New name?

I'm thinking of calling our homeschool by a different name than Sutton Academy. I want something with a little more flair to it. A friend of mine has hers named after the street she lives on. Another one has a cutesy type name to hers. So I got to thinking, what name would I choose if I changed the name of our "school". I thought about the street we live on, "Alabama Street Academy" but I decided that since I am from Texas, I didn't want to name my school after another state. Just didn't seem right. lol! I thought about naming it after the housing addition we live in, "Bluegrass Academy", but naming it after a music style just didn't seem right either, even though I like to listen to Bluegrass once in a while. We have a creek running through our property, so I thought I might use that name. The thing is, I can't find the name of the creek anywhere. There is a "lake" that this creek flows from, but I didn't like the sound of it - "Clark Lake Academy". Since our creek merges with another creek and then runs into a much bigger lake that is part of the Trinity River, I thought I might name it after the Corps of Engineer park that is closest to it. It's called "Mustang Creek". I thought that might be a cool name to call my school "Mustang Creek Academy". Sounds outdoorsy and it could be the name of my creek.

I ran these new names past my son, but he said that he didn't want to change the name of our school. He also said that our "school" really isn't a school since he's the only student. So that brought to mind what the definition of a school really is. I looked up the definition of school on the web and this is what I found:

1. An institution for the instruction of children or people under college age.

2. An institution for instruction in a skill or business: a secretarial school; a karate school.

3. 
   

   1. A college or university.

   2. An institution within or associated with a college or university that gives instruction in a specialized field and recommends candidates for degrees.

   3. A division of an educational institution constituting several grades or classes: advanced to the upper school.

   4. The student body of an educational institution.

   5. The building or group of buildings housing an educational institution.

4. The process of being educated formally, especially education constituting a planned series of courses over a number of years: The children were put to school at home. What do you plan to do when you finish school?

5. A session of instruction: School will start in three weeks. He had to stay after school today.

6. 
   

   1. A group of people, especially philosophers, artists, or writers, whose thought, work, or style demonstrates a common origin or influence or unifying belief: the school of Aristotle; the Venetian school of painters.

   2. A group of people distinguished by similar manners, customs, or opinions: aristocrats of the old school.

7. Close-order drill instructions or exercises for military units or personnel.

8. Australian A group of people gathered together for gambling.

There were several other words listed in The American Heritage Dictionary under the heading with school in it so I clicked on the link to see the others. I found homeschool. Under that definition I found this:

VERB:

tr.

To instruct (a pupil, for example) in an educational program outside of established schools, especially in the home.

VERB:

intr.

To provide educational instruction in a homeschool.

NOUN:

A school operated outside established educational institutions, especially in a home.

In the previous listing, the word "school" is listed as a noun as were all of the other words with school in them except afterschool which is an adjective and homeschool which is listed as a verb. I guess it makes sense that homeschool would be a verb, after all it is an action since we as parents are homeschooling our children. Normally I write homeschool as one word because I am talking about how I am teaching my son. Other times I'm talking about where we do our schooling so I really should write it out as home school instead of one word. I will have to think about how I am using the word in a sentence next time and write it the "correct" way.

BTW, I decided to just keep the same school name we've always used. After all, it tells exactly who we are.

Ah Summer!

Summertime is upon us. Most of us take the summer off. We haven't had a summer off in several years. Usually my son is finishing up work that he didn't get completed during the normal school year due to this and that. This year he finished up his work one day after my "deadline". I was impressed. He finally kept to the schedule...well sort of. There are some things that I want him to work on over the summer, but they are for enrichment and to keep him busy. Mostly this summer he will be working on getting together with other teens in the area and practicing his driving for his license. That's my main goal. Then school will start up again probably the first part of September. I haven't really decided when the first day of school will be. I'm looking at the day after Labor Day. I usually plan on him finishing up his last day of school by the end of May but that's flexible too. I'm just going to take it easy this summer. First time my son's really had a summer off since he was in public school, and that was the summer of 2000! Wow, a long, long time ago. Poor kid. He won't know what to do with himself! lol!

End of the first week

Today is the end of the first week of the new school year. Even though he hasn't started todays work, it has been a fairly good week. There were only three days this week so it wasn't all that strenuous. My son managed to do all of one assignment in one day so that left him extra time the other days. In fact yesterday he only had to do Algebra, Geography and Biology. Even though I have things assigned on certain days, it doesn't mean that he can't work on the other days assignments that day too. He can work ahead all he wants but he is not to do so much work on one subject that he neglects the others like he has done in the past. I told him that I don't want him to become overwhelmed by the amount of work he has to do each day. He still hasn't started some of his other subjects like computer and foreign language. Those will come later when I see how well he is doing and what days he will have more time to work on other subjects. He hasn't started his outside classes yet either, so that will be a challenge for him once he begins those.

