January 1 Merry Christmas!

I am sitting at the kitchen table with a homemade chai latte and plate of cookies. I need to get all the cookies and Swedish Fish eaten by Monday, so I can get back to logging calories and nutrients.

We celebrated Christmas with my parents and brothers family yesterday. We did the same last year (different reason,though)
I think I like having Christmas spaced out like that. It's less overwhelming.
I had made sock puppets for my 2 yr old nephew. Whenever I watch him, we always wear socks on our hands and make them talk, so I thought he'd like some sock puppets.

And for his mom... A box with easy lid for storage of the puppets on his toy shelf.
In addition to hot glueing the embellishments, I tacked them in place with needle and thread. It seemed for "Toddler Friendly" that way.
Here is a quite visual guide:

I spent News Years Day (morning) charting out my revolving garden. Those parts of the garden I plant to rotate crops for a more year round harvest. I have 5 garden areas for this,  my 3 boxes to the left of the back porch, a box on the right side of the back porch, and a section in the ground I will rotate winter carrots and summer bell peppers. I have sowing dates for all 10 crops, along with dates to prep the soil between plantings. I put all pf the dates into my smartphone calendar with a reminder set for a few days before. 

I felt Quite Accomplished. Too bad I can't devote this much effort to cleaning the kitchen.

HEALTH NOTE: on the first day of the year, I took my vitamins, drank my 2L of water, and met my Fitbit goal! 

my 21 yr old son found an app for my smart phone called HABITRPG. I earn gold by meeting daily goals and tasks (that I list) and can go on quests and buy new armor and swords with my earned coins!

DASH4? or is it DASH5?

PREVIOUS DASHNYAM POSTS:
DASH1
DASH2
DASH3

Because I did not do a DASH entry yesterday (Thursday) on Day 4, do I call this entry DASH5, because it is Day 5 with Dash OR do I call it DASH4 because it is the 4th entry in the Dashnyam Chronicles?

Did that sentence really need to have the word 'because' three times??

Last back-track a bit to yesterday for a short overview of Day 4 with Dash. Yesterday I drove him to school, spent an hour talking to attendance officers and parent support people. They were all very kind and helpful. I was armed with phone numbers and a calendar with all the odd days that school starts/ends at different times that normal or there is no school. And there are LOTS of those days!!

I finally got my google calendar loaded up with all the new info and deleted all my old times and plans for our school. They will be re-planned this weekend.

Paul stopped by our house waiting for time to take the bus home (A friend from Grover Beach that takes classes down here and rides the bus). Gavin walked Dashnyam home. The boys relaxed, D did a little homework, we went to church, came home, Dash forgot to finish his homework until 10PM, so he was up kinda late.


NOW for DAY 5....
I guess I should call this entry DASH4&5. or DASH 4/5.

I woke, very unwillingly, at 7:14 and got to Dashnyam's room around 7:17. He was still sleep. I thought he didn't understand how to turn on his alarm clock, but Gavin to old me he did have it on, but when it went off at 7AM, Dashnyam turned it off and went back to bed. He was tired from staying up late to finish his homework. I'll have to give him more notice of when we have things planned in the evenings so he can get his homework done around our schedule..

I sent all 3 of my boys out to walk Dashnyam to school with giving Gavin specific instructions of timing how long it takes. They left the house at 8:10 and said it took 13 minutes to get Dashnyam to the corner. It's about a 3-4 minute walk for Dashnyam to get all the way to his class. So we'll plan on a 20 minute walk,to account for waiting on the light and cars to cross streets. Ki said they lucked out with the street crossing today and didn;t have to wait to cross any streets.

I made chai. I discovered that those bulk, Mexican, inexpensive cinnamon sticks are CHEAP for a reason.. they are cheap cinnamon! The whole entire bag has no cinnamon smell, the sticks broken have no yummy cinnamon scent and I licked one and it didn't taste like cinnamon at all. So I added extra clove and anise to my chai. but it's not as good as with the cinnamon. That'll teach me to buy cheap spices!

10:00 - Gavin is learning Japanese, Ki is doing laundry, and Connor is cooking a PVC pipe in the oven. The leather hardening didn't work well yesterday. They will try again after gathering more information.
They are working on weapons for Feast of Mars (Amtgard camp). Connor seems to have finished and socked his weapon today. i has something planned. I need to sew some sashes.


