2005 Family Scrapbook
July 29, 2005
For the last two years we have moved from scrapbooking family events to using the computer to creating electronic homeschool notebooks. The notebooks are created on the computer in such a format that they can be printed out on paper and bound in 3 ring binders or published to disk to run like webpages. The webpage version is particularly interesting because we can hyperlink to other pages in the notebook, the net, sound files, video files, Power Point presentations, etc. The disk version can do so much more than a paper notebook.
The latest refinement of the notebook design has been to incorporate tabs to help with navigation and organization of the notebooks. As our notebooks have become larger and more complex it was just becoming too easy to get lost in them. The tabs have been a big help. I will be using the photos section to post examples of our notebooks. You will see older notebooks without tabs, current ones with tabs, and revised older ones that are large enough to prompt us to updated with tabs.
The latest refinement of the notebook design has been to incorporate tabs to help with navigation and organization of the notebooks. As our notebooks have become larger and more complex it was just becoming too easy to get lost in them. The tabs have been a big help. I will be using the photos section to post examples of our notebooks. You will see older notebooks without tabs, current ones with tabs, and revised older ones that are large enough to prompt us to updated with tabs.
August 2, 2005: K12 Boxes Came Today
The first of three boxes from Timothy's 6th grade curriculum, K12, came yesterday. We should get another box today and another one tomorrow. So far a mix of student's and teacher's manuals have arrived. That has had me focusing primarily on prep work for Tim's school year today.
Today I am working on getting the notebook templates set up for him in and among the normal summer homeschool activities. It is 2:30pm right now. I have finished the Building Blocks of Art (Art), Minerals (science), Rocks (science), Lessons Learned (literature theme notebook) templates, and the theme section of the new electronic version of the student product binder.
This year, for the art notebook, I want to do one big notebook instead of several smaller notebooks. I am organizing it by “Art Heritage', “Studio”, and “Portfolio” this year – those are the tabs along the top on every page. Basically, Art Heritage will contain the student products that explore art history and the artists, themes, and periods/schools that mark the progression of art from post Civil War to Modern Times. The Studio section will be for practical art technique instruction: color, line, texture, pattern, emphasis (focal point), etc. The portfolio section will contain images and Tim's reflections of his own artwork inspired by what he learns in the other two sections.
The Earth Science Minerals Notebook and Rocks Notebook had already had a little bit of a start for the template even during the early summer. We are going to study Earth Science as a family all through the year. The topics are some of my husband's favorites – geology, meteorolgy, astronomy. I have been gathering and organizing the resources for this study for many years. Our rock collection now takes 5 boxes to contain, including John's rock collection that he began as a boy as he climbed all over the mountainsides of the Asheville, NC area Smokey Mountain chain. We are planning a family fieldtrip to Blanchard Springs Cave. That looks like it will be amazing.
This year's Lesson's Learned Notebook will focus on literary analysis and fiction writing techniques this year. In the first year we did notebooks it was organized by the stories themselves. Last year, the notebook was organized by creative writing responses vs literary analysis activities. This year the top tabs are: Theme, Characterization, and Techniques. Lessons Learned is heavy into the lesson/theme of the stories so it made perfect sense to make it a major tab. Theme is subdivided by tabbed sections for each of the stories. Characterization is also heavily explored. It too is subdivided into sections for each story. The last section, Techniques, is subdivided into a tabbed section for foreshadowing and a section for symbolism. There are at least two stories for each technique to explore.
I also updated the Student Product Binder with new material for the activity of 'theme analysis'. I wanted to have it updated and ready to go for the theme section in the Lessons Learned Notebook. There is now a new concept map, a new student example, and I may rework the rubric to something that relflects the elements in the concept map better.
There has been and will be a lot going on related to the older kid's notebooks and little Zachary's first notebooks this year. I am especially excited about doing notebooks with and for Zachary. He will love having his own notebooks now. He browses through the older kids' notebooks all the time. Now he will have his own to enjoy. It is exciting to be gearing up for the first session in the fall semester. It will be a busy one, so I have many more notebook templates to set up. I cannot wait to see what content the kids fill up those pages with.
Today I am working on getting the notebook templates set up for him in and among the normal summer homeschool activities. It is 2:30pm right now. I have finished the Building Blocks of Art (Art), Minerals (science), Rocks (science), Lessons Learned (literature theme notebook) templates, and the theme section of the new electronic version of the student product binder.
This year, for the art notebook, I want to do one big notebook instead of several smaller notebooks. I am organizing it by “Art Heritage', “Studio”, and “Portfolio” this year – those are the tabs along the top on every page. Basically, Art Heritage will contain the student products that explore art history and the artists, themes, and periods/schools that mark the progression of art from post Civil War to Modern Times. The Studio section will be for practical art technique instruction: color, line, texture, pattern, emphasis (focal point), etc. The portfolio section will contain images and Tim's reflections of his own artwork inspired by what he learns in the other two sections.
The Earth Science Minerals Notebook and Rocks Notebook had already had a little bit of a start for the template even during the early summer. We are going to study Earth Science as a family all through the year. The topics are some of my husband's favorites – geology, meteorolgy, astronomy. I have been gathering and organizing the resources for this study for many years. Our rock collection now takes 5 boxes to contain, including John's rock collection that he began as a boy as he climbed all over the mountainsides of the Asheville, NC area Smokey Mountain chain. We are planning a family fieldtrip to Blanchard Springs Cave. That looks like it will be amazing.
This year's Lesson's Learned Notebook will focus on literary analysis and fiction writing techniques this year. In the first year we did notebooks it was organized by the stories themselves. Last year, the notebook was organized by creative writing responses vs literary analysis activities. This year the top tabs are: Theme, Characterization, and Techniques. Lessons Learned is heavy into the lesson/theme of the stories so it made perfect sense to make it a major tab. Theme is subdivided by tabbed sections for each of the stories. Characterization is also heavily explored. It too is subdivided into sections for each story. The last section, Techniques, is subdivided into a tabbed section for foreshadowing and a section for symbolism. There are at least two stories for each technique to explore.
I also updated the Student Product Binder with new material for the activity of 'theme analysis'. I wanted to have it updated and ready to go for the theme section in the Lessons Learned Notebook. There is now a new concept map, a new student example, and I may rework the rubric to something that relflects the elements in the concept map better.
There has been and will be a lot going on related to the older kid's notebooks and little Zachary's first notebooks this year. I am especially excited about doing notebooks with and for Zachary. He will love having his own notebooks now. He browses through the older kids' notebooks all the time. Now he will have his own to enjoy. It is exciting to be gearing up for the first session in the fall semester. It will be a busy one, so I have many more notebook templates to set up. I cannot wait to see what content the kids fill up those pages with.
August 10, 2004: E-Notebooking Course
I have been too busy e last few days to blog. I am setting up e-notebooking courses at http://www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.com/ . The site is down temporarily, so that is giving me a good excuse to stop in here to catch up my blog.
The Rocks and Minerals E-Notebooking course is coming along splendidly so far. At this point, I have figured out enough structure to see that I can easily use this course as a template to do many more science e-notebooking courses. This one is going to take a while to get finished and test but the next ones will be much faster with the template and the experience of doing this one. The tentative construction completion date is September 6th.
I am also working on a litereray e-notebook course for Tom Sawyer. I wanted to make one that everyone could find useful to do or at least use as a pattern, meaning the Robinson Curriculum users in the Electronic_Notebooking list.
The Electronic Notebooking 101 course is practically finished now. I need to locate a place on the web to place the example files yet. I just haven't had time yet. I need to get to that soon though, because I will also need a place to upload the Online Student Product Binder. That will need a lot of space and also a stable server since it forms the very foundation of every e-notebooking course that I am going to make. Basically it will be an online, shareable version of what we made and use here at home. When we are on a topic the kids can go to the binder for student product ideas, how-tos, examples, and scoring rubrics. As an example, let's say that pour topic is butterflies. There are a lot of generaic student products that can be used for this study. If a child is fresh out of ideas of what to fill his notebook with, he can go to the binder and browse through the non-fiction section. There he can scan the tabs for the general product type that he might be interested in: Computer & Computer Graphics Products, Science-Oriented Products, Practical Crafts/Tools Products, Art-Based Products, Performance-Based Products, Social-Oriented Products, Writer's Craft Products, and Competition-Based Products. Let's say that this child is in the mood to perform something. He can browse the products in that section such as Oral Presentation, Perform a Play, Perform a Reading, etc. All he has to do then is brainstorm how to but some aspect of the study of butterflies into that form. Everything he needs as far as producing that product except the specific content of butterflies is there in the binder. The first section is the how-to section which will provide step-by-step help. Then there is the examples section where he can see (or hear) what other people have done for this product type. The last section contains at least one scoring rubric. The scoring rubric can be modified to specifically reflect the content of butterflies as well as the assessment details for the student product type. The scoring rubric is approved by me and he is off to make his product. Having an online version will be so wonderful to share.
I am thinking that having a course on the Student Product Binder would be neat. Everyone can participate to add reusable product ideas. It can be a group built prject. That would be fun and allow it to build up much faster and be more varied than I could do alone.
Well, I am on my way back to Virtual Homeschool Group to see if the server is back on line. see you there. :0)
The Rocks and Minerals E-Notebooking course is coming along splendidly so far. At this point, I have figured out enough structure to see that I can easily use this course as a template to do many more science e-notebooking courses. This one is going to take a while to get finished and test but the next ones will be much faster with the template and the experience of doing this one. The tentative construction completion date is September 6th.
I am also working on a litereray e-notebook course for Tom Sawyer. I wanted to make one that everyone could find useful to do or at least use as a pattern, meaning the Robinson Curriculum users in the Electronic_Notebooking list.
The Electronic Notebooking 101 course is practically finished now. I need to locate a place on the web to place the example files yet. I just haven't had time yet. I need to get to that soon though, because I will also need a place to upload the Online Student Product Binder. That will need a lot of space and also a stable server since it forms the very foundation of every e-notebooking course that I am going to make. Basically it will be an online, shareable version of what we made and use here at home. When we are on a topic the kids can go to the binder for student product ideas, how-tos, examples, and scoring rubrics. As an example, let's say that pour topic is butterflies. There are a lot of generaic student products that can be used for this study. If a child is fresh out of ideas of what to fill his notebook with, he can go to the binder and browse through the non-fiction section. There he can scan the tabs for the general product type that he might be interested in: Computer & Computer Graphics Products, Science-Oriented Products, Practical Crafts/Tools Products, Art-Based Products, Performance-Based Products, Social-Oriented Products, Writer's Craft Products, and Competition-Based Products. Let's say that this child is in the mood to perform something. He can browse the products in that section such as Oral Presentation, Perform a Play, Perform a Reading, etc. All he has to do then is brainstorm how to but some aspect of the study of butterflies into that form. Everything he needs as far as producing that product except the specific content of butterflies is there in the binder. The first section is the how-to section which will provide step-by-step help. Then there is the examples section where he can see (or hear) what other people have done for this product type. The last section contains at least one scoring rubric. The scoring rubric can be modified to specifically reflect the content of butterflies as well as the assessment details for the student product type. The scoring rubric is approved by me and he is off to make his product. Having an online version will be so wonderful to share.
I am thinking that having a course on the Student Product Binder would be neat. Everyone can participate to add reusable product ideas. It can be a group built prject. That would be fun and allow it to build up much faster and be more varied than I could do alone.
Well, I am on my way back to Virtual Homeschool Group to see if the server is back on line. see you there. :0)
August 19, 2004
The Rocks and Minerals and Tom Sawyer online e-notebooking courses are being constructed right now. Today I worked on tweaking the concept map section in each. I am wanting to create a Power Point that walks the kids through making a concept map of at least one lesson in the K12 Earth Science Minerals Unit. That will really be a huge help in helping them to learn the skill. The boys signed up for their course accounts today. Tuesday they will actually start the course. That gives me a week of testing with students before the course opens for real on September 6th.
Melody went with the youth group to Hot Springs. They are going to do putt-putt golf, visit the mall, and eat at Ryans. I know that she will have a great time. She took the digital camera with her, so we should have a chance to see all the fun. It is 8:30 pm right now, so we should get the call any time now that she needs to be picked up.
Jennifer brought her 98 computer over today for Gregory to fix. They haven't used this computer in a long time, but some software she wants the kids to use for homeschool will not run on their XP. Gregory is formatting the new hard drive right now, getting it ready to install her Windows 98 operating system. If all goes well, she should be able to have it back tomorrow.
I had a great visit with Jennifer, I haven't talked with her in over six months. We talked homeschool – of course. LOL.
Well, I will hop on over to work on the Virtual Homeschool Group courses some more. I want to have all the 'Soak the Sponge' section finished by Monday. That will be quite a challenge with mowing in the morning, preparing for Monday's Biology Co-op, and preparing for teaching in home-group Bible Study for Sunday night. Busy, busy, but I like it this way. I work much more efficiently when I have a push behind me and a deadline before me.
Melody went with the youth group to Hot Springs. They are going to do putt-putt golf, visit the mall, and eat at Ryans. I know that she will have a great time. She took the digital camera with her, so we should have a chance to see all the fun. It is 8:30 pm right now, so we should get the call any time now that she needs to be picked up.
Jennifer brought her 98 computer over today for Gregory to fix. They haven't used this computer in a long time, but some software she wants the kids to use for homeschool will not run on their XP. Gregory is formatting the new hard drive right now, getting it ready to install her Windows 98 operating system. If all goes well, she should be able to have it back tomorrow.
I had a great visit with Jennifer, I haven't talked with her in over six months. We talked homeschool – of course. LOL.
Well, I will hop on over to work on the Virtual Homeschool Group courses some more. I want to have all the 'Soak the Sponge' section finished by Monday. That will be quite a challenge with mowing in the morning, preparing for Monday's Biology Co-op, and preparing for teaching in home-group Bible Study for Sunday night. Busy, busy, but I like it this way. I work much more efficiently when I have a push behind me and a deadline before me.
August 20, 2005: Image Hosting
Timothy, my 11 year old son, is working on setting up his new forum today. He had mentioned that he already had uploaded over 130 images to his forum, including several buttons. I asked him where he found an image hosting site that would allow so many images. He told me about Imageshack.
Sure enough, you can upload all the images that you want to. The only limit is that the individual image cannot be much over 1 mb. The bandwidth limit is 100mgs/hr. That means that if I want to share a 1 mg image with other homeschool moms, about the 101nth mom to access the image in 1 hour would get an message that the image cannot be accessed. All that she would have to do though is try again later when the demand is not so high.
So far I have uploaded one complete electronic notebook, Tim's revised density e-notebook. There are not any tools to organize what you upload, so the images are listed at Imageshack with the newest image being before the previous image in a linear progression – no folders. That means organization may need to come from outside of ImageShack. I am thinking that I will make a word processor page set up with the link data and I will merely update that when I upload new images. I will do the copy/pasting to webpages, instant messenger, etc not from Imageshack's link list but from my homemade file.
I will have to revisit my Flickr account now with fresh eyes to see how it compares. What I have learned to do so far with the Imageshack is to be able to add clickable thumbnails here in my weblog. That is what you see below. To see the full-sized image just click the thumbnail. It was rather terrifying to be copy/pasting stuff right into the raw html code, but with the toggle between html and preview mode I was soon feeling comfortable. That is what I did here today. I started a few lines of the text in regular mode. I switched to the html mode to see all that alien language looking stuff. LOL. Actually, with knowing what I had just typed and being able to recognize it in the code was a big help. I then jumped right into pasting the Imageshack code directly in. Toggled to see what happened, and continued on. What fun! I have a whole bank of clickable thumbnail images of the e-notebook. It really works Yippee!
I am thinking that this can be used extensively at the Virtual Homeschool Group courses. I can see many, many advantages. Especially right now while Sarah is due to try again soon to get the shell in place over Moodle so she can run ads at the site. When she gave it a try the last time all the links between file pages and the uploaded images broke. The course site will have so many images that a new round of link breaking would be a terrific chore to recover from. That is part of why I have held back in uploading many of the resources I have here on the hard drive. Now I can go ahead and upload to Imageshack and use their links imbedded into the html. Now Sarah can do anything that she needs to and I will not have to scramble to recover from the shift. Yeah!!
Sure enough, you can upload all the images that you want to. The only limit is that the individual image cannot be much over 1 mb. The bandwidth limit is 100mgs/hr. That means that if I want to share a 1 mg image with other homeschool moms, about the 101nth mom to access the image in 1 hour would get an message that the image cannot be accessed. All that she would have to do though is try again later when the demand is not so high.
So far I have uploaded one complete electronic notebook, Tim's revised density e-notebook. There are not any tools to organize what you upload, so the images are listed at Imageshack with the newest image being before the previous image in a linear progression – no folders. That means organization may need to come from outside of ImageShack. I am thinking that I will make a word processor page set up with the link data and I will merely update that when I upload new images. I will do the copy/pasting to webpages, instant messenger, etc not from Imageshack's link list but from my homemade file.
I will have to revisit my Flickr account now with fresh eyes to see how it compares. What I have learned to do so far with the Imageshack is to be able to add clickable thumbnails here in my weblog. That is what you see below. To see the full-sized image just click the thumbnail. It was rather terrifying to be copy/pasting stuff right into the raw html code, but with the toggle between html and preview mode I was soon feeling comfortable. That is what I did here today. I started a few lines of the text in regular mode. I switched to the html mode to see all that alien language looking stuff. LOL. Actually, with knowing what I had just typed and being able to recognize it in the code was a big help. I then jumped right into pasting the Imageshack code directly in. Toggled to see what happened, and continued on. What fun! I have a whole bank of clickable thumbnail images of the e-notebook. It really works Yippee!
I am thinking that this can be used extensively at the Virtual Homeschool Group courses. I can see many, many advantages. Especially right now while Sarah is due to try again soon to get the shell in place over Moodle so she can run ads at the site. When she gave it a try the last time all the links between file pages and the uploaded images broke. The course site will have so many images that a new round of link breaking would be a terrific chore to recover from. That is part of why I have held back in uploading many of the resources I have here on the hard drive. Now I can go ahead and upload to Imageshack and use their links imbedded into the html. Now Sarah can do anything that she needs to and I will not have to scramble to recover from the shift. Yeah!!
August 21, 2005: Personality Class, Illness, and Pool
Barbara called and said that their AC was out in the den area so instead of the young people having their Bible study they were welcome to play in the pool while we adults did our study. The kids were so excited. They hustled around and gathered their swiming gear and set it all by the door to be ready when it was time to go. Unfortunately, as the hours ticked by and the anticipated time to leave approached, John (my husband) began to feel queasy followed by Melody. By the time to leave Melody was in bed under layers of coveres and John was sound asleep. Finding no common food to account for the illness, it must be viral. Gregory had a round of something very much like it two weeks ago. I went ahead and called the Biology Co-op moms to call off tomorrow's co-op. I sure wouldn't want to risk spreading a stomach virus around.
The boys and I were completely fine. I needed to teach the class home meeting because it was too short a notice to get a replacement, so the boys and I went on to the Segovis's as planned. The boys had a great time. The 'Your Personality and the Spiritual Life' class went very well. we covered ESTP/ESFP's and ISTJ/ISFJ's in tonight's class. I felt good because I saw lots of notetaking being done by the ladies in the group. I figure that must mean that the topic is worthwhile. :0)
Both Melody and John were feeling much better by the time we got home. Melody was even eating popcorn. LOL. I am so glad.
The boys and I were completely fine. I needed to teach the class home meeting because it was too short a notice to get a replacement, so the boys and I went on to the Segovis's as planned. The boys had a great time. The 'Your Personality and the Spiritual Life' class went very well. we covered ESTP/ESFP's and ISTJ/ISFJ's in tonight's class. I felt good because I saw lots of notetaking being done by the ladies in the group. I figure that must mean that the topic is worthwhile. :0)
Both Melody and John were feeling much better by the time we got home. Melody was even eating popcorn. LOL. I am so glad.
August 22, 2005: Sick Kiddos
One of my big projects for the day is to get the art notebook template made. At first I was only going to do unit one, but after looking the course over, I would be setting so much of the skeleton up anyway I might as well go for the whole year.
All three of the older kids were very much under the weather today. Melody was still wiped out from being sick the day before. Both of the older boys were miserable with allergy symptoms. Gregory had a tremendously hard time concentrating - and he had so much work to do. He has two computers now to fix for other homeschool families. He was determined to finish at least one today. He did too. He found out that Jennifer's system had a bad CD-ROM drive, he installed Windows, he installed a temporary NIC (so he could get drivers), and loaded drivers. The next system, the McNaulty's system, that he is going to work on has a virus that has crippled the system. He will be working on that one tomorrow.
School was pretty laid back with the kids feeling under the weather. We played an audio version of Tom Sawyer while Greg worked on computers and Tim and Zach did Legos. Melody slept in and has the option of catching up with the audio later if she wants to.
I counted the time Timothy spent redesigning a friend's mod forum (Medieval_Battles) toward school time today. He is still working on his own forum as well (Final Wave). He also worked on a tutorial for another modding site. The tutorial is finished now and posted at http://tutorials.moddb.com/98/?fpage=0.
Melody's forum that she co-owns, Blue Moon Cafe, keeps her pretty busy in her free time.
Mmm. Whoever questioned whether homeschool kids would get enough socialization? Even considering how rural we are, the kids have friends from all around the world and have taken leadership roles in the new social technology of the internet. They have more friends than I ever had in public school. LOL
All three of the older kids were very much under the weather today. Melody was still wiped out from being sick the day before. Both of the older boys were miserable with allergy symptoms. Gregory had a tremendously hard time concentrating - and he had so much work to do. He has two computers now to fix for other homeschool families. He was determined to finish at least one today. He did too. He found out that Jennifer's system had a bad CD-ROM drive, he installed Windows, he installed a temporary NIC (so he could get drivers), and loaded drivers. The next system, the McNaulty's system, that he is going to work on has a virus that has crippled the system. He will be working on that one tomorrow.
School was pretty laid back with the kids feeling under the weather. We played an audio version of Tom Sawyer while Greg worked on computers and Tim and Zach did Legos. Melody slept in and has the option of catching up with the audio later if she wants to.
I counted the time Timothy spent redesigning a friend's mod forum (Medieval_Battles) toward school time today. He is still working on his own forum as well (Final Wave). He also worked on a tutorial for another modding site. The tutorial is finished now and posted at http://tutorials.moddb.com/98/?fpage=0.
Melody's forum that she co-owns, Blue Moon Cafe, keeps her pretty busy in her free time.
Mmm. Whoever questioned whether homeschool kids would get enough socialization? Even considering how rural we are, the kids have friends from all around the world and have taken leadership roles in the new social technology of the internet. They have more friends than I ever had in public school. LOL
August 22, 2005: Learning Log Decision
I had been thinking that the home-network would be the place for the kids' learning journals, but now with so many online options I am reconsidering that idea.
One option is to set them up to journal using Virtual Homeschool Group. There will be several possible ways to do these using Moodle. They could just simply use the journal tool and only I will see what they write. They could use the workshop tool and the entries could be peer reviewed. They could all three add their entries to one wiki. Even beyond the decision of which tool to use, there would be options as to where to put them. I could set up a course (public, password, or private) just for them to use. The number 0 box could contain all cummulative information. Box 1 would contain all journal entries and work from week 1. Likewise, box 2 would be for week 2, etc. I like the weekly idea because progress through the year would be so obvious.
Another option is to set them up with their own blogs. The advantages of having one here is the search function. Another advantage that will appeal to them is that here they would have one continuous blog. I know them well enough that since the site is open to change the html they will want to modify the look and make their own blogs truly their own in style and design. another adantage is that when I want to print out a journal onto paper for archiving, I could just hit print here. If I tried to run a journal from Virtual Homeschool Group each entry would be separate. Mmmm, decisions, decisions.
Perhaps we will try a few weeks of each way to see which one they like better.
One of the tasks that I worked on today was to make the Online Student Product Binder page for learning journals. I am streamlining the information that we have gathered from multiple sources on the web into one quick concise entry. Kids and moms wouldn't want to wade through the pages and pages of printouts we have collected on the subject.
I haven't completed the Soak the Sponge section which was my big project for this last weekend. I have some slack in the schedule yet, so I am not overly concerned at this point.
We are a bit behind in starting up for this session as well. I had originally planned for us being up to a full schedule on Monday. The kids being under the weather made it reasonable to push that to today. We all felt a little scattered and low on energy today so we had another easy day. Melody's stomach was settled today, but she still has a whopper of a headache that no Tylenol or Advil will stop. Her immune system seems to be weakened as she began having a sore throat too. Hopefully she will feel better tomorrow.
Today, the boys finished up what we had been working on the day before. We listened to the last of the Tom Sawyer tapes. Now they will be reading the book and working on their notebook entries. Gregory is done with Jennifer's system and she picked it up. He has finished all but getting a few drivers loaded on the McNaulty's computer. Tim continued and is nearing completion of a variety of sub-projects for his and a friend's forums.
Zachary has been on an intense focus the last week or two with the computer. He is having a great time with it. He hit a wall with the educational program that I got for him that started this last stretch of computer fun. He is at a place where the game will not let him do anything until he masters this particular phonetic concept. He was getting frustrated with it to the point of temper and tears, so we have diverted him with a Spiderman game for the moment. He is passionate over Spiderman and has been for more than a year, so it was sure to be a hit. We were saving it for just the right moment and this was it. LOL. Spiderman is the only non-educational game he has ever done. I don't plan on letting these become a habit, but since Spiderman is such a love right now, this one is fine with me. Gregory has been such a wonderful big brother to him. Zach hits a hard place in the game and he calls for Greg. As busy as Gregory has been with the computers, he still drops what he is doing to come to the rescue. Zach has been especially cuddly with Greg because of it. I know that he appreciates all the help.
One option is to set them up to journal using Virtual Homeschool Group. There will be several possible ways to do these using Moodle. They could just simply use the journal tool and only I will see what they write. They could use the workshop tool and the entries could be peer reviewed. They could all three add their entries to one wiki. Even beyond the decision of which tool to use, there would be options as to where to put them. I could set up a course (public, password, or private) just for them to use. The number 0 box could contain all cummulative information. Box 1 would contain all journal entries and work from week 1. Likewise, box 2 would be for week 2, etc. I like the weekly idea because progress through the year would be so obvious.
Another option is to set them up with their own blogs. The advantages of having one here is the search function. Another advantage that will appeal to them is that here they would have one continuous blog. I know them well enough that since the site is open to change the html they will want to modify the look and make their own blogs truly their own in style and design. another adantage is that when I want to print out a journal onto paper for archiving, I could just hit print here. If I tried to run a journal from Virtual Homeschool Group each entry would be separate. Mmmm, decisions, decisions.
Perhaps we will try a few weeks of each way to see which one they like better.
One of the tasks that I worked on today was to make the Online Student Product Binder page for learning journals. I am streamlining the information that we have gathered from multiple sources on the web into one quick concise entry. Kids and moms wouldn't want to wade through the pages and pages of printouts we have collected on the subject.
I haven't completed the Soak the Sponge section which was my big project for this last weekend. I have some slack in the schedule yet, so I am not overly concerned at this point.
We are a bit behind in starting up for this session as well. I had originally planned for us being up to a full schedule on Monday. The kids being under the weather made it reasonable to push that to today. We all felt a little scattered and low on energy today so we had another easy day. Melody's stomach was settled today, but she still has a whopper of a headache that no Tylenol or Advil will stop. Her immune system seems to be weakened as she began having a sore throat too. Hopefully she will feel better tomorrow.
Today, the boys finished up what we had been working on the day before. We listened to the last of the Tom Sawyer tapes. Now they will be reading the book and working on their notebook entries. Gregory is done with Jennifer's system and she picked it up. He has finished all but getting a few drivers loaded on the McNaulty's computer. Tim continued and is nearing completion of a variety of sub-projects for his and a friend's forums.
Zachary has been on an intense focus the last week or two with the computer. He is having a great time with it. He hit a wall with the educational program that I got for him that started this last stretch of computer fun. He is at a place where the game will not let him do anything until he masters this particular phonetic concept. He was getting frustrated with it to the point of temper and tears, so we have diverted him with a Spiderman game for the moment. He is passionate over Spiderman and has been for more than a year, so it was sure to be a hit. We were saving it for just the right moment and this was it. LOL. Spiderman is the only non-educational game he has ever done. I don't plan on letting these become a habit, but since Spiderman is such a love right now, this one is fine with me. Gregory has been such a wonderful big brother to him. Zach hits a hard place in the game and he calls for Greg. As busy as Gregory has been with the computers, he still drops what he is doing to come to the rescue. Zach has been especially cuddly with Greg because of it. I know that he appreciates all the help.
August 24, 2005: In Town Errands Today
We finally seem to be rolling now with homeschooling – at least for the boys. Melody was running a fever so I gave her the day off officially.
While the boys were schooling I exported jpegs of each page of the Tom Sawyer and the Intermediate Art B templates. I then uploaded them all to the image hosting website and linked them to webfiles in the Virtual Homeschool Group for Tom Sawyer and the Electronic Notebooking: Organizing the Notebook courses. Now it will be easy for everyone to see all the pages in 'one quick gulp' (thumbnails) or click each one to see the full size template page. This will help moms figure out if they want a template or not. The thumbnails and/or full-size pages can be easily printed out if needed as a quick off-line reference. Those who do not have PrintMaster can see the pages and get ideas for what they can do with their own software of choice. It seemed a very worthwhile resource to put into place.
Karen called and said that she had her neighbor's donations ready for TRUST. I dropped in on the way to town to pick them up. There are two boxes worth of homeschool items, mostly BJU and Abeka. I hope to add them into the database for loaning tomorrow. We had a good visit too. I will miss their family when they move.
