SCATTERGORIES...

I got this from another site and thought it was a fun thing (and kind of educational) to do. Even though is says that if you can't think of anything to just "skip it", I did a search for items in that catagory that started with my first initial. (Note 9, 14 & 15)

SCATTERGORIES...

Your Name starts with a(n): T

Rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

1. Athlete: Thorpe (Jim)

2. 4 letter word: tree

3. Street name: Throckmorton Street

4. Color: Tan

5. Gifts/presents: Toe socks

6. Vehicles: Taurus

7. Tropical Locations: Tobago

8. College Majors: Theater Arts

9. Dairy Products: Tillamook cheese

10. Things in a Souvenir Shop: thimbles

11. Boy Name: Tom

12. Girl Name: Tandi

13. Movie Title: TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

14. Beers: Topper

15. Occupation: træskomager (Norwegian for " wooden Shoemaker"-it doesn't say it has to be in English :-P)

16. Flowers: Tulips

17. Celebrity: Donald Trump

18. Magazine: Texas Highways

19. U.S. City: Terlingua

20. Pro Sports Team: Tennessee Titans

First Day Jitters

Tomorrow we start a new year of homeschooling. This one is a big deal because my son will be in 9th grade. Yikes! Where did the time go? Just yesterday I was watching a video of him when he was only about 2. He was so innocent then. And a little pill! I had forgotten how onery he was at that age. I also noticed that my daughter was quite a talker then and hasn't shut up since! lol!

So now I have a high schooler. If I had kept him in public school, he'd be going into 10th grade this year. I can't imagine that. He just turned 15 only 2 weeks ago. He's mature enough now that he could handle high school but several years ago, I couldn't see him in the grade level that the p.s. system said he should have been in. He was very immature when he started p.s. way back in kindergarten - the youngest in his class. His maturity level showed with the way he acted in class. Once we took him out of p.s., he started to change. He listened better, his reading got better, and I think he was actually starting to like school again. Now he could care less, but I attribute that to his age. Even though he "says" that he doesn't want to start school tomorrow, I think he's actually glad. We really just finished up last years work a week or so ago, but he's had nothing to keep him occupied since then. I caught him watching a show on the Military Channel the other day. My son, watching something educational without me telling him to? No, can't be! Must have been someone else! lol!

He will have to get up a lot earlier than normal. He hasn't been getting up until noon on some days. Tomorrow he will have to get up at 8:30 a.m. so we can go over some "pre" school stuff. I want to discuss the schedule that we will use, go over the documentation he and I will be using, discuss the curriculum we will be using along with the supplements. Then hopefully we can begin our school day at 10 a.m. and get done between 2 - 2:45.

I'm still concerned about the Algebra. I sent off for what I thought was the student's book. Come to find out it was only the Student Solutions book. I guess they don't have a students edition for this particular book. I'm not happy about it as I will have to come up with some way to cover the answers in my book when my son has to do the exercises. Either that or I will have to write them out or recite them to him to write in his notebook. One good thing, if this Algebra book doesn't work out, I am free to choose another one and get a tutor for him. We will see. Who knows, maybe I'll finally learn how to do Algebra myself! lol!

It should be interesting, that's for sure. And of course hubby is still home. He was a Master Instructor in the Air Force, started as a trainer in his previous job and was a trainer in his last one. Hopefully he won't critique me on my teaching skills. I may have to run him out of the room while we are trying to do school work. When I told my son that I may have to get a job and that his father would have to teach him, he was like "nooooo!" lol! He KNOWS how his dad is. His dad is really technical in his teaching. He "thinks" that everyone else knows as much as he does about certain things, so forgets to teach the simple things. I remember years ago when I was first learning about computers. I asked him what the difference was between a bit and a byte. His explanation was so complicated that I never did figure it out. It wasn't until I took a computer class at Angelo State that I found out what the difference was. I went home that night and asked him why didn't he tell me that. He said he did. I'm like, "You did? Sure could have fooled me!" I rarely ask him to explain something technical or complicated. I just end up getting more confused. I just look it up myself now.

I will post tomorrow what schedule we decided to use and how our day went. If I end up pulling all my hair out, I'll take a picture and post that. lol!

G-Day and goodbye dear Matey!