One of Dash's teachers emailed me today, in response to one I sent her, just checking on how he is understanding and going in the class, since he had told me he was a little confused. Sounds like things are going well. He took a reading placement test today to make sure he is in the class he needs to be or if he needs to be moved.

I wonder if I can get Brian to take the 4 boys to church tonight and leave me at home.

school? What School?

I felt the need for a schoolish-type entry.
The J-term entries and the Fun Science entries are, well, fun. Entertaining. Great Blog-Fodder.
But it seems that often our educational experiences of the day just aren't as exciting as those cool posts like about Autopsies or Smoke Bombs or even just awesome plans & schedules.
I sometimes fell not much school happens. But I guess that isn't true. or maybe it is. A lot of learning, fun, research, and freedom to find their passions & goals happens. But maybe not lot of 'school' happens; not a lot that looks like typical-school, anyway.
So, here are some things that are going on at our house:
KI -

• Ki has not been too interested in Life Of Fred (for math). It is a great math book, written as a story. I think Ki is just taking a break from it. Though I not require certain things to be done at certain times for math, nor the completion of something that's not working for them at the moment, math. of some sort, is required. Ki is doing some Aleks Quicktables online daily. It's a TimesTablePractice. I have been looking over KHAN Academy lately and had the boys try it out. It has a great math area; videos and exercises, tracking of progress and earning of badges. It was not assigned to do the math, I just asked them to register and try it. Ki went through a couple sections and earned a few badges. (check out the Khan Academy- it is really good and free)
• Ki has decided he wants to read Lord of the Ring books, finally. Brian has a rule of 'read it before watching it'. Ki's very eager to watch it, but has not been ready to read it. A few weeks ago he asked for the LOTR books from the top shelf so he can read them. He's also reading books from The Series of Unfortunate Events and a Warriors series. Plus he reads his Bible daily. He's more consistent at it than I am.
• He likes to watch Doctor Who on Netflix or NCIS online. (we still do not have a working television)
• Ki loves acting and cooking. they are his passions. He is in a play. He has practice twice a week. This is his 4th or 5th acting session since we've been here. Sometimes he reads skits or watches acting 'lessons' on YouTube. He was a Junior Chef at the local cooking school, but they moved. Now he just has fun planning meals or treats to make for us. I sent a video to him yesterday. It's from Molecular Gastronomy. It is awesome! He lloved what they did and wants to give it a try. I'll be ordering the Molecular Gastronomy kit for us to make creative culinary confections. Seriously- Watch This!

CONNOR-

• Connor's been plugging away at his ALEKS math. I assign a certain numbers of topics to be done each week. Sometimes he gets stuck, so I tell him to have his dad help him. Next thing I know he's figured it out on his own. He also tried the KHAN Academy. I think we'll switch from Aleks to Khan when C & G are done with their current ALEKS. Probably in 2 weeks I guess.
• He's been using Gavin's Bamboo Pen Tablet to do some drawing.







• He's looking up stuff online and reading his books (and from Proverbs).
• He's enjoying acting and is the play with Ki.

GAVIN-

• I don't know what he is reading.
• He is spending a lot of time with his Bamboo Pen Tablet- working on his sketching. He's looking into getting 2 online illustrator programs. He & Connor are thinking about making a mini-animation video.

• He's doing his Aleks Math and has earned a few KHAN Badges.
• He likes to read current events and tell us about it.

ME- I send the boys an email with what I want them to work on through out the week. I also write a few things on our Dry Erase Board- but not this week. This week I just sent the email and some links.

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DOUBLE ENTRY!

Entry #1 food (#2 is school)Panera has done something that will totally ruin their business.
I LOVE Pecan Sweet Rolls. I don;t get them often, but talk about a very special treat!
I went into Panera for lunch today.
OH and there was this chick that looked EXACTLY like Angela on BONES!! Do you thing Angela from Bones lives in the California Central Coast area?
Oh.. Panera.. bad move.. sorry for the sidetrack (but I LOVE that show)
So I go into Panera and am eyeing the Pecan Sweet Roll and wondering about getting one next week when we go to Panera for Chemistry Testing.
See, I take the boys to Panera for Science Tests. EVERYTHING is better with cocoa and a pastry- even chemistry tests! And brains need glucose!
So I am mentally drooling over the Pecan Roll (yes, I am back to the real Panera story) and see they have put CALORIES on all their signs.
750 (approx. I was in shock, so the number may be off by 25 calories either way)SHOCK.
SO- thanks to Panera's new Marketing Plan (to post exactly how evil their food really is for us)I will never ever EVER buy a Pecan Sweet Roll from then.750 Calories??I think I need to start counting calories in Joules. I think 1 Calorie is like 4.19 Joules or something like that.
So, I'll round that number... DOWN750 Calories would be...(looking for my calculator)
179 Joules
See, they need to list JOULES not Calories.
Oh, wait.. the type of calorie used in Joule conversion is equal to 1,000 of our calories.
never mind
no more Pecan Sweet Rolls for me(well, maybe just 1 more... for Chemistry Test Day... I'll 8 bike miles, which only burns like 300 Calories, but, whatever)
Entry #2 (school)

