Back on June 5, 2012, my husband was trimming our trees and came across this momma bat with her three babies.
A Lasiurus Intermedius, or northern yellow bat, with her babies
It is illegal in Texas to attempt to relocate bats, so he put them back into one of our trees.
These are a prettier species than some of the other bats I've seen in our area.
Today, my husband found one of these pretty little bats in our driveway. Having appeared to have been caught and killed by one of our cats, questions were raised about rabies and how to handle this situation. The kids, having overheard our conversation, began their own investigations on the internet; so, I believe a lesson on bats (and rabies) is in order now.
I contacted our local Animal Control Center expecting them to pick up the bat and test it for rabies, but as it had not bitten anyone, they were less than concerned and directed us to simply throw it out in the trash. So, for the next 2 weeks, we will be keeping a sharp eye on our three cats for any sign of illness. Should the cats show signs of rabies and/or bite or scratch one of us, we will report to Animal Control and a rabies test will be done then, but we have strong doubts that these bats are infected with rabies as they have not been aggressive towards us or our animals in the past.
Next payday, we will be paying for a rabies shot for each of our beloved pets.
Sapling and I arranged a girls' night out - just the two of us.
She had spent the night before with her favorite cousin, and I picked her up from there and off we went.
We grabbed a bite to eat, followed it with the Finding Nemo flick in 3-D, and then wrapped things up with some yummy Cherry Berry. (We're already planning our next date.)
Meanwhile, at the casa, Wolfie spent his weekend with a couple of his cousins. These serious gamers veg-out in a sea of mattresses, blankets, and pillows sprawled all over the living room floor, playing each other in a Roblox world of their own on their must-have laptops. Life is good.
Oh my gosh! I just discovered the Scribd site and it's too much fun. It makes linking my self-created documents to this blog so much easier. PLUS! Free stuff is just fun - especially for us homeschoolers! Here is my recent creation: worksheets to aid in learning our states and their capitals. Enjoy!
Wolfie: working through his textbook: Mathematics: Concepts and Skills, McDougall Littell (current chapter formulating the area and perimeter of various shapes)
Drew: working from a workbook: Brighter Child: Math (current chapter focus is multiplication and division)
English:
Wolfie: working from worksheets (with the focus on parts of identifying speech)
Drew: working from a workbook: Spectrum Language Arts (currently focused on nouns (Common and Proper), and pronouns)
History:
For History we are completing the Liberty Kids video series (started last year). Once we finish this, we'll move on to America: The Story of US video series. We watch - then journal. (The videos keep their attention so much better than the textbook we originally started with.) I've also given them a handout of the US Presidents (and we watched this Animaniac's video which is kind of cool). We'll do some research papers and see what kind of information we retain.
Geography:
Keeping it general for now, the kids have handouts of our lovely states with capitals (and another video by the Animaniacs). If I can get them to memorize the states and capitals, I'll worry about the rest later.
Vocabulary: I compile our vocabulary lists, consisting of about 13-15 words, from recommended lists for each grade level that I find on the internet. They have a vocabulary assignment to complete everyday; this can be writing the word over and over (10 times each); writing the words with the the definitions; coming up with and writing their own sentences using their vocabulary words; and working a crossword or word search puzzle (created from a website I've found on the internet).
Reading:
This year, hoping to encourage the kids to read more (than they did last year), I have implemented a reward system: for every book they complete, they receive $5.00 (money is the only thing with influence 'round here). So, yesterday, Drew finished reading her first book, The Adventures of Tempest & Serena. Today, she follow-up this assignment with a written critique; and for now, Wolfie continues to read Zagwitz: The Thingummagadgeticianand journaling after each chapter.
Personal Journaling/Creative Writing:
Each of the kids get a writing prompt and then write a page or so regarding the topic (drawing a picture to go along with it is optional).
Art:
Our art projects vary from week to week right now. Until I get more of a curriculum together, but I'm not too worried as they are both super creative and interested in art (like their momma). ;)
Religion: I'll be working some movies and documentaries into their curriculum and we've had discussions. The plan is to give them some education and exposure to a variety of religious choices. Personally, I am not a religious person but appreciate the value it presents some people. I have my feelings, but it's my desire that my children follow their own hearts when electing whether or not to choose a religion and which one, rather than adopting my beliefs just because I'm the momma.