I am one of the thousands, perhaps millions of people who are saddened by the death of that famous crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin. He was killed today after being "stung" by a stingrays barb. Since the venom isn't that strong, they think that it was the impact of the barb itself...perhaps puncturing a hole into his heart. I feel for his family especially his children. As much as his wife may love Australia, I have a feeling that she will leave that country and come back to America to be closer to her own family. I would have a hard time staying somewhere that reminds me on a constant basis that my husband and the father of my children is no longer there. Maybe she will stay just so Australia Zoo will continue to live up to the high standards that Steve Irwin brought to it. Maybe her son will grow up to be another "Crocodile Hunter" although his dad will not be there to teach him as Steves dad did. I know I for one will miss Steve Irwins antics, his enthusiasm, his sense of adventure and his compassion along with his infamous words, "Crikey" and "Danger, danger, danger". We will miss you Steve-o!

Astronomers say Pluto is not a planet

(Note: This story came from the AP over at Yahoo. Unfortunately the link no longer works so I took it out 1/4/07)

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight.

After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930. The new definition of what is — and isn't — a planet fills a centuries-old black hole for scientists who have labored since Copernicus without one.

Although astronomers applauded after the vote, Jocelyn Bell Burnell — a specialist in neutron stars from Northern Ireland who oversaw the proceedings — urged those who might be "quite disappointed" to look on the bright side.

"It could be argued that we are creating an umbrella called 'planet' under which the dwarf planets exist," she said, drawing laughter by waving a stuffed Pluto of Walt Disney fame beneath a real umbrella.

The decision by the prestigious international group spells out the basic tests that celestial objects will have to meet before they can be considered for admission to the elite cosmic club.

For now, membership will be restricted to the eight "classical" planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Much-maligned Pluto doesn't make the grade under the new rules for a planet: "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit."

Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune's.

Instead, it will be reclassified in a new category of "dwarf planets," similar to what long have been termed "minor planets." The definition also lays out a third class of lesser objects that orbit the sun — "small solar system bodies," a term that will apply to numerous asteroids, comets and other natural satellites.

It was unclear how Pluto's demotion might affect the mission of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which earlier this year began a 9 1/2-year journey to the oddball object to unearth more of its secrets.

The decision at a conference of 2,500 astronomers from 75 countries was a dramatic shift from just a week ago, when the group's leaders floated a proposal that would have reaffirmed Pluto's planetary status and made planets of its largest moon and two other objects.

That plan proved highly unpopular, splitting astronomers into factions and triggering days of sometimes combative debate that led to Pluto's undoing.

Now, two of the objects that at one point were cruising toward possible full-fledged planethood will join Pluto as dwarfs: the asteroid Ceres, which was a planet in the 1800s before it got demoted, and 2003 UB313, an icy object slightly larger than Pluto whose discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena has nicknamed Xena.

Charon, the largest of Pluto's three moons, is no longer under consideration for any special designation.

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My question is, how will this affect the education of our children? Every piece of information I have in my home library states that Pluto is a planet. Should I just throw out all my books that make reference to that statement? I don't know that I'm willing to give up my belief about Pluto. Pluto being a planet has been ingrained in me for too many years to speak of here. I'm sure the publishers of educational materials are rushing to their presses to start printing out new books with the new information in them. Will the schools stop using their current books? The information is now incorrect in them so they shouldn't be using them, right? Let's spend more of my hard earned money and buy all new books with the new information in them. I think I will just tell my child that some crazy scientists are now convinced that Pluto is not a planet. Instead of calling them planets, why not just call them "heavenly bodies" and leave it at that. Next thing you know, they'll start calling our moon a planet. I refuse to throw away my model of the planets. Am I being ignorant? No, just stubborn. I happen to like having Pluto as a planet. It means that something is still the same as it was when I was a kid. After all so many things have changed since I was a child and some of those things aren't so good. I say let's start a petition to keep Pluto a planet. What say you?

Some Unit Study Pictures

I thought I would post some pictures of the unit studies we have been working on. We finished up Australia and are now working on Volcanoes. Today we had to make a model of Mt. St. Helen's before the 1980 eruption using a topographic map. I made the mistake of having my son do it on a piece of red construction paper (what on earth was I thinking???). In the one picture you can't really see the different elevations but you can in the others. I also took a picture of the different displays I put up on our bulletin board. I'm going to let my son paste those pictures into his binder that he has for both units.

I think he had fun doing the play-doh thing. We did one last week and had so much fun doing it together. We were laughing so hard that my husband could hear us over the TV out in the living room! You'd have thought that my son and I had never played with play-doh before. Well, actually we've never played with homemade play-doh before. I had to make some play-doh for the volcanoe project. All we had was clay, and it was so gooey and soft, that it just wasn't going to work. I had to get on the internet and find a recipe for play-doh. It turned out pretty good if I say so myself. My son has had fun messing with it (I keep it in ziplock baggies on the desk). Our dogs try to eat it. And of course my son has to make a ball out of it and then tease the dogs with it. Shame on him! lol!