Now if I could just get him to get up out of that bed when I first wake him, instead of getting up an hour later!

It's getting closer!

The new school year is getting closer. My son finally picked up one of the novels he was suppose to have already read, and has started reading it. He still has to read "Antony & Cleopatra" and do the book study on "Hans Brinker". All this I want done by Aug. 1st. Think we'll make it? I'll make sure of it, even if it means cutting him off from the computer. He seems to think that I'll just let him carry over his work from this last year into his next year just because "we homeschool". He's got another "think" coming! Bwahahaha! lol!

I filled in and faxed the letter to the publisher of the biology book I wanted. I only ordered the teachers edition because my son is suppose to be able to access the book online at their website. I'll get the code when I get the book. That not only saved us money but I don't have to worry about having another book on my bookshelf. He'll be able to read his assignment online, then do whatever activities and tests he is required to do. If the internet is down for some reason, he can always use the teachers edition for that day. If the TE is like the others I have, the text will be the same but the answers will be in a different section.

I have already changed my mind on one of the books I had planned to use. After looking through the student workbook, I realized that I did not have the answers to the worksheets. I could probably figure out what is right or wrong, but just in case, I don't want to have him think it is correct (plus I don't want all that extra work!). Since I decided to discard that book, I decided to not do any of the lessons suggested in the teachers book I have too. It's not really necessary for me to use these books. He will already be doing a writing program that covers what was in these other two books. I'll have to throw in some vocabulary and maybe some grammar, but that's no big deal. I'll probably just go into that when he writes out his lessons or posts things to his journal/blog.

My next project is getting his assignments written up and all the other paperwork done. Since we have decided to go with a weekly assignment chart for each individual subject, I have to figure out what I want him to do when. That's not really that big of a deal. I did it when I had all of the subjects on the same chart. My problem is, he has two algebra books and he suggested that he do both at the same time. I'm a little concerned that he'll be going over the same topic at the same time and get bored, but then again having him go over the same thing might be a good idea since he had such a hard time last year with algebra. I just have to figure out how to assign these two books so that he doesn't go into overload. I'm thinking of doing it "2 on 2". Do two days out of one book, then the next two out of the other then just start over again. What I have to do is figure out how many pages/chapters he'll have to do each day. Then I'll have to divide up his schedule so that he does each book on different days.

I'm kind of trying to go by a regular 6 week, 2 semester schedule. I don't want my son to be in the middle of a chapter or lesson, then have the next week or two off and have to come back to what he was doing. That would mean reviewing what he had been doing which would take time away from his new stuff. That's part of my problem in this scheduling. I want to try and stay on this type of schedule because I want him to get use to it so that when he goes to college, it won't be that new to him. But we are also flexible and as long as he gets what I want him to get done before the "next semester", then I'll be okay with it. My schedule though is a little bit weird. I have him on a 6 week, then one week off type thing. I decided to put a week break in there just to have a kind of "vacation". He won't actually be on vacation. It will be for him to work on other stuff, catch up on work he hasn't completed, watch instructional videos, etc. It'll be time for me to have him do projects that don't actually follow what he's suppose to be learning this year. But it will be more relaxed (as if we aren't already relaxed!).

I am going to make myself be more involved this year. Last year I was kind of ho-hum in my involvement (slacker was more like it). I started off the year by checking his work and making sure it was correct but after a while I quit doing it. It just became too much work and I just didn't have the energy to do it. I'm sure that his answers were not what they were suppose to be on his lessons but hopefully he actually learned something. If not, then I'm in trouble! EEK! I'll especially have to be on top of things when it comes to his writing. I'm suppose to go over his writing and make sure he's doing what the lesson says he's suppose to do. That will be hard for me because I have such a hard time comprehending anything and I'm finding that things are just not clicking as fast as they use to. I'm going to have to rely on my husband to check some of these things. Thank goodness for the internet. I can type in my sons writing and email it to my husband to read. He can give me his opinions and suggestions. A homeschool friend is doing the literature class using "Movies as Literature" so I won't have to worry about anything there. I may have to help him format his reports or essays or whatever he decides to do but she'll be the main person to help him with all that.

