Starting Up Again

"First a thing is impossible, then it's difficult, then it's done." 

That quote is from Created For Work, by Bob Schultz, which we were reading every day in our character time before November rolled around, and I lost all motivation to do anything remotely extra, LOL. 

Anyhow, that quote is my new motto, as I look toward May and the end of the school year.  I will be perfectly honest and say that I do not want to start back tomorow at all!  This break has been so very nice, and I have a lot looming ahead, which makes me just want to bury my head under the covers. 

The biggest thing is of course biology.  I have been pleasantly surprised, as I tweaked the syllabus for these last 2 quarters, that things seem to be coming together, now that I am not pregnant!  I think pregnancy really was clouding my brain, LOL, because before Thanksgiving I just could not see how to work out the rest of the year.  It's still hard, however, and now I feel the burden of keeping everything we learned in the first 2 quarters fresh in everyone's mind, so they can do well on the AP test, which is May 13.  I got Nathan all signed up at our local high school, so that makes it all seem more real . . .

I still have to do my teaching at our elementary co-op, so that means I am teaching 2 weeks of a unit on space the end of February/beginning of March.  I am also in charge of the 5th week activity, which is a field trip to the Udavar-Hazy museum.  I did a lot of the legwork on the field trip back in October, and my co-leader (and pastor's wife!) Karen is helping a ton by taking over the planning of the "scavenger hunt".  Still, I'll be glad when it's over!  I taught the space unit in 2006, back when Nathan was in 3rd grade, and I was pregnant with Anna.  Now I'm teaching the 5th/6th grade, so I'll have to tweak my lesson plans a bit, but at least I've already taught it.  Next year, I'm hoping to teach in the fall, so I have it out of the way before Christmas!

I'm also the testing coordinator for the co-op, and now is the time to start getting info together to send out to everyone.  At least I did this last year, but I am very worried that I'll miss something or forget something, just because I'm thinking about something else.  Testing is May 20-22, and when that is done, I will be happy beyond words, that that means all my formal responsibilites for the year will be completed!  I also have to send in another batch of Boxtops in March, but fortunately that's not anything stressful.

I need to get back into a good routine with schoolwork here at home too.  In November, we pretty much stopped everything that the boys couldn't do on their own, so we need to start all that back up again, and I need to make Anna more of a priority, since she'll actually be testing in May.  And of course, work everything around a nursing baby while keeping Micah out of trouble!  Sigh . . . burying my head under the covers is definitely an appealing option . . .

"First a thing is impossible, then it's difficult, then it's done."  I can't wait for the "done" part!

"Backpacking Across Europe"

That was the theme for the 5th week activity we had at our elementary co-op on Tuesday.  I know I've said before how the co-op is structured, but we have 4 week unit studies on different topics--some historical, some science, some geographical, etc. each year--and for some of the units, we have a big "5th week activity" that is the culmination of the unit.  Sometimes it is a field trip, or a special speaker, or whatever. 

So the kids just finished 4 weeks learning about Europe, and they had such a fun 5th week activity!  First the kids went to various classrooms by tiers, and they each received a cute little fabric backpack that had some fake euros in it, and also a passport.  Then they all met in the big opening room, and one of the teachers talked in Polish (she's a native!).  Then they had kids come up and hold signs saying how to say "hello" in various European languages (Jonathan got to hold "ciao").  Jessica L. came over from the high school co-op to do some Irish dancing.  Jonathan said everyone liked that a lot--she's a great dancer!

Then the 4 tiers went around to 4 different rooms, getting their passports stamped at each room.  One room was a marketplace, where the kids got a globe key chain, a "football" popper, a pencil, and a compass, which they "paid" for with a fake euro credit card-thing they all had.  While there, Daniel McC taught Jonathan how to say, "Hello, my name is Jonathan.  How much does this cost?" in Italian.  The McCs took a big trip to Italy a year ago in November to visit friends, so apparently Daniel is still remembering his Italian!

Another room was an art room, where the kids got to paint a postcard scene using pointillism.  They used q-tips as brushes, and they only got to use 3 colors.  Someone had drawn a very simple scene of a sailboat on a lake with mountains behind, so the kids sort of filled in the areas with their colors.  The cards turned out really well!

There was also an Olympic game room, where they did a modified curling game, rowing on a skateboard, and long jump.  There was also a fake torch in there, Jonathan reports.

And lastly there was the "cafe", which is where I helped out for the first part of the morning (until I had to run over to Rivendell to teach science, and Christine came to TNT to take my place).  The ladies really went above and beyond with the food--a Slovakian beef and potato goulash soup, pierogies, Swedish meatballs, Swedish licorice, Polish cookies, cream puffs, baguette slices and cheese, pita bread and cucumber dip, churros, and Belgium dark chocolate pieces that looked like Pringles.  Yum!  There was peppermint tea to drink, which was also quite tasty.  I'm not much of a hot beverage person at all, but even I liked this tea!

So the kids had a fun time "backpacking" around the halls of TNT!  Then they headed over to Rivendell to finish off the day--and what a gorgeous day it was!  The temperature was in the high 70's, there was a nice breeze, and it was sunny!  When we got home the kids went down to the creek behind our cul-de-sac with Bob, and then the younger kids actually put on swimsuits and played in the sprinkler.  I can honestly say we have never put on swimsuits and played outside in March before!  Fun day!

Finishing Up Latin

We had our last Latin class on Thursday, and the boys will take the National Latin Exam on Wednesday. I have been thinking over this Latin journey, and I wanted to capture a few thoughts.

First of all, we have done Latin for years. Nathan and Luke started back when Nathan was in 2nd grade, and Luke in kindergarten, using Prima Latina. We finished that book and then spent some time doing Minimus, because I had heard how fun and cute it was. But I didn't want to shell out a ton of money (like $70 or something) for the teacher manual, so we just stumbled through it. I had no idea why the verbs were conjugated differently, for example, and if a noun wasn't a subject, then I had absolutely no idea what to do with it. Still, it was a fun break, although I don't think it actually did anything as far as learning goes.

So after we finished Minimus, we went back to Memoria Press, doing Latina Christiana I and II. We took a few years going through the 2 books. I was frustrated with LCII because there wasn't really much practice at all with the grammar concepts introduced, so every day I would come up with 2 sentences to translate in English, and 2 sentences to translate into Latin.

I was planning on starting Henle I a few years ago, but then MP introduced First Form Latin, so I had the boys go through that book instead. I didn't do it with them, but it introduced more verb tenses, and now MP is recommending doing the First Form series (there will eventually be 4 in the series) instead of LC II.

So then I was once again planning on starting Henle, but we ended up waiting a few more months so that Caleb McC could finish LC II and do the class with us as well. While we were waiting, I went to the HEAV convention, where I talked with Amy Regan from Lukeion. I have heard only great things about Lukeion's Latin classes, and especially about her teaching. Well, she said she would not recommend Henle, and that most people who use it end up stopping after a few units because it just isn't organized very well. She uses Wheelock's, which is a college-level text in her classes. I picked up a cheap used copy of Wheelock's at the used book sale, and I wondered a bit if I was totally off in my plans. But I did think that I usually have a pretty good feel for what works for me, and there have been other times that people have told me that what I was going to do wouldn't work, but it did.

