My daughter wanted to play on the computer. The game she brought me to try was 'jump start typing'. I figured it wouldn't hurt to let her try.

Turns out the little lap top has the small keys very close together and she can mostly reach them all. So she can't work a mouse very well, but she can type like a champ! (well homerow keys anyway)

Our kids can 'swim' but they cannot really swim..they dog paddle, they get around, but they have no form.

So each year I consider the lessons offered at the pool. This year with me not able to swim yet, I really wanted to get them more chances to be in the pool, and lessons seemed to be the ticket.

The cost worked out to 75 for two kids for 6 lessons, semi private.

the first was just the two of them, this time it was my two and two others, still small still individual, and the life guard took extra long so that all kids got attention. plus since she is teaching form (I don't know how to swim) I can tell the kids to practice her way, while the other two take a turn.

I would prefer cheaper of course, but all in all I am pretty happy with the lessons so far. At least the kids are improving already.

For some reason GMC is building lego titanic this week and estimating the weight. He took a calculator formed some theory on how much each person would weigh, multiplied by number of people, and added in the weight of the life boats times 20.

I no longer remember the exact number he came up with, but since he forgot the weight of the cargo, hull and even the water in the swimming pool (pools?) he was quite a bit off. but it certainly was interesting to here his reasoning.

He then decided he could more accurately figure out the weight of the toy one he built by estimating the weight of the bricks and multiplying by the estimated number of bricks used. he came up with just over 6 pounds (it was a big contraption he built...)

Unfortunately we have no way of weighing them to see if he is right or not. we do have a small balance but the weights are only in 10 grams and 5 grams...not very helpful in determining small weights.

I read a list of 26 ways to find energy. along with typical 'avoid high sugar foods and the spikes/dips' there was also a few interesting tidbits.

like 'write down what you are looking forward to in the next month" apparently anticipation can give energy.

which brings me to my question..just what am I looking forward to?

At first I didn't think there was anything, I honestly could only think of work that needed done, but the more I thought the more I came up with...mostly the rewards of the work I have to do. I did come up with a few that I would love, but have no guarantee of, like JC learning to subtract with borrowing, or EL sleeping thru the night, and UE reading or GMC understanding algebra. Since I have no control of time on those, I figured they wouldn't give me much energy.

1. Swimming...no I can't swim, but I will be able to get in the pool in a few weeks, and I love helping my kids learn to swim.

2. Seeing my kids participate in the bike rodeo...actually I am NOT looking forward to the work of it, but I will love watching my kids ride.

3. Fitting into smaller pants. This may take work to achieve, but I have high hopes of success by the end of the month. (I finally have the energy for a daily walk, so there is hope)-not the right size in one month, just one size closer.

4. Baking. I like to bake, but while pregnant I really find it next to impossible. now that I am not, I have already baked a bit, and plan on more in between nursing sessions.

So there is my list, remind me to check back at the end of the month to see if all 4 wonderful things happened!

oh and now that I am all energized with anticipation..can I take a nap?

edited to add link:

discover more energy link

I found a website full of silly mostly mindless fun games..for those days when you really have no excuse not to be finishing your work but also no desire to do it. (or rather energy)

kewlbox

The games are all free, and not as many ads as other sites. in fact once you are in the game, often it is the ad (like the MnM flip it game) so you don't have to worry about kids clicking ads.

Of course you do have to worry about them beating your to score . (it is brainy fun to connect groups right? or mahjong)

My son decided in addition to a coin collection of real coins...he wanted to make some coins that he can do whatever he wants with. Since I am not partial to allowing someone to risk losing real money, I am ok with him having a fake collection.

He decided (wiht no help/input from anyone else) to take the tops of yogurt containers and make them into coins. Well first he asked for can tops, which I vetoed thinking they were sometimes sharp.

So one day he cleans up a yogurt top (not a real lid, a foil pull off kind) and writes a number on it, to make his 'coins'. He now has quite a collection of them, and is excited each time he or anyone eats yogurt. His sister is now in on the fun, rinsing her own lids off and writing her own numbers.

Meanwhile I am thinking "but it is garbage...." I am so not a frugal reusing earthy kind of person...I mean I do compost I do wish I had a garden, I do love walking outdoors, have a 'natural' lawn.....but deep down I am a city girl, who cringes at the thought of garbage being a toy.