Anyway, check out the pics. Hope you enjoy them!

Some interesting quotes about education

Today’s HOME Spun Wisdom

Never stop learning! Here are some quotes about education from some of history’s brightest.

RISMEDIA, June 20, 2006—It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.
- Alec Bourne

An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't.
- Anatole France (1844 - 1924)

Education is the best provision for old age.
- Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC), from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
- Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
- B. F. Skinner (1904 - 1990), New Scientist, May 21, 1964

The strength of the United States is not the gold at Fort Knox or the weapons of mass destruction that we have, but the sum total of the education and the character of our people.
- Claiborne Pell (1918 - )

Everyone has a right to a university degree in America, even if it's in Hamburger Technology.
- Clive James

The number of books will grow continually, and one can predict that a time will come when it will be almost as difficult to learn anything from books as from the direct study of the whole universe. It will be almost as convenient to search for some bit of truth concealed in nature as it will be to find it hidden away in an immense multitude of bound volumes.
- Denis Diderot (1713 - 1784)

The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.
- Diogenes Laertius

Education begins a gentleman, conversation completes him.
- Dr. Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734), Gnomologia, 1732

Only the educated are free.
- Epictetus (55 AD - 135 AD), Discourses

America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
- Evan Esar (1899 - 1995)

Education... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading.
- G. M. Trevelyan (1876 - 1962), English Social History (1942)

Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.
- Gail Godwin

A fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education.
- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.
- H. G. Wells (1866 - 1946), Outline of History (1920)

College isn't the place to go for ideas.
- Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)

The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.
- Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903)

Cool link

A friend from one of the homeschool groups I belong to sent out this link:

Homeschool.com's Top 100 Educational Web Sites of 2005

I thought y'all might be interested in it.

Happy Flag Day!

This is the poster I remember from my school days. Happy Flag Day Y'all!

Flag Day, is a day for all Americans to celebrate and show respect for our flag, its designers and makers. The American flag is representative of our independence and our unity as a nation.....one nation, under God, indivisible. Our flag has a proud and glorious history. It was at the lead of every battle fought by Americans. Many people have died protecting it. It even stands proudly on the surface of the moon.

I am the Flag

by Ruth Apperson Rous

I am the flag of the United States of America. I was born on June 14, 1777, in Philadelphia. There the Continental Congress adopted my stars and stripes as the national flag. My thirteen stripes alternating red and white, with a union of thirteen white stars in a field of blue, represented a new constellation, a new nation dedicated to the personal and religious liberty of mankind. Today fifty stars signal from my union, one for each of the fifty sovereign states in the greatest constitutional republic the world has ever known. My colors symbolize the patriotic ideals and spiritual qualities of the citizens of my country. My red stripes proclaim the fearless courage and integrity of American men and boys and the self-sacrifice and devotion of American mothers and daughters. My white stripes stand for liberty and equality for all. My blue is the blue of heaven, loyalty, and faith. I represent these eternal principles: liberty, justice, and humanity. I embody American freedom: freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the press, and the sanctity of the home. I typify that indomitable spirit of determination brought to my land by Christopher Columbus and by all my forefathers - the Pilgrims, Puritans, settlers at James town and Plymouth. I am as old as my nation. I am a living symbol of my nation's law: the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights. I voice Abraham Lincoln's philosophy: "A government of the people, by the people,for the people." I stand guard over my nation's schools, the seedbed of good citizenship and true patriotism. I am displayed in every schoolroom throughout my nation; every schoolyard has a flag pole for my display. Daily thousands upon thousands of boys and girls pledge their allegiance to me and my country. I have my own law—Public Law 829, "The Flag Code" - which definitely states my correct use and display for all occasions and situations. I have my special day, Flag Day. June 14 is set aside to honor my birth. Americans, I am the sacred emblem of your country. I symbolize your birthright, your heritage of liberty purchased with blood and sorrow. I am your title deed of freedom, which is yours to enjoy and hold in trust for posterity. If you fail to keep this sacred trust inviolate, if I am nullified and destroyed, you and your children will become slaves to dictators and despots. Eternal vigilance is your price of freedom. As you see me silhouetted against the peaceful skies of my country, remind yourself that I am the flag of your country, that I stand for what you are - no more, no less. Guard me well, lest your freedom perish from the earth. Dedicate your lives to those principles for which I stand: "One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." I was created in freedom. I made my first appearance in a battle for human liberty. God grant that I may spend eternity in my "land of the free and the home of the brave" and that I shall ever be known as "Old Glory," the flag of the United States of America.

