2 to School

Hello Blog

2012-02-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

Long time, no updates! That doesn't mean we haven't been busy with our school life. 2012 marks our 7th year of home schooling. Wow time flies when you're watching your kids grow up.
This past weekend was the kid's piano recitals.
Finn played Somewhere in my memory(Home Alone theme) by Williams.

Chance played Impromptu,Op 90 No 2 by Schubert.

Water Fun

2010-05-25T06:43:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a fantastic field trip to a local "camp" where the kids learned to canoe. They did really well for their first time in a boat.

After the canoeing they moved on to catching critters in the pond. Eldest son's big catch was a baby turtle.

Youngest son had fun catching tadpoles.

But I think he had a better time swimming.

End of the Year

2010-05-06T05:35:00.000-07:00

We made it through another school year. We "officially" completed third and seventh grades. Yippee!!
The kids are just a little bit excited about not having to do school work for a while and reading whatever books they want from sunrise to sunset.

Recital time

2010-02-11T06:29:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday the kids had their piano recital. It was held in a beautiful church about a half an hour away.

Chance played Rondo OP 51 No 1 by Beethoven.

Finn played Morning Has Broken.

After the recital we took the kids out for ice cream to celebrate their hard work.

Halfway Mark

2009-12-12T06:37:00.000-08:00

Here in Northern Illinois, we had a beautiful snowfall that the kids(and dogs) enjoyed.

This week we completed week 18 of our school year. Exactly halfway through the year. We are taking a break until January. We all need a little down time especially during the last few weeks of December.
Now the kids are starting to see the benefits of starting so early in August.

Here is a recent photo of a chemistry experiment in progress.
He was observing how different metals produce different colors of light when they are heated.

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Real World Math

2009-11-04T06:49:00.000-08:00

I have many a mornings when Algebra seems way too difficult. My 7th grader comes to me with a blank expression and looks to me for help. We work through it together and he still has a blank look and I get more confused and wonder how the heck I made it through Jr. High math. We started working through a Real World Algebra book last week. It's not making things any clearer!

Example problem:
Larry had the same number of nickels and dimes in his left pocket. In his right pocket, he had an equal number of quarters and half-dollars. When Larry counted all the nickels and half-dollars, it totaled $16.35. When he counted the dimes and quarters, it totaled $10.20. How many quarters does Larry have?

Fall Poetry

2009-10-25T14:50:00.000-07:00

Last week was our Fall Poetry reading at The House Cafe with our home school group.

The kids did a great job with their respective poems.

Here's Finn reciting "The Land of Nod" by Robert Louis Stevenson.
(Click the picture below to open the video file)

Here's Chance with a poem from Edgar Allan Poe.
(Click the picture below to open the video file)

Beagle Approved

2009-09-09T14:56:00.001-07:00

No Textbook?

2009-09-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

Last year my 7 y.o. struggled through an Astronomy textbook for his science curriculum. He complained it was so boring with not enough fun stuff to do. This year I picked out a curriculum that doesn't have any textbook. The way you teach the subject(in our case Chemistry) is through doing labs. He couldn't be happier. Yesterday he went through the first 10 elements "building" each with marshmallows.

His brother loves all books(textbooks included) so he filled us in on all the details of each element with a read aloud as we built each marshmallow atom.
We are only 4 weeks into our new school year and I haven't heard him say his science is boring so I hope that continues.

A New School Year

2009-08-06T11:39:00.001-07:00

The first week of August is here and we have embarked upon another school year. I don't think we are ready to spend the entire day inside quite yet. But with vacations planned for the near future I decided to start some schoolwork despite their protests.

Our new furry family member,Eleanor the beagle, fully approves of the home schooling.

Making a Mess

2008-12-05T18:13:00.000-08:00

We had a purpose for our mess yesterday-to make Swamp Gunk.

I used to make this at least every 6 months with my eldest son.
I buy the white glue at back to school time for 10 cents a bottle so it costs next to nothing to amaze your kids. Try it, it's not as messy as the name suggests.

Solution A:
1 Cup water
1 Cup white glue
7 drops of food coloring

Solution B:
1-1/3 Cup warm water
4 tsp. borax laundry booster

How to mix it:
1. Mix ingredients in Solution A together in a medium bowl.
2. In a second bowl mix the ingredients in Solution B together until the borax is completely dissolved.
3. Slowly pour Solution A into Solution B. DO NOT MIX!
4. Roll Solution A around in Solution B 4 to 5 times.
5. Lift Solution A out of Solution B and knead for 2 to 3 minutes.
6. Store in an airtight container when finished playing with it.

Field Trips Rock!

2008-09-09T06:13:00.000-07:00

Every field trip is an opportunity for learning. Last week I took the boys up to the WI sheep and wool festival. The U of WI animal science department had a ewe that gave birth to 2 lambs while we were visiting.

I thought it was fantastic. My eldest almost passed out!
There were only a handful of sheep present on Friday. After driving 5 hours round trip the kid's agreed it was a really long drive to see a few sheep.

A New School Year

2008-08-15T05:10:00.000-07:00

The kid's had such a busy summer it was hard to believe we had to start up another school year so soon.
They both had great baseball seasons which lasted from May through July.

They enjoyed a 2 week theater camp the first part of June and ended the weeks with performances for the parents.

