so i wanted to post not just about the bookwork the kids have been doing but some of the things outside of the scope of 'schooling' that i also consider to be as much 'schooling' as 'schooling' is. :o)  basically, the unschooling part of hiomeschooling, i suppose!

i had to go back in my memory, which is totally shot since i got sick last november, but heres some of the stuff the kids have been up to in the last few months.

both kids have been given a weekly allowance. this allowance isnt just for doing chores, etc, but also for behaviour. they get their 'coins' at the beginning of the week. $2.00 in dimes and $3.00 in quarters. the coins stay in a jar in my room in their own separate baggies. they each have their weekly responsibilities, but they also have to have good behaviour. each time, they groan and gripe about their chores, they lose a dime. if they fight with each other that escalates, they lose a dime. if they disobey, they lose a dime, if they lie, they lose a dime, etc. if they go thru all $2.00 in dimes, then they start losing their quarters.

this has worked on several levels. one, it has helped them to try to work out their differences so any arguments dont escalate to losing a dime. theyre also learning the importance of their chores and doing them without an attitude as well as the importance of obedience and truthfulness.

another level this has worked on is budgeting. they are free to blow all their money (they have left) at the end of the week when we count out their coins and convert the leftovers to dollars OR they can save their remaining earnings for something more expensive they want or just to hold off till they see something they really want instead of blowing it on junk.

all in all, its been a good system.

as for every day things...

mandy has been making up superhero games making pictures of each superhero, giving them names and super powers. she then cuts them out and we all play paper superheroes. FUN!

both mandy and joey have been really become computer literate and can almost do as much stuff on it than i can!  theyve really been into webkinz for a while. this is an interactive site where they get virtual pets and earn points for virtual accessories for their virtual pets. things like furniture for their houses, etc.  whats cool about this site is they can play with their real life friends while they are on their computers at home.

joey has also become quite an ebay pro. much to my dismay! he actually was able to log into my account, use the 'buy it now' feature, and bought himself a webkinz stuffed penguin! he lost a quarter for that PLUS wasnt able to get the penguin from me until he had saved up his weekly coins to purchase it. it took him 3 weeks and in that time period, he didnt have a cent to buy anything else, but he finally got the penguin. i have since blocked my ebay account!

mandy is in her 7th year of ballet and really is quite the lovely dancer. so graceful and just a beautiful dancer. and not just pretty, but just a great ballerina.

she is also involved with the american heritage girls (a christian version of girl scouts). shes been earning badges and just this last weekend went on her first away camping trip with the group. :o)  it was fun camping combined with a service project.

joeys been into his yugioh cards, tading and playing the game, etc. last week, however, he decided he is now into 'chaotic' cards. theyre a lot like yugioh but you can enter codes from them onto their website and play online with your real life friends. each from the comforts of their own home. kind of cool!

mandys become quite the artist. she draws pictures ALL THE TIME!  she has a journal that she writes in as well as does some of her drawings, but most of her drawings are on 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper that are scattered thru-out my house. :o)

mandys also been big into going into her room, shutting her door, and choreographing dances that she later will perform for the family. its amazing that not only can she dance, but to have the creative mind to bring an idea from her head into a moving reality, its just amazing.

both mandy and joey, and even me ha!, have been doing skits for daddy. we worked all day on some that not only did we rehearse but we also worked on props and staging, etc.  it was a huge success for all involved!

mandy has hit that all encompassing crazy 'pre-teen' stage. UGH! she really into girlie things like make-up (only at home), clothes (all of which are hand me downs) and shoes, as well as accessorizing. she loves to do her nails and has been great about not biting them and keeping them groomed.  she also checks the weather each night to see the next days forecast so she can prepare what outfit shed like to wear the next day. what a GIRL! lol

joeys a boys boy, playing football with his friends and dad, hes also quite the pool (billiards) player. he also likes poker & chess, solitaire, and free cell (another solitaire card game, but more stategic). hes actually pretty good at all of them! oh and hes big into following sports stats and watching sports games on tv with his dad.