So we went plunged ahead with Henle, using MP's study guides. We discovered right away that the first several units were all complete review, so we blew right through them, and the MP lesson plans really weren't that helpful. But there was a TON of translating, and so using all these grammar concepts that we had spent years memorizing became quite natural. One criticism of Henle is that it has a very limited vocabulary. This was actually a feature for us, LOL. Almost all the vocab were words we already knew from LC, and a limited vocab again made it easy to focus on really using the concepts. Another criticism is that Henle is very preoccupied with Caesar and his Gallic wars. True, but this wasn't really a problem with all boys. Plus, the sentences were easy to mock (the classic "The bodies are in the river", LOL).

I found it was actually really easy to teach Henle, and I didn't think it was laid out weirdly. Maybe it is because we did so many other MP books, but it felt very familiar. I used my Wheelock's book to clarify some concepts, but it moves so much faster and introduces a ton of vocab. I think that someone who really knows Latin could easily teach Wheelock's at a high school level. Unfortunately the boys had me, LOL, so it was much, much better to have a book that actually was supposed to be high school level. Also, Wheelock's doesn't have as much practice and translation--and I don't have an answer key, which is something I would absolutely have to have in order to teach with it!

We've been taking all the past NLE exams (Intro and I) that are posted on their website, so I am hopeful that will help familiarize the boys with the vocab they are lacking. Because they are so familiar with the grammar, they often can figure out the answer by context clues or by the endings on the words. We'll see how it goes.

A lady posted on the Well Trained Mind forums about a website she developed to help review the Roman culture for the test. It was really helpful! There is a list of questions, and there is also a quiz you can take to review. (I'll have to come back later and link it--the computer I'm on isn't letting me copy and paste the link! Technology . . .) Also, I searched on youtube for "Latin 100 commercials". Lone Pine Classical School has their Latin 100 students do travel commercials for ancient Rome--watch a few of those, and you will be well caught up on all your cultural knowledge for ancient Rome!

So we'll see how the test goes. All these years of study, and all I can say is that we are now pretty fluent in what is expected for a first-year high school Latin course. I do think we are much more comfortable and familiar with everything than someone who had ONLY taken one year in high school. That person might have covered the same amount of ground, but we have it ingrained in memory since we've been working with these endings and vocab words for so many years!

And then Caleb and Jonathan (and Daniel and Joel McC) are coming along behind them. Caleb and Jonathan are over halfway through LC I. I know I want them to take the Intro exam. Who knows--maybe we'll even go farther, into Latin II. Maybe my old brain will finally be able to keep the perfect and pluperfect tense endings straight if I go through them again!

Fall Stresses

So that was just a big vent chock full o' complaining there in the last post. What has me so stressed that book exchanges and etiquette teas are pushing me over the edge?!

Well, homeschooling is more difficult, for starters. Rivendell is amazingly awesome. I could not even attempt to do high school without these other ladies. Nathan would just have to take a bunch of online classes or something. So I know how much easier my load is because I have Rivendell, but at the same time, physical science has been a ton more difficult to prepare for than last year's life science. The BJU book is definitely at least 9th grade course--integrated physics and chemistry. I feel like sometimes the text is written in a way that is more confusing than enlightening, like they go out of their way to make concepts more difficult. I've spent a lot of time with a jr. high physical science book (Prentice Hall Science Explorer) that I got used off Half.com for a dollar. It has been SO helpful. I'll probably use it for the whole course next time (when I don't have a high schooler in the class!), except I don't think it's possible to get a teacher's manual or any tests for it, so I'll have to make my own.

Also it's been hard to figure out how to best use the class time. We really need more than one hour and a half class period to cover a chapter and do labs! Fortunately the book has 21 chapters, and we have 33 weeks, so I can take 2 weeks on a good deal of the chapters. What has ended up working the best is for me to take one class period to go over the entire chapter, and then use the second class period to do labs. I'm thinking about next year already, which will be biology for the high schoolers, and life science for the jr. highers. For biology, maybe the boys will watch the DIVE dvds at home, and then use the class time just for labs. We are going to prepare for the bio SAT II test, so I am thinking that maybe we'll have another afternoon (not Tuesdays) where we just go over the dvd stuff, plus anything extra I think will be important for test prep. I don't know. No matter what, I am definitely looking forward to getting back into biology stuff again! Physics was never my favorite!

Prepping for the Latin class has been another thing that has taken more time than I expected. The first part of Henle pretty much reviews all the stuff Latina Christina I and II teach, just covering it a LOT more quickly, and with tons of translation. But still--it wasn't difficult because all my years of teaching Latin to younger kids has finally cemented in my brain all the declension endings and basic verb conjugations (first and second conjugation, present, future, and imperfect tenses). BUT September rolled around, and now we're not reviewing anymore! Finally we learned the past tense (or the "perfect indicative active" as it is technically called), which has different endings on a whole different principal part, and now we're working on the passive voice. Gah. I am NOT remembering these things very well, so it takes me a long time to work through all the exercises! I am just trying to think ahead and think positively about how easy this will all be when it's time to teach Caleb and Jonathan! The boys will take the National Latin I Exam the second week of March, and that is as far as I will go in Latin. I really do enjoy Latin, but right now--it's just one more thing I really don't have time for. One day I'll be retired from homeschooling (that day is a minimum of 18 years away, LOL), and then think of how much time I will have! I'll become a Latin expert! I'll write my Christmas letters and blog in Latin! Well, maybe not, LOL. But it won't be a stresser like it is now!

All this prep work, plus the regular grind of homeschooling at home, has really taken a toll on the house. Here's a warning--don't just drop in to visit us, LOL. Or if you do, walk around with your eyes half closed. I have big plans for this break. Big organizing plans. One example--we took down Faith's crib back in oh, September some time. We propped it in the hallway until I could organize the basement storage room to fit it in. It is still propped up in the hallway. Drives me crazy! Another area of disorganization is Micah's clothes. He is now out of 12 month clothes mainly, so I brought up the 18 month tub of clothes. Now both tubs are in the hallway with clothes piled haphazardly in and around them. I think it is high time that boy has clothes in his actual closet and dresser! These are not the only areas, of course. And we need to clean too, not just pick up and straighten. I am actually so overwhelmed with how dirty the house has gotten these past few months that I can hardly even think of where to start and what to do. Hopefully I'll be able to make some inroads into the chaos in the next week. I'll keep you posted on my progress, or lack thereof. Unfortunately, the 3 big messmakers will be around . . .

Christmas Break!!!

We're on Christmas Break! We're on Christmas Break! I am practically dancing, LOL. This fall has been a rough one. I knew back in August that once we started, I'd just have to hang on, and that is indeed how it's been. Now I am so ready for a break!

The last week was hard to get through. The elementary co-op had a few things going on, and I was just NOT in the mood to deal with them! For instance, we had our Christmas party last Friday. It's always a skating party, which the kids really enjoy, and this time it was really nice because the organizer had the brilliant idea to have a little area with some simple crafts for the younger kids who weren't going to skate. Grace and Faith had a great time there! The thing that was so (unreasonably) stressful about the party is that a few years ago, a lady had the bright idea that we should do a book exchange there. So each year all the kids bring a wrapped gift of a book they are done with, and they get to pick out a new book. Sounds great! Except we're never "done" with books, LOL, and I have 4 people in different grades! This year, finding books for everyone was very stressful for me. No more book exchange! Once again you can tell gifts aren't my love language.

Then on Tuesday the co-op had an "etiquette tea" as a special 5th week activity to wrap up the etiquette unit. They did this several years ago as well, and it was definitely a highlight for Nathan. The organizers bought these cute little plastic Christmas-themed teacups from Oriental Trading Co., the leaders of the unit were the "servers", complete with towels over their arms, and it was just fun. I think we each had to contribute a plate of cookies, and the kids got to pick either tea or hot chocolate. Nathan came home talking all about tea and asking me to buy some for him the next time we went to the commissary!

