School starts up again

Really, I shouldn't have let them have that 3rd week off, when they were begging to start school work again. I'm amazed at what was lost in 3 weeks. I can't imagine the damage 12 weeks would do.

Break is almost over :(

Well, we took a 3 week break from school work from the middle of May until now. The kids were begging and whining about how school was dragging on. I was tired and frustrated, trying to get them to focus was impossible. That's the nice thing about homeschooling - you just take a break when you've all had enough! They kept telling me 3 weeks wasn't going to be long enough. I said, "oh no! You'll get bored, trust me." "No we won't! We're sick of studying. The weather's nice. We wanna play for 6 weeks."

Yeah, right. I stopped arguing. Last Friday, the end of the 2nd week, Ronan pulls out his math book and says, "Can we do Math now?" I said NO and told him to put the book back. I reminded him that we still had a week of break left. He whined. Yes, he did. We argued about him not getting to do his math. Hahaha, can you believe it?! This past Monday, I had the exact same argument/conversation with Miranda. SHE wanted to do math and was complaining of boredom! I reminded her about wanting 6 weeks off - she groaned. I said, "it's okay honey, only one more week of break. Aren't you glad it was only 3 weeks?" She actually said yes.

Blaise turned 12 on the 29th. He WOULD be happy with a 6 week break, but his laziness is driving me crazy. Max, of course, only had 2 weeks because he's taking an 8 week PreCalc class this summer.

So Monday, we start again. But I'm excited! New subjects, eager children, fresh workbooks. I love homeschooling :)

Proud Mama

Here it is, the official senior year portrait! Max has officially finished senior year of high school and first year of college at the same time. How I love concurrent enrollment at the community college! He has done quite well, finishing with a 3.765 GPA this year, taking English, History, Algebra 2, Chemistry and Physics. He'll be taking PreCalculus this summer and is starting his college search for a 4 year university to transfer into.



He also got his driving learner's permit about a month ago and I have to say that I love being chauffeured around :) The stick shift lessons are going - um, smoothly. Automatic, of course, is much easier, but you know how important it is to know both.

The three other kiddies are on early summer break right now. We'll be starting up our homeschooling again in June with another short break in the Fall. Why waste all that heat on sweating outside when we can sweat inside over difficult concepts :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Okay, this is the best Valentine card I ever got! As you can see, by this properly documented picture, it was handcrafted (yes it runs in the family!) by Miranda age 9. Look for the time/date stamp!

Catching Up!

Okay, I'm excited about a few things that have happened over the last week!

1. I totally rearranged my craft room to give me more space and I feel sooooo creative now :)

2. I decided on a line of semi-formal and formal wear for women. Think Prom, Bridal, and Cocktail dresses!

3. I lined up 3 models (beautiful friends in a variety of gorgeous sizes) and a photographer (a lovely young lady still taking classes)! This will be done in 2 months when the dresses are complete.

4. I have dreamed up and teamed up with LaMar Lynch to provide a "Wedding Bundle" - bridal gown, bridesmaids gowns, and handcrafted wedding invitations. These will be available in April for weddings taking place in November 2009 and after.

5. My friend LaMar got some awesome press this week and I am soooo proud of him! His local news station picked up the article and wants to do a spot on him :) What an inspiration!

6. My homeschool center classes are going well, and we are already planning for summer and fall sessions! Good lordy, I'll have to really have my ducks in a row!

7. Miranda is one month away from transitioning from (predominately) 4th grade material into 5th grade. Ronan is about 6 weeks away from transitioning into 2nd grade. Blaise has managed to squash 7th and 8th together, (and dare I say it! - don't tell him, but...) he'll be ready for 9th grade in the Fall! Max is loving his Chemistry class (shock, I know), and is working on a term paper on Joe McCarthy for History. He'll tackle Algebra 2 again for an 8 week session that starts in March.

8. Hubby just got over the flu and boy are we happy he's back to his happy self :)

And that's us, all caught up :)

Miranda's Birthday

Miranda enjoying her Princess card which was Handcrafted by LaMar and definitely enjoying her cake! She turned 9 on Dec. 25. Yes, my Christmas angel :)

Ronan's birthday

He turned 6 on Dec 20 and had a great celebration at Nana's house.

January Blues

My kids have cabin fever. It's cold, it's wet, homeschooling is boring, why do we have to get out of bed?! Well, I can't help the cold and the wet. Schoolwork isn't boring; they just aren't motivated after taking a holiday break. And I don't want to get out of bed either, but I have to make money and feed my lazy beasts. Does anyone have a cure for the January blues?