Should I only write about homeschooling?

I have been reading a few other blogs and they all seem to talk about other things besides just homeschooling. I started to wonder if I should talk about other things too. I do have another blog and a MySpace blog. The first one is my venting site. I don't give out that address because I keep it as my own personal online journal. Whenever I get really frustrated with things going on in my life, I go there to vent. No one else reads it (as far as I know since I've never had any comments left on it), and I don't expect anyone to read that blog. The MySpace blog is just a place where I can have fun posting crazy things like different surveys I've taken. It's also a way for me to connect with friends of mine that I don't normally get to chat with. Most of those people are under 30, although I did connect with a friend from high school. I found this homeschool blog, and was only going to use it for homeschool stuff. I find though that I want to post other things going on around me than just the homeschool things we are doing, which really isn't much. I can only write so much about my homeschool schedule that I'm writing up for next year. Besides, who wants to read only about that?

So I decided that I am going to write about more things that just homeschool stuff. For instance, I sat here this morning watching the mockingbirds flittering around in my mesquite tree and my hanging flower pots that are hanging in it. One of them snatched something out of one of the pots and took it down to the ground. I'm hoping it was some kind of bug that was possibly eating my flowers. Another bird flew down to see what the first one had. I was really enjoying watching these four birds flitter around and have fun doing bird things. I can only enjoy this when my dogs are inside as they love to chase the birds away.

Before we arranged our computer desks the way they are now, I only got to look at a wall. Now I am able to look out the back window towards our creek and the occasional cow that resides on a neighbors property. Luckily, I can't see any of the gas wells that have popped up around me from where I sit. If I was to move to my right some, then I could see the eye sore that some land owner decided to put in.

Here is a picture of what I can see from my backdoor:



Unfortunately, from this view you can see the gas well off in the distance (it's a beige dot just above the 1st fence post to the right of the gate). Luckily I can't see it from where I sit. But this gives you an idea of the view. I need to take another picture but with no recordable rain in a while, the grass and every other living thing is suffering. I love living in the country though!

10 Science Questions

These came from a homeschool list and they received it from another list. I thought it was interesting.

In the USA there is much consternation over the fact that students are falling behind other countries in science. Sunday's paper had a list of 10 questions that various scientists felt every high school graduate should be able to answer.

What percentage of the earth is covered by water?

What sort of signals does the brain use to communicate?

Did dinosaurs and humans ever exist at the same time?

What is Darwin's theory of the origin of the species?

Why does a year consist of 365 days and a day of 24 hours?

Why is the sky blue?

What causes a rainbow?

What is it about diseases caused by viruses and bacteria that makes them often hard to treat?

How old are the oldest fossils on earth?

Why do we put salt on sidewalks when it snows?

Bonus question: What makes the seasons change?

The scientists acknowledged that most American adults would probably get only half of these right, so don't feel bad if you don't know all the answers.

It's Saturday

Yay! It's Saturday. It means we can relax and enjoy our weekend. Maybe. Hubby is out mowing the grass. Hopefully we will be able to go to see the radio control planes today. I would like to go watch the planes. They are model airplanes but BIG planes. Not little ones. These people spend thousands of dollars on these planes. I've looked at the pictures on the website and they are amazing. I'm sure we could incorporate some type of learning thing into this, but I'd rather just go look at the planes, and watch them fly them.

I finished my sons daily schedule. Of course it can be modified but this will give him an idea of when he is suppose to be working on a certain subject and for how long. My next step is working out a schedule telling him what he suppose to be doing every day or each week in each subject. In my planning notes I have down how many pages he is suppose to be doing each day. I may just let him keep his own record of what he does each day/week. I have two different forms: one for daily academic record and the other is for weekly academic record. You use a daily one for each subject. You write down the date and what pages they did. On the weekly record (also one per subject) you write down the week(s) covered, what pages were done, and what the content or activity was. I like the daily one myself. When the kids did School of Tomorrow, they each had cards that they had to write down all that they did each day in each subject. It was a way for them to keep track of what they were doing themselves and to make sure that they stayed on track. All I had to do was check their cards to make sure that they were doing something each day. They were required to do several pages a day and this helped them keep track of that. I'll give my son an estimate of how much I want him to do in each subject and hopefully, he'll do more and not less like he's done in the past. If I notice that he's not doing as much each day or if he has been skipping some things, then he'll end up having his computer game time taken away. I really don't think we'll have a problem though since I plan on being more involved in his core subjects. After all, that's why I have the teacher's editions!