both of them have gotten back into their dirt house now that its gotten warmer. its a big pile of dirt behind daddys garage that theyve dug and molded into a house/fort of their own.

both of them have gotten into the computer game 'rollercoaster tycoon' in the last few weeks its a game where they have to desighn and build a virtual rollercoater. it has to ahve the correct aerodynamics, etc in order for it to work. lots of science there!

nearing the end of this blog....

theyve been bowling several times with one of the local homeschool groups and a week ago they went to a lunch/dinner theatre with the group to a place called 'medieval times' where the staff not only dressed from the period but acted out an interactive show with the gpoup while they ate and participated.  fun was had by all.

id love to get more pics of to go with this long boring post and maybe one day i will, but i wanted to at least get what i could remember down in writing before i forgot at least this much.

theres SO much more theyve done which enhances their home/unschooling education, but this is all i could put together with my lost memory. and i do believe, as long as this post is, thats enough for now! lol

i will post more as i remember it or as they accomplish more things, but for now...  buh-bye~!  :o)

we were unschooling at the beginning of the year until february. i was sick from november thru january and when we got back to focusing on school in february we got into doing book work more for me than for them. i needed more tangible structure since being so sick.

actually weve been doing a lot of book work since february. we will actually finish up a full school years worth of book work since we started in february until we finish school in a couple of weeks.

math:
mandys been working on book 54 of saxon math. she is more than  1/2 way through but will be taking a break to focus more intently on her times tables.  she will then focus on division before getting back into her saxon 54 book.

joey has finished saxon for grade 1 and has started on saxon grade 2. he will continue to work through that until whenever we decide to stop schooling for the year.

spelling:
mandy is working on finishing up her BJU 4 and should be done in a couple of weeks. shes a great speller!

joey is working on the grade 1 spelling cards i used with mandy 3 years ago. hes a good speller, but math is definitely a stronger suit for him than spelling! :o)

language arts/grammar;
mandy is almost finished with her grammar & writing skills 4 workbook. she'll be glad to be done with that!

joey finished books 1 & 2 of explode the code and is currently working through book 3 to finish out the year.
reading:
theyve both been reading every weekday and have added drawing pictures after each chapter to tell what happened. mandy also did a written book report about a month ago and she adds three sentences to each picture she draws for her chapters.

joey has almost completed the toddlers bible. its a bible for the parents to read to toddlers but hes reading thru it himself. its NOT a toddlers reading level but more of a grade 1 reading level. after he finishes this book next week, he will begin reading robinson crusoe. its at a much harder reading level than hes ready for, but he wants to read it so im gonna let him! lol

science:
theyve both been doing science class with one of the local homeschool groups.

history/geography:
we havent done any book work on that but use every day references (from things they read or hear talked about) to discuss and learn about this subject. it makes it more real than just memorizing facts, etc. like what john holt talks about in his book, learning all the time.

well, thats my update for now. i will post a part 2 to this at a later time to write about all the unschooling stuff weve still been doing in addition to all this crazy book work! :o)  and they really have been doing lots of unschooling as well. but as john holt says, kids are learning all the time and that to me is the heart of unschooling, which in essence, we all do everyday!

TTFN!

okay, i have 2 younger kids, ages 7 & 9. they have LOTS of toys. a lot of these toys have MANY pieces. these pieces get strewn from here to there. some in this room. some in that room. some upstairs. some downstairs.  i have been trying to clean my house a little at a time and im finding all these little tiny pieces as i go.

now, you have to understand that i am VERY anal. very obsessive. i hate to throw away these tiny little pieces cuz if they can all be grouped back together, we'd have the missing pieces to this game, or that dollhouse or this lego set, or that whatever.