Halloween Pictures

Okay, I have to share some halloween pictures with you:
This is my sister's family. Aren't they cute - all themed up!


And Princess Jillie:


And here are my nutballs:

Rumblings

I'm tired, it's hot, muggy, soupy gross. Virginia is NOT for lovers; it's for gills. Somebody please wake me when September ends! I have all these great designs in my head and am finding it hard to get motivated in the heat. Although I have been sewing clothes like crazy, I need to get back to the handbags.

Summer veggies are coming in nicely at the market - tomatoes, peppers, and patty pans. The basil is lush and so lots of pesto at my house. We've had Yellow Doll Watermelon for the first time ever and were quite surprised by golden fleshed watermelon.

Neighborhood kids have been driving me insane and public school can't start soon enough. Get all those little devils outta here! I've had to ban my kids from interacting with non-homeschooled kids because the info they pass on to my kids would make your hair curl. See mine in the picture from the convention - very curled, bad kids.

What else? Max is halfway through the second semester of First Year Comp. He takes his math placement test next week to see what math he will take in the Fall. Ronan lost his first tooth yesterday and another will follow very soon. Miranda and I start Girl Scouts in the Fall; I don't think she even knows, but I'm looking forward to it!

I'm gearing up for the classes I will teach at the homeschool center starting in September - Word Roots, Latin, Pre-Algebra and Algebra I. I'm offering Knitting, Crochet, Hand and Machine Sewing in my home.

See now? Aren't you tired too?

Creations By Celeste!

First of all, let me say that chat rooms can be a wonderful thing. That's where I met this wonderful, kind new Etsy artist. She makes the most wonderful little hair things - barrettes and bows. Very very cute.

I want you to check out her store because 1. it's NEW!, 2. she's very generous (sent me a lovely sample that I plan on giving to my as yet unborn NIECE!, and 3. it's beautiful work!



Give her some love! If you don't have daughters, you probably have sisters, cousins, friends with little girls, fine hair yourself -find a female and deck them out in Creations By Celeste!

Happy Daddy's Day!

To all you men out there who are an active part of your child's life - Happy Daddy's Day! A child is a gift and a blessing (although they try our patience) and can only become what we as parents help to become. Money isn't the only thing needed to raise a child. They need love, understanding, interaction, discipline, laughter, and play - from Mom and Dad. It's not up to the schools, daycare centers, or neighborhood kids to raise your children - it's all you. Remember, any man can be a father - it takes someone special to be a Daddy!

Doogie Howser checks in

Well Max, our resident Doogie Howser, has gotten through his first couple of weeks of compressed college summer session. At first, he was nervous, then scared he wouldn't be able to keep up with the work load. His teacher, excuse me "professor", seemed like a tyrannt - so many rules! Ah the plight of the homeschooler. So Professor Rand has turned out not to be such a tyrannt. And the work isn't as awful as previously thought - yes, it requires a lot of effort and discipline on his part, but he is finding his groove.

It must be okay - we're already talking about what to take in the Fall!

The Market is Open! The Market is Open!

Imagine me skipping around in circles! The market is open! OOOOhhhhhh! I can't begin to tell you all about the wonderful farm goodness that was surrounding me on Tuesday. The lovely people over at Victory Farms have been hard at work and God has been kind with the weather and fabulous farm foods were available for pick up at the Byrd Street Market.

It was a beautiful afternoon, not too hot or muggy. We had just had a couple of days of downpours and the sun had started to poke just after lunch. I debated on whether or not go, "the ground was wet and muddy and the market is in a field", "it's still early in the season - they only have lettuce", "the parking frightens me", etc. It just so happened that my daycare child was sick that day and didn't come, so that was one less child to chase around over there. So I did it and boy, was I glad!

We got there about 15 minutes after it opened and I found a parking spot right away! First hurdle overcome :) It was a little chilly and the ground was a little squishy and muddy, but oh well. Victory Farms was the first tent as we walked in and OH! the beautiful veggies stacked in nice bins and perfectly laid out. We looked around the table - Miranda and Ronan wide-eyed at the feast available. "Is this our farm?!" one of them said. "Look at all those beautiful green vegetables for salad!" said the other. "What should we get?" I asked. Little fingers pointed here and there and whispered "Look how BIG that is!" "What is that?! Let's get some!"

So we picked and we chose, we sniffed and we smiled. My market bag was full and there was still meat to get. So we checked out - Gina was lovely and explained to the kids how they would get to come every week to pick out their veggies. They were impressed to say the least.