Chance was a pigeon from New York City and Finn was a violin playing pig.
They kept up on their piano lessons too. It's so nice to have music in the house.
Then in July we ventured to my alma mater and they had a week of kid's camp up at Cornell. Chance studied cooking and Finn had fun learning about birds and bugs. Besides these "classes" they visited several Ithaca locations like Treman State Park, Stewart Park, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, The Cornell Dairy Bar and The Science Center. They had such a good time they'd like to do this camp every year.
Chance completed another belt in tae kwon do during July and has 6 months before he can test for his black belt.

Chance has a new responsibility too. A new puppy came into our house at the end of July. Baxter adores him!

This week we ventured over to Brookfield zoo with a homeschool group. The kids had a good time.

Zoos are not my favorite places to visit as most of the animals look sad and unhappy to be behind bars. It gives the kids an opportunity to see and learn about animals from all over the world so I'm glad I took them.

This year we're studying Medieval History together then they're studying separately for the other subjects. In science this year Finn is learning about Astronomy while Chance is studying Chemistry, Physics, and Biology. You'll always find them together on Friday(our experiment day) as they both enjoy experiments regardless of the "grade" level. In Math Chance has started Pre-Algebra and really likes it so far.
They both have English, spelling, handwriting, and geography too. It's no surprise our days are flying by!
We're off to a great school year.

A busy week.

2008-02-18T08:55:00.000-08:00

Last week was the busiest week of our school year thus far. We started out on Friday with history night with the HOUSE home school group. The kids worked throughout the week putting together a presentation on codes and ciphers to share with the group. I let them put it all together and was very surprised by how well they did all on their own.
(Dad helped with the computer printouts for the poster.Thanks Dad!!)

Next up on Sunday was their first piano recital. They both did a great job. There were about 46 kids performing at the recital so they were able to hear a variety of levels which was great.

This year I decided to start both kids off following the classical model of education outlined in the book "The Well Trained Mind". It's been going along great with both learning the same content but at different levels. We're starting week 25 of what I hope to be a 36 week "school" year. Last Tuesday we visited an open house of Classical Conversations. The kids each spent the day in their respective "classrooms". My 6 year old absolutely loved all the memorization, songs, and map work. With this year going along so well why would I want to change up our schedule? I would have to change our system so we'd be on a 3 year rotation instead of my current 4 year cycle. This year we're in ancient history and next year instead of covering medieval history as planned they would have to switch to American history to "fit in" with this group. I sometimes feel the kids need more acountability for their work and somehow I feel this group may be what we need.
My poor husband has been very patient with me as I consider next year's plan and it's only FEBRUARY! I can't help it. The education of my kids are extremely important to me. It's all up to me now so I can't rely on anyone else to make sure they "graduate" into well educated and well rounded individuals.
Thursday was Valentine's Day. We met up with about 40 kids to exchange valentine's, eat cupcakes, and let the kids work some energy out. We had a great time. It's always nice to hear that other parents go through exactly the same struggles in parenting and schooling that I experience.
On Friday we met up with a Mom(and her two kids) whom I "met" through an online knitting group. We sat, talked, and knit while the kids played games. We had a nice lunch and hope to meet up with even more home schooling knitters in the future!
All those social obligations in one week wore me out so this week looks to be much quieter.

December Happenings

2007-12-25T08:09:00.001-08:00

December was a bit crazy. The kids were busy with school work, piano lessons, trips to the Opera House and a super cool trip to Chicago mid month.

Here they are at the Museum of Science and Industry.

The museum had a special Star Wars exhibit. It was neat to see costumes and props from all six movies. One of the Christmas trees on display was all decked out in a Star Wars theme, including the tree topper.

We hope all of you have a great Christmas and much happiness in 2008!!

Keeping Busy

2007-11-06T16:58:00.001-08:00

We've been really busy during the past month. We joined both home school groups in our town so there have been endless opportunities for field trips. I enjoy the families we've met in the group we joined with last year but they aren't getting together to do many field trips which the kids enjoy. The new group is very organized with several "volunteers" putting together field trip opportunities. Last week we headed to Chicago's Art Institute. The kids headed off in different directions on a docent-guided tour of the museum. Finn saw different pieces with animals in art. Chance's group tried to tell the stories from different art works. The Art Institute has so many famous paintings in their permanent collection. Here is Chance's group analyzing "American Gothic" by Grant Wood.....

We viewed several paintings by Monet, works by Seraut, van Gogh, Gauguin, and Picasso. Seeing these famous works up close is always impressive no matter how many times I've seen them. The kids were bummed the armor collection had been taken out and won't return until 2009. They still had a great day and it was a perfect, sunny, Fall day in Chicago.

Later this month we're headed to the Museum of Science and Industry with a group trip again. We were able to get in for free and a special Star Wars Exhibit normally $21 per person is only $5. I couldn't pass this one up. We'll be re-watching some of the Star Wars films in the next couple of weeks to "prepare". I doubt the kids will mind this.

They both seem to be learning a lot of music theory along with their piano lessons. Finn is enjoying learning the staff notes and Chance is flying through his books. Chance is picking out Christmas music books at the end of this week so he can start learning some festive tunes for December.

Chance is now a blue belt in Tae Kwon Do after testing at the beginning of October.