BUT, part of me is like, heck, if they dont love their stuff enough to keep all the pieces together, then why should we keep them? but another part of me is like, but what if we pull out a game to play and all the pieces arent there and i KNOW i just threw some of them away. then i feel all guilty and crap.

so what do i do? my husband would be mad if he knew I threw something away that would complete a set of whatever. but if its lost, then he isnt mad. but if i clean up and then he finds something missing, he assumes i threw it away and why didnt i keep it cuz now this whatever is useless. of course, i only THINK he thinks this but i'm pretty sure he does.

right now, ive just been bagging stuff up as i go and now i'm getting a collection of bags. i could have the kids go thru them but i know if they do, theyll get all excited at seeing long since missing pieces and just go wild and strew the stuff all over again as they pilfer thru the bags. of course, i only THINK thell do this but i'm pretty sure they will.

but i tell you now, i dont wanna take the time or mental stress to go thru and sort them out myself. but let me repeat myself, i'm VERY anal. very obsessive. and i hate to throw away all the bags. and there are bags and bags of this stuff.

so i cant bring myself to sort thru them. im afraid to let the kids go thru them. i cant bring myself to throw them away. id really like to just trash them all. but.....

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!!!

ive had this problem for years but i finally want to face it and deal with it and just decide what to do and just do it. but what IT is, i dont know yet. so because i cant decide what do to, i now find myself disgustingly, collecting bags. *shaking head in disbelief*

mandy gave birth to a doll on top of our air hockey table. the baby was delivered shirtinally by dr joey - against his protest. mandy grunted and groaned and squeezed her eyes as she was 'pushing'.

mandy made macoroni and cheese from the box with powder. totally unsupervised. shes been making her own instant rice since she got sick last spring.

mandy attended an american heritage girls meeting. she also spent a full day with them fundraising, including going door to door (supervised by a leader at all times!)

mandy and joey went to a thanksgiving celebration where the kids made crafts and cards to send to soldiers in iraq. i didnt take them. their big broether martin did. im glad to see them go to things without me from  time to time. heres some pics from that day. thanks kate for the 'loan' of your url. lol


mandy and joe had a play date with their friends lukas, samuel, kaitlyn, which ended in them attending church that evening. it was nice to see them getting some 'god'.

im sure theres more but im so negligent in putting it in writing and it dont stay in the ole noggin long so thats gonna have to be it for now. *exhale*

mandy baked a cake for her daddys bday. i read instructions to her but she did ALL the making. she even insisted on NOT using the hand mixer. just her wooden spoon and her own little arm strength.

the icing never got think with little peaks in it like it was supposed to. it was supposed to take 7 minutes. but we did it MUCH longer hoping for it to get thicker.  later on we were telling daddy how long we'd spent mixing it. we did it in 5 to 7 minute increments and took a minute break in between. so we were adding up the times we had mixed and how long each mixing took. we did 7 minutes, then 5 minutes, the equals 12 minutes. then i said we did another 7 minutes and before anyone had time to blink joey shouts out, "thats 19 minutes." THAT was amazing. i dont think id actually finish spewing out the word 'sweven' before he was already calling out the correct answer. and one of the addens was 2 digits! hes my little math genius! lol

we watched the movie, 'evan almighty' and it was preety good. cutesy and fun. so that got mandy wanting to look up the real story of the flood in her bible. she then proceeded to read, out loud, the story of noah and the flood directly from her bible. the next nighht she read out loud to her daddy, the story of david and goliath. thats the BEST reading, curriculum ive ever seen in my life!

we even got to throw in some spelling stuff. we talked about the C in cypress having the SSSSSssssss sound instead of the K sound. we then talked about the rule that if C is followed by I or E or Y, the C says SSSsss...  we had fun thinking of other C words. we also got some vocabulary in there as we talked about  the word 'pitch' that was to be put on the roof of the ark and how thats tar that we know of. we also discussed how cubics are a unit of measurement and how to convert them to feet.

but then we stopped all that so mandy could read some more of the bible story. did i mention that she read it straight from the bible?