Just as Zachary and I were leaving Karen's house the weather began to get stormy. By the time we made it fully into town it was coming down pretty fast. I figured that we would have a 5 minute wait in the car and then it would let up enough to easily get to the doors at WalMart without getting too soaked. But it rained all that much harder and the lightening danced all around the area near us. Zach protested that he was getting too wet in the back and that is when I noticed that the window to the door behind me was about two inches down. It was stuck. The intensity of the lightening cowed me into not trying to get out of the car to see if I could get a better 'grip' from the outside, so Zach and I busied ourselves with trying to solve the problem from the inside. Still hoping for a quick let up in the downpour, we tried stuffing the window with some blue jeans that Karen had just given me to pass along to Melody. In about 4 minutes the jeans were soaked through and the weight of them just made them fall to the floorboard which was beginning to actually form up a puddle. It was then that I realized we would just have to find a sheltered parking area. I found a covered carport near the WalMart automotive garage. The lightening eased up in about 5 more minutes, so I decided to try getting the window up from the outside. The pavement was so thick in water that it flowed right over the tops of my sandled feet while I tried to sandwich the window from one hand being on the inside and one on the outside and push up while Zach did the window button. It didn't budge. We ended up covering the door with Zach's plastic mattress and closing it in the door to hold it in place. That gave a satisfactory solution to the immediate dilemma. We waited out the storm for another 10 minutes and moved back to the regular parking lot area. It had slowed down and quit storming enough for us to make our way inside. I was relieved that my footsteps were silent – with my sandals being soaked through, I expected to to have an audible squish, squish or sqeak, squeak. I was so glad to find that the storm had completely passed by the trime we were done shopping. John was able to get the window up once we got home.
I was invited to become a moderator of K12 MSU today. The group has a new owner who knew that I would appreciate an opportunity to have moderator priveleges in organizing the files section at the website. I was able to stop in and upload some Quick Glance charts and set up the Intermediate Art and Intermediate Literature course folders.
I am watching the K12 MSU total memory allotment carefully. It is already at 60% in the files section. Once it hits 75%, I may convert the jpeg images that I have uploaded to a webpage with thumbnail links to my imageshack account. That should reduce the jpeg bulk in the files considerably. I sure hope that the bandwidth with the Imageshack will far outstrip demand. One hundred megs an hour seems pretty 'spacious' to me. I have already uploaded over 300 images – something that the Flikr account could never have accomodated without spreading the uploads over several months. I am glad that Timothy told me about Imageshack! I need to get the kids involved earlier in my projects. They almost always know some helpful tidbit of net or computer knowledge that will help me out.
I perused the Inspiration website a bit. I want to spend some more time there and download the 30 day free trial version, but I am getting too sleepy tonight. I may run the download unattended tonight, so it will be ready for me to try it a little in the morning before the kids get up.
Well, I am feeling so sleepy I am am feeling almost buzzy. I had better hit the bed. Goodnight.
While the boys were schooling I exported jpegs of each page of the Tom Sawyer and the Intermediate Art B templates. I then uploaded them all to the image hosting website and linked them to webfiles in the Virtual Homeschool Group for Tom Sawyer and the Electronic Notebooking: Organizing the Notebook courses. Now it will be easy for everyone to see all the pages in 'one quick gulp' (thumbnails) or click each one to see the full size template page. This will help moms figure out if they want a template or not. The thumbnails and/or full-size pages can be easily printed out if needed as a quick off-line reference. Those who do not have PrintMaster can see the pages and get ideas for what they can do with their own software of choice. It seemed a very worthwhile resource to put into place.
Karen called and said that she had her neighbor's donations ready for TRUST. I dropped in on the way to town to pick them up. There are two boxes worth of homeschool items, mostly BJU and Abeka. I hope to add them into the database for loaning tomorrow. We had a good visit too. I will miss their family when they move.
Just as Zachary and I were leaving Karen's house the weather began to get stormy. By the time we made it fully into town it was coming down pretty fast. I figured that we would have a 5 minute wait in the car and then it would let up enough to easily get to the doors at WalMart without getting too soaked. But it rained all that much harder and the lightening danced all around the area near us. Zach protested that he was getting too wet in the back and that is when I noticed that the window to the door behind me was about two inches down. It was stuck. The intensity of the lightening cowed me into not trying to get out of the car to see if I could get a better 'grip' from the outside, so Zach and I busied ourselves with trying to solve the problem from the inside. Still hoping for a quick let up in the downpour, we tried stuffing the window with some blue jeans that Karen had just given me to pass along to Melody. In about 4 minutes the jeans were soaked through and the weight of them just made them fall to the floorboard which was beginning to actually form up a puddle. It was then that I realized we would just have to find a sheltered parking area. I found a covered carport near the WalMart automotive garage. The lightening eased up in about 5 more minutes, so I decided to try getting the window up from the outside. The pavement was so thick in water that it flowed right over the tops of my sandled feet while I tried to sandwich the window from one hand being on the inside and one on the outside and push up while Zach did the window button. It didn't budge. We ended up covering the door with Zach's plastic mattress and closing it in the door to hold it in place. That gave a satisfactory solution to the immediate dilemma. We waited out the storm for another 10 minutes and moved back to the regular parking lot area. It had slowed down and quit storming enough for us to make our way inside. I was relieved that my footsteps were silent – with my sandals being soaked through, I expected to to have an audible squish, squish or sqeak, squeak. I was so glad to find that the storm had completely passed by the trime we were done shopping. John was able to get the window up once we got home.
I was invited to become a moderator of K12 MSU today. The group has a new owner who knew that I would appreciate an opportunity to have moderator priveleges in organizing the files section at the website. I was able to stop in and upload some Quick Glance charts and set up the Intermediate Art and Intermediate Literature course folders.
I am watching the K12 MSU total memory allotment carefully. It is already at 60% in the files section. Once it hits 75%, I may convert the jpeg images that I have uploaded to a webpage with thumbnail links to my imageshack account. That should reduce the jpeg bulk in the files considerably. I sure hope that the bandwidth with the Imageshack will far outstrip demand. One hundred megs an hour seems pretty 'spacious' to me. I have already uploaded over 300 images – something that the Flikr account could never have accomodated without spreading the uploads over several months. I am glad that Timothy told me about Imageshack! I need to get the kids involved earlier in my projects. They almost always know some helpful tidbit of net or computer knowledge that will help me out.
I perused the Inspiration website a bit. I want to spend some more time there and download the 30 day free trial version, but I am getting too sleepy tonight. I may run the download unattended tonight, so it will be ready for me to try it a little in the morning before the kids get up.
Well, I am feeling so sleepy I am am feeling almost buzzy. I had better hit the bed. Goodnight.
August 26, 2005
I have a printer back for my system. Yay! This printer was moved to being the network printer when we networked the computers together in December. It was great to have a printer available for everyone else, but for some reason my computer liked to refuse to print through the network. I would then have to close the program, make a shared folder so my file was visible on the network, beg to get on someone else's computer, open, and print from there. It was a time consuming detour and it happened about 2 out of 3 print jobs. Tonight, John picked up a new Epson scanner/printer combo to be the network printer so I could get this one back for my system's use. I have had no problems since moving it back to a dedicated printer. I think that having the printer back will save me a good bit of time. Another advantage is that I too have access to the new printer through the network. That means I now have a directly accessible scanner. Before, I had to use John's system to access it because the software wouldn't work on my XP.
Having my printer back has been great tonight. I printed off half-size copies of the Tom Sawyer template pages. I had an idea I wanted to test where the kids could be given these half-sized, book-mark-like strips to slide into their book while they read. When they read, they would have the ones that were mini-pages of the template pages they were to fill with that particular sequence of chapters. The ones yet to go will be stored in the plastic sleeve that will eventually house the printed, finished e-notebook page in the 3-ring binder. This way, they also have a quick reference when the computers are off. Great for Melody who likes to work at night – no computer access then. Though the page images are small, they are readable and there is room at the bottom for notes if they want to jot something down. I think it will be a useful tool for them. I will let them judge though.
The Homeschool Virtual Group website has been down all day today. That has redirected me to working on off-line projects for the kids and VHSG courses. I was beginning to think that even that would be interrupted because the power kept going down and coming back on for a few hours. I am so glad that the computers are on battery-back-up. The power would go down for only 20 to 30 second stretches of time making it possible to keep the computers turned on, but we had to turn the AC off. It got a bit toasty to have this happen at the peak-heat time of the day. At least today was not as hot as last Saturday. They were calling for 106 degrees heat-index, but it outdid them and reached 113 degrees. Needless to say, John and I did not get all the mowing done. We did what we could between dew-burn-off and 'too-hot!”. The front bedroom got up to88 degrees that day even with the AC running continuously. I know the kid's bedrooms got even hotter. If the power fluctuations had happened Saturday, boy would that have been bad.
Mary, who is my elderly neighbor two doors down, has never had AC in all her life. I was going to invite her over to escape Saturday's heat, but found that her car was gone. She was probably visiting with one of her grown children. She is a really neat lady. She raised 12 children! 10 of her own and two of her brother's children. She is a rare person that doesn't raise her eyebrows at the fact that we have 4. LOL. I have felt so loved by this lady. Zachary seems to want a grandmother and grandfather so badly right now. He has only met my parents once in his memory (last Christmas Eve). But he talks of that one meeting all the time. It makes me sad. I have to admit to a secret desire that Mary would fill that role for him. She loves him dearly and gives him as much attention as she gives her own grandkids – says she loves him, spends time talking to him, etc. By the way, Mom and Dad sent a birthday card for Gregory and Zachary. It arrived today. Zachary has been carrying it around all day long. It has gotten him excited for his birthday. I keep trying to help him understand that it is still more than a month away (Oct 2). Hindsight is 20/20. Next year I will hold back the card until it is a few days from his birthday. Then he won't be confused.
One of the projects I worked on today was Zach's e-notebook template. He was so excited that he grabbed up some paper and a pen and said proudly that he was going to do school! He proudly taped his finished 'school work' up on the refrigerator.
Melody's doctor appointment was at 9:15 this morning. She is back on Augmentin. I hope that the sinus infection will be completely ended this go around. She and John both have such a hard time getting rid of something once they catch it.
I sensed the usual 'what about socialization' tone from the doctor. I wish I had intercepted Julie's post before I left. I don't know that I would have said it, but it would have given me satisfaction to think it . . .
“New studies show that, contrary to popular mythology…..the average home-schooled child has no problem 'socializing' with other children……as long as he remembers to use smaller words and shorter sentences.”
I know how true it is because I see the kids actually do this. LOL.I remember when Gregory was little, in particular, that other moms would remark about how advanced his vocabulary was. Greg is my child that even when he was younger if you won't let him take a novel in the bathroom (we have only one bathroom) he will take my 4 inch thick college dictionary. :0) He delights in wordplay. Sometimes we really get very punny around here.
Having my printer back has been great tonight. I printed off half-size copies of the Tom Sawyer template pages. I had an idea I wanted to test where the kids could be given these half-sized, book-mark-like strips to slide into their book while they read. When they read, they would have the ones that were mini-pages of the template pages they were to fill with that particular sequence of chapters. The ones yet to go will be stored in the plastic sleeve that will eventually house the printed, finished e-notebook page in the 3-ring binder. This way, they also have a quick reference when the computers are off. Great for Melody who likes to work at night – no computer access then. Though the page images are small, they are readable and there is room at the bottom for notes if they want to jot something down. I think it will be a useful tool for them. I will let them judge though.
The Homeschool Virtual Group website has been down all day today. That has redirected me to working on off-line projects for the kids and VHSG courses. I was beginning to think that even that would be interrupted because the power kept going down and coming back on for a few hours. I am so glad that the computers are on battery-back-up. The power would go down for only 20 to 30 second stretches of time making it possible to keep the computers turned on, but we had to turn the AC off. It got a bit toasty to have this happen at the peak-heat time of the day. At least today was not as hot as last Saturday. They were calling for 106 degrees heat-index, but it outdid them and reached 113 degrees. Needless to say, John and I did not get all the mowing done. We did what we could between dew-burn-off and 'too-hot!”. The front bedroom got up to88 degrees that day even with the AC running continuously. I know the kid's bedrooms got even hotter. If the power fluctuations had happened Saturday, boy would that have been bad.
Mary, who is my elderly neighbor two doors down, has never had AC in all her life. I was going to invite her over to escape Saturday's heat, but found that her car was gone. She was probably visiting with one of her grown children. She is a really neat lady. She raised 12 children! 10 of her own and two of her brother's children. She is a rare person that doesn't raise her eyebrows at the fact that we have 4. LOL. I have felt so loved by this lady. Zachary seems to want a grandmother and grandfather so badly right now. He has only met my parents once in his memory (last Christmas Eve). But he talks of that one meeting all the time. It makes me sad. I have to admit to a secret desire that Mary would fill that role for him. She loves him dearly and gives him as much attention as she gives her own grandkids – says she loves him, spends time talking to him, etc. By the way, Mom and Dad sent a birthday card for Gregory and Zachary. It arrived today. Zachary has been carrying it around all day long. It has gotten him excited for his birthday. I keep trying to help him understand that it is still more than a month away (Oct 2). Hindsight is 20/20. Next year I will hold back the card until it is a few days from his birthday. Then he won't be confused.
One of the projects I worked on today was Zach's e-notebook template. He was so excited that he grabbed up some paper and a pen and said proudly that he was going to do school! He proudly taped his finished 'school work' up on the refrigerator.
Melody's doctor appointment was at 9:15 this morning. She is back on Augmentin. I hope that the sinus infection will be completely ended this go around. She and John both have such a hard time getting rid of something once they catch it.
I sensed the usual 'what about socialization' tone from the doctor. I wish I had intercepted Julie's post before I left. I don't know that I would have said it, but it would have given me satisfaction to think it . . .
“New studies show that, contrary to popular mythology…..the average home-schooled child has no problem 'socializing' with other children……as long as he remembers to use smaller words and shorter sentences.”
I know how true it is because I see the kids actually do this. LOL.I remember when Gregory was little, in particular, that other moms would remark about how advanced his vocabulary was. Greg is my child that even when he was younger if you won't let him take a novel in the bathroom (we have only one bathroom) he will take my 4 inch thick college dictionary. :0) He delights in wordplay. Sometimes we really get very punny around here.
August 29, 2005: A day of Closure
Today is a day of closure. It is the last day of Biology co-op, I am tying up loose ends from the week, and since I am shifting the kids into the new school year, the end of the old school year feels like it has arrived.
Last Day of Biology Co-op for this year:
Today was the last day of the biology co-op for this year. We ended on a great note. We covered the amazing miracles invloved in cellular and human reproduction. After we covered the basics of DNA, meiosis, and mitosis we watched a DVD that I borrowed from the Segovis family. It was terrific! We all enjoyed it tremendously. It is a seminar lecture video called Fearfully and Wonderfully Made featuring Dr. David Menton. We were awed by all the amazing complexity invloved in conception and the developmental phases of a new life. Dr. Menton was funny, enthusiastic, and genuinely awed himself with what the Creator of all things does in the miracle of new life. After the DVD finished we watched about 15 minutes of Nova's The Miracle of Life which features video of the develobing baby right inside the womb in living color and motion. Absolutely incredible. We moms had moist eyes on more than one occasion. :0) We moms are probably past our active childbearing years, but I bet they all felt as I did in that we wanted the awe and value to sink in. We wanted the kids to realize what an amazing thing it is to be able to partner with God in bringing about the life of a new human being. I think the kids really got that out of it. They often made comments out loud during the videos that shows they too recognized what a miracle it all is.
I teach a three part sequence for biology that covers three summers. Next summer's topic will be plants. Mmmm, that is funny, me, the black thumb of Arkansas will be teaching about plants. LOL. I think if I teach about but do not touch the plants they might survive. :0)
I will have next Moday off before begining the local Rocks and Minerals Co-op the following Monday. I am glad because I am certain to have a cruch time that Monday as I finish up the final tweaking of the Virtual Homeschool Group courses that will have their kick off the very next day. I am excited an terrified at the idea that it is just one week away. I hope I will do well.
Exploration: Learning Journals
I tied up the loose end of the Learning Journal decision by deciding to have the kids use Homeschoolblogger.com for their Learning Journals. I set them up with my e-mail address, so if anyone tries to contact them through the blog they will have to go through me. I also set the journals up so that I can access and edit as well. If they accidentally slip and give too much information I can quickly move in and remove the information.
Melody is personalizing her learning journal right now. She seems particularly interested in the idea of an online version. Yay! The boys are just about ready to jump into personalizing theirs and getting the first entry in place.
I have passed along the suggestion, plus links to how-tos and examples to the Electronic_Notebooking group. The how-tos and examples that we have in our own Student Product Binder (SPB) are now inaccessible. Howe High School�s science website has now gone subscription, Waaa. I will miss accessing that website. Many of our how-tos, examples, and rubrics in our SPB have come from there.
I am ready now for the new school year. Here we go! Weeee!
Last Day of Biology Co-op for this year:
Today was the last day of the biology co-op for this year. We ended on a great note. We covered the amazing miracles invloved in cellular and human reproduction. After we covered the basics of DNA, meiosis, and mitosis we watched a DVD that I borrowed from the Segovis family. It was terrific! We all enjoyed it tremendously. It is a seminar lecture video called Fearfully and Wonderfully Made featuring Dr. David Menton. We were awed by all the amazing complexity invloved in conception and the developmental phases of a new life. Dr. Menton was funny, enthusiastic, and genuinely awed himself with what the Creator of all things does in the miracle of new life. After the DVD finished we watched about 15 minutes of Nova's The Miracle of Life which features video of the develobing baby right inside the womb in living color and motion. Absolutely incredible. We moms had moist eyes on more than one occasion. :0) We moms are probably past our active childbearing years, but I bet they all felt as I did in that we wanted the awe and value to sink in. We wanted the kids to realize what an amazing thing it is to be able to partner with God in bringing about the life of a new human being. I think the kids really got that out of it. They often made comments out loud during the videos that shows they too recognized what a miracle it all is.
I teach a three part sequence for biology that covers three summers. Next summer's topic will be plants. Mmmm, that is funny, me, the black thumb of Arkansas will be teaching about plants. LOL. I think if I teach about but do not touch the plants they might survive. :0)
I will have next Moday off before begining the local Rocks and Minerals Co-op the following Monday. I am glad because I am certain to have a cruch time that Monday as I finish up the final tweaking of the Virtual Homeschool Group courses that will have their kick off the very next day. I am excited an terrified at the idea that it is just one week away. I hope I will do well.
Exploration: Learning Journals
I tied up the loose end of the Learning Journal decision by deciding to have the kids use Homeschoolblogger.com for their Learning Journals. I set them up with my e-mail address, so if anyone tries to contact them through the blog they will have to go through me. I also set the journals up so that I can access and edit as well. If they accidentally slip and give too much information I can quickly move in and remove the information.
Melody is personalizing her learning journal right now. She seems particularly interested in the idea of an online version. Yay! The boys are just about ready to jump into personalizing theirs and getting the first entry in place.
I have passed along the suggestion, plus links to how-tos and examples to the Electronic_Notebooking group. The how-tos and examples that we have in our own Student Product Binder (SPB) are now inaccessible. Howe High School�s science website has now gone subscription, Waaa. I will miss accessing that website. Many of our how-tos, examples, and rubrics in our SPB have come from there.
I am ready now for the new school year. Here we go! Weeee!
August 30, 2005: First Day fo rthe Kids' Learning Journals
Whew, much tougher to get the kids going in online learning journals than I anticipated. They have done paper-based, fill-in-the-box style learning logs before and some learning logs within a notebook, but not quite the public journalling that these are. I had originally anticipate one to two hours of the school day would go to the kids personalizing the look of their learning log sites and getting profiles in place, etc. But, it took each of them a bit more time than that – nearly all of the 6.5 hours school day.
They were real troopers though…
Greg spent an hour on this really awesome profile entry. He even took the precaution of copying to the clipboard before hitting save. Cyberspace ate all but two partial sentences of it. All his precaution to the wind, his recovery from the clipboard copy he saved went sour and it was lost anyway.
Timothy spent careful and creative time creating a custom avatar and banner for his site using Paint Shop Pro. He tried sevaral styles of backgrounds and inserted his banner directly into the html code. His site looked great despite the fact that his browser, Opera, wouldn't let him see any WYSIWYG tools. His Windows Explorer is unstable, so he has switched to this browser. He ended up having to enter every keystroke of his learning journal contents directly into the html. I am glad that he has gotten all that html experience this summer when he was customizing his forum. He will have the option of using the family or John's system if he wants to access the WYSIWYG options. But, like Greg he hit a loss of his work. He had spent several hours getting the look just as he wanted it. Then he turned his attention to entering text. He had bounced around from one page to another a bit during all that design work. Unfortunately, he entered his text (into html remember) and hit save to discover that he had actually been entering text in a window from early this morning. The window with the original template, not his customized one. With one click, he wiped out all his hard work. That really took all the wind out of his sail. He recovered. He had his image files and he was able to rebuild his own template pretty fast, but the frustration did color the rest of the day for him.
Melody, who couldn't sleep last night, functioned on only two hours sleep through the day. She was uncharacteristically giggly, so I knew she was really tired. Fortunately, she did not suffer the losses that the boys experienced. She enjoyed creating her banner. She used a picture of Neo when he was a kitten. She did a really nice job. She was able to finish her customization pretty fast; though she has some entry jobs to catch up on. She moved on to work on several computer model projects which she will be posting to her learning journal tomorrow.
Zachary enjoyed our walk to Mary's house to give her watermelon and take a TRUST Lending Library package to be mailed off. It was very hot. Not very smart to walk at 2:30 in the hottest time of the day. We survived though and the AC felt so good when we walked back in.
The kids have been so busy that they have been largely unaware of the damage of hurricane Katrina in neighboring states. We let the older three stay up to watch the news at 10 so they could become aware just how bad it has been – and how, even though there were some set backs today, we have much to be very thankful for. They were amazed at the scenes of utter devastation. We discussed just how impacting this is for many, many families. Loss of homes, jobs, culture, heirlooms, and life.
They were real troopers though…
Greg spent an hour on this really awesome profile entry. He even took the precaution of copying to the clipboard before hitting save. Cyberspace ate all but two partial sentences of it. All his precaution to the wind, his recovery from the clipboard copy he saved went sour and it was lost anyway.
Timothy spent careful and creative time creating a custom avatar and banner for his site using Paint Shop Pro. He tried sevaral styles of backgrounds and inserted his banner directly into the html code. His site looked great despite the fact that his browser, Opera, wouldn't let him see any WYSIWYG tools. His Windows Explorer is unstable, so he has switched to this browser. He ended up having to enter every keystroke of his learning journal contents directly into the html. I am glad that he has gotten all that html experience this summer when he was customizing his forum. He will have the option of using the family or John's system if he wants to access the WYSIWYG options. But, like Greg he hit a loss of his work. He had spent several hours getting the look just as he wanted it. Then he turned his attention to entering text. He had bounced around from one page to another a bit during all that design work. Unfortunately, he entered his text (into html remember) and hit save to discover that he had actually been entering text in a window from early this morning. The window with the original template, not his customized one. With one click, he wiped out all his hard work. That really took all the wind out of his sail. He recovered. He had his image files and he was able to rebuild his own template pretty fast, but the frustration did color the rest of the day for him.
Melody, who couldn't sleep last night, functioned on only two hours sleep through the day. She was uncharacteristically giggly, so I knew she was really tired. Fortunately, she did not suffer the losses that the boys experienced. She enjoyed creating her banner. She used a picture of Neo when he was a kitten. She did a really nice job. She was able to finish her customization pretty fast; though she has some entry jobs to catch up on. She moved on to work on several computer model projects which she will be posting to her learning journal tomorrow.
Zachary enjoyed our walk to Mary's house to give her watermelon and take a TRUST Lending Library package to be mailed off. It was very hot. Not very smart to walk at 2:30 in the hottest time of the day. We survived though and the AC felt so good when we walked back in.
The kids have been so busy that they have been largely unaware of the damage of hurricane Katrina in neighboring states. We let the older three stay up to watch the news at 10 so they could become aware just how bad it has been – and how, even though there were some set backs today, we have much to be very thankful for. They were amazed at the scenes of utter devastation. We discussed just how impacting this is for many, many families. Loss of homes, jobs, culture, heirlooms, and life.
September 8, 2005
Morning Entry:
Up at 4:28 am, showered, and bright eyed already this morning.
I was startled this morning to see that the last entry was 'Wonderful Wednesday”. That means it has been a whole 7 days. It felt like 2 days.
I have devoted myself whole-heartedly to the Virtual Homeschool Group project. There were several missteps that cost me time and intensified the crunch to be done by the target date. Part of me is disappointed that I have much less of it in place than I had invisioned, but it is in place enough to see that once it is fleshed out just a bit more, it will be structurally and content-wise all that I had hoped for.
It is still possible to have it be so and still fail at being useful to others. Much of that part of its success lies far being my 'control'. The other participants (moms and students alike) will need to overcome the hesitancy to try the wikis and they will need to explore the courses enough to understand the overall structure.
First off, pondering the wikis. The wikis are where all the collaboration happens. If I am the only one that enters wiki information the site will eventually be full and rich in content. But one person alone will make that a slow process. I will need to focus on helping everyone in several areas.
In participants …
(1) I know that there will be a natural fear of making a mistake and wiping out content placed by others.
(2) There will be a feeling of “what is the structure of information entry here in a wiki.”
(3) There will be a need to streamline data so that students can enter a wiki and find what they need to know to do a student product. So that means that what participants enter will need to be only the best and most concise of information all integrated in an organized way.
Those are some tall-order obstacles. Moodle is designed to be used in an enrolled student environment. There are feedback mechanisms in place to make wiki-fear overcomable because, in an enrollment setting, wiki entry can be made to be mandatory for course completion. The open enrollment design of these courses make that undoable as well as too heavy-handed. :0) So, am thinking that I will need to make an inviting tutorial, make sure enough structure is in place to make data entry organized, and develop an easy to understand 'stream-lining the data' system. The last two, I would even need for myself. :0) I already hace a bit of the organizational structure in place in the wikis. That is a big help.
Now for the second one, participant exploration.
— There is enough direct information on the course main pages to make the organization of student products pretty apparent. Just scrolling down the list and browsing should settle that part. I think it to be obvious enough that student products are to be selected at will – a smorgasbord approach with plenty of varied items to choose from.
— It takes a 'one-level down' dig to locate ideas for how to put together a lesson plan using the student product binder (spb) approach. There will be enough posted lesson plans there soon (as people collaborate on how they did their lesson plan) that moms will be able to just pick one that someone else has already made if they feel unable to make one of their own.
— The wikis are also a one level down dig as well. There really isn't anything too deep to figure out, so I am hopeful that there will be plenty of moms and kids who will poke around enough to see its usefullness.
I want to invite the moms at Unit Study Coolaborative in to the Online SPB course. There was a discussion there about 6 to 8 weeks ago about how useful it would be to have a list of activity ideas that can be used over and over again for any unit study topic. Everyone worked to generate a list. Basically this is what the Online Student Product Binder course is, but it goes one step further is having an organized access to 'how-tos', examples, and 'rubrics'. I think they will be very interetsed. When it comes to building content in the wikis, the more the merrier!
Well, it is already 6:15 and John' alarm is going off. Where did the time go? I need to get content into the annotated bibliography wiki before the kids get up and start school. They will be using it today as they research Mark Twain and Rocks and Minerals. So, I am off to put that together. Be back soon.
Up at 4:28 am, showered, and bright eyed already this morning.
I was startled this morning to see that the last entry was 'Wonderful Wednesday”. That means it has been a whole 7 days. It felt like 2 days.
I have devoted myself whole-heartedly to the Virtual Homeschool Group project. There were several missteps that cost me time and intensified the crunch to be done by the target date. Part of me is disappointed that I have much less of it in place than I had invisioned, but it is in place enough to see that once it is fleshed out just a bit more, it will be structurally and content-wise all that I had hoped for.
It is still possible to have it be so and still fail at being useful to others. Much of that part of its success lies far being my 'control'. The other participants (moms and students alike) will need to overcome the hesitancy to try the wikis and they will need to explore the courses enough to understand the overall structure.
First off, pondering the wikis. The wikis are where all the collaboration happens. If I am the only one that enters wiki information the site will eventually be full and rich in content. But one person alone will make that a slow process. I will need to focus on helping everyone in several areas.
In participants …
(1) I know that there will be a natural fear of making a mistake and wiping out content placed by others.
(2) There will be a feeling of “what is the structure of information entry here in a wiki.”
(3) There will be a need to streamline data so that students can enter a wiki and find what they need to know to do a student product. So that means that what participants enter will need to be only the best and most concise of information all integrated in an organized way.
Those are some tall-order obstacles. Moodle is designed to be used in an enrolled student environment. There are feedback mechanisms in place to make wiki-fear overcomable because, in an enrollment setting, wiki entry can be made to be mandatory for course completion. The open enrollment design of these courses make that undoable as well as too heavy-handed. :0) So, am thinking that I will need to make an inviting tutorial, make sure enough structure is in place to make data entry organized, and develop an easy to understand 'stream-lining the data' system. The last two, I would even need for myself. :0) I already hace a bit of the organizational structure in place in the wikis. That is a big help.
Now for the second one, participant exploration.
— There is enough direct information on the course main pages to make the organization of student products pretty apparent. Just scrolling down the list and browsing should settle that part. I think it to be obvious enough that student products are to be selected at will – a smorgasbord approach with plenty of varied items to choose from.
— It takes a 'one-level down' dig to locate ideas for how to put together a lesson plan using the student product binder (spb) approach. There will be enough posted lesson plans there soon (as people collaborate on how they did their lesson plan) that moms will be able to just pick one that someone else has already made if they feel unable to make one of their own.
— The wikis are also a one level down dig as well. There really isn't anything too deep to figure out, so I am hopeful that there will be plenty of moms and kids who will poke around enough to see its usefullness.
I want to invite the moms at Unit Study Coolaborative in to the Online SPB course. There was a discussion there about 6 to 8 weeks ago about how useful it would be to have a list of activity ideas that can be used over and over again for any unit study topic. Everyone worked to generate a list. Basically this is what the Online Student Product Binder course is, but it goes one step further is having an organized access to 'how-tos', examples, and 'rubrics'. I think they will be very interetsed. When it comes to building content in the wikis, the more the merrier!
Well, it is already 6:15 and John' alarm is going off. Where did the time go? I need to get content into the annotated bibliography wiki before the kids get up and start school. They will be using it today as they research Mark Twain and Rocks and Minerals. So, I am off to put that together. Be back soon.
September 9, 2005
Well, I did the visual cleanup on the Online Student Product Binder main course page. It has been nearly an all day job, but it is looking so streamlined! The page loads faster too.
I have also added quite a bit of content in the wikis for this course. Several new wikis are in place for Writer's Craft – Foundations inclusing resources for sentence fluency, spelling, grammar, and word choice. I think that moms will appreciate these. Also I have added content for persuasive writing and analyzing resources. I know that there were many others, but my body and brain are soooo tired. I think I will call it a night now. Ready for some zzzzzzzzzzs.
