tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-212319602011-09-21T01:49:58.356-05:00We're officially a homeschooling family! We are in our third year in this adventure, but we feel this is where God led us and know that He will be with us through out it all! Whooda thunk it, really? Sometimes I look around and think, "Ummm...who gave me permission to impersonate a grown up?"Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.comBlogger2041100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-70333834798182229912009-08-20T13:33:00.003-05:002009-08-20T13:47:05.403-05:00

OK, I'm not sure how many people even read anything over here anymore, but I'm finding it really, really hard to maintain even one blog, let alone two. I always thought it would be just fine to have a "personal" blog with all of my random things that go on and then a "homeschooling" blog with all the school stuff we're doing. That way the three people who read my "personal" blog don't have to

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-4984190099857179312009-03-20T09:33:00.002-05:002009-03-20T09:42:19.258-05:00

I am so frustrated right now that I want to scream at the top of my lungs and not stop for at least ten minutes. I want to go back to my room and beat the living crap out of my heavy bag, but I have the ending of a migraine, and I don't think that would make it feel any better.I have a child who cannot stand to have her work corrected. In. Any.Way. Regardless of if she has no understanding of

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-61010451136028398712009-03-18T10:08:00.005-05:002009-03-18T20:15:53.482-05:00

Well, we're reaching the end of the school year - can it be? How can that be? - and I'm beginning the search for curriculum for next year. I'm probably not going to change much of what we do because I really feel like we've found a great mix that works for our family. Here, in great bullet format, are my considerations for next year:Language Arts - do I continue to use both Learning Language Arts

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-66353753415399758642009-01-25T15:02:00.002-06:002009-01-25T15:16:20.915-06:00

No, nothing exciting to report, as the exclamation points in the title would lead you to believe. I just wanted to let you know that I'm updating, and I thought I'd fancy it up with some cute punctuation. Because I've always thought that exclamation points were kind of cute. Not as cute as semi colons, but much easier to figure out how to use.Last Tuesday, we schooled for a little while and then

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-18473847963846571182009-01-12T21:40:00.005-06:002009-01-14T10:14:58.948-06:00

One of the things that I struggle with the most as a parent is consistency with discipline. I think that I just heard a collective "AMEN, SISTAH!" from pretty much every parent reading this, because heaven knows that one of the hardest things to do is follow through with that threat that you just made to Boseephus, Jr. about how if he did XY or Z one more time you were going to ground him for an

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-21451325493740536062009-01-08T21:31:00.002-06:002009-01-08T22:31:23.367-06:00

No, we didn't blow anything up. I promise. Although, frankly, that might have been more interesting than the science experiment that we did on Tuesday...I jest, I jest! Actually, the experiments we're currently doing involve magnets and The Kids find that absolutely fascinating. It's just that this past Tuesday, we were supposed to cut a butterfly out of tissue paper and then attach a paperclip

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-81361007598773378872008-12-21T14:17:00.003-06:002008-12-21T14:22:50.369-06:00

I'm not dead. We've not fallen off the face of the earth. I'm just finding it very hard to update here. School is going well and we had a great time doing Christmas Around the World for the first part of December. I even took some great pictures of the crafts we made to represent the different countries we talked about.Honestly, I'm not sure I'll get around to posting them, but I'll try. I'm

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-48955377941122381822008-11-16T21:49:00.002-06:002008-11-16T21:53:36.579-06:00

I know it's been eons since I updated anything, but I promise that we have been having school! The past two weeks have been absolutely nuts though, because my purse got stolen and we got a new puppy (you can read about those two things over at The Karate Mom!) and it's just felt really nuts around here!I've taken some great pictures of our history co-op, though, and I'll try to get those posted

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-67289333928270840582008-10-22T11:29:00.002-05:002008-10-22T13:09:26.255-05:00

Well, today is Sansday (read: Wednesday for all the Real Folk out there that have a real weekend) so we're sitting on the sofas, watching Bee Movie and being lazy, which is, frankly, the best way to be on a rainy, cool day. There's not a whole lot to update as far as school goes, really, seeing as how I've actually been updating more than once a quarter. *pats self on back* Reilly is

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-65116816375611777172008-10-16T22:02:00.002-05:002008-10-16T22:25:10.664-05:00

Or, well, at least we like to THINK it does!I decided that I wanted to add grammar to our daily schedule and, after researching different options and talking to my friend Julie, Homeschooling Guru Extrordinaire...no, I'm just kidding, she's really just a completely normal homeschooling mom whose opinion I happen to value a lot... I decided on a curriculum called Shurley Grammar. (Or maybe it's

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-43951261642362807212008-10-06T21:15:00.007-05:002008-10-07T18:30:06.980-05:00

I'm not doing as well with keeping this blog updated as I would like to be doing! I take lots of pictures, and we're certainly not at a loss of things that I could share, but I somehow always put this blog off until last and then I get behind! Boo, hiss!But, I'm here now, so here's an update! I'll even divide it up by subject so that I can make sure that I don't miss anything important!SCIENCEWe

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-8332207264072872792008-09-19T21:39:00.007-05:002008-09-19T22:16:02.813-05:00

One thing I added this year was history, which has been a whole lot of fun so far. I'm using Story of the World - Ancients, which starts out with ancient nomads in the Fertile Crescent (6000 BC) and works its way up. I also use History Odyssey, which provides a "lesson plan" of sorts to go along with SOTW and we do these neat things called Hisory Pockets, which is all sorts of cutting out and