Then Joey also read, out loud, the david and goliath story from his early readers bible. go, joe, go!

later mandy was reading us the story of noah. she got to the verse where the three sons names are mentioned; Shem, Ham and and then she struggled trying to pronounce 'Japheth' correctly. she said iot several different ways trying to get it right; jay peth, jap-heth. i reminded her of the 'ph' rule then she said, 'jay-feth, jah-feth...'

 then all of the sudden she said, 'hey! i didnt know you could names you kids after food!?' i said, 'what do you mean? Japheth is not a food.' she said, 'yeh, but ham is!

here she was spending all this time working on a pronunciation while at the same time her mind was way back up at the name of ham thinking that thru. multi-tasking at its best!   lol

im creating a little movie wioth pics from my youth and i want to set each frame to display for 6 seconds each. i had a little sheet with these numbers written in a column:

i mandy was watching me work on my movie. i showed her my little list and asked her what she saw in the list. she looked at it for a split second the quickly said that they each go by 6s. i told her very good, then we got into a discussion of  the 6 times table. it was interesting that by showing her the answers, she grasped the concept of multiplication much better than the traditional way of memorizing:
6x1=6
6x2=12
ans so on.....

anyway, it was cool to see her light bulb moment by her just seeing the answers written in a pattern of + 6s in a column. i mighytve learned them easier, if theyd just shown me the answers, too.  lol

but the best benefit of this was that joey was sitting there listening and taking it all in and i think he gets the concept, too!

joeys pumpkin seed that he planted straight from the pumpkin to his cup has sprouted! joe was so proud. he keeps it watered and looks at it everyday.

mandy has been experiencing with bubbles and has been making hand bubbles. shampoo works best for hand bubbles, but you have to have just the right amount of water for the best bubbles. you gets your hands drippy with the shampoo mixture then clasp them together then blow into one side of your hands and the bubbles come out the other side. she also takes the roll from paper towels and dips one end into her shampoo mixture and blows through the other end. it makes pretty big bubbles.

we played musical chair.  hee-hee.  i videoed the kids walking around 1 chair while i sang twinkle twinkle little star. i stopped midway thru and whoever was sat down first won. we posted it on youtube and i was gonna embed it here but i dont have time to deal with pics and videos.

daddy took the kids to the park last weekend. they took the little soft football to play catch with. while they were playing, this stray dog comes from out of the woods and runs up and in mid-throw, catches the ball! he then prceeded to run off into the woods, taking the ball with him. weird!

and lastly, (thank god!)

joey has a bit of a strong will and has a tad bit of a temper when he and his sister get into it.  well the other day i said something to him, i dont even remember what it was i said, but whatever it was, joey didnt like it. he got his mad face on then held up his fist at me. i told him 'oh no you dont' and sent him to his room.

after 6 minutes (his age) he came out and i asked him if he had anything to say to me. he said, very humble, 'im sorry, mom, for threatening to hit you. will you please forgive me.' i, in turn, said, 'not only do i forgive you im impressed and proud of you for using the workd 'threatening'. come here and hug me!' as he came to me for his hug, mandy started cheering and clapping and was genuinely happy for joe to used a bigger word. it was neat to see her be proud of him, too.

THE END!!!!!!!    PHEW.........

we went to the frontier culture museum in staunton, va we saw an english farm & house, as well as germany & ireland.  very fun. very informative. each farm and house had people there in period costume to point things out to us or to answer any questions, end to show us how some of the old stuff worked.  there was also a working blacksmith whatever you call it. we got to see him make 1/2 of a fork. into the ashes, then remove and POUND-POUND. back into the fire. repeat till pounded and shaped into what youre making. fun stuff.

the kids and i watched 'the end of spear' movie about the missionaries in south america who were killed in the 50s or 60s. it was rated pg-13 and i was worried if itd be too violent for my 6 & 9 year olds. but the director did a great job showing the violence without showing you the gore. it was sub-titled but mandy and me read the sub-titles out loud and it didnt seem to bother either kids that it was partly in a digfferent language. AND they asked to watch it again the very next day. they really like the movie! they like a lot of movies that are about real people. that intrigues them.

our temps have finally dropped to what is average for fall in our area. we discussed how fall was here and winter was coming, joey says, "I can't wait for the beaver. you know that beaver mom? the one that comes out so we can see if its gonna be winter."   this led into a discussion of groundhog day and that its in february, etc. that was fun.

i caught daddy hanging out with the kids calling out math problems to the kids. speed drills. the kids were LOVING it and wanted to do more and more. they also had fiun seeing who called out the correct answer first, mandy or joey. i think they were about even in score. but they sure had fun.