I have also added quite a bit of content in the wikis for this course. Several new wikis are in place for Writer's Craft – Foundations inclusing resources for sentence fluency, spelling, grammar, and word choice. I think that moms will appreciate these. Also I have added content for persuasive writing and analyzing resources. I know that there were many others, but my body and brain are soooo tired. I think I will call it a night now. Ready for some zzzzzzzzzzs.
September 11, 2005
Introspective day for me today. A quiet time of self-assessment. I am feeling bad about the site not being completed by now. I feel that the moms are giving up on me, and I am feeling like giving up on me too. My heart is really in this project, so it is very important to me. I just can't seem to do a good job at forecasting problems until they are already squarely planted, entrenched, an obstacle that sets be back two steps.
I took a few hours break to try to recharge my batteries today. Don't get me wrong. I haven't been in my bunny slippers sipping hot chocolate all day. I still have been busy with the site, but from about 12 until the time to go to Homesgroup Bible Study I walked away from it. I taught the next 4 personality types tonight. Yes, I know that in an earlier entry, I anticipated finishing up the course that night – another project 'past-due' so to speak. But the others are really enjoyng the study so much that it has been a pleasure to be able to continue. Everyone just laughs and talks about what we are studyiing as they recognize these traits in themselves and others. Next week really will be the last week. I have only the last set of two types to have covered them all. All through the times together everyone has really felt that the information has been useful. Mark, retired military, has immdeiately recognized how these types 'play out' in the military setting. We parents give knowing nod as our children's types are discussed. Elbows nudge the ribs of spouses in 'that's you' fashion. And we have all seen the reflections of ourselves as our own types make center-stage. Our strength, weaknesses, ways we can grow, and how God stretches us out of our comport zones in order to perfect and balance the gifts that He has placed in us. It has been good.
The kids seem to be having an inordinately difficult time getting back into the swing of homeschool right now too. If we hadn't already had a break, I think I would call for one. LOL. I feel like I am failing to help them. Why are we having sooo much difficulty with what would normally be no problem?
Failure, success, failure. LOL Maybe some of that stretching going on here. It will get better. Ever the optimist. :0)
I took a few hours break to try to recharge my batteries today. Don't get me wrong. I haven't been in my bunny slippers sipping hot chocolate all day. I still have been busy with the site, but from about 12 until the time to go to Homesgroup Bible Study I walked away from it. I taught the next 4 personality types tonight. Yes, I know that in an earlier entry, I anticipated finishing up the course that night – another project 'past-due' so to speak. But the others are really enjoyng the study so much that it has been a pleasure to be able to continue. Everyone just laughs and talks about what we are studyiing as they recognize these traits in themselves and others. Next week really will be the last week. I have only the last set of two types to have covered them all. All through the times together everyone has really felt that the information has been useful. Mark, retired military, has immdeiately recognized how these types 'play out' in the military setting. We parents give knowing nod as our children's types are discussed. Elbows nudge the ribs of spouses in 'that's you' fashion. And we have all seen the reflections of ourselves as our own types make center-stage. Our strength, weaknesses, ways we can grow, and how God stretches us out of our comport zones in order to perfect and balance the gifts that He has placed in us. It has been good.
The kids seem to be having an inordinately difficult time getting back into the swing of homeschool right now too. If we hadn't already had a break, I think I would call for one. LOL. I feel like I am failing to help them. Why are we having sooo much difficulty with what would normally be no problem?
Failure, success, failure. LOL Maybe some of that stretching going on here. It will get better. Ever the optimist. :0)
September 12, 2005
Tim's learning journal word-wrap feature has become corrupted, so this is an experiment to see if he could make an entry here and then transfer it to his own journal with the carriage returns in the correct place. It also serves as an example of a learning journal entry here in my blog for the electronic notebooking moms to use.
Date: September 12, 2005 – Rocks and Minerals Co-op. Jesse is joining us as we study Rocks and Minerals
OUR COLLECTION AND USING A FIELD GUIDE:
We began the day by exploring our collection of rock and minerals. Our collection is housed in 5 flat cardboard boxes with smaller paper containers holding the samples inside. We also have the K12 commercial specimen kit and several plastic buckets of collected rocks. Here is a picture:
OUR COLLECTION AND USING A FIELD GUIDE:
We began the day by exploring our collection of rock and minerals. Our collection is housed in 5 flat cardboard boxes with smaller paper containers holding the samples inside. We also have the K12 commercial specimen kit and several plastic buckets of collected rocks. Here is a picture:
After we explored for a while, Mom gave us Barron's Mineral Field Guide and asked us to select any samples from the collection, that were not already labeled to try our hand at identifying. She said that is was more for fun that an assignment at this point. Jesse and I selected several samples and sat down to become familiar with the field guide. It is organized by the color that the rocks make when they are scratched across a ceramic tile. This is called a streak test.
It was often surprising to see the color that that resulted. Sometimes the minerals were harder than the ceramic tile and would not leave any identifying color to work with.
LEARNING JOURNAL:
After we finished exploring the rock collection and becoming familiar with the field guide, Mom briefly introduced the idea of creating a learning journal to Jesse.
RESEARCHING: HOW TO CITE RESOURCES & ORGANIZING MY NOTES
Plagarizing: Next, we used the computer to access the online course, Rocks and Minerals E-Notebook, for the co-op at www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.com. There was a section specifically highlighted for 'Research'. There, mom showed Jesse a page for how to cite resources. Mom explained that to copy material directly from a resource without saying that it is not my own work that that is called plagarizing. It is a form of stealing. She wants us to learn how to know when we should use another person's exact words and how to give the original author credit for their work and when what we read is common knowledge and we may use the information without worring that we are plagarizing.
How to Cite a Resource: On the same page in the online part of the course, Mom also explained that there were standard ways that were acceptable to cite resources. Actually, there were many standard ways: MLA, APA, and others. Citing resources has two parts. One part is where you cite the author of the statement within the text of your writing. The other part was where you list more information about the resource at the very end of your composition in a bibliography. There were two links given near the bottom of the page that we could take to explore the different standards and how each type of resource was to be recorded and listed in a bibliography. Mom said that we were all to choose one standard to use for each of our writing. She said that MLA or APA would probably be the best choice. I decided to use MLA.
How to Take Notes: Again, on that page on the online course website there was information about how we needed to take notes. Mom said that there were many ways to do this too. The traditional way was to use a 3X5 index card. There was an example of a completed on on the webpage. Another method involved using a software tool called Inspiration. It is designed to be a concept mapping tool. She showed us an example of a concept map for the course notebook we will be making. She demonstrated how each of the concept map blocks had the ability to attach notes. The note box can collapse out of site or be opened for adding to it or viewing. By using the note feature, I can keep my research information organized.
Here is a picture of the concept map:
LEARNING JOURNAL:
After we finished exploring the rock collection and becoming familiar with the field guide, Mom briefly introduced the idea of creating a learning journal to Jesse.
RESEARCHING: HOW TO CITE RESOURCES & ORGANIZING MY NOTES
Plagarizing: Next, we used the computer to access the online course, Rocks and Minerals E-Notebook, for the co-op at www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.com. There was a section specifically highlighted for 'Research'. There, mom showed Jesse a page for how to cite resources. Mom explained that to copy material directly from a resource without saying that it is not my own work that that is called plagarizing. It is a form of stealing. She wants us to learn how to know when we should use another person's exact words and how to give the original author credit for their work and when what we read is common knowledge and we may use the information without worring that we are plagarizing.
How to Cite a Resource: On the same page in the online part of the course, Mom also explained that there were standard ways that were acceptable to cite resources. Actually, there were many standard ways: MLA, APA, and others. Citing resources has two parts. One part is where you cite the author of the statement within the text of your writing. The other part was where you list more information about the resource at the very end of your composition in a bibliography. There were two links given near the bottom of the page that we could take to explore the different standards and how each type of resource was to be recorded and listed in a bibliography. Mom said that we were all to choose one standard to use for each of our writing. She said that MLA or APA would probably be the best choice. I decided to use MLA.
How to Take Notes: Again, on that page on the online course website there was information about how we needed to take notes. Mom said that there were many ways to do this too. The traditional way was to use a 3X5 index card. There was an example of a completed on on the webpage. Another method involved using a software tool called Inspiration. It is designed to be a concept mapping tool. She showed us an example of a concept map for the course notebook we will be making. She demonstrated how each of the concept map blocks had the ability to attach notes. The note box can collapse out of site or be opened for adding to it or viewing. By using the note feature, I can keep my research information organized.
Here is a picture of the concept map:
RESOURCE 1: A VIDEO CALLED “JOURNEY INTO AMAZING CAVES”:
The next thing that we did was watch a video called Journey Into Amazing Caves. Mom said that we would be visiting Blanchard Springs Cavern as the co-op field trip, so caves would be a subject of study under the heading of state geology in the e-notebook. We were to take notes as we watched. Then everyone would pool those notes together next week since taking notes from a video is very difficult.
The next thing that we did was watch a video called Journey Into Amazing Caves. Mom said that we would be visiting Blanchard Springs Cavern as the co-op field trip, so caves would be a subject of study under the heading of state geology in the e-notebook. We were to take notes as we watched. Then everyone would pool those notes together next week since taking notes from a video is very difficult.
September 13, 2005: Teeth - Melody
I took Melody to get her teeth cleaned, x-rays, and a referal for having her wisdom teeth removed. Her jaw is so tiny that her molars are overcrowded. Her front teeth are beautiful and they ssem to be content next to one another. But, there just isn't enough room in the back. She has been having considerable pressure for a while now. Chewing buble gum and taking Tylenol being the primary measure that we have taken to deal with the problem thus far. My hope was that the crowding might encourage her jaw to catch up in size. Her discomfort though has changed our path and now we are looking into what can be done to give her more space back there. It really shows how bad it had become for her in that she is looking forward to having it done.
Wednesday, I will be taking the boys to get their teeth cleaned. Thursday will be Melody's consult with the oral surgeon.
Wednesday, I will be taking the boys to get their teeth cleaned. Thursday will be Melody's consult with the oral surgeon.
September 15, 2005: Oral Surgery for Melody - Consult Today
Melody Needs Oral Surgery:
Melody and I just got back about an hour ago. We met the oral surgeon today. It is definite now, Melody will be needing oral surgery to remove her wisdom teeth. Not that that came as a surprise. The removeal of the wisdom teeth should be a big help in allowing her other molars to straighten up and quiet the pressure.
Birthday Movie:
Melody has been very quiet so far. Oral surgery is a scary thing when it is your first time. Tonight should take her mind off of it though. Tonight John is taking Gregory for his birthday movie. Gregory invited Melody to come along. That was very sweet. He could have claimed 'his' night for his very own – especially since it is the big 18th birthday.
Special Tim and Zach Time:
While John and the older kids were at the movie it was just Tim, Zach, and I. It was a special time for Tim and Zach. I loved just hanging back and watching them this evening. At one point Tim had Zachary in his lap showing him how to play a computer game that Zach has only watched before, never played. When they finished they headed off to the kitchen together. Tim made him the two of them something to eat and they sat there together just a chattering to one another. The next event was the big surprise. Knowing that it was about time for me to be calling for bedtime Tim took Zach to his room and the two oft hem picked up the room together. Now, neither one of them are known for doing that unprompted, so that was really neat. It didn't end there. After the room was all nice and neat, Tim then read to Zach for about an hour and tucked him in. It was well past the normal bedtime by the time all was done, but what mom in her right mind would interupt such a stream of brotherly kindness. :0)
Homeschool:
This week has been a disaster as far as homeschool goes. We have had dental oriented appointments now for three days in a row and one more to go. Oh well, there is some efficiency in getting it all done in one big 'clump'. LOL.
Melody and I just got back about an hour ago. We met the oral surgeon today. It is definite now, Melody will be needing oral surgery to remove her wisdom teeth. Not that that came as a surprise. The removeal of the wisdom teeth should be a big help in allowing her other molars to straighten up and quiet the pressure.
Birthday Movie:
Melody has been very quiet so far. Oral surgery is a scary thing when it is your first time. Tonight should take her mind off of it though. Tonight John is taking Gregory for his birthday movie. Gregory invited Melody to come along. That was very sweet. He could have claimed 'his' night for his very own – especially since it is the big 18th birthday.
Special Tim and Zach Time:
While John and the older kids were at the movie it was just Tim, Zach, and I. It was a special time for Tim and Zach. I loved just hanging back and watching them this evening. At one point Tim had Zachary in his lap showing him how to play a computer game that Zach has only watched before, never played. When they finished they headed off to the kitchen together. Tim made him the two of them something to eat and they sat there together just a chattering to one another. The next event was the big surprise. Knowing that it was about time for me to be calling for bedtime Tim took Zach to his room and the two oft hem picked up the room together. Now, neither one of them are known for doing that unprompted, so that was really neat. It didn't end there. After the room was all nice and neat, Tim then read to Zach for about an hour and tucked him in. It was well past the normal bedtime by the time all was done, but what mom in her right mind would interupt such a stream of brotherly kindness. :0)
Homeschool:
This week has been a disaster as far as homeschool goes. We have had dental oriented appointments now for three days in a row and one more to go. Oh well, there is some efficiency in getting it all done in one big 'clump'. LOL.
September 16, 2005: Oral Surgery for Melody Today
Melody's Oral Surgery:
We had a bit of a wait in the waiting room. I watched as people went in and came out, hoping for some hint of how out-of-it I might expect Melody to be after the surgery. Everyone that came out seemed hyper-alert and in a hurry. I thought to myself, “OK, it must not be too bad.” Melody seemed relaxed and even talkative.
They finally called for her. It is a strange thing once your kids begin to get into their teen years. When they are younger, there is no question that you go in to every appointment and the doctor talks primarily to you. Then things change. The doctor's begin to talk primarily to them and you are more of an observer. There Melody was walking through the doors without me and I was sitting waiting to be called after all the surgery was complete. Just an increasing awareness of the soon in coming day when they will fly from the nest. Gregory will be celebrating his 18th birthday this weekend. A big right of passage. Both of them are growing up so fast.
They called me in remarkably fast. It felt like only 20 minutes. When I first saw her, as I rounded the corner, she was pretty much unconscious but shaking as if she were cold. I asked if that was normal and they said yes. They soon brought a nice blanket to lay over her. Soon she stopped shaking. She looked so pitiful there. Gauze propping her mouth open, lips dry, eyes bloodshot and tearing as she would strain to open them and focus. Little moans.
Unlike the boys, Melody has never been much of a touch oriented person even in babyhood. Now, during the teen years it has been even more so. As she layed there I stroked her hair, wiped away the tears, rubbed her arm. I realized how much I missed being able to do that. Her eyes began to stay open more and she seemed able to focus.
The nurse came back in and began giving me post-op instructions. Soon I was sent out through the front to drive the car around to pick her up in the back. Ahhh, that is why everyone seemed so alert that came out. None of them had been the ones with surgery. LOL. I drove around back and there she was being supported by one nurse on one side and one on the other. She could barely walk.
On the way home she struggled to breath past the gauze, and I knew she was dry and needing fluids. They had told her not to eat or drink anything past midnight and that was more than 14 hours earlier. With our pharmacy being nearly a 30 minute drive from home, I struggled with whether I should get her prescriptions filled on the way in (we would be driving right by it) or get her home and make a separate trip. Knowing that she might need the pain medication, I opted to to save the extra 1 hour round trip wait and get them on the way in. She was obviously not going to be walking in with me. I struggled with the idea of leaving her in the car. It was hot (we have no AC in the car), she was potentially dehydrated, and I just plain didn't want her to be alone. I stopped the engine, my mind racing. I heard a voice and looked up to see the Eatmons standing right there. What a blessing! They stayed with her while I ran in. I dropped off the prescription and ran to the deli to get her an Icy. I took it and a spoon out to her then ran back in. Soon I was thanking the Eatmons and driving off with her.
She was so glad to crawl into her own bed. For a girl that had never had a cavity and therfore never had novacaine before, this was quite a shocker. She tried to drink only to have her lips not cooperate and sawallowing to be a major act of concentration. She was already hurting and took the anti-nausea and pain meds right away. I was glad then that I stopped to get them on the way in. She slept most of the rest of the day, only waking up when we came in with fresh ice packs and medications. By evening she stirred long enough to try getting some mashed potatoes down. That cuased quite an increase in pain for her. She got a little down, but not much.
We had a bit of a wait in the waiting room. I watched as people went in and came out, hoping for some hint of how out-of-it I might expect Melody to be after the surgery. Everyone that came out seemed hyper-alert and in a hurry. I thought to myself, “OK, it must not be too bad.” Melody seemed relaxed and even talkative.
They finally called for her. It is a strange thing once your kids begin to get into their teen years. When they are younger, there is no question that you go in to every appointment and the doctor talks primarily to you. Then things change. The doctor's begin to talk primarily to them and you are more of an observer. There Melody was walking through the doors without me and I was sitting waiting to be called after all the surgery was complete. Just an increasing awareness of the soon in coming day when they will fly from the nest. Gregory will be celebrating his 18th birthday this weekend. A big right of passage. Both of them are growing up so fast.
They called me in remarkably fast. It felt like only 20 minutes. When I first saw her, as I rounded the corner, she was pretty much unconscious but shaking as if she were cold. I asked if that was normal and they said yes. They soon brought a nice blanket to lay over her. Soon she stopped shaking. She looked so pitiful there. Gauze propping her mouth open, lips dry, eyes bloodshot and tearing as she would strain to open them and focus. Little moans.
Unlike the boys, Melody has never been much of a touch oriented person even in babyhood. Now, during the teen years it has been even more so. As she layed there I stroked her hair, wiped away the tears, rubbed her arm. I realized how much I missed being able to do that. Her eyes began to stay open more and she seemed able to focus.
The nurse came back in and began giving me post-op instructions. Soon I was sent out through the front to drive the car around to pick her up in the back. Ahhh, that is why everyone seemed so alert that came out. None of them had been the ones with surgery. LOL. I drove around back and there she was being supported by one nurse on one side and one on the other. She could barely walk.
On the way home she struggled to breath past the gauze, and I knew she was dry and needing fluids. They had told her not to eat or drink anything past midnight and that was more than 14 hours earlier. With our pharmacy being nearly a 30 minute drive from home, I struggled with whether I should get her prescriptions filled on the way in (we would be driving right by it) or get her home and make a separate trip. Knowing that she might need the pain medication, I opted to to save the extra 1 hour round trip wait and get them on the way in. She was obviously not going to be walking in with me. I struggled with the idea of leaving her in the car. It was hot (we have no AC in the car), she was potentially dehydrated, and I just plain didn't want her to be alone. I stopped the engine, my mind racing. I heard a voice and looked up to see the Eatmons standing right there. What a blessing! They stayed with her while I ran in. I dropped off the prescription and ran to the deli to get her an Icy. I took it and a spoon out to her then ran back in. Soon I was thanking the Eatmons and driving off with her.
She was so glad to crawl into her own bed. For a girl that had never had a cavity and therfore never had novacaine before, this was quite a shocker. She tried to drink only to have her lips not cooperate and sawallowing to be a major act of concentration. She was already hurting and took the anti-nausea and pain meds right away. I was glad then that I stopped to get them on the way in. She slept most of the rest of the day, only waking up when we came in with fresh ice packs and medications. By evening she stirred long enough to try getting some mashed potatoes down. That cuased quite an increase in pain for her. She got a little down, but not much.
September 17, 2004: Gregory's Birthday Party
Melody Update:
Melody is doing pretty well today, so we decided to go ahead with Gregory's birthday party today after she woke up and stirred a bit.
Gregory's Birthday Party:
It was fun. Everyone really enjoyed themselves. Melody watched the boys play Greg's new Lego Star Wars PC game. He got game-box-like controllers with it too. Zach was on top of the world when his turn would come around. Gregory also got an ipod. we all spent quite a bit of effort trying to get the lanyard on it so Greg could wear it around his neck. It took cutting up an old extension cord to get a hair thin copper wire before we managed to get the string threaded through the awkward hole it was to go through. As everyone took turns giving that lanyard threading atry, it struck me how patient the three older kids are by nature. Even with Melody still under the effects of surgery, there she was bent over the work with her slender fingers gently coaxing the wire and string through. the others gathered round hoping she would be successful, and yet hoping for another go at themselves too.
Melody is doing pretty well today, so we decided to go ahead with Gregory's birthday party today after she woke up and stirred a bit.
Gregory's Birthday Party:
It was fun. Everyone really enjoyed themselves. Melody watched the boys play Greg's new Lego Star Wars PC game. He got game-box-like controllers with it too. Zach was on top of the world when his turn would come around. Gregory also got an ipod. we all spent quite a bit of effort trying to get the lanyard on it so Greg could wear it around his neck. It took cutting up an old extension cord to get a hair thin copper wire before we managed to get the string threaded through the awkward hole it was to go through. As everyone took turns giving that lanyard threading atry, it struck me how patient the three older kids are by nature. Even with Melody still under the effects of surgery, there she was bent over the work with her slender fingers gently coaxing the wire and string through. the others gathered round hoping she would be successful, and yet hoping for another go at themselves too.
September 19, 2004: Monday, Monday
Melody Update:
Melody is doing quite well today. She is almost out of pain medication though and that has me worried a bit. She tried to take a round of Naproxen instead of the pain pills so that she would have the strong ones for bedtime. She definitely didn't think it was up to the task. But, the swelling is subsiding. That is a good sign.
Rocks and Minerals Co-op:
Second Rocks and Minerals co-op class today. We continued covering researching skills and the many methods of organizing notes that can be pursued. I could tell that Brenda was very interested in the method of using Inspiration, but son Jesse was strongly leaning toward the system of using Word files in folders all hyper-linked by a Word-based, hyper-linked concept map to make adding notes quicker and more efficient. He sent an e-mailed copy of his hyper-link map to me this evening. He jumped right on the task and his map looks really great.
The kids practiced the MLA standard for note-taking from web resources. The MLA standard for web sources can be hard because many sites do not provide all of the information that the standard calls for in a bibliography such as a site name, the date of the last update, etc. Gregory's material for Mark Twin will have a great deal of quoted material since he has found that the resources take quite a varied stance in interpretation. So he is working to select the quotes he wants and get his chosen note-taking system smoothed out.
Tim's Homeschooling Today:
Timothy worked on his assessment packet for math again today. I am letting him take the unit assessments up front. If he misses less than 20% then I just check with him why he missed the ones he did and we just brush up on those topics then assuming I see no major problems he can skip the lessons in that unit. The plan is that if he cannot score at least 80% then he has to do all of that unit's lessons. So far, he has done super. He has missed no more that 4 problems on any one assessment. He couldn't remember how to how to work the equations with inequalities, but that is really the only conceptual based problem he has had. We worked on Saxon 7/6 all through the summer with the exception of those three weeks off just before school started back up. He is pretty solid in his math. Yet as solid as he is, I do not wish to advance him beyond his grade level with ARVS/K12. I know from the experience with Gregory that rapid progress can be undone when you suddenly hit a wall. He hit that just after starting algebra and again shortly after starting the Advanced Mathematics. Timothy is likely to do the same so we will continue to work ahead in the Saxon primarily and on grade level in the areas that K12 does well in. Then if he hits a wall there will be plenty of slack.
Zachary's New Passion:
Zachary is showing signs of a new passion. Sorry Spiderman. LOL. He broke down in tears after Timothy said no to him playing with a Star Wars toy that was owned by Tim. Gregory felt sorry for him, so he pulled out his Lego collection and found all the parts to make a little Lego Boba Fett character. After loving Spiderman for almost a year and a half, tonight Spidey was set aside and Zach slept with a tiny Star Wars Lego man. I sure hope he will find all the parts in the morning. :0) Wednesday I will be walking him through the toy aisle, something we only do at birthdays and Christmas time. My guess is that all of his selections for his wish list will be Star Wars. It will be interesting to see what he picks. For so long everything has been Spiderman.
Online Student Product Binder:
I posted to the Unit study collaborative about the Online Student Binder. I had high hopes that because the moms already worked collaoratively to make unit studies and the need had already been expressed in the past for a list of activities that it would stir up a lot of interest. Several moms stopped in, but no one looked very deeply at anything. Just quick 5 minute browses. I am seeing that all my effort may have been for naught. I still think that it is a great idea, but I will need to figure out what is preventing others from realizing it. There are many potential reasons many of which can be resolved – with yet more effort and time. The part that worries me is that time may not be on my side. Moodle is being provided through the Virtual Homeschool Group website and if Sarah feels that her site is not stirring interest and that the courses are not a good trade off in expense versus pay off she may pull the site. That would put an end to the courses I have made too. I will have my back ups and could potentially run the courses independently at a cost for the server space. But I too see the need to feel that people are using it so that the cost is justified. Well, it IS still early. There is still much hope for the project yet.
Melody is doing quite well today. She is almost out of pain medication though and that has me worried a bit. She tried to take a round of Naproxen instead of the pain pills so that she would have the strong ones for bedtime. She definitely didn't think it was up to the task. But, the swelling is subsiding. That is a good sign.
Rocks and Minerals Co-op:
Second Rocks and Minerals co-op class today. We continued covering researching skills and the many methods of organizing notes that can be pursued. I could tell that Brenda was very interested in the method of using Inspiration, but son Jesse was strongly leaning toward the system of using Word files in folders all hyper-linked by a Word-based, hyper-linked concept map to make adding notes quicker and more efficient. He sent an e-mailed copy of his hyper-link map to me this evening. He jumped right on the task and his map looks really great.
The kids practiced the MLA standard for note-taking from web resources. The MLA standard for web sources can be hard because many sites do not provide all of the information that the standard calls for in a bibliography such as a site name, the date of the last update, etc. Gregory's material for Mark Twin will have a great deal of quoted material since he has found that the resources take quite a varied stance in interpretation. So he is working to select the quotes he wants and get his chosen note-taking system smoothed out.
Tim's Homeschooling Today:
Timothy worked on his assessment packet for math again today. I am letting him take the unit assessments up front. If he misses less than 20% then I just check with him why he missed the ones he did and we just brush up on those topics then assuming I see no major problems he can skip the lessons in that unit. The plan is that if he cannot score at least 80% then he has to do all of that unit's lessons. So far, he has done super. He has missed no more that 4 problems on any one assessment. He couldn't remember how to how to work the equations with inequalities, but that is really the only conceptual based problem he has had. We worked on Saxon 7/6 all through the summer with the exception of those three weeks off just before school started back up. He is pretty solid in his math. Yet as solid as he is, I do not wish to advance him beyond his grade level with ARVS/K12. I know from the experience with Gregory that rapid progress can be undone when you suddenly hit a wall. He hit that just after starting algebra and again shortly after starting the Advanced Mathematics. Timothy is likely to do the same so we will continue to work ahead in the Saxon primarily and on grade level in the areas that K12 does well in. Then if he hits a wall there will be plenty of slack.
Zachary's New Passion:
Zachary is showing signs of a new passion. Sorry Spiderman. LOL. He broke down in tears after Timothy said no to him playing with a Star Wars toy that was owned by Tim. Gregory felt sorry for him, so he pulled out his Lego collection and found all the parts to make a little Lego Boba Fett character. After loving Spiderman for almost a year and a half, tonight Spidey was set aside and Zach slept with a tiny Star Wars Lego man. I sure hope he will find all the parts in the morning. :0) Wednesday I will be walking him through the toy aisle, something we only do at birthdays and Christmas time. My guess is that all of his selections for his wish list will be Star Wars. It will be interesting to see what he picks. For so long everything has been Spiderman.
Online Student Product Binder:
I posted to the Unit study collaborative about the Online Student Binder. I had high hopes that because the moms already worked collaoratively to make unit studies and the need had already been expressed in the past for a list of activities that it would stir up a lot of interest. Several moms stopped in, but no one looked very deeply at anything. Just quick 5 minute browses. I am seeing that all my effort may have been for naught. I still think that it is a great idea, but I will need to figure out what is preventing others from realizing it. There are many potential reasons many of which can be resolved – with yet more effort and time. The part that worries me is that time may not be on my side. Moodle is being provided through the Virtual Homeschool Group website and if Sarah feels that her site is not stirring interest and that the courses are not a good trade off in expense versus pay off she may pull the site. That would put an end to the courses I have made too. I will have my back ups and could potentially run the courses independently at a cost for the server space. But I too see the need to feel that people are using it so that the cost is justified. Well, it IS still early. There is still much hope for the project yet.
September 20, 2005: Now THAT's the Stride I/m Talkin' 'Bout!
Yes! Tim found it again – his homeschool stride. It was a great homeschool day. More like the stride that we are used to – at least as far as Tim goes. Greg has the day off for his official birthday and Melody is still recovering from oral surgery, but Tim got so much done with a smooth effort. I was beginning to wonder if we would ever get that efficiency back again. Now, if it will just lock in and stay.
HOT Today:
It is a hot one today. They were calling for another 100 degree plus heat index. Here I am making homemade pizza – oven on. But we just cannot have a birthday without the traditional b'day meal after all. :0) It is a bit roasty toasty (85 to 86 degrees in the bedrooms), but it sure smells good.
Melody Update:
Melody is in quite a bit of pain today. I was anticipating that she would be starting on the downhill side of pain and swelling today, but that has not been the case. Today she has had a headache to accompany the pain in the surgery areas. I think that it is muscle tension related as she tries to hold her jaw just so. She took the last of the oral surgeon prescribed pain pills just a few hours ago. We have the ones from the regular dentist yet before dropping down to mere over-the-counter pain relivers. I am so hoping it will turn the corner soon and give her some relief. It was a good sign today though that she spent a little time playing her Game Cube. That probably took her mind off of the pain a little.
Virtual Homeschool Group E-Notebooking Courses:
I have been blessed by some encouragement today in regards to the Online Student Product Binder. That has been wonderful. I am hoping to get some time this evening to make some new resources to add to the K12MSU and Online Binder sites. It looks like it will be a quiet evening as the rest of the family will be having a b'day movie night after Zach's bedtime, so lookin' good to have the creative time so far. Though I am curious about one of the movies. It is called A Beautiful Mind. I might join them for this movie and skip the second. I don't know much about it. Hopefully it will be a good one.
Speaking of movie night. I need to get busy with 'Zach and Mommy Time' if I hope for them to start the movies and be finished before it is too late in the evening. Off to spend Q'Time with my little guy.
HOT Today:
It is a hot one today. They were calling for another 100 degree plus heat index. Here I am making homemade pizza – oven on. But we just cannot have a birthday without the traditional b'day meal after all. :0) It is a bit roasty toasty (85 to 86 degrees in the bedrooms), but it sure smells good.