We finally signed up for the library summer reading program.

Now our kids read regardless, but it is always fun to see them rack up hours, and they think getting a prize for what they already do is pretty nifty.

This year the theme is 'catch the reading bug' with a bug being the 10 hour (or ten book for little ones) prize, and a bug decorated cup at 20 hours.

Alternately you can donate a 'book buck' to the library instead of taking your prize. That is pretty neat. Still get the cool recognition (in previous years the kids were able to write their names on the library windows when they completed the chart.) without junking up my house!

so far GMC racked up 1.5 hours in day one, and JC managed 2 books. (one she read, one read to her).

She came last week, weighed in at 9lb 9oz, 22 inches long.

She tied in length with her big bro UE, but weighed more than any of them.

The homebirth experience was wonderful! The midwife was patient reassured all my worries (I am a whiny woman in labor) and let me just listen to my body...meaning for the first time I did not tear! I was able to push when ready for as long as ready.

EL is healthy, a bit grey at birth but then all my kids were funny colors at birth, she pinked up right quick.

The only thing I could ask for is someone else to do my laundry! Other than that I loved having my husband here holding me just the way I wanted, having all my kids together on the bed right after, and not having to wake any of them up for anything.

After the midwivees had gone home my husband was able to feed the older kids, and tuck them in at a normal time. Then he came and had some wonderful new daddy time. Again in the morning, instead of me pacing the room waiting for him to return he was right there to help with diaper changes and all three older kids got to kiss EL good morning.

I will so be going with a home birth should we ever be crazy enough to get pregnant again!

UE is already anxious to teach El how to crawl! and GMC wants to know how to teach her to talk (seems he missed how it happened the last two times..which makes sense since it isn't really a taught skill) JC wants to help all she can with blankets and diapers (I told her she wasn't allowed to change one till the cord stump fell off)

Yesterday GMC was so cute in the car! He was talking about money..his sister asked to go out to eat and we asked if she was paying, so they discussed how much money they had.

GMC mentioned he has a lot in his long term savings (well a lot to a 6 year old) and we asked him if he remembered what it was for. "big stuff". which is kinda right.

We mentioned we have a long term savings for big stuff too, and that some of it would be going toward paying for this baby's birth. He chimed in with "I want to use some of my long term savings to help pay for the baby too". We both thought it was sooo adorable, but we told him we could prolly manage on our own. Though we really appreciated it!

Yesterday GMC was so cute in the car! He was talking about money..his sister asked to go out to eat and we asked if she was paying, so they discussed how much money they had.

GMC mentioned he has a lot in his long term savings (well a lot to a 6 year old) and we asked him if he remembered what it was for. "big stuff". which is kinda right.

We mentioned we have a long term savings for big stuff too, and that some of it would be going toward paying for this baby's birth. He chimed in with "I want to use some of my long term savings to help pay for the baby too". We both thought it was sooo adorable, but we told him we could prolly manage on our own. Though we really appreciated it!

If I had to deal with homework on top of the sickness I don't think I could manage..plus if I were counting on an income right now we would be financially screwed!

As it is, we are doing less 'learning work' than normal, but considering all three are well advanced, less is not behind. We are also doing more silly games and quite frankly kids need more time to be 'bored' so they can use their imaginations to fill it. I don't think I leave them enough of that normally.

Course on the other hand if I were a paid to work mom with kids in day care/school, I would be getting rid of three kids and alone all day...might mean for more rest!

Though really I am lucky in spite of all my complaints I generally can take a nap every day that I want. The youngest sleeps still and the older two know that nap time is Mommy's alone time sortof.

My father found this link for me, it will be a time before I need it (GMC isn't that far ahead!) but I thought I would share.

free online course materials

There are so many options for learning out there, but most parents feel their only options are public private or home alone....

Homeschooling doesn't have to be 'mom/dad schooling'! We need a better name for it.....

I actually learned much more than 10 things, but it would take to long to list them all (did you know

Raul Amundsen was the first to reach the south pole?)

So here are my quickest 10 in no particular order.

10. Brains are muscles..use 'em or lose em'..but please don't abuse them. When offered new knowledge children pick up on it..when drilled constantly the brain seems to stop functioning..much like a 'Charley horse'. When the brain is not stimulated, some children have enough drive to learn something, anything they can, much like some figity children refuse to stop using their arms or legs..but many simply start to lose the ability to learn. Use it or lose it, but don't abuse it.