I think I want to start each day with a couple gamesThis Week :SET & Volcano
Gavin and Connor are doing GREAT on their math! They worked hard last week.I'm going to have them work hard this week, too.This is one of our "quasi unschool" thingsYes I give them assignments sometimes and track their progress (an online math course)They choose their course and sometimes switch in the middle. They choose whatever lesson they want in their chosen course.See, we had a talk about unschool and radical unschool. they all 3 told me they do not want to do radical unschool. They want to have me hold them to what they need to do for their goals (which is engineering and computer programming for the older 2- so I make sure they are working on the math and sciences they need.
Part of reaching their goal is to have 4 different sciences in high school.Ki wants to be a pastor or chef or actor so he sits in on science lessons but can opt out of the advanced stuff (which usually means math).He likes science lessonsesp ones that involve making smoke bombs or reenacting crime scenes.He often asks what we get to learn in science "this week".
Ki and I decided to really focus on Bible reading for Lent. I'm aiming 3-5 chapters a day.Ki is reading a chapter in Proverbs and then he reads a chapter or 2 elsewhere.
It's great now that all 3 boys read.Yes, I know, they are 14-17but Gavin and Ki were late readers(5th grade)Gavin took off right away, but Ki still took a couple years to warm up to it. It's just been a year since he has really been reading well AND liking it.
Gavin has been reading Current Events.He seems to really be enjoying it. he starts with a current event (like Japan) and then after he reads about it, he researches things that go with it (like earthquakes and nuclear power plants)THEN he tells me EVERYTHING!!
I remember 'teaching' my mom all the new things I learned in Science class that day at school.I loved teaching other people the new things I learned! and teaching others helped me REALLY learn it thoroughly!



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Computer Programming J-Term

G&C are doing Computer Programming. Brian will be overseeing a lot of the actual programming projects & learning. I added some research and writing to round out the class. at their age they just need a fairly basic list of what to do and they can find a lot of the info on their own- so it is not as detailed as Ki's Plans.

computer programming

• history-make a timeline (on the computer). Google a couple different information sites.
  
• report- write a 2 page report on computer programming. Include an outline.
  
• people- make bio-pages for important people in the history of computer programming (include pictures when possible)
  
• careers- make a Power Point presentation highlighting different careers. include pictures & graphs
  

some links to get you started:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_programming (this has people to add to your bio pages)
  
• http://www.lingoworkshop.com/Articles/A_brief_history_of_computer_programming.php (this has people to add to your bio pages)
  
• http://www.ehow.com/about_5068181_history-computer-programming.html
  
• http://www.ehow.com/list_5976327_benefits-computer-programmers_.html
  
• http://www.ehow.com/list_7221607_video-game-programmer-job-benefits.html
  
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_language
  
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_programming_languages
  
• How to Write a Research Paper: http://www.aresearchguide.com/1steps.html
  

How to Write a Research Paper: http://www.ehow.com/how_9263_write-research-paper.html

Plans for Ki’s Theater Class

I published this straight from my WORD Document! How fun! So, Ki is doing Theater & Lightwave. (as I did not think either alone was a 2-3 hour a day class)
Theater will be on M/W/F and Light Wave will be on T/Th.

THEATER CLASS

• PLAYWRIGHTS
  
  • Shakespeare (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare )
    
  • Tennesse Williams (http://www.zeroland.co.nz/theatre.html )
    
  • Choose a 3^rd playright from the list at the above link
    
• WRITING A PLAY
  
  • http://www.playwriting101.com/
    
  • VIDEO How-To
    
    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHmm8qncTp8&feature=related
      
    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcJ-UB67QQ0&feature=channel
      
    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoEDMfP9nRY&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=PL8191D67D4070401A
      
    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnTOxfu2RXw&list=PL8191D67D4070401A&playnext=2
      
  • http://www.ehow.com/how_2045040_write-play.html
    
    • Write a short play or a skit- to be acted or done as a puppet show.
      