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-35273452257888907942008-09-19T21:25:00.003-05:002008-09-19T21:39:34.459-05:00

Periodically, at the homeschooling message board I go to, we get new homeschoolers who ask questions about what its like to homeschool, and we're always willing to chime in with our answers and share what we know about this thing that we love. I wrote the following as part of a response to one girl today, and I wanted to come here and post it, not because I think I'm some sort of genuis, but so

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-24083760329120746842008-09-15T22:58:00.002-05:002008-09-15T23:12:34.793-05:00

Just a quick update before I go and collapse myself into bed:We started back to our homeschooling co-op last Friday, which was very exciting for all of us. It's such fun, and such a blessing to have a change of scenery and friends each week. This year I'm going to be in Reilly's class of 1st through 3rd graders for the first semester, and then I'm the Preschool Director (notice the Big Fancy

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-50245118574840574752008-09-09T11:33:00.004-05:002008-09-09T12:15:22.056-05:00

Interesting title, huh? I'm sure it just makes you want to jump in with both eyes and read away!Today is Declan's first sick day! Poor guy woke up this morning with a bit of a fever and said he had a sore throat. Actually what he said was, "Mom? Can I have something soft for breakfast because my throat is sore?" and while I assurred him that I would make some Malt O Meal for him, he told me all

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-34565298733605970112008-09-03T22:59:00.007-05:002008-09-04T11:24:51.252-05:00

Science experiments are more fun if you don't watch how they're done on a DVD first and then try to go and replicate them. Somehow the magic is lost if you know that the top of water is going to stay level when you tip the bottle on its side and it makes doing the experiment yourself a little redundant. The smart thing to do is to do the experiments yourself, then watch the video to make sure

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-61703829997584142392008-09-01T21:24:00.004-05:002008-09-01T21:45:26.231-05:00

OK, I have a gajillion pictures of our first day of school (two weeks ago, on August 18th which was my 33rd birthday, and which was a full week earlier than I expected simply because The Kids ASKED me if we could! Silly kids!) and of our first round of science experiments that we did last week and of all Declan practicing his handwriting and stuff like that, but I have NONE of them loaded on my

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-75280354185362317692008-06-17T06:56:00.000-05:002008-06-17T06:57:21.920-05:00

...I just had to share this part of an email that my Momb sent to me. (No, that's not a typo. She's my mom, and I like to call her Momb...I don't know why!)"Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-32784193578981428342008-06-05T08:05:00.001-05:002008-06-05T08:06:44.193-05:00

Back in April, out homeschooling co-op offered IOWA testing for those who wanted to participate. Although our state doesn't require any standardized testing at any grade level, I decided to have Reilly take them just so I could get an "indifferent" opinion of how she's doing. Long story short, I was amazed when I got the test results! In the reading area (comprehension, usage, etc.), she's at a

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-67924803217392898222008-05-01T10:21:00.004-05:002008-05-01T10:36:54.731-05:00

Sometimes I swear that I'm going to pull my hair out by the ROOTS!!!! I think that oftentimes, Reilly sets out to simply be as stubborn as she possibly can. To look at things in the most obtuse manner available. We had a very simple exericise the other day: look at the picture and put an X next to the sentence that best describes the picture. The picture was of a child in a bed with a mom

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-83870566305643678242008-04-16T15:37:00.002-05:002008-04-16T16:04:13.651-05:00

We're kind of winding down things here at Morning Star, actually. Reilly is still (yes, I know...still!) trucking along with Red Book and I'm so proud of her. Yesterday, I realized that she would need to do an average of three "lessons" a day instead of two in order to completely finish the curriculum by the end of the year...otherwise, we were going to have to go into the first week of June. So,

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-33202023868658662902008-04-09T12:03:00.003-05:002008-04-09T12:24:22.831-05:00

I don't know why I feel like I need to title each post, even though the posts are about...school...seeing as this is my homeschooling blog!Nothing really fantastic is going on right now. (Other than the fact that I'm apparantly choking on a pretzel!) How's that for an update? Ha ha, just kidding. Sorry, this has become less of a post and more of a stream of consciousness....Anyway, Reilly is

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-58815590938060606182008-04-03T15:18:00.003-05:002008-04-03T23:34:31.805-05:00

...we had a good, if short-ish day. I had to go to a store meeting this morning, which means we were all up and out of the house by 6:15. Once we got home, at about 8:30, it was a little bit hard for me to get up the gumption to start school. It's kind of cloudy and misty here today, and I would much rather have stayed in my jammies. But that wouldn't have gone over well at the store meeting.But,

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-17850087691027239092008-03-26T23:30:00.002-05:002008-03-26T23:54:40.225-05:00

I don't know why I've found it so hard to post lately! Maybe it's because I continue to feel like we're not doing anything worth blogging about. No big projects, no exciting unit studies, nothing. It's just sort of...school. BUT, in a continuing effort to keep all three of you updated, I'm going to try to do better.So here goes.In a handy list format.Reilly is chugging along in Learning Language

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-4447625165216279372008-03-11T22:17:00.007-05:002008-03-12T07:35:51.154-05:00

