Thursday, October 7, 2010

My husband is off of work, so I'm sure you can guess where he is. At work. He took the kids to the Lego store this morning so we are doing our schoolwork in the afternoon. Luckily the boys got right to work proving they can handle a disruption on their schedule. If we're going to homeschool, at least we can take advantage of the flexibility in schedule.

Joel said school was depressing today because he had to make cards about extinct and endangered animals. It is actually quite sad. We learned the Carolina Parakeet, the only native parrot for N. America, is extinct.

We made a pocket to keep Joel's Endangered/ Extinct animal cards in his science notebook.

I have already burned through an ink cartridge. This will get expensive if I keep on this way! I try to print off everything with the hopes I can either resell my books or lend them to my sister-in-law or another homeschooler. I am going to try an experiment: placing the math sheet originals in a page protector and having them complete the problems with an overhead projector pen. Then I can grade it and erase and slip the new sheet in. This could either be a great idea or one that will challenge my flimsy grasp on sanity. We'll see!!

Page protector, overhead pen for "save paper" math experiment. Also, another binder ring flip book, this time with the "5" multiplication flashcards for Joel. It's easier to go through flash cards if they are on a binder ring. Have I mentioned how much I love them? I use them to save Christmas cards by year (punch holes in the top corner of the cards, you'll still be able to read the inside and everything!), and to make Christmas ornaments out of photos.

Wednesday October 6

My top six favorite things about homeschooling:
1. Later mornings, more relaxed days
2. No packing lunches
3. Using the Internet to instantly add to the learning experience
4. Seeing how my boys learn and appreciating their strengths while learning more about their weaknesses
5. How the subjects interconnect by coincidence
6. Teaching and learning again

My top six least favorite things about homeschooling:
1. In the house all the time
2. But no time to clean said house
3. Not exercising as much (and I have a half-marathon in less than a month!! Not good!!)
4. It has taken over my entire downstairs (yes, there is a copier on my kitchen table and an easel and filing cabinet in the dining room)
5. I spend over 8 hours a day doing homeschool and my brain is fried
6. My DVR is bursting at the seams

DAY 8 & 9

Oops... did not blog on Friday! We were happy to make it one full week. So far, so good. Jason did a science experiment on chemical reactions, and part of it was the reaction between vinegar and baking soda. Trying to be smart, I decided he should conduct that one in my kitchen disposal so it could be cleaned at the same time. Cleaning + Science= happy. (Maybe I will devise a homeschool science curriculum in which all the experiments/ projects involve something that directly helps with a household chore.) My camera decided not to work so no pictures were taken on Friday.

Today, my husband is off and was supposed to help Joel with his science experiment but due to helping a friend with a move to the beach that has gone awry, is still not home and thus the show had to go on. Luckily, Jason finished up early as is often the case since he never has any "Work with Mom" workboxes and can go so much quicker. So after I walked Joel through the stages of the scientific method, Jason helped him construct two gliders to test the effect of wing size and distance traveled.

Construcing the two gliders (different wing sizes)

Gliders plus chalk to mark landings

Measuring distance traveled