Most of his work now is just reading the information and then telling others in some format that he knows what he just read. He's pretty smart about some things but it's his mechanics that need work. He has a hard time articulating what he has to say. That he will be working on this next year not only in that literature class but also in his theater and chorus class. He's also going to be doing Y.A.G. which is "Youth and Government" through the YMCA. He'll have to get up and speak in front of other people and that will help him in that area.

I'm also looking at some type of grading system. I'm not really keen on grades but I think he needs some type of good/bad, pass/fail type of thing. I may look at percentages. This will not only let him know what he's doing wrong, but will help me to know where he needs help. I'm not so interested in the grades for his transcripts though. I've already covered transcripts in another post so I won't go into that here. It will be just another little helper for me to gauge where he's at and what he needs to do.

Oh did I mention that my son took the exit exam for the Texas TAKS test? He passed all of them except the math which was no big surprise. I was really proud of him (am proud of him!). That told me that he was on track with the public schools. Now we are just filling in the blanks where his schooling is concerned.

It will be a busy year but I think it will be one of the best.

Behind again but catching up!

I was really hoping that my son would be through with his school work by this time but he still has a few things left to do. He has three books to read. I have downloaded book studies for two of these books that I wanted him to do with them. Now I'm thinking that I will just have him read the books and have him write up his thoughts on the books. Now that's an idea. Have him read the books then write his thoughts on them into his blog. I can kill two birds with one stone so to speak. I've been wanting him to write stuff on his blog but didn't know what. What a great idea! I knew that if I starting writing about something, I'd come up with something else. I know that doesn't make sense. What is something? My old 11th grade English teacher used to get on to me about using the word "thing". She always asked what was that "thing". I still do the same "thing". lol!

But back to the school year. He has completed most of his school work. He's still working on the computer lessons but that isn't any big deal. Mostly it's the books. I am trying to get him to read more. I wasn't into reading at his age either. It wasn't until I got older that I started reading. Now that I am older still, I find that I can't keep my mind on my reading and end up losing interest in it. I have so many new books that I really want to read and finish but I just can't get into them like I use to. That makes me sad. But I'm getting off subject again.

We will beginning our new school year in a few weeks (Aug. 1st). I would really like to get these books read before then. I guess it's not a big deal except it will mean that he has extra work to do. Instead of concentrating on his new school year, he will have both years to do. I don't think he will care if reading these books will overlap into the new school year. He's pretty flexible about it. I guess I should ask him. I know he'll say to just let him skip reading the books (and before I have discarded some of the lessons) but I really want him to read them. I think it's important for him to read these books not just because they will improve his literary knowledge but it will help him in his reading ability.

It's partly my fault. I didn't make sure that he was on task. I got sidetracked again by other people in our lives when I shouldn't have. I should have been concentrating on him and his school and I didn't. Now I'm paying for that mistake.

I've been working on all the preparations for next year. I'm getting all the forms I'll need printed and filled out. Now I've got to sit down and start working on lesson plans. We both decided on a chart that is for each individual subject but covers the whole week. He'll have individual binders for each subject, so all he'll have to do is open that binder, and there's his chart showing what is to be done for that week. Each chart will cover 6-weeks so it will be easy to keep track of when the next break/grading period is. I really think this will be easier for him and me too. I will only have to just take the binder I need to look at and will be able to go right to the work that needs to be checked. Before I had to look through several pages in order to find what I was looking for. Plus the chart has lots of room for me to write his assignments. Most of the pages have separate columns for the books or materials we will be using, so I will be able to write in exactly what he is to do from just that book. He said last years assignment sheet was just too small. There wasn't enough room for me to write assignments in that didn't make it hard for him to read. I'm going to type in his assignments this year but I'm sure there will be times when I have to handwrite something in.