9. The best 'manipulative's' are free. Many top rate math programs offer a 'manipulative pack' that includes all sorts of toys to practice math skills, most are useful, and most can be duplicated in the home with simple household supplies or toys. Duplos and Legos are great for counting and building patterns... Any old shape sorter works...'magnetic' building sets are awesome for making solids (pyramids, tetrahedrons) and many online sites offer free printable patterns to cut and build.

8. Off the shelf store books are not all bad, but none offer the complete coverage of a full year program. I have bought several and the kids enjoy the 'fluff' pretty pictures with the reviews, but they will never equal a full program. (combined with online free sheets, and your own games though they work fine)

7. Online worksheets come in many varieties, with and without fluff, with and without progression, with and without answers. Never stop looking, more can be found around the next link.

6. Free test prep sites generally begin around grade 4..so if you live in a state with mandatory testing that begins before that point you may have to pay for a program that has standardized style questions..or not care. (after all so long as you know they are learning and the state wont penalize you..why worry?)..one other note on Standardized tests..they are often a vocabulary test..make sure you use a variety of phrases to ask your questions...'greatest number, largest amount'...or difference, take away, subtract, minus...Also try to ask questions in multiple patterns..what does an A say..what sound does an A make, which letter says /a/, etc.

5. Not all children have the same brain... I have taught many reading wizards who found math hard, and many math wizards who found reading hard. Plus those who found everything hard, and those who found everything easy, not to mention many in between. I have had a very wide spectrum of children in my years of teaching..and still bet there are other types to encounter! Learn what makes them tick and teach to their strengths....

4. Multi level learning has it's place. And that place is NOT all the time. For the most part hearing information over your head is a good 'prep' for when you will need to learn it. It makes a layer, and learning is often built layer upon layer. However, some skills are confusing when learned to early. So I try to save some lessons..For example, my youngest is learning to count by ones to 10..yesterday he pointed to a picture of bacteria and said '1, 2, 4, 8'..which IS how the bacteria double, but NOT how I want him counting his toys! Not that it will ruin him for life, he has time, but the bacteria book may have been better saved for when he was napping.

3. Dump the standards out the window. I fail at this, I have high standards. But I am learning to dump the standards and take each skill for each child at face value and simply build on it, not try to make all of them match. The 'teacher' part of me desperately wants to 'pull up' the lower levels...my son for example has a 3 year spread between his math and handwriting/spelling. But the truth is, he is ready to leap ahead in math, and barely able to keep up with writing. And that is OK...he finds math easy, writing not so much. There is no reason to hold his math fun back just because he still prints (and prints lousy at that!).

2. Knowing how to do something, and consistently doing it are two different things. Math is a perfect example, home schoolers routinely test off the charts in comprehension. But only average in 'computation' either we give them calculators to early, or they simple lack the 'drill' time. I aim to avoid this by not allowing my kid a calculator . But I still find it a shock that he can 'talk' thru what to do and yet still gets one or two 'computation' mistakes each day....

1. Never compare two kids..ok fine so some comparison can be a good thing..knowing that the average age of walking and talking is one might inspire a parent to provide more opportunities to walk and talk. For the most part though comparisons only serve to make one kid look good and the other bad. Which is useless in learning. Knowing that my youngest is still not up to what his brother and sister were doing at his age is NOT helping him learn. He is moving at the pace he finds comfortable. Drilling him to catch up wont help. by the same token looking at my oldest saying he is way ahead of most of his peers might encourage me to stop seeking new things for him..which would be just as wrong. Do check that your kid is performing enough to not worry about 'extra' help (speech therapy can do wonders, as can a math specialist, or reading tutor) but don't worry about trying to make your kids match a perfect ideal..there is none..kids are all different.

I actually remembered. In fact we woke the kids up to see. JC remembers and thought it was cool, GMC has absolutely no memory of waking up to see it at all! (UE we didn't wake up)

We actually woke them up about 10pm..right when the moon was almost gone...my husband and I peeked a couple times thru the night, but we thought we would let the kids see it, right before I went to bed.

The next one I think I read wont occur till 2010..so we figured last chance for a good long while.

I had my husband bid on the next math book for GMC, hopefully when it gets here, I will be able to figure out a transition from one to the other. I think he said it was 6$...pretty good for a full program.