This time, the organizers sent out a big list of what foods the moms in each grade were supposed to contribute--cheese and crackers, fruit, tea sandwiches, cookies. I about died, since I have 4 different grades represented, but thankfully I reread the email and realized I only had to bring something for class which was the smallest. That meant Grace's class, and they were assigned cheese and crackers, so that wasn't bad at all. But they didn't buy any sort of cups--we had to send a tea cup along for each child. They said in the email that if we didn't have cups and saucers and didn't want to buy any at the thrift store, then mugs would be alright. Well good, because I'm not sending in 4 breakable cups and saucers, even if we did have any, and I'm certainly not making a run to the thrift store! Yes, I was getting annoyed by petty things, I'll admit, LOL. Fortunately Amy has sent each of my kids a lovely plastic dishwasher safe mug with their names on them, so those were called into service. Whew! Thanks again, Amy!!

I was assigned to help out with this activity, so I had to be there early to supervise the "craft" for Grace's class, which turned out to be coloring. Then someone did a chalk talk, which was really neat. I love seeing those pictures come alive, with all the different lights! After Christine was done teaching history, she drove over and took over for me, so I could rush to Rivendell and teach physical science. Fortunately we were only doing a lab, but still, I felt very rushed and unorganized, since I had not had any time to set anything up. Oh well. We finished it, and we made it through the day--and now we are on break!!!!! I can always tell when I need a break because minor things become very stressful and highly annoying to me! I'm really quite thankful for the elementary co-op. It is very well-run, the kids enjoy it and get a lot out of it, and I really don't have to do all that much for it! But there are definitely times--like last week--when I was not in the mood to deal with it at all!

Here Comes Captain Washington . . .

Today was a "5th week activity" for the elementary co-op we're involved in. This time the theme was "Colonial Times", which the kids have been studying the past 4 weeks. The challenge was to dress the kids up, so we spent yesterday working at this. Caleb and Jonathan were adament that they wanted ("needed" even) wigs. I still have several boxes of unused pantyhose from my years at Cedarville (back when we wore skirts to class unless the wind chill was less than 0 degrees!), so I cut the legs off 2 pairs. I'm not sure how those boxes escaped the axe and moved with us across the country, but they came in handy, LOL. After tying off the leg holes, we put the pantyhose over a balloon in a bowl for our wig stand. Then we glued some fiber-fill stuffing, like you would use to stuff a pillow, all over. I had that bag of fiberfill under the crib in Anna and Grace's room for forever as well. I'm really not at all sure why I ever bought it, and when we took down the crib a few months ago, I almost tossed it, but instead I stuck it in the closet. Again, it came in handy!

I don't really recommend fiberfill as a wig-making material, LOL. It was very . . . fluffy. And hard to stick on. Oh well--it lasted for one day! I put one longer part on the back for a ponytail part, which we tied with some blue ribbon (that I actually appropriated from a leotard thing, because I couldn't find any other ribbon). Alas, I never took a picture of the back view.

A few years ago, when the L's were cleaning out their storage room, Ed gave us his old mess dresses from his Academy years. We were able to use the jackets to complete our colonial attire. We had quite the unique look!

We also spent some time making mobcaps for Anna and Grace. I found a website for making a paper cap, so instead I used some fabric from previous 5th weeks. No sewing involved, though! I should have done something about aprons though--that was what the girls were lacking! Here they all are with Joel McC. Most of the kids dressed up, and they all looked so cute! We were the only ones to attempt wigs though, LOL.

The kids did some presentations about the different colonies at first, then they took turns going to 4 different rooms. One room was about toys, and the kids made 4 toys, like a top, clay marbles, little dolls, and a game where you try to get a pencil into a cup. Another room was all about games, and the kids played with a big wooden hoop, which you had to roll with a stick, and marbles, bowling with a hard bouncy ball, a game like horseshoes, except with rope circles, and "flying hoops". There was also a household room, where the kids decorated bags with cookie cutters and made cards and hornbooks. Last was a kitchen room, where the kids got to taste some colonial foods. They made lemonade and ground corn, and they also sampled hasty pudding (not a favorite), corn bread, ginger snaps, pumpkin pie (Anna's favorite), popcorn, and beef jerky, which happened to be made by none other than Nuclear Nate! Nathan was commissioned to make the jerky, which he worked on this weekend. Yum! So the kids had a really fun day today!

Hike!

In a huge answer to prayer, the weather held, and we were able to go on our hike yesterday morning! Hooray! It was cloudy and a bit chilly in the morning, but it didn't rain--and the day got progressively nicer. Now the bad weather seems to have moved off for awhile, and we are all so thankful to see the sun again!

I took the 3rd graders over first (Jonathan's class). There were 10 of them, and 3 other parents. I wasn't exactly sure how the timing of the hike was going to go (since Luke and I had spent a lot more time stopped, identifying trees, than we did yesterday as a group), but it was fine. We ended up going up this path, then diverging onto a second path that goes up along a ridgetop. The forest up there is different than the one down at the bottom of the trail--primarily tall oaks and hickorys, as opposed to a ton of red cedars and shrubbier-type trees down at the bottom. We walked around the trail and started down, and then turned onto a different trail that heads back and meets up with the trail we were on originally (at the point where we diverged), so we didn't have to back-track the whole way. The timing was just perfect! Luke and I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to the second trail, if we hadn't run into those wasps, so it was all good that I knew how the trails connected and could go that route.

The park has planted a stand of trees in a little meadow, next to their nature center, so we started there. American chestnuts, sweetgums, and ash are planted there, and all those leaves were in the book we made last week, so we reviewed the identifying characteristics of the leaves (simple, compound, alternate, opposite, margins, etc). We looked at all the chestnuts that were on the ground in their big spiny cases ("Why would a chestnut not be a good shade tree to plant in your yard?"), and I talked about the chestnut blight that killed over 3 billion chestnut trees in the first part of the 1900s. Sad! We talked about how you can chew the sap of the sweetgum tree (not that you should ever wound the bark of trees!) and what sorts of things are made of the strong yet elastic wood of ash trees (baseball bats, bows, etc.). Then we moved onto the trail.

I talked about the 4 layers of the forest, and what sorts of living organisms are in all the layers. We saw dogwood trees, and a blackgum tree, with its characteristic square blocky bark. It's leaves are among the first to start changing colors, so we talked about why leaves change colors, the different pigments in leaves, and why only some trees can have leaves turn red (not all trees produce the pigment anthocyanin, which helps the tree regain the nutrients in the leaves when it is stilll producing sugar in the warm sunny days of fall, but the sap can't move the sugar back down the tree during the crisp, cool nights).

As we walked up the trail, we noticed how the forest changed in appearance. We looked at the ground to see the acorns and hickory nuts, which are so important for animals in the fall and winter months. We talked about moss, lichen, mushrooms, and bracket fungi, of which there were lots of examples to be noted! Some bracket fungi even have growth rings, which I didn't know before I started reseaching exactly what I was going to say! There were a lot of downed trees, and the ones which had been chopped gave us a chance to review the inner parts of the trunk, which we talked about last week--heartwood, sapwood, cambium, and bark.

We meandered our way along, and I think all the kids were just so happy to be outside, stretching their legs in the fresh, non-rainy air! I know I was! It was wonderful to be outside. The kids really remembered a lot of what we talked about last week, about the different tree types. I was pleasantly surprised! Of the 14 leaves we talked about last week, we saw 9 of those trees. I think they enjoyed recognizing the leaves on the trees!