We moved onto Faith Farm Foods for our exceedingly tasty pasture-raised beef and pork. Oh yum! Visions of burgers and briskets and bacon in my head, I looked and I chose. Linda tallied. I threw blessings her way and lamented about what a long horrible marketless winter it had been. She chastised me for not knowing that they could deliver all winter - oh fool am I. I signed up immediately for the email newsletter, never to be left out of critical farm news again.

We did a final pass around the market and found an old favorite - Mary Kroll from Wild Heaven Farms was there with her locally famous goat milk soap. We toured her farm once as a field trip and the kids wanted to keep all her kids! (I mean the goats!) Had to get some of those too and finally is was back home we went. We rushed in the door and started unloading everything we bought.

There was 5 lbs of ground beef, 2 lbs of brisket, 2 lbs of hot sausage, carrots, radishes, spinach, romaine, kale, Russian kale, green onions, salad mix, goat cheese and soaps. It was beautiful! That night we had burgers and sausage on toasted Italian bread and a salad that amazed everyone. The Market is BACK baby! Let the feasting begin :)

Baby Wrap Sweater Finished!

Okay so it took me 2 months to finish a little tiny sweater, but it's because I have too many projects going on at the same time. A deadline always helps me finish. This little lavendar sweater is for Baby Cara Hollenbach who was born on Wednesday! I have been babysitting her big brother Noah since he was 5 months old. And this week is our 3 year anniversary together! My how the time flies! I can't wait to meet Baby Cara :) Please keep the Hollenbachs in your prayers as they bring home their littlest blessing today.

Mommy Gripe

Okay, so I just have to get this out there. Those of you with children, please let me know that I'm not out of my mind (more so than usual!).

When you can ask your kids what it is they KNOW they have to do each day to keep Mommy happy and not yelling, and they can answer perfectly, WHY do they not do it?!

I am like a freakin' broken record (yes, I'm old enough for vinyl)! I say the same thing day after day, minute after minute. If you haven't seen William Tell Mom on YouTube......



So, my kids have it pretty easy since they are homeschooled. We play on nice days, kickback when we feel overworked or sick. They don't have to go to school for 8 hours, then come home and do 5 hours of meaningless drudgery. They don't seem to get that their 4 hours of non-testing, learn what means something to you, watch educational videos kind of day is a dream come true for millions of kids educated outside the home.

After all my huffing, puffing, screaming, and having them list their chores and the subjects they are planning to work on; I thought "well, maybe the 1,542nd time will do it." Sadly, I was wrong.

Chronological Schooling

Okay, this idea is from a while ago, but Kevin thought it was soo good that I should get it down. Originally this idea was kind of in the homeschooling context, but I now realize that it would work well in any educational setting. As a homeschooler, just know that I am anti-establishment for very many reasons which I'm sure we will get to eventually. Anyway....

Chronological education:

Wouldn't it make more sense to teach children chronologically. I mean take your 12 years of education, break them up into 4 year segments; then look at a time line of the history of the world and go! Each 4 years the same chronology is repeated but with more detail. Let's face it - a 1st grader can't study Ancient Greece the way a 5th or 9th grader can, so information needs to be revisited. The entire historical time line can be segmented into 4 parts - one to be covered each year. Through the study of that particular time segment, literature, art, science, vocabulary, and spelling can all be learned. Sort of a large ongoing unit study. Math skills would be taught separate from the unit study, but could be enhanced by historical math games to reinforce those new skills. So basically, the first time a child learns about Ancient Greece, s/he will learn about the time frame, contributions, geography, games, foods, recreation and stuff like that. When it is revisited 4 years later, mythology and folklore will be introduced, governmental structure, religious practices, cultural traditions, art, etc. and the 3rd and final time it is revisited, study the era through literature, art, science, government, wars, monarchies, moral and ethical dilemmas and so on.

It makes more sense to teach children all subjects at once through time. Currently a 5th grader might be learning about physical science, but reading "Goosebumps" and studying state history, doing fractions and percents, and probably isn't taking much in the way of art. So many different eras are represented at one time and for a child it makes more sense if it all fits into place and weaves in and on itself.

A logical approach if you think about it. I mean it's hard enough to keep a child engaged in an institutional setting- might as well make it relevant and meaningful. And for you homeschoolers, if you like the idea, you don't even have to spend tons of money on a program like KONOS if you don't have the resources. Use your public library! Get yourself a good history of the world, tape it to the wall, break it up onto four segments and spend a year teaching the first segment. The nice thing for multi-kid families is that you can all study the same era over the course of the year and just add more detail and self-study for the older ones. Less work for you my dear homeschooling parent! And with using the library, every thing is free, as long as it makes it back on time, and new resources, videos, etc. are coming out each year to further enhance your more detailed studies.

Just a thought :)