Physical Education: For now, they each spend 15 minutes on the elliptical machine. It doesn't sound like much, I know - but YOU GET IT ON IT! It's good exercise, believe me. In addition, I'll be supplementing with a yoga DVD I obtained from Connections Academy, as well as walks/runs around our block, riding bikes on the local bike path, camping trips (I'm SO excited camping - and big thanks to my mommy for donating her tent to us too!).
Supplements:
Everyday, the kids work a Sudoku puzzle (an idea my mother suggested, and the kids love). This helps with deductive reasoning and gets their brains ticking so they are ready to go when I get home. The kids also watch their Kahn Academy videos and work challenges when necessary.
Socialism (or maybe this is our "unschooling" experience):
Today, the opportunity arose to discuss behaviors and what is, or is not, appropriate. Specifically, Wolfie's cousin, Blade, and his parents, called me several times today (while we were doing our school work) and following the unanswered calls with a text message. I did not answer. (I knew they were hoping to come over (again) and using tutoring as their reason. I hate confrontations, and I hate feeling rude, and I hate being put in a situation I don't want to be in, such as; when I must put my foot down (tell someone, "no") and as a result everyone walks away a little embarrassed too. I really wanted to avoid feeling rude for telling him he could not come over during the week anymore. Blade is using the excuse that he needs help with his homework, but the last time (Monday) he had come over for tutoring, it really didn't appear that he needed much help; and it turned out to be more of another distraction for my kids than anything else. And, while I love Blade and I do want to help him, after a lot of thought, I've concluded that his parents need to be more responsible for this, not me. It wasn't easy for me to decide to pull my kids out of public school to homeschool - but when I did, I acknowledged the huge commitment I was taking on as well as everything it would involve with great respect, and because I would never want to do any disrespect to my kids by failing them in their education, I have decided that Blade is simply not going to be able to come over to do his school work here while we are doing our own school work.) So then, Blade and his parents pop over, without invite, to make their plea in person. <ugh> I sent Roy to deal with his sister and her family (I know, I'm a big chicken, but I'm really trying to save a relationship too, because every time I put my foot down with someone, it doesn't matter how nice I try to be about it - I'm rude). Hince, our socialism discussion. I used the opportunity to explain to my kids that, no matter how much they want to go over to the house of a friend or family member, if they are not answering the phone - DO NOT JUST SHOW UP AT THEIR HOUSE! It's rude.
We've only been back to our schooling a few weeks now but I'm so happy with how smoothly things are going and how much we have progressed in such a short period of time.
Wolfie has begun (again) Pre-Algebra. This week, we have been working on, not just calculating the area and perimeter of odd shapes, but understanding the formulas as well. (He has also touched (again) on exponents.) I want him to work again today calculating areas and perimeters and found this site that created a worksheet for us! Love it! HaHa, Wolfie's gonna love it too! ;)
Drew is beginning (again) on her division. We will continue to refresh on multiplication too. She worked a full page (about 20-25) of division problems from her workbook yesterday, within a reasonable amount of time and never once complained. We discussed several different methods which she can use to solve her division problems, and while I believe we'll stay focused on only this for at least another month or so, she already seems to be doing very well.
The motherboards on both of our laptops had gone out, so for the last few weeks we've been limping along with only their tablets and my computer at work; but last weekend we managed to afford one new laptop - now we must learn to juggle.
By the end of Summer, I was truly beginning to miss this quality time with them and so, I am so excited about getting back to schooling with them (the kids seem to be enjoying it as well)!
On a previous post, I'd mentioned that I had created some writing prompts (click on the link and you can print them too); yesterday, the kids dug in to draw out their first writing challenge. Wolfie's topic is "Write a story about a dinosaur that eats dandelions." This topic had occurred to me because I had recalled being in elementary and writing a story about this topic (which, at that time, was not assigned but born from my own silly imagination), and I remember it fondly. Drew's topic is "Pretend your brother has accidently shrunk you down to 1 inch! How do you feel and what do you do?" We taped their topic slips at the top of their writing pages and they got to spend the evening thinking of ideas to write for it today. I'm really going to enjoy seeing what they each come up with each week.
HA! Just made some multiplication/division worksheets for Drew too!!
In an effort to offer a curriculum that is somewhat equivalent to that of the public school system, I have purchased used textbooks as well as workbooks from our local bookstore. In my search for additional homeschooling help, I came across another resourceful blogger; the Five Jsblog is written by a fellow homeschooling mother who offers free advice and resourceful links. Specifically, I was initially searching for some grammar resources for my 14 year old son to aid in his curriculum and found a link to an online book that she'd found and shared on her site. I haven't finished going through everything myself, but at first glance I was excited and raced to my blog to share here as well. In addition, the English Grammer 101 site offers free online lessons to homeschoolers.
