eVALuate!

Yesterday I said how he did poorly on his online math assesment. I did not read any of it to him- wanted to see what he could do totally on his own (he has trouble with reading comprehension )

well he did poorly. He started his lessons with the program today and I sat with him. It showed the first problems. and said to Evaluate the problem or something like that.

Connor said. "I know how to do it, but I just don't know what they mean by evaluate. "

I told him it was just a different way of saying to find the answer or solve the problem.

He was like: "WHAT??!!! really?? that's why I did bad! I kept clicking "I haven't learned this yet"- becuase i didn't know what they meant by evaluate!" (we always say 'solve' or 'find the answer' or just 'do the problem'

goofy boy~ he's over there saying how Muy Faci (very easy) it all is. He's just 'mastered' 5 thingsin 5 minutes-- due to the fact he really already knew it- just skipped it because of his misunderstanding of the terminology...




**Kimberly**
~7th year homeschooling 3 boys~

it's a piece of PIE!

YEAH!!!! Ki completed oneof the slices on his pie chart for the math program! He was so excited!

He was more excited than I would have thought. The ALEKS program said kids love seeing their pies fill up and it motivates them. I thought it was a corny notion.

but Ki say he was close to a filling up a slice today and worked to finish it and was so happy when he did and excited to work on filling the next pie slice!


Connor didn't do well on his assesment.

Gavin is still going stronog. Even worked a little extra today (to meet his 3 hour goal for the week- early)


**Kimberly**
~7th year homeschooling 3 boys~

ALEKS math program

It is an online program. we have free trials. Gavin and Ki just started today.

Gavin went through his assesment and started his lessons. It seems really neat. He already got to see some of his 'pie slices' fill in after his lessons.I am having fun checking his progress and seeing what he did and sent him a little message.This may be good for him for his Freshman year next year. He can work totally independently and I can check his progress and send messages or assinments. and it's nice that it keeps track of his time, so if I tell him to do 4 hours a week, it keeps track of the time for him.

Ki did half of his assesment. He takes a little longer with school. He should finish his assesment tomorrow. We will just do the 1 month trial for him. I know he still needs to sit with me one on one a couple more years and needs to change and vary what he does through out the year.Connor's trial should be here by Friday. So he'll start next week.

www.aleks.com


**Kimberly**~7th year homeschooling 3 boys~

GAUGED

that is what the last couple weeks have been.
I already know Gavin can do whatever I give him.
But the other two- I know they can get more work done with me sitting right there and doing it with them the whole time and telling them exactly when to do what- they can do more that way then they can independently. and that is fine. they are young. I don't expect them to do the same amunt of math problems and criticial thinking work on their own.
The trick is finding out how much I can expect them to do without out expecting the same as when I'm there guiding their every step and without expecting too little.

Gavin can do the same amount, but Gavin has been pretty independent the last few years (amaxing for a teenage boy about whom the psych said "WOW, he has ADD bad, doesn't he!")

We tried this 2 yrs ago (beginning of the school year- so about2.5 yrs)

Gavin did pretty well, just daily reminders to check his list and work on things.
Connor tried. (was 10 at the time)- but he just could not handle doing much without me there, basically holding his hand.
I didn;t even bother trying with Ki (8)

Now- Gavin(14) is doing great- no reminders needed at all.

Connor (13) is doing fairly well, he just gets distracted easily, so I have to remind him to stay on task sometimes.

Ki (11) - well, all he can handle is his daily RED and then making a list of his GREEN work and I get him going for each item and often sit with him and help him still.

But I am seeing what the younger two can handle well without having too much or too little.

which changes every few months it seems- with those 2...LOL.

