resources.

I'm starting to upload links to several specialized resources. Check the sidebar for art links, history links, spanish links, and music links.

burnout banned.

Next week is cancelled at the HEDGE. There's a lot of admin stuff that needs to be addressed, and the poor directors need a week to regroup, bless their hearts. I totally understand. Sometimes life tries so hard to get in the way of what we're doing. The enemy knows exactly which buttons to push, and before we know it, we're upside down. I know that my son and I have quite a bit of catching up to do in math and geography. That's not much compared to what some of the other families are going through.

Are we discouraged? No. We're a little tired, but that's mostly due to trying to get completely settled into our new home. I am very confident that we will finish everything we need to finish, because we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

bad blogger. bad, bad blogger.

I am sad to say I have neglected my blogging duties as of late. Not on the family blog or the music blog, but this one. That must change. I have just been so exhausted from the life changes the past few weeks, but am now recuperating. I still have a dining room full of stuff that I have yet to unpack, but oh well. At least I don’t feel like the school year is kicking my butt.

Well, after a month into Hedge and Master’s, we’re still pretty organized, I’m happy to say. We’re getting caught up with math and Bobby’s doing wonderful in Science. He got a C+ on his Greek/Latin roots test. I know he will do better on the next one, because he will actually STUDY!

He’s also really enjoying guitar class. They’re going to play a David Crowder song at the end of the year, so he’s excited. He also loves the sports class. I’m glad to see him so enthusiastic about it.

Now that we've been in our apartment for almost a month and I finally feel like we're getting settled in, my postings here will be more regular. I have several links to add to the site too; I think I'll do them slowly, by subject.

nothing in particular...

Has it really been this long since I posted anything? Between moving and keeping up with the other blog and the music blog, the time gets away from me I guess.

We're behind in math. We won't really be able to start getting caught up until the next week or so, once we're settled in our new place. There's a little bit of catching up to do in history as well. I'm not worried. Hey, at least we're not behind in EVERY subject.

a book a day...

When I was nine years old, I was a voracious reader. It was not odd for me to spend the weekend on the sofa reading one book after another. I had this thing about needing to finish a book once I started it, so books were pretty much devoured. Which led me to need more books. The annual book fairs at school were to me what sample sales are to a fashionista. I just couldn't get enough. Part of the reason I have to wear glasses now is because I would read by the nightlight in my room when I was supposed to be asleep. "Just one more chapter and I'll stop..."

My son's not that way. I'm not really sure why. He's nine years old, and hasn't read much outside of what's required and the occasional comic book. He has an extensive vocabulary and can carry on a fine conversation with any adult, but this skill does not come as a result of being impressively well-read. He just hasn't seemed to want to pick up a book in his free time.

Until now.

All of a sudden, my son's reading the way I used to...well, in a way. He isn't gobbling up books one after another as if they are going out of style, but when he finds one he's interested in, he'll scarf it down in a day or two, ready for the next installment. He's not reading Lord Byron or Mark Twain, but he is reading. That's all I care about. I read somewhere that reading below one's level increases speed and fluency. It may also foster a willingness to read more, if my son's newfound reading appetite is any indication.

What's he been reading with such zeal? Time Warp Trio books and Pirates of the Caribbean novels. And I couldn't be happier.

apologia astronomy.

I hate Science.

Okay, I don't HATE it, but it's never been near the top of my list of favorite subjects. I always did well in it in school, but when it was time to think about doing it at home with my son, it just always fell by the wayside.

I never felt bad about it, either.

I think it's the whole "experiments at home with easy-to-find household items" thing. Wonderfully fascinating and fun for him, too much work for me. I'd rather just read a book when it comes to this subject.

That isn't to say that we've never done Science. We have. We've read nature readers and done narrations on ants and spiders and worker bees. We've drawn pictures of insects. We've read books about different animals and we've read books about weather and we've read books about trees and leaves and we've read books about space. We've watched videos on different mammals. We've learned quite a bit about the human body. We've learned about electricity. About magnets. About the earth's layers. About Ben Franklin's experiments. We've read Magic School Bus books. We've watched the Magic School Bus.

For me, that's plenty.