I've got all of his curriculum except Biology. I am planning on contacting the publisher of the textbook I want to use to find out info about accessing the website. The book itself looks pretty good but there is stuff for him to do on their "classroom" website that I want him to be able to do also. If that is only accessible to public school students, then I will have to find another book which I don't look forward to doing. He's not into science but I want this year to be more interesting than previously. He did mention that he'd rather be doing chemistry but I don't want to get into that until his 11th grade. I'm trying to stay along the same lines as the public schools when it comes to what they study when. I know last year I ventured away from that when he took Earth Science but it was one of the suggestions from another place. He is also doing Algebra I over again. Not because he "failed" it but because he didn't quite grasp it. I just feel that he needs more practice. If he zips through the Algebra and finally understands it, then we will move on to Geometry. He will have a lot to do this coming year but I don't think he'll mind too much. He won't be bored that's for sure! He will have several books to read along with doing the literature study called Movies as Literature. I think he'll like that class even if he doesn't care for some of the movies. Maybe after watching the movies, he'll want to read the book to find out what they left out! His history is just a continuation of the book we used last year. He said he didn't mind this book. We will add some other supplements to the course. Then there's Geography. I've got the Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide that I have been really trying to use since I first got it a couple of years ago. I am going to use the country study that's in it for this year. Then in 11th grade, I will use the history section to study U.S. history. I don't plan on buying an actual textbook for that. He's already learned so much U.S. history over the years that anything he does now is just a refresher. We can delve into a topic that piques his interest at anytime. I know he has an interest in wars...Civil War, WWI & II, Vietnam and quite possibly some that he has heard of but can't remember. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The UGTG has got a good country study section. He doesn't know the location of most countries (and I can't tell you the names of some of them since they have changed since I was in school). He will also be learning about manners and etiquette. He is kind of rude at times (what teenager isn't?) but he also needs to learn how to act in different situations so that mom isn't embarrassed! lol! He'll continue with his theater and chorus at Arts Fifth Avenue. He was so wonderful in the play he did and he has come so far in his socialization skills. I'm so proud of him. A friend is suppose to be starting a Y.A.G. group for our area and I think he'll really enjoy that too since he has mentioned becoming a lawyer (what happened to being a writer?). Y.A.G. is "Youth and Government" and it's sponsored by the YMCA. He'll be learning about all aspects of government and will get to use the house and senate at the state capital! Woohoo! He has also stated that he'd like to learn Italian now. What happened to Japanese? He said that Japanese is too hard although he still wants to learn it. Italian is fine by me. Maybe my friend Judy can help him with that. I'm not too good with learning a new language but having lived in Italy for 2 1/2 years, I can kind of understand some of the words. Once we get logged in to Rosette Stone through our library, he can study any language he wants. Just so he sticks with a language for longer than a few months. It would be more useful if he learned Spanish, but not necessary. He is also going to learning more about the computer. His dad brought home a CD on Visual Basic. I want him to also learn more about html and designing web pages. In this day and age almost everyone can make their own web page. I showed him how and where to past codes into his MySpace. He picked it up pretty easy but then it is pretty easy to post stuff to your MySpace. Designing a web page is different unless you use a premade page. So we will look into those two things. The Visual Basic may be something that he and his dad can do on the weekends. Only if his dad lets him do it instead of making him sit there and watch which is what he normally does (how did his dad ever become an instructor for the military??? lol!).

Well my computer keeps bringing up this pop-up window wanting me to restart my computer so the updates can go into affect. It's really starting to bug me so I guess I'll let it do it. I'll write more later on my progress with pre-school year preparations.

Are we done yet?

It's getting closer to the end of May. Almost all of my sons outside classes are done. He has one more theater/chorus class tomorrow and then the presentation on Friday, then he is all done. I will be glad though. I won't have to drive him all over the place (but I'll still have to drive my grown daughter to wherever she needs to go...sigh!). Now he can spend all his time on finishing up his studies. I guess the extras that I had planned can be done once he finishes all his regular book work. It's no big deal. He'll still be learning something even if it's not done in coordination with his textbooks. I wish he would do things a little more systematic, but he just isn't that type of kid. He does learn and he is smart. Maybe he's not Mr. Genius, but he is a smart kid. And he's turned into a normal kid. Something I never thought I'd see. It must be the blonde hair. lol! Anyway, his learning style is not what I had planned but if it fits him and it works, then I'm okay with that. You see, he doesn't like me to "interfere". He is quite happy doing all his work on his own without me "butting in". He's at an age now where he really doesn't need my help anyway and if he does have a question he comes and asks me or he looks it up. I plan on giving him the exit test for the Texas TAKS test once he finishes all his textbook work. Although he's only in 9th grade, if he does well on the TAKS test, then I'll know that he is up to standard according to the Texas Education Agency which I could care less about anyway, but it's one way to judge how well your child is doing. I do plan on taking what find out from this test and using it to plan my next years curriculum. Any gaps that I find will be filled and any subjects that he knows well enough, I can skip over. I'm trying to get him to think outside the box when it comes to outside activities (a professional baseball game, a visit to a gardening site, motor cross racing, etc.) so I need to start thinking outside the box when it comes to his curriculum (which in turn would get him to thinking outside the box too!). I need to be a little more forceful when it comes to getting him to do things that he doesn't want to do. I really feel that by doing stuff that may not interest you, can help you to learn about those things and also develop a little respect for the people who do those things for a living. For example, gardening and landscaping. You add math and science to the mix along with physical education. You develop a respect for the people who do this sort of thing for a living. It could also lead to a love of doing this sort of thing for yourself. Education is where you find it. You can get most of your education from books but you need to experience some of that education personally by doing things. Book learning is good and a person needs it, but if you only learn from a book, how can you experience life too?