Game Day for March

here are the planned games: I think it'll be fun!

just sharing with ya---


March 4 & 14 - CHRONONAUTS (by; LooneyLabs). Reinforces the timeline and enhances reasoning skills and time travel skills.* Chrononauts Awards:

Origins Award: Best Traditional Card Game of 2000
Also nominated for the Origins Award for Best Graphic Presentation of a Card Game
Parent's Choice Award: Silver Honor
Games magazine's Games 100

*In Chrononauts, each player becomes a time traveler, with a unique identity and a secret mission. During the game, players travel backwards and forwards through history, doing all those things people have always dreamed of using a time machine to do: Visiting the great moments of the past, peeking into the future, collecting impossible artifacts and priceless works of art (at the moment just before history records their destruction), coming to grips with the paradoxes of time travel, and of course, changing pivotal events and altering the course of history itself. How would the timeline be different if Lincoln and JFK had not been assassinated? Or if Hitler had been assassinated? (not all the ‘ripple affects’ are good). Everything that happened in our history, good and bad is an important building block of our present and future. I have 2 different timelines available to play. (no need to have your own Chrononauts game for this event) Early American and Recent American History.

Check out the link to learn more about this game.Early: http://www.wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/EAC/Default.html
Recent: http://www.wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/Chrononauts/About.html


March 18&28- NANOFICTIONARY (by: LooneyLabs) a fun little story telling game with neat characters and cool scenarios. http://www.wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/Nanofictionary/About.html

* Where are we?
Who is there?
What's going on?
And how is it all going to end?

These are the crucial questions each player answers, choosing from the cards they're dealt to tell a very short story. Players combine and recombine Settings, Characters, Problems and Resolutions to create the best story they can, while other players mix things up with wacky Action cards. Everyone votes for their favorites, including onlookers, and the winner is the player who's story garners the most points!Some imagination required.

I love this game. I have blanks so we can also make our own characters, settings, problems (conflict), etc. I use this often and in different ways for creative writing.

ECO FLUXX- FLUXX is the game of Ever Changing Rules. This is the Ecological Version. all the kids I have played Fluxx enjoy it. It’s a fast game that is easy to play and very portable (just a deck of cards-fits in a pocket). I’ll have it with me the entire month and will play a quick game or two at the beginning or end of the ‘main plan gamed’ as it’s just a lot of fun. (and can be used on eco-themed Science Days or for Creative Writing ideas at home or just for fun)
Here is the URL for more Eco-Fluxx info:
http://wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/EcoFluxx/


* directly from the website

**Kimberly**
~7th year homeschooling 3 boys~

The Green & the Red

We wil be employing the Green/Red Weekly Chart once again. It seems to end up being 'busy work' , but it's what they boys asked for and I figure it's time for a deviation from what we've been doing the past 5 weeks. We wil still start our school days with story reading ( read to them) and Brain Gym and prayer.

Ki asked for a blank page to fill in what he wants to do daily to go along with his weekly chart.
For Example: If his GREEN WORK (go at his own pace, due Saturday) lists 10 Brain Quests, Explode the Code pages 9-15, Finish Cart Frog Power Point, Froggy Fractions page 48-51 and his Red Work (do daily) is Read 30 minutes, Write 15 minutes, Play 5 Beat the Clock games (Times Table Drills)
Then he wants a sepreate page so he can make a schedule as he sees fit: for example he may do:
Tuesday
__ Read 30 minutes
__Write 15 minutes
__ 5 Beat the Clocks
__ 4 Brain Quests
__ Explode the Code pages 9, 10, 11
__ Froggy Fractions page 48


Wednesday
__ Read 30 minutes
__Write 15 minutes
__ 5 Beat the Clocks
__ 4 Brain Quests
__ Explode the Code pages 12, 13, 14
__ Power Point (30 minutes)

Thursday
__ Read 30 minutes
__Write 15 minutes
__ 5 Beat the Clocks
__ 2 Brain Quests
__ Explode the Code pages 15
__Froggy Fractions page 49, 1/2 of 50
__Power Point 30 minutes

Friday
__ Read 30 minutes
__Write 15 minutes
__ 5 Beat the Clocks
__ Froggy Fractions pages 50, 51
__ Finish Power Point

Basically He will write down what he wants to do each day from his list and I will remind him throughout each day to check his list (per his request). Gavin and Connor did fine without much of a reminder.

we have today off (Gov't Holiday).