So the timing worked out perfectly--we got back to the church a few minutes before 11:00, when they switch to their "aide-time" class, where they eat lunch, play games, take prayer requests, and do character time. They had plenty of time to wash their hands and drink some water. Then I picked up the 4th graders, and after their bathroom break, we were good to go! We took the same route, I said the same things, and it also worked out really well! That class (Caleb's class) had 13 kids go with us, and 2 extra parents. It was really fun!

We got back to church before pick-up time, which is at 12:30. Then I took the Rivendell kids over to the other church for the afternoon. I still had memory work and science left to teach! We got home about 5:15, and we had about 20 minutes before we all had to rush off to get Nathan and Luke over to their football practices. Whew! When we got home, Bob was home, and I made a quick dinner. The I sat on the couch and didn't move, LOL. It was a good day, but a long, tiring day. I was so thankful God kept it from raining!

Teaching Update

My first week of teaching at the elementary co-op went well. I think the kids enjoyed making the leaf identification books, and I think they liked that I had brought so many leaves to show them. Most of them had never really thought about what kinds of trees were in their yards or wherever, and they enjoyed learning something new. Now we just have to pray for good weather next Tuesday so we can go on our hike. The 5th and 6th graders were going on a field trip today, and they ended up postponing it because it looked so threatening all morning long. It never did rain.

I came home with all the co-op kids, and we had Rivendell at our house, since our pastor was having a luncheon at our church, where we usually have Rivendell. This was actually a blessing from the Lord! I put an exhausted Micah down in his own bed right after we got home, and Faith went down about 3:00. Normally Faith doesn't take a nap on Rivendell days, and Micah doesn't sleep as well. They were both so tired from their stimulating morning! Fortunately Micah was very co-operative, and he was ready to nurse at 11:00, which is when the 3rd and 4th graders switch classes. So the floater came and watched the 3rd graders for a few minutes while they packed up, and stayed with the 4th graders for a few minutes after they came in. It worked so well! That was a real answer to prayer!

After I ate a quick bite back at home(after 1:00-I couldn't get out of there because a bunch of people needed to talk to me!), I taught memory work, and then science. Whew! I pretty much talked from 9:30 until 4:40. I don't know how teachers do it, day in and day out! So exhausting! I think being a full-time teacher is definitely a calling from the Lord. And those women, like my friend Marianne's mom, who retired this summer after teaching 30-some years? Wonder woman! They have all my respect!

Busy Time

These next few weeks are shaping up to be totally crazy! The main source of extra stress is that it is my turn to teach for 2 weeks at our elementary co-op, so I'm busy preparing for that on top of my physical science and Latin classes (and of course all the regular homeschooling teaching and grading for 5 people, LOL). And next Saturday is a consignment sale, and the following weekend I have a ladies retreat with my church Friday and Saturday, and then we head up to PA to celebrate Bob's mom's 85th birthday Sunday and Monday! And of course football takes up every evening, plus 2 games on the weekends. I figure if I can just make it through Oct. 11--then things will settle down a little bit.


So I'm teaching 2 lessons on trees for the elementary co-op. I really like trees, and I taught a chapter on them last year in life science, so I already had some ideas. Unfortunately I did not use my summer time wisely and plan everything out then, however, so I've been busy the past week. Tuesday we're going to touch briefly on the different parts of trees, and I'll bring in my tree cross-section slice that Ed L. graciously cut for me last summer. I've gotten quite a bit of use out of that thing! Then we're going to talk about the basics of tree identification using leaves--simple, compound, opposite, alternate, pinnate, palmate, serrated margin, complete margin, lobed, --those sorts of term. I drew 14 leaves (that is what took so much time, LOL) that illustrate those terms, got them copied on to green cardstock, and now I am cutting them all out (for 26 students!) so they can glue them in the appropriate places next to descriptions on white pieces of cardstock, so they have a little tree guide for themselves.

Then, Lord willing, we will take a little field trip the next Tuesday to a local park, where we can hike around and see those 14 leaves on actual trees. Well, only 13--I used the buckeye to illustrate palmately compound leaves, and I haven't seen a buckeye anywhere around here yet! Oh well. This is actually a big prayre request because we have been having quite a bit of rain, especially on Tuesdays of late! The boys and I were laughing ont he way to Rivendell last Tuesday (in the rain). Last year we primarily had nice, sunny days on Tuesdays. The only thing that has changed is that the C family moved to Hawaii, so clearly they took the sun with them. Come back!! LOL!

Back before the co-ops started up, the kids and I went on a hike at this park so I could find a good trail and make sure I knew what trees were on it. It was hot, the girls were whiny, as were some of the boys, and somehow I lost my notes once we got home. Story of my summer! So I knew I needed to go back to make sure of my plan!

This time I was smart, and just Luke and I went on Wednesday! We had a really nice time, and it was great to spend some time with just him. He didn't whine or complain once! We headed up the trail we went on last time, and as we got to the highest point of it, right in the middle of a nice oak/hickory forest, there were several wasps flying around the trail. After evaluating the situation, we decided to turn around and go on a different trail, LOL. No need to be a hero! Luke was understandably skittish because as it turns out, when he was at WSS this summer, as he and the rest of the campers were coming back from rapelling, he stepped onto a yellow jackets' nest, and he got stung several times. The poor kid behind him got stung even more times though. So yeah . . . no need to repeat any stinging opportunities!

We identified all the trees we needed to, but the real stars were the amazing fungi fruiting bodies that had popped up all over the forest with all the rain we've had lately! So big! So many colors! So cool! Here are a couple of examples, but I'm not going to identify them because, well . . . I'm just not that into fungi. And I don't have time to look them up, LOL.

Catching Up--First Day of Co-ops

Okay, whew! I am back in contact with the rest of the civilized world! I didn't realize how completely cut off I would feel without email. I think maybe we are thinking about getting at least one smart phone whenever we actually replace our dinosaur phones (got when I was pregnant with Faith--and they were the free ones then!). We actually got our brand-spankin'-new router delivered Wednesday afternoon, and Nathan set it all up after football practice. Bob was TDY, though, and I just haven't had time to do any blogging until now. I want to have a separate post about our weekend at White Sulphur Springs because it was so great--the new hotel is SO nice (and I took some pictures!), and I had some free time so not only was I able to finish science preparations and get a little ahead in Latin, I was also able to read the second Harry Potter book! Anyhow--another post for all that.

We started both co-ops Tuesday morning, and I don't think there could have been a gloomier day to start! It rained continuously, as it has pretty much the entire time since Tuesday. Yesterday had to have been the worst though. I had to drive to Walmart to get stuff for next week's science lab (denatured alcohol, ammonia, a fire extinguisher--that sort of stuff, LOL), and I also had to drive to my friend Kimberly's house for our weekly Bible study. I thought the car was going to float off the road! These past few days have been much more impressive than Hurricane Irene, I have to say. Finally the sun has peeked out a bit this afternoon, which is a welcome sight. Football practice was cancelled the past few nights (well, Nathan had practice Wednesday night), but that was actually a nice break for me, since Bob was gone. The kids need to be able to get outside and run around though.

So, back to the co-op . . . Rivendell went very well. Again the skype connections were great, so it wasn't a problem at all to have one student be represented by a computer screen in science class! At one point in the afternoon Nathan came down to the basement, where I was doing memory work with the little guys, to tell me that I had neglected to tell him about some literature reading he was supposed to have done, as well as some terms he was supposed to have defined. Whoops! I later found the assignment sheet in the school room (Jenny gave it to us at a meeting AT MY HOUSE!), and then as I was going through some papers piled up on the kitchen counter this afternoon, I found an envelope from Jenny that had the reading enclosed for Nathan. So (*cough*) now you know that I am really not organized at all, and things are indeed slipping! I need a better system for mail. Someday I'll organize that . . . I just need some extra time . . .