Well, Troy has been on vacation for two weeks, so we didn't have "official" school. The great thing, however, is that we did do enough educational things that we aren't losing any days! Yippee! We went to the zoo, we went to a children's museum, and we did Reilly's science project for the homeschooling co-op science fair that was last Thursday. She did an experiment that we got out of a book,

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-19754827589255178562008-02-26T15:54:00.003-06:002008-02-26T16:12:38.379-06:00

Well, my dear and wonderful hubby is on VACATION for the next TWO WEEKS!! Yippee! I planned for us to be completely off for a week when I was making out our calendar for the school year, but then he had to take two weeks in a row - a first for him! - so I imagine we'll do some educational things while he's off. That way we won't be "short" on days this year...although, that's not really a huge

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-35279631137124649652008-02-21T06:41:00.002-06:002008-02-21T07:08:40.993-06:00

Here's a quick recap of our last few weeks of school, seeing as how I somehow always forget to post anything about school on my homeschooling blog! Reilly has written a story for the Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest. At one point, she said"This is harder than I thought it would be!" She actually wrote down the first half of the story herself, but then I let her dictate the

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-44275074124099524002008-01-29T22:13:00.000-06:002008-01-29T22:38:05.681-06:00

Our homeschooling co-op is having a science fair in mid-March and Reilly was very excited to sign up. She's not old enough for her project to be judged - that will come in 4th grade - and I was very proud that she wanted to participate anyway. She's so competitive that I could easily see her not wanting to do a project if there's not a chance that she could win a ribbon. We got lots of books on

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-51791093392985050352008-01-17T15:46:00.000-06:002008-01-17T16:22:13.573-06:00

Well, things have gotten better as we near the end of this week, I'm thankful to say! While we had a bit of a rough start Monday and Tuesday, yesterday and today could not have gone better. I switched things around with how we do spelling and I think that helped a lot. I used to do the pre-test on Monday and have her do part of the workbook work, and then on Tuesday and Wednesday she'd choose

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-81882122593026477902008-01-13T22:38:00.001-06:002008-01-13T23:03:06.517-06:00

Well, after a really, really loooong Christmas Break due to the 9-day power outage, we're back in the swing of things with school. Yay! I love the break, but it is nice to return to our regular schedule.Last week was pretty hard, though. In fact, if I had had to make a decision on Tuesday if I wanted to continue homeschooling or wanted to send Reilly to public school, I would have chosen to send

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-63474130853942807752007-12-20T15:16:00.001-06:002007-12-20T15:18:32.301-06:00

moar funny pictures

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-64685881406906990192007-11-13T22:49:00.000-06:002007-11-13T23:14:06.719-06:00

I've been SO bad about updating this blog! I guess it's because we've been in a weird mode of school lately. We're still doing enough sit-down work that I feel like Reilly and Declan are being educated, but it's been a whole lot more unschooling-type lessons lately.For example, last Monday I found out my dad was in the hospital with pneumonia and, through a series of events in his life, he had

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-26395182188151877772007-11-08T12:01:00.000-06:002007-11-08T12:02:45.428-06:00

...yes. Again.And feeling completely inadequate for this job of homeschooling. *sigh*

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-74168028821923595222007-11-03T09:37:00.000-05:002007-11-03T11:57:34.897-05:00

I didn't realize that turtles grew so fast! And to think, we've only had Skipperdee for a week and a half! I mean, look at him! He's as big as my hand now! At this rate, he's going to outgrow the tank in a month!OK, not really. The Original Skipperdee actually died the day before yesterday. (Only, we didn't realize that he had died until yesterday. Ew.) I think that he pretty much starved to

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-49370289312552751482007-10-31T21:49:00.000-05:002007-10-31T22:12:49.203-05:00

Last Saturday, my mom took us to the Fire Chief's Barbecue, which was held at the fireman's training ground. Unfortunately, my camera battery pooped out on me, so I only got a few pictures of us having dinner. But we got to see lots of things that would have made for GREAT pictures. We watched several teams rappell down the side of a building and see a guy "rescued" from a window. We watched the

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-28589007944981279242007-10-25T12:02:00.000-05:002007-10-25T12:09:28.920-05:00

Monday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day with lots and lots of fighting and crying and tantrums...not all of which were done by The Kids. Sometimes I amaze/terrify myself with my ability to act like a two year old. It's not a pretty sight. And it hurts so badly when I realize that I've been the exact opposite of a Christ-like example for them. We got throught it, though, and did a

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-23135760164230052302007-10-24T16:16:00.000-05:002007-10-24T16:43:39.949-05:00

Last Saturday, we had a garage sale and we had told both of The Kids that if they contributed some of their toys and things to the sale, they could keep some of the money to buy something for themselves. Well, Reilly went for it whole-hog because she decided that she wanted a TURTLE! (I thought that she was saving for an Americal Girl doll, but she veered off into the land of amphibians...)So,

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-5377300418172269692007-10-24T06:42:00.000-05:002007-10-24T09:30:03.940-05:00

HI! I promised that I'd post pictures of our adventures on Troy's vacation....and I'm always one to keep my word to my, oh, 2.5 readers! (I'm a lonely blogger...I would love some comments...otherwise, I begin to feel like I'm talking to myself. Oh, HI Shery! She always leaves comments. Hint hint to everyone else...) Anyway, the pics below are as follows: Troy, peeking through the Indian's arm,

