Thoroughly Modern Millie Fri, Sat, and Sun.

Next Sunday after the last show, we are heading to a cabin on a lake in Georgia for a few days. Meme and Grampa Carlie will be joining us.

When we get back...schooltime ALL THE WAY!! I'm thinking through a schedule and chore lists that may or may not ever get written down, but hopefully we'll find a good flow. I often think it might be nice to have a real system like we always eat tacos on Tuesday etc...but we just aren't that kind of people. We're fairly good at accomplishing things anyway so I'm not really sure why I spend so much time trying to improve everything.

Better get off the computer and start cracking the whip (Jake is sitting at his desk behind me taking the lead out of a mechanical pencil, he has his math in front of him as well as a Mr Potato-head who has a hand where his nose should be and shoes coming our of his arm holes, he has four eyes...I think I need four eyes!!).

My own personal daybook

For today August 3, 2009 my parents 41st anniversary!

Outside my window...there is a final big pile of mulch in our driveway.


I am thinking...about my own personalized daybook questions. I'm also thinking about the old home videos we watched last night including one of Jonathan and Madison and a turtle in our backyard on October 19th 2001, a year to the day before Jake was born. Last night was the first time we watched that video and realized that. I'm also thinking about how we almost never just video tape the kids anymore because we just do two minute little shots on the regular camera. Those old videos are priceless and we really need to do more of that.

I am thankful...for my parents marriage.

From the kitchen...pork roast last night, english muffin with dark chocolate dreams peanut butter this morning, a turkey sandwich will be lunch, and dinner at a friend's house:)!!

From the learning rooms...Jake told me this morning he's not doing school (although he WILL be!) and if I expected him to do work on Mondays, I better make him work on Saturday and Sunday too, I told him that would be fine.



He'll be doing Lentil for Five in a Row and continuing with math and language. He's also reading at least one book a day aloud. Today is his 11th day of school. I'm trying to find a balance between getting him into a routine (and from his above comment you can see he needs it) and letting him just be because it really still is summer. He's still getting a lot more "screen-time" than he will get when it is no longer summer.

Jonathan and Madi are still plowing through their reading lists and are half-way done with Thoroughly Modern Millie/ Robin Hood camp. I ordered some great supplemental books to use along with Story of the World volume 2 for their History and I'm getting really excited to start learning along with them!!

I am reading...The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I'm planning on it being my reading challenge book that is "read the book then watch the movie and compare" (the movie comes out in two weeks).

I am praying for... Mike's mother who was diagnosed last week with stage 1 breast cancer and for patience with Jake.


I found this quote to ponder...Life is like a jigsaw puzzle, don't force a fit. If something is meant to be it will come together naturally. This was in our Church Bulletin yesterday.

I am listening to...Jake and Madi playing with the marble works set that they got out after seeing it on the old home videos last night.


Around the house...maybe this should've been another question that I left off of my personalized daybook. The house is tolerable, but none of those big summer organizing projects have gotten done (and I'm in no way motivated to do them).

In our yard...we (well mostly Mike and Jonathan) spread a lot more mulch in the back year. Little by little we are conquering all of the weeds and it is looking really good.


One of my favorite things...accomplishing a lot before 9 am.

I am "googling"...4reallearning forums.

I am going...to start Jake on school in a few minutes.

A few plans for the rest of the week... attempt to get the house under control, laundry all caught up (as caught up as laundry can be), and do Wii fit for at least 30 minutes everyday.

UNBELIEVABLE cookies

My mother found this recipe online the other day. We made them today. What is so unbelievable about them is that they only have THREE ingredients!! As you know I am a fan of flour (I even grind it), but these cookies are soo quick and easy and for those of you with wheat and gluten issues, these are flour-free (not to mention no butter, baking soda, and whatever else most peanut butter cookies call for--so they are CHEAP too). You'd never know that anything was missing, and the three ingredients are ones most people always have (unless you have peanut allergies:(). How's that for an introduction?!


1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg

THAT'S IT!!

Mix, roll into balls and flaten with a fork or glass, bake at 375 for about 13-15 minutes, and voila!

(I'm guessing you could do this with dark chocolate dreams, but I don't have enough right now...soon...)

These cookies remind me of how in life we are told that we need so many "ingredients" for things to go well with regard to schooling, parenting, or whatever, then eventually we find out all of that "stuff" was unnecessary. We only really need a few key ingredients all the rest is merely superfluous.

Take a Chance Challenge #2

#2. Random Word. Go to this random word generator and generate a random word. Find a book with this word in the title. Read the book and write about it.

My random word was BAND.



I searched they keyword "band" on our library's website and found a young adult book called Garage Band by Gipi. It was terrible. It is wrtten in comic book form with pictures and "word bubbles". Luckily it only took me about an hour to read because it definitely wasn't worth any more time than that. On the binding there is a library sticker that says "graphic novel", at first I thought that was because it had 'graphics' (like pictures). Sadly though it WAS graphic with sexual inuendo, some references to drugs, and one of the main characters may have been a Nazi. Truthfully, I'm not sure that I "got" a lot of the book, but basically it is about 4 teenagers who start a band and need a place to practice. This challenge is getting me to broaden my reading horizons a little, but I most certainly give Garage Band two thumbs down....NEXT!

to see other random word entries go here.