School work is cruising along. We're almost through our third month of first and fifth grade work. I have them learning Ancient History and Biology together. They enjoy listening in on one another's respective work. I think it really helps to reinforce what they are learning too. Chance is reading aloud a historical fiction book,"Mara daughter of the Nile"by McGraw. It's perfect timing as last week in history we covered the rule of Queen Hatshepsut.
It's so nice to have both kids reading now. We always have at least one read-a-loud going. Last week we listened to "When Santa Fell to Earth" by Cornelia Funke and finished up "Ella Enchanted" by Levine. Yesterday we finished up "Mr. Poppers Penguins" by Atwater. They're always surprised when they end up liking a classic.Today we started Marley(An adapted version of Marley & Me for younger readers).

Happy 6th!

2007-10-15T06:27:00.001-07:00

11 years ago

2007-10-03T10:14:00.001-07:00

Wow it's something how fast the years fly by.
Chance turned 11 yesterday.

He said he had the best birthday ever. His grandparents came into town to celebrate with him. They took him to Medieval Times as a birthday gift. They had a great time and even dressed in costume.

History up close

2007-09-13T18:57:00.001-07:00

We headed to the East coast to see some history. We ventured to Boston by way of Washington D.C. We only had a few hours but the kids were able to touch the Washington monument, see the WWII and the Vietnam War memorials and the Lincoln memorial.

Boston was fabulous. They have a great public transportation system and tons to see. We purchased a 5 day pass and it paid for itself in the first day. We took a tall ship cruise and a whale watch cruise. We went on a "duck" tour and a trolley tour. We went on boat rides to see the harbor and the Charles River.

We traveled along the freedom trail on a guided tour. We were able to visit the Science Museum, the Children's museum and the Aquarium.
They have tons of great parks. Here is Finn at the "frog pond".

The kids already asked to come back next year.

California Dreaming

2007-09-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

The kids had a great time with Dad in California last week. Here's Chance after one of his surfing lessons.

The surf school didn't work out so well but it was neat to have him try something he's only seen in the movies.

They hung out at the beach everyday but Wednesday. That day they headed to Disneyland and the Disney Adventure Park with their cousin and Uncle.

They are a couple of kids on the go as we leave for Washington D.C. and Boston tomorrow for another week away from home. They're really enjoying the not so strict schedule of home schooling.

We're back

2007-08-19T18:55:00.000-07:00

We're starting our third week of school tomorrow. It was a little hard to start so far ahead of the public school kids but we have three weeks of vacations starting next week so I didn't want to get too far behind.

The kids were asking to get back to school work so it has gone relatively smoothly. It is a bit more work this year with my youngest starting first grade curriculum. The eldest has struggled with his math but by the end of this week we should be right back where we left off before summer break. He's already asked me to continue math throughout the summer for next year so he doesn't forget so much.
I've added an art curriculum for this year. Here's Finn shading in shapes with charcoal...

Chance advanced to a high green belt in Taekwondo a couple of weeks ago and he really enjoys going four days a week.
They're both signed up for piano lessons for the Fall semester and these will start up in September.
Next week the kids and husband are off to spend time with Gramma in California. Chance is taking surfing lessons all week. This is his first try at surfing so it should be interesting. Hopefully the weather cooperates!

This one time at band camp....

2007-08-02T19:09:00.000-07:00

Ok it's not band camp but River Camp. My oldest has been spending the week learning about our local river by getting in it. His last day is tomorrow and he's already asking about going next year. I guess he really likes it eh?

My little reader

2007-07-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

It's been all about Harry the last couple of days. Earlier in the month Chance entered an essay contest at the local library to win a copy of the newest book. He found out Thursday that he won so he was very excited. Today at Noon he picked up his book.

Last night at 12:01am Chris bought a copy for himself so they've been reading all day. Chance will probably finish it up tomorrow as he's already halfway through it.
I have yet to start the first book in the series. I've been reading through Looking for God in Harry Potter by John Granger. "He tries to prove that Harry Potter is a Christian story with Christian themes, symbols, and messages. He also believes the Harry Potter books can both help current Christians reinforce their beliefs and perhaps lead non-Christians to Christianity by laying the groundwork for acceptance of Christian doctrines." Pretty interesting point of view,eh?

Summer fun

2007-07-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

Wow the summer is flying by. The kids finished up their theater camp with two performances for family and friends. My parents were passing through on their way home from a trip to Canada just in time to see their shows.

Finn was a red fish and Chance was a kid. They both practiced really hard and did fantastic for their first times on stage.

They've been enjoying swimming in the pool as the weather has been extremely HOT. The hot temps have helped warm the water. Today the water temperature was 88. Finn has really improved his swimming skills this summer as he now can keep up with Chance and Dad swimming laps and jumping in the deep end.
Last week was our annual trip to the Taste of Chicago.

Chicago sure is beautiful in the summer.
Chance started piano lessons a couple of weeks ago and he seems to be enjoying it. He's completed 40 hours of summer reading and still going. He loves to read! He's looking forward to getting his hands on the last Harry Potter book when it comes out the 21st.

It's a shiner!

2007-06-19T10:58:00.001-07:00

Today they learned about stage makeup at theater camp. Finn volunteered his left eye to be made up. I was relieved to learn it was only makeup when I picked him up. They're having a blast learning their lines, dance routines, and songs for this Friday's big performance for friends and families.

A bit overscheduled

2007-06-13T05:43:00.001-07:00

We've done anything but slow down since school ended. We haven't completely stopped school type activities though. Chance has completed over 16 hours of his summer library reading program and they're both working through a few workbooks over our short summer break.
With both kids in baseball we're guaranteed at least 4 days of games and practices for this one activity. Here they are in their baseball outfits. This is Chance's fifth year playing ball through the park district. He likes to pitch and play first base.