I also had a friend mention a different math program, that I may check if she meant I could borrow for JC...I do like the fluffy one she has, but I also think she needs more focus on some areas. if I can borrow it , free is always a nice price

So after a week of working in the new math books, I found that my sons is too easy...we are skipping lessons, but still, the book talks of adding work problems as if they are new...which is silly, for one thing GMC learned to add with word problems (Daddy asking him while doing chores or at dinner) and for another thing...this is his 3rd (?) year of math worksheets...in three years you don't think we covered word problems a time or two?

Then there is my daughters book, it is a smidgen to hard...the topics covered are fine, just very much more in depth. for example today was writing ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, etc) which is fine, but the numbers in question were 100th, and 61st..which is slightly above her reading level. Nto enough to make her want to quit, just enough that the sheet took a long time. Over the last week several sheets have taken her longer due to that kind of more depth than she is used to.

I am not sure JCs book is a problem..so long as I supplement when it does move to fast, I think the more in depth will be good for her. GMC on the other hand...I think the newness and fun of skipping lessons as worn off into tedium of doing the same things he has been doing for three years.

So off to ebay to find a new math book. I hope the next one is as cheap as this one (his was $6 including shipping)

JC loves all the pretty colors and flowers or balloons that go with all the questions (the same questions we have been talking about or doing on worksheets for months...just now with pretty colors)

Gmc just got his today, he thinks it is lacking in those pretty pictures, but when I explained how cool a text book is...you just write the answers on plain paper..and they think a good place to start is with adding! (although with some variables) he decided that was cool and wanted to do a lesson right away...I told him to at least wait till after lunch!

Gmcs book was very cheap, JCs were not, but if you average them out...not to bad

I thought I was set on math worksheets for my oldest, but now it turns out the Singapore math book is written in..for the most essential fraction section!

Now I have to scramble to find something for him to do, he needs review of division, and multiplication (3 digit) and fraction work.

I am looking into finding a saxon math book on ebay, I think at this level they are hardback reusable books.

Did I mention phooey?

We read a story about

Heifer international from a magazine the other day and the kids really want to buy an animal.

I did some online checking and it seems that aside from being a bit uninformative as to just who gets your money (it may not even go to geese, but it will go to animals and training in the countries listed) It seems like a decent charity with a decent mission.

So I think I am going to let the kids buy a flock of geese with their leftover Christmas money.

This is an actual conversation I had with my son.

GMC: (holding up some sort of sugar concoction shaped like some TV character) "Mommy can I buy you this?"

Me: "No, it is shaped sugar and prolly tastes like crap, but thanks"

GMC: (holding up a marshmallow snowman with sparkle sugar decoration) "Can I buy you this?"

ME: "No, honey why do you want to buy me this stuff?"

GMC: "But it is spice thing"...(he thought the snow man would be like a spice gum drop, which he knows I do like)

Me: "No actually it is marshmallow (pointing to words on package), But very cool remembering I like spice drops. Now why do you want to buy me something?"

GMC: "I just want to get you and Daddy some junk food."

Me: "Ok how about I help you out, Would you like me to tell you what kind of junk food I would eat?"

GMC: "YES"

Me: "Here, I love peanut butter and chocolate, you can buy me this ornament and I will get junk food and an ornament for the tree. And you can get Daddy the MnM kind"

Now on the one hand, I have an adorable son who wanted to buy me something. Very proud of him.

On the other hand,I still don't know why he picked junk food to treat us with, nor do I know why he felt like doing it in the first place.

Not to mention the kid can read, but didn't bother to do so at all! I am still not sure he knows what he bought me.

GMC my oldest was talking about Tiger cubs and how many 'yellow' elective beads he was able to earn. For no cubers you have to have the Tiger badge first then you can do 10 electives to earn one bead. There are a total of 50 electives in the book, for a total possible of 5 yellow beads. Though you are sortof allowed to repeat if needed (but shhh)

Anyway, point is he seemed disapointed that 5 was the max, so I told him he was only going to a be a Tiger till May (9r is it June?) then he would be a Wolf..immediatly he wanted to know what he had to do to earn the wolf badge and just how many parts, and started planning his next year!

