Happy Thanksgiving!

"Thanksgiving puts steel into our patriotic veins.
It reminds us or our great heritage.
It carries us back with numbing nostalgia to that
first dreadful winter at Plymouth where less than
half the handful of people survived.
It speaks in clear, crisp tones of forgotten terms, like:
integrity...bravery...
respect...faith...vigilance...dignity...honor...
freedom...discipline...sacrifice...godliness."
[Charles R. Swindoll]

Doing Science with Dad!

The boys have been waiting for the opportunity to do a science project with Scott. Since all three boys do T4L we picked today to do the mentos in the coke project.... B spent the night and he was excited to see the reaction of mentos and diet coke as well....

Jeffery stopped by and when he heard we were going to do it he stuck around until scott got home.

The boys gathered the materials and we did several test runs with some soda that was way past the date.... Then we did the Diet Coke one.... It was cool.

After it was over Scott called the boys over to "look" inside and Q rushed over, when Q bent down Scott yelled "boo!" really loud and I managed to get the photo! It was really funny!

College? again......

I found this great list of colleges that have taken Home School kids.....
Hopefully in 9 years this won't be an issue but it is nice to see that the list is pretty long....

LIST OF COLLEGES

Life of a College Student

I don't know why it has been on my mind but I have been wondering a lot about college and home schooling. I found THIS it is a written about a a girl's first year and second year in college. I thought it was interesting.

Lady Bugs ~~~ this post is for Scott

Fall is here...... We have had some cooler days followed by some really warm ones now. Each year this happens. Lady Bugs invade our home. They come in through the walls it seems. Mom has been dealing with them and just about anyone you talk to is bothered by them......


When I got home from the gym yesterday and got ready to go to Cub Scouts the camera was charged which confused me because I had it charging for the meeting. Scott said, "oh I took photos of the Lady Bugs because I was sure you were going to blog about it..." Har har honey.... Here is your post.....

We don't get much color here but we had to go into the woods to cut some sticks for a "talking stick" project for cub scouts. Dad suggested that we use real cedar sticks rather than store bought dowels that I was going to use.... How cleaver and actually was a great idea.. Someday the boys will reflect back and see that we did things special for them, not everything needs to come in a kit and projects are more fun when you gather materials rather than buying them....

The boys helped clean off the sticks, Quentin gathered them with Dad (they were for his den) and it was fun and easy to do with dad's help!

Study of Lady Bugs, not by choice....

We are currently studying lady bugs and it is not by my choice. Lady bugs have taken over my house. It happens every year and it drives me nuts. We have some cold days and a few warm ones hit and the lady bugs take over.

The boys are learning about lady bugs, collecting them and showing them off. They walk around with them on their shirts and in their hair after being outside. You can see them flying all around and they seem to get in the house through the walls.

I vacuum them up, the boys yell... it is a vicious circle that drives us all crazy....

Oh well... nature projects at their best... they have googled the bugs and learned all about them.... For now I will have to tolerate them but the boys are having a great time with them.

Schooling review......

We are at the 3 month mark now. I was laying with my oldest son the night before last and we were going over the "agenda" for the following day. It is something that we have done since about the time he could talk. He has never been one for any kind of surprises but we have to be careful not to give to much detail in case something happens and we are unable to do something he has been looking forward to. We also have to keep our "agenda" discussion to no more than 3 or 4 things because he tends to over think things. Occasionally he gets in "trip mode" (A term my husband came up for me shortly after we got married; it means that no sleep and hyper-activity is looming overhead)
So, he and I were discussing our next days agenda and I listed what we were going to do. (he has also always had to know what everyone around him was doing or planning on doing) I discussed briefly that his grandfather would be leaving for Washington DC at the end of the week for Veterans day. (something that he has done for the past 5 years or so) and that Q's grandmother might be going along this year and continuing on to CT to see about her sick father.
Then I talked about me having to write most all day on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and me working out every afternoon at the gym. The boys father was working all week like normal and they would have Karate on Monday and Cub Scouts on Tuesday.
That was about all he could take and then I threw in, " Of course there will be school work every day". Prior to Time4Learning that comment would be met with a moan. We are now into our school year with using Time4Learning and the boys are doing great! Zachary just finished up part of his language arts and moved from 2nd grade to 3rd grade. We are pushing Q to get through 3rd grade work and get more into his 4th grade work but I have noticed a HUGE difference in his reading. Retention has never been an issue with either boys. Math is a strong subject for Q but I have noticed that Z is finding more and more enjoyment out of learning new math concepts.
Q and I chatted about Time4Learning and he told me that he was "actually really enjoying it". He did say that he liked not having the pressure of doing a million boring problems and that he was glad that we started using it.
When I asked Z what he enjoyed about it he said that he loved the poems and he liked that he could see his scores right away.
We really are thrilled with T4L this year. I have gotten to know some great people and have been involved with the company on a level that is so great to me. I found myself the other night talking to two moms about the curriculum for their public school kids who are having issues. I am enjoying being part of a network where there is support that I had no idea about. These three months have truly been an improvement in our home schooling lives.

I love this!

I worry all the time about colleges. What will we do in High School? Middle School? This was a comforting article to read, it is about Stanford
It is nice to know that we will have options. I did not like to read that HS students applying at GT had to take the satii tests 6 times.. That seems a bit excessive.....
We have time, but it goes by so fast, I worry...