This is Finn's first try at playing baseball. Everyone is learning to catch, throw, and hit so it's a perfect fit for him.

They are both currently attending a theater camp for the next two weeks at NIU. By the 10th day they will be having a stage production complete with singing and dancing. They love learning about all the behind the scene activites involved with putting on a show. Yesterday they learned a little bit about stage combat which they both thought was really cool.

Chance advanced to green belt in taekwondo on June 1st. Here is a short 20 second video clip of him breaking boards. He had to break three boards with one front snap kick. He surprised himself that he was able to break all three on his first attempt.

We did it

2007-05-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

We finished our school year today. I was looking over all the work and subjects we've covered over the past 36 weeks and I can't believe we were able to cover so much ground .
Finn learned to read, which was his major goal by the end of this year. He learned skills such as and telling time and can tie his own shoes. He finished a writing workbook and completed his first Math text . As I've been looking toward the next year's curriculum I realized he's ready to start first grade work in the Fall. This surprised him last night when I announced that he's been doing Kindergarten work this year not preschool work. He's ready for science, history, and language arts in the fall.

It's been such a blessing to have Chance at home learning this year. He was able to catch up and plow ahead in his Math studies finishing almost three Math texts. At the end of third grade he stated he would never be able to learn math because he just didn't get it. Over the past 36 weeks he's studied World History from 4000 B.C. to 1990 A.D. In Science he started with light and color, moved on to astronomy, then to electricity and magnetism, and finished up the year with a study of the microscope. He studied and mapped all 7 continents and created a US geography notebook with a state fact sheet and a map for each US state. Probably his weakest area was language arts but he managed to put a book of poetry together, do 7 book studies, put together a book of his family and research the state of Illinois. This week he created a newsletter with his likes/dislikes from his first home school year. He read over 50 books on his own and loved having this "free reading" time. He also completed his first year of Spanish. One more year of Spanish and he's free to study another language of his choice(right now he wants to learn French).
They both were in gymnastics, Finn took swimming lessons the whole year, Chance started taekwondo 4 months ago and plans to continue throughout this coming year. They both started baseball teams through the park district a few weeks ago and games start up next week.
We were also able to take in about 10 local plays/productions that we all enjoyed.
We're looking forward to the lazy days of summer laying around reading and enjoying our pool.

Roller blading

2007-05-22T05:16:00.000-07:00

It's officially here. Our last week of the current school year. Yes, we are all ready for a short break. Last week Chance spent some of the money he has been saving to buy roller blades. Here he is headed down a local nature trail close to our house.

It's amazing what this child can accomplish when he decides to do something. If only he had that same enthusiasm for his English/language arts studies.

Spring training

2007-05-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, Finn had his party to celebrate his reading accomplishment.

Both kids started baseball during the past couple of weeks. Finn is in the beginning t ball league and it's Chance's fifth year playing baseball. He surprised himself by how well he did during a trip to the batting cages.

Next week is our last week for official school studies and Chance is looking forward to even more leisure reading time. We hope the weather cooperates and summer is sunny and warm so we can spend lots of time outside the next couple of months!

Another reader!

2007-05-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

Finn completed his reading program yesterday. He's very proud of himself. We're having a celebration of this fantastic accomplishment on Saturday with cake and ice cream.

2007-04-27T06:35:00.000-07:00

Last weekend it actually felt like spring around here. Friday it was so beautiful the kids and I headed to a local lake to hike and enjoy a picnic.

Later in the day the local home school group held a poetry reading. Chance memorized and recited three poems. Finn got up in front of the group and recited a poem about a turtle.(I had a video clip to share but the computer has other plans).

On Sunday we headed to Fermilab. They were celebrating their 20th year of their Wonders of Science show. They featured physics and chemistry demonstrations. Have you ever wondered what would happen if you put a light bulb or a CD in a microwave? Well now we know. They both glow!

Here's Chance displaying a t shirt they handed out to all the kids in attendance.

A new color

2007-04-18T18:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a short video of Chance's latest TaeKwonDo testing last Friday night.

About 6 weeks

2007-03-31T16:46:00.000-07:00

That's how much more school work we "officially" have left in this school year. Our first year of home schooling has flown by. We started a book study in World Geography last week with Around the World in 80 days. The kids seem to like mapping out his route as we read the book. Chance is already on Chapter 8 of his third Math text book this year. This from a child who struggled with multiplication throughout the entire previous school year. Proof enough for me that one on one instruction has been great for him. After months of pestering me about teaching him to knit I finally got around to it. He loves it and even went to a knit event at the library last week. In a couple of weeks he tests in Tae Kwon Do to advance to another belt as well.

Finn has completed four levels in hooked on phonics and has one more box to get through before he finishes. He's so excited to be able to read all the step 1 beginning to read books at the bookstore all by himself. He also progressed to the highest level in his swim classes this past week.

We attended a few musicals in the past few weeks. The first was a local production of Disney's High School Musical. The kids loved the dancing and singing.
This past week we drove down to Sandwich to see School House Rock Live. The actors did a great job.
Next week Chance is attending a full day at a survival skills camp for home school outdoor education day. Just being outdoors will be a nice break.
I'm busy checking out summer camps. Chance is signing up for a week up at the forest preserve called Rockin’ in the River. They spend the week studying, playing, and becoming Kishwaukee River experts by the end of the week.
He's interested in attending a week camp at Cornell studying architecture. This requires a bit more planning but we love Ithaca in the summer so any excuse to go would be fine with us.