    • Make a Story Board
      
  • Play NANO-FICTIONARY & Mad Scientist University.
    
    • make a short story board (comic book) of one of the 'game stories'
      
    • Write a Short Skit using one of the games
      
• IMPROVE WEDNESDAY
  
  • http://improvencyclopedia.org/games/index.html
    
  • http://www.whoseline.net/show/games.html
    
  • Maybe have kids over for an hour on Wednesdays, after lunch. Have Ki lead this hour
    
• YOGA/STRETCHING
  
  • Do Daily-with all kids- market as exercises to strengthen muscles for balance and performing plays
    
  • Start Improv Wed Groups with these stretches!
    
• VOCBULARY
  
  • use Notecards on a ring
    
  • when a new or important word/term is read- write it on a new card
    
• CAREERS
  
  • http://www.collegeboard.com/csearch/majors_careers/profiles/majors/50.0501.html
    
  • Click on Related Careers in the side. And again on the following pages
    
  • Make a List of all possible careers in this field with a brief (1-3 sentence) description
    

THEATER CLASS (pg 2)

MONDAYS

1-1:45 Research/Notes

2-3:00 Writing/Designing

WEDNESDAYS

1-2:00 IMPROV at the Park

2:30-3:15 Writing/Reading

FRIDAYS

1-1:45 Research/Notes

2-2:45 Writing/Designing

3:00 Quiz

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This will be what I email to Ki. I still need to make a Break Down of what exactly do do each of the days. But this is about 80% of the planning work I think.
IMPROV WED will be at a local park and we are inviting all of our homeschool friends to join us!

Mini Wed Blog/ J-Term

Click the Button- then add your Walk Down Memory Lane (past post) to the list! Don;t forget to read someone else's!

***************************************

I will be spending the day writing plans for J-Term 2011.

J-Term Classes are as Follows: AM= Forensics [all 3] PM= [K] alternates Acting & Lightwave, [C] lightwave or Computer Programming, [G] Computer Programming. (C is deciding between C.P. or alternating C.P with L.W.)

Brian will be helping a lot with the Computer Programming.I get to plan the boring part of Computer Programming & Lightwave. History/Vocabulary/Research-Writing.

For those readers of mine who are not familiar with J-Term, I will give a brief explanation.
During January the boys do not do their regular schooling. Instead I make a list of classes I think they would be interested in doing/learning about. They choose 2 or 3. There is 1 class in the morning, then the second class after lunch. Ki, my youngest gets 2 afternoon classes. At first he did 1.5 hours of each, now he alternates. I'm not a good enough lesson planner to make Cooking or Sewing be a 3 hours a day class.


Some of the classes they have chosen in the past:
Sewing
Mythology
Culinary Arts
Church History
Physics

You can read more of our past J-Term Posts by clicking the J-Term tag or the J-Term2011 tag found below my blog entry.



(the arrows are not pointing to the J-Term tag, though)


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Monday Madness & Mayhem

TODAY: a couple HOPS, a handful of mini-topics, and a few thoughts.

HOP #1

The above button is for a New To Me HOP. Listing things for which I am thankful. Gifts. Getting up to 1000.

Here is my list of 1,000 gifts numbers 1-10

-Facebook. Yes, facebook can be a gift and something for which to be thankful. Not just for keeping in touch with friends and family, and not just for being reunited with friends from the past, but today I am especially thankful for getting in touch with people I used to know and was not friends with back then- but becoming friends now, after all these years - and getting to see how God has been working in lives and taking the time to see how far we have all come.

-Health. A 'generic' sounding thanks, I know. But I am following it up with the particulars. Thanks that my husband's heart attack (about 6 yrs ago) was mild and there was no lasting damage. Thankful for his successful cyst removal surgery last week.

-Bracelet. My son made a bracelet for me, for Christmas. I love when the boys make things for me.

-Ninjas. The kind that cut cookies, anyway. Connor made Ninja Cookie Cutters for me.