GREEN WORK is written in green ink on a piece of notebook paper, RED WORK is written in Red ink.
I also write reminders for who has cat little duty and what days to shower. I got tired of telling them to shower daily or on their day so this is much easier. The read their lists and do their stuff.

Ki's Apple Strudel

PIX from dinner

Salad with pepperoni, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, arugala and croutons

he made alfredo sauce, angel hair pasta and heated up all natural marinara. (only so much cooking 1 eleven year old can do)
Meatballs........

Pics from KI'S Dinner. he cut and mixed and cooked most of it himself! the dessert will pictured seperately, couldn't get it to work on thispost

DOLLY the Cloned Sheep

Connor was reading in bed with his cat when I woke up this morning. Too bad I didn’t have my camera.

Heart Shaped Pancakes for breakfast

Watched: http://www.history.com/minisites/valentine/The History Channel. a Short video of the History of Valentines day with the Pagan celebration and the Martyr St. Valentine.

“Room Cleaning” time. I like how when I give them a task they try to get out of it by saying: ‘But I was going to do my reading (or math or whatever school assignment) right now!” It doesn’t work. How many years till they get it?

Last night Ki told me what he wanted to do in school today. So I made a list on the dry erase board for him to number in which order he’d like to do his chosen work. He said that’s how he thinks school and the weekly chart will work best for him. He says a list at the beginning of the week and he’ll write in each day’s box what he wants to do that day and I’ll remind him in the morning and he’ll decide what order. I think that’ll work.

I love to see my kids figure out and design their own education.

I want to buy the rest of the Story of the World Series. I just have Volume 1.

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntk=keywords&Ntt=story+of+the+world&action=Search&N=0&Ne=0&event=ESRCN&nav_search=1&cms=1

10:30 we did my Pilates Workout. It’s an upbeat cross between aerobics and pilates I guess. I figured we’d do that instead of Brain Gym today. We only did 5 minutes I bet. We finished with CrissCross marches. It got our hearts pumping.

http://www.amazon.com/Crunch-Burn-Pilates-Ellen-Barrett/dp/B00020HCC2

Then Ki worked on his Apple Strudel for tonight’s dinner while Gavin and Connor read their DNA book and did the internet links that go with it.

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/isbn=9780794504441

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/antenna/dolly/

GAMES to play about DNA http://www.nature.ca/genome/04/041/041_e.cfm

We have homeschool Gym today.

Ki will do a little more school when we get home.

just ....too...tired...

When I woke and came to the living room, Connor was there working on something. He told me had had already finished his red schoolwork for today. (red is the stuff they must do daily) and he had finished a lot of green work, too. (green is what they do at their own pace and have done by Friday). He was excited to get it all done today and have a free day. He thought today was Thursday. He is even more excited now he will get almost 2 days free (aside from the red work- which just takes about 1 hr 20 minutes).

Ki is still very far behind, but he asked me to help him and remind him today so he is doing better.

I’m not sure where Gavin is in his list of work.

I played a Pirate Card game with Connor and Ki. Gavin just watched.

They our out playing in the snow. Ki got his Italian Meatballs started. I figured it be best to make them today so he’d have less to make tomorrow.

I helped with the meatballs, or he helped me. Not sure which.

And I am making waffles and bacon for dinner.

So- the weekly work chart is going a little better now.

And I’m too tired to write much about today.

Ki is still not getting work done...

and that is Ok.
at least for this week. I told them they had the whole week to be in charge and do their school on their own. But I am biting my tongue with Ki. here's today's journal:

My husband had a snow delay at work. He didn’t have to be at work till 10. We don’t do school while Brian is here.

Gavin and I used the juicer for breakfast. Gavin did some online research on commercials. He’s always been curious how exactly game shows get their money they give away. So he is researching that today.