My son is taking a science class at The HEDGE this year, and our book is Apologia Elementary Astronomy. He is enjoying it, and so am I. Wonder of wonders!

Astronomy is interesting anyway, and this book is very interesting and well laid-out, allbeit pricey ($35.00). It's divided into fourteen chapters, and we are on Chapter Two: The Sun. We enjoy reading and discussing the chapter, we do a few narrations, and he completes vocabulary and latin root words for his notebook. The book also lists a course website which gives links to help us find things in the sky and let us know of future events (meteor showers, eclipses and such). Each chapter also has its own set of links. It is an excellent website, chock full of information.

My son is getting a lot out of the class. They do experiments in the class (bonus for me!) and there are extra credit opportunities, which he has already taken advantage of. It may turn out to be his favorite class (aside from Sports).

All in all, I think this is going to be our best Science year yet.

abeka math.

Why can't I get this curriculum from anywhere else but them? I've got a homeschool store not too far up the road from me, and I am within reach of two others. But I have to wait for this stuff to come in the mail. It's a drag. Especially considering we needed it two weeks ago. Luckily, the math teachers have had copies of the day's lessons on hand in each class.

All ordering frustrations aside, I must say that I like the Abeka Math curriculum that my son is using at the HEDGE Academy. I've always used Horizons (which I LOVE) with the exception of last year when we tried Saxon. Hated it. This Abeka seems like a happy medium between the two, and seeing as how there is no Horizons class offered, it's what he's taking instead of the Singapore math tutorial. That is for 1st-5th graders. Not sure how much in-depth they would go into concepts that a 4th grader needs to know. Not in a one-hour class.

I assume that the actual Abeka book is in color...I have yet to see it. I hope it is anyway. Colorful pages are just a lot slower than black-and-white at de-motivating my son to do his math. Though he hasn't had any trouble with the black-and-white copies; he's been doing his math with zero complaining. Perhaps color pages won't be an issue.

We begin each lesson with his 3-minute drill, then he does his two pages, which completes the lesson. Each lesson has an abundance of review of concepts previously learned, and the presentation of new concepts is clear and not confusing.

The real challenge for us will be staying on track and not getting behind in favor of other subjects. Having the accountability of the class at the co-op will help.

a school by any other name...

When I entered college as a freshman years ago (I'll decline to say how many for now...feeling a wee bit too old), I had the extremely naiive idea that everyone came from a public high school like I did. I never knew anyone who went to a private school, or boarding school, or an international school, and I didn't know homeschooling even existed before my son was a year old. But Dartmouth attracts many of the private school-types, and my freshman year facebook was filled with wide-eyed preppy optimism. It was also filled with a fascinating array of schools from all over the world, and I was intrigued by many of their names. So-and-So High School or Such-and-Such Senior High just weren't the norm. Sure, there were a few "institutes" and tons of "academies"--This-and-That Academy and Thus-and-So Academy. The most populous were Phillips Exeter and Phillips Andover Academies.

There were several others too, and the names that I thought were the coolest were the "day schools" or "country day schools." Now, I see these kinds of schools everywhere today, but back then, they were new to me in my limited experience. This-That-and-the-Other Country Day School just sounded like the place to be. What kinds of things did kids learn at the Blah-Blah-Blah-Etcetera International Day School? Those schools sounded super-hip and super-important, and it's those ever-so-stylish names that inspired the names of our homeschool. I say 'names' because the name has changed each time we have moved.

Our school's name the first two years was the Summercourt Day School. Then it changed to the Audubon Country Day School (we were living in a more rural area at the time, thus the addition of "country"). This year our school is called the Willow Creek Classical Day School. How cool is that?

We're super-hip and super-important.

in with the new.

I've decided to create a new weblog devoted solely to our homeschool activities. We've been homeschooling from the beginning. My son is now in the fourth grade, and started "school" between ages four and five. He's almost ten now, and it's hard for me to believe how fast the time has passed. I teach outside of the home as well, at Master's Academy, and I have since we began homeschooling. There are now students that I taught in my Music class that first year who have started college this year. That's insane!

I would love for this weblog to become useful to other homeschoolers out there, and I have been inspired by the beauty and sophistication of many homeschooling blogs that I've seen. Maybe this one can be as awesome as those...