I think we are getting back into a good school routine for the other days of the week as well. We've been getting a lot done each morning, especially with Caleb, Jonathan, Anna, and Grace, so I've been very happy with that. Anna is really coming along with her blending, but she's still not really reading. I think she will benefit with more consistent work! Caleb and Jonathan are both (finally) finishing up their math books from last year. Now they'll be able to skip the first 30 or 40 lessons (well, I have them do the tests every 10 lessons), since everything is still so fresh! This summer I started them doing this Xtra Math website each day to help with their math facts. It's like doing flashcards, but since it is on the computer, it is infinitely more exciting than doing flashcards with mom, LOL. And it takes none of my time!! So they are definitely going to continue that.

Christine also sent me these lovely assignment sheets that she had made up for all her boys. I changed the categories to exactly what we needed and printed off several weeks' worth for the boys. Caleb and Jonathan just check off what they have done, but it is helpful for Nathan and Luke to be able to map out what all they need to accomplish each day to be ready for Rivendell on Tuesday and Latin on Wednesday, as well as making sure they finish their regular math and grammar. I think it's good preparation for college to be able to do that.

Almost Ready

We're almost ready for co-ops to start up again on Tuesday. We did school last week, but I ran around like a crazy woman in the afternoons to finish up last-minute errands. I was able to get my 2 posterboard maps of Europe laminated (although the teacher shop moved--without consulting me, if you can imagine--and so it took much longer than I had planned), and I got Nathan and Luke's Spanish books spiral bound at Staples. It cost $9 per book, but they cut the binding off and put the spiral thing on. The books look great, and hopefully they won't fall apart like Nathan's book did last year. I got my Home Science Tools order, so we're set for labs. Christine sent me some nifty assignment sheets she made for her boys, and I changed them to fit our subjects and printed them off for my boys. Hopefully this will help keep everyone organized!

We also set up the girls' new bunk beds. I had hoped to post a picture, but I haven't gotten around to taking one yet. We still haven't completed all the furniture switching-around that will take place once we take down Faith's crib, though, so maybe I'll wait to take pictures until after that. Faith is sleeping on the trundle bed though. The first night she was up and down so many times, Bob finally put her back in the crib. The second night she was up and down again, but not as much. The third day I stopped letting her take a nap in the afternoon! She has still been up and down some (mainly to go potty), but it has definitely been greatly reduced!

Micah has not been as fussy this week, which was such a blessing. His third tooth came in last Saturday, and he worked hard for it, based on how fussy he was the week before! Now the other top tooth is SO close to poking through. You can see white, but there is still a tiny bit of gum over it. I thought we'd get a break after this tooth comes through, but there's another tooth on top the is really close as well! He's going to have a mouthful of teeth by Christmas--just in time for a big turkey dinner with us, LOL.

But first we have one last weekend, and we're spending it at White Sulphur Springs! I hope it is really relaxing and refreshing--I'm a bit nervous about the start of a new school year! I had a disturbing dream last night, where we were going to move in 24 hours, so I was trying to sort through all our clutter. But I knew it just wasn't enough time, and I woke up very flustered! I think I still feel like I'm not ready to start, and there's more to do to be ready, and so that's why I had that dream. But as my friend Kimberly said, the co-ops are starting on Tuesday, no matter how ready I am!

"Twas a Dark Yet Not Too Stormy Night"

Here we are, listening to the rain and wind from the outer bands of Hurricane Irene. Once again Capital Weather Gang called it, as far as how our little area was going to be affected (or not affected) by this storm. They're amazing! Our power went out once, briefly, but other than that burst of excitement, it hasn't even seemed very windy!

I noticed that I have neglected to update my blog all week, which might lead one to believe that we had a relaxed, restful week, but of course that was not really the case! While at home, I've been trying to get ready for school starting next week, as well as the co-ops starting Sept. 6. But we've also been rushing around too, especially in the evenings, when Nathan and Luke both have football practice from 6:00 to 8:00, but not in the same place. Exciting times!

Monday: Nathan mowed my friend Lynnea's lawn. He has been gainfully employed this summer by ,mowing their large lawn once a week! And while he was doing it this week, the girls, Micah, and I visited with Lynnea and her 3 girls (and 2 bunnies). I always enjoy visiting with Lynnea! In the afternoon I had a chiropractor appointment, first one since before we went to Ohio in June. I want to start the school year off properly aligned!

Tuesday: The kids and I went off to a local park to hike on a trail. I am teaching in the "trees" unit for the elementary co-op the end of September, and I am hoping to take my classes over to this park, which is close to the church where we meet, so they can identify some trees. The kids and I walked up an easy trail, but there wasn't a lot of tree variety--mainly oaks and hickories. I think we're going to go with it though. The girls (and Nathan) were very whiny, so I am going to have to go back by myself to really prepare what I am going to say! The weather was gorgeous though--sunny, breezy, and not very humid. A perfect day for a hike!

Wednesday: I taught Latin at 12:45, and then we all headed over to our church so we could do a dry run test for Rivendell. Now that Siri is over in Hawaii, we had to make sure that we could have 2 computers in each location, and both sets of computers skyping each other. I am happy to say it was a great success! Whew! Hopefully things will go that smoothly when we are actually having classes!

Thursday: Luke had an orthodontist appointment, and then he and I went to Walmart to get school supplies. I think we got what we need for the year, and we also went to Sams to stock up before the great storm. A big afternoon of shopping! I am still hoping to make a commissary trip next week before school really gets going.

Friday: Other than taking Caleb to his book club over at the McC's house, we didn't have to go anywhere today. We spent some time putting all our plastic yard toys under the deck and policing up the yard (which should make our neighbors happy, LOL). Then the younger kids and I went to Bible study, while Bob dropped both boys off at their practices, stayed at Nathan's, and went to a parents' meeting when it was done, while one of Luke's coaches dropped him off where Nathan's team meets. Having 2 boys playing on different football teams has been quite a time so far! I don't know how other families do it!

Saturday: This morning Bob and I looked at a set of bunk beds a family on the homeschool email loop was selling. The bunk beds have a trundle bed that rolls out from underneath, and I thought that might work for the girls' room, since that is a small room, and we weren't sure how to fit everyone in once Faith is out of the crib. The set also came with a chest of drawers (we can always use more dresser space!) and 2 desks, one with a hutch. We ended up buying the set for $475, including 3 twin mattresses. It's on the older side, and not really feminine or anything, but it is very sturdy, and it should work just fine. We mde 2 trips to get all the furniture home, and on our way back we ran into Walmart to buy 3 twin sheet sets. Walmart was a zoo, as people were buying bottled water and toilet paper, LOL. We were trying to beat the heavy rain, but since that never really materialized, I guess we could have dilly-dallied a bit more! Luke had a football scrimmage this afternoon (in the rain), but after they came home and ate dinner, the boys helped Bob set everything up. Bob got the bottom bunk set up, but when he went to put the top part on, he realized that part of one post was broken, so he will need to fix that tomorrow. So for tonight, Anna is on what will be the bottom bunk (where Grace will normally sleep), Grace is on the trundle part (where Faith will normally sleep), and Faith is still in her crib. She is VERY excited about sleeping in a big girl bed, however, so hopefully it will be an easy fix tomorrow.