We did Story of the World and some Brain Gym activities. After that we talked about their school plans. Just a review of their daily work and had them go through to see what else they needed to do this week. I asked Ki what he wanted to do today from his list and asked if he wanted to make a list for today. He really liked that idea and had me write a list for him.
Brain Quest
‘beat the clock’/Froggy fractions
Reading
Explode the Code
Writing.

We did Brain Quest and then he checked it off. He likes choosing from options and making a list/schedule from his choices. He’s been designing his school days like this since he was in 1st grade. His first 2-3 yrs of homeschooling was almost ALL him deciding what he was doing when, from a list . He has always done much better when h e he can choose and schedule things himself. The last couple years we go back and forth or do a mixture.

Gavin and Connor both decided to do their Spectrum Writing. They have 4 pages due on Friday. Ki moved onto his math. First he decided to do some occupational therapy and he has seen how much easier math is when he does it.

I’m starting to enjoy when people ask me what curriculum we use.

Gavin and Connor are doing an activity with the science kit. (“CSI” DNA activities)

Gavin and Connor were running through the house. So they have to “drop and give me 20” push ups. Gavin did 30 ‘girl push ups’. In sets of 6. He has very weak arms.

The boys played Game Stories at lunch. It’s like all 3 telling a story together- building off each other, etc and threis one person in charge of the story that gives directions, tells them the consequences- what happened when Gavin went around the hill while running from the mech, what happened to Connor when he ejected? (Ki is often the “game master”)

Once again, the older two worked hard on their green work and forgot to complete their red work before they turned on TV.

Ki is still having problems. I think he needs to me to make a schedule and he can just fill in which topic he wants to do in the time slots.

He made a YUMMY dinner though!

Crepes & Battletech

here is my log of DAY 1 of the weekly chart:
Ki made his crepes this morning. Yummy!

Connor started on his independent work list after breakfast. Ki took a shower, so I had to wait to do “teacher-led morning school”

I read out of Story of the World, did a little Brain Gym, wrote the spelling words on the board, and went over the way the weekly charts will work and the different things thay have to do. And showed them where some of the stuff is. I have Ki doing Explode the Code, so gave him that workbook. And the older two have copied pages from a Spectrum writing 7th grade book to do. And I explained the Brain Quest.

Ki says he’ll try to his math for the whole week all today. Gavin and Connor are doing their weeks worth of Brain Quest all day.

I told them if they get their stuff done like they are supposed to we will continue the weekly charts, but if they don’t do well, we’ll have too go back to day by day schedule (not that we were all that scheduled/structured in the first place) They are excited to have so much control over the school. I will have a lot of time on my hands. I guess I can get the house cleaned and exercise.

I want to get some files and notebooks organized to make it easier for them to get their work and turn it in to me.

The day went well. Connor has his computer math done for the week. He just has a couple simple worksheets in math. And G&C have their Brain Quest done for the day.
I wonder if I didn’t give them enough. But they still do reading/writing and a bit of math daily. It’ll be fine.

Ki made scones and cucumber sandwiches for our English Tea lunch.

Ki hasn’t done much. Connor got on the computer before his daily work was done.
Ki made crepes, whipped cream, scones, and cucumber sandwiches. So that did take up a lot of his time.

Not sure what to do about Connor. It’s a simple rule. “You can get on the computer when your daily work is done”- daily work is Read, write for 20 minutes, play 2 math games that are 60 seconds each. I think just “no more computer for him today” We had a new, different schedule today and it takes a couple days to get adjusted.

Connor got so busy doing his Green Work (go at your own pace-have done by Friday) that he forgot his daily work.
I played Battletech for TWO HOURS with Gavin. My brain is so tired! I was told it would barely take an hour--tops! too many numbers for my brain. Every move has about 5 different die rolls and you have calculate difference each time for heat or damage or ability. It is Gavin's MOST FAVORITE thing in the world though.

a temporary change of course.