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-52546342449563063212007-10-18T15:22:00.001-05:002007-10-18T15:34:15.691-05:00

This week has been so great! Troy had been on vacation, so we've done lots and lots of school...but all of it in field trip format! And EVERYTHING is more fun when Papa's along! On Monday, we were in Branson and we went to Table Rock Lake. We watched a video about how the dam was built and walked around the visitor center. Then we went down to the (very rocky) beach and walked along, exploring in

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-5642558918333892692007-10-11T06:22:00.001-05:002007-10-12T07:23:37.172-05:00

Pictures as promised!! Last week we got to go to the fair as part of "Our State's Largest Classroom" which was just about the best deal I've ever gotten. There was no entrance fee, PLUS we got to take our lunch in...something which we all know is NEVER allowed because they want you to spend $3947.00 on a corn dog and a pop. We went with my friend, Shelly and her boys Kyce (who is also in second

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-53703196561672104602007-10-07T21:14:00.000-05:002007-10-07T21:28:38.675-05:00

I know, it's been for-EV-er since I've updated this thing, and I've got some pictures and video to share from some things that we did last week. I've been struggling with headaches for the last couple of weeks and so when time comes where I can have a few minutes to update, I'm usually wanting to take a nap instead. Or do laundry. Not that I want to do laundry, don't get me wrong. It's just an

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-59485335461083106722007-09-29T16:03:00.001-05:002007-09-29T16:22:38.248-05:00

This was kind of an odd week, simply because of Reilly's toe injury, which you can read all about right here...or, if you want to call she'd be MORE than happy to tell you ALL ABOUT it. (I need to have a talk with her about the fact that some people are squeamish and don't necessarily need to hear all the details when they ask "How did you do that?")We didn't have any school at all on Monday or

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-48878703614513064082007-09-24T11:01:00.000-05:002007-09-26T15:48:34.584-05:00

Reilly loves Learning Language Arts Through Literature, which is something new that we started this year. One of the things in last weeks lessons was that she was to memorize one of two poems and then "present" the poem on Poetry Day. I took a video of her saying the poem, since we don't have an actual class to present to poem to! At one point during the week, she was also to illustrate the

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-38472304424749379602007-09-19T11:34:00.000-05:002007-09-19T11:43:55.186-05:00

Things have been going very well this week. (I probably shouldn't say that out loud...I'll jinx us!) I think that the difference was made because I started making a little check list for Reilly for each day. I write out the basics of what we have to do (Reading, Math, Spelling, etc.) and put boxes by them. Then she can pick which subject she wants to do and check the box when she's finished. If I

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-52897216159500685162007-09-16T15:31:00.001-05:002007-09-16T15:59:09.412-05:00

Friday was our first day at our new homeschooling co-op and it was a ton of fun! Reilly got to take a class about art as her Enrichment Class (EC), as well as a PE class. In PE, they're getting ready for the Presidential Fitness Challenge, so she had to do probably WAY more physical activity than she's done...well, ever. Running, jumping jacks, push ups...it was all very intense. I heard the male

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-27101282678523532372007-09-12T17:08:00.000-05:002007-09-12T17:22:56.018-05:00

My original intent for today was to have school in the morning and then go out to the church and make some DVD copies of a dance recital that I have to deliver on Friday. (The church lets me make the copies on their 10-disc copier, thus saving me hours and hours and hours of time. Because 122 copies takes a looooong time!)Sounds like a good plan, right?Yeah, I thought so to. But then I realized

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-32140631643178951852007-09-07T06:44:00.000-05:002007-09-07T07:00:23.500-05:00

We've had some tough days this week, not because of the material that Reilly's learning, but because of the whole teacher/mom thing. Sometimes I'll ask her "Would you talk to your teacher in Sunday School like that? Would you react that way to a hard question in Sunday School?" because I don't understand why she'll do certain things here that she wouldn't do anywhere else. I guess it all boils

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-13111486978381609812007-09-01T17:08:00.001-05:002007-09-01T17:46:35.621-05:00

This has been a fairly uneventful week, but I did take some pictures of random things that I thought I'd share.Sometime earlier on in the week, Declan asked me if I would make a "superhero mask" for him out of paper. So, using my fantastic artistic skills, I drew a mask-shape on paper and had him cut it out (ah-HA! That counts as cutting practice, right?). After attaching pieces of yarn to the

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-66117529535149728162007-08-28T13:14:00.000-05:002007-08-29T06:43:53.933-05:00

Guess who? Who do you think I'm talking about? Me? Naaaah, I fall under the catagory of LEAST competitive girl in the world.No, if you guessed Reilly, you'd be hitting the nail right on the head. Lots of times, in school, I try to use games to practive things. Most recently, it's been practicing math facts. She really struggles, NOT with the performance of the game itself, but with the idea that

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-80244186797868380752007-08-26T21:57:00.000-05:002007-08-29T06:45:23.940-05:00

I had every good intention of blogging each day of our first week of school, but you know what they say the road to heck is paved with, right? Yeah....so...there you go. It seemed that we were so busy or something that I just couldn't find the time to sit down and compose the post. Plus there were all the pictures to upload from the camera and blah blah blah...I'm just making excuses, really.BUT,