So that's what we've been up to. I've been busy drawing a map of Europe on a piece of posterboard for me to use for mapwork at Rivendell this year. I've finished drawing it, and now I need to outline it all with a sharpie, and draw in the lakes and rivers. Then I'm going to draw a second one for Christine to use for history, and get them both laminated at the teacher store not too far from here. That is a goal for next week!

But now, as I listen to the wind actually pick up a bit, I think it is time to go to bed!

Physical Science

I have finally made some headway with the physical science for next year. It took me awhile to really get into it because first of all, it's not my favorite of sciences, and second, the lab stuff was just too overwhelming. But I need to order the lab stuff, so I had to jump in.

The thing about the labs for this course is that they all use wildly different components--6 V batteries, density cylinders, hooked weights and a demonstration balance, various metal electrodes, alligator clips, and wires, mini light bulbs and bases, magnets, optic bench, spectroscope, various different chemicals with all the glassware associated, as well as burners . . . and that's just some of the things! When I printed off the order form for BJU physical science from hometrainingtools, it was 7 pages long and cost over $200! That's for one person! The course is an introduction to physics and chemistry, so it hits a ton of different topics. Obviously some trimming had to be done.

I was able to find a used lab demonstration DVD online from BJU, so I have been watching the labs. Wow . . . it is really not too fun to just watch a bunch of labs being done, LOL. I would not want to do all my high school science that way, for sure! But it was very helpful for me in seeing what labs were extra, what things I could substitute, and most importantly, which labs could be done in one big group with only one apparatus, and which ones would be most beneficial for us to do in smaller groups. We'll have a total of 7 students next year, although Eric will be roughing it in Hawaii and will have to watch us. So that leaves 6 students, and I think we'll break them up into 2 groups of 3 for a lot of labs. That will give more hands-on experience, especially for the ones who might be more timid and not naturally just leap in to participate. But that does mean I have to buy enough stuff for 2 groups for those labs. I'm not sure how chemistry (in 2 years) is going to work out! I can see that getting really expensive! Although . . . not as expensive as a class at the community college. And I do want the kids to have good hands-on lab experience in high school, like I did--even if they don't have a super-experienced teacher like Mr. Minor to teach them!

Checking in Mid-Week

It's been awhile since I updated the blog! It has been extremely hot and humid, and I certainly haven't been spending any time outdoors, so you would think that would lead to plenty of blogging time. Obviously that has not been the case! We've been very busy though. Here's a brief update to catch everyone up.



1. Friday, July 22--Bob, Nathan, Jonathan, and the 3 girls drove up to WSS to pick up Caleb from his week at Camp Caleb. He had a really fun time, and I think it was even better because it was a really small week--only 5 boys and 1 girl. Caleb even did the zip line at the end! He had been very scared and nervous about doing it, so we were all so proud of him for conquering those fears and doing it anyway. I still don't think that was his favorite thing to do by any means, however.



2. Saturday was the day for potlucks. First off, we had a "kick-out" party at the McC's house for Rivendell. We were saying goodbye to the C family as they head off to Hawaii for 2 years (we are seriously looking into space-A flights--wouldn't that be totally fun?!), and we wanted to get a group shot before they left. And here we all are! Lots of kids! Five families, and 22 kids (plus Siri's bun-in-the-oven, as well as a few kids who are graduated from one family). It was boiling hot, but the McC's have a big blow-up water slide from Christine's sister-in-law, and the kids all played on that and ran around with squirt guns. We adults sat inside where it was cooler and talked.


The second potluck on Saturday was dinner time, and that one was at our house. Our church small group was saying goodbye to a family who have been here for 3 years. John's assignment is over, and they are heading back to their home, but we are going to miss them so much! Elya is Anna's age, and the girls have had so much fun playing dress-up and other games together at our house.



3. Sunday night Bob's sister Rose drove down to visit. She had a meeting Monday morning with a supervisor in an office not too far from us. She will have to come see him other times, so we are looking forward to more visits! Hopefully she'll be able to bring her girls along too sometimes. Speaking of her girls, Madison packed up a bunch of her old dolls for the girls. They were so thrilled with them all! They ahve been playing almost nonstop with them! I should have gotten a picture of Rose and the girls with the dolls before they went off to bed, but I didn't think about it! Instead, here is a picture of all the dolls, lined up very neatly and orderly by Anna. I think she was inventory-ing, LOL.

4. Monday I drove around like a taxi-driver. Nathan's AO group had a mini-reunion with the northern VA kids down south, so I drove him and Jessica down to Burke for bowling. Then I rushed back, got Anna and Grace, and drove them out to Tyson's Corner for Elya's birthday party. (They had waffles with all sorts of toppings as their dinner/cake there--isn't that a great idea?! They loved it--"We had WHIPPED CREAM with our DINNER!"). Then I rushed back home because Bob was taking Nathan and Luke to a football camp, which is actually all week long in the evenings.

5. Tuesday we had 2 little girls from church, plus their 8 year old male cousin, over to play. What fun! The girls dressed up and played with the doll house, especially. The boys played Monopoly. Nathan and Luke suspiciously asked if Caleb and Jonathan had roped him into playing, but they said that he had told them he liked playing Monopoly, and wondered if we had it! So they had a nice game.

6. Micah has been busy all on his own. I was talking to my mom on the phone on Friday, and I happened to glance in his mouth and notice that he has a tooth already! Bottom right. It's in quite a ways already too! I had noticed that he had been pretty drooly and a little more fussy, so I had wondered if he might not be teething, but I was expecting a tooth to come in another month or so! he's only 3 1/2 months now! He's our earliest teether, that's for sure. I'll have to go back and check Caleb's calendar, because he was early as well, although I think it was 4 months for him. He was a real biter (of me!), so hopefully Micah will not be that way . . .

Micah has also been loving the Johnny Jump-Up, as well as this little exersaucer thing we have from the McC's. He likes standing! He'll spin himself in a circle in the jumper thing, but only counter-clockwise, LOL. That Johnny Jump-Up is a real classic--the L's bought it for Anthony, some 22 years ago. They used it for their 4 older kids, then we borrowed it and used it for Nathan down to Faith. When they had Theodore, we gave it back to them for him to use! Now we have it again . . . that's 13 kids! Pretty impressive!


So . . . that's what's been happening. Now I need to buckle down and get ready for this next school year. I have a rough lab list made out, but I need to fine-tune that and get the order in. I need to really plan out the year, as far as physical science goes. Some weeks we'll only cover 1/2 a chapter, and I need to decide for sure which weeks those will be, plus get the assignments all planned out. I also need to type up all the memory work for next year, and make final decisions aobut what poems we're going to memorize, and where each poem will go in the year. I also need to finish pulling the science facts from the physical science book. And I need to plan out my 2 weeks of teaching for the elementary co-op. I teach the last 2 weeks of September, so I need to have that all done before Rivendell starts up and I'm swamped! I know I am focusing on trees, so at least it's something I like and already know a lot about! And of course, if I ever get bored, I need to work ahead in Latin so I can keep teaching that class. Once I get all that done, I can really relax and enjoy my summer . . . ha! And now you know why I probably won't be blogging much in the next few weeks either!

Motivational Paragraph

Do you wish you had a motivational paragraph you could dwell on, something to help you become all you can be? Sort of along the lines of Khalil's motivational tapes from Veggietale's Jonah movie ("You are a skilled metalworker . . .")? Yes? Well, here is something sure to fit the bill, straight from Henle's classic Latin I text!