Feb 8, 2008
I will be late with niece’s card. I always am. Brian always acts like he’ll take care of it and never gets to it. Why should he? He’s busy too. I should just do it and not pay heed to the fact he says he’ll do it. Just do it anyway.
At least they are always cute handmade cards.
Spelling Tests. Connor asked if they’d be writing them or using sign language. I asked which he preferred and he wanted to do sign language. Gavin said he didn’t care one way or the other. I asked he’d write them. He was fine with that. I think he prefers that. Both boys have the same word list so if they both finger spelled I’d have to do one at a time.

We were doing irregular verbs. Our spelling tests aren’t soley for speling. They are for grammar and writing pactice, so sometimes they are easy words to spell, but there is a different lesson.
This week they have verb sets. Like “catch-caught” and “bring-brought”, “inlay-inlaid”. So for the test I said the present tense and they had to spell the past tense. So if I said “fight” they spelled “fought”.Gavin sat at the table and has his back to me. Connor sat between Gavin and myself, facing me. So I could watch Connor finger spell and gavin wouldn’t be distracted by it.
Ki asked to do fingerspelling for his words. He thought it was fun. I’d saw “swim” and he’d say “ AH-HA! That means I spell SWAM!” it was like a game. And it seemed a good exercise for them to have think of the spelling word with the clue word I gave them. Using Sign Langauge for our spelling has been a great thing for their dyslexia. It helps them make physical connections to the abstractness of letters and sounds.

Then we read some of Story of the World and talked about the blue, naked, fighting Celts with their magical blue armor.

I then read through the rest of what they need to do for school today and set out for the coffee shop to do some planning. The boys have asked to have a weekly chart like we have used before. A weekly chart lists what they need to do every day (read and play a multiplication fact game on the leap pad and write 12-25 minutes) and has a list of work they just need to have done by Friday. They can do that work whenever they want to do it. They can get it done by Tuesday if they work hard or pace themselves and be done Friday. Because I want to teach classes/lessons with them I have listed that in their weekly list.
For example on Ki’s chart it says:
“Read Peoples of the World book with mom and visit links. 3 times. 30-45 minutes each time.” And I have the numbers 1……2….3…. for him to cross off each time he does it. We will still have Story time and Brain Gym together in the morning.and the boys will have to schedule time to do their "with mom school work" .

I told Gavin I’d play Battletech with him when I get home. This is the ULTIMATE of “spending time in their world- esp when you don’t enjoy it.” He will teach me how to play a short game of Battletech. I want to cry just thinking about it. But he asks me to play it from time to time and I haven’t yet. So today is a good day for it. It’s a short school day and I don’t have to make dinner tonight.

http://www.hakujin.net/Games/BTech/btechq-a.html how to play Battletech and about the game. Read it and weep. it's not the difficulty, it's that it is one of those games that takes too many hours to play. I asked for a short sample game.

**Kimberly**~7th year homeschooling 3 boys~

My boys are Elliptical

Feb 6, 2008
Gavin was up making a Lego Mind storm Robot. A ‘walking’ something or other. He called it a dog. Connor discovered if you hold it an angle you can use it to clean up Legos. Gavin’s walking dog seemed a bit frail and had some problems getting tripped up easily. Connor redesigned it worked better.
(and they have a 'fleet' of catapualts now and have their castles they are storming with the catapaults and the balls from the Geomags)

Then Gavin decided to pick up his crocheting. He is getting fast at it. Connor “querro mas rapido egual Gavin” (which I’m sure is most likely improper Spanish and not spelled correctly.) I told him Gavin has gotten fast because he “mucho practicar”. So Connor got his knitting to practicar.

So my two robotic engineering boys took a break to do some needlework.
I guess, if nothing else, they are well rounded. Or at least a bit elliptical.

After showers and some chores, I read from Jesus Freaks and then from Story of the World. Ki was in charge of 3 Brain Gyms.

Then Ki and I practiced his spelling words using sign language. Connor and Gavin quizzed each other using sign language. They have to say the word, then say each letter as they sign each letter.