Hubby is done mowing. He'll go take a shower now and then maybe we can go watch the airplanes. I hope so. See ya!

Decisions, decisions, decisions

I have been trying to work out a daily schedule for my son for next year. I can't remember what time of day they say is the best for learning things. I seem to remember that early morning was good for math but can't remember the rest. I'm sure I'll figure out something though.

Another thing too is his Algebra. The book is for beginning and intermediate algebra. I'm not sure if most people do the whole book in one year or not. I'm doing it in two years. My only problem is that I am not sure where to stop at the end of the first year and then pick up for the second year. And do I skip a year to do Geometry then go back to the Algebra or what? I'm really confused. I'm thinking of just picking up in 10th grade where we left off in 9th with Algebra, then do Geometry in 11th. It realy doesn't matter since we homeschool and we are free to teach whatever we want, when we want as long as it includes the subjects that the state requires. But I don't want him to get around other kids who have already taken the subject. I don't want him to feel out of place. Although most homeschool people are more forgiving and understanding than public school people. I've already figured out where we are going to stop in the book, I just don't know when I'm going to teach him the rest of it.

I'm almost finished with my planning notes for my son's courses. I still have to do Algebra and Computer. I'm also coordinating the pages in the "humanities" book with his history lessons. I've already gone through and written down all the pages that have some type of "art" on them and put them next to the section of the history book they coincide with. Now I just need to write down some notes about what the picture/drawing is about and how it relates to that particular period in time. I don't want to get into too much detail from this book as I want to use it as a humanities book later on in 12th grade. Hubby used it in his college class, but I think I can use it for my son. Hubby has the workbook to go along with the book, I just have to adjust the lessons to my sons age level.

I'm really looking forward to next year. I don't know why though. I think it's because my son is older and I will be able to relate more to him than in the past. He's better able to make more knowledgeable statements I guess is why. I haven't been real involved in his lessons in the past. I plan on being involved this next year. Not so much with the writing part but with the reading and discussions. Because he doesn't like to read books, I will have to stay on top of him to read. Maybe we'll read the books out loud? That sounds kind of little kidish. But it may be the only way I'll know for sure that he is reading something. There will be other things he can do on his own though. Some of his courses are on the computer. He can do those and all I have to do is go back and look at what he did. I will have to keep a record though of what scores/grades he got on the different things though. I want to keep good transcripts of his courses and the grades he got. I will also keep some of his written work in case some "proof" is ever needed. Although some of the text books I have gotten are for older grade levels, I don't think there will be a problem. They are mostly just reading material anyway. The only one that new concepts are introduced is the Algebra. That one will be hard for me. I will pretty much be useless to him un less I can really understand what is going on. I'm hoping he will be able to pick it up on his own or can find an answer at the textbooks website or some other website. I hope we don't end up getting a tutor.

I find that I am having a hard time concentrating myself. I really have to force myself to read something and not just skip over most of it. I hope that's not an early sign of something worse. I want to stay focused and alert so that I can help my son with his school work. I want to be more involved in his learning process and help him through the times when he isn't able to understand something. Hopefully by my being more involved, it will help me with my concentration too. Maybe I should see a doctor about Adult ADD?

And now Algebra

The Beginning & Intermediate Algebra book by Lial finally arrived. I was surprised though because it is the Teacher's Edition. I tried to locate the Student Edition on the LIAL website, but the only thing it had was the Student's Solution book. I don't know if that is the correct book or not. I can still use the teacher's book. No biggie. I just have to figure out how to keep my son from seeing the answers. I figure that on the exercises, reviews, quizzes, and tests I'll have to either copy them or retype them so that I can print them out for him to do. I did download the InterActMath plugin so that now he (we) can go to the website and get some help with any problems that may arise. It looked pretty good considering I know nothing about Algebra.

Another book

Received the Teachers Edition of the Earth Science book yesterday. I like it better than the one for history. It has more helps in it and I understand it a little better. There was a sticker on the outside of the book that stated it was for 11th/12th grade. Oh well, guess my son will be doing that grade level next year. Still working on some forms. I'm trying to keep ahead of schedule this year. I've got a couple of forms I need to redo, and I had to download the correct calendar. Now I'm waiting to get the math book. No biggie, it'll get here soon enough...I have time. More later after I've returned from my shopping excursion.