-Future Ninjas. Ki gave me a pictorial list of different Ninja Cookie Cutter ideas from which to choose and he will make a couple cookie cutters, too

-modern transportation of groceries- so I can enjoy oranges and pears and other fruits and veggies out of season and out of local.

- Digital Camera. I love my digital camera that allows me to capture so many memories and moments. (with out the cost of buying new film and printing all 36 pictures just to get 10 good ones)

- boxes. Yes boxes. so I can pack and organize everything.

-plastic. it is fairly cheap, sturdy, colorful or clear- and allows me to be able to buy enough boxes to color code and organize things.

-Thrift Stores- A good place to get rid of our excess and a place to buy an extra pair of jeans for my boys who are growing like weeds and always seem to have outgrown everything, esp last minute.

NOW onto a few Thoughts:

Gavin has been out back shooting his new Air Soft Pellet Gun. It's a riffle of some sort. Brian and the 3 boys have been having a Magic Card Elimination Showdown. With all their new cards, between the 4 of them they had 18 decks. They made a flowchart of games and which deck won each. Winning Decks playing winning decks..... to see which decks are best. This may confuse you. That's OK. It confuses me, too. I will have to find out which deck won and let all of you know. That may clear up some of your confusion.

I played DICEcapades Sunday evening with my family. Connor can be a bit hard to handle with games. He debates everything. It's almost like a defense mechanism until he really gets nto the game and understands it. then he's all giggles and fun. He now know how to milk a cow backwards, though.

And Those Lists:

I love lists. on Sunday I made a list of all the things I wanted to talk about in my next blog. I think I'll keep the List as is and just fill it in with blogging. And, yes, I do this frequently. Make a little entry with reminders of what to blog or what links to include.

• Juicer - It is once again time to get out the juicer and juice lots of fruits and veggies. I like to do lots of juicing for a week after 'big eating'. It helps me feel better. I need to get some baby spinach and pears & grapes. I have more than enough carrots. Not sure how we got so many carrots in this house. Strawberries are good in the juicer, too! but feels like a waste of a strawberry. I like to ad a little ginger root to the berry juices, too.
• J-Term-It is almost time for J-Term to start. I have most of the CSI Class planned. I just need to review it so I can have everything needed for week 1 all gathered and in place. I need to get lesson plans for the other stuff though. Ki wants Culinary/Acting.(so probably alternating them every-other-day). Connor and Gavin will be doing computer Programming/animation.
• Pilates- and Yoga. This is the exercise portion of my entry. I really want to do Yoga daily and get my Pilates DVD out, unwrap the cellophane, and actually USE IT. Not sure if I will get started today. But I plan on it. I'll let you all know.
• 12 Days of Christmas- We did this last year (or 2 years ago), too. The boys seem to like it. We don't put up our Chrostmas Tree until Christmas Eve, but we keep it up for the 12 Days of Christmas. On those 12 days we read the Christmas Story/Wise Men (from the Bible), sometimes do gifts. This year I am hiding the 3 wisemen. each boy finds one and then gets a small gift (from the Dollar Store or Dollar Bins at other stores). Then we Have KING CAKE for Epiphany! I think we will do the Feast of the Innocents this year, too.
• Rocket launch in the yard- I'll do this one tomorrow.
• http://myadventures-in-mommyland.blogspot.com/ mommy monday hop. A New To Me Blog Hop I am doing with this entry. So click the button, join the hop, make new friends!

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Planning on Making Plans

I love using my Google Calendar. It is color coded and orderly. It works with my email.

here is a picture of my Google Calendar Page. Month Calendar box: upper Left. Large Grid Calendar to fill in with plans & events. Task List:To the right of the weekly Grid -->

The Large Grid can be a Daily, weekly, monthly, 4-Day, or Agenda.

Here is a close up of the Large Grid with the Task List. I can have different task lists. My daily One (shown), or a Boys Tasks, or a School Check List.....

When I put New Calendar Entry on my calendar I just click with color-code I want. So in the above you see AMTGARD in blue for the boys, Game Night in green for me (though it is a family/friends thing- I'm Hosting it & it is something I esp want to do), Menus in the raspberry color, Chem Test in Purple. ** Here is a chart of the Color Codes I use. --->

I can add an Email Reminder (or 2 or 3) to the event. This is helpful for Doctor Appointments. I tend to forget about them, so I put them into my Google Calendar and get 2 email reminders about them. But I recently started using iGoogle. It is a personalized Homepage. It had current news, a calendar, Weather updates, My List of Up Coming events, etc:


Right under thee Calendar is the list of what is on my Google Calendar. See the red arrow- highlighting my Planned trip to the Farmers Market?