A long ride.

2007-03-10T14:31:00.000-08:00

We made it! Eleven days ago we headed on an Amtrak train to visit with Grandma and Grandpa. 1300 miles and 34 hours later we arrived in San Antonio,TX.

The kids had a great time hanging out in the lounge car playing games and seeing the countryside. After seeing The Alamo and walking the Riverwalk we headed to the shore in Port Aransas. The weather cooperated with highs in the 70's. We spent hours on the beach flying kites and building sand castles.

We pulled into Chicago yesterday afternoon and the weather matched our mood. It was cold, rainy, and gloomy. We were tired and looking forward to a hot shower and a good nights sleep. We're glad to be back home but could have easily spent the rest of the month enjoying the warm Gulf breezes.

Time Flies

2007-02-17T17:26:00.000-08:00

Sometimes(almost always) the days fly by and I forget to update here. The past week has been a busy one. We headed to Chicago not once but twice this past week. A week ago we headed to a Conservatory. See post here. We all enjoyed seeing the tropical plants and trees and hope to go back on a day that's less crazy.
Then on Monday we headed to our annual trip to the Auto Show. The kids loved climbing in and out of all the cars.
Chance's favorite was a PT Cruiser-"Pacific Coast Highway" special edition equipped with a surf board rack on top.

Monday night a snowstorm moved in and Chris took a "snow day" on Tuesday because the roads were such a mess. The kids were excited to have a substitute teacher for the day.
Wednesday we met up with our home school group at a local bowling alley. The kid's each made cute "mailboxes" this year.

We were a bit a disappointed by how disorganized the valentine exchange was and the kids never got to finish their game of bowling. Sometimes(almost always) we have a better time on our own than trying to do group activities. Hey you never know how it's going to be until you try it right?

I signed both kids up for summer baseball this past week. Finn will be trying out t ball for the first time. This is Chance's fourth year playing baseball. I think
he's more excited to help Finn with his skills than starting up a new season for himself. Finn is doing awesome with his swimming and the coach wants to move him to the highest level available for preschool level. He loves gymnastics as well and it's helping with his coordination quite a bit. Chance is attending taekwondo four times a week and really likes it.

We're all looking forward to our first home school conference this coming Friday and Saturday as "official" home schoolers. (Last year I attended by myself even though the kids were both in public school.) I hope the kids have a good time as they were able to get into all the workshops I signed them up for. They have everything from art and music to science shows on their agenda. Chris is looking forward to a seminar on cheap travel as he really wants to travel to Europe in the near future.

The kids and I leave for South Texas via Amtrak a week from Monday. They are VERY excited.

Cold but fun

2007-02-03T06:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we headed up to a morning program with our home school group at the forest preserve. It was windy and 3 degress but they learned a bunch. The kids headed off to separate groups to learn about geology. The youngest was in heaven as he loves rocks. He got to sort rocks(learn about classification). He learned how sedimentary rock is formed by using grahm crakers, chocolate pudding, and sprinkles. Here he is enjoying his creation.

The eldest was disappointed with his group. They were disruptive and consumed so much of the instructor's time they never had time for their "glacier" experiment. When we met up at the end he declared, "they were just as bad as the old public school kids".

I stopped at the sledding hill before we left but it was so cold they only lasted about 20 minutes.

Last night Chance tested in Taekwondo to advance a belt color. I was at a home school meeting but Dad videotaped the event and I watched it when I got home. He passed and he even got to break a board with his fist while Dad held the board. He was just a bit exited this morning about the whole event.

Watch his test below, (just click on the arrow button in the center of the box).

Searching for a Passion

2007-01-29T18:20:00.000-08:00

One of the things that I feel is challenging in our home schooling is exposing the kids to "extra"curricular activities. I can cover all the basics like writing, math, and science but what about everything else? In school they have art, music and phys ed. In these classes they discover what they really like or don't like about these "extra" subjects. Chance picked gymnastics for the Fall semester and really liked it but when it got time to sign up for this semester he asked me not to sign him up again. This is fine with me. I would rather have him engaged in an extra activity that he likes than struggling to get him to attend. He wanted to try out Taekwondo. Here he is at his first class:

So far so good. It's unlimited classes and he's wanting to go at least four days a week.
Finn loves his swimming and gymnastics classes. He's all set for this semester.

This semester I arranged both classes on the same day so we can make one trip for both. He can swim the length of the pool without help which is fantastic. A year ago he didn't want to put his face in the water so he's come a long way in a year.
It is winter weather here in Illinois and the kids were waiting for another snow so we could head out to go sledding again. Last week I took the kids to the sledding hill. It was a bit icy but we had the hill to ourselves and the kids and I had fun racing each other down the hill.

Roadtrip!

2007-01-09T11:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we met up with my Aunt who was in Madison, WI for business. Our first stop was the Madison Children's museum. The good news-it was empty and we had the place to ourselves. The bad news-there wasn't much for a child over 5 years old to do. We've been spoiled by the museums in the Chicagoland area that offer activities for all ages of children. The kid's didn't mind and we were able to spend a couple of hours out of the cold.

Next, we went over to the UW Geology Museum.

We were amazed by the exhibits here. We followed a self tour with a brochure at the start of the exhibit. The biggest hit was the museum's black light display with the fluorescent rocks. There was even a window to a lab where students were working on uncovering dinosaur fossils. Finn loved the full sized skeletons in the vertebrate room.