Organization

I received the student Earth Science book by McDougall/Littell the other day from the Amazon.com seller. I'm very excited about using this book except for one thing. I don't have the lab sheets I need that go with a few of the lab activities. I checked the website and I didn't see anything there, so I'm not too sure what these are. Maybe I'll find out more when I get the Teacher's Edition. I got an email from the person sending me the algebra book by Lial. They "found" it just sitting somewhere and realized that they had forgotten to mail it to me. So they are going to refund me my shipping cost. I was surprised. The website said it could take from 4 to 14 days, so I wasn't worried about it. I guess I'll have to write a note to the seller and thank them. That was nice of them to do. Guess if you want peoples business, you'll be nice to them and refund their S&H for forgetting to mail out their order even if that person didn't know it was late!

So, I've been working on some of my paper work for next year. I've got several forms that I've downloaded from the internet that helps with getting things ready for next year. I've used some of the goal charts, curriculum planners, and transcript planners. I don't know how useful these forms will be during the next year, but I feel like I'm doing something useful, so I figure why not. I will at least have a record of what we wanted to cover and what we actually covered when it comes time to fill in that transcript form. Plus when I get rid of the books we used for those years, I'll have a record of what books we used and what they covered. Not that I really need a record of what I teach. I'm in Texas, I don't have to show proof of my curriculum. Mostly I decided I needed a record of what my son is learning because of the problem I had when I made up my daughters transcript. She was trying to join the Air Force and they needed a copy of her transcript. Since she went to public school for 9th & 10th, I kind of figured out what she took those years by going to the schools website and scanning through the courses for the years she was there. I did manage to find some old report cards for those years too, which helped to straighten out some confusion on some of the classes we thought she had taken. When I went to get the records for her homeschooling classes that she took from School of Tomorrow, I could not find them. Luckily I still had the books she had been using and was able to record the subjects and grades from that. It wasn't until a few days ago that I found the actual report card/progress report for both kids stuck in the back of a folder in a filing cabinet. I was really relieved to find those reports. I knew I had them but just didn't know where. With all the moving around we did a few years back, I'm surprised I can find anything!

My son has fallen behind even more in his school work. I asked him why he hadn't done any work in some of his subjects. His answer was that he was stuck. I asked him what he should do when he is stuck, and his answer was "Ask you?" I couldn't believe it. I could understand not wanting to "raise your hand" in public school when you have a question, but at home? He got in trouble for that. I asked him if he wanted to be grounded from the computer? Of course I got a no from him. lol! We will be working on those subjects more intensely. There's no excuse for him to not do the work. I think he was just too lazy and was way more interested in playing his computer games (even though he's not allowed to do that until 4 p.m.).

I think I'll have to limit his online playing some more. He normally can't get on until 4 p.m. and has to quit at 10 p.m. I know that's a long time but you've got to understand that he doesn't have any "real" friends. The kids that are around us are either too young or too old. We have never met the family to the north of us. The one son that is close to my sons age is a real snot. He threw a diaper (whether it was soiled or not I don't know) at my son one time when he and another boy (who just happened to be a friend of this kid) came up their drive-way with their water guns. This kid told my son to get off his property. Nice neighbors huh? The boy who is friends with this kid (I guess he still is, I don't see them hanging out too much) is several years younger than my son. They really don't get along too well. When we first moved here, they played together but the boy doesn't "play" very well and broke some of my sons toys. My son is real particular about his toys and takes good care of them. They would play video games, but my son is better than this boy and he would get upset with my son because he beat him all the time. Needless to say, they don't hang out together. The kids across the street from us are a lot younger than my son. I've only talked to the parents a couple of times. We only have 7 families on our street and two of those only have adult children. Nobody associates with anyone. The one family (kid with the diaper) have a problem with one of the families across from us. I know the older boys would get into a shouting match every once in a while. The "diaper" family I don't think rides the school bus anymore. Maybe they were banned? Wouldn't surprised me. Their house is up for sale, so hopefully someone will buy it soon. It would be nice to actually get some people in that my son could hang out with. Kind of hard to make friends in the country with everyone spread out so much. I have tried to find other outlets where he can interact with other kids close to his age. He is on a bowling league throughout the school year. We did 4H but will probably quit that or find another club to join. Not real happy in the one we were in. We have been doing outtings with a Yahoo homeschool group. They are from the local area and try to have activities for the "tweens" to do. I'm thinking about getting a group going that maybe does his online game or even Anime. He likes that and I found out a lot of kids do too.

