Another week in the books

Well we had quite a busy week of schooling. As you can see in these pictures the kids were busy all week, and therefore, so was I. I did not post pictures of all the "after school" activities, such as ballet, hip hop, and jazz dance as well as soccer, swim team, and eventually they will start Catechism... although they get quite a bit of that at home, they want to go to class to be with the other kids they know from church.

Home school with the girls has been much more "manageable" than I thought. We do have our rough spots. But 95% of the time it runs very smoothly. And the kids do get alot out of the 1 on 1 time with their teacher, me.

Some highlights of the week have been: Emma built her Terrarium, and has been observing it daily. She thinks of the toads in the tank as her "pets" and even Elani has been writing down her observations of the tank... future scientists!! Then there is Elani, she has done well with everything she has been assigned, and she is quite creative when it comes to her learning. In one of the pictures of her she is sitting at the table writing her spelling words in a pan of flour. she had fun, and after that got a 100% on her spelling test. ( maybe the sensory part of her task helped), oh BTW it was her idea to study the words with flour. I should have taken a picture of her trying to clean it up, she somehow got flour everywhere. But that was OK. And then Elizabeth did a science experiment this week wit TUMS and water and vinegar. She was bummed we did not see some sort of explosion with the tums. We'll have to do the Mentos in diet coke thing I guess, she'll be happy with that!

8th grade work has been tough on her, so we take our time, I told her today that at our current pace, her school year will go through the summer. Maybe that will help to pick up her pace.

Elie managed to get a hold of the new macbook laptop and soon after I took this picture of her playing "webkinz", she managed to somehow mess up the computer, so momma Mary had to get the computer guy at work to fix it. I think he just had to change 1 command, but we couldn't figure it out.

The upcoming week is kind of up in the air. I was planning to give them a very light Labor Day, but Hurricane Gustav may have plans to lighten their days for a few days. We'll see how that goes.

As for me, I start my Religious Studies Institute (RSI) classes on Saturday 9/6, so I need to start getting my reading done for the first classes. i am taking Morality, Church History, and A study on the Catechism! this should be fun stuff for me!! Bring on the Theology!!!!

Terrarium ( said like Metallica's Sanatarium)

Well, today started like a usual Monday, until Emma realized that it was "terrarium day". She sprung out of bed, brushed her teeth and was ready to get "dirty". We started with the 10 gallon tank from wal mart. and some gravel and potting soil from there too.
Here she is adding a layer of soil over her layer of gravel. We forgot the sand that we meant to use between the gravel and soil.
Emma planted a fern, and another plant we bought at the nursery at wal mart. We also dug up a few things from our yard.
This is what the terrarium looked like when it was done being set up. The science experiment that we are using said that we could put a small animal or two in the terrarium, to give it the true "ecosystem" feel. So, Emma and I went frog hunting. (sorry no pictures of that). We ended up with two toads. At least I think they are toads. So they now live in our "new world".
And finally, here is a shot of Emma standing next to her terrarium.(notice her Bull Frog swim team shirt) It was a fun experiment and I am hoping that Emma does some good observations as prescribed in her science book. I am looking for some "Darwinian" observations from Emma. I'll keep you posted.

Elizabeth also did a science experiment today, but it was on a much smaller scale, at least in my eyes. But she is not as impressed with the scientific method as Emma is so I do not know that she is getting all that much from Science as Emma.

In action!

Here is a photo of me and Emma going over her lesson plan for science. I was explaining that on Monday 8/25 we would be doing a science experiment/activity! She got really excited about the prospect of doing some hands on projects. I went on to explain that the project was that we were going to build a terrarium for her science lesson. We are studying the balance of nature, and that God created everything in nature. So, we went today, Saturday, to the local "wal-marts" to buy the things that we need for the terrarium. I remember when I was a kid, we had a terrarium in our living room, it was real 1970's, a white and clear bubble type thing with plants in it. I didn't realize that we had a science experiment growing in our living room.

Anyway, we bought a 10 gallon aquarium, potting soil, gravel, and a couple of small plants. Now, I need to figure out a way to cover the aquarium....... I mean Terrarium, so that the frog or Lizard that Emma wants to put in it can't escape. Momma Mary and Liz say they wont be able to sleep with the thought of a wild animal in the house. We'll see.

On another note, Mary (the wife) was unaware that I started a blog. Her job has been extremely busy this week, and she has worked late every night. She was quite surprised tonight when I said that my blogging was going well. So, now the lady of my dreams, and love of my life is going to be a regular reader of my blog as I am of hers.

I will keep posted how the terrarium turns out, and possibly share pictures of us making it.

Cold Coffee??

Well, I am on day 3 of home school and it's going relatively smooth. The girls are all getting all of their assigned work done. I was worried that they wouldn't, but they have... Although Emma had homework last night because she was tired yesterday afternoon and wanted to do her History last night. But today, all the girls were finished their work by 230pm... wow! We even did a science experiment for Liz's Science Physical Science curriculum that was fairly successful. It involved a 9 volt battery (the square kind) 2 pieces of copper wire and a glass of water with baking soda dissolved in it. Liz put the wires in the water while they were connected to the battery and they started bubbling up. Watching the fascinated look on the faces of my young students was wonderful. Even Elie (2 yr old) thought it was cool. I took a few pictures of it for our yearly home school scrapbook, I would post them here if I could figure out how.

That reminds me, the title of this post is cold coffee. I drink 4 or 5 cups a day of coffee. I like my coffee to be somewhere between hot and really warm, call me crazy. Anyway, every time I have poured myself a fresh cup of java this week, I get called for help from another "student". So, I have not finished a cup of warm coffee this whole week. Not really a funny story, but hey this is non-fiction, it is hit or miss.

Now, I have to do the really important stuff of the day, answer the question that Elani just asked me, "what are we eating tonight dad?". Let me go look in the freezer, then the checkbook to see if we have money to eat out, then in the freezer again, then the wallet, etc....

well, I hope that I give a good impression of my experience the last few days. It really has been great.

Home School?

Well, Today was our first full day of schooling, just me and my girls. I taught them alot. They were genuinely enthusiastic about the day. I must admit that I was nervous as hell, when I woke up at 5am. The lesson plans were completed lats night, around 1030pm, so that was covered. Now, I actually had to hold the kids attention and be somewhat interesting with them and the subject matter being covered.

We did it though.. I am starting this blog to kind of keep up with my feelings about our not so new radical lifestyle that has been enhanced by home schooling all of the gilrs. For the last 2 years I have home schooled our oldest daughter. So, it only seemed natural to bring them all home. Besides I am fairly certain that I heard God whispering "bring them home and educate them", all summer long. So, it made sense to do it, and after 1 day, I am pleased with the decision.

Now, sllep and then day 2!!!