They went through their words a couple of times then made lunch.

We went to homeschool gym. I did some thinking there on how to arrange independent work and still get some class lessons done. I need to sit at the coffee shop to do the rest, I think

The boys did some math and their reading.
Gavin and Connor didn’t read their DNA stuff I wanted them to get to today, but they can do that tomorrow.

I helped Ki plan a few European meals for next week. (From his Peoples of the World study)

Dirigibles. what a fun word!

Feb 5, 2008

Yet ANOTHER rainy day! Rainy days make me tired.

I wrote a list on the board for the boys. I rested then ate a little then took a shower. After my shower I practiced knitting.

Here is their list from the board:
G&C read SOTW (Story of the World; they take turns reading aloud)
C lead 3 Brain Gym Activities
CGK- wrote sentences with your spelling word sets. EX: catch-caught “Will you catch a cold like the one you caught last year?”
GCK- 3 games of Beat the Clock (a quick multiplication game on the Leap Pad)
K- Froggy Fractions 8 problems from either page 12 or 13.
C- 2 Math Detective Games (a CD Rom from the Critical Thinking Skills company. It works on reading comprehension, too)
G- Algebra Cliff Notes Dividing polynomials by monomials and Dividing Polynoms by Polynoms. Page 61-64.

** When I was in school you had to get all As and A+s to be on the honor roll. It may have even been all A+s. Now they give the status of Honor Roll to anyone who as above an 85 or 90%. That’s a B+ approx. And considering the dumbing down of curriculum in most public schools, is it really an honor to get a B+?

I talked to the boys they would like to have weekly sheets again. So I need to plan out how to have weekly sheets with work they can do as they want and when they want and also still have group lessons. I will be able to figure it out easily, I’m sure and with how busy our weeks have gotten with gym days and games days it’ll probably work better. Any excuse to make more schedules and list!

Gavin and Connor did a DNA activity together from our CSI Kit. It was a pedigree chart. I will suggest they do one for their friends at church. And see if they can broaden the one they did for their family to include grandparents.

I taught Ki how to cast on with his knitting needle. He did better that I thought, too. I’ll probably teach him the knit stitch tomorrow. I asked him to do the casting on one more time for practice. I am impressed.

We then did a page from his Peoples of the World book and looked up some things online to go with what he is studying.

I taught Connor the casting on and he did it twice. His 2nd time wasn’t even as good at Ki’s first try, but he insisted I teach him the next part, the first ‘real’ knit stitch row. So I did. As wiggly as his little fingers, he managed. And he kept at it. He had to start over once, but he says it is easier than crocheting and he’ll do it more tomorrow.

Gavin was crocheting while I was teaching Connor to knit, which I just learned this morning. It’s like the blind leading the blind. Or the visually impaired leading the blind, I guess.

Gavin is also designing and building a model airplane from balsa wood. Not a kit, but where he draws and measures and cuts the balsawood to shape and pins and glues the pieces together.
Brian is working on his dirigibles.

Autodidactic Day

Gavin and Connor took turns reading from Story of the World. Gavin read about the terracotta soldiers of China, so we looked them up online. Gavin was in charge of Brain Gym today. He did crisscross marches, Body Scales and offered the choice of deep breaths or Hook Ups.

They boys did their reading while I read my email and showered. Then we left for Java Café. We had our knitting needles and yarn. The Knitting Ladies didn’t show. So Gavin crocheted a bit.

I played Othello with Connor and them with Gavin. Ki was having fun playing with the Boggle cubes. He was finding words, but his didn’t use a timer and any words counted. Words like “a” or names like “Jim”. He wrote them down on his paper. When I was done playing with Gavin, I helped Ki find more words. There was a 2nd Boggle game and that is what Connor used. It was missing a cube, so he used a Scrabble tile chosen at random when he shook the Boggle Cubes.

We had a bagel snack there. Actually, I just had a Caramel Latte and the boys had bagels. Gavin had turkey, lettuce, tomato, and onion on his bagel.