All the events are links to what is on the calendar page. so if I click the Farmers Market Link, it shows what I have written- To get stuff for both the Veggie & Fruit Pizzas and the address where the Farmers Market it. Next to the Address is a link to a MAP.



I click that and up pops a map, so I can print that and take it with me so I can find it.


Of course, that was an example. The farmers market is just down the street. I ride my bike. But with iGoogle, I really don;t need to use email reminders for things anymore. I still like them for Doctor Appointments, though.

On Dinner/Menu 'events' I can add links to online recipes, or a list of ingredients. I can even send an email to my husband and boys to invite them. (Or for school I can do an email invite to the Test @ Panera, or invite to the Family&Friends Game Night)

I don't have much planned for school right now, but I use this for school, too. Field Trips (with maps and reminders), Check Lists , Daily Plans for Special Classes; like J-Term. We don't use much curriculum or testing or grades, so I don't think those Homeschool Tracker Planners would work well for us. They might, but I am fine with what I have and don;t want to learn something new. As it is, all my things are all together, I like that.

What would make life more perfect is if I had a Smart Phone and could plug things into my Google Calendar while I'm Out & About.

This week my plans are to work on J-Term Plans and oragnize my bedroom. I also want to finish the last section in Chemistry Chapter 1, and have a little test- just to be done with chapter 1 and get it out of the way, so we can start chapter 2 in February (After J-Term) You can click that to read a little intro about J-Term, or you can click the TAG LINKS below this entry to read more J-term or J-Term2011 entries.

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a Quasi-Unschool Entry.

The only thing that could make this better would be an endless supply of Starbucks Chai Latte..... or Caramel Brulee Latte....

What is it about this moment that is so wonderful? So almost-unbetter-able?

Plans. Planning. Schedules. It is what I love. Writing plans. Making schedules. researching. I think it might be the main reason I wanted to homeschool, just maybe. But don't tell anyone else. They all think I do this for the kids.

I had planned on writing plans for Chemistry class, but as I checked a few of my friends blogs before I started my planning I found some Hanukkah Activities. I had not planned on planning Holiday Activities, but earlier I had planned on looking into Hanukkah, as my boys had planned to do some Hanukkah stuff this year. So now I am planning to add some Hanukkah plans to my plans for this week. And maybe by the end of this post I will be able to SPELL Hanukkah with out using spell-check or backspacing to delete the extra N I keep adding.

SO here is what I have for H-a-n-u-k-k-a-h :

A book by Lemony Snicket. Ki (14) LOVES the Series of Unfortunate Events, so I thought this would be fun to read.I got this idea and the link to hear it read on Youtube(ckick here) from a fellow Almost Unschooler, whose blog is titled Almost Unschoolers(Click Here). (go visit her - she does LOTS of col, fun things with her kids!)

This book will get to end with the making of Latke! Ah, anytime we can add COOKING to our lessons, Ki is VERY HAPPY!!

I also found a link (while checking out my YahooGroup):

How to make HANUKKAH Doughnuts

(oh, my I did not backspace or anything that time!! but it was a SLOWLY typed word.)

And of course we will actually have to READ about Hanukkah and what it is all about. (and I DID have to backspace that time to delete that annoying extra 'n')

WOW. all that typing for Hanukkah and this entry seems too long to post about the BEST PART- my planning for the Chemistry class!!! This is NOT what I had planned for this entry. It started as an entry about my plans for chemistry class. Now I need a latte AND Chemistry plans to make this better.

I will get that posted tomorrow, though. So, enjoy the Hanukkah links for now.

Trying Something New

I really don't need votes to feel loved or good or popular- I just wanted to try joining a Blog Community- to be able to reach more homeschooling moms. To get ideas and to share them. And it seems to get listed easily one needs to have a few votes.. .So I Need readers to get readers. Such a Catch-22.

I figure I've been homeschooling for 10 years and have had to figure out what things work with my boys & their 'quirks', that I have plenty of experience and ideas to share. And now that we have transitioned to getting the boys ready for college and figuring out what to do from here to get them to there- that I could use some tips from homeschool moms have done the High-School-to College homeschool thing.