Wow, Dude, slow down, one step at a time. He is so like his mother and father..we have trouble slowing down and taking things one step at a time. I love planning...I hate to admit that, because I only like the planning part, making sure it all goes according to plan is not fun!

Financially I want to jump into being done paying things off and done with this EF buildup, and move on to bigger better things. I can plan it all I want, but if I forget to focus on what I am doing right now, I will fail at this step and never need the future plans! (or rather I will need a whole nother set)

Cause I am cold . Last night I made coconut macaroons..only I was short on coconut, and no almond flavor. I decided to use lemon, sounded good lemon coconut.

Then since there wasn't enough coconut, I decided to try some flour, just a bit. It didn't help. So I went for chocolate chips.

It actually turned out quite good! I had to bake them a bit longer than the recipe called for, but the end result was quite edible. Nothing to write home about, doubt it will be added to holiday favorites, but at least it was good.

I also realized after trying to write down some dinners we commonly eat for a friend who doesn't like to cook...I have a bad habit of just throwing spices at food and hoping it works. Which 75% of the time it is ok, 10% is terrible, and the other 15% rocks! I suppose if I were smart I would learn how to do the 15% more often

1. Decorate the tree...this always has to start with laying out the lights to make sure they work..the replacing of lights is a royal pia, but seeing kids faces when a strand lights up is so worth it. Then Daddy is in charge of putting lights on, while Mommy helps the kids find out what other decorations are available (some kitchen towels, a few place mats, a bell, nothing much) and then the most important part of the tree...The kids take turns putting ornaments on (with Daddy assisting as needed, Mommy unwrapping) Of course the whole time Christmas music has to be on!

2. Bake sugar cookies Now if you have never tried this I want to warn you children make a royal flour mess, and yes the cookies taste more like flour! but it is fun, and they are cute, and they love eating what they made! (or other cookie)

3. Read the advent book The actual book is a bit expensive though wonderful, I often think of making one, to give as a gift, we have 5 years of tradition of using this exact book so I could never get rid of it. Each day in December has a separate page with a door cut out (like lift a flap books) and behind the door is a bit of the story of Jesus and a beautiful picture (the 'doors' are beautiful too). We start with page one on December 1st and then each night review the 'old' pages before reading the days page. We usually do it in a 'fill in the blank' way so that the kids help tell the story "The angel ------(Gabrial) came to tell ----(Mary) that she was going to----(have a baby)" and so on.

4. Drive through the neighborhood looking at lights. Nothing special, no drive far from home, we just take a detour down the side streets one night that we come home.

5. Christmas carols at church bake a batch of cookies and share while singing, The kids have a song they sing just kids, and lots more sung as a big group. All gathered around tables so not like a service, just cookies and fun.

6. Fill a Shoe box of toys Operation Christmas is a cute method of filling shoe boxes to send to poor countries to give to kids at Christmas time. We always do one per kid. I am sure many fill the box with 50 or more dollars of stuff, but we have always done them for less than 10..some toys we never used some crayons a few dollar store surprises and done, full box. There is a shipping fee of 7$. The kids actually usually contribute their Halloween money to the Dollar tree part.

7. Get a gift for an angel tree we did this when I was a kid and I liked it, I would love to get one per kid, but so far that is hard, these days the requests are for bikes, Ipods or some other toy I can't afford to get my own kids (gmas bought the bikes here) so we have to hunt around to find one that just says 'toys' and we usually aim to spend less than $20. Picking the gift out is great fun for the kids.

8. Making place mats every year we cut out last years Christmas cards glue them on construction paper and laminate to make place mats for some relative...the recipient varies, but the kids love cutting gluing and giving.

9. Write our own Christmas card we usually like to fill in the family about our kids, any family news and of course a picture. We print them ourselves so cheap paper and a bit of time is all it takes. Sure done perfect would be nice paper, but no one said we were perfect!

10. Make some kind of Christmas decorations some times we do paper chains (use glue and you can recycle them, use staples and you really aught to save them) Other years we do snowflakes, many times we design and print a magnet or window cling or stickers (papers received free from buying pictures..haven't done so in 2 years, and still have plenty of magnets to go for years!) One year we made ornaments out of cinnamon and applesauce, smells wonderful, but all my kids had rashes on their hands for a week!

There are many more things we do, but those are ten of the earliest done, making them fresh on my mind!