Melody Update:
Melody is in quite a bit of pain today. I was anticipating that she would be starting on the downhill side of pain and swelling today, but that has not been the case. Today she has had a headache to accompany the pain in the surgery areas. I think that it is muscle tension related as she tries to hold her jaw just so. She took the last of the oral surgeon prescribed pain pills just a few hours ago. We have the ones from the regular dentist yet before dropping down to mere over-the-counter pain relivers. I am so hoping it will turn the corner soon and give her some relief. It was a good sign today though that she spent a little time playing her Game Cube. That probably took her mind off of the pain a little.
Virtual Homeschool Group E-Notebooking Courses:
I have been blessed by some encouragement today in regards to the Online Student Product Binder. That has been wonderful. I am hoping to get some time this evening to make some new resources to add to the K12MSU and Online Binder sites. It looks like it will be a quiet evening as the rest of the family will be having a b'day movie night after Zach's bedtime, so lookin' good to have the creative time so far. Though I am curious about one of the movies. It is called A Beautiful Mind. I might join them for this movie and skip the second. I don't know much about it. Hopefully it will be a good one.
Speaking of movie night. I need to get busy with 'Zach and Mommy Time' if I hope for them to start the movies and be finished before it is too late in the evening. Off to spend Q'Time with my little guy.
September 21, 2005
Learning Journals:
I have updated Gregory's Learning Journal link. He is now officially a Xanga-ite. HomeschoolBlogger.com just will not cooperate with Opera (his favorite browser), so he has moved on to a new location. I suspect that Melody may switch as well.
Timothy is holding out to get his new computer before deciding – well, new to us anyway. It is a second hand refurbished model that is a 'brother' to our main family system. He will have the second fastest computer in the house if all goes well.
Tim's Computer is Delayed in Arriving:
Getting the system has been full of delays though and that has me a bit worried. We ordered it weeks ago. The business didn't ship so we sent an e-mail reminder. The response was that a key employee was out sick, but that it would ship no later than Tuesday (last Tuesday). Tuesday came and went and we gave it a full week before sending another e-mail reminder. The reply was “I thought that shipped.”. Last night we had an e-mail tracking number but it wasn't yet in the UPS system, just a label had been made. Today, it still has not entered the UPS system.
Tim is being very patient, especially considering that his current system is not useable. Gregory is going to wipe the hard drive once Tim's new computer arrives and he can get some files transferred. Gregory has already replaced the malfunctioning motherboard that it had previously had. But, with all the changes that the little system has had, Windows is quite confused. We cannot complain though. This one was a freebie from a friend to give Gregory some hardware experience. It has done that and will be a pretty fair system once Gregory gets finished with it. It will eventually be Zach's system. Tim just needed more hard drive space and power for the apps he works with than the little computer could handle.
Homeschool:
Tim has had another very productive day and from what I read on Greg's blog he had one too. Gregory has really enjoyed learning about Mark Twain. He has talked about him quite a bit. I am looking forward to Greg's bio on him. Tim is nearly finished with the math assessments and he completed way more of the GUM work that I ever expected. I am amazed at how much he remembers of grammar. We haven't formally studied it since last January; though I keep the various concept maps and charts that we made out and about for easy referal. The one topic I have not had a concept map out for was the one that seemed to give him some trouble – Pronouns. I am going to formalize our draft one to remedy that situation. I think that between the continuous review methods of the Hake Grammar and the concept maps we made, we have found a really effective combination. the long-term retention is awesome.
Zach's B'day Ideas Shopping Trip:
Tonight was Zach's walk through the toy isle for b'day ideas. He had such a good time. Sure enough, all that turned his head was Spiderman and Star Wars toys. Next Wednesday I want to take him to Toys R Us when we go into Texarkana to return library books. He will truly have a field day. LOL.
Melody Update:
Melody is still in quite a bit of pain, but she has been up and about and on the computer again. She can just barely open her mouth. Even then she has to use her hand on her jaw to accomplish the task. I was figuring that she would be well on the way to recovery by this time. I feel so sorry for her. I tried to find something good at the store for her to enjoy. I am sure she must be getting tired of mashed poatoes by now. She is not one for sweets and there just isn't much in the way of soft, semi-liquid non-sweet foods. I have suggested chicken and rice soup a few times, but she mumbled between her nearly closed teeth that she didn't think she could chew even the rice and carrots.
Well, that pretty much covers today's Moore news. I guess I had better get the youngin's off to bed. It is past bedtime and everyone is still deeply engrossed in projects
I have updated Gregory's Learning Journal link. He is now officially a Xanga-ite. HomeschoolBlogger.com just will not cooperate with Opera (his favorite browser), so he has moved on to a new location. I suspect that Melody may switch as well.
Timothy is holding out to get his new computer before deciding – well, new to us anyway. It is a second hand refurbished model that is a 'brother' to our main family system. He will have the second fastest computer in the house if all goes well.
Tim's Computer is Delayed in Arriving:
Getting the system has been full of delays though and that has me a bit worried. We ordered it weeks ago. The business didn't ship so we sent an e-mail reminder. The response was that a key employee was out sick, but that it would ship no later than Tuesday (last Tuesday). Tuesday came and went and we gave it a full week before sending another e-mail reminder. The reply was “I thought that shipped.”. Last night we had an e-mail tracking number but it wasn't yet in the UPS system, just a label had been made. Today, it still has not entered the UPS system.
Tim is being very patient, especially considering that his current system is not useable. Gregory is going to wipe the hard drive once Tim's new computer arrives and he can get some files transferred. Gregory has already replaced the malfunctioning motherboard that it had previously had. But, with all the changes that the little system has had, Windows is quite confused. We cannot complain though. This one was a freebie from a friend to give Gregory some hardware experience. It has done that and will be a pretty fair system once Gregory gets finished with it. It will eventually be Zach's system. Tim just needed more hard drive space and power for the apps he works with than the little computer could handle.
Homeschool:
Tim has had another very productive day and from what I read on Greg's blog he had one too. Gregory has really enjoyed learning about Mark Twain. He has talked about him quite a bit. I am looking forward to Greg's bio on him. Tim is nearly finished with the math assessments and he completed way more of the GUM work that I ever expected. I am amazed at how much he remembers of grammar. We haven't formally studied it since last January; though I keep the various concept maps and charts that we made out and about for easy referal. The one topic I have not had a concept map out for was the one that seemed to give him some trouble – Pronouns. I am going to formalize our draft one to remedy that situation. I think that between the continuous review methods of the Hake Grammar and the concept maps we made, we have found a really effective combination. the long-term retention is awesome.
Zach's B'day Ideas Shopping Trip:
Tonight was Zach's walk through the toy isle for b'day ideas. He had such a good time. Sure enough, all that turned his head was Spiderman and Star Wars toys. Next Wednesday I want to take him to Toys R Us when we go into Texarkana to return library books. He will truly have a field day. LOL.
Melody Update:
Melody is still in quite a bit of pain, but she has been up and about and on the computer again. She can just barely open her mouth. Even then she has to use her hand on her jaw to accomplish the task. I was figuring that she would be well on the way to recovery by this time. I feel so sorry for her. I tried to find something good at the store for her to enjoy. I am sure she must be getting tired of mashed poatoes by now. She is not one for sweets and there just isn't much in the way of soft, semi-liquid non-sweet foods. I have suggested chicken and rice soup a few times, but she mumbled between her nearly closed teeth that she didn't think she could chew even the rice and carrots.
Well, that pretty much covers today's Moore news. I guess I had better get the youngin's off to bed. It is past bedtime and everyone is still deeply engrossed in projects
September 22, 2005: Test Scores and Melody Mystery Solved
Tim's Test Scores:
We now have Timothy's 5th grade Iowa test scores. The state only tested reading comprehension and math last year. There are rumors that public schools and homeschools will do a full battery this spring in Arkansas. I hope so. I want to find out how Tim is doing in history (social studies) and science.
What I cannot figure out is why they don't test through high school for public schools here in Arkansas. The last grade level to be tested is 10th grade. It seems to me that the public would want to have public schools held accountable for proving they were educating near-to graduating students. There are some Araksnas made tests in the works for specific subjects such as algebra and science. That seems like a good idea, but I would rather have a nationally standardized test so the 'playing field' was assured to be level and comparisons would be more accurate.
Tim did very well in math, scoring in the 79th national percentile for concepts and estimation. In the subtests he had 100% of the answers correct for algebra, geometry, and measurement, but the estimation, probabiblity & statistics, and number properties section were only average. The overall score settled at the 79th percentile.
I like that we have all this detail this year. Last year's Benchmark test just had a number (not a percentile rank) and basic, proficient, or advanced. No details about the sub-tests. That made that one feel like a waste of time because I couldn't diagnose specific problem areas. In this one I can see exactly what we need to work on.
Melody Mystery Solved:
Melody just hasn't progressed in pain recovery well at all after the oral surgery. It seemed that by this point, almost one full week, she should be getting some releif. Yet, this morning she couldn't even open her mouth a finger's width. I called the oral surgeon, but they were at lunch at the time. She mentioned that her teeth were meeting hard on one side but not even touching on the other side. That was a big clue. It was obvious that her jaw was out of the joint on one side. We talked about the possibility of going to the chiropracter tomorrow to see if he could get it back into place.
Melody, having a possible cause for her continuing pain began working to nudge that side back into place. I was watching the hurricane coverage at about 7pm when she came in all smiles and said that it went back into place. She could suddenly open her mouth about double the amount. Great news! Hopefully now healing will be quick.
Hurricane Watch:
It looks as if Texas and Lousianna are going to get some pretty strong weather. The predicted inland track shows it passing directly over Texarkana. That would put us about 60 miles from the eye on the intense eastern side. We are pretty far inland here though, so much of the hurricane's fury will have abated. The forecast is calling for thunderstorms and 45mph wind gusts, so we will prepare for power outage. The entire region is heavily timbered and storms inevitable bring trees down across lines.
I don't think that we will get the 100+ mile an hour winds that we had last year. That was enough to give us a taste of what a hurricane is like. John watched as 55 gallon drums scooted, not rolled, across the parking lot at work. Trees where down everywhere. It hit just as wednesday night church was letting out and many a church goer became trapped on the way home between trees across the highways. I heard many a story from friends that it took hours and hours plus neighbor's chainsaws to get home that night. John didn't make it in until almost 10pm. He was white as a ghost and shaking when he walked in. He was sure the roof would have been blown away. The damage he saw on the way in was terrible, so he expected that we too would be in pretty bad shape. It was amazing, he said, that as soon as he got within a block of home the damage seemed to be non-existent. With the exception of one tree down across one end of our street, there was nothing else to note.
Here at home we seems to be in a lee as far as storms go. Even when the rest of the region is hit hard with record storms, we seem to get only moderate weather. Such a contrast to the house we lived in when we first moved to Arkansas - a sheer-force, down-draft, and tornado magnet. We moved out of that house less than 12 months before a storm that shattered every window in what was the sun room/boys room. Softball sized, spiked hail that punched right through the sunroom roof. Whew! So glad the boys didn't still have that room.
Inspiration Software:
The Inspiration software arrived today. I am glad. The trial expires Saturday. Now I want to explore some of the advanced features such as sound recorded notes, export to webpage and PowerPoint, and others. I really like this software. It works the way I think – spatially and graphically. The kids seem to like it just as much. I just wish it were less expensive. I would have preferred to buy a network licence so all the machines would have access. At this point though, we will have to settle for one copy and keep an eye out for good prices to get more copies in the future.
Homeschool:
Tim is still in stride and has finished all the K12 1st semester assessments for math. Now we will switch back to Saxon 7/6 full time. He breezed through several GUM assessments as well and we all will use the grammar concept maps to stay 'brushed up' through the year. I need to get the pronouns concept map finished and printed as of yet. Tomorrow, notebooks will once again take center stage for him.
Melody will continue to be off from school until she is without pain.
Gregory has continued with his Mark Twain bio and started Saxon Calculus. I know he is looking forward to the lighter load of calculus. LOL. Saxon Advanced Math was pretty intense. I know. I tried to keep up with him by doing the lessons too. Every lesson took pages and pages and hours and hours to complete. Even with DIVE CDs there were several concepts that defied understanding. According to the Saxon website that text is their hardest. It is the only one that they recommend taking 1.5 years to complete instead of the typical 9 months. And it takes every bit of it; I assure you.
Stay tuned, Moore news tomorrow.
We now have Timothy's 5th grade Iowa test scores. The state only tested reading comprehension and math last year. There are rumors that public schools and homeschools will do a full battery this spring in Arkansas. I hope so. I want to find out how Tim is doing in history (social studies) and science.
What I cannot figure out is why they don't test through high school for public schools here in Arkansas. The last grade level to be tested is 10th grade. It seems to me that the public would want to have public schools held accountable for proving they were educating near-to graduating students. There are some Araksnas made tests in the works for specific subjects such as algebra and science. That seems like a good idea, but I would rather have a nationally standardized test so the 'playing field' was assured to be level and comparisons would be more accurate.
Tim did very well in math, scoring in the 79th national percentile for concepts and estimation. In the subtests he had 100% of the answers correct for algebra, geometry, and measurement, but the estimation, probabiblity & statistics, and number properties section were only average. The overall score settled at the 79th percentile.
I like that we have all this detail this year. Last year's Benchmark test just had a number (not a percentile rank) and basic, proficient, or advanced. No details about the sub-tests. That made that one feel like a waste of time because I couldn't diagnose specific problem areas. In this one I can see exactly what we need to work on.
Melody Mystery Solved:
Melody just hasn't progressed in pain recovery well at all after the oral surgery. It seemed that by this point, almost one full week, she should be getting some releif. Yet, this morning she couldn't even open her mouth a finger's width. I called the oral surgeon, but they were at lunch at the time. She mentioned that her teeth were meeting hard on one side but not even touching on the other side. That was a big clue. It was obvious that her jaw was out of the joint on one side. We talked about the possibility of going to the chiropracter tomorrow to see if he could get it back into place.
Melody, having a possible cause for her continuing pain began working to nudge that side back into place. I was watching the hurricane coverage at about 7pm when she came in all smiles and said that it went back into place. She could suddenly open her mouth about double the amount. Great news! Hopefully now healing will be quick.
Hurricane Watch:
It looks as if Texas and Lousianna are going to get some pretty strong weather. The predicted inland track shows it passing directly over Texarkana. That would put us about 60 miles from the eye on the intense eastern side. We are pretty far inland here though, so much of the hurricane's fury will have abated. The forecast is calling for thunderstorms and 45mph wind gusts, so we will prepare for power outage. The entire region is heavily timbered and storms inevitable bring trees down across lines.
I don't think that we will get the 100+ mile an hour winds that we had last year. That was enough to give us a taste of what a hurricane is like. John watched as 55 gallon drums scooted, not rolled, across the parking lot at work. Trees where down everywhere. It hit just as wednesday night church was letting out and many a church goer became trapped on the way home between trees across the highways. I heard many a story from friends that it took hours and hours plus neighbor's chainsaws to get home that night. John didn't make it in until almost 10pm. He was white as a ghost and shaking when he walked in. He was sure the roof would have been blown away. The damage he saw on the way in was terrible, so he expected that we too would be in pretty bad shape. It was amazing, he said, that as soon as he got within a block of home the damage seemed to be non-existent. With the exception of one tree down across one end of our street, there was nothing else to note.
Here at home we seems to be in a lee as far as storms go. Even when the rest of the region is hit hard with record storms, we seem to get only moderate weather. Such a contrast to the house we lived in when we first moved to Arkansas - a sheer-force, down-draft, and tornado magnet. We moved out of that house less than 12 months before a storm that shattered every window in what was the sun room/boys room. Softball sized, spiked hail that punched right through the sunroom roof. Whew! So glad the boys didn't still have that room.
Inspiration Software:
The Inspiration software arrived today. I am glad. The trial expires Saturday. Now I want to explore some of the advanced features such as sound recorded notes, export to webpage and PowerPoint, and others. I really like this software. It works the way I think – spatially and graphically. The kids seem to like it just as much. I just wish it were less expensive. I would have preferred to buy a network licence so all the machines would have access. At this point though, we will have to settle for one copy and keep an eye out for good prices to get more copies in the future.
Homeschool:
Tim is still in stride and has finished all the K12 1st semester assessments for math. Now we will switch back to Saxon 7/6 full time. He breezed through several GUM assessments as well and we all will use the grammar concept maps to stay 'brushed up' through the year. I need to get the pronouns concept map finished and printed as of yet. Tomorrow, notebooks will once again take center stage for him.
Melody will continue to be off from school until she is without pain.
Gregory has continued with his Mark Twain bio and started Saxon Calculus. I know he is looking forward to the lighter load of calculus. LOL. Saxon Advanced Math was pretty intense. I know. I tried to keep up with him by doing the lessons too. Every lesson took pages and pages and hours and hours to complete. Even with DIVE CDs there were several concepts that defied understanding. According to the Saxon website that text is their hardest. It is the only one that they recommend taking 1.5 years to complete instead of the typical 9 months. And it takes every bit of it; I assure you.
Stay tuned, Moore news tomorrow.
September 24, 2005: Rita Arrives in SW Arkansas
7: 59 am: Preparations
We are making basic preparations for the stormy weather that hurricane Rita will bring. Yesterday I focused on making sure we were all caught up on electricity dependent needs such as running all the laundry, dishes, essential computer work, stocking up on water (no water if power goes out here), etc.
This morning John is taking care of yard and porch items such as making sure outside toys are tied down or sheltered. At the moment he is nailing plywood over the back door which is on the storm side of the house. It is prone to leaking in driving rain.
We are under heavy cloud cover and it is quite breezy at the moment. They are not calling for us to have anything very serious, but some basic precautions and power outage prep makes a lot of sense. The weather forecast shows that we will have storms most of the week, so power outages sprinkled over the next several days are almost inevitable out here in the rural areas. I am preparing homeschool for having stretches of non-computer work. With us doing so much on the PCs and internet, power failures can really throw a monkey wrench into gears of getting stuff done.
5:20 pm: Rita's Eye Enters Arkansas
Yay! Power is back up again. Only 3 hours without power. Very good! John and I were both sure it would be 7pm at the earliest and if not up by 8pm it would be tomorrow morning before we would have electricity again. It is still gusty. But hopefully, what trees prone to going down have already done so. We still have days worth of stormy weather and the power will probably be out again before all is said and done.
All the counties around us are under tornado watch at the moment. We are monitoring the weather radio closely.
At least we finally got some rain. We were 14 inches below normal rainfall for the year. A bit late for the farmers, but still very welcome! To get a feel for how dry we were, even after all the rain we have had, there still isn't any standing water in the usual places in the yard. The ground has just sucked it up like a sponge.
We are making basic preparations for the stormy weather that hurricane Rita will bring. Yesterday I focused on making sure we were all caught up on electricity dependent needs such as running all the laundry, dishes, essential computer work, stocking up on water (no water if power goes out here), etc.
This morning John is taking care of yard and porch items such as making sure outside toys are tied down or sheltered. At the moment he is nailing plywood over the back door which is on the storm side of the house. It is prone to leaking in driving rain.
We are under heavy cloud cover and it is quite breezy at the moment. They are not calling for us to have anything very serious, but some basic precautions and power outage prep makes a lot of sense. The weather forecast shows that we will have storms most of the week, so power outages sprinkled over the next several days are almost inevitable out here in the rural areas. I am preparing homeschool for having stretches of non-computer work. With us doing so much on the PCs and internet, power failures can really throw a monkey wrench into gears of getting stuff done.
5:20 pm: Rita's Eye Enters Arkansas
Yay! Power is back up again. Only 3 hours without power. Very good! John and I were both sure it would be 7pm at the earliest and if not up by 8pm it would be tomorrow morning before we would have electricity again. It is still gusty. But hopefully, what trees prone to going down have already done so. We still have days worth of stormy weather and the power will probably be out again before all is said and done.
All the counties around us are under tornado watch at the moment. We are monitoring the weather radio closely.
At least we finally got some rain. We were 14 inches below normal rainfall for the year. A bit late for the farmers, but still very welcome! To get a feel for how dry we were, even after all the rain we have had, there still isn't any standing water in the usual places in the yard. The ground has just sucked it up like a sponge.
So Much For Stormy Weather … and rain (sigh)
Well, for all the pre-Rita forecasts of stormy weather all week, we have had an unbroken stretch of sunshine. LOL. We could actually stand to be getting that rain, which seems almost wrong to say with cities to the south struggling with flood water. Too bad it couldn't flow upstream a bit. Thursday is supposed to bring a cold front down from the north. Our daily high temperatures are to only be about 80 degrees. That will be such a relief. Today's heat index was over 100 degrees. Even at 10 am, when I went out to the mailbox, it was oppressively balmy. I cannot imagine being further south, knee-deep in floodwater, without electricity to run the AC.
Stranded Rita Refugees:
On the way home from work, John pulled over to help some stranded motorists. They were here with relatives from Port Charles. Unfortunately, John was not able to help them with their car any more than to drive them to the nearest dealer.
They seemed to have a positive attitude though. The Rita-ites seem to have an entirely different reaction to Rita's flooding and wind damage than Louisianna residents with Katrina. I wonder if that was because in Louisianna the expectations were that the hurricane wouldn't be as bad as experts were warning and it surprised residents. Whereas with Rita the expectations were that it would be terrible, but coastal cities got off relatively light by comparison. Mmm. Well I hope that the evacuees from both hurricanes have found some hope while in Hope, Arkansas. :0)
Co-op Today:
We had the Rock and Minerals Co-op here today. The kids worked on labs and informal lab reports. Tomorrrow the lab reports will be finished, scored, and posted to the Virtual Homeschool Group Rocks and Minerals Course.
Virtual Homeschool Group Courses (www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.com):
I have added quite a bit to the Rocks and Minerals and Online Student Product Binder courses. I am really enjoying making these online courses using Moodle. It is giving me a very enjoyable creative outlet. The kids seem to like having the resources online rather than in the 3-ring binder – though I still have lots to get transferred to the online wikis. It is an absolute gem when it comes to the co-op. No more resource shuffling, expensive color printing, dropping great activities because of lack of in-class time, etc. The co-op kids easily have access to what they need during the week. I am sold on using it in the co-op setting.
Well, I am determined to try to catch up a bit on making some family scrapbook pages. I have a few SPB resources I want to make too. So, I am off to get creatin'
Well, for all the pre-Rita forecasts of stormy weather all week, we have had an unbroken stretch of sunshine. LOL. We could actually stand to be getting that rain, which seems almost wrong to say with cities to the south struggling with flood water. Too bad it couldn't flow upstream a bit. Thursday is supposed to bring a cold front down from the north. Our daily high temperatures are to only be about 80 degrees. That will be such a relief. Today's heat index was over 100 degrees. Even at 10 am, when I went out to the mailbox, it was oppressively balmy. I cannot imagine being further south, knee-deep in floodwater, without electricity to run the AC.
Stranded Rita Refugees:
On the way home from work, John pulled over to help some stranded motorists. They were here with relatives from Port Charles. Unfortunately, John was not able to help them with their car any more than to drive them to the nearest dealer.
They seemed to have a positive attitude though. The Rita-ites seem to have an entirely different reaction to Rita's flooding and wind damage than Louisianna residents with Katrina. I wonder if that was because in Louisianna the expectations were that the hurricane wouldn't be as bad as experts were warning and it surprised residents. Whereas with Rita the expectations were that it would be terrible, but coastal cities got off relatively light by comparison. Mmm. Well I hope that the evacuees from both hurricanes have found some hope while in Hope, Arkansas. :0)
Co-op Today:
We had the Rock and Minerals Co-op here today. The kids worked on labs and informal lab reports. Tomorrrow the lab reports will be finished, scored, and posted to the Virtual Homeschool Group Rocks and Minerals Course.
Virtual Homeschool Group Courses (www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.com):
I have added quite a bit to the Rocks and Minerals and Online Student Product Binder courses. I am really enjoying making these online courses using Moodle. It is giving me a very enjoyable creative outlet. The kids seem to like having the resources online rather than in the 3-ring binder – though I still have lots to get transferred to the online wikis. It is an absolute gem when it comes to the co-op. No more resource shuffling, expensive color printing, dropping great activities because of lack of in-class time, etc. The co-op kids easily have access to what they need during the week. I am sold on using it in the co-op setting.
Well, I am determined to try to catch up a bit on making some family scrapbook pages. I have a few SPB resources I want to make too. So, I am off to get creatin'
September 27, 2004: I Haven't Moved Furniture Around in Years
I was about to shut the computer down late last night when I glanced at the random blog button. It was past midnight and the whole household was sound asleep – my husband snoozing with a book propped up on his chest. LOL. Midnight is quite late for a natural early bird like me, yet I clicked on the button. An hour later my eyelids felt like lead, but my heart was full.
This morning I continued my random journey through other homeschool mom's and a few homeschool kid's online journals. It has been really enjoyable. I have added several of the blogs to my friends list. It felt a little odd adding them when all I did was come across their blogs; they 'don't know me from Adam'. But I wanted to easily visit their blogs again and I guess that is a terrific way to make new freinds. LOL.
OK, OK, by now you may be asking, “What's up with the title 'I haven't moved the furniture around in years'?” As I was reading the blogs, I picked up on several that had a familiar restlessness. That same restlessness energy I used to feel way back when we began homeschooling. For me, it revealed itself in everything from curriculum hopping to moving the furniture around regularly.
I realized how peaceful and non-restless I have become in recent years. I don't know if that is maturity (no snickering from the audience), the seasoning of becoming a homeschool veteran of 14 years, the fact that I have reached the place where my working with the kids has proven fruit so I don't have to doubt myeslf at every turn anymore, or just plain old age seeping in. LOL. But, I have been content. Oh, there are plenty of areas that I want to explore, improve in, do and be, and go find out about, but it just feels different now. The creating, the exploring, the doing and being just seems to happily fill my cup now – satisfaction, even satiation at times. The cup isn't any smaller. On the contrary it is larger than ever before, but I guess I just don't spill the contents as much as I used to. :0)
This morning I continued my random journey through other homeschool mom's and a few homeschool kid's online journals. It has been really enjoyable. I have added several of the blogs to my friends list. It felt a little odd adding them when all I did was come across their blogs; they 'don't know me from Adam'. But I wanted to easily visit their blogs again and I guess that is a terrific way to make new freinds. LOL.
OK, OK, by now you may be asking, “What's up with the title 'I haven't moved the furniture around in years'?” As I was reading the blogs, I picked up on several that had a familiar restlessness. That same restlessness energy I used to feel way back when we began homeschooling. For me, it revealed itself in everything from curriculum hopping to moving the furniture around regularly.
I realized how peaceful and non-restless I have become in recent years. I don't know if that is maturity (no snickering from the audience), the seasoning of becoming a homeschool veteran of 14 years, the fact that I have reached the place where my working with the kids has proven fruit so I don't have to doubt myeslf at every turn anymore, or just plain old age seeping in. LOL. But, I have been content. Oh, there are plenty of areas that I want to explore, improve in, do and be, and go find out about, but it just feels different now. The creating, the exploring, the doing and being just seems to happily fill my cup now – satisfaction, even satiation at times. The cup isn't any smaller. On the contrary it is larger than ever before, but I guess I just don't spill the contents as much as I used to. :0)
September 28, 2005: Busy Day - With an Update
Melody Update:
Melody is doing great now. I showed her something funny yesterday and immediately caught myself because it has been hurting her when she smiles this week. She not only smiled, she laughed. There was no hint of pain in her expression. I am so glad the oral surgery is done and now she has gotten past the post-op pain. Nice to see her smile! Her molars are doing all sorts of dancing though. Everyday they seem to want to change orientation. Hopefully the new space back there will encourage them to arrange nicely for her. No more pressure from over-crowding back there. Yay!
Today:
Well, today didn't go exactly as scheduled. LOL. I entered this in the morning knowing that I might have too busy a day to make an entry at all and figured an itinerary would have to do. Here is what I had this morning:
After we get homeschooling done today we have a long list of in-town errands. It is library day and I want to take Zach through Toys-R-Us to finalize b'day ideas. We will celebrate his 5th birthdy this weekend. Yippee! Then the older kids will be dropped off for Wednesday youth group while Zach, Tim, and I will get groceries. Yep, busy day ahead of us.
First off, I had unexpected company during school hours. Normally, I would cut schoolday visits short, but in this instance it was important to take the time to encourage a friend.
Errand day got a very late start and instead of the car full of kiddos I had only Greg when I headed out. Melody wan't quite up to going and had several things she needed to catch up on. With such a late start, I would only have 15 minutes for Toys R Us, so I didn't take Zachary. I knew he would feel less disappointment being at home than he would if he had to leave TRU so quickly.
Sometimes I get frustrated with having town such a long drive away. Today was one of those times. We are a two town household. The nearest town with a Toys R Us is about 60 miles away. That is where we go to the library, visit bookstores, and get ink cartridges refilled too. The town where John works, where we grocery shop in, and where our church is is only about 30 miles away. Right now with gas prices what they are, it gets our attention. It takes 5 gallons of gas (1/4 of a tank) for a trip to the big town in the station wagon. Yikes!
Gregory (through the youth group) helped serve the hurricane evacuees. The numbers are dwindling quite a bit. There were only about 300 there for dinner last night. That is a rough estimate only. I was there shortly after 6pm, so I based it on how many I saw what they had at that time. With needing to get on to the errands, I could only drop Greg off to help and rush on. The evacuees seem to be coping well at this point.
While Greg served I drove on another 30 miles to drop off library books. This is the first trip in over 8 months that I didn't get any books. I only had time to run the due ones in. Toys R Us didn't have the figure that Zach wanted to have, so the limitted 15 minutes didn't turn out to be much of a problem. That is probably all I would have needed there even if I had all day.
I turned around and rushed back to pick up Greg. At WalMart, Greg and I pawed all through the Star Wars characters. I was about to give up hope that they would have the character. But alas, just as I was certain they didn't have it, Greg found the same character made from another toy company. It was bigger and better than what Zach saw the week before, so I think he will love it. We picked out a few other gifts, got the rest of groceries, and headed home at 9:30 pm.
Not quite the day I had anticipated this morning, but good in that I had the blessing of serving a friend and Greg had the blessing of serving the evacuees. Zach will have a great time with the birthday gifts we found.
Melody is doing great now. I showed her something funny yesterday and immediately caught myself because it has been hurting her when she smiles this week. She not only smiled, she laughed. There was no hint of pain in her expression. I am so glad the oral surgery is done and now she has gotten past the post-op pain. Nice to see her smile! Her molars are doing all sorts of dancing though. Everyday they seem to want to change orientation. Hopefully the new space back there will encourage them to arrange nicely for her. No more pressure from over-crowding back there. Yay!