Update on my son

My son seems to be feeling better. He still gets tired though which is to be expected. We haven't done much in the way of school work though. He went to his theater and chorus class yesterday and did fine. They sit mostly anyway so he didn't overdo it. Today he has a history class but it's just watching a video and he can either sit or lie on the floor to watch it. Tomorrow we are going to the zoo. I plan on getting a wheelchair for him. I don't want him to get too worn out. I figure by sitting in a wheelchair and having your mom push you around would give him a laugh. After all mom hasn't pushed him in a "stroller" since he was little. lol!

Found out about this driving program coming up in May. The kids learn about driving safety, drunk driving, what to look for in a used car, automobile safety tips and get the opportunity to learn and practice handling a car in emergency situations. They practice controlled skids and maneuvering out of a skid and hydroplaning. The class is taught by actual race car drivers. Now how cool is that? They do require the kids have either their driver's license or a valid learner's permit by the time of the class. So we will have to get him the driver's handbook so he can study for and take the test to get his permit. When I told my hubby about this class, he said he wanted to do it too. Too bad it's for 21 and younger. lol! I guess I should get over to the site and sign up for it before it's too late. We have about 2 1/2 mths to study for this, so that should be long enough for him to memorize the manual and pass the test. Don't you think? ha!

I found another algebra book. This one is called "Illustrated Effortless Algebra". I skimmed through the book and it seems to be very helpful. There are loads of illustrations that help explain the different formulas and equations. I think that I could even learn algebra from this book! I just hope it helps my son better understand what he is doing.

We are going to Scarborough Faire during school days. We will meet up with some other homeschoolers. We've been a few times in the past on regular days and really enjoyed ourselves. There aren't as many vendors during school days, but that's okay. The kids get a free coupon so we can come back again with hubby. I think it'll be fun for the kids. Someone suggested the teens dress up. I think that would be fun. If they do, I'll post pics here with the new digital camcorder/camera my hubby got me.

Next week it's back to work for my son. I didn't push him to do any school work this week. I figured he needed to just rest and relax. It was kind of like an early spring break for him even if we normally don't do spring break. I'm going to have to fix our school schedule since he'll be going past the time I had set for school to be over. Oh well, it's not like we haven't gone past our deadline before!

New classes, new help

My son began taking theater and chorus yesterday. He was only suppose to be taking theater, but his "girlfriend" is also taking chorus, so he decided to take it too. That's fine with me. If it takes spending time with the girl you like for him to take a class in something that he has already told me before he didn't want to take, then I'm all for it. The two classes are actually necessary for what this group is to do at the end of this "semester". The kids will be putting on a play as their final show. That's cool. As long as my son learns something and has fun, then it's all good.

After discussing my problem with Algebra, a friend told me to bring my son over to her house and she would help him with his Algebra. Never mind that her daughter is the girl my son likes. lol! Maybe though she will be able to help him enough to where he will understand the Algebra because I sure don't.

My son is also going to be taking some dance classes at the same place he takes theater. There is going to be a teen dance through the homeschool association I belong to and this place is offering the kids dance lessons. Pretty cool if you ask me. The music will be from the 40's all the way to now. I don't know what kind of dances they will be taught but any type of lessons are good. I never had dance lessons. I always copied what I saw on American Bandstand or from my friends. The one time I did take lessons, it was country and western dance and it was with my husband. Mostly it was for him because he didn't dance. He still doesn't dance. He wasn't very good at it and we just didn't "click" when we were dancing. I think I wanted to lead but really wanted him to lead me and he just didn't do that. Oh well, no one is perfect. I wouldn't mind taking some other types of dance lessons myself...salsa, swing, mambo, etc. I just like to dance. So hopefully these lessons will help my son with his dancing and he'll want to learn more. Who knows, maybe we'll have another dancer for "So You Think You Can Dance?"

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!

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!

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.