Great TV Substitute

A bird feeder and bird bath right outside ones bedroom window is a great substitute for television.  We had an entire flock of cedar waxwings grace our yard this morning! (My daughters favorite bird.)

 My girl has been sitting there for a full thirty minutes watching birds like an episode of iCarly.   Much less drama with the cardinals and chickadees.

Thieves of Today

"Yesterday and Tomorrow are the Thieves of Today."

I read that on a church bulletin board while driving my son to his middle school youth group meeting last night and it has bounced around in my head ever since.

Goodness knows I know too many people who let yesterday steal their today.  They live with past regrets, or revel in the glory days...."Everything was better then!" or "I just can't forgive my self for what I did.  I'll never forget it."

I am guilty of letting tomorrow stealing my today.  I am always worrying about the next thing, trying to get two steps ahead and not focusing on the here and now.  Then that makes me worry about yesterday being lost because I was too busy in Tommorrowland.

Remember: Yesterday was once Today.  It was a today that was filled with the choices we made (bad, good or ugly) and then when it was done, we put it behind us.  Or, should I say, Time put it behind us.
It's never coming back, no matter how much we wish or obsess on it.

Tomorrow doesn't exist.  It's really nothing.

Today is here though.  Today I get to choose if it becomes a yesterday to smile over or regret.

I'm going for the smile option.

Comprehension Booster: "ABC Books"

I know what you are thinking...

"REALLY? ABC books?  And how old are your children?"

Just listen before you judge me.

We are making ABC books about George Washington this week, as we just studied the French-Indian War.

Divide several sheets of paper across the middle with a red line.  Or purple.  Or green.

Each section will be represented by one letter only.

The kids have to start with the letter 'A' and think of a word that starts with 'A' and relates to George Washington.  Then they have to write a few sentences about why they chose the word they chose.

Sounds simple, but wait till you get to 'E'.   Can you think of a word that relates to  George Washington that starts with 'E' off the top of your head?  I didn't think so.  If you did, post it in my comments. :D

We are working through the whole alphabet (yes, even X, Y and Z!) and making an illustrated cover.

Simple, yes.  Easy...not really!  It really had them searching through several history books and encyclopedias for a while and the information they encountered was just a bonus.

The Socko and Sally Show

 Guess what treat I had today? I was invited to the Socko and Sally Show!

 Emma was there too.  She's such a diva.

 Meet Sally...she's a sock with orange yarn hair.  She specializes in telling jokes.

 Meet Socko.  He's a...sock.  I think he lives in the Dirty Clothes Hamper.  His specialties are foreign accents and puns. 

My fellow audience...members of WWE.  I hope there is no smackdown during the show.



I hope you all have some equally awesome entertainment today. 

Patience, Grasshopper

Blogging is cathartic.  It is. 

Any of you who are personal friends of mine know of what's become known as the Great Carpet Debacle of 2012.  Where we were told we would have new carpet on the 13th of January. It's since been moved to the 25th.  And being the frugal folks we are, we opted to save money and move all our furniture and tear up the old carpet.

We did this on the 10th I believe.

This is how I have been existing since then:

 Here is our classroom.  Empty because its contents and the contents of 3 other bedrooms have been distributed all over the house.

 Dining room...

 Foyer....(the globe, lady bug house and books give us away.  Geeky homeschoolers.)

 Living room....

 Kitchen.....(I love the bb guns on top of the book shelf.)

 The dining room is now the dining room/ class room/ depository of toys, bookshelves and closet doors.

Forget "eat-in kitchen"...we have a "LIVE in kitchen"!


Some days I laugh about it.  Most days I want to cry.

The 25th can't get here fast enough.

Chinese New Year Unit Study

I don't know about you, but I love when there is a holiday!  So many ways to make school fun and interesting when there is a special day of celebration.  Monday will be Chinese New Year and we have a few fun activities planned. 

Reading this book will be a great starting point:

 It has so many interesting bits of information about the holiday and explanations of each custom.

Then, because it is also Math Fun Monday, we will read this:

Yes, it is actually set in India, but it is all about rice.  We will use a graph to graph the amounts of rice the main character accumulates throughout the story, and then predict how much will be accumulated at the end. 

There are some fun Chinese New Year lesson plans here:
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/activity/china-global-trek-activity

We will study all things China- pandas, art and architecture, government and more.

Making Chinese yo-yo's from here:
http://www.makingfriends.com/yoyo.htm

And if I am feeling froggy...we will attempt a dragon puppet from here: http://www.thatartistwoman.org/2009/01/how-to-make-chinese-dragon-puppet.html

And of course we will feast on some Chinese food courtesy of our favorite local Chinese restaurant.

What about you?  Any special plans for Chinese New Year?

Inspiration- A Homeschooling Mom's Sanity Saver

Nothing feels worse than being uninspired when teaching your kids.  Well...stepping on that tack strip on the floor with bare feet last night came close...but it's a terrible feeling to know that my kids need me to be the responsible adult and provide a quality education and all I want to do is just sit on the couch and sigh because the thought of doing one more workbook page is enough to make me want to scream.

Thankfully I am friends with a passel of the most creative and innovative homeschooling moms around.

My friend Sherrie over at http://childresshousehold.blogspot.com/  (check out her blog!)  has inspired me with her ideas of Fun School.  She has assigned a 'focus topic' for each day of the week to allow for self-directed learning.

So, based on her ideas, I have come up with our self-directed schedule:

Mondays will be Math Fun Mondays.  We will study a famous mathematician, or play math board games.  We will do hands on math projects from my Family Math book. 

Tuesdays will be Tell Me About....Tuesdays.  They can pick any topic they want and prepare a short presentation.  They can make a poster or craft project, write a paper or poem....but they have to present their findings to the family Tuesday evening.  Great public speaking practice!

Wednesdays will be Where in the World Wednesdays.  Grab an atlas, find a country or state, read up on it (National Geographic Kids is an awesome safe website for this!) and make a craft or project related to what you learned.

Thursdays will be Techie Thursdays.  I will prepare  a folder in my 'Favorites' column on the computer of approved websites and game sites.  They can spend an allotted amount of time on the computer learning.

Fridays will be Fine Arts Fridays.  This will be the day we learn about an artist or composer and study music and art.

What about you?  Where do you find your inspiration?