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-75854663525243040302007-08-17T08:01:00.000-05:002007-08-17T08:28:08.495-05:00

The schoolroom table is cleared of the accumulation of summer. There are new books on the shelves, new paper in the closet, and new hopes for the new year. We will start next week, probably on Monday.Something about second grade seems so....old. Somehow more...real. Unlike kindergarten (and even first grade, to some extent), second grade seems like a "real" grade. I swear, I look around sometimes

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-3032809706149955782007-06-09T13:47:00.000-05:002007-06-09T14:08:32.349-05:00

On our "official" last day of school we went to the zoo with the RFHG. We got to see the elephant show in the new elephant exibition yard, which was a real treat. Then we ate lunch and played on the playground...something which always cracks me up because they always seem to think the Zoo playground is cooler than the regular playground! We also got to see the new baby chimp - so cute! What a

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-35670234088148516242007-05-30T21:50:00.000-05:002007-05-30T22:24:01.742-05:00

Well, the books are packed away. The papers are stacked. The schoolroom closet is reorganized and all the things that I've not used recently have either been thrown away or are marked to go into my friend Shelley's garage sale.We have reached the end of first grade.Today, Reilly wrote her last "paper" of her first grade schoolyear. It's titles "1st Grade" and she wrote "I like 1st grade because

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-74752656683573753332007-05-25T14:03:00.000-05:002007-05-25T14:25:48.182-05:00

Well, we finished our space study this past week, so now we're just in countdown mode until our last day of school which will be next Thursday. Here's Reilly with her finished planets book that she's been working on. I'm SO proud of how great it turned out! She was thrilled to get to read it to Papa at dinner that night!I REALLY wanted today to be our last day, but I just couldn't justify slicing

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-83429696610346292442007-05-18T16:57:00.000-05:002007-05-18T17:07:36.483-05:00

Reilly was doing a worksheet today where she read a few little paragraphs and then had to mark whether the sentences listed afterwards were fact or opinion. One of the sentences was "Starfish are very beautiful" and Reilly heartily agreed that starfish were beautiful. So, I felt like I should explain to her that just because she (or anyone) agrees with an opinion, it doesn't turn it into a fact.

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-3096661405893816092007-05-16T15:24:00.000-05:002007-05-16T15:55:50.196-05:00

We're still delving into the study of the planets and Reilly LOVES it! She's making a "planets book" where, each day, she chooses a planet that she wants to write about. We look through the books that we have and gather information about that planet and she picks what she wants to put on her page and then she draws a picture of the planet. When she finishes the book, it's going to be a really

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-43784112742932251712007-05-08T21:38:00.000-05:002007-05-08T21:54:23.472-05:00

We started our "unit study" on the planets today, which Reilly was really excited about. School opened with us reading two books about planets, one of which was a Dr. Seuss book. While that might sound weird, it was actually a very fun book and quite informative! It is from the "learning library" section of the Cat in the Hat series, so it's not like there were a bunch of made up words thrown

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-64667323435200091492007-05-07T21:07:00.000-05:002007-05-07T21:23:12.528-05:00

We didn't really have a good day today. I think that I'm just kind of going throught the motions right now, and the end result is that Reilly is becoming bored out of her mind. I find myself picking the wrong battles and being irritable because she's getting irritable...because she's bored! It's been way too long since I really did anything fun, anything hands on, so I decided that we'd end the

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-73179028676998775922007-05-05T17:07:00.000-05:002007-05-07T21:33:16.307-05:00

No, I haven't! This past week has been kind of a crazy whirlwind because my brother was in town to visit from St. Louis. He wanted to come and see the family during his birthday week (he's 34 now!) because he hasn't been in town on his birthday since he moved out of state, which was a year after he graduated from high school. We had such a good time, as always! One day we took a "field trip" to

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-85109330242147840032007-04-30T06:31:00.000-05:002007-04-30T06:53:13.316-05:00

I love it when I come up with new ways to present or review "old" ideas in school! We're reaching the end of the addition facts and I've been looking for ways to review them with Reilly, making sure that she really does have them down before we move on. We've played lots of "math hangman" on the whiteboard and done lots of worksheets, but we were both getting a little bit tired of those methods.

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-41540871856377483222007-04-24T22:50:00.000-05:002007-04-24T23:14:34.847-05:00

Of what, you might ask...well, 5.5 weeks of school, of course!!Can you tell I'm counting? OK, well, I'm not watching the clock or anything, but I did look at my calendar for the year and realized that we can be finished with school the Thursday after Memorial Day! Yippee!Now, my intention is to continue with math through the summer, just so we can finish Math-U-See Alpha and start second grade

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-87284104266419037802007-04-20T06:51:00.000-05:002007-04-20T07:11:42.330-05:00

Oops. I've not been blogging. Sorry.I HAVE been schooling, lest you think that I'm letting every aspect of our life slip down the tubes. There may be a layer of dust 3 inches thick on every flat surface in the house and the laundry may be piled up so high that it's becoming a fire hazard, but school is getting done.OK, well, for the MOST part school is getting done.I promise that when Reilly is

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-80008754756695698702007-04-13T06:36:00.000-05:002007-04-13T07:09:18.724-05:00

Subtitled: A Trip to The School StoreWell, I've just flat decided that I need to be rich. I was out "running amok"* with my mom yesterday and we went to one of those teacher stores...The Learning Tree? The Apple Tree? The Learning Apple? I can't remember...Anyway, for those of you who may not have been in one, it was one of the stores where teachers can go to buy anything and everything under the

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-17969657161798703432007-04-08T21:49:00.000-05:002007-04-08T22:26:46.235-05:00

The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!We had a fantastic Easter Sunday! The Kids dug into their Easter baskets right upon awakening, of course. I love putting together their baskets, although it can be kind of hard because I really try to strike a balance between candy and trinkets. I have NO intention of Easter turning into a gift-giving holiday, so there won't be movies or CD's or things like that

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-1058247645126492412007-04-07T20:41:00.000-05:002007-04-08T21:48:39.026-05:00

If you want to laugh, go and read this post from Notes from the Trenches! Chris is so funny!