Then we went to Krystal Keep to play some games with other homeschoolers. We get there a little early. The boys like to peruse the goodies and talk to Ron.

Just one parent joined us today. Gary and his 5 yr old daughter, Elizabeth. We played a few games. We finished around 4 and I chatted with Gary about other homeschool area events.

After dinner, Ki wanted to watch about Alexander the Great, so he popped in the History Channel DVD about Alexander and I went to the store.

Brian will do math with the boys before bed. Ki asked to learn about octagons and hexagons. I hope Brian will touch on them as it will encourage Ki to be autodidactic.

courtcase, DNA, Parenting Teens

February 4, 2008

In Story of the World we have been reading about China. We got to the Great Wall today.

After SOTW I gave instructions for Brain Gym (crisscrosses and elephant 8s) while I wrote the spelling words on the board.

I explained their words and how we’d do spelling this week. We are doing irregular verbs like catch-caught and interweave-interwove. The words are in sets and to be copied into their notebooks as sets. For their spelling tests I will say one verb and they will write the verb in the other tense. So if I say ‘teach’ they will write ‘taught’.

Gavin and Connor went off to read and Gavin fell asleep.

Ki played Beat the Clock on the Leap Pad then we did a few story problems in his Froggy Fraction book.

After a small break, Connor choose a Netflix for us to watch. The Greek Gods from The History Channel. It was interesting. Lots of talk of sexual conquest and paintings of naked people. Oh well. Sex happens and is a big part of Greek history.

Then Lunch and getting ready for the court thing. It’ll be nice to be done with this.

We arrive at the court house, wait a long time (about 30 minutes). The dude decided to plead no contest so I don’t have to testify. We decide to stay and watch the court workings. So after another 30-40 minutes we watch him walk up to the judge, plead no contest and walk out with his attorney. We head out and I hope the chick (the attorney) would at least impart knowledge to the boys. She didn’t have another case for awhile. I asked if there was anything she could tell the boys about the courthouse. She says “The public defender is for people that can’t afford to hire their own defense.” Because the boys pointed the room marked Public Defendant and asked about it. That was all she had to say and left. So much for being educational.

Home again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig.

Clean up from Lunch and did a CSI Activity about DNA with out CSI Science kit. Gavin did some extra research on ‘Junk DNA’. We’ll have to continue that.

Brian did some math with the boys after dinner.

In keeping up with our Parenting Class assignment I have counted:
TOUCHES: C-7, G-5
YELL: C-0, G- is a stern, barked command the same as yelling?
“I love You.” C-3, G-2
TIME: C- 15mins (he wanted to do my exercise DVD with me), 60ms (watched movie together) 15 (I figured I could count 15 minutes of our courthouse date) 30ms (doing CSI Science.
TIME:G- 60, 15, 30.
HUGS:C-3, G-2

PICTORIAL

Sleeping Soksey

Making Conies----- >

Gavin at the Skyline Chili Fieldtrip--------- > Getting ready to order hotdogs after the tour --- >

Sleeping Soksey----- >

Share the Love

I feel so honored and important! I have my first homeschool blogger award! A Share the Love Award from Stacie at Learning as We Go.

So I will share the love and list up to 10 blogs that I read. I would list more, if I read more than 10, but I am not sure that I have more than 10 to share.

here are the blogs I read:
God's Gift (baby Aliya)

Homeschooling in the Garden State

Life as I see It

Purple Puzzle Place

Ragamuffin Studies

Scrap-Love

Tribe of Autodidacts

LOONEY for LEARNING

I got together with a few other homeschoolers to play some Looney Lab games. It went well so we are getting together weekly and the Looney for Learning Game workshop has been announced to an areas homeschoolers group.

This month I am focussing on Playing with Pyramids. Treehouse, Martian Coasters, Martian , Chess, Vocano, Martian Backgammon, Zendo (the Scientific Method version), Martian Match Up, Rambots and more. (link for multiple pyramid games: IcehouseWiki )