Today:
Well, today didn't go exactly as scheduled. LOL. I entered this in the morning knowing that I might have too busy a day to make an entry at all and figured an itinerary would have to do. Here is what I had this morning:
After we get homeschooling done today we have a long list of in-town errands. It is library day and I want to take Zach through Toys-R-Us to finalize b'day ideas. We will celebrate his 5th birthdy this weekend. Yippee! Then the older kids will be dropped off for Wednesday youth group while Zach, Tim, and I will get groceries. Yep, busy day ahead of us.
First off, I had unexpected company during school hours. Normally, I would cut schoolday visits short, but in this instance it was important to take the time to encourage a friend.
Errand day got a very late start and instead of the car full of kiddos I had only Greg when I headed out. Melody wan't quite up to going and had several things she needed to catch up on. With such a late start, I would only have 15 minutes for Toys R Us, so I didn't take Zachary. I knew he would feel less disappointment being at home than he would if he had to leave TRU so quickly.
Sometimes I get frustrated with having town such a long drive away. Today was one of those times. We are a two town household. The nearest town with a Toys R Us is about 60 miles away. That is where we go to the library, visit bookstores, and get ink cartridges refilled too. The town where John works, where we grocery shop in, and where our church is is only about 30 miles away. Right now with gas prices what they are, it gets our attention. It takes 5 gallons of gas (1/4 of a tank) for a trip to the big town in the station wagon. Yikes!
Gregory (through the youth group) helped serve the hurricane evacuees. The numbers are dwindling quite a bit. There were only about 300 there for dinner last night. That is a rough estimate only. I was there shortly after 6pm, so I based it on how many I saw what they had at that time. With needing to get on to the errands, I could only drop Greg off to help and rush on. The evacuees seem to be coping well at this point.
While Greg served I drove on another 30 miles to drop off library books. This is the first trip in over 8 months that I didn't get any books. I only had time to run the due ones in. Toys R Us didn't have the figure that Zach wanted to have, so the limitted 15 minutes didn't turn out to be much of a problem. That is probably all I would have needed there even if I had all day.
I turned around and rushed back to pick up Greg. At WalMart, Greg and I pawed all through the Star Wars characters. I was about to give up hope that they would have the character. But alas, just as I was certain they didn't have it, Greg found the same character made from another toy company. It was bigger and better than what Zach saw the week before, so I think he will love it. We picked out a few other gifts, got the rest of groceries, and headed home at 9:30 pm.
Not quite the day I had anticipated this morning, but good in that I had the blessing of serving a friend and Greg had the blessing of serving the evacuees. Zach will have a great time with the birthday gifts we found.
September 29, 2005: Fall, Oh Yes, Fall!
Finally, the first fall-like day of the season. It was so wonderful to turn off the noise of the window AC. It is only about 3 feet from my right ear when I sit at the computer. All summer it has droned on, and on, and on … but today … silence.
The windows open. The cats sit out on the porch and quizzically look at the windows as the sound of family doings drift outward. Inward blows the breeze, a soft sweet, cool breeze. Oh how I have longed for this day.
I have to laugh at myself. As I walked from window to window, my mind happily raced at the long-pent-up hopes of getting into a calorie-burning walking routine once the weather turned cool again. In the spring, I lost 20 lbs when I could get out and walk daily. Over the intensely hot summer, I just worked to hold the ground I lost, or gained; mmm not sure which one to say. Not that I did that perfectly. I have edged up 5 lbs, mostly over the last 5 weeks as I have been too indulgent with myself with chocolate – my weakness. It is birthday season right now and I may yet indulge one more weekend before girding up my loins for the dietary battles ahead.
What is so funny is that within 5 minutes of those enthusiastic diet-oriented thoughts, I was excitedly rummaging through the kitchen planning all the meals I could now prepare with oven-restriction off. Our AC just cannot manage both 100 degree days and oven use, so during the 6 weeks of high summer the oven is used only once per week and even then for quickly prepared meals. Now my mind was buzzing with enthusiasm for roasts, fresh baked bread, half-baked potatoes, pumpkin spice cake, mmmm.
I set out some frozen bread dough to thaw, looked at the roast in the fridge and then the clock four or five times knowing that it needed to be at least 2 before I put it on or it would be done way too soon for dinner. I was so excited about serving a big meal with peppery pot roast, freshly baked bread, green beans, seasoned oven fries. Yes fries. We have eaten mashed potatoes until we are sick of them (Melody's oral surgery. Remember?) and I didn't have any potatoes of the right size for half-bakes. Fries were great because they are oven-based, so we haven't had them in a while.
From diet plans to big dinner plans in all of five minutes. All because the cool weather has returned. I guess it is good that the exercising opportunities open up just as the cooking ones do. :0)
The windows open. The cats sit out on the porch and quizzically look at the windows as the sound of family doings drift outward. Inward blows the breeze, a soft sweet, cool breeze. Oh how I have longed for this day.
I have to laugh at myself. As I walked from window to window, my mind happily raced at the long-pent-up hopes of getting into a calorie-burning walking routine once the weather turned cool again. In the spring, I lost 20 lbs when I could get out and walk daily. Over the intensely hot summer, I just worked to hold the ground I lost, or gained; mmm not sure which one to say. Not that I did that perfectly. I have edged up 5 lbs, mostly over the last 5 weeks as I have been too indulgent with myself with chocolate – my weakness. It is birthday season right now and I may yet indulge one more weekend before girding up my loins for the dietary battles ahead.
What is so funny is that within 5 minutes of those enthusiastic diet-oriented thoughts, I was excitedly rummaging through the kitchen planning all the meals I could now prepare with oven-restriction off. Our AC just cannot manage both 100 degree days and oven use, so during the 6 weeks of high summer the oven is used only once per week and even then for quickly prepared meals. Now my mind was buzzing with enthusiasm for roasts, fresh baked bread, half-baked potatoes, pumpkin spice cake, mmmm.
I set out some frozen bread dough to thaw, looked at the roast in the fridge and then the clock four or five times knowing that it needed to be at least 2 before I put it on or it would be done way too soon for dinner. I was so excited about serving a big meal with peppery pot roast, freshly baked bread, green beans, seasoned oven fries. Yes fries. We have eaten mashed potatoes until we are sick of them (Melody's oral surgery. Remember?) and I didn't have any potatoes of the right size for half-bakes. Fries were great because they are oven-based, so we haven't had them in a while.
From diet plans to big dinner plans in all of five minutes. All because the cool weather has returned. I guess it is good that the exercising opportunities open up just as the cooking ones do. :0)
October 1, 2005: Zachary's 5th Birthday
October 3, 2005:Zachary's Learning Journal & Preschool E-Notebook
Zachary has his own learning journal on HomeschoolBlogger now. I figured that while we are working on his Preschool E-notebook, I would do his learning journal to go along with it – just like the big kids in the family are doing.
You will find a link to his learning journal in the side bar to the right. Below is a quick preview of the first post. It is the cover of his preschool e-notebook.
You will find a link to his learning journal in the side bar to the right. Below is a quick preview of the first post. It is the cover of his preschool e-notebook.
October 3, 2005: Dieting Digest - Losing Weight, Not My Mind
OK, I have hopes that I will feel some accountability to sticking to my diet if I post quick updates here on my blog. I figure I might forgo that secret handful of chocolate chips if I will have to admit it later. LOL.
So here goes. Today is the first day of my diet. I won't get much of a chance to walk today, it is co-op day. I will however, begin a fast today that I plan on doing for three days. Then I will shift to healthy low cal, low fat, fruits, veggies, and meats diet. Gee, doesn't chocolate count under that heading? LOL.
Actually, I think it may be easy to go without the chocolate. It has had a tendency to make my heart race lately and I don't like that. I guess as I am getting older, I am more sensitive to the natural stimulant effects of it.
I considered posting a before picture, but that would be too humiliating. I will see if John will take one, but you will not see it until I have a triumphant skinny picture to post right beside it. :0)
Amount I want to lose: 30 lbs. That will put me in the range where I have felt the healthiest is the past. Last time I was there was 2001. I am hoping to find other moms that are dieting too. It would be nice to have the support and camaraderie. If you are dieting too, post a comment and tell me your blog name. Maybe we can be an encouragement to one another. :0)
So here goes. Today is the first day of my diet. I won't get much of a chance to walk today, it is co-op day. I will however, begin a fast today that I plan on doing for three days. Then I will shift to healthy low cal, low fat, fruits, veggies, and meats diet. Gee, doesn't chocolate count under that heading? LOL.
Actually, I think it may be easy to go without the chocolate. It has had a tendency to make my heart race lately and I don't like that. I guess as I am getting older, I am more sensitive to the natural stimulant effects of it.
I considered posting a before picture, but that would be too humiliating. I will see if John will take one, but you will not see it until I have a triumphant skinny picture to post right beside it. :0)
Amount I want to lose: 30 lbs. That will put me in the range where I have felt the healthiest is the past. Last time I was there was 2001. I am hoping to find other moms that are dieting too. It would be nice to have the support and camaraderie. If you are dieting too, post a comment and tell me your blog name. Maybe we can be an encouragement to one another. :0)
Co-op- Today - Crystals: they're Habit Forming
Today is Rocks and Minerals Co-op Day. The kids learned so much. Here is what we did.
I have spent the past few weeks in the co-op building up the science notebook foundational skills. We have covered the researching skills of locating sources, ciring/bibliography of those resources, and the many ways that notes can be taken and organized. They have worked on how to write an informal lab write up. Today, they had to put all of that together in use in one day.
Today we focused on the Chemical section of the Rocks and Mineral E-notebook.
The kids began by doing research in the three fundamental areas for this section: Crystal Lattice, Metal vs Non-Metal, and the Chemical Groupings of Minerals (only the top 5). They will have to use proper MLA standards for citing their resources, so they had to take note of where they found their information. That is a hard thing to remember to do sometimes.
They worked as a team, gathering their notes onto a group wiki. That was a good test of the wiki system in Moodle at The Virtual Homeschool Group Website. The kids were in three groups, each team researching individual parts of the topic and adding the notes for their topic to share with the whole group. Here are some pictures of them at work (click on the thumnail if you want to see it bigger):
I have spent the past few weeks in the co-op building up the science notebook foundational skills. We have covered the researching skills of locating sources, ciring/bibliography of those resources, and the many ways that notes can be taken and organized. They have worked on how to write an informal lab write up. Today, they had to put all of that together in use in one day.
Today we focused on the Chemical section of the Rocks and Mineral E-notebook.
The kids began by doing research in the three fundamental areas for this section: Crystal Lattice, Metal vs Non-Metal, and the Chemical Groupings of Minerals (only the top 5). They will have to use proper MLA standards for citing their resources, so they had to take note of where they found their information. That is a hard thing to remember to do sometimes.
They worked as a team, gathering their notes onto a group wiki. That was a good test of the wiki system in Moodle at The Virtual Homeschool Group Website. The kids were in three groups, each team researching individual parts of the topic and adding the notes for their topic to share with the whole group. Here are some pictures of them at work (click on the thumnail if you want to see it bigger):
None of the kids did an undigested copy/paste notes (Yay! I hammered that one home). It will take some experience to get to where they have a knack at organizing information on the fly without a pre-organizer. But that is to be expected. It will also take time to get the feel for boiling down a resource to basic facts, how to record them without wasting to much time 'compositioning them' , and when to quote and cite. Practice is the key to those skills. We will get plenty of that. LOL.
I wanted to bring Zachary and Maria in to the activities more today. I have a copy of 3-2-1- Classroom contact. The older kids used the episode to practice taking notes from a video source while the younger ones just enjoyed and absorbed information in a form they would respond to well. One of the scenes in the video is of the girl being a molecule with specific shapes that are then made into a crystal lattice. This was an important scene for the little ones because they would become our models to do this for the e-notebooks.
Kid crystal lattices are a fun way to illustrate the concept. Zachary and Maria loved being the 'center of the show' as they posed as molecules. They made a 4 point molecule, a 3 point molecule, and a two point molecule. Only one of the kid crystal lattices are done so far. Here it is:
I wanted to bring Zachary and Maria in to the activities more today. I have a copy of 3-2-1- Classroom contact. The older kids used the episode to practice taking notes from a video source while the younger ones just enjoyed and absorbed information in a form they would respond to well. One of the scenes in the video is of the girl being a molecule with specific shapes that are then made into a crystal lattice. This was an important scene for the little ones because they would become our models to do this for the e-notebooks.
Kid crystal lattices are a fun way to illustrate the concept. Zachary and Maria loved being the 'center of the show' as they posed as molecules. They made a 4 point molecule, a 3 point molecule, and a two point molecule. Only one of the kid crystal lattices are done so far. Here it is:
After the kids finished the posing and photography for the lattices, we all went inside to do the crystal lab.
First, I reainforced what crystals were with hands on time with the family rock collection. During that time I was able to get some general review in too.
Then we began the lab itself. I opted to do the sugar crystals because not only would the kids get to enjoy watching them grow over the next few weeks and months, but all that patient observing would come with the tasty treat of getting to eat the crystals in the end. It also gave us the opportunity to revisit the characteristics of a mineral. One of which is that it can only be a mineral if it in inorganic. They know from biology co-op over the sumer that sugar contains carbon and therefore is organic. That helped them to realize that the lab was somewhat akin to making a model of a mineral.
I will let the kids speak for themselves about how they did the lab. They will be posting their lab write-up pages (to their learning journals) after they have finished them tomorrow.
All in all a busy and productive day. They are using the skills they have been using, getting content knowledge in, and had lots of hands-on opportunities. A good co-op day.
First, I reainforced what crystals were with hands on time with the family rock collection. During that time I was able to get some general review in too.
Then we began the lab itself. I opted to do the sugar crystals because not only would the kids get to enjoy watching them grow over the next few weeks and months, but all that patient observing would come with the tasty treat of getting to eat the crystals in the end. It also gave us the opportunity to revisit the characteristics of a mineral. One of which is that it can only be a mineral if it in inorganic. They know from biology co-op over the sumer that sugar contains carbon and therefore is organic. That helped them to realize that the lab was somewhat akin to making a model of a mineral.
I will let the kids speak for themselves about how they did the lab. They will be posting their lab write-up pages (to their learning journals) after they have finished them tomorrow.
All in all a busy and productive day. They are using the skills they have been using, getting content knowledge in, and had lots of hands-on opportunities. A good co-op day.
October 4, 2005: Computer Set-Up and Dieting is Not a Good Mix
This is day 2 of my diet and it has collided with Tim's newly arrived used computer.
Gregory is doing the lion's share of the set up for it, but I feel edgy. It was my plan to get Tim's schoolwork loaded on and have him move forward today. He has been without the use of his own system since about the time school started. His files are scattered among the various systems that have served as his temporary work stations.
The e-notebooks that we have running right now have a heavy dose of synchronization between the kids as well as with the co-op. Having Melody out with her oral surgery and Tim's system in limbo have made the progress in these e-notebooks fall way behind normal.
Tim and I have handled the complications of delayed computer prior to this just fine. Even the ridiculous delays that we have had in getting this system, which we ordered over three weeks ago, haven't raised any feathers. Now that it has finally arrived though, I want it all done with and let's get a move on with normalcy.
I know. It is crazy to let it get to me, and this is TOTALLY way out of character. That makes me suspect the diet as the root cause. I was fine with all of these setbacks before today. But today, I feel tired and under the surface I am having to hold the reins in on my nerves. I don't remember feeling this way when I began the diet last spring. Perhaps the fact that I restarted the diet with a fast on such a big day as a co-op day has been a factor. Oh yeah, and we had unexpected company during the day and into late evening. I didn't have a bit of a problem yesterday though. I felt fantastic, had energy to spare, and was too busy to even take the time to be hungry much. I had a blast during the co-op and loved having our friends in as company.
I lost two pounds as of this morning which was really encouraging. However, I think that I am going to cut the fast short and move to the regular diet phase. Getting into bed on time tonight will be helpful too. That may get everything back to an even keel.
Well, thanks for listening to my rant. Maybe I will have a better report of how it is going tomorrow.
Gregory is doing the lion's share of the set up for it, but I feel edgy. It was my plan to get Tim's schoolwork loaded on and have him move forward today. He has been without the use of his own system since about the time school started. His files are scattered among the various systems that have served as his temporary work stations.
The e-notebooks that we have running right now have a heavy dose of synchronization between the kids as well as with the co-op. Having Melody out with her oral surgery and Tim's system in limbo have made the progress in these e-notebooks fall way behind normal.
Tim and I have handled the complications of delayed computer prior to this just fine. Even the ridiculous delays that we have had in getting this system, which we ordered over three weeks ago, haven't raised any feathers. Now that it has finally arrived though, I want it all done with and let's get a move on with normalcy.
I know. It is crazy to let it get to me, and this is TOTALLY way out of character. That makes me suspect the diet as the root cause. I was fine with all of these setbacks before today. But today, I feel tired and under the surface I am having to hold the reins in on my nerves. I don't remember feeling this way when I began the diet last spring. Perhaps the fact that I restarted the diet with a fast on such a big day as a co-op day has been a factor. Oh yeah, and we had unexpected company during the day and into late evening. I didn't have a bit of a problem yesterday though. I felt fantastic, had energy to spare, and was too busy to even take the time to be hungry much. I had a blast during the co-op and loved having our friends in as company.
I lost two pounds as of this morning which was really encouraging. However, I think that I am going to cut the fast short and move to the regular diet phase. Getting into bed on time tonight will be helpful too. That may get everything back to an even keel.
Well, thanks for listening to my rant. Maybe I will have a better report of how it is going tomorrow.
October 5, 2005: Tim's Happy as Can Be - His Computer Is Up And Running
Yesterday we couldn't get PrintMaster to work on his system which really had me fretting because that is the main tool he uses for school. This morning I got up early to get that problem licked. It turned out that the virtual memory was set to custom and was only assigned 76mb. It should be 1.5 time RAM. RAM is 256mb. Basically the system was so starved for memory, PrintMaster didn't have enough to load up a big notebook. All is remedied now and he has worked without a problem all day with it.
I am sooo glad now that he is set and stable as far as a system goes. He used to use the family main system for his school work which is the most powerful system in the house, but it was not his own. Then he was able to get his own system when Greg had been given one because it was in pretty bad shape. The idea was to give Greg additional computer hardware experience. It did that. Tim wanted the system that had been even though it was a real come down as far as power goes I guess the lure of having his own dedicated machine was pretty powerful. Unfortunately it was a hurtin' unit. Windows was unstable on it and suddenly Explorer wouldn't work and day by day more of the operating system went nutty. Gregory has already replaced the motherboard which improved several of the problems that the unit had. Gregory said that ultimately it needed to have a wipe and start over with a fresh install of windows. About that time …
John came across a good deal on a used system that was about as powerful as the main family system for only $80. That was a really good deal. So it was decided that Tim should get that one. He really needed more hard drive space and the apps that he used needed a pretty powerful system than the hurtin unit could really handle even if it were stable after being wiped. Gregory is still going to wipe the drive and get it stabilized though. It will be available for Greg to sell it to reinvest back into his computer system repair education or for it to be passed along to Zach.
We ordered it August 30th. The seller finally shipped it last Thursday. We got it Monday, October 2nd. More than 30 calandar days and lots of e-mails after the date we paid for it. The ad said 3 to 5 day shipping. Oh well, at least it is here now – well except for the speakers which were not shipped with the computer. It may be another 30 days. LOL. Now, to be fair, I have to tell you that in consolation for the late shipping, the seller did bump us up to a better motherboard – it is a Dell now. That was a very helpful response. And now that it has arrived speakerless, he is going to send a pair of new, instead of used, speakers. Another helpful gesture.
There were a variety of other problems we waded through yesterday such as a cable that had come loose that led to the slave drive, an incorrect bios setting that kept the sound card from working, and more. All remedied now though thanks to Gregory's technical knowledge. The system had less RAM and Mhz than advertised. Not by much, but still it wasn't as advertised. It also stated that the system was clean. OK, now I have to tell you that if you looked at the keyboard and mouse right out of the box, you would have laughed at the 'system is clean' advertising. It cleaned up nice though.
I think even if this fellow had another $80 system, we wouldn't do business with him again. Even though Gregory was able to fix all the technical problems and he has bumped up the motherboard and speakers, we just cannot get around that 30+ calandar day delivery when the ad stated 3 to 5 days, the missing speakers, the technical problems it had upon delivery, and most importantly the system was not as advertised in RAM and processor speed – even if the difference was relatively minor, the ad should have stated more accurately what it did have. But at least we DID get it and it really is a nice system, even if it is a bit short of the advertised power.
I am sooo glad now that he is set and stable as far as a system goes. He used to use the family main system for his school work which is the most powerful system in the house, but it was not his own. Then he was able to get his own system when Greg had been given one because it was in pretty bad shape. The idea was to give Greg additional computer hardware experience. It did that. Tim wanted the system that had been even though it was a real come down as far as power goes I guess the lure of having his own dedicated machine was pretty powerful. Unfortunately it was a hurtin' unit. Windows was unstable on it and suddenly Explorer wouldn't work and day by day more of the operating system went nutty. Gregory has already replaced the motherboard which improved several of the problems that the unit had. Gregory said that ultimately it needed to have a wipe and start over with a fresh install of windows. About that time …
John came across a good deal on a used system that was about as powerful as the main family system for only $80. That was a really good deal. So it was decided that Tim should get that one. He really needed more hard drive space and the apps that he used needed a pretty powerful system than the hurtin unit could really handle even if it were stable after being wiped. Gregory is still going to wipe the drive and get it stabilized though. It will be available for Greg to sell it to reinvest back into his computer system repair education or for it to be passed along to Zach.
We ordered it August 30th. The seller finally shipped it last Thursday. We got it Monday, October 2nd. More than 30 calandar days and lots of e-mails after the date we paid for it. The ad said 3 to 5 day shipping. Oh well, at least it is here now – well except for the speakers which were not shipped with the computer. It may be another 30 days. LOL. Now, to be fair, I have to tell you that in consolation for the late shipping, the seller did bump us up to a better motherboard – it is a Dell now. That was a very helpful response. And now that it has arrived speakerless, he is going to send a pair of new, instead of used, speakers. Another helpful gesture.
There were a variety of other problems we waded through yesterday such as a cable that had come loose that led to the slave drive, an incorrect bios setting that kept the sound card from working, and more. All remedied now though thanks to Gregory's technical knowledge. The system had less RAM and Mhz than advertised. Not by much, but still it wasn't as advertised. It also stated that the system was clean. OK, now I have to tell you that if you looked at the keyboard and mouse right out of the box, you would have laughed at the 'system is clean' advertising. It cleaned up nice though.
I think even if this fellow had another $80 system, we wouldn't do business with him again. Even though Gregory was able to fix all the technical problems and he has bumped up the motherboard and speakers, we just cannot get around that 30+ calandar day delivery when the ad stated 3 to 5 days, the missing speakers, the technical problems it had upon delivery, and most importantly the system was not as advertised in RAM and processor speed – even if the difference was relatively minor, the ad should have stated more accurately what it did have. But at least we DID get it and it really is a nice system, even if it is a bit short of the advertised power.
October 5, 2005: Two Less Pounds to Carry Around
Another two pounds lighter today. That makes for 4 pounds in total since I began the diet on Monday. It is fun to see it drop like that, but I am braced for when it slows down to a more typical weight loss of 2 to 4 pounds a week. That was the rate it settled down to in the spring.
Today was grocery day, so now I am stocked up on diet friendly foods. Lots of veggies, some tuna, and some diet soda, etc. Last spring the diet sodas gave me some trouble, especially diet Cheerwine soda. I would bloat up in the abdomen on that like I was going to pop. It definitely was not a good match for me. I am going to try a few different brands and sweeteners for a bit to see if I can find one that agrees. If not, then I will go the tap water route with bottled back-up since our city water is not wonderfully consistent – sometimes it is tea to orange colored. Blech!
Today was grocery day, so now I am stocked up on diet friendly foods. Lots of veggies, some tuna, and some diet soda, etc. Last spring the diet sodas gave me some trouble, especially diet Cheerwine soda. I would bloat up in the abdomen on that like I was going to pop. It definitely was not a good match for me. I am going to try a few different brands and sweeteners for a bit to see if I can find one that agrees. If not, then I will go the tap water route with bottled back-up since our city water is not wonderfully consistent – sometimes it is tea to orange colored. Blech!
October 6: 2005: Study Kills - The Value of Concept Mapping
As the kids have gotten older, the information density of their studies has increased quite a bit. The read it and know it days are largely gone and the need to organize and work it to know it days are here. We have found several tools/methods that have really made a difference.
Concept Mapping or Mind Webbing (w/notes):
This is probably the very best tool we have come across so far. A concept map can be created using slips of paper or 3X5 cards; a word processor where text, graphics, and lines are all easy to create and move around; or a dedicated concept mapping software such as Inspiration.
Making a concept map as you read forces you to be very active with what you are learning. You must learn to see the big picture in creating the map itself. While reading you must determine how the information is organized so that you can figure out what the nodes are and how the individual nodes are all related to one another.
In addition to the big picture, you leanrn to brush away all the padding in the content and get down to the basic information because you cannot just copy/paste a paragraph into a node. You have to distill it down to its essentials. In distilling, you come to realize the importance of citing a resource because you find some parts of the original resource to be too good to distill and you keep it word for word. Aha! now it is clear what needs to have a citation in your compositions.
Once completed, a concept map has excercised the brain and provided a quick reference for preparing for cummulative exams over the topic that come up in the future. Reviewing several unit or chapter concept maps is much faster than studying a big, undistilled textbook in the rush to prepare for a semester exam.
Concept Mapping or Mind Webbing (w/notes):
This is probably the very best tool we have come across so far. A concept map can be created using slips of paper or 3X5 cards; a word processor where text, graphics, and lines are all easy to create and move around; or a dedicated concept mapping software such as Inspiration.
Making a concept map as you read forces you to be very active with what you are learning. You must learn to see the big picture in creating the map itself. While reading you must determine how the information is organized so that you can figure out what the nodes are and how the individual nodes are all related to one another.
In addition to the big picture, you leanrn to brush away all the padding in the content and get down to the basic information because you cannot just copy/paste a paragraph into a node. You have to distill it down to its essentials. In distilling, you come to realize the importance of citing a resource because you find some parts of the original resource to be too good to distill and you keep it word for word. Aha! now it is clear what needs to have a citation in your compositions.
Once completed, a concept map has excercised the brain and provided a quick reference for preparing for cummulative exams over the topic that come up in the future. Reviewing several unit or chapter concept maps is much faster than studying a big, undistilled textbook in the rush to prepare for a semester exam.
October 7, 2005: Sometimes Fun Jobs Turn Into Overwhelming Tasks
Tim worked a pretty long day today. One of the last things he worked on was the Medieval website he is designing.
At first he was rolling along pretty well. He had an idea to make the navigation and text areas be scrolls. He searched for a while to find just the right one. From what I saw as he worked, his computer is right beside mine, it looked great to me.
After a bit, I could tell he was stressed. He was hitting a brick wall on his main design idea. What he wanted to do would take Flash or java. Since Flash is way out of our budget and he hasn't yet learned java, he was stuck. The idea he had was very dear to him though. He disappeared for little while and when he came back in, I could tell he had been crying. We discussed the site, looked through our shelves for books on Medieval times, and talked about all the responsibility that he had on his shoulders with this site.
He really is carrying a big load with this project. He is the project manager and site developer even though he refers to it as his friend's mod site. It seems to me that all his friend has supplied is the idea (or rather the limitation) that it should be medieval in theme. Tim just isn't in to Medieval. He is in to sci-fi, spy, and soldier themes right now. He has done the graphical design work for the friend's forum (banner and buttons for the forum at the very least). He has the entire job of the website part of it – design, content, and management. That is an awful lot for an 11 1/2 year old boy.
Yesterday, he was in a discussion with an adult. The fact that he was making (and has made websites) came up. When the adult comment that that was pretty amazing and that not too many boys his age could do that, he just responded that it wasn't a big deal. Now you just had to be there to realize that there was no false modesty in that. There wasn't even modesty. He really didn't think that he was doing anything of regard. That puzzled me that he would respond so flatly because he really has enjoyed learning the html and making sites this last summer. I think the flat response must have come from the pressure and maybe even a bit of defeat that he is feeling with the Medieval site. I am hoping that things start clicking for him soon. He gets so much joy out of doing computer stuff, it pains me to see him struggling with this.
At first he was rolling along pretty well. He had an idea to make the navigation and text areas be scrolls. He searched for a while to find just the right one. From what I saw as he worked, his computer is right beside mine, it looked great to me.
After a bit, I could tell he was stressed. He was hitting a brick wall on his main design idea. What he wanted to do would take Flash or java. Since Flash is way out of our budget and he hasn't yet learned java, he was stuck. The idea he had was very dear to him though. He disappeared for little while and when he came back in, I could tell he had been crying. We discussed the site, looked through our shelves for books on Medieval times, and talked about all the responsibility that he had on his shoulders with this site.
He really is carrying a big load with this project. He is the project manager and site developer even though he refers to it as his friend's mod site. It seems to me that all his friend has supplied is the idea (or rather the limitation) that it should be medieval in theme. Tim just isn't in to Medieval. He is in to sci-fi, spy, and soldier themes right now. He has done the graphical design work for the friend's forum (banner and buttons for the forum at the very least). He has the entire job of the website part of it – design, content, and management. That is an awful lot for an 11 1/2 year old boy.
Yesterday, he was in a discussion with an adult. The fact that he was making (and has made websites) came up. When the adult comment that that was pretty amazing and that not too many boys his age could do that, he just responded that it wasn't a big deal. Now you just had to be there to realize that there was no false modesty in that. There wasn't even modesty. He really didn't think that he was doing anything of regard. That puzzled me that he would respond so flatly because he really has enjoyed learning the html and making sites this last summer. I think the flat response must have come from the pressure and maybe even a bit of defeat that he is feeling with the Medieval site. I am hoping that things start clicking for him soon. He gets so much joy out of doing computer stuff, it pains me to see him struggling with this.