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-15878740859598485782007-04-06T14:03:00.000-05:002007-04-06T15:20:25.971-05:00

Have you ever had a moment of such clarity that it seems like you're looking through crystal?When you understand something in a way that you don't think you've ever understood it before?I had one of those today. I was listening to Reilly read, and I could feel myself just welling up with frustration as I heard her stumble over simple words that I "think" she should know. And I listened to myself

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-81579733052234741332007-04-05T06:44:00.000-05:002007-04-05T07:24:12.551-05:00

....all written in my head the other day, about what we were doing and it was going to be witty and heart wrenching at the same time. But I was mowing the lawn while I was composing it and I think the idea leaked out along with the 5 gallons of perspiration I got rid of during the mowing process. But, hey, at least our lawn doesn't look like a jungle anymore! The Kids can go out and play without

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-35441752267684625732007-04-03T23:10:00.000-05:002007-04-05T06:43:58.608-05:00

People often ask "Why do you homeschool? What lead you to that decision?" and I've got lots of answers. These range anywhere from the safety of my kids (they're decidedly less likely to get shot in my house) to the quality of their education (you can't beat one on one tutoring!) to the simple fact that I just love being around them and love being the one to flip those switches that make the

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-92011484544353863022007-03-31T08:53:00.000-05:002007-03-31T09:12:32.013-05:00

We've been talking about math programs over at JustMommies lately, specifically Math U See, which is the program that we started using about two months ago. I know I've waxed poetic about this program before, but I really can't say enough about it.So, I decided that I'd post one of my quotes from the thread. Because, hey, if you're gonna quote someone, why not quote yourself? (ha ha ha!)"As for

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-32763872806888129652007-03-30T18:01:00.000-05:002007-03-31T09:13:13.530-05:00

Well, today was unschooling at its best. I know, I know, you're all saying to yourselves, "Ummm, Lisa? You keep having days like that. What's up with you? Are your kids actually learning anything? Do I need to call the truant officer?"My kids are learning that if Mommy is surrounded by filth day after day, she gets cranky and crabby and when Mommy is cranky and crabby, she gets snappish, which

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-27009674591519279842007-03-29T16:23:00.000-05:002007-03-30T06:44:49.125-05:00

I know that, being the brilliant homeschooling mom that I am, I should be able to figure out EVERYTHING on my own. After all, I'm in my second year of doing this. I've taught my daughter to read, write, spell, blah blah blah...I can't even go on, I'm laughing so hard at myself!I was a little freaked out when Declan started asking, day after day, to do schoolwork. See, I never did any official

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-70203476300296028012007-03-23T16:46:00.000-05:002007-03-23T17:21:20.704-05:00

Declan asked me this morning if we could do show and tell, so I obliged. I know it might seem weird, since it's really just The Kids, showing a toy that we've all seen before to...well....me and each other. But they really like to do it, and it's been awhile since they've asked.Declan chose his Playmobil pirate ship and he could have talked for hours about how he liked it because it was a

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-80855641439672923132007-03-22T22:06:00.000-05:002007-03-22T22:41:33.722-05:00

I think it has something to do with spring in the air, or maybe it's short-timers disease as we creep closer and closer to the end of the school year, but I'm really having trouble staying focused with school. I felt very frazzled today and unprepared, even though I had plenty of things for Reilly to do. I found myself really picking at her for silly things. For example, I've been having her use

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-49184925977858243172007-03-21T22:38:00.000-05:002007-03-21T22:57:55.333-05:00

Poor Reilly! She seems to have inherited her Papa's allergies. This morning when she woke up, she could hardly breathe out of her nose, so I gave her some medicine called Simply Stuffy. About an hour later, she says to me, "Mama, I'm so tired!" and she was all droopy eyed and pitiful. Apparently whichever medicine I gave her has a very powerful drowsiness effect on her. So we plugged through some

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-52454518938405227732007-03-20T15:50:00.000-05:002007-03-20T16:19:20.408-05:00

Sometimes Declan amazes me with how wise he is, beyond his years sometimes. He has asked to do schoolwork several times over the last few weeks, and I try to get something together so that he can feel a part of what Reilly and I are doing. Today, Troy asked him, "Why do you want to do school?" and Declan responded by saying, "Well, because I want to do Study Dog*. If I keep doing toy activies and

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-68120015172752509882007-03-19T10:08:00.000-05:002007-03-20T13:22:49.376-05:00

We had a wonderful time at Silver Dollar City this past weekend! I think that the nicest thing about having been so many times in the past year is that the frantic pace is removed. We've seen everything many times and we know that we're going back soon and will see everything again, so we don't need to run about like chickens with our heads cut off, trying to cram everything into the weekend.