Planning for next year

I have been gradually planning the curriculum we will be using next year. I think I am done. I just received the Earth Science student book in the mail today and it looks like it will be a good one. There is a website to use with the book that the publisher set up. It looks like it has a lot of interesting stuff on it. I am still waiting for the teachers edition to the science book along with the algebra book I ordered. It also has a website to use with the book. Thank goodness because I know nothing about algebra. This should be an interesting year.

I changed my profile to read that we are Eclectic homeschoolers. We use some textbooks (a lot really) but I intersperse other books and supplements with the textbooks. I have several educational videos that I have taped as well as print-outs I downloaded from several internet sites.

I still want to use a time schedule with my son, but it will be flexible. Mostly it's to give him a general idea of how long he should spend on a subject. I'm thinking of just using a weekly planner (as opposed to a daily assignment schedule) and listing what I want him to cover for the week. Maybe that will work. He can do as little as he wants or as much as he wants each day just so he gets that particular assignment completed during that week. That kind of blows the time schedule out the window though doesn't it? Hmmm, I'll have to think on this a bit.

I picked up some software at the bookfair a week or so ago. Some of it is very useful and some I will just be using as a reference. I did manage to find a Japanese language program. He's been wanting to learn Japanese and hopefully this program will help. It's not as intensive as a regular language class, but it will give him the basic tools he needs to speak the language. If he is really interested in learning the language, there is a place I have heard about that I can take him to. We'll see. There was also a computer lesson in the one software package I bought. It's pretty simple and he probably knows most of what is covered on the program, but it will satisfy his technology requirement. I have been writing down what is covered on all of the software programs so that I can write down the goals for next year. I'll write more about them as I get to them.

I haven't been very involved in his homeschooling except to work out his schedule. Mostly he does his work on his own without my help. He mentioned earlier about some problems with his geography lessons and I asked him why he didn't tell me. He said he did, but I don't remember him saying anything. He normally doesn't come to me with his problems. I only notice that he's having a problem when I get around to grading his work. I'm pretty lazy in case you haven't noticed. I know he's learning because I can tell in the way he talks about different things. I just don't know if he's retaining the stuff he's learning. Hubby sent me an Exit Level English, Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science TAKS test from last year that I guess he must have downloaded. I guess he wants me to administer it to our son. I don't put much "faith" in these standardized tests. Some people can't pass tests. Some people just don't do well on tests. Hubby should know that, he did lousy when it came time to test for his next stripe in the Air Force. He's a really smart person but really sucks on test taking. I'm not much better. I do terrible on tests. I get all stressed out and nervous. Anyway, I may just give my son the TAKS test just for the heck of it. I guess hubby is a little worried that his son might not be learning. Of course he's wrong...he's got a very smart son.

Schedule

I have decided to put my son on a time schedule. The schedule we are currently doing isn't satisfying me. In each subject he is assigned certain pages to do each day. He does what is required but nothing else. He has talked about wanting to try unschooling but with him not taking any initiative to do more than what is required each day, I'm not ready to do that. He usually finishes all his work in 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. His father and I don't feel that he is doing enough. My son only wants to do what's in front of him and nothing else. I guess that would take too much effort. So I have decided that I am going to "assign" him a certain amount of time for each subject. He will still be assigned a certain amount of pages a day but if he finishes with that work, then he has to find something else to fill the rest of the time. For instance, he does science and health on the computer using Alpha Omega's SOS program. The lessons are set up for him to do certain ones on certain days. There are days when he has nothing to do in either or only one of those subjects. So what he'll have to start doing, is find some other science thing to do for the rest of the time. I'm not going to be real picky on what that is. It could be cruising the internet looking at different science websites or reading a book on a famous scientist, just as long as he is doing/reading something that has to do with science. He's also going to have to start writing in a journal or even the blog that he started a while back. I'm also going to make him start doing more exercise. I need to doing something more physical because of my heart problems and since walking is suppose to be the best thing for me, I think he and I will start walking. We took the dogs out today but the park we went to wasn't very good. I think next time we will find a better one. I want to try for 3 times a week but may start off at just 2. It will do him good to get out since all he does most of the time is sit in front on the computer and play his games. I'm not going to implement my time schedule until next week. We are finishing up our Presidents study this week and since I am scheduled for about 5hrs of dental work Thursday, it will just be best to wait on my plan. I'll keep things posted here as to how it all works out.