we talked about and drew diferent shapes (octagons, etc) more fun!

we went trick or treating . mandy dressed up like a little girl in her jammies, with her blankie and teddy. joey dressed up like a ninja. lots of candy was had by all! 

mandy, all by herself, went onto the internet and googled how to make home made play doh. she found directions and printed them out. she then proceeded to make a huge batch of red play doh which is still being played with today. she let me help he make it but she did most of it herself. go girl!

the kids have pulled out our variety of musical instruments several times in the last couple of weeks. we have bells, a triangle, moraccas, a little indian drum, the wooden stick you rub together, etc. that was really fun!

and thats it for this entry......

- the kids have learned how to make origami fortune tellers
- the made origami hats. various styles/sizes
- they also made paper airplanes making different folds/bends to see different ways they fly
- they worked on a giant 5 ft puzzle
- they played with fake handcuffs attached to each other. they experimented how they would have to work their hands/arms together to be able to accomplish things.
- mandys been making more movies learning new more indepth features of the editing software
- joey helped me make homemade mashed potatoes; cubing the potatoes, boiling them, draining them, adding milk, salt, pepper, butter, and mashing them with the hand potato masher
both kids have been xmas window shopping at walmart.com i told the kids they would have to stick to a certain dollar amount so theyve been adding and deleting things from their wish list so they dont go over their budget.
-we played the waltons game
- mandy mentioned how we can live without animals but we cant live without food. i asked her if we didnt have animals how would we eat? she said, 'we can grow it.'  A+ in science! lol
- joeys been using the computer quite a bit. his millsbury account. but also some site where he has a car and has to do things to earn points or money to buy upgrades for the car. he has to know what he wants to get, know how many points he needs, then has to earn that amount of points. or something like that.
- mandys been learning to jump rope backwards and to criss-cross the rope when jumping frontwards.
- joey was playing with bubble wrap. he gave me some but pointed out that flat bubbles wont make a noise so to be sure to just squeeze the round ones. he said when you squeeze a bunch at once it doesnt make a pop sound, it sounds like fireworks
- this was real cool....   joey asked me for the walmart receipt. he spent a great deal of time reading it, figuring out the abbreviations for the items and studying how much things cost. i just think that was AWESOME!
- they both played dog. (mandys ALWAYS the dog and joeys ALWAYS the human.) joey brought the dog to me for a grooming. i told him it would cost $40. he asked me to wait a minute, ran out of the room and came back with fake paper money. he had a twenty and 2 tens. $40.00.  WTG JOE!!!

okay, thats it for now. well, weve done more stuff, but thats all im gonna write about now. ha!  ttfn...

okay, so a couple of years ago, all the old rechargeable batteries i had for my camera (3 sets and 2 chargers) all died a peaceful death one right after the other. but they were old and had more than paid for themselves for their years of service with our kodak (fuji, actually) moments.

every now and then i would put one time use batteries in for the occasional event and what not, but for the most part, once the batteries died and just kind of quit taking pics.

well, i finally got new rechargeable ones for xmas. with a new charger to boot! they worked great for about 2-3 weeks. then the kids.....  well, you know, one of them borrows 2 of mine to operate one of their devices here and another one grabs one or 2 for their devices there, and the next thing you know, the no longer worked! im guessing its cuz being used at different times for different devices they no longer were charged to the same strength??? 

but whatever, that was january and again this year ive been back to using one timers here and there but for the most part, not really taking pics.

