Making an effort

Been meaning to get back to this blog forever and making the effort NOW.

So here is where I'm at NOW. I'm homeschooling my oldest daughter: Miss O. She is 13 and in the 7th grade. We did a unit study, more or less, on ancient Egypt most recently.

 I define as an unschooler but not on the radical end of the spectrum. Some of the  biggest struggleswe face as a homeschooling family are lack of time to focus on projects we start and a schedule that doesn't always coordinate with the schedule at the library. I get frustrated when it seems like my daughter spends all her time watching youtube videos but I reassure myself with her voracious reading habit and general common sense. I worry that I don't offer enough activities and opportunites but try to make do with what I am able to provide.

One thing I try to do is include all the kids when one shows an interest in something. For instance the little one: Miss B, saw a video that showed the digestion process from the inside. So at my last library trip we got a book about digestion.

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We have all enjoyed it and hopefully learned a lot. Another thing I try to do is build on  interests so I also picked up an anatomy book. We have all really enjoyed looking at the pictures. And perhaps expanded our interest from digestion to the entire body.

I plan to update much more often so stay tuned :)

just had to share what the kiddos are up to

mrK is washing dishes. all his own idea. hw helped me load the dishwasher and then decided to hand wash the dishes that didn't fit.

missO is pretending school. i peeked in on her on she has all the letters written on her chalkboard in cursive. now that mrK has finished with the dishes hes going to go play too. i'm glad because missO was kinda lonely playing by herself.

i'm so psyched about our new house. we moved out of our ghetto-ass neighborhood and into a better one. we now have huge bedrooms so all the kids stuff can all live in their room...which i think will make for a better learning environment. they can proceed from one interest to another with a better flow.

at our previous place the arts and crafts were segregated to the dining room but all the toys and things were in their room and the books were all in a different room.

and the bedrooms here (ours and theirs) have room enough for our bookshelves so we'll have a quiet reading place upstairs in the bedrooms while the husband and his friends play their music and video games downstairs.

since we've moved i'm starting to actively de-clutter again too. an interesting challenge in my pregnant state since i can't move things about or lift as much as i normally could.

the decluttering is in preparation for treasuremapping time.

my thoughts on the octuplet mom

just sick of hearing everybody bash on her....
let's see she's raising her kids on disability payments and foodstamps and thats bad because why? from what i understand qualifying for disability precludes holding down a paying job, right? so its not like she can just go out and get a job. and in this economy? whos gonna hire somebody with fourteen kids? think of the sick days just to take kids to the dr.
also she decided to have eight more when she already had 6. ands thats bad because why? if she had decided to foster or adopt we'd be singing her praises and talking about what a great sacrifice she has made...and the gov'nt would be be giving her even more benefits. just because these are her biological kids does not make it any less of a sacrifice. she said in an article i read that shes basically putting her life on hold to raise these kids. not even dating or working just being there for the kids. is that something to bash her for?
its just another example of how little our society values motherhood. this is important work that shes doing.

well we have excitement!

miss o is now volunteering with a horse rescue group. yesterday was the first day she went and she was actually able to ride. she also helped with grooming.

i'm looking into getting her involved in a community theatre group as well. she insists she wants nothing to do with the stage but i really think she would enjoy helpin behind the scenes.

we're continuing our weekly library trips and the picks are branching out just a bit. i'm being a little more active in picking stuff out that i think/hope se might be interested in too. this week i left mr k at home but miss o picked out a book about hat making for the both of them.

i am really digging interlibrary loan. i have read so many books about birth and midwifery. i just finished PUSHED and it was so amazing. So glad i'm not planning a hospital birth.

i'm thinking about volunteering myself as a doula. haven't talked to anybody about it and don't know how it would work out w/ my paying job but it would definately get me involved in birth work.

anyways guesss thats it for now....

homemade fun

miss o made heself a pair of "fun slides" i'm sure you've seen them on tv, the slippers that you use to slide on the carpet? she used a soda box and duck tape....and the work really well

we've also been watching old episodes of pete and pete. mr k loves the theme song and sings it all the time....gets the guitar and sing his little heart out

been continuing our weekly library trips. i think miss o has nearly read all the goosebumps books. i've gooten a lot of midwifery books on interlibrary loan and i am learning so much.

we got some good stuff at goodwill yesterday too: a marionette for olivia, a video about telling time for kellen, a rmote controlled helicopter for kurt, and a huge maternal/newborn nursing book and an anatomy and physiology book for me

so i haven't posted in a while but will do a quicksie

miss o has developed an interest in calculators and math. i picked up a math book a while back and the other day she picked it up and went through the whole thing in about 2 days.

i also found a really neat site:

http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/

haven't had a lot of time to read much yet but am looking forward to it.

i have been working hard on my myspace lately. messing around with font size, trying to get all my favorite links put up....

weekly library trips are continuing....my mom has gotten into the habit of looking for me there on saturdays

miss o has been getting fewer books and its still all goosebumps unless me or the hubby prod her into some other choices but i'm ok with that

totally off topic announcement

well i've been neglecting the blog, but for a very good reason.....



i've been exaughsted due to PREGNANCY :)

we did make it to the library last week. kurt got a really cool book about goblins and a slightly disappointing book about the greatest album covers.

he also talked miss o into getting an encyclopedia brown book and i talked her into getting the egypt game which i loved when i was her age....

got some beverly cleary picture books

and i got a book of essays about women's health and how rotten it sometimes is. there is a highlarious essay entitled "if men got periods" kurt found a star trek (voyager) book for me also.

miss o has also been on a major paper crafting kick that has reached the point of completely detrying the dining room but she cleaned up toniht so our dining room finally looks like a dining room again. i think we've decided to restrict paper crafting to her room.......i've given up in there and i can always shut the door anyway.

in fact we all did some cleaning today. i woke up feeling much better than i have been so i cleaned the bathroom, put away most of the clean clothes, and even got a shower :)

miss o is currently crocheting a abay blanket and it is already much bigger than anything i ever crocheted.

my mom has decided to go ahead and get her some school stuff for christmas and i am so psyched. originally she wasn't going to b/c she totally disagrees with hs-ing, but its easier for er to let me pick out gifts than to go pick them out herself ;>

so sometime soon i have to scour the offerings available