So- I guess my blog is now at TOPMOMMYBLOGS- but I really don;t care for the 'mommy'. My boys didn't even call me that much, esp Connor, who I don't think ever called me Mommy. just mom.

feel free to check out the community if you are looking to connect to other moms. not just homeschool- all mom type and styles.

~~~~ THANKS FOR SITTING THROUGH MY ANNOUNCEMENT ~~~~

IN OTHER NEWS:

Ki got to play on the computer last night. (they have a no Computer Sentence until they could earn it back. Ki (the youngest-14) seems to be doing a good job.

Connor (15ys 10 months) is almost reached the 90% completion on www.ALEKS.com (math program)- which I told him is all he had to attain. I figure a lot of schools never finish up their math text for the year so as long as he's 'mastering' all the topics he can be done at 90% of the topics.

Gavin asked to change and take a break from the math he was doing on ALEKS (Alg 2) and to try Geometry for awhile. I said fine to that. Connor never had problems he just wondered when he'd be 'done'.

Speaking of Gavin (oldest-17), he's about done with the college class (Art Design) and is getting a B+ so far. He's never had a Big Test before for the end of a class, so I'm anxious to see how he does. And we get his results from the PSAT this month. That was his first real "testing"; overall testing. He's does end of chapter tests for his Science sometimes-open notebook.

We start our Chemistry Session on Monday! I originally planned to start Monday this week, but needed a break to get my brain together after the Thanksgiving Holiday. And the boys needed a Boring School-no Computer Week.

Sorry about this being a boring list of personal family data. I'll try for a more inspired entry next time.

RANDOM PICTURE:

banana-pansy... PANSANA

I can do all things

Philippians 4:13 says; "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

But I just can't do All things at once. I sit here typing and wishing I could knit while I type. I was folding towels earlier and wishing I could write lesson plans while folding laundry. I often wish I could read a book while taking a shower. And to be able to knit, read, shower, fold laundry, and check the boys math ALL AT ONCE....... that would be amazing!! Priceless even.

But for now I am stuck justing doing 1 or 2 things at once. Luckily I can mentally plan out 3-4 other things in the process so I feel feel like just getting the laundry put away is a little more time efficient.

and yet, my house always seems to be a few steps behind.

Monday, Brian took the day off work to drive his parents to the Airport.I really forget what all we did with the rest of the day. I took the Connor & Ki to Acting Class. I thought Connor was feeling better, but he was worse when he woke up Tuesday.

Brian had a some medical stuff on Wed. I went with him. Then took Ki to acting while Brian took Connor to the doctors.

Between Brian being home during the week and Connor not feeling well, school has fallen by the wayside this week. And now Ki seems to be coming down with whatever Connor has.

I need to spend some time planning for next week. Failing to Plan is just like Planning to Fail in this house.

Ki is going to make French Toast for breakfast tomorrow. He said he wants to make dinner for the Rabes (a family/friends from church). He is going to make Pumpkin Cheese Cake for Thanksgiving. We had a talk earlier this week about our passions and our abilities and our goals in life.... and MATH. Basically we talked about finding out what we are good at and enjoy and working to be better at it. G&C are good in math and Science. Ki's strengths and loves like not in anything "Scholastic" but in cooking and acting. So that is where he should be going with his schooling. He thinks he'd like to learn about William Shakespeare and lead some Improv Classes for the homeschool kids. he also wants to cook more for our friends- having them over for food and games. I think Ki'd real passion is people. Getting to know people and help them. Acting Classes help him see and understand people, get a chance to pretend to be someone else and see things through their eyes. Cooking brings people together. Ki has always cared about people. Praying for people. Giving to people.

One of my jobs is to help him use his passions and strengths to "get an education". Homeschooling to his abilities and interests.

and now it is time to clean some more. And knit. And read. And lesson plan. And make dinner.

ChemClassDec2010

I have gone through their Chemistry DVD and browsed online to find experiments.