THEN! i got a cheapo 4 pack rechargeable battery set that included a new charger and that little bugger has been amazing! i got the batteries about the time i started adding pics to this blog. its been fun getting back into photography. mandy and joe have been getting into it as well. joeys been learning the basics ie: how to hold the camera properly to not cut the subjects head off in the shot (framing the shot) and which side to tilt the camera to if you wanna switch to portrait mode so as not to diffuse the flash. (always keep the bulb on top) hes also been learning about the macro feature (the flower, as we call it) and when you use it and when you dont. simple stuff but he thinks its big time and when youre discovering something new and youre awed by what you see and learn, then it IS big time. 

mandy has the basics down but has also been getting really into the artistic side of photography. she wants to create art and not just 'take pictures'. she's cool! i love her!!! 

well, just as we are getting into it and posting pics and mandy creating movies and stuff, the camera gets dropped! surprisingly, the camera didnt break. well, thats to say the functionality of the camera didnt break. HOWEVER... the ittty bitty teency weency catch thingie that keep the bagttery, which is on spring action release. i know that term isnt right but i cant explain it any better than that.  anyway, the little catch thingie clips onto whatever to keep the door from springing open. in other words, its the little clip thing that keep the battery compartment closed and the batteries IN the camera. the battery compartment is on the bottom of the camera so they have to be locked into that compartment to
a) work
b) not fall to the ground as gravity takes hold.

ive used the camera very few times since the drop by taping muti layers of electrical taped to hold the compartment door closed. it works but only for a little bit. the battery compartment is on the bottom. they are on a spring release. the tape is holding them in, but the tape will only hold so long before gravity and the weight of the batteries push through 100 layers of tape meant to hold them in.  phew! this paragraph has worn me out.

anyway, ive got  a HUGE list of things to blog about that weve done in the last few days. sadly, not many pics to show our work, but i still wanna blog about it for memories sake! :o)  until later......  ttfn!

today was the ceremony for the  end of the upwards program football season. the kids each got called up front and were given a really nice duffle bag. its kind of sad to see the season end, but on the other hand, im very much looking forward to having NO evening sports or dance to have to run off to. mandy dropped out of ballet a few weeks ago. she LOVES ballet. she loves her teacher but she hates having to go out or be out when daddys coming home. she would take ballet six days a week if the classes were during the day.

anyway, mandy did cheerleading for the first time and she really liked it and learned all the cheers very easily. even though shes at the age to be in 4th grade, she was in the 6th thru 8th grade squad due to the fact that her best friend, who's 2 years older than her, was on that age group squad. i was really proud of how quickly she learned the cheers and how great she did up against all the older girls. shes an introvert and extremely shy, but she got out there and cheered with the best of them; and they were all 2, 3, and 4 years older than her! heres the squad pic from todays ceremony. can you guess which one she is? (psst...  shes the youngest and smallest)




and heres a shot of joey and then mandy running up to the front during the ceremony to get their duffle bags and included in that shot is a pic of the 2 of them together. the real team! 'cept when theyre trying to kill each other!




of course i cant resist sharing a picture mandy and her 2 years older, bestest friend, kaitlyn. they love each other and i pray they stay friends forever!

more stuff weve been up to.  :o)

mandys been teaching herself how to create and edit movies on the computer. she can add the pics or videos she wants in her movie as well as transitional effects from one frame to the next. she also taught herself to add background music as well as narration. its amazing to me, what they learn and can do on their own,



both joey and mandy learned how to see those 3-D illusion picture thingies. even though they both were able to do and see it, joeys the one whos the most intrigued. he gets such an excited exprsssion each time he sees a new one!



both kids are involved with our local upwards football program. joey plays football and mandy cheers. saturday will be their last game then we can rest! but theyve both had tons of fun and really enjoyed it!in the top pic, joeys the little blonde quarterback getting ready to get the ball from the center. in the pic below, mandys the one in the grey sweat jacket. the only day my camera would cooperate was the one day it was drizzly and c-o-l-d!!!!!  brrrr....  




after months of no rain, weve finally gotten some good rain in the last few days. i mean, good steady, all day long, rain. the boys took the opportunity yesterday to go out and play some big time mud football. it was really neat cuz it was just martn (my oldest son) and his friend ranil but martin came in and asked joe to join them. joey was in HEAVEN to be asked by the big boys to join them in their game! and what boy can resist the opportunity to play mude football?

it doesnt even look like its raining there but trust me, it was! see???