October 14, 2005: Microphone and Camera
Tim's microphone arrived yesterday – right in the middle of school hours. Now, you have got to know that that was pretty much the end of academic school time. LOL. Recording toys mixed with my kids means time for exploration and fun. All the boys crowded around Tim's computer as they recorded 'gollum imitations' (Tim is reading Lord of the Rings right now), burps, crazy laughs, and Twilight Zone introductions. Gregory's auditory memory astounds me sometimes. He said the entire opening sequence to Twilight Zone. You know, the “…We control the horizontal and the vertical…' schpeal. I cannot even remember one full sentence enough to list it here. He can hear something once, even 20 minute monologues, and give it right back to you word for word with exactly the same inflection, pace, and accent. Amazing. It wasn't a hard thing to figure out what *his* learning style was.
I figured since I wouldn't have their attention back on school work for a while, I would use that time wisely and get the ancient webcam and microphone back on my system. We haven't had them on any system in more than a year – Well, I take that back, Melody has done some voice acting and recorded herself singing. She is shy about it and only does it when she is the only one home. That is pretty rare event.
The driver software disk that came with the webcam didn't go as high as XP. I checked the manufacturer's website and found that they had a downloadable driver though. So, after a 40 meg download, experiencing Gollum in my head via stereo headphones, and hearing maniacal laughter played at chipmunk speeds, the webcam was up and operational. Needless to say, all the boys then crowded around my system and the action moved from sound to video stuntwork. We spent some time figuring out how to use the webcam in Yahoo and MSN Messenger. MSN has a nice group whiteboard feature that can be used between XP machines.
I can see where distance educational conferencing could be quite doable. Even subjects like math would be a snap when you can make square root signs and exponents on the white board. Homeschool co-ops could easily have additional weekly lessons this way. Have one face to face day where the kids can do labs, plays, and other group activities, then later in the week have a follow up video conference via the net. Neat. Which brings me to why the microphone arrived in the first place. We are going to be participating in Elluminate conferences through the school year. Initial indications are that AR will have online conferences on all kinds of interesting educational topics. well, I am off to Google Elluminate to learn more.
I figured since I wouldn't have their attention back on school work for a while, I would use that time wisely and get the ancient webcam and microphone back on my system. We haven't had them on any system in more than a year – Well, I take that back, Melody has done some voice acting and recorded herself singing. She is shy about it and only does it when she is the only one home. That is pretty rare event.
The driver software disk that came with the webcam didn't go as high as XP. I checked the manufacturer's website and found that they had a downloadable driver though. So, after a 40 meg download, experiencing Gollum in my head via stereo headphones, and hearing maniacal laughter played at chipmunk speeds, the webcam was up and operational. Needless to say, all the boys then crowded around my system and the action moved from sound to video stuntwork. We spent some time figuring out how to use the webcam in Yahoo and MSN Messenger. MSN has a nice group whiteboard feature that can be used between XP machines.
I can see where distance educational conferencing could be quite doable. Even subjects like math would be a snap when you can make square root signs and exponents on the white board. Homeschool co-ops could easily have additional weekly lessons this way. Have one face to face day where the kids can do labs, plays, and other group activities, then later in the week have a follow up video conference via the net. Neat. Which brings me to why the microphone arrived in the first place. We are going to be participating in Elluminate conferences through the school year. Initial indications are that AR will have online conferences on all kinds of interesting educational topics. well, I am off to Google Elluminate to learn more.
October 15, 2005: Pecans Are In and the Last of the Summer Mowing
Well, the Amish Baked Oatmeal is a big hit. I made it tonight with the intentions of it being for breakfast before church tomorrow. I don't think that there will be a bit left. Mmmm. I topped it with the freshly shelled pecans that I gathered from under the pecan tree this morning.
Today was yard day for John and I. It should be the last mowing of the season, Yipeee! He started the mowing while I gathered pecans and picked up branches and twigs. It didn't take us long to discover that the mosquitos are making up for lost time this season. All through the summer we never saw any. It has been too dry for them to breed. The ones we saw today are unlike the usual mosquito around here. These are tiger mosquitos. Boy, do you ever feel their bite. My guess is the hurricanes have played a part in their appearance here this year. I hope they do not take hold. I would hate to have these around summer after summer. It is still pretty dry. If the dry will hold out until a good frost maybe that will do away with them. The mosquito repellent worked wonders; though, I think it didn't mix well with John's body chemistry as he had a whopper of a headache by the time he was half-way done with the pine field.
Soon pecans and sticks were picked up and John switched to weed-eating while I took over the mowing. We must have been completely absorbed in our work because when I went in to get water for John and I there was a package on the step. It kinda startled me that someone made a delivery without us seeing them. We were working right there in the side yard in full view of the road, driveway, and porch the whole time. That disturbed me a bit. I had heard of people getting robbed before while they were out mowing and it seemed strange to me. But seeing how completely oblivious we were to someone coming up and the fact that you just don't typically look up when you are doing yard work, I can see now how it happens.
When I stepped in, I had a wonderful surprise to discover that Gregory had swept and mopped the kitchen, dining room, and was working on the living room. Now I don't mean a wisk of the broom and a slap of the mop. It was full scale, all the furniture moved, level mopping. He has been such a big help around the house. He never has to be asked. He just sees the need and he quitely, without fandare, sets to work. I was picking up the school area earlier this week and I glanced at a homework sheet from the home study Bible group. The youth are doing Love Languages right now. I noticed that one of the qustions was, “How do you show love to your parents?” The answer Greg had written in was, “I show them love by helping them.” Now if that isn't the equivalent of a big hug, I don't know what is. :0)
Today was yard day for John and I. It should be the last mowing of the season, Yipeee! He started the mowing while I gathered pecans and picked up branches and twigs. It didn't take us long to discover that the mosquitos are making up for lost time this season. All through the summer we never saw any. It has been too dry for them to breed. The ones we saw today are unlike the usual mosquito around here. These are tiger mosquitos. Boy, do you ever feel their bite. My guess is the hurricanes have played a part in their appearance here this year. I hope they do not take hold. I would hate to have these around summer after summer. It is still pretty dry. If the dry will hold out until a good frost maybe that will do away with them. The mosquito repellent worked wonders; though, I think it didn't mix well with John's body chemistry as he had a whopper of a headache by the time he was half-way done with the pine field.
Soon pecans and sticks were picked up and John switched to weed-eating while I took over the mowing. We must have been completely absorbed in our work because when I went in to get water for John and I there was a package on the step. It kinda startled me that someone made a delivery without us seeing them. We were working right there in the side yard in full view of the road, driveway, and porch the whole time. That disturbed me a bit. I had heard of people getting robbed before while they were out mowing and it seemed strange to me. But seeing how completely oblivious we were to someone coming up and the fact that you just don't typically look up when you are doing yard work, I can see now how it happens.
When I stepped in, I had a wonderful surprise to discover that Gregory had swept and mopped the kitchen, dining room, and was working on the living room. Now I don't mean a wisk of the broom and a slap of the mop. It was full scale, all the furniture moved, level mopping. He has been such a big help around the house. He never has to be asked. He just sees the need and he quitely, without fandare, sets to work. I was picking up the school area earlier this week and I glanced at a homework sheet from the home study Bible group. The youth are doing Love Languages right now. I noticed that one of the qustions was, “How do you show love to your parents?” The answer Greg had written in was, “I show them love by helping them.” Now if that isn't the equivalent of a big hug, I don't know what is. :0)
October 18, 2005: We Ordered Faster DSL Today
John surprised us with the announcement.
Back in December, when we first got on DSL, we selected the slowest DSL speed to save money. Now that is so slow that they don't even have it as an option for new orders. Right now we have 128 upload and 256 download. When the order is put in place, next Tuesday, we will have 600 to 800 bps. It won't even cost us a penney more each month for 6 months. Then it will merely be $10 more than we are paying right now. Makes me wonder why we waited so long. Especially will 5 active internet users at any one time. Even now as I write this. Gregory and Melody are on the net (on separate machines) posting in Melody's forum, Tim is doing an internet game, and I am posting to this blog. John left his computer only minutes ago. Yes, that extra bandwidth will be very nice.
Back in December, when we first got on DSL, we selected the slowest DSL speed to save money. Now that is so slow that they don't even have it as an option for new orders. Right now we have 128 upload and 256 download. When the order is put in place, next Tuesday, we will have 600 to 800 bps. It won't even cost us a penney more each month for 6 months. Then it will merely be $10 more than we are paying right now. Makes me wonder why we waited so long. Especially will 5 active internet users at any one time. Even now as I write this. Gregory and Melody are on the net (on separate machines) posting in Melody's forum, Tim is doing an internet game, and I am posting to this blog. John left his computer only minutes ago. Yes, that extra bandwidth will be very nice.
October 19, 2005: Tim's Homeschool Day Today
Tim was not be able to make an entry to his learning journal today, so I am just going to note what he did here.
EARTH SCIENCE:
Tim worked on earthquakes today in science. He loved the lab at Geology Online Labs (http://vcourseware3.calstatela.edu/VirtualEarthquake/). He did that online lab instead of the worksheet. He didn't have time to make his notebook page for that lab today. I hope he will finish it tomorrow. I will upload it to the online notebook when he is finished. You will be able to see it at the link provided in the right column. Just look down the list until you see the section for “In-Progress E-Notebooks”. I have just uploaded a new lab writeup tonight in both the art and Rocks and Minerals Notebooks.
He also did a hands-on lab where he had to try out a few 'building' designs for their earthquake resistance. He didn't want to stop. LOL. I just let him build and shake most of the afternoon. I used the quicktime feature of our digital camara to record his experiments. He will incorporate the movies into his lab report for his electronic portfolio.
ART:
His buildings were a combination of plasticine and wide popsicle sticks. Once he was finished with his lab, he wanted to use the plasticine to make some sculptures. I located our book on how to make realistic animals in plasticine. He settled on a mouse. He mixed brown clay by mixing red, yellow, and a touch of green then set to work. Unfortunately we ran out of time before he was able to get much further along. Today is grocery and Wednesday Night Youth Group day. We had to pack up and run. Maybe tomorrow he can return to his project.
MATH:
Ooopppss. Almost forgot. He also did a lesson in Saxon 7/6. He is up to lesson 123. Just a few more lessons to go. I am going to try him in Saxon Algebra 1/2 next. I think he will do great. He has a really good grasp of algebra already by being around the older kids. I want to get some of the Carnegie Learning demo material in with him as a supplement to the Saxon. I like the way Carnegie takes a scenario and looks at it from many perspectives: what happens at the extremes, many questions from one scenario, graphing, making a spreadsheet, what the lines on the graph really mean, etc. The objectives mastery gauges are a great incentive too. Neat program! If he likes it, I will check into current pricing – maybe it has come down a bit since when they were brand new out. They were pretty pricey a few years ago and I had to content myself with the demo. A friend of mine and I may go into the program together and I will teach it to both of our algebra students as a 'math camp'. It is an idea we had last year. Now that Tim is on the threshold of algebra 1/2 it has me thinking of it again. Time to do some planning.
ART AND TECHNOLOGY:
Tim went with me to WalMart hoping to find props to help him with the medieval site he is managing for a mod team. I told him not to get his hopes up. Medieval isn't exactly the in thing of home decor these days. LOL. He looked at some woven baskets, candles, wooden boxes, etc. He is thinking of setting up a desk scene with books and table accoutrements.
I suggested that he ask the team member that is in charge of making the mods objects to make the objects for the scene and the same objects could then be used in the game. It seemed like a great idea to me. Tim said that their object modeller had several years worth of experience so he should be able to whip the objects up pretty quick.
We talked about the Society for Creative Anachronisms. He wants to look up their website tomorrow. That may give him additional ideas. I took the older kids to a SCA event many years ago in South Carolina. It was a frigidly cold day, but worth every minute to get to enjoy their medieval reenactment jousts, food prep, clothing, and to find out how incredibly heavy those suits of armor really were. The kids tried to lift it and couldn't. I doubt that we will be privileged to have a SCA event anywhere near here. But, Nov 5th we will be heading to Old Washington Historic State Park for their annual Civil war reenactment. That should be great fun.
EARTH SCIENCE:
Tim worked on earthquakes today in science. He loved the lab at Geology Online Labs (http://vcourseware3.calstatela.edu/VirtualEarthquake/). He did that online lab instead of the worksheet. He didn't have time to make his notebook page for that lab today. I hope he will finish it tomorrow. I will upload it to the online notebook when he is finished. You will be able to see it at the link provided in the right column. Just look down the list until you see the section for “In-Progress E-Notebooks”. I have just uploaded a new lab writeup tonight in both the art and Rocks and Minerals Notebooks.
He also did a hands-on lab where he had to try out a few 'building' designs for their earthquake resistance. He didn't want to stop. LOL. I just let him build and shake most of the afternoon. I used the quicktime feature of our digital camara to record his experiments. He will incorporate the movies into his lab report for his electronic portfolio.
ART:
His buildings were a combination of plasticine and wide popsicle sticks. Once he was finished with his lab, he wanted to use the plasticine to make some sculptures. I located our book on how to make realistic animals in plasticine. He settled on a mouse. He mixed brown clay by mixing red, yellow, and a touch of green then set to work. Unfortunately we ran out of time before he was able to get much further along. Today is grocery and Wednesday Night Youth Group day. We had to pack up and run. Maybe tomorrow he can return to his project.
MATH:
Ooopppss. Almost forgot. He also did a lesson in Saxon 7/6. He is up to lesson 123. Just a few more lessons to go. I am going to try him in Saxon Algebra 1/2 next. I think he will do great. He has a really good grasp of algebra already by being around the older kids. I want to get some of the Carnegie Learning demo material in with him as a supplement to the Saxon. I like the way Carnegie takes a scenario and looks at it from many perspectives: what happens at the extremes, many questions from one scenario, graphing, making a spreadsheet, what the lines on the graph really mean, etc. The objectives mastery gauges are a great incentive too. Neat program! If he likes it, I will check into current pricing – maybe it has come down a bit since when they were brand new out. They were pretty pricey a few years ago and I had to content myself with the demo. A friend of mine and I may go into the program together and I will teach it to both of our algebra students as a 'math camp'. It is an idea we had last year. Now that Tim is on the threshold of algebra 1/2 it has me thinking of it again. Time to do some planning.
ART AND TECHNOLOGY:
Tim went with me to WalMart hoping to find props to help him with the medieval site he is managing for a mod team. I told him not to get his hopes up. Medieval isn't exactly the in thing of home decor these days. LOL. He looked at some woven baskets, candles, wooden boxes, etc. He is thinking of setting up a desk scene with books and table accoutrements.
I suggested that he ask the team member that is in charge of making the mods objects to make the objects for the scene and the same objects could then be used in the game. It seemed like a great idea to me. Tim said that their object modeller had several years worth of experience so he should be able to whip the objects up pretty quick.
We talked about the Society for Creative Anachronisms. He wants to look up their website tomorrow. That may give him additional ideas. I took the older kids to a SCA event many years ago in South Carolina. It was a frigidly cold day, but worth every minute to get to enjoy their medieval reenactment jousts, food prep, clothing, and to find out how incredibly heavy those suits of armor really were. The kids tried to lift it and couldn't. I doubt that we will be privileged to have a SCA event anywhere near here. But, Nov 5th we will be heading to Old Washington Historic State Park for their annual Civil war reenactment. That should be great fun.
October 24, 2005: Mam Kitty's Eyes
When Mama Kitty walked into our lives last December, she made it clear that she claimed us for her very own. She just boldly walked in when the door was opened one day as if she had lived here her whole life. She was in fairly bad shape at the time with a cataract blinding one eye; a course, raged coat; and a belly distended from parasites. Though she clearly claimed us, we were not so sure. It was assumed that someone in the neighborhood did own her so we merely viewed her as a regular guest who turned up for food and lots of attention. The kids called her Peaches for her mild tan/orange color and unusually round belly (from the parasites). John and I discussed having her spayed, but not feeling entirely that she was ours to do as we pleased with we hesitated. Well, as you can guess from the name she now carries, Mama Kitty, we soon had a batch of 4 kittens. LOL. The fact that she had them in our home was the nudge needed for John and I to return her willingness to claim as our own. Once she had weaned the kitten, we had her spayed and immunized. Now her coat is glossy. Her belly nice and round not from parasites nor pregnancy, but from regular feedings. She is the sweetest dispositioned cat either John or I have ever met.
Well, about 3 weeks ago one of the now teen-age kittens turned up with what appeared to be a cold which soon passed to all the cats. Neo and Mama Cat have been fully innoculated so we knew it wasn't one of those major cat illnesses such as Luekemia. One by one each of the cats got over the cold, except for Mama Kitty. Thursday she didn't come up for the morning feeding. When she finally turned up late in the afternoon, her non-cataract eye looked cloudy and it was evident that she couldn't see at all.
I took her to the vet Friday morning. He explained her situation. She had badly scratched the eye. The original viral-based cold had now been complicated by a bacterial infection which was taking advantage of that scratched cornea. He explained that on the colored section of the eye, the cornea, the tissue is a sandwich of three layers. On the inside lining is a one cell thick layer of cells. The middle section of the 'sandwich' is actually cartilage. Then the outer layer of cell which is about four cells thick. The outer and inner layers of cells are actually pumps that work continuously to pump out water from the cartilage layer. When there is no water in the cartilage, it is clear. When there is water present, the cartilage clouds. That is what had happened. Between her scratching the eye leading to the cartilage absorbing water and the bacteria's natural catilage disolving enzymes, her vision was at serious risk.
He put her on antibiotic eye drops and oral meds. He gave her a shot of cortisone. He also took her blood, centrefuged out the red blood cells, and collected the serum. This he bottled and told us to drop a drop in her eye every 4 hours. It would contain her own antibodies and proteins for building the cartilage and cells back up. Have you ever tried to drip two different refrigerated eye drops in a cat's eye? Actually, she has been a real trooper. She has learned that about every 4 hours it is time for her medicines and she comes to get us. I suppose the fact that we have been giving her a slice of lunch meat after every round of medicines have contributed to her enthusiasm. :0)
This morning I took her back to the vet to check on her progress. It is looking pretty good. The infection is completely gone. Half of the cornea's surface has already repaired so far. Now there is only about half the size of the corea to go. She has gone from not knowing when a bowl was in front of her to being able to track a hand. It is quite likely that she will have some scaring and her vision will be less than it used to be. However, we have moved her from being outdoors with the other cats to being our only permanent indoor one. She has basked in the attention, the cozy place in front of the heater, and the softness of cushioned furniture. Her 55 year old (in cat years) body has had some arthritis relief from the cortisone shot too. Despite her eye, she has been an almost continuous purrrrr since we brought her in last Friday. It has been fun to have her in again. She is really a pretty well behaved housecat and very sweet.
I am due to take her back on Friday. The vet felt sure that her eye would be fully sealed again by that time. Her soon to be 6-month old, only female kitten will be taken in a few weeks to be spayed. Neo, will be next to be fixed. He is the resident bully, and we hope he will be less of a cormudgeon after that. He has had an 'I am in charge of all that I see' outlook on life ever since he was a kitten, so it is a long shot as far as an attitude adjustment goes. I get so frustrated with him. He relentlessly picks on the others to the point that there is an ever present danger of infected bites and scratches on the mild-mannered cats who don't even fight over bowls at feeding time. One thing that trips my trigger is a bully. But, I also know that cats are very pecking-order oriented. Knock one down from the pedestal and another will take its place. Even so, this one needs a little snip-snip to get those hormones tamed down a bit.
Well, about 3 weeks ago one of the now teen-age kittens turned up with what appeared to be a cold which soon passed to all the cats. Neo and Mama Cat have been fully innoculated so we knew it wasn't one of those major cat illnesses such as Luekemia. One by one each of the cats got over the cold, except for Mama Kitty. Thursday she didn't come up for the morning feeding. When she finally turned up late in the afternoon, her non-cataract eye looked cloudy and it was evident that she couldn't see at all.
I took her to the vet Friday morning. He explained her situation. She had badly scratched the eye. The original viral-based cold had now been complicated by a bacterial infection which was taking advantage of that scratched cornea. He explained that on the colored section of the eye, the cornea, the tissue is a sandwich of three layers. On the inside lining is a one cell thick layer of cells. The middle section of the 'sandwich' is actually cartilage. Then the outer layer of cell which is about four cells thick. The outer and inner layers of cells are actually pumps that work continuously to pump out water from the cartilage layer. When there is no water in the cartilage, it is clear. When there is water present, the cartilage clouds. That is what had happened. Between her scratching the eye leading to the cartilage absorbing water and the bacteria's natural catilage disolving enzymes, her vision was at serious risk.
He put her on antibiotic eye drops and oral meds. He gave her a shot of cortisone. He also took her blood, centrefuged out the red blood cells, and collected the serum. This he bottled and told us to drop a drop in her eye every 4 hours. It would contain her own antibodies and proteins for building the cartilage and cells back up. Have you ever tried to drip two different refrigerated eye drops in a cat's eye? Actually, she has been a real trooper. She has learned that about every 4 hours it is time for her medicines and she comes to get us. I suppose the fact that we have been giving her a slice of lunch meat after every round of medicines have contributed to her enthusiasm. :0)
This morning I took her back to the vet to check on her progress. It is looking pretty good. The infection is completely gone. Half of the cornea's surface has already repaired so far. Now there is only about half the size of the corea to go. She has gone from not knowing when a bowl was in front of her to being able to track a hand. It is quite likely that she will have some scaring and her vision will be less than it used to be. However, we have moved her from being outdoors with the other cats to being our only permanent indoor one. She has basked in the attention, the cozy place in front of the heater, and the softness of cushioned furniture. Her 55 year old (in cat years) body has had some arthritis relief from the cortisone shot too. Despite her eye, she has been an almost continuous purrrrr since we brought her in last Friday. It has been fun to have her in again. She is really a pretty well behaved housecat and very sweet.
I am due to take her back on Friday. The vet felt sure that her eye would be fully sealed again by that time. Her soon to be 6-month old, only female kitten will be taken in a few weeks to be spayed. Neo, will be next to be fixed. He is the resident bully, and we hope he will be less of a cormudgeon after that. He has had an 'I am in charge of all that I see' outlook on life ever since he was a kitten, so it is a long shot as far as an attitude adjustment goes. I get so frustrated with him. He relentlessly picks on the others to the point that there is an ever present danger of infected bites and scratches on the mild-mannered cats who don't even fight over bowls at feeding time. One thing that trips my trigger is a bully. But, I also know that cats are very pecking-order oriented. Knock one down from the pedestal and another will take its place. Even so, this one needs a little snip-snip to get those hormones tamed down a bit.
October 27, 2005: Testing on our minds right Now
Greg will be taking the ACT in early December, so we have found ourselves shifting our days to more of a review and prepare focus rather than a notebooking focus. Since Tim will be doing standardized testing in the spring, I figured the two of them would enjoy preparing together.
Grammar Review:
Each day Tim and Greg both have been working on a broad grammar review. We have been using a combination of our concept maps, flashcards, online quizes, and oral interview. Next I will be having them take the practice tests in our copy of Cliff's SATII Writing Preparation Guide. I used this book quite a bit two years ago when I taught the Homeschool Writing Co-op session on test prep. This book will take them from the grammar knowledge through knowing test-maker tricks and test-taker techniques. Teaching that test prep co-op really taught me that knowing the subject of grammar is very important, but knowing how to manage the test is important too.
Algebra Review:
Greg, who has not opened an algebra text in almost two years because he has been doing trig and now calculus, took an ACT practice test for algebra today. We needed to see how well he would do, so we would know what algebra topics he might have forgotten in that time. The test reported that he would likely score an 82 percentile plus or minus 6%. He had linear equation concepts down solid, but quadratics were a bit rusty. So far in our arsenal for quadratic equations we have the factoring method, completing the square, and the quadratic equation. But, the 'number2' website had a very unique approach to solving quadratics that looked so easy and straightforward. Tomorrow, Greg and I are going to try our hand at mastering that new technique.
Vocabulary:
Greg has been working steadily on the ACT vocabulary flashcards we made. His favorite new words are cabal, arabesque, lugubrious, realpolitik, chary, quixotic, and the puzzling word redoubtable. Yes, puzzling. Redoubtable just does not sound like it should mean what it does. Redoubtable means formidible, valiant; terrible to foes. It sounds more like it should be describing someone not sure of themselves or untrustworthy. LOL.
Calculus Prep:
While Gregory is busy on reviewing algebra, I am busy preparing our entry into calculus. He has done several of the early lessons already, but these are primarily review of past concepts from Saxon Advanced Math. I found several really nice websites that use plain, ordinary terminology to give a big picture view of what calculus is. Here are a few of what I found:
http://math.dartmouth.edu/~m3cod/index.htm (excellent! Approaches calculus very interactively. It includes applets, online textbook, and video too.)
http://www.learner.org/index.html (do a search for streaming videos on calculus)
http://www.simcalc.umassd.edu/index.html (free software download)
http://www.krysstal.com/calculus.html (not too overly technical)
http://www.math.sjsu.edu/~swann/mcsqrd.html (calculus in comics style)
http://sun4.vaniercollege.qc.ca/VirtualMentor/math/graphing.html (concept map)
http://sun4.vaniercollege.qc.ca/VirtualMentor/math/extrema.html (concept map)
http://maven.smith.edu/~cohenle/
http://www.graphcalc.com/ (old site, but the free graphic calculator software is interesting)
The Candy Coated World of Calculus series by Standard Deviants is available at http://www.unitedstreaming.com. This video series is very playful. You can get study guides to aid in note taking during the presentations.
Grammar Review:
Each day Tim and Greg both have been working on a broad grammar review. We have been using a combination of our concept maps, flashcards, online quizes, and oral interview. Next I will be having them take the practice tests in our copy of Cliff's SATII Writing Preparation Guide. I used this book quite a bit two years ago when I taught the Homeschool Writing Co-op session on test prep. This book will take them from the grammar knowledge through knowing test-maker tricks and test-taker techniques. Teaching that test prep co-op really taught me that knowing the subject of grammar is very important, but knowing how to manage the test is important too.
Algebra Review:
Greg, who has not opened an algebra text in almost two years because he has been doing trig and now calculus, took an ACT practice test for algebra today. We needed to see how well he would do, so we would know what algebra topics he might have forgotten in that time. The test reported that he would likely score an 82 percentile plus or minus 6%. He had linear equation concepts down solid, but quadratics were a bit rusty. So far in our arsenal for quadratic equations we have the factoring method, completing the square, and the quadratic equation. But, the 'number2' website had a very unique approach to solving quadratics that looked so easy and straightforward. Tomorrow, Greg and I are going to try our hand at mastering that new technique.
Vocabulary:
Greg has been working steadily on the ACT vocabulary flashcards we made. His favorite new words are cabal, arabesque, lugubrious, realpolitik, chary, quixotic, and the puzzling word redoubtable. Yes, puzzling. Redoubtable just does not sound like it should mean what it does. Redoubtable means formidible, valiant; terrible to foes. It sounds more like it should be describing someone not sure of themselves or untrustworthy. LOL.
Calculus Prep:
While Gregory is busy on reviewing algebra, I am busy preparing our entry into calculus. He has done several of the early lessons already, but these are primarily review of past concepts from Saxon Advanced Math. I found several really nice websites that use plain, ordinary terminology to give a big picture view of what calculus is. Here are a few of what I found:
http://math.dartmouth.edu/~m3cod/index.htm (excellent! Approaches calculus very interactively. It includes applets, online textbook, and video too.)
http://www.learner.org/index.html (do a search for streaming videos on calculus)
http://www.simcalc.umassd.edu/index.html (free software download)
http://www.krysstal.com/calculus.html (not too overly technical)
http://www.math.sjsu.edu/~swann/mcsqrd.html (calculus in comics style)
http://sun4.vaniercollege.qc.ca/VirtualMentor/math/graphing.html (concept map)
http://sun4.vaniercollege.qc.ca/VirtualMentor/math/extrema.html (concept map)
http://maven.smith.edu/~cohenle/
http://www.graphcalc.com/ (old site, but the free graphic calculator software is interesting)
The Candy Coated World of Calculus series by Standard Deviants is available at http://www.unitedstreaming.com. This video series is very playful. You can get study guides to aid in note taking during the presentations.
October 30, 2005: Continued Considerations of Calculus
While Greg works on calculus, he will also be doing The Mechanical Universe videos and textbook concurently. We have had the Mechanical Universe and the Beyond the Mechanical Universe college text books for years now via the Robinson Curriculum. I was concerned that we would never get calculus and calculus-based physics in before graduation after slowing to a crawl through Saxon Advanced Mathematics. I don't know what it was about the AM text that turned both of our brains to jelly. Even with the assistance of the D.I.V.E. CDs to cover the lesson presentation, neither of us felt consistently successful in our endeavors to get correct answers. It was frustrating. We each did the lessons separately and then came together to compare our answers and assist each other in correcting our work. It was great to feel like we were a study team together.
The video components of The Mechanical Universe are available as free streaming video at the Annenberg website. Our DSL speed increase has allowed them to download faster than they play, so no stuttering playback. Horray! I am going to check into the quality of playback on the open courseware section of MIT too. I tried last year when we did physics co-op, but we only had a modem back then. It was just too slow to make them useable.
Tonight I previewed The Mechanical Universe episode on the derivitive and the corresponding chapter in the text. It was terrific. The fact that The Mechanical Universe moves chronologically with the story of physics, it simultaneously puts calculus into perspective both historically and by application. And it does so in such a wonderful, peopled and applied way. Gregory will love it.
As far as notebooking the study goes, when we did the physics co-op last fall we made the pages with the expectation of following up with a calculus view of each of the mechanics entries. Most pages have blank sections for the calculus addition. The past study should be a great foundation in that all the conceptual aspects have already been figured out and there is an interesting opportunity to directly compare the algebraic approach to the calculus approach in solving mechanics problems. It should be fun.
The video components of The Mechanical Universe are available as free streaming video at the Annenberg website. Our DSL speed increase has allowed them to download faster than they play, so no stuttering playback. Horray! I am going to check into the quality of playback on the open courseware section of MIT too. I tried last year when we did physics co-op, but we only had a modem back then. It was just too slow to make them useable.
Tonight I previewed The Mechanical Universe episode on the derivitive and the corresponding chapter in the text. It was terrific. The fact that The Mechanical Universe moves chronologically with the story of physics, it simultaneously puts calculus into perspective both historically and by application. And it does so in such a wonderful, peopled and applied way. Gregory will love it.
As far as notebooking the study goes, when we did the physics co-op last fall we made the pages with the expectation of following up with a calculus view of each of the mechanics entries. Most pages have blank sections for the calculus addition. The past study should be a great foundation in that all the conceptual aspects have already been figured out and there is an interesting opportunity to directly compare the algebraic approach to the calculus approach in solving mechanics problems. It should be fun.