You are good men. Therefore you praise peace and virtue and pray for all men. You do not prepare (for) war because you are not eager for fame and victory. You do not attack neighboring cities; you do not seize the towns of neighboring tribes; you prepare swords and legions, not on account of war, but on account of peace.

Or maybe it is more motivational in Latin . . .

Estis homines boni. Itaque pacem et virtutem laudatis et pro omnibus hominibus oratis. Bellum non paratis quod non estis gloriae et victoriae cupidi. Urbes finitimas non oppungnatis; oppida gentium finitimarum non occupatis; gladios et legiones non propter bellum sed propter pacem paratis.

Now go and improve yourselves!

Testing's Over!

Now maybe I can relax a little bit! Of course, I always worry until I get the results back, LOL. Everyone assured me it was so easy, and that they all took their time and were very careful, but you never know . . . Jonathan especially took a rather cavalier attitude toward actually reading through the entire question (and all the answer choices) during our test practice time, so we'll see.

I tested the first-graders, of which the only one doing the testing with our homeschool group was Joel McC. Christine told me he had been nervous about the whole thing, but it worked out so well. Last year there was a snafu in signing up for the church building. The church built a new building and moved into in during last summer, and the lady who had taken our "reservation" retired, so we never made it onto the church's calendar. Another homeschool group signed up to use the church for testing during "our" week. When our lady in charge realized this, she ended up working out that we would share the facility. Our group was upstairs in some rooms. This was bad in that there was no nursery room, but the room that Joel and I were in was like where you might hold a small group meeting--2 comfortable couches, a coffee table, etc. It was like testing in your family room! I was worried about where I would sit while nursing, so it was so nice to have this couch! I even laid Micah down on it to nap beside me, and he was happy as a clam. And Joel felt totally comfortable in there too--definitely no nervousness. It was nice!

Since there was no real nursery, Christine watched my girls Monday and Wednesday at her house, and Lynnea took them to her house Tuesday. This was such a blessing! They had so much fun at these houses, and it was so much nicer than sitting at the church for 3 days in a row!

There was talk of combining the 2 groups next year, or at least having us test at the same time again, since that makes the church be used only for one week. I'm taking over as the testing head person for our group next year, and I really would rather not do either option. We really can't combine. The other group has an elaborate structure--moms sign up to make all these snacks (plus sub. ones with kids with milk, gluten, nut allergies, etc.), the 3-5 year olds don't have nusery, but rather a VBS-style program, and every mom has to volunteer for some job (well, I do like that). The big thing is that there is a $10 cost PER CHILD to cover all this. I can't afford to pay an extra $60 or so so to be able to test! The tests alone are fairly expensive! And I would just as soon pack my own kids' snacks. I know what they like, and it is a whole lot cheaper than $10 per child!! Too complicated and expensive.

I don't really want to share the facility either. I NEED to have a nursery next year! And we barely had enough rooms this year, so next year one group would probably have to use the youth building as well as the upstairs. That is just really not as convenient, and I don't want to have to deal with it! I think having the 2 groups test different weeks gives people as option, if one date doesn't work or whatever.

I guess I'll be figuring all that out next year, joy, joy! To be honest, in a few years, I think Christine and I will test together and not worry about the group. Stanford has changed the rules so now you can test your own children, although I think you have to test other kids as well (so just not ONLY your own children). But for right now--WE'RE DONE! And I'm not worrying about it until later, LOL.

Winding Down

It's hard to believe that the school year is winding down for us, especially since we're not really slowing down, LOL. Well, I am, but that's a different story! At the one co-op for the younger kids, they are in their last unit, which is weather. They'll finish that up and then have 2 weeks the end of April where they will take the Presidential Physical Fitness test. People have been practicing here, although some have been practicing more than others, so we'll see how that all goes. Nathan actually has to take a PFT Tuesday for Civil Air Patrol as well.

As far as Rivendell goes, we officially end May 10 (our 32nd week), so we have a few more weeks. Life science, however, only had 27 chapters, and we have diligently plowed through them, so we will be done with science in 2 Tuesdays, on April 5! This worked out perfectly, since I am due April 11. That week we will have our spring break, since another mom will be busy with last minute details of her only daughter's wedding that next Saturday. After spring break, the boys will just have literature/writing, Spanish, and history, so I know they will think they have it easier!

I have been very pleased with the BJU Life Science text this year. It has given the boys a very thorough overview of biology, and I know they will be quite prepared for their high school biology class. It covered a lot, though, and there were definitely some chapters where I would have liked to spend 2 weeks! The next time I teach it, which will be Lord willing in 2 years, I probably won't be having a baby, so we will be able to slow down a bit. Next year we are doing physical science, or, as it is currently faddish to call it, "Integrated Physics and Chemistry", and that book only has 21 chapters, so I am looking forward to going at a slower pace. I will say, however, that I am not looking forward to the subject matter as much, LOL. I love chemistry, but physics is NOT my favorite. Oh well.

We will also be stopping the official memory work part that I have been doing with the younger kids in the afternoon after spring break, although I have everything all copied out for the rest of the year, so they can do it individually if they want to. That's what we'll do, anyway! The kids have learned a ton of stuff this year--we're almost all the way finished with Hebrews 11:1-12:2, and we've memorized 5 poems completely. We're on point 27 ("The Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression--1929") of the 32 point timeline, and the kids are really doing well, even with the dates. They've also memorized a science fact each week from the life science chapter that the older boys are working on, and I must say it has been helpful for the older boys to hear the younger kids chanting things through the week like the formula for cellular respiration, the stages of mitosis, and the main bones of the skeletal system!

I have been so pleased with Nathan's progress in Spanish, writing, and history this year as well. In Spanish, he is so much more fluent than I ever was after 2 years of high school French! Siri is going to have them keep working on some stuff over the summer so they don't forget everything before August. And now that we have started doing Latin again, Nathan is singing the praises of Spanish, as compared to Latin! Luke is looking forward to starting Spanish next year.

I have also seen vast improvement in his writing, thanks to Theresa and her wonderful teaching. He has become a lot quicker at expressing his thoughts on paper, as well as clearer. He is still much more succinct in comparison to some though, LOL. He has also enjoyed the books they have read and discussed for the literature part. Luke is also taking a literature class from Theresa in the afternoon, and he has also really enjoyed the discussions and books. Theresa pretty much has them writing something each week, which has been great, and Nathan has had to do a lot of timed essays for practice as well. Right now he is doing a big research paper on blood.

In history, the boys have finally reached Rome. Christine tells me each week about the lively discussions they are having, which is Nathan's favorite part. Tapestry of Grace also moves really quickly, and in fact next year, when we do TOG Year 2, we are going to split it into 2 years, since it covers so much so fast. That will hopefully give the boys more time to do some of the extra more hands-on activities that we just haven't had time to do this year. They have covered so much ground, and they are retaining a lot too, as evidenced by all they talked about at the museum in Philadelphia!

The past 3 weeks we have met at our house, as opposed to our church, where we usually meet. Our church building is being remodeled to make room for more offices. When Craig, the church administrator, first told us this was on the agenda, way back in August, we thought, "Oh no!" But the timing has worked out perfectly. It's been really nice to not have to lug all my science stuff up and down stairs in the church--it's right here at my fingertips! When I'm not teaching, I can sit on my own couch, in my slippers! And my bathroom is right around the corner, as opposed to up the stairs. Nice! Plus, the girls can just play in the playroom, and we don't have to spend time cleaning like we do when we're done at the church each week! We do really miss the big field outside for the boys to play football, but they have the trampoline (I am sure our crabby nieghbors love that we now have 17 kids over here Tuesday afternoons, LOL), as well as the basketball hoop. We do love meeting at the church--it is nice to have a dedicated place that feels more "school-like" and official, and where the classes can be a little more spread out, but this has worked out well for the short-term, and it has sure been nice for me at the end of pregnancy. Craig said today that they are really coming along and hope to be done in the next 2 weeks--they should for sure be done when we are back from spring break. And the women's bathroom is being remodeled as well, so I know it will be very nice!