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-1551600230931283612007-03-09T15:47:00.000-06:002007-03-09T16:15:15.501-06:00

Poor Reilly! She's still not feeling herself. I thought that we were all better on Wednesday and we had a "normal" day and everything. Then, yesterday, after we got home from Bible study, she started running a fever again! (Sorry to all the other Bible study moms that had their kids in childcare with her! I've been praying that she didn't spread The Plague!) So I broke down and took her to the

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-76122094265340763422007-03-06T15:49:00.000-06:002007-03-06T16:03:17.345-06:00

Oh. My. Goodness.Do you know what I witnessed today? I watched my daughter learn her +9 math facts in a matter of about....10 minutes. Now, you might think that I'm exaggerating here, but I am not at all. Math-U-See teaches that 9 always wants to be 10, so he uses his vacuum hose (the round hole at the top of the 9!) to steal 1 from the number being added to him to make him 10. Therefore, 9+5

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-28822879601717616882007-03-05T19:23:00.000-06:002007-03-06T08:18:14.058-06:00

I feel like we need to put up a sign in the yard that says "Keep Away!" because The Plague has entered our home! Or maybe I should just have Troy pace up and down on the front walk, ringing a bell and shouting "Unclean, unclean!" because we've all got a horrible cold. I got sick last Wednesday, Reilly got sick on Friday night and ran a fever pretty much straight through until this morning. She

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-2367398277847314632007-03-03T16:57:00.000-06:002007-03-03T19:57:17.944-06:00

And I don't know WHAT'S happened to me, but I've not been on here, blogging like I should, keeping everyone up to date on all our homeschooling adventures!! And I'm sure that you've all just been on the edge of your seats, hitting the refresh button on your computer, longing for my next entry, right? Right? Hello? *sound of crickets chirping*Well, this week hasn't been too spectacular, actually,

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-90447088615426144252007-02-22T06:54:00.000-06:002007-02-22T08:46:25.402-06:00

We've been doing a unit study on weather for the past couple of weeks, which has been a lot of fun. Reilly really comes alive when we do science and it's great because I see it as a way to practice reading, writing, grammar, and language arts all while she's learning about weather. I mean, why go and do a "reading packet" when I can have her read this portion of the book that we're using? Then

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-69002946003005741842007-02-19T23:22:00.000-06:002007-02-19T23:33:10.179-06:00

....I've just not been doing a whole lot of posting! I've got some great pics of a science "experiment" we did last week, though, and I promise that I'll get those up soon. We're doing a unit study on weather from a curriculum called My World Science that I bought from a girl from JustMommies and I really like it. So far we've talked about what weather is and what climate is and about the

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-90958126558732350352007-02-12T21:31:00.000-06:002007-02-22T13:15:11.922-06:00

I know it's a little early, but we had our Valentine's Day party with our homeschooling friends from church today. We were going to have it on Wednesday, but I thought we were going to go the the CHEER party (CHEER is the homeschooling co-op that I joined), but I didn't hear anything about the CHEER party until last week. I finally emailed the director of CHEER and said we weren't going to be

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-74593258739937550842007-02-09T16:08:00.000-06:002007-02-08T07:45:20.604-06:00

Well, I'd LOVE to report that we did something huge and wonderful and exciting today, but we didn't. *sigh* I think that my creative tank has completely run dry, which is odd, seeing as how I've not done anything creative in a long time. It really should be full! Maybe it's broken...or leaky. That's it, all my creativiy has leaked out when I wasn't looking. That's why my pillow has been sticky in

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-68653582510834212522007-02-07T21:47:00.000-06:002007-02-06T21:19:41.067-06:00

I've decided that the most sure-fire way to cure my kids of any ailment is to make an appointment for them at the doctor. Having been raised by a nurse, I am of the ilk that believe that visits to the doctor are to be reserved for those times when you are bleeding out of your ears or your arm is crooked and your bones are sticking out through your skin. Or, in our case, if you have green goop

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-60863823284697349642007-02-06T10:19:00.000-06:002007-02-06T10:29:37.639-06:00

Well, I was allll ready to start school this morning, and hollered out, "Reiiilllllyyyy!" and went into her room to find her curled up on her bed, under her fuzzy blanket, listening to Paddington on CD. She says that she doesn't feel good and she's certainly acting like she doesn't feel good. I've used my ther-Mom-eter (aka Lips on the Forehead) and it doesn't seem like she has a fever, but it's

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-88040068733210218422007-02-05T19:14:00.000-06:002007-02-05T20:19:23.337-06:00

I'm very tired right now...I'm not sure why, actually, other than the fact that it's eveningtime and the day is winding down. I'm going to do this entry as a bullet list...because this is how my thoughts are coming.I'm taking a new medication to prevent migraines. It's been less than a week so I don't know if it's actually working, but it makes pop taste flat, which is kinda strange!I'm glad that

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-61241419861117036072007-01-31T11:31:00.000-06:002007-01-31T11:57:37.077-06:00

I hope that this scanned right and that you can see it. This is what Reilly did yesterday in F.O.F. She came out and said. "I wrote you and Papa a Christmas letter!" which was, in fact, a thank you note for her Christmas presents. I was so proud of her! Not only for her good penmanship and the structure of her letter (which is something that we've talked about lately), but simply proud of the