I will be assigning more reports and essays for Wolfie to complete this year, and found these sites about writing essays interesting and informative: Homeschooling High School and 7Sisters, .
Journaling is also incorporated into our studies; the children journal in Reading, they journal in History, and they have "personal" journaling too. After my son expressed his writer's block for his personal journaling, I created a list of 120 writing prompts; I printed them, cut them into individual slips, folded, and placed in a container (one for each child). On their creative writing day, each child draws a slip of paper from the container, and writes in their journal about the subject they drew.
For our math studies, we are supplementing with the video curriculum of Kahn Academy. Each child has a log-in code so we can track their progress through the Kahn studies accurately. In addition, Kahn Academy is offering Science, Computer Science, Finance & Economics, Humanities, and Test Prepping; I believe eventually we will tap into at least some of those topics too. I'm pleased with this site, and my son (last week) asked me if he could do the practice steps offered on the site, in conjunction with the videos, because he thought it might be more helpful. <I beam proudly>
I've created our own printable for a Daily Planner checklist (one for each child). It has helped the kids with completing all of their daily (independent) work/chores and once I get home after work it helps me to know and check each of their assignments so that we can delve right in to our work together. Last year, I simply kept up my own planner noting what we worked on for each day - but (I feel) this new checklist is as great as sliced bread (for us)! We still revise it as needed but it has definitely been an improvement in keeping us up-to-speed on our work.
We've incorporated the Sudoku puzzles into the kids independent studies which helps with deductive reasoning; plus! they enjoy them and it simply gets their brains "ticking" for me. I've included the following links for some free Sudoku printables: Krazy Dad, Sudoku, and Print Activities.
For yesterday's art lesson, we searched the web for information on Zen Gardens and talked about their significance, then we followed by creating our own Zen Garden.
I purchased a small school supply box for each of them.
I thought this clever because of the attached lid to help keep sand from being spilled all over the carpet.
I already had a bag of sand which I had purchased from our local Lowe's.
(We have chimineas around the house and I fill them with sand and the plant a candle into it to burn without getting the wax build-up on the bottom of the chiminea.)
The kids spread the sand with their make-shift "rakes" (aka plastic forks).
We planted rocks and small seashells into the sand gardens and then they began their sand art. We used this as an opportunity to discuss ephemeral art and how we should never become too obsessed with anything materialistic.
(Wolfie broke one of the prongs off for easier maneuvering around his rocks.)
All in all, a fun project with some wonderful lessons to discuss.
While investigating our homeschooling options and throughout my decision-making-process, I have repeatedly come across the "unschooling" option. After my initial research, my feeling about "unschooling" was disinterest and I brushed it off. Having had my own education through the "bricks and mortar" schools, and having had my three eldest sons graduate from the "bricks and mortar" schools (albeit, a couple of them by a hair's breadth and simply because of lack of interest, rebellion, and lack of accountability in the school), I wanted our homeschooling experience to be very scheduled in conjunction with a core curriculum reflective to that of the public school's. Homeschooling was not an easy decision to make; my biggest fear being that I would end up doing a disservice to my children; on the other hand, I felt by leaving my babies in our local public schools, I was already doing a disservice to them.
Two years ago, we took the "plunge" and never looked back. To this day, I cannot fathom even entertaining the idea of returning into our local school district. We began by entering into a public school affiliated program called Connections Academy (CA). Connections Academy has spread rapidly through the states, and ours was linked (at the time) to the Harris County school district. All of the CA classes are done at home and over the computer (which is provided by the school). It was a fantastic program, and the only beef I had was that the standards for progression were (still) rushing my children through their academics too fast. Consequently, having dipped my toes slowly into the homeschooling pool, we left CA to dive right into the homeschooling pool; by this, I mean to say that we continue to work from textbooks (previously used in the bricks and mortar schools) but we work at our own pace.
Today, I had a new spark of interest regarding the "unschooling" experience; so, I researched, and I find that unschooling is to allow a child-led interest-driven learning, or to allow the child to learn through their own natural life experiences. <hmmmm> In this rite, what child isn't unschooled to some extent? I'm supposing that there are parents who "unschool" their children exclusively...?