So that's where we are. We are already making plans for next year, and I think it will be just as great! The Lord has been so faithful with this co-op--what a wonderful group of ladies and kids! We have thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of them!

Penn Museum

Yesterday we had such a fun day! We went on a little field trip to the Penn Museum with our Rivendell co-op. One family couldn't come, but we still made for a large group--6 adults and 16 kids! This is the same museum that we visited back in June 2009, when we took our weekend trip to Philadelphia and stayed with my college friends. Back in the fall, someone posted a message on a homeschooling email loop that Christine and I are on about this great deal they had seen for the museum--buy 4 tickets for $16! So we all did that, although it seemed like the beginning of March was light-years away when we were planning this trip. I think we were all doubting if it would really work out as the time actually got closer, but we all made it there and had a terrific time. It was a great review for the kids too of all the ancient history we've been studying this year with Tapestry of Grace year 1.
We started out on the 3rd floor with the gallery on Upper Egypt. The mummies were impressive, as always!

Then we moved on to the Asian gallery, where the crystal ball was admired.

In several places, Christine had the 3 Rivendell boys go through the room and pick one thing to explain to the younger kids. Here Nathan is explaining about the lion, which would have guarded a palace or something. The Chinese lions look like dogs because lions aren't native to China, so the artists used dogs as models. I had always wondered about that! Also, this is a male lion because it has a globe under its paw. Female lions are depicted with baby lions under their paw. Interesting!

Here is a group shot taken by a kind passer-by in front of a Japanese Buddhist shrine. I told you we were an impressive group! Buddhists at one point in time underwent a period of persecution in Japan, and so they started making these minature "portable" shrines, of which several were displayed.

We moved on through the Rome and Greece galleries before heading outside to eat our picnic lunches on the benches in front of the museum. The weather was beautiful, praise the Lord, so the kids got to run around this fountain and work off some steam. Then we headed back in and finished up with the Lower Egypt gallery, as well as the American Indian and African galleries, which aren't that big. Here are the 3 Rivendell boys in front of one of the excavated pillars from a palace in Lower Egypt. You can see a doorway in the background.

We were done by 3:30, and we all headed back home, exhausted. The 3 girls fell asleep pretty quickly in the van! All the driving and walking about did me in, and I am still so tired!

We are supposed to go to PA to visit Bob's family next weekend, but this drive has made us have second thoughts. I might be too far along to make another drive--it was so frustrating to have to stop all the time for me to go to the bathroom, and I was so uncomfortable sitting! So we'll see how I am feeling in a few days.

Lemurs and More Varenga

Every 2 years our Tuesday morning co-op does a writing unit. For the 5th and 6th graders, they write a research paper and then do an oral presentation, complete with a display board. Two years ago, Nathan did his report on Madagascar. This year the theme was "animals", and Luke picked lemurs.

Lemurs are native only to Madagascar, which turned out to be handy. For the meal afterward everyone had to bring in a dish related to their animal--either something the animal eats, something made from the animal (so hard to find a good cut of lemur though, LOL), something from the country where the animal lives, or (the cop-out last option!) something in the shape of the animal. Someone made absolutely adorable cupcakes in the shape of koala bears! We brought our old standby of varenga--the boiled, roasted shredded beef dish over rice that we also brought in for Nathan's meal. Never thought I'd use that recipe twice! It's actually pretty good.

Luke did really well on his presentation. He made eye contact and spoke slowly, covering all his points but not relying too much on his notecards. He was able to answer the questions people asked after the presentation. He looked confident up there, a far cry from a few years ago, when he would dissolve in a silent puddle of tears when in front of a group of people!

Here's a closer look at his display board. Lemurs are cute little guys, for the most part (well, not the freaky aye-aye so much). He had an interesting paper and talk! These kind of experiences are why it is nice to be in a co-op. It's so much different giving an oral report in front of 17 other classmates, plus random parents and siblings, as opposed to just one's own siblings and parents!

A Flexible Day

Tuesday is our co-op day, but we had a bit of an ice storm last night. The younger kids' morning co-op was cancelled, but we decided the roads were fine, once we got out of our subdivisions, so we would go ahead and have our junior high co-op. We decided we would meet a little bit later, though--10:00 instead of 9:30. I dropped Nathan off at Christine's house, and she drove Isaac and Nathan, along with her 1 year old Elena, over to our church to meet Eric and do history (Theresa, our literature/writing person who usually teaches first, has a big hill in her driveway and absolutely could not get out).

As they were almost at the church, Elena threw up all over herself and her carseat. At the church, Christine examined the situation and decided going home to clean up was the better course. So she picked up Eric and headed back to her house. She was going to clean up Elena, then do about 45 minutes of history. Then I would stop by her house, pick up the 3 boys (and drop off some of my own so we would still all fit in the small van, the only one I felt like I could scrape this morning!), and head over to the church to do science. I had already decided that with the later start, we wouldn't even really go through the chapter--we would just do the lab, which was the frog dissection. Christine would bring everyone else in her van in time to eat lunch. Then we would do Spanish.

A few minutes later, Christine called again. Elena had thrown up again, and she didn't even want to put her back in the car seat (which she still had to clean). As we were talking, the boys came in to inform her that her van was sliding down their driveway! Ack! Time for yet another plan!

So I ran back over (good thing we live close!), picked up the 3 Rivendell boys, and brought them back to my house. We all ate lunch, and then we leisurely did the frog dissection at my kitchen table. It was so nice! I didn't have to lug anything into the church and back out again! Siri came about 1:30, as we were finishing up, and she did Spanish over here. We just skipped memory work (although I will email it out), and Theresa emailed out her assignments for literature. Luke did point out that "It's no fun to just read and not have the discussion" though!

The frog dissection was fun! I was glad I had just done a frog dissection with Lynnea's and Kari's kids a few weeks ago. Their specimens were much larger, as well as dye-injected, so I was a bit worried about how clear everything would be with these scrawny little guys we had today. No worries though--everything was there, just as it should be! The funny thing was that all 4 of our specimens today were females, as well as the 6 specimens I did with Kari and Lynnea! I was hoping for at least one male, but no such luck. The one I did before were all very ready to reproduce, with bellies full of eggs, and really large oviducts. Today's specimens were not at all in that season of life, so no eggs.

Today's specimens did have one thing going for them--full stomachs! All the ones I did the other day pretty much had empty stomachs--maybe because they were injected? Or maybe just a coincidence. Anyhow, when we sliced those stomachs open, we saw nothing interesting. Today, however, the boys were pulling out recognizable bugs from the stomachs! Eric's frog had a caterpillar, and Nathan's frog had not one, but 2 Japanese beetles, one still in prime condition! Isaac's had a bug as well, but it was more digested, and we weren't able to definitively tell what kind it was. I thought everyone would be interested, so I made sure to take a picture of Nathan's beetles. The one in front in the complete one.

And just in case you want to briefly review your high school biology, the liver is the 3-lobed organ near the top of the cut, and the stomach is the J-shaped organ under it, with the small intestine coming off the side. We found lots of other organs and glands, but that's all you can see!