Next we headed to the on campus dairy production facility. They have a huge observation window on the second floor where the kid's could look down on the production floor and observe how milk is turned into ice cream or cheese.

We also visited the free Henry Vilas Zoo. We only had a short time to make it through a few of the buildings before they closed. They enjoyed seeing the polar bears, penguins, otters, and the animals of the rainforest exhibit.
My Aunt arrived in town about 6pm and treated us to dinner. We got back home after midnight and I'm exhausted today but we had a blast.

A nice break

2007-01-02T10:18:00.000-08:00

We're starting back up today after taking a week on a break. The kid's enjoyed spending time with Dad who also took a week off of work. The weather decided not to cooperate with their plans of sledding everyday.
Dad helped the kids decorate cookies for Santa.

Christmas was nice and relaxing as we spent another year at home not traveling anywhere.
New Year's eve the kid's had a blast mixing up mocktails and watching the ball drop in New York.
Gymnastics and swim classes are on break this week so it's a week of getting back to our studies. Chance was eager to start this morning and see what I had planned for this week.

A Few Days to Go

2006-12-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

You've heard the saying, one step forward, two steps back. The past month has felt like a backwards glide. Chance has built this obstinate wall and I've been trying to break through it. He's had a negative attitude toward just about every subject we've tried to tackle. If he doesn't already know something he's not willing to learn it. Have you heard 10 is the new 15 according to MSN.
What happened to the nice, sweet child I've known the past 9 years? He's been home for 7 months and it's been quite an adjustment. Most days the kids act as if they absolutely hate one another. I still say it was the best decision of the year. I just wish I had pulled him out of public school years ago.
This month has been the hardest so far. With so much "other" stuff to get done school has been very stressful. Each Sunday afternoon I scheduled our school work for the coming week. I'm glad I stuck with this plan or I'm certain we would have ventured off task. When I get to the end of our day I don't see all that we have accomplished but looking back on the previous week's combined I'm amazed how far we've come. Chance has 5 lessons left in his "new" math text he started November 1st. This is fantastic when I consider this child spent the entire previous year struggling with multiplication facts. Finn has completed half of his math text which is fabulous too. He's had a really tough time with number and letter reversals. He's read over 40 books and stories which blows my mind. I've added lots of listening to recorded books over the past couple of months. You'd be amazed how much one can listen to in the car while running errands. A few weeks ago we really enjoyed The Best Christmas Pagent Ever. It was geared more toward the 10 year old than the 5 year old though. This week we listened to Little House in the Big Woods and began Little House on the Prairie. We're about halfway through Charlotte's Web which I remember reading when I was their age.

They put their gingerbread train together last week.

They were both very proud to have put it together without any help from me. We finally found a use for all the left over Halloween candy.

Another really good new thing we did this season was to gather 24 of our Christmas/Winter books at the end of November. I wrapped them up and each day of December they've opened a book a day. We've really enjoyed re-reading books we haven't seen in a while.

Squirrel Watching

2006-12-07T08:52:00.000-08:00

Chance has gotten a kick out of watching the squirrels out the window. He strings fruit loops on fishing line and hangs it in a place to watch them. Here is a picture of one of the furry critters earlier this week.

Sledding Fun

2006-12-04T17:59:00.000-08:00

The kids and I made it to the "big" sledding hill today.

Chance wrote up a poem to include.

Season of winter
Lost in the woods
Enduring the cold
Daring
Defying heights
Inspiration
Never scared
Going downhill

Watch their ride...

A week in review

2006-11-16T09:32:00.000-08:00

Last week Grandma and Grandpa drove in to spend time with their grandsons. The kids were excited to show them what they've been up to. Chance showed Grandma his geography notebooks. I think he has enjoyed this as he's never done any mapping or geography in the past. We're working our way through the states for US geography. In world geography we spent a couple weeks learning general terms. We spent 5 weeks learning and mapping North and Central America. We spent 2 weeks on South America before heading to Europe for the past 3 weeks. After 1 more week in Europe we're moving on to Africa.
Finn was excited to read Grandma some books. He's doing so well with his phonics he will probably move on to the next level next week.
They took the kids to Build-A-Bear to pick out a bear to make. I was shocked at how much they enjoyed it. I thought the Lego store next to it would be a bigger draw.

Grandma and Grandpa let them pick out a bear and accessories to put on their bears. Finn went all out adorning his velvet bear with glasses, t-shirt, shorts, and shoes. Chance picked a furry bear and bought glasses and reindeer antlers to put on his.

We took them to a home school roller skating session on Friday. Chance wanted to leave right after we got there but at the end of the 2 hour session he wished it would have lasted longer. We are spoiled by another skating rink that recently went through a renovation. This skate rink had an original wooden floor with skates that were in desperate need of repair. Finn took off on his own skates too which shocked all of us.

Both kids started gymnastics classes last week. Finn is doing really well in his swim and gym classes. Chance has never tried gymnastics before but he really wanted to try it.

Keeping busy

2006-11-07T18:37:00.000-08:00

We've been busy the past few days. Thursday we headed to another assembly at the Sandwich Opera House,Mike Offutt's Ultimate Science Show. The kid's enjoyed it.
On Friday we went to a program through a local Forest Preserve. They both learned the impact urban sprawl has upon wildlife habitats. The older kids tried their hand at starting a fire with steel and flint.
Today we were off to Sandwich again to see a one man play "Ben Franklin". The kid's enjoyed hearing all the stories Ben had to tell of life in early America.