Our pastor wrote an article in the church newsletter regarding telling children when it is their turn to sing. We always sing a song where the men have one part and the women another and the congregation comes together for part. I love hearing the deep voices of the men, and the higher ones of women..mostly in harmony. Our pastor wrote of how parents need to fill kids in on these details..sure many can figure it out on their own, but by saying "your turn, cause you're a guy and guys usually sing deeper" we are helping out kids know what to expect.

Anyway, it occurred to me that most areas of life need things pointed out for kids.
While many kids can pick up on things by inference, some...need things explained over and over again.

Finances are no different. I had a young teen over once and we discussed how I had never had any utility threatened to be shut off...she was amazed. So we don't just need to point out to our kids 'the right way' we also need to point out some things to less fortunate kids!

My daughter received money for her birthday, I asked her what she would like to do with it. She replied "Spend it!" Now every time any of them receives money we discuss this, and I tell them, 'some to church, some to the bank, the rest do what you want'. So some lessons need repeating!

Yesterday while teaching my son long division, I discovered that the brain cells lost are not just for memory.

The problem was 4050/50..in order to solve 'big' division problems we talked about how you get to 'ignore digits' and just look at the first few to start..in this case 405...immediately he says 8...50 times 8 is 400..I said..'Umm'..to buy time, a word I once tried to eradicate from my vocabulary is coming VERY necessary to buy me enough time to multiply myself.

We finished the problem, but added on top of my recent hunt to find the answers for conversions (man I hate those liters to pints, to gallons, ugh..or is it pints to liters, to gallons, which is smaller again?)

I am finding his math is reaching the limit of my ability fast. A teacher shouldn't have to look up the answers, if you can't understand the problem quickly how do you break it down for a kid before they find something new to amuse themselves with?

I am barely making it now, but soon his math class will have to be moved to a time when Daddy is home. (I already have to call for things like the square root of infinity, or a number divided by 0-I could look it up, but in the middle of breakfast I prefer to call)

Not to mention all the looking up I have to do just to keep on top of his trivia...I don't want to shoot him down when he comes up with a tidbit, but I also would like to be able to help him if he is wrong. And that requires I know a lot more about animals and space, and plants than I ever cared to!

And it brings to mind another reason I home school, I have to have him home so I can at least read the book he learned from. Learning with him is my only defense!

One of the wonderful things about digital cameras is that I can let a kid take lots of pictures and not worry about wasting film.

One of the bad is they still get to see the 'yucky' photos..one learning lesson to not take a picture of your hand and to try for decent lighting, is that the photo store wont print the ones that don't show right. meaning a kid sees less pictures when they take bad ones.

Now with the digital world your computer screen will try to show you any picture you take, no matter how black, or white, or blurry.



Oh well, GMC still managed to take one or two nice ones. Though for the most part he is going to have to learn to wait for people to look at him!

Smiling hill farm again, we read how after 30 years the area around the farm developed (nice picture of a water wheel for the mill) and one of the new additions was a 'pike road'

According to the book they were called that because money was collected every so often by a fellow holding a pike across the road..after you paid a few cents he would then turn the pike for you to pass..

So far I have not been able to confirm that, but sounds interesting. wait according to

Wiki it is so. alsoetemology site

As a financial note, a free hand me down reader is a wealth of information...and makes a good reader most days there is one word he needs help with..and a normal one at that, many of the library books have only dinosaur names he doesn't know, or some other science term he prolly wont use unless reading of that science (speaking of which I have got to aim him toward more social studies books!)
PS quote of the day:
The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop" -

Text is Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) and Link is http://en.thinkexist.com/quotation/the_most_interesting_information_comes_from/196484.html

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

Unfortunately many children make wonderful guesses, and fail to note they are guesses..but so long as that habit is curbed I have to agree children are wonderful.

Also my son told me today.."Thats why you don't send us to school..you would miss us" I was talking about how my husband completes me, and how I need him all the time, I even miss him when he is at work...and my son figured it applied to the other people I love (the discussion came up cause my daughter has been on a having kids kick, I mentioned a good father is a must first....though I am sympathetic to situations where children are raised by one parent, I think aiming for two is best, so I talk it up)

Still reading about Smiling Hill Farm and my least favorite part of all books is the school intro, where they assume your kid is in school and they are filling you in on what school used to be like, or is like in another country.