Presidents

We have been studying Presidents in honor of President's Day. I taped the shows on the presidents off of the Discovery channel and the History channel. The Discovery channel has lesson plans that go with the shows. I enjoyed the ones we've watched from the History channel so far. They did a good job on it. I found other lessons plans about the presidents on the internet. I'm having my son do a timeline on the presidents too. He'll be doing a map too. After we get done with this lesson, he's going to put all the information into a folder. I think it'll be interesting for others to look at and also for him to add to later on. We've put off his other history lessons for now. Maybe we'll try this with some other subject? He likes chickens so maybe we can do chickens.

Just a little info

Hi! My name is Terry and I am in my 6th year of homeschooling. I started out homeschooling my daughter and son. My daughter graduated in May 2002. It was a lovely graduation and to me was so much better than the public school one I had so many years ago. I had been wanting to homeschool for several years, ever since we moved to Plano, Texas. My daughter had changed schools a few times during the middle of the year in the past, so I knew she wouldn't have any problem this time. Boy was I wrong. When she transferred from Austin to Plano, she was so far behind that she never did catch up. She went from taking honors classes in Austin to the basic ones at Plano. Her grades went from mostly A's to some B's and C's and a few F's. She lost all interest in school and trying to do better. When my son transferred, he actually did better. He was stuck in a bi-lingual kindergarten class in Austin. We were not "allowed" to transfer him to another classroom that spoke mostly English. When he started kindergarten in Plano, he blossomed. The teachers had no trouble with him at all. Little did I know what was in store for him in 1st grade. He had horrible teachers (yes, that is plural) in 1st grade. His second grade teacher was a little better and his 3rd grade teacher was the best. I was worried about him going into 4th though, so after talking it over with my husband, we decided to try our hand at homeschooling. The first year went pretty well. We used what I call a satellite school. I graded the workbooks and sent the tests to the school for them to grade and to keep all the records. The next year I switched my son to a different company (same type of curriculum though) and kept my daughter with the other "school". That was so that she could participate in their graduation at the end of the year. Well things don't always turn out the way you'd like. My daughter "dropped out" of school. We had some problems at home with her and she ended up moving out for a couple of months. We had already planned on her graduating with the homeschool group we belonged to and had purchased all the items for that graduation. She assumed that she would be able to graduate with them even though she had not completed her school work. We gave her a choice, either finish the books or get your GED. She got her GED. She actually did quite well on the test but then she's always done well on the state required tests. She was just lazy when it came to doing the actual work. I continued to homeschool my son but he kind of got pushed to the background when the problems with my daughter started. Plus we had other problems going on in our life at that moment. But I did the best I could. My son ended up doing 6th grade work twice because of the upheaval going on in our lives most of 2002 until about June 2003. Hubby had lost his job in March 2002 and we sold our house in Dec. 2002. We lived in our RV for a few months and moved from Plano to just south of Ft. Worth. After purchasing some land and buying a new home for it, we finally could get back to normal. Or as normal as possible. By now my son was doing his schoolwork all on the computer. It was great for him and me. I pretty much didn't have to do anything but check over his work and make sure he was on track. Then Dec. 7th, 2003 hit. I had a heartattack and had to have a stent put in. I wasn't up to par after that and was feeling hopeless which is not unusual after a heartattack. I thought things were getting better until my new cardiologist wanted to do another angiogram to check my stent. Come to find out it had closed and the other blockages had gotten worse. I needed by-pass surgery. So on April 13th 2004 I had a triple by-pass. I came through with flying colors and one long scar in the middle of my chest as a reminder of all I went through. My dear son says that he was so concerned about me that he couldn't do his school work (I really want to believe him! ha!). I got him back on track and he finally finished up his 6th grade work while at the same time doing 7th grade. I switched some of his curriculum back to books because I wanted him to write his answers in his own handwriting instead of doing it all on the computer. His handwriting is atrocious, so thankgoodness for computers! We supplement some of his work with videos of shows I've taped and other sources I can find. I'm pretty laid back when it comes to his schoolwork, so I guess I unschool but at the same time use textbooks. He continues to do his work from his textbooks but I'm not as vigilante about making sure that he's doing that days worth of work. After all, we aren't really on a schedule like the public schools. He's learning everyday and that's what really matters. We are all happy with our arrangement and don't ever want to be tied down to the public school schedule. I can't imagine not having my son around all day. I remember when my daughter was little and in public school. I hated seeing her leave everyday. How different things would be now if we had started homeschooling her sooner. At least I had a bigger hand in my sons growing up and can see how different he sees the world. He doesn't have the "you owe me" attitude that the public school instilled in my daughter. So that's about us. Probably more than you wanted to read. I do tend to go on and on about things. lol!