Ahh, fresh country air.

2006-11-02T06:12:00.000-08:00

We headed with Dad to an out of town conference this past week. It was so peaceful to be hauled away to the rolling hills and country atmosphere of North Eastern Illinois.

The kids had a fabulous time hiking the trails around the lake, hanging out by the fireplace and swimming in a nearby indoor pool. We headed to the Mississippi River Sunday afternoon to spend a couple of hours at a Smithsonian Museum. We had a great time learning more about the history of the towns and people along the Mississippi. They were amazed at the "catfish" facts and were able to touch stingrays as they swam by their hands.

They took their costumes with them and went trick or treating in a nearby town on Halloween.

They enjoyed being away from the sounds of the city and were kind of bummed to get back to "school" today.

Poetry reading

2006-10-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

This afternoon we attended a poetry reading at a local cafe. Our home school group took over the microphone and the stage for about 45 minutes. The kids sounded awesome.

Here is a clip from my digital camera of both of my kids reciting poems. (Click on the arrow inside the box and it should start playing).

Pumpkin carving

2006-10-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

We finally got around to carving out our pumpkins yesterday. The youngest has been asking since we picked the pumpkins at the end of September. Things go so smoothly when they get along with one another. We made it through all of the pumpkin carving without any sibling bickering. It was so nice and peaceful for that hour.

The youngest started a Math program this week. He's been feeling a bit left out of the schooling action and has been asking to do "work" too. His reading is coming along nicely as well.
The oldest has completed 7 lessons in his new Math book since starting on Monday. It's amazing how his negative attitude towards math has completely changed.

8 weeks down

2006-10-15T15:16:00.000-07:00

We've made it through 8 weeks of schooling and it's going pretty well. I ordered the next Math book as Chance is finishing up the first one this week. I thought he'd finish the first book around the New Year but I'm letting him go at his own pace spending an hour a day on Math. He had a miserable Math year last year not grasping the concepts and forced to go ahead with the rest of the class. He finally understands multiplication. YAY!! At lunch yesterday while we were waiting on our food he wanted to practice triple digit times quadruple digit problems. He asked to practice it? Awesome! I'm so proud of him.
Finn's look has changed some in this past week. Over the past few weeks he's struggled with his reading and writing. He visited the eye doctor on Tuesday and found out he is far-sighted. Everything he would try to read or write up close was blurry. He's so proud of his new glasses. I think he's excited to have something his big brother doesn't have.

A whole hand!

2006-10-11T14:09:00.000-07:00

That's how old the baby is today-5! He's so proud he wore his "I'm 5 years old today" button wherever we went. He shared snacks with his swim class this morning then hung out with a couple of friends to go bowling. Later we're going out to dinner with Dad.

Beautiful weather!

2006-10-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

We took advantage of the great weather we've been having by getting outside. On Friday we headed up to a forest preserve with our homeschool group for a day of learning outside. The kids each headed to their separate groups for the day. I went with the younger group in the morning where they had a scavenger hunt and then headed to a pond to look for creatures living in the muck. What kid doesn't like gooey mud to sift through?

In the afternoon I went along with the older kids where they successfully caught a snake which they observed for qutie some time.

This group had the best time playing a game called "predator and prey" in the prarie. The prey would go out into the prarie and try to hide from the predator in the tall grass.
Yesterday we headed to Starved Rock State Park. According to Wikipedia "Starved Rock State Park is one of the busiest State Parks in Illinois with yearly attendance over 1 million visitors each year." It felt like it yesterday. The trails were very crowded. So much for escaping the noise and crowding of the city eh? Despite this I had a great time enjoying the fall colors and hiking up and down the hills and bluffs.

Lewis & Clark

2006-10-05T18:17:00.000-07:00

The one thing I knew my oldest would miss by home schooling is the special assemblies the school would have for the kids a few times a year. At the September homeschool group meeting I found out about a local Opera House that hosts shows for kids and adults for $3 per person. I signed us up for 6 shows.
Today was our first show-"Lewis and Clark's Journey into the Unknown".

It was so much fun. These two guys that put on the production absolutely love history. The story was presented almost in a musical format which kept the boys entertained for an hour. We're looking forward to the next show-"Ultimate Science Show" in November.

Happy Birthday!

2006-10-02T13:45:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it's been a decade? Yep he's a bit melancholy about having to tell people he's now in the double digits. Yesterday we went roller skating which was a hoot. He had a great time.
This morning we headed to breakfast at a local diner before Dad headed off to work for the day. The hot chocolate was the favorite I think. We cozied up on the couch in the morning and watched a great movie, Akeelah and the bee. Next, we headed out for a bike ride before the rain started. We're having pizza for dinner and then cake and ice cream for dessert.

Enjoying fall.

2006-09-24T15:18:00.000-07:00

I scheduled our schooling last week to have Friday open for our first field trip with our home school group. We were really bummed Friday morning when they called to cancel due to rainy and windy conditions. The kids and I decided to head to the Dupage Children's Museum. A few year's ago this was their favorite place to head to when the weather was miserable and they had a free day off school. The oldest, turning "10" next week has just about grown out of this museum. They still had alot of fun.
The youngest really enjoyed the workshop this time.

He was immersed in drilling, nailing, and sawing pieces of wood for a good hour.