last night the kids finally got around to carving their pumpins they gutted the other day. martin  helped joey but mandy insisted on doing her all by herself. but if youve never lived with martin, youd know how hard it is to try to do something all by yourself with him hovering over you. he can really stress you out and thats what happened with mandy last night. he kept trying to get in there and do it for her and she was rushing so she could finish before he took over. in her frenzy, she ended up making the pumpkins mouth too big and she came in crying cuz it turned out ugly. daddy said he'd help her do hers on the other side of the pumpkin tonught so she still has a chance to get it right! in the meantime, here are the boys and their masterpiece!




i will end this entry with the story of the boy who could fly. that would be joey! he got up in my window sill this morning and did a through the air jump onto my bed. i happened to capture the moment in mid-air!




and as amazing as that was, what was even more amazing is what happened just before he flew! he had a handful of coins. he tossed them onto the side of the bed so he could make his bug leap. when the coins landed, one of landed standing upright. how cool is that?




and on the note, the... the... thats all folks! have a great day!

what weve been up to:

mandy found a little clam thingie in the river (the shenandoah river to be exact )  a few weeks back. she brought it home and put it in our aquarium. daddy wasnt so sure the thing was gonna live in a fish tank, but in the fish tank he went. like i said, that was a few weeks ago & hes still alive and kicking. i saw him moving around today and tried with all my might to capture it on video but the glass on the tank and the lighting was off so i couldnt get a decent video. i did however, get a pretty decent still shot of it. it doesnt even look like youre seeing it through glass. so heres mandys pet:



after the clam came the fall festival we attended.  one of the activities they did was to put some dirt in a cup, add some punkin (i know thats spelled wrong) seed, add a bit more dirt, add some water, and bring it home.  joey was off doing all the games but mandy wanted to do this activity. so she did.   she brought it home and it sprouted! then it sprouted some more. and it got bigger. so her and her daddy re-potted it last night. and SHE took this picture of it:



of course, after joey saw mandys cup of dirt turn into a real plant, he decided he wanted one, too. so, last night joey took some fresh out of the pumpkin pumpkin seeds and planted them in a cup with some dirt. i dont know how that will work out cuz they were still wet and all. itll sad for him if it doesnt grow but itll also be something he learns. anyway, not to be out-done by his sister, joey also took his own pic of his cup of dirt (with seeds in it)



and where did he get fresh from the pumpkin seeds? right from the pumpkins of course! last night they (with the help of daddy) got the tops cut off of their pumpkins and scraped the innards out so they will (hopefully) carve their faces tonight. but this is where they came from:


and what did we do with the rest of the seeds you ask? we salted 'em, baked 'em, and ate 'em, of course!



while the seeds were baking, mandy made a plastic cup with string telephone. she didnt tell me or ask me and i had no idea she was doing it, as i was in the other room. all the sudden she popped into my room carrying 2 plastic cups attached by strings. she handed me one end and told me how to use them and to make sure to keep the string taut. i asked her how she knew to do it and she told me her friend kaitlyn, who is also a homeschooler, told her about it. from a childs instruction to following of those instructions to reality.  all on her own!




a bit later we went to get the seeds out of the oven and sitting on my stove top was a 'little man' as mandy called it. she apparently got into some other crafts as well. goofy girl!

ive just received some bad news regarding my good friend willis and his mom who will turn 100 in 6 days.

his mom had fallen out of bed in the night. She was not up as usual and was on oxygen. Willis looked rather pale and when asked if he had gotten any sleep he said no and in addition, he said to advise people that he really was a pain in the arse, as his siatica (sp??) was really bad. So, please pray if you can..

Front side:

We took a field trip yesterday (just down our little lane) to watch the tree guys cutting down a tree. We learned how the tree climber climbs the tree with shoe spikes, a harness, and a rope and how the climber and the ground crew work carefully together and how important good communication is.   :o)

i have a friend who has this ugly, unruly plant. it has leaves that grow out of the sides of other leaves that have leaves growing out of the sides of them. they are very few stems and no branches. most of the leaves grow out of the side of other leaves as oppsosed to growing off of a branch.

for the last several years, ive attended my friends 'blooming night' party. and each year i and my family have learned more and more about this plant. i was given a cutting 3 years ago and its doing well but they say it will take 7-10 years for the plant to mature and bloom. but the kids and i are having so much fun learning about and studying this plant!