Reading through their DVD was a bit boring. This course NEEDS extra fun! Chemistry Class should be full of smoke, flames, color changes, etc. In fact, it is my personal opinion that numbers really aren't needed for anything else than a Count Down to Ignition!

I have my classes planned for December. All 3 boys will be taking the Apologia High School Course... which means the math portion is beyond Ki. So that part will be optional for him (but I'll tell him to give it a try first)

Here are the online links to the experiments I have added:

Week 1- has 3 experiments in the 'book- so no external experiment links

Week 2:[1] Make GOLD Pennies [2] Exploding Water! [3] Make Smoke Bombs

and as a special treat, I HOPE HOPE HOPE to be able to do the Igniting Steam activity, though the video says it should ONLY be done by Trained Professionals. Moms are trained professionals, right??

Week 3: [1] BREATH FIRE [2] Moving Permanent Molecules (Sharpie Pen ) [3]Gum Drop Molecules

Week 4: DVDs(netflix & Library) and they can find their own experiments to do and teach.

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I love when I can teach all 3 boys together! It happens less and less these days.

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and if you want to see the whole 'syllabus'- here it is: (using Apologia Chemistry DVD)

Nov 29 (Mon) CLASS

· Start with Experiments 1.1 & 1.2

· Have them define MATTER in their notebooks. Have them tell what the experiments showed. Air has MASS and takes up SPACE.

· (notes) Units of Measurement. Examples curtains 50x60. Mars Climate Orbiter. in science the standard set of units for measurement is the Metric System.

· (notes)The Metric System. units of mass are grams. For example, the mass of this course (including both CDs, the case, and the instructions) is about 120 grams. COPY Table 1.1 into notebooks.

Nov 30 (tues) CLASS

· (notes) Manipulating Units. Copy Table.

· (notes) Converting Between Tables. Teach thi s age. Do some problems. define: factor-label method. Watch Video.

· On Your Own- done as oral quiz.

· Converting between units of measurement. Have Ki try, but he can leave to go read if he wants. OYO. (on paper)

· For C&K- More Complex Unit Conversions. Use Calculators after a few without. OYO. On Paper.

Dec 1 (Wed) C&G + Class

· [C&G ]Derived Units. do on their own. Copy Sample. Watch Video.

· [C&G ]OYO- write score in notebook.

· Do the Making Measurements with actual ruler & graduated cylinder- NOT as notes/reading.

· (notes) Accuracy, Precision. Significant Figures. Example. OYO. on paper.

Dec 2 (Thurs)

· (notes) Accuracy, precision, significant figures (2). 6 cookies at 5 calories how much really?

· (notes) Scientific Notation. Go Through Examples. OYO (Opt for Ki)

· (notes) Using Scientific Notation in math

· Experiment 1.3

Dec 3 (Fri)

ü Finish Module. OYO. Hand out Practice Problems. Make sure Ki is not worried about the math part. Test on Monday.

Dec 6 (Mon)

ü TEST

ü PANERA

Dec 7 (Tues)

· Go Over Tests

· Module 2: Experiment 2.1 - Read Energy & Heat (notes)

Dec 8 (Wed)

· (notes) Nature of the Scientific Law. First Law of Thermodynamics (video). Units for measuring heat energy.

· Draw Figure 2.1 in notes

· ZENDO- science vernacular

Dec 9 (Thur)

· Science Zendo

· Units for Measuring Heat 2 & 3 w/ OYO-p. Ki-optional for math.

· http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/gold-pennies

· http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/exploding-water-in-the-microwave

Dec 10 (fri)

· http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9uvIhgVz04&feature=player_embedded

· (Notes) Calorie Unit. Measuring Heat. OYO-o

· http://video.about.com/chemistry/How-to-Make-a-Smoke-Bomb.htm

WEEK 3

Dec13 (mon)

· http://video.about.com/chemistry/How-to-Breathe-Fire.htm

· Calorimetry videos.

· Exp 2.2 Write-Up

· Measuring Heat 4. OYO-p

· Conclusion

Dec 14 (Tues)

ü Do Practice Problems

ü Finish Writing any Lab Reports

Dec 15 (Wed)

o TEST @ Panera

o Sharpie Pen Science http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000032

Dec 16 (thur)

· Early Attempts to Understand Matter. Law of Mass Conservation

· Experiment 3.1. Lab Report.

· Law of Mass Conservation 2. OYO-p

Dec 17 (Fri)

· Elements- The Basic Building Blocks of Matter. OYO-oral(answer cards)

· Compounds. OYO (answer cards)

· Gum Drop Compounds: http://www.sciencefairadventure.com/Candy_Molecules.aspx

WEEK 4

Dec 20-23(Mon-Thurs)

· The Law of Multiple Proportions. Dalton’s Atomic Theory.

· DVDs from Netflicks and Library