November 1, 2005: Broken Toe and Fixed System
When you are going through algebra for the first time it can seem like a heavy course, but today it proved to be literal. Melody was coming with her Saxon Algebra book to get some help with a few concepts. She accidentally dropped it. Yep, she broke her toe. This is the second time she has broken that toe this year, bless her heart. Gregory, grinned when he heard about it and said wryly, “I knew math was evil.” She is doing fine and is barely paying it any mind – except when she walks of course.
The Eatmon's power supply arrived today, so Greg was busy this morning getting their system finished. He commented a few minutes ago that he has now done every conceivable computer hardware install except replacing a processor. It has been the plan all along that once he graduated that he would start working a job to save for the big expenses in those post teen years (college, car, downpayment, etc). I cringed at the imagery of him flipping burgers that first summer after graduating. However, due to his initiative with learning computer hardware and software it looks like he may very well graduate with his own business. He has had a steady stream of local homeschool family machines, and I foresee that it is just a matter of time before he will begin to have repairs from complete strangers. He is really quite good. In the last few weeks he has de-virused two systems, slaved a hard drive, formatted and installed Windows onto two hard drives, tutored a family's son in some advanced software handling, and replaced a bad power supply.
A heartfelt thanks to Jeremy Dreyer who had trod this path beforehand and passed on several partial systems for Greg to 'cut-his-teeth on'. Jeremy is now working for a commercial computer firm that charges $90 an hour. Yikes! I am so glad to have a 'computer geek' in-residence. LOL.
The Eatmon's power supply arrived today, so Greg was busy this morning getting their system finished. He commented a few minutes ago that he has now done every conceivable computer hardware install except replacing a processor. It has been the plan all along that once he graduated that he would start working a job to save for the big expenses in those post teen years (college, car, downpayment, etc). I cringed at the imagery of him flipping burgers that first summer after graduating. However, due to his initiative with learning computer hardware and software it looks like he may very well graduate with his own business. He has had a steady stream of local homeschool family machines, and I foresee that it is just a matter of time before he will begin to have repairs from complete strangers. He is really quite good. In the last few weeks he has de-virused two systems, slaved a hard drive, formatted and installed Windows onto two hard drives, tutored a family's son in some advanced software handling, and replaced a bad power supply.
A heartfelt thanks to Jeremy Dreyer who had trod this path beforehand and passed on several partial systems for Greg to 'cut-his-teeth on'. Jeremy is now working for a commercial computer firm that charges $90 an hour. Yikes! I am so glad to have a 'computer geek' in-residence. LOL.
November 2, 2005
". . . such-and-such college is a terrific experience. My peers are loving and mature. They encourage me on to become a better and better person in every dimension. My teachers are well informed in their areas of specialty and they have a way of making tough topics sooo easy to understand. I feel God at work on this campus, and He is raising up a generation that hears Him and will change the world for the better."
Well, I wish this was what we were hearing from the local homeschool teens that have moved into the collegiate years. With Gregory due to go off to some college somewhere next fall, I really want to feel that he will have a positive experience and deep nurturing of his talents. Yet, many of his homeschool friends that have gone off to college talk of not being able to find serious Christian friends, substandard physical environment conditions, professors that subtly and not so subtly attack their Christian faith. and professors that robotically cover the content and do not have any life for the subject they are teaching.
One homeschooled young man will be graduating from Ouchita University. He found that by the 3rd month in the freshman year there most of the students on his floor would get together and brag about how many times they had been arrested, been with a girl sexually, gotten drunk, etc. This is a Baptist/Christian university! Now after being there for 4 years he says that most of those braggers have long since gone. What few made it to graduation, are finding that because the have an arrest record they are having trouble with job prospects. He felt that it was a long lonely stretch in which he never found a Christian soul-mate who took his or her walk with the Lord seriously. That is so sad to hear that when a Christian university was specifically sought out.
This same family, now has a second son in college now. Though son #1 stayed with Ouchita due to a full 4 year scholarship, they felt that the label of Christian on the title of the university didn't mean much so they chose the more affordable state university option for son #2 with no academic scholarships. Well, what took three months to develop at the Christian University existed in the first week at the state university. This freshman is Greg's best friend. He e-mails about cleaning up after a sick, drunken roommate; not yet finding another committed Christian to commune with, and missing the love of his family and friends.
Well, I wish this was what we were hearing from the local homeschool teens that have moved into the collegiate years. With Gregory due to go off to some college somewhere next fall, I really want to feel that he will have a positive experience and deep nurturing of his talents. Yet, many of his homeschool friends that have gone off to college talk of not being able to find serious Christian friends, substandard physical environment conditions, professors that subtly and not so subtly attack their Christian faith. and professors that robotically cover the content and do not have any life for the subject they are teaching.
One homeschooled young man will be graduating from Ouchita University. He found that by the 3rd month in the freshman year there most of the students on his floor would get together and brag about how many times they had been arrested, been with a girl sexually, gotten drunk, etc. This is a Baptist/Christian university! Now after being there for 4 years he says that most of those braggers have long since gone. What few made it to graduation, are finding that because the have an arrest record they are having trouble with job prospects. He felt that it was a long lonely stretch in which he never found a Christian soul-mate who took his or her walk with the Lord seriously. That is so sad to hear that when a Christian university was specifically sought out.
This same family, now has a second son in college now. Though son #1 stayed with Ouchita due to a full 4 year scholarship, they felt that the label of Christian on the title of the university didn't mean much so they chose the more affordable state university option for son #2 with no academic scholarships. Well, what took three months to develop at the Christian University existed in the first week at the state university. This freshman is Greg's best friend. He e-mails about cleaning up after a sick, drunken roommate; not yet finding another committed Christian to commune with, and missing the love of his family and friends.
November 6, 2005: The Retreat Was Great
Our church has sponsored a ladies overnight retreat for several years. This year was my first year to participate. I am glad that I went; though, I feel a bit like a train wreck as far as sleep goes. Hehe.
We had thee speakers come in: Marie King from Gurdon, AR; Dianna McRoy, a singer from Kentucky; and Linda Rice who is part of an active prison ministry.
Marie King gave a talk about health and nutrition. She has gluten sensitivity, so it was neat to talk to her about Celiac Disease Saturday morning while she was setting up for her talk. My husband and daughter have this condition. According to a recent study based on antibody tests of NY blood donations, it is very common (1 in 23 if I remember correctly) in the United States. Very few doctor's yet have become informed about it making it a very undiagnosed disease in the population. Most people who have it get the catch all labels of fibromyalgia or irritable bowel syndrome.
Marie King also gave her testimony of the struggles she had after the trauma of walking in to a fabric shop she frequented. She walked in just as during the store just as her friend the proprieter of the store was being murdered. She talked of the anxiety it caused because she lost all sense of safety and the survivor's guilt. She had been witnessing to her friend during her shopping visits. A part of her felt guilt because since she was saved she felt that she should have been the one to die not her friend. She talked about coming out of the fear and guilt back to a normal life.
Dianna McRoy was a bubbly, vivacious gal. One of those ladies that no matter what color she was wearing, you would swear it was red. LOL. She was a hoot. If I had half so much outgoing energy. . . LOL. She gave her testimony too. She had quite a tragic childhood.
Linda Rice is apparently a favorite and regular speaker at the retreat. She has only recently gotten her voice back. Back in June (or maybe it was July), she took a handful of vitamins just as she has throughout most of her adult life. Only this time, the vitamins took a detour into her lungs. She was rushed to the emergency room where they removed the vitamins and flushed out her lungs. Unfortunately, her vocal cords had become damaged and she wasn't able to speak a word for months. She had us all in stitches as she described the communication struggles of not having a voice. She shared her realization of how you can hear God so much better when you cannot speak. She spoke to the theme of the retreat, the anchor holds. It was interesting to learn how sailors used anchors in a storm or during the dangerous undertaking of entering a harbor during a storm. The anchor would be lowered into a smaller boat and rowed ahead. The sailors would place the anchor where it could be used to move the ship forward without damaging it against the reefs and sandbars until it was safely in the harbor. Then the anchor holds it steadfast in the safest part of the harbor while the storm rages. The retreat's theme song, “The Anchor Holds”, held even more meaning after learning more about what it meant.
There were many testimonies given during the retreat in which ladies shared their 'storm' experiences including one of my best friend's. It was a great retreat.
In addition, we learned some interesting facts about Grandview Prarie. Grandview Prarie is the facility that the retreat rented. It is actually an Arkansas Game and Wildlife Education Center with the capacity to house upwards of 40 people – I have never seen so many bunks in all my life. It has a very lodge-like atmosphere. Wildlife hunting and conservation go hand in hand down here in rural SW Arkansas. The hunter's theme abounded everywhere. It was amusing to have 40 ladies all gathered in such a 'man-oriented' environment. Dianna, the vivacious singer that I mentioned, dreamed about running into bears when she came down here from Kentucky. I guess someone had described to her how 'natural' SW Arkansas is. She was a little nervous. It was so funny as she related the story of walking in to the facility and rounding a corner to be starled by being nearly nose to nose with a life-sized stuffed bear. One of the first questions she asked the Grandview presenter was if there were any live bear on park property. LOL.
The facility's main function, besides public conservation education, is to preserve the last of the black dirt prarie. Its 350 acres of black dirt prarie is the largest expanse of this prarie type to exist in the world. It used to cover much of this region of the country. They have dozens of species of plant-life that exists nowhere else. They have been steadily working to convert the full 5,000 acres of the park back to the native prarie. No one else has done this before, so they have had to do a good bit of experimental research. They have discovered that a key ingredient is to have controlled burns. Many of the rare species have to have a burn in order for their seeds to germinate. As far as they can tell, the original conditions for this type of prarie is to avearge a once in five year fire. All the native species thrive under this cycle. The remainder of the 5000 acres is dominated by three imported grasses: fescue, bermuda grass, and bahaya – not counting forested acreage. THey are trying to eradicate these so the natives can expand. These three grass species were imported from England generations ago to support livestock. It has since taken over the region because they are 'matting' grasses. Matting grasses crowd out competitors very effectively. Bahaya is the nuisance grass of homeowners around here. It grows so fast to a tall seed head that you have to mow and mow and mow this stuff. We have this type of grass making headway into our yard from two edges. Yuck, I hate the stuff.
Next summer is the biology co-op' year for studying plants. I think that we will do a full unit specifically on the black dirt prarie. Grandview loves to host education opportunities so I will turn the unit over to expert hands. They also have active palentological and archaelogical digs in which the kids can participate. According to the speaker who presented at the retreat, the dig turned up seeds from vessels dating back to the 1400's. The seeds were taken back to the university and they actually germinated.
It was definitely a wonderful retreat. I certainly look forward to going again next year.
We had thee speakers come in: Marie King from Gurdon, AR; Dianna McRoy, a singer from Kentucky; and Linda Rice who is part of an active prison ministry.
Marie King gave a talk about health and nutrition. She has gluten sensitivity, so it was neat to talk to her about Celiac Disease Saturday morning while she was setting up for her talk. My husband and daughter have this condition. According to a recent study based on antibody tests of NY blood donations, it is very common (1 in 23 if I remember correctly) in the United States. Very few doctor's yet have become informed about it making it a very undiagnosed disease in the population. Most people who have it get the catch all labels of fibromyalgia or irritable bowel syndrome.
Marie King also gave her testimony of the struggles she had after the trauma of walking in to a fabric shop she frequented. She walked in just as during the store just as her friend the proprieter of the store was being murdered. She talked of the anxiety it caused because she lost all sense of safety and the survivor's guilt. She had been witnessing to her friend during her shopping visits. A part of her felt guilt because since she was saved she felt that she should have been the one to die not her friend. She talked about coming out of the fear and guilt back to a normal life.
Dianna McRoy was a bubbly, vivacious gal. One of those ladies that no matter what color she was wearing, you would swear it was red. LOL. She was a hoot. If I had half so much outgoing energy. . . LOL. She gave her testimony too. She had quite a tragic childhood.
Linda Rice is apparently a favorite and regular speaker at the retreat. She has only recently gotten her voice back. Back in June (or maybe it was July), she took a handful of vitamins just as she has throughout most of her adult life. Only this time, the vitamins took a detour into her lungs. She was rushed to the emergency room where they removed the vitamins and flushed out her lungs. Unfortunately, her vocal cords had become damaged and she wasn't able to speak a word for months. She had us all in stitches as she described the communication struggles of not having a voice. She shared her realization of how you can hear God so much better when you cannot speak. She spoke to the theme of the retreat, the anchor holds. It was interesting to learn how sailors used anchors in a storm or during the dangerous undertaking of entering a harbor during a storm. The anchor would be lowered into a smaller boat and rowed ahead. The sailors would place the anchor where it could be used to move the ship forward without damaging it against the reefs and sandbars until it was safely in the harbor. Then the anchor holds it steadfast in the safest part of the harbor while the storm rages. The retreat's theme song, “The Anchor Holds”, held even more meaning after learning more about what it meant.
There were many testimonies given during the retreat in which ladies shared their 'storm' experiences including one of my best friend's. It was a great retreat.
In addition, we learned some interesting facts about Grandview Prarie. Grandview Prarie is the facility that the retreat rented. It is actually an Arkansas Game and Wildlife Education Center with the capacity to house upwards of 40 people – I have never seen so many bunks in all my life. It has a very lodge-like atmosphere. Wildlife hunting and conservation go hand in hand down here in rural SW Arkansas. The hunter's theme abounded everywhere. It was amusing to have 40 ladies all gathered in such a 'man-oriented' environment. Dianna, the vivacious singer that I mentioned, dreamed about running into bears when she came down here from Kentucky. I guess someone had described to her how 'natural' SW Arkansas is. She was a little nervous. It was so funny as she related the story of walking in to the facility and rounding a corner to be starled by being nearly nose to nose with a life-sized stuffed bear. One of the first questions she asked the Grandview presenter was if there were any live bear on park property. LOL.
The facility's main function, besides public conservation education, is to preserve the last of the black dirt prarie. Its 350 acres of black dirt prarie is the largest expanse of this prarie type to exist in the world. It used to cover much of this region of the country. They have dozens of species of plant-life that exists nowhere else. They have been steadily working to convert the full 5,000 acres of the park back to the native prarie. No one else has done this before, so they have had to do a good bit of experimental research. They have discovered that a key ingredient is to have controlled burns. Many of the rare species have to have a burn in order for their seeds to germinate. As far as they can tell, the original conditions for this type of prarie is to avearge a once in five year fire. All the native species thrive under this cycle. The remainder of the 5000 acres is dominated by three imported grasses: fescue, bermuda grass, and bahaya – not counting forested acreage. THey are trying to eradicate these so the natives can expand. These three grass species were imported from England generations ago to support livestock. It has since taken over the region because they are 'matting' grasses. Matting grasses crowd out competitors very effectively. Bahaya is the nuisance grass of homeowners around here. It grows so fast to a tall seed head that you have to mow and mow and mow this stuff. We have this type of grass making headway into our yard from two edges. Yuck, I hate the stuff.
Next summer is the biology co-op' year for studying plants. I think that we will do a full unit specifically on the black dirt prarie. Grandview loves to host education opportunities so I will turn the unit over to expert hands. They also have active palentological and archaelogical digs in which the kids can participate. According to the speaker who presented at the retreat, the dig turned up seeds from vessels dating back to the 1400's. The seeds were taken back to the university and they actually germinated.
It was definitely a wonderful retreat. I certainly look forward to going again next year.
November 14, 2005: Mama Kitty SPanked Zachary - Too Funny
Mama Kitty is getting old and a bit on the grumpy side. She has arthritis and in pity we have moved her from being and outdoor kitty to an indoor one – at least for now. Much to her great pleasure.
Well, Zach has just begun an atypical behavior the last two days of crying if he has to wait a bit for food to be prepared. It has us puzzled and we are approaching it on a multu-pronged front knowing that it could be any number of things bringing this new and unacceptable behavior into play. Yesterday it was the wait for his chicken patty to finish heating in the toaster. For snack today, I baked some chocolate chip cookies. And tonight it was a wait while a burger cooked for him. Each of these times his questions about how long devolved to complaints of waiting, then all the way to very uncharacteristic wailing. Tonight he got rather loud. Mama cat obviously felt we were hadling the situation too patiently so she got up, moved over to him and whap, whap gave him two swift paw spankings on the leg then she turned around and returned to her warmed spot on the floor with a “There now. That is how you handle your kitten..” expression of wisdom on her whiskered face. We all howled then – in laughter! Obviously, she made her solution to the problem known. LOL.
Well, Zach has just begun an atypical behavior the last two days of crying if he has to wait a bit for food to be prepared. It has us puzzled and we are approaching it on a multu-pronged front knowing that it could be any number of things bringing this new and unacceptable behavior into play. Yesterday it was the wait for his chicken patty to finish heating in the toaster. For snack today, I baked some chocolate chip cookies. And tonight it was a wait while a burger cooked for him. Each of these times his questions about how long devolved to complaints of waiting, then all the way to very uncharacteristic wailing. Tonight he got rather loud. Mama cat obviously felt we were hadling the situation too patiently so she got up, moved over to him and whap, whap gave him two swift paw spankings on the leg then she turned around and returned to her warmed spot on the floor with a “There now. That is how you handle your kitten..” expression of wisdom on her whiskered face. We all howled then – in laughter! Obviously, she made her solution to the problem known. LOL.
November 19, 2005: Getting Ready for Insulation
Our house was one of those wonderful gems in the rough. A lot of house for a little bit o' money and a wee bit of elbow grease. It was a mere $40K for 2,000 square feet and 4 to 5 bedrooms depending on if you wanted to add floor decor to the fiftth one. We opted to use it as a tool and junk room. As near as we can tell, the house was built in the 1930's.
If our lives were a novel, the house would have to be a character too. It has its own quirky personality. LOL We have 'hidden passages' and a dual ceiling that makes for great additional storage. That is useful because two of the bedrooms do not have closets. The bathroom (yes, that is right – singular. One bathroom for 6 people) has been added on where the back porch used to be. The house was built in the days of the outhouse. There are time when I wish that outhouse was still standing considering having only one bathroom. ;0)
Over the last two springs John completely replaced the wiring from top to bottom. He replaced the way undersized electrical box with a mondo version, replaced undersized wire, made more than the original two outlets in the kitchen truly grounded, and gave us many more outlets. The electric company restrung our feed lines too as they were way undersized. John also set us up for networking the computers and installed wall mounted (wire in the wall) lighting in the living room while he was at it.
Now that the wiring is complete, we are turning our attention to much needed insulation. The house has none, zero, zip – well, not if you don't count the canned expand-o-foam stuff that John used to seal window frames. The wind nearly howled coming through these when we moved in. LOL. Those empty walls worked to our advantage with the rewiring. There were very few obstacles in the walls to feeding the wires through. Now though, we are dreaming of the lower power bills and a more stable indoor temp. When the temperatures plummet outside you definitely know it, especially in the rooms on the north side of the house. Soon that will be a mere memory.
Last Saturday, Thursday after work, and today John was up in the attic getting some preparations in place. The house originally had a fireplace and for some reason the previous owners left all the bricks up there. We all formed a brigade, shuffling them from the attic, down the access hatch, out the door, and layered along the sidewalk ( a great way to extend a narrow walkway). We must have brigaded 25 paint buckets of dirt dauber nests out. Not the little paint buckets mind you. The big bucket o tools size paint bucket. John toted the shop vac up there and he is getting it nice and clean. I am too chicken to climb up the accessway – we have 11 foot real ceilings with a few rooms having drop ceilings. The hatch to get into the attic is a dual access adventure to to this. John traverses it like a pro though. The house must be heaving a sigh of relieve to get all that weight out of there. John has placed the last of the screening up to block dirt daubers from entering again in the future.
Next, we get the insulation blown into the outer walls. It should be easy. John says that you can look down inside the walls all the way to the bottom from the attic in most locations. The insulation blower people can just go up in the attic and blow right into the walls from the top. I remember seeing that too when we replaced the wall unit ac. The original installers didn't make a box for it. When the old one came out, we could look up and see light from the attic and look down to see the base of the wall. The inside surfaces had lots of dirt dobber nests. No wonder it gets so cold. We don't even have a sealed airspace within the wall for insulation. All that will change before Christmas! Yay! No thermal pajamas and fuzzy house shoes under the tree this year. LOL.
Eventually we will have central heat and air put in. It is a secret dream of mine to convert the spacious attic to rooms, but we have plenty of space on the main floor, so that seems excessive, a mere extravagance. It probably will never be pursued while we are owners. I would love to pass the house on to one of the kids when we pass into the empty nest phase. It is just one of those houses that exudes a need to be filled with little ones. It is a family house and would mourn the empty quietness of just containing and aging couple. It seems to laugh and smile being full of children.
If our lives were a novel, the house would have to be a character too. It has its own quirky personality. LOL We have 'hidden passages' and a dual ceiling that makes for great additional storage. That is useful because two of the bedrooms do not have closets. The bathroom (yes, that is right – singular. One bathroom for 6 people) has been added on where the back porch used to be. The house was built in the days of the outhouse. There are time when I wish that outhouse was still standing considering having only one bathroom. ;0)
Over the last two springs John completely replaced the wiring from top to bottom. He replaced the way undersized electrical box with a mondo version, replaced undersized wire, made more than the original two outlets in the kitchen truly grounded, and gave us many more outlets. The electric company restrung our feed lines too as they were way undersized. John also set us up for networking the computers and installed wall mounted (wire in the wall) lighting in the living room while he was at it.
Now that the wiring is complete, we are turning our attention to much needed insulation. The house has none, zero, zip – well, not if you don't count the canned expand-o-foam stuff that John used to seal window frames. The wind nearly howled coming through these when we moved in. LOL. Those empty walls worked to our advantage with the rewiring. There were very few obstacles in the walls to feeding the wires through. Now though, we are dreaming of the lower power bills and a more stable indoor temp. When the temperatures plummet outside you definitely know it, especially in the rooms on the north side of the house. Soon that will be a mere memory.
Last Saturday, Thursday after work, and today John was up in the attic getting some preparations in place. The house originally had a fireplace and for some reason the previous owners left all the bricks up there. We all formed a brigade, shuffling them from the attic, down the access hatch, out the door, and layered along the sidewalk ( a great way to extend a narrow walkway). We must have brigaded 25 paint buckets of dirt dauber nests out. Not the little paint buckets mind you. The big bucket o tools size paint bucket. John toted the shop vac up there and he is getting it nice and clean. I am too chicken to climb up the accessway – we have 11 foot real ceilings with a few rooms having drop ceilings. The hatch to get into the attic is a dual access adventure to to this. John traverses it like a pro though. The house must be heaving a sigh of relieve to get all that weight out of there. John has placed the last of the screening up to block dirt daubers from entering again in the future.
Next, we get the insulation blown into the outer walls. It should be easy. John says that you can look down inside the walls all the way to the bottom from the attic in most locations. The insulation blower people can just go up in the attic and blow right into the walls from the top. I remember seeing that too when we replaced the wall unit ac. The original installers didn't make a box for it. When the old one came out, we could look up and see light from the attic and look down to see the base of the wall. The inside surfaces had lots of dirt dobber nests. No wonder it gets so cold. We don't even have a sealed airspace within the wall for insulation. All that will change before Christmas! Yay! No thermal pajamas and fuzzy house shoes under the tree this year. LOL.
Eventually we will have central heat and air put in. It is a secret dream of mine to convert the spacious attic to rooms, but we have plenty of space on the main floor, so that seems excessive, a mere extravagance. It probably will never be pursued while we are owners. I would love to pass the house on to one of the kids when we pass into the empty nest phase. It is just one of those houses that exudes a need to be filled with little ones. It is a family house and would mourn the empty quietness of just containing and aging couple. It seems to laugh and smile being full of children.
November 26, 2005: Anniversary
The Thanksgiving season melds with John and my wedding anniversary each year. It seems very appropriate because nothing on this side of heaven makes me more thankful than our little family. Life has meaning and purpose, joy and moments to treasure for a lifetime. Without John and the kids, my life would only be a shell, hallow and empty. I thank God from the very core of my being for blessing me with the wonderful privilege to be a wife and mother. No career, no amount of worldly goods, no position of esteem in the eyes of man can compare to the priceless treasure of being loved and loving like this.
November 30, 2005: Well, It is Official. Gregory is a Computer Geek
A few weeks ago I had mentioned in my blog that Gregory said he had now done every kind of hardware install except a motherboard. As of last night, he has now done it all. He installed a new motherboard and larger cooling fan for the family system. Here is a picture.
For Christmas we are upgrading the family computer system. This is the system we try to keep reasonably current. The last major upgrade, last Christmas, was a new graphics card. This year, the most 'behind the times' piece of significant hardware was the motherboard. What is so nice about upgrading is that everyone benefits as the parts trickle down the line of individual systems. John will be getting the replaced motherboard in his machine. There will be RAM left over so Gregory's and Melody's machines will have more. Someone is going to bump up in a graphics card, but I can't remember who that was. Each machine will be able to stretch its legs more.
If you want a hobby that pays big dividends to encourage a son or daughter to, I highly recommend learning how to do computer hardware. It has been great having Gregory's growing expertise in computers. We have been able to have much nicer and many more systems that we aver could have dreamed of having before. :0)
If you want a hobby that pays big dividends to encourage a son or daughter to, I highly recommend learning how to do computer hardware. It has been great having Gregory's growing expertise in computers. We have been able to have much nicer and many more systems that we aver could have dreamed of having before. :0)
December 1, 2005: Autobiographical Narrative
Monday we worked on personal narratives in homeschool. Gregory and Melody had a few lively life experiences to write about, but poor Timothy sat and sat trying to think of some really interesting life experience that he had had that were his own alone. Literally hours passed by. I began to press him to get to work since it was obvious that several other school assignments were already pushed out of the day's schedule because he was stalled on this assignment. Well, it was one of those moments where I realized that I was focusing on the schedule and not on my son. He slipped away to the bathroom and I could tell he was crying. I felt like such a heartless fool. When he came out I sat beside him. He quietly poured out his feelings. “I don't have a life, mom. Nothing interesting happens to me. Gregory broke his tooth and went to 'disaster camp'. Melody has gone on neat youth group trips and had oral surgery.” I countered with several family moments that I thought were quite interesting for a personal narrative. My suggestion – The winter storm of 2000 when we went nine days without power. Tim's counter – That was everybody. Greg and Melody could write about that too. It isn't a *personal* narrative. My suggestion – How about the time we accidentally left you in the car at church when you were 4? This is an admission of guilt friends. Yes, we really did misplace him. Worse yet, another church member noticed he was in the car alone. We hadn't even missed him. We thought he ran in with the older kids and they thought he was with us. Doh! Tim's counter – “No, I had fun. That doesn't make a good story.” Well, at least that eased my feelings of guilt a bit. LOL. Several other adventures were suggested, but many of those he didn't remember well himself. They were more stories that we had told him he experienced. So we sat there, we two, for 30 minutes. Me making story suggestions and him shooting every one down.
Yes, we finally got a narrative out of him. And through the struggles, I came up with the idea to make a new category on my blog called “Family Stories” in which those priceless stories worthy of passing down can be put to print and shared. I am going to have the kids work on one or two family/individual memories each week and post them. They may be entries as short as a note of a cute saying that one of the kids often said when they were learning to talk to the grand family adventures like the winter storm of 2000 or teenager John (yes, that is my hubby) pouring vanilla extract on his arm, lighting it, and scaring the Dickens out of a co-worker saying “You are the one.” when she passed down a darkened stairway. Now what kind of a nut would even come up with the idea to do such a thing much less actually do it! Yes folks, you are in for many such adventures from my John. How he survived this long amazes me. Thankfully, the kids' awe of his adventures go only so far as asking to hear them over and over and not trying such stunts themselves. LOL But I am going to keep my eyes on Tim, just to make sure he has safe indvidual adventures.
Yes, we finally got a narrative out of him. And through the struggles, I came up with the idea to make a new category on my blog called “Family Stories” in which those priceless stories worthy of passing down can be put to print and shared. I am going to have the kids work on one or two family/individual memories each week and post them. They may be entries as short as a note of a cute saying that one of the kids often said when they were learning to talk to the grand family adventures like the winter storm of 2000 or teenager John (yes, that is my hubby) pouring vanilla extract on his arm, lighting it, and scaring the Dickens out of a co-worker saying “You are the one.” when she passed down a darkened stairway. Now what kind of a nut would even come up with the idea to do such a thing much less actually do it! Yes folks, you are in for many such adventures from my John. How he survived this long amazes me. Thankfully, the kids' awe of his adventures go only so far as asking to hear them over and over and not trying such stunts themselves. LOL But I am going to keep my eyes on Tim, just to make sure he has safe indvidual adventures.
December 2, 2005: No Backseat. I Drive It.
Back when John's mom was alive, we used to travel up the mountain about once a month for a weekend visit. Timothy, who was about 2 years old at the time, had a passion for all things that go: cars, trucks, trains, etc. That was before he discovered computers. LOL. One of his favorite toys was a big ring of real keys that John had made up for him. He would get in the cozy coupe and 'start the engine' with one of his keys and head off to 'wok'.
During one visit, John felt tired from a long workweek so he laid down to catch a quick catnap while his Mom and I visited and prepared lunch. As he lay there drifting, little Timothy padded to the sliding glass door and began a little conversation with himself. John was so sleepy that he only partially listened until he heard Tim say with determination, “No back seat. I drive it.” with a little faint jingle of keys. John's eyes opened wide. He would later relate to us that if he had heard the door open, he knew right where the lad was heading, straight to the car – the real one.
During one visit, John felt tired from a long workweek so he laid down to catch a quick catnap while his Mom and I visited and prepared lunch. As he lay there drifting, little Timothy padded to the sliding glass door and began a little conversation with himself. John was so sleepy that he only partially listened until he heard Tim say with determination, “No back seat. I drive it.” with a little faint jingle of keys. John's eyes opened wide. He would later relate to us that if he had heard the door open, he knew right where the lad was heading, straight to the car – the real one.
December 2, 2005: "It Can Kill Brain Cells" or "Uh, Greg?"
"It Can Kill Brain Cells” or “Uh, Greg?”
A Family Heirloom Story by Timothy
At dinner, Greg and I were goofing off and making funny faces for Zachary. In one, I held my breath. As my face turned shades of red and purple, Mom noticed and told me not to do that. “Holding your breath for too long is not good for you.” she said. “It can kill brain cells.” Greg and I stopped goofing around and dinner continued uneventfully.
