I totally agree with the girls in this video! i cant stnd wen ppl leave comntz i need a transl8r 4. (bad thing is, if I was still a teenager I could see my friends getting together and us doing a video like this)
Here is our entire year of learning literally mapped out. I am so excited about it I wish we could already start. Of course, that would mean not finishing our study about the Revolutionary War, and either taking our summer vacation, meaning having a big gap in our year, or not having a summer vacation. (not gonna happen)So, I will learn to act patiently.
....I have a new reason to be thankful for homeschooling. The Marshall County Board of Education has been operating in the red. We have FIVE school systems in our county. (Our county is not that big) So basically, all the tax money coming from anywhere in the city limits of any of our four cities goes to fund that city's schools. The county schools are thus left with hoping enough sales are generated at gas stations and junk stores located outside of "city areas". Well, guess what? Not enough sales = not enough tax revenues to keep the schools going. So it leaves the board with tough decisions to make. Like consolidating some of the schools. We had a lower than normal attendance at church Wednesday night because of a meeting that was set at Claysville Junior High School to talk about what happens when the school closes. Yep, our local school is going to be shut down. The kids will be bused to other schools. What is ridiculous is that if my children were still in public school, the would end up going to Brindlee Mountain. To get to Brindlee Mountain they would have to ride through downtown Guntersville, passing by where the Guntersville Elementary School is located. Considering the fact that the school bus already passes by here at 6:30 in the morning to get to a school less than five miles away, who knows what time they would have to load the buses to get to the other side of town. There are a lot of angry parents. I understand not wanting things to be like this. I also understand that budget cut backs that are beyond the systems control, as well as not being able to raise enough money are to blame. I do not know how many of the teachers at Claysville will be moved to other schools and how many will just lose their jobs. Schools need a major overhaul in how they operate. I am very thankful that I am able to homeschool. I am thankful that my children are exposed to wonderful books, art, music and (gulp) Bible studies. I am thankful that it is 7:36 and they are still in bed, rather than having to get them up before daylight. I am thankful they are learning in an environment that encourages them to be smart. (you would think schools would do this, but have you ever seen a school that glorified the "nerds" while sticking the athletes off to the side? ever seen one that would remodel the science lab even if it meant leaving the gym in less than perfect condition? me neither) I am thankful that I get to learn stuff right along with them. There is so much that I did not know about Revolutionary War. I did not know that women and children would often follow where the soldiers were going to battle. I had heard the phrase "taxation without representation is tyranny" but I never knew why the states were being taxed. I have already been looking at what we are going to do next year. We are going to learn about Egypt during the first few weeks. When I was younger I can remember in church hearing about Egypt being so important and being such a vast kingdom. But all I knew of Egypt was that it was a desert and had some giant pyramids. As an adult who started watching the history channel I learned more about Egypt than I ever did in school. My kids are going to learn what made it such a vast kingdom and how it is not all desert. They are going to learn about ancient China , India and the Americas. They are going to learn about early Greek and Roman life, with the understanding that this is the culture Christ was born in, these are the false gods that the first Christians were battling. I was taught mythology in third grade. I did not realize until I was an adult that the same stories I heard and thought were fairy-tales were the same false gods I was reading about in the Bible. (granted I am a little slow sometimes, I was born blonde) I am so thankful that my children are going to get an education that I never dreamed was possible when I was a child. And hey- they get to receive said education wearing pajamas, superhero costumes (including being dressed as Captain Underpants-sweatsuit with tighty-whiteys on the outside)long-johns, sweat pants or even (gasp!) regular clothes.
Why is it that my face breaks out? I am getting waaayy to old to be seen buying Clearasil. (actually I tend to buy stuff that says it is okay to use old skin. I just can't remember what it is) So anyway, I have a zit to decorate my face alongside my wrinkles. Right on my chin, near my mouth. Keep that in mind, it will make since later.
We were playing Apples to Apples <
the other night.
Since Samuel does not actually read well enough to play, we modify our game to allow him to be the judges over every round. Someone put down a card with the word "Warts" on it. He asked what a wart is. I told him, "A wart is a really gross thing that grows on your skin. It is all hard hard and looks icky. Some people say that you get them from a frog peeing on your skin, but that is not true. They really are super gross-looking." He looks at me so sweetly and says, "Looks like that happened by your mouth."
Out of the mouths of babes......
Oh me Oh my!! I have lost the cord to connect my camera to the computer! I have soooo many pictures that need to be put on the computer before the camera fills up. While we were studying about Mars Benjamin recreated the happy face crater in a bowl of ice cream, we built a salt dough model of Olympus Mons and erupted it, and we made aliens and UFOS. (okay, I admit, that last thing on the list wasn't very scientific, but it was really fun!!) We made a scale model of the solar system. The sun was a basketball. We could only space them out to Mars. If we kept going we would have had to have gone half a mile down the road!!! It is mind boggling to think that our solar system is so huge, yet in comparison to the whole known universe it is rather small!!! And God is so big that He created and controls it all!!!! We are studying about Jupiter now. We plan to make a tornado in a bottle to represent the stormy Great Red Spot. Of course I will take pictures of that, but who knows if I can get them to the computer.
We have also been having a blast learning about the Revolutionary War. We have a few books that we are reading and we are also taking advantage of the internet big time for this. I some kind of study unit where they have excerpts of letters from Abigail Adams written to John Adams. We read her telling him about the Battle of Bunker Hill. I cannot imagine witnessing a battle. Knowing that a good friend died in that battle and having to tell my husband about it would be horrible. I am sure she was a much stronger lady than I. She would have to be to just be able to survive during that time. We have been using Johnny Tremain as a read aloud. I had never read that book until we recently bought it. I have to say I really liked it. I wish that it ended happier, but then, it might lose some of the realism. I know it is fiction, but it feels so real. That might not make sense to some people, but it does in my head. I had planned to use My Brother Sam is Dead as our read aloud. Nathaniel read it a few years ago when he was in school because he could read it to get enough AR points not to have to read anything else during that six weeks. That book is utterly depressing!!! It had some parts I do not think Benjamin would have handled very well. Samuel may be the youngest, but Benjamin is the most sensitive.
We have been watching Liberty's Kids. The boys really got excited when we read about Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott and their midnight ride and then we watched that episode. One thing I like about LK is that even though it is a cartoon with some fictional characters , it sticks very close to the truth about the way that things happened.
Nathaniel made a lantern out of a soup can (yet another picture I cannot post!!:{ ARGH!!!) Benjamin and Samuel made bread. I think that we (I) take so many things for granted. During colonial days I would have never had the time to just sit down and blog. (or journal or whatever) Could you imagine having to bake your bread every day, using what you probably grew, threshed and ground yourself? Not only that, but also having to make you your own yeast?!?! Our bread took around 5-1/2 hours from start to finish. Not to mention the other things that would have had to have been done. Milk the cows, churn the butter, keep the fire going, (could you imagine having to cook on a fireplace year-round? It might be nice during a cold snap but what about in the summer???) Make all the clothes by hand, wash all the clothes by hand. Keep the garden going during the warm months then preserve foods so they would last during the cold months. Chop wood. Make candles. How did they ever find the time to revolt and defeat the strongest army in the world?? Half the time I can't seem to find enough time to get just the basic stuff done and I have a microwave, a washing machine and dryer, a dishwasher, food that I buy and do not have to cook. I even have paper plates!! I made the comment one day that I have an easy life and Mark looked at me like I was crazy. I didn't let it bother me. I get that look from him a lot!!!
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