i enjoy going to my friends house and usually take the kids with me. we dont go till 10:00PM and stay till about 11:30PM. the bloom usually peaks around midnight.

ive been having to work on a new resume' for my hubby. he isnt out of a job yet, but probably will be soon. and because i know nothing of what he does (cabling technician) ive had to do much research. ive had to spend many hours attached to the computer looking for detailed terminology for the resume, etc.

during all of this, mandy has been watching me and asking tons of questions. most of them are, 'when are you gonna be done, mommy?'    :o)    but seriously, she learned how to format documents last year but this week, shes been getting a refresher course. shes been brushing up on moving text around, changing text colors and fonts, changing text size, etc.  all the things you do when youre formatting a document. fun for her. tedious (researching and typing the resume') for me.  but i guess as long as SHES learning something, then its all worth while.

mandys also been working on a lot of online puzzles this week. the kind where you drag and drop to put the pieces together. her biggest challenge shes put upon herself is that each time she does one, she tries to beat her own time. apparently just getting the puzzle together is just part of the fun. youre also timed to see how fast you go. i guess that makes it more fun! at least its more fun for her!  :o)

personally, when im working on puzzles, i like to take my time. do them leisurely; a little here, a little there.  i dont need one more thing  that i feel i have to rush to!  but of course, this applies only to online puzzles. if i do a RLF puzzle, it must be small enough to do in one sitting, yet not too small that its not challenging.

id love to have a big puzzle that sits out and each of the family can work on it when they feel like it. we tried that a month ago. but my familys too slobby! pieces get knocked over over here. some are kicked under the table there.shoot, i was finding pieces at the far end of the hall on the other end on the house. you know if you walk barefoot that ones gonna eventually stick to your foot and end up at the other end of the house. duh, people!  lol  that puzzles been put away but im still finding stray pieces here and there. who knows if any are missing. but they probably are!

mandys also been playing with her barbie computer. i love that thing! it has spelling, vocab, and adding, subtracting, multiplication, and division games and questions. they spend hours on it!  between her and joe, i dont think barbies stopped talking (its a talking computer) for several days. and thats a good thing. if barbies talkin'. someones learnin' something!  :o)

he likes the online game 'bookworm'. theres a link to it in my side bar on the right. :o)  i play it on my laptop and he asked me to email him the link to bookworm. i did so he can play on the kids computer. so i did:

aint that the GREATEST!!!!! i SO love him! ahhhhhhhhhh....  nitey-nite!  :oD

when the kids and i are talking about and discussing things, i dont feel (and they dont either) like im giving them a lesson. they (and i) just see it as me explaining how things work in real time.  is that bad?  i mean, as far as unschooling principles go?

take mandys egg question for example. i feel like we had a very interesting discussion which led to others and we had a nice time chit-chatting. BUT now im wondering, is me discussing things with them and explaining things to them, really letting them learn on their own? figuring things out for themselves?

the way i talk about things with them isnt something im doing on purpose. ive always talked to my kids like that. explaining things. discussing things. even with my oldest, before he homeschooled and certainly before i thought I'D ever be a homeschool mom, much less an 'unschooling' one, if he had asked the egg question, our conversation would have gone the exact same way.  from when my kids were babies ive always used grown up sentences and big words. i always gave them straight forward answers to their questions and explained things on a more grown up level yet still at the level theyre at as well. i dont know how to explain it any better than that. and since this is the way ive always communicated with them, i dont feel like im giving them lessons or sneaking teaching in on them or anything. and they donjt see it like that at all!

each topic we discuss is always initiated by them. and we do 'discuss.' its not just me telling them things. its me answering their inquiries one sentence at a time, letting them ask new questions as we go as well as allowing them to surmise for themselves what the answers might be. the more we discuss things, the more curious the kids become. and the funnest part is when i DONT know the answer and we all go and look it up together. okay, i really mean, we all go google it together.

it sounds right to me. it feels right to me. but is this wrong? im stumptified. (yes, i just made that word up!)  blah!