At bedtime that night though, Gregory and I got silly again and began to make faces in the mirror while brushing our teeth. Melody was there too, all three of us crowded around the sink frothing at the mouth with toothpaste and laughing loudly.
“I don't think this kills brain cells.” Greg said with a wry smile and he puffed up his cheeks in a dramatic expression of breath holding. Not just your ordinary breath holding though. He did his best to tense his face to make it all red. He began a slow motion fall away from us to his left. There was a great thud as he hit the floor. I felt for sure he was just joking around, so I kept right on brushing. Dad, having felt the thud from the kitchen just on the other side of the wall, came running in to hear Melody say, “Uh, Greg? At that same moment. Greg began to shake. Dad, ran to him and gathered him up and he quite shaking. He looked up into Dad's face and asked, “What happened?” That is when I realized that Greg wasn't joking around. He had fallen because he passed out. He narrowly missed hitting his head on the tub, but when his shoulder hit the tiled floor there was enough force that a tile broke.
We all felt shaken as we walked out of the bathroom together, Dad holding Gregory up to be sure that there would be no repeat performance. We all made our way to where Mom was working. Melody teased her that she missed all the excitement, and we told her what happened. She had heard the thud too, but because she heard us all giggling and goofing off just before it she figured that we were just being silly in there. She felt bad that she didn't run to investigate. But she was right about holding your breath being a bad idea. It CAN kill brain cells. My brother nearly had a concussion.
A Family Heirloom Story by Timothy
At dinner, Greg and I were goofing off and making funny faces for Zachary. In one, I held my breath. As my face turned shades of red and purple, Mom noticed and told me not to do that. “Holding your breath for too long is not good for you.” she said. “It can kill brain cells.” Greg and I stopped goofing around and dinner continued uneventfully.
At bedtime that night though, Gregory and I got silly again and began to make faces in the mirror while brushing our teeth. Melody was there too, all three of us crowded around the sink frothing at the mouth with toothpaste and laughing loudly.
“I don't think this kills brain cells.” Greg said with a wry smile and he puffed up his cheeks in a dramatic expression of breath holding. Not just your ordinary breath holding though. He did his best to tense his face to make it all red. He began a slow motion fall away from us to his left. There was a great thud as he hit the floor. I felt for sure he was just joking around, so I kept right on brushing. Dad, having felt the thud from the kitchen just on the other side of the wall, came running in to hear Melody say, “Uh, Greg? At that same moment. Greg began to shake. Dad, ran to him and gathered him up and he quite shaking. He looked up into Dad's face and asked, “What happened?” That is when I realized that Greg wasn't joking around. He had fallen because he passed out. He narrowly missed hitting his head on the tub, but when his shoulder hit the tiled floor there was enough force that a tile broke.
We all felt shaken as we walked out of the bathroom together, Dad holding Gregory up to be sure that there would be no repeat performance. We all made our way to where Mom was working. Melody teased her that she missed all the excitement, and we told her what happened. She had heard the thud too, but because she heard us all giggling and goofing off just before it she figured that we were just being silly in there. She felt bad that she didn't run to investigate. But she was right about holding your breath being a bad idea. It CAN kill brain cells. My brother nearly had a concussion.
December 3, 2005: Holiday Spirit in Spring-like 78 Degree Weather?
Today was the day I had planned on us getting the Christmas tree up, getting winter season clothes out and summer ones put away, making hot soup and bread for dinner, and hot cocoa with marshmallows for a family time snack. You know, the official kick-off to the holiday spirit. Well, the day was markedly un-wintery. It was a sunny 78 degrees. We had all the windows open enjoying a very spring-like breeze blowing through the house. I changed Zach out of his sweatshirt and into one of the summer t-shirts that I had planned to pack away before I gave up the holiday plans. Guess what we did instead, a bit of spring cleaning. LOL. Actually the weather was beautiful and I can't complain too much. Nevertheless, here's hoping for snow next Saturday. :0)
December 5, 2005: I've Been Tagged
7 Things I want to do before I die
7 Things I can't do
7 Things that attract me to my husband
7 Things I say most often
7 Books I love
7 Movies I watch over and over
- See my parents and all the kids to come to truly know and follow the Lord.
- For someone dear to me to see that the love of money is destroying her life like an acid and that she has hurt all those close to her because of it.
- For two people dear to me to have their eyes opened in regards to their love for me, the kids, and John.
- A secret need I cannot say, but it has haunted me daily for four years
- Be a terrific grandma, mom, and mother-in-law with each of my children's families. May I be wise and strong enough to be a continual blessing and never a burden.
- If I get the first five, I don't need anything more
7 Things I can't do
- I never will feel comfortable with confrontation
- I never will bridge the gap. I am totally dependent on God's help
- I never will be able to go back in time to have better priorities, so I know how important it is to have good ones now. Easy to say, but hard to do.
- I never will understand parents who can abandon their children in their hearts or abort their children in the womb without sorrow.
- I never will meet the standard, so I am thankful for the grace of love
- I never will be more blessed than I have been in being a wife, mom (and homeschool teacher), and child of God
- I never will never understand how grief can be deeper than God's ability to comfort – at least in this lifetime. I am so relieved to read that he will wipe away every tear when we get to the other side.
7 Things that attract me to my husband
- His love for the kids!!!!
- He helps me without me having to ask and does so without fanfare or giving a guilt trip that I needed help
- He is patient with my weaknesses – He married an artist, an 'intuitive perceiver'. He sure needs lots of patience. LOL
- He encourages me in my creative endeavors because he knows they recharge my batteries
- I can trust his love for me. I cannot imagine that he would ever intentionally hurt me. His love is steady; he never stops loving me when I mess up.
- He has blessed me by being co-committed to full time homeschooling the children even when that commitment sometimes has meant two jobs, sacrificial budgeting, and taking the forward position with my parents when they came against us for chosing homeschooling over my working. Confrontation is not my strong suit, especially with my parents. And though it is not John's strong suit either, he stepped up to the challenge with a quiet and gentle strength. He never once complained nor made disparaging comments about my parents even when they deserved it. He kept his focus on defending his family in God's strength, not his own.
- He took a silent, serious, lonely girl and gave me humor, comfort with people, and a purpose that has made the the difficult passages of life doable and the daily walk worthy of effort
7 Things I say most often
- “Dear Father … “. It seems that the second I am alone, those words are always spoken under my breath. To the point that, often, my mind stops right after in a complete blank of what else I was going to say. I hope that prayers lifted up from the bathroom are just as welcome as ones from the altar, because that is the origin of most of my visits with him – even if there are interruptions by little fingers wiggling under the door. LOL.
- “… chocolate … “ :0) OK, I don't actually say the word very often … but I think it! LOL.
- “Did you take your vitamins?” Isn't it funny how the ones who don't really need the vitamins always want them and the ones who need them have to be reminded.
- “Hey, punkin …” (punkin has been a term of endearment with each of the kids. I still even say it occassionally to my 18 year old son and 15 year old daughter – when none of their friends are in earshot; I was a teenager once myself you know. :0)
- “Love you.”
- “Oooops, sorry. I got sidetracked.” I say this one wayyyyy too often.
- “How ya doin?'” when I am in the same room, or “Sounds like they are having wayyy too much fun in there” can be heard when I am not in the room.
7 Books I love
- Bible
- My Glimpse of Eternity by Betty Maltz – A true story about a very transparent lady who died and got a glimpse of heaven before the Lord sent her back. I read this as a teenager before becoming a Christian. It placed a very powerful impression in me that God was loving and personal.
- Elsie Dinsmore – A story that still inspires me with a little heroine that loves the Lord with all her heart and longs for a tender and steady love from her father.
- Fellowship of the Rings (and the three other books in the trilogy) by Tolkien – This was the very first book that I read in public school that I actually enjoyed reading. Now that it is a movie (masterfully done, Peter Jackson!), the whole family loves it. We watched the entire trilogy in a movie marathon, for the 4th time, Thanksgiving weekend.
- The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
- In My Father's House by Corrie Ten Boom. Very inspiring for parents!
- The family photo album and the kids' electronic notebooks - OK, these are not officially books, but each contain some of the most precious stories I hold dear to my heart. Though we have barely begun it, I know my favorite of these will soon be The Moore Family Stories Notebook.
7 Movies I watch over and over
- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by Director Peter Jackson
- Well, I cannot think of any other movies that I will sit down and watch over and over again. I am not a big TV/movie watcher.
December 5, 2005: The City of Tomorrow
After listing My Glimpse of Eternity in the 7's question about favorite books in the last entry, I wanted to excerpt her glimpse of heaven and hope others would look up her book. The glimpse of heaven is compelling, but there is much more as you read about what she was like before and what she experienced after. From chapter 7:
The transition was serene and peaceful. I was walking up a beautiful green hill. It was steep, but my leg motion was effortless and a deep ecstasy flooded my body. Despite three incisions in my body from the operations, I stood erect without pain, enjoying the tallness, free from inhibitions about it. I looked down. I seemed to be barefoot, but the complete outer shape of my body was a blur and colorless. Yet I was walking on grass, the most vivid shade of green I had ever seen. Each blade was perhapsone inch long, the texture like fine velvet; every blade was vibrant and moving. As the bottoms of my feet touched the grass, something alive in the grass was transmitted up through my whole body with each step I took.
“Can this be death?” I wondered. If so, I certainly had nothing to fear. There was no darkness, no uncertainty, only a change in location and a total sense of well-being.
All around me was a magnificent deep blue sky unobscured by clouds. Looking about, I realized that there was no path. Yet I seemed to know where to go.
Then I realized I was not walking alone. To the left, and a little behind me, strode a tall, masculine-looking figure in a robe. I wondered if he were an angel and tried to see if he had wings. But he was facing me and I could not see his back. I sensed, however, that he could go anywhere he wanted and very quickly.
We did not speak to each other. Somehow it didn't seem necessary, for we were both going in the same direction. Then I became aware that he was not a stranger. He knew me and I felt a strange kinship with him. Where had we met? Had we always known each other? It seemed we had. Where were we now going?
As we walked together I saw no sun – but light was everywhere. Off to the left were multicolored flowers blooming. Also trees, shrubs. On the right was a low stone wall.
Once years before I had climbed to the top of Logan's Pass in Glacier National Park, breathing pure, clean, unused air amidst the snowcapped peaks. There wrer small flowers blooming even in the snow. My legs had been sore and tired from the climb.
This climb was different. My legs were not tired and I wasn't aware of any temperature. There was no snow, though I seemed to be in a high altitude. THere seemed to be no season but it felt like early spring. My emotion was a combination of feelings: youth, serenity, fulfillment, health, awareness, tranquility. I felt I had everything I ever wanted to have. I was everything I had ever intended to be. I was arriving at where I had always dreamed of being.
The wall to my right was higher now and made of many colored, tiered stones. A light from the other side of the wall shone through a long row of amber colored gems several feet above my head. “Topaz,” I thought to myself. “The November birthstone.” I remebered this from working in Edward's Jewelry store in New Castle, Indiana, before my marriage to John. November 6th is my birthday.”
Just as we crested the top of the hill, I heard my father's voice calling, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.” His voice was a long distance away. I thought about turning back to find him. I did not because I knew my destination was ahead. We walked along in silence save for a whisper of a gentle breeze ruffling the white, sheer garments of the angel.
We came to a magnificent, silver structure. It was like a palace except there were no towers. As we walked toward it, I heard voices. They were melodious, harmonious, blending in chorus and I heard the word, “Jesus.” There were more than four parts to their harmony. I not only heard the singing and felt the singing but I joined the singing. I have always had a girl's body, but a low boy's voice. Suddenly I realized I was singing the way I had always wanted to . . . in high, clear and sweet tones.
After a while the music softened, then the unseen voices picked up a new chorus. The voices not only burst forth in more than four parts, but they were in different languages. I was awed by the richness and perfect blending of the words — and I could understand them! I do not know why this was possible except that I was part of a universal experience.
I thought at the time, “I will never forget the melody and these words.” But later I would only recall two: “Jesus” and “redemed.”
The angel stepped forward and put the palm of his hand upon a gate which I had not noticed before. About twelve feet high, the gate was a solid sheet of pearl, with no handle and some lovely scroll work at the top of its Gothis structure. The pearl was translucent so I could almost, but now quite, see inside. The atmosphere inside was somehow filtered through. My feeling was of ecstatic joy and anticipation at the thought of going inside.
When the angel stepped forward, pressing his palm on the gate, an opening appeared in the center of the pearl panel and slowly widened and deepened as though the translucent material was dissolving. Inside I saw what appeared to be a street of golden color with an overlay of glass or water. The yellow light that appeared was dazzling. There is no way to describe it. I saw no figure, yet I was conscious of a Person. Suddenly I knew that the light was Jesus, the Person of Jesus.
I did not have to move. The light was all about me. There seemed to be some heat in it as if I were standing in sunlight; my body began to glow. Every part of me was absorbing the light. I felt bathed by the rays of a powerful, penetrating, loving energy.
The angel looked at me and communicated the thought, “Would you like to go in and join them?”
I longed with all my being to go inside, yet I hesitated. Did I have a choice? Then I remembered my father's voice. Perhaps I should go and find him.
“I would like to stay and sing a little longer, then go back down the hill!” I finally answered. I started to say something more. But it was too late.
THe gates slowly melted into one sheet of pearl again and we began walking back down the same beautiful hill. This time the jeweled wall was on my left and the angel walked on my right.
Then I saw the sun coming up over the wall. This surprised me since it was already very light and there seemed to be no passing of time. It was a lovely sunrise. The topaz over the stones glowed brilliantly. I remeber noticing that the wall now made a deep shadow on my side.
Walking down the hill I looked into Terre Haute as the world of spirit and time and spacebegan to fuse back together. Ahead of me were many church steeples glistening in the morning sun. I was suddenly aware of God's love for all His churches. It was a sudden bit of knowledge, as if I were being told this on the inside by the Holy Spirit. At that moment I loved all His churches too; and as my prejudices dissolved, I loved all His people.
Then I saw the tops of trees, then the hospital. My eyes seemed to bore through the walls of the hospital like laser beams, down the hall of the third floor to room 336. I saw a figure on the bed with a sheet pulled over it.
After my descent I slowed down and stopped. the sun's rays were in my eyes. There were dust particles in the light which suddenly changed to wavy letters about two inches high flashing before me like a ticker-tape message. The letters seemed composed of translucent ivory, only fluid – moving through the rays of the sun.
I was back in my hospital bed now and the letters stretch all the way from the window, past my bed and into the room. They read: I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
The transition was serene and peaceful. I was walking up a beautiful green hill. It was steep, but my leg motion was effortless and a deep ecstasy flooded my body. Despite three incisions in my body from the operations, I stood erect without pain, enjoying the tallness, free from inhibitions about it. I looked down. I seemed to be barefoot, but the complete outer shape of my body was a blur and colorless. Yet I was walking on grass, the most vivid shade of green I had ever seen. Each blade was perhapsone inch long, the texture like fine velvet; every blade was vibrant and moving. As the bottoms of my feet touched the grass, something alive in the grass was transmitted up through my whole body with each step I took.
“Can this be death?” I wondered. If so, I certainly had nothing to fear. There was no darkness, no uncertainty, only a change in location and a total sense of well-being.
All around me was a magnificent deep blue sky unobscured by clouds. Looking about, I realized that there was no path. Yet I seemed to know where to go.
Then I realized I was not walking alone. To the left, and a little behind me, strode a tall, masculine-looking figure in a robe. I wondered if he were an angel and tried to see if he had wings. But he was facing me and I could not see his back. I sensed, however, that he could go anywhere he wanted and very quickly.
We did not speak to each other. Somehow it didn't seem necessary, for we were both going in the same direction. Then I became aware that he was not a stranger. He knew me and I felt a strange kinship with him. Where had we met? Had we always known each other? It seemed we had. Where were we now going?
As we walked together I saw no sun – but light was everywhere. Off to the left were multicolored flowers blooming. Also trees, shrubs. On the right was a low stone wall.
Once years before I had climbed to the top of Logan's Pass in Glacier National Park, breathing pure, clean, unused air amidst the snowcapped peaks. There wrer small flowers blooming even in the snow. My legs had been sore and tired from the climb.
This climb was different. My legs were not tired and I wasn't aware of any temperature. There was no snow, though I seemed to be in a high altitude. THere seemed to be no season but it felt like early spring. My emotion was a combination of feelings: youth, serenity, fulfillment, health, awareness, tranquility. I felt I had everything I ever wanted to have. I was everything I had ever intended to be. I was arriving at where I had always dreamed of being.
The wall to my right was higher now and made of many colored, tiered stones. A light from the other side of the wall shone through a long row of amber colored gems several feet above my head. “Topaz,” I thought to myself. “The November birthstone.” I remebered this from working in Edward's Jewelry store in New Castle, Indiana, before my marriage to John. November 6th is my birthday.”
Just as we crested the top of the hill, I heard my father's voice calling, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.” His voice was a long distance away. I thought about turning back to find him. I did not because I knew my destination was ahead. We walked along in silence save for a whisper of a gentle breeze ruffling the white, sheer garments of the angel.
We came to a magnificent, silver structure. It was like a palace except there were no towers. As we walked toward it, I heard voices. They were melodious, harmonious, blending in chorus and I heard the word, “Jesus.” There were more than four parts to their harmony. I not only heard the singing and felt the singing but I joined the singing. I have always had a girl's body, but a low boy's voice. Suddenly I realized I was singing the way I had always wanted to . . . in high, clear and sweet tones.
After a while the music softened, then the unseen voices picked up a new chorus. The voices not only burst forth in more than four parts, but they were in different languages. I was awed by the richness and perfect blending of the words — and I could understand them! I do not know why this was possible except that I was part of a universal experience.
I thought at the time, “I will never forget the melody and these words.” But later I would only recall two: “Jesus” and “redemed.”
The angel stepped forward and put the palm of his hand upon a gate which I had not noticed before. About twelve feet high, the gate was a solid sheet of pearl, with no handle and some lovely scroll work at the top of its Gothis structure. The pearl was translucent so I could almost, but now quite, see inside. The atmosphere inside was somehow filtered through. My feeling was of ecstatic joy and anticipation at the thought of going inside.
When the angel stepped forward, pressing his palm on the gate, an opening appeared in the center of the pearl panel and slowly widened and deepened as though the translucent material was dissolving. Inside I saw what appeared to be a street of golden color with an overlay of glass or water. The yellow light that appeared was dazzling. There is no way to describe it. I saw no figure, yet I was conscious of a Person. Suddenly I knew that the light was Jesus, the Person of Jesus.
I did not have to move. The light was all about me. There seemed to be some heat in it as if I were standing in sunlight; my body began to glow. Every part of me was absorbing the light. I felt bathed by the rays of a powerful, penetrating, loving energy.
The angel looked at me and communicated the thought, “Would you like to go in and join them?”
I longed with all my being to go inside, yet I hesitated. Did I have a choice? Then I remembered my father's voice. Perhaps I should go and find him.
“I would like to stay and sing a little longer, then go back down the hill!” I finally answered. I started to say something more. But it was too late.
THe gates slowly melted into one sheet of pearl again and we began walking back down the same beautiful hill. This time the jeweled wall was on my left and the angel walked on my right.
Then I saw the sun coming up over the wall. This surprised me since it was already very light and there seemed to be no passing of time. It was a lovely sunrise. The topaz over the stones glowed brilliantly. I remeber noticing that the wall now made a deep shadow on my side.
Walking down the hill I looked into Terre Haute as the world of spirit and time and spacebegan to fuse back together. Ahead of me were many church steeples glistening in the morning sun. I was suddenly aware of God's love for all His churches. It was a sudden bit of knowledge, as if I were being told this on the inside by the Holy Spirit. At that moment I loved all His churches too; and as my prejudices dissolved, I loved all His people.
Then I saw the tops of trees, then the hospital. My eyes seemed to bore through the walls of the hospital like laser beams, down the hall of the third floor to room 336. I saw a figure on the bed with a sheet pulled over it.
After my descent I slowed down and stopped. the sun's rays were in my eyes. There were dust particles in the light which suddenly changed to wavy letters about two inches high flashing before me like a ticker-tape message. The letters seemed composed of translucent ivory, only fluid – moving through the rays of the sun.
I was back in my hospital bed now and the letters stretch all the way from the window, past my bed and into the room. They read: I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
December 6, 2005: Snowy Weather is Coming
The weatherman is calling for snow starting tomorrow and John has made sure that his family is ready. He took the station wagon in to get four new tires. We were down to the wear bars on the back. Now, if there is an emergency in the snowy weather we can safely get around. Since he was in town anyway, he braved the snow rush at the grocery store to get us stocked up on food for the week. He also picked up four videos to accompany the festive sprirt of the snowy weather. He picked up Herbie Fully Loaded (Melody, soon to be to driving age, loves VW bugs), The Fantastic Four, The Polar Express, and The March of the Penguins. The last two are perfect for the anticipate snowy weather.
The March of the Penguins:
I was occupied with the older kids when John brought the videos home, and was looking for what to keep Zachary productively busy until I could help him with an educational program he was working on. This one looked like something educational and young-child friendly, so I popped it in wit the intention of leaving him to watch it alone. It didn't take long though before Melody and Timothy drifted in and started watching. I found myself sitting on the couch with Zach in my lap watching it too. It was incredibly interesting. I highly suggest looking to see if your own video store has it. Did you know that the mom and dad penguins take turns watching the egg/chick while the other takes a 70 mile march to get back to a food source. Once there it gorges on food then once again makes the long march back, 70 miles, to relieve its partner and be able to feed the chick from the stores in its stomach. The male, at one point, must keep the egg warm during the coldest stretches of south pole winter for over 100 days without food. It was really terrific. One warning though, though rated G, you will need to fast forward past the serious courtship phase. I have learned never to trust a nature show, so I had that remote at hand. LOL.
I got down the Christmas stuff yesterday and the boxes are sitting in the foyer awaiting the festooning of the tree – which seems perfect to do while snow is falling outside tomorrow. I also swapped out Zachary's summer for winter clothes. He immediately latched on to an Anakin Skywalker sweatshirt. Admission here – he is still wearing it. LOL. Tonight, I will have to pry it off of him so it can be washed. This time we had an abundance of pjs in the 'hand me down from brother's box'. A whole drawer is filled with one-piece, zip from foot to neck, jammies. I am so glad. Last year, every pj was a two piece sweatpants type. All the elastics were dead. You know, when you stretch the waistband they make this horrendous crakling noise and there is not a hint of snapping back to size. He also has a nice pair of snow pants. They are red and his winter jacket is green. Won't he look in the Christmas spirit? LOL.
Melody has been hinting at wanting a sewing machine for Christmas. About a month ago, she picked out a pattern and fabric. She was going to tackle a full body length outfit by hand sewn stitches. I went to look at sewing machines last week at WalMart. My but aren't they expensive. Yet they seemed so flimsy. Every one was plastic. Maybe I am spoiled. I have an ancient, older than I am, metal machine. It literally takes two arms to pull it up through the cabinet it is in. It so heavy. I haven't used it in more than four years. After replacing every rubber part on it, the tension control went wacky and would pinch the thread in place after every 10 seconds of sewing. I just basically let it sit unused, not really having an interest in any sewing projects beyond what hand sewing could handle. If we could get the machine working, I would just go ahead and let her have it now.
Yesterday evening, I pulled the machine out from its corner and heaved it out of its storage position. All the rubber still looked like brand new. I fiddled around with the tensioner anticipating that there would be no more progress than the past try which led to its demotion to 'relic in the corner' status. Within minutes I had everything operational. Wow, it was looking hopeful. I unrolled the coiled cord from its hiding place up under the cabinet. The cord felt weird, like that old elastic I mentioned a minute ago. The plastic felt so thin and stiff. John was on hold trying to get some assistance with a software program reinstall he is struggling with. I decided I would confirm the motor worked then not use it again until John took a look at it. It did, so I announced to Melody that she was to have a new piece of furniture in her room – surprise!
We moved it in to her room and I showed her how to load thread up into it. John came to look at the cord I was concerned about. Duh me, I had it plugged in assuming there was no danger so long as we didn't run the machine. He didn't realize it was plugged in (husbands should never assume that their wives know anything about electricity. LOL), so he began testing the integrity of the wire. A loud pow and light show later we were standing in the dark. John could have been electrocuted! Fortunately the breakers did their job and stopped the flow of electricity immediately upon the cord shorting.
One of the goodies John picked up in town today was a new cord. He had the sewing machine good as new before the sun was down. Melody's project is well under way now.
The March of the Penguins:
I was occupied with the older kids when John brought the videos home, and was looking for what to keep Zachary productively busy until I could help him with an educational program he was working on. This one looked like something educational and young-child friendly, so I popped it in wit the intention of leaving him to watch it alone. It didn't take long though before Melody and Timothy drifted in and started watching. I found myself sitting on the couch with Zach in my lap watching it too. It was incredibly interesting. I highly suggest looking to see if your own video store has it. Did you know that the mom and dad penguins take turns watching the egg/chick while the other takes a 70 mile march to get back to a food source. Once there it gorges on food then once again makes the long march back, 70 miles, to relieve its partner and be able to feed the chick from the stores in its stomach. The male, at one point, must keep the egg warm during the coldest stretches of south pole winter for over 100 days without food. It was really terrific. One warning though, though rated G, you will need to fast forward past the serious courtship phase. I have learned never to trust a nature show, so I had that remote at hand. LOL.
I got down the Christmas stuff yesterday and the boxes are sitting in the foyer awaiting the festooning of the tree – which seems perfect to do while snow is falling outside tomorrow. I also swapped out Zachary's summer for winter clothes. He immediately latched on to an Anakin Skywalker sweatshirt. Admission here – he is still wearing it. LOL. Tonight, I will have to pry it off of him so it can be washed. This time we had an abundance of pjs in the 'hand me down from brother's box'. A whole drawer is filled with one-piece, zip from foot to neck, jammies. I am so glad. Last year, every pj was a two piece sweatpants type. All the elastics were dead. You know, when you stretch the waistband they make this horrendous crakling noise and there is not a hint of snapping back to size. He also has a nice pair of snow pants. They are red and his winter jacket is green. Won't he look in the Christmas spirit? LOL.
Melody has been hinting at wanting a sewing machine for Christmas. About a month ago, she picked out a pattern and fabric. She was going to tackle a full body length outfit by hand sewn stitches. I went to look at sewing machines last week at WalMart. My but aren't they expensive. Yet they seemed so flimsy. Every one was plastic. Maybe I am spoiled. I have an ancient, older than I am, metal machine. It literally takes two arms to pull it up through the cabinet it is in. It so heavy. I haven't used it in more than four years. After replacing every rubber part on it, the tension control went wacky and would pinch the thread in place after every 10 seconds of sewing. I just basically let it sit unused, not really having an interest in any sewing projects beyond what hand sewing could handle. If we could get the machine working, I would just go ahead and let her have it now.
Yesterday evening, I pulled the machine out from its corner and heaved it out of its storage position. All the rubber still looked like brand new. I fiddled around with the tensioner anticipating that there would be no more progress than the past try which led to its demotion to 'relic in the corner' status. Within minutes I had everything operational. Wow, it was looking hopeful. I unrolled the coiled cord from its hiding place up under the cabinet. The cord felt weird, like that old elastic I mentioned a minute ago. The plastic felt so thin and stiff. John was on hold trying to get some assistance with a software program reinstall he is struggling with. I decided I would confirm the motor worked then not use it again until John took a look at it. It did, so I announced to Melody that she was to have a new piece of furniture in her room – surprise!
We moved it in to her room and I showed her how to load thread up into it. John came to look at the cord I was concerned about. Duh me, I had it plugged in assuming there was no danger so long as we didn't run the machine. He didn't realize it was plugged in (husbands should never assume that their wives know anything about electricity. LOL), so he began testing the integrity of the wire. A loud pow and light show later we were standing in the dark. John could have been electrocuted! Fortunately the breakers did their job and stopped the flow of electricity immediately upon the cord shorting.
One of the goodies John picked up in town today was a new cord. He had the sewing machine good as new before the sun was down. Melody's project is well under way now.
December 7, 2005: Timothy Made a Stop Motion Animation Today
Timothy made a neat animation today. It was stop motion. He set up the tripod with the digital camera. He posed 12 inch characters and changed their hands, arms, legs, and head position photo after photo. Then he imported the individual photos into Animation Shop (came with our Paintshop Pro 8). He blended them all together into a gif. It really amazes me what kids can do with the software that is so reasonably priced. I think we picked up Paint Shop Pro 8 for about $25 because it isn't the newest one out. We have several copies on several machines – it is on my Christmas wish list for my machine. It looks like so much fun I would like to get to play too. :0)
If you are still at a loss for a creative computer loving kid (or adult), I highly recommend the Paintshop Pro 8 with the Animation Shop included. My kids use theirs nearly every day! They are using it very heavily in their novel notebooks right now. The graphics look absolutely professional. So much better than the simple templates that I have been offering to them. I will try to post some pics soon. Right now I am heading out the door to pick up Melody and Gregory from the Christmas musical rehearsals. Melody is playing Mary and Gregory is a shepard.
If you are still at a loss for a creative computer loving kid (or adult), I highly recommend the Paintshop Pro 8 with the Animation Shop included. My kids use theirs nearly every day! They are using it very heavily in their novel notebooks right now. The graphics look absolutely professional. So much better than the simple templates that I have been offering to them. I will try to post some pics soon. Right now I am heading out the door to pick up Melody and Gregory from the Christmas musical rehearsals. Melody is playing Mary and Gregory is a shepard.
December 7, 2005: Is Santa Real?
Zachary and I had a cozy time this morning, just the two of us. The older kids slept in a bit and the house was quiet. He was in a particularly serious mood, and it didn't take long before he was asking questions about Santa Clause. I read the Polar Express to him last night to set the stage for him to see the movie today. It had his wheels really spinning. It didn't take too many questions from him to bring him to the one at the root of all the others. “Is Santa real?” I hate that question. Ever since Gregory asked it at 4 years old I have vowed to tell them the truth if they ask. Zachary at least made it to 5 years old before he asked it. I explained the St. Nicholas story and how it has been carried on as a myth ever since.
As soon as he seemed satisfied with my answers about Santa, I moved into discussing how Jesus is not a myth. I didn't want any confusion here. We were deep into some very heavy conversation at his own leading about death and heaven. Death has been a subject much on his young mind ever since John's dad passed away this last year. Like John's mom, who died before Zachary was born, Zachary never met him. He has reminders of the fact that