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-48592637721550833992007-01-30T21:25:00.001-06:002007-01-30T22:06:07.682-06:00

I got a book last week at Mardel called Map Skills which has become one of Reilly's favorite activities. Today, she cut out a map of the United States and then she had to pick her "favorite" state. She chose Ohio! (Yay for Aunt Linda!) Then she had a worksheet where to do about what was around her favorite state. We talked about what a map key is and she did a page about that subject.One thing

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-82595278045777244172007-01-29T21:46:00.000-06:002007-01-29T22:04:32.373-06:00

Well, I've been reading Mary Poppins to The Kids at lunch lately, but we decided to give it up. Mary Poppins in the book was nowhere near as pleasant as Mary Poppins in the movie! She was quite conceited and rude and short with the children in the book, not to mention the fact that the book was quite wordy and a little boring. Makes me wonder how they came up with the screenplay for the movie,

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-1616476582002619842007-01-24T15:52:00.000-06:002007-01-24T16:15:32.855-06:00

I just love how my daughter's mind works! Yesterday in school we were talking about questions and how you write and punctuate them. The worksheet that she was doing had her looking at a little drawing of a cartoon panda and then writing a question that she would ask the bear. The first picture showed the bear blowing out the candles on a birthday cake. Her question? "Do you put your name on your

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-56361183874624057562007-01-18T14:10:00.000-06:002007-01-18T14:40:00.922-06:00

Last night, Bear hollered and woke me up, which usually isn't a big deal, exept this time it was to tell me that Supey was on her table, trying to get into her fish tank, and would I please take him out and click the door shut behind me? I had a little talk with her this morning about NOT waking me up to do things like that for her because it took me about an hour and a half to go back to sleep!

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-48629514080360934722007-01-17T16:26:00.000-06:002007-01-24T16:16:18.714-06:00

This morning, I decided to start school with a craft project. It's been too long since we did something fun like that, and Bear loves to make things. She and Deco both got suncatcher making kits for Christmas and I thought today would be the perfect day. She was SO excited! Deco's so funny, though. We got about 8 minutes into the process of putting the miniscule little beads into the little wire

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-91366496866073426852007-01-16T14:13:00.000-06:002007-01-16T14:43:09.492-06:00

...well, wasn't really anything special. Although I do feel like I had a couple of good ideas for ways to do old things in a new way. I've reeeaaaallly been trying to have spelling words each week during this school year, and have done pretty well. I give them to her on Monday, we practice them through the week, and on Friday she has a quiz. For practice, I'll have her do anything from writing

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-14593725352104392092007-01-16T09:05:00.000-06:002007-01-16T09:21:43.513-06:00

This morning I was in the kitchen getting breakfast and Deco came in behind me. "I dressed myself!" he said.I turned around and, sure enough, he had. Complete with boots and everything, and with his pants and underwear both on frontwards. (He has, in the past, put those items of clothing on backwards!) It's funny, the feeling that this gives me. It's such a combination of proud of how much he's

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-52605979891732001272007-01-16T07:17:00.000-06:002007-01-16T07:41:00.615-06:00

Well, we retained our power, which is a good thing considering how many people in our area did not. I think that my biggest fear about losing power was not having heat, so I had gone out on Friday to Academy and bought an indoor-safe propane heater. I think that this purchase was what guaranteed that our power would remain on because it seems that when you prepare for the worst, the worst passes

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-19305876959391355112007-01-14T15:06:00.000-06:002007-01-14T15:19:47.848-06:00

Today I have not done anything productive, whatsoever. Nothing.Nada.Zilch.Did I mention zero? Due to the icy weather that we were hit with beginning on Friday, I've hardly left the house since Friday afternoon. OK, well, yesterday we went sledding. Or maybe we should call it "ice sliding" since there was a distinct absense of both snow (nope, only ice) and sleds. One of our sled discs got busted

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-38212729876886219182007-01-12T20:53:00.000-06:002007-01-12T21:04:49.925-06:00

I'm having some serious blog envy today. I have lots of blogs that I love to read, some quite obsessively. (I thought I was going to pass out when Y over at Joy Unexpected didn't blog for something like 2 weeks because her children were sick!) These blogs make me laugh and think and usually laugh again, and it's amazing how I can feel like these people are my friends even though I've never

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-1160385218379996992007-01-11T09:03:00.000-06:002007-01-11T09:11:05.242-06:00

So, for the hundreds of you out there who read my blog...OK, all 3 of you....this is National DeLurking Week. For those of you who don't even know what lurking is, it's when you read a blog but the author (that would be me) doesn't know that you read it because you don't leave comments (that would be the other two of you who read. Sherri always comments. I love you, Sherri!) So, hey, if you're

Karate Momhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18304194227534026530noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21231960.post-46704606309943006422007-01-09T16:38:00.000-06:002007-01-14T15:21:54.813-06:00

Man, I've got to say that the past two days have been HARD as far as school goes! I was so frustrated this morning that I could feel it vibrating through my body I wanted to pull my hair out. I just felt like I was talking in circles and that nothing I was teaching was being retained at all. Add to that the fact that it was taking Bear about 3 times longer to complete everything she did and mix

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