I also get irked that no one prays for home schoolers while every church has a prayer for teacher... Not that they don't need prayer and support, just that homeschooling is hard enough without any prayer or support.

Regardless let's get back to Ma and their school....I think the biggest reason she didn't do much schooling is that she had too much work already..she made the girls dresses, no not just sewed them, she had to make the linen from flax..Pa prolly did most of the growing but Ma had to beat it, soak it, spin it then weave it (with woolen thread bought from town) then cut sew and such....bit more work than grabbing one of three out of the closet (purchased by gmas and aunts - so I didn't even have to earn the money for them....).

This was all work needing done after her 'house' chores...and I doubt hers were done by 9:30 (mostly) I also doubt making lunch was as simple as slicing some cheese, spreading mustard, and nuking green peas (for one thing she would have to make the cheese, bread, mustard, and shell the peas!)

Not to mention the dishes I spent 2 minutes filling the dishwasher with would take much longer to clean with sand and water (that had to be drawn up from a nearby creek).

No I don't fault her at all for wanting to spend 5$ a 'term' per kid rather than adding reading education to the list of chores..though at the same time..why not sing the alphabet while you hang the wash? Why not count the peas you shell? And why on earth doesn't Pa teach reading while Ma spins...Allen should be able to entertain Ma with his reading while the girls get extra help.....

K so I think all kids should be involved in all parental chores, and I think the involvement should be of learning interest...I might be a pick picky.

Regardless, I am grateful for my microwave, store bought food, and vacuum! (yet another reason why in spite of what the census says we are rich)

On a side note, I missed a meeting last night, I was out at the park, walking with the kids...I had a wonderful time...I do regret missing the meeting, but given the choice..I would have chosen the walk with the kids. I do like em

Well since my son is a Tiger cub, and the group is small, and we want to get the most out of the year (our way). My wonderful patient, understanding husband signed up for the leadership position.

It should be interesting to say the least!

One of the first things we talked about was keeping costs down. While the BSA would like everyone to spend hundreds (yes I meant that extra s) to properly uniform the entire pack, we think a shirt and kerchief is plenty (well plus patches).

And speaking of those patches, BSA seems intent on giving one out on a monthly basis, mostly for showing up....I think that is overkill, and wonder just where you are supposed to put all those patches anyway (don't worry BSA sells a blanket, a vest, and a book, just for storing the excess..). We will not be spending the money on those nor on the ready made kit for all your craft needs...not that I am not lazy, just that I am cheap...err frugal?

Adding to the list of 'we ain't gonna' are the 'preset no input from kids lesson plans'. While I do like the availability of backups and idea, we don't want it to be a show up get credit go home. We want to know where the kids would rather go, and what sort of craft the kids would prefer to do. We want their input on nature center or aquarium.

Of course as usual that makes more work for me. One of the first things I have to do is list all the required field trips and the elective ones so that the kids can choose something that will help them earn the real badge.

And apparently the Pack meeting is supposed to be family involvement, so not only am I on refreshments I actually have to show up! (The rest of the meetings are daddy and boy only)

Oh yeah I forgot to mention their are not enough Wolf cubs to do their own thing, so we have to plan a combined Tiger/wolf meeting, one that will meet the very different requirements for each badge...

After yesterday I was placed in charge of leading the adult group we are in. I don't like to teach adults, I haven't spoken in front of adults for... years, long years. And yet when they asked "Are you interested" Instead of saying "NO" I said "Well, I could, if, I had to, and umm.."

Yeah that was a yes to them, and now I am stuck with it.

Partly I still don't want to, I do not relish adults, nor being the one to blame. But am looking forward to actual learning taking place. I don't mind a gab fest, I just find that I enjoy learning about God's word and world, and that hasn't been happening in our group for a long time. Oh there has been an interesting tidbit or two, but in general it has been fellowship only. (which as far as I can tell is a fancy Christian word for 'talking', occasionally used to make gossiping sound better)

The other part of me loves lesson plans and organizing and the spirit of teaching..even if only adults. Lesson plans are something I really don't get to do much with the kids. Most of our learning is spontaneous, which is great, but for a teacher like me...not as much fun . Now somewhere there is a teacher dreading having to come up with lesson plans who would think me crazy, sorry I think the same of one who enjoys writing computer code, to each our own!

Now to figure out how to cram 7 sessions of 3 hours each into 14 sessions of 45 minute classes....