The oldest spent loads of time in the bubbles. After the little kids left to take their naps this section was open for him to have his own fun.

In the past 3 days we've visited 3 different apple orchards. We absolutely love Fall and hanging out in the country.

At this orchard the kid's enjoyed seeing lots of different animals including turkeys, ducks, goats, and pigs.

Fast forward

2006-09-18T05:22:00.000-07:00

Wow, last week flew by. Life with kids seems to be in the fast lane. Dad is in charge of spanish and religious education studies. Last week they started their religious ed. They each made a name card. Inside they listed why they were thankful for that person. They surprised me with a card of my own with very sweet thoughts.

I promised my oldest a picture of him with "his" guitar so here it is.

On Saturday we met up with my Aunt in Chicago. A beautiful day with sunny skies and warm temps.
We started our visit by touring all nine floors of the Chicago Public Library. What a great place! We strolled down Michigan Ave. stopping inside a huge Lego store and taking a break at Ghirardelli for dessert.

My Aunt's hotel was across the street from Grant Park which was host to the Celtic Festival. The kid's enjoyed the Irish dancers and the music. We didn't get back home until almost 1am. but they had a blast visiting and seeing the "big" city.

Last week in review

2006-09-11T05:50:00.000-07:00

We scheduled ourselves for way too much last week especially since it was a four day week due to Labor day. Fair day was Wednesday. Thursday we headed out to the local orchard. It was a gorgeous day with temperatures in the 80's and the orchard pretty much to ourselves.

It's amazing how piles of hay bales and water drainage pipes can be so entertaining to the kids. They also spent alot of time in the silo filled with a foot of shelled corn. I picked up some fresh apples and baked an apple pie the next morning. I treated the kids to a carmel apple and an apple cider donut while we were there too. We're heading back in a couple of weeks to check out the corn maze. It's only open on the weekends.

On Friday the local homeschooling group we belong to-H.O.U.S.E., had their annual "not" back to school picnic.

I was impressed by how many kids are in this group. There is another local Christian homeschooling group, HEART, that has at least this many kids also. Wow, there are quite a few homeschoolers in our area.

I was feeling extremely overwhelmed at the end of the week with both kids starting out their new instruments. Over the weekend I checked out a few "how to" guitar books from the library so I'm going to try to teach him the basics to see if it's something he would like to pursue. At the moment the guitar is a rental for a month . I'm thinking of holding off on purchasing a guitar until after the new year if he would like to continue with it. It's too much on my plate right now but I'm going to try to take it a week at a time.

Fair time

2006-09-07T05:30:00.000-07:00

I took the kids to our county fair yesterday. It was a perfect sunny and warm September day. They loved the animals although the oldest dwelled on the life cycles of farm animals a bit. They got such a kick over petting the cows and seeing the chickens. They were amazed to see the goats milked and to realize that is how the milk gets from animal to their glasses.
A part of his science studies the past month has been to read Diary of an Early American Boy.It's tells of a farm boy's life in the early 19th century on a New England Farm. My oldest was excited to see the antique corn shellers and mills that he could try out.

Let there be music

2006-09-05T17:41:00.000-07:00

When the kids expressed an interest in learning an instrument this year I was excited. The youngest wanted to first learn the violin and the eldest the guitar. Last Wednesday the local University held an open house for the kids to sample lessons in the instrument of interest. The sample lessons weren't lessons at all and it ended up being a complete waste of time. It was going to cost us $1600 for both kids for Fall and Spring semester lessons. For a 4 and 9 year old! Not going to happen this year. Today we headed over to a local music store and I purchased the smallest violin I've ever held. According to the measurements it's just the right size for my youngest. He was so happy he "practiced" for over an hour. He would have "practiced" longer but the basset was howling in protest. The dog probably thinks we're trying to kill him with not one but two violins in the house now.

For the guitar we're picking up a rental 3/4 size acoustic guitar on Friday. He's so excited. He wants to try to figure it out himself for a while but I'm hoping he changes his mind and would like to join a group of beginners his age. I'm trying to cover so much with him in other subjects I would love to have someone else take over the guitar lessons. I don't know why I thought I could handle teaching them both instruments this year. In the past three weeks we've started music theory, language arts(including grammar, spelling & handwriting), math, world history, the study of famous Americans, World and US geography, science and spanish. Thank goodness my husband is responsible for the Spanish. Although so far I'm enjoying relearning all the Spanish I've forgotten.

E.A. for today

2006-09-01T15:25:00.000-07:00

The "enrichment activity" for today was making Johnnycakes. Colonial travelers often packed these for their long trips. They're a cross between a pancake and corn bread. The kids thought they were very tasty. I enjoyed watching my eldest whip them up all by himself.

Back to school FUN!!

2006-09-01T05:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we headed to Six Flags for Homeschool family day. It was the first time I've made it through an amusement park with no profanity. That was very refreshing. The kids had a blast. We hit the land park in the morning and the water park late in the afternoon. Thank goodness they closed at 5pm. because we were exhausted. Man, I wish I had started my school year with a trip to the amusement park.

Globe time

2006-08-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

Easing into the new school year has involved adding an art project to our geography and history studies.
We've been working on our paper mache globes. .

They didn't think it was going to work but 3 layers of newspaper later they started painting on them this week.

I'm so proud of them for trying this since art is not one of their favorite things to do.

Hello.

2006-08-29T05:42:00.000-07:00

So here I am at the start of a new school year. We've been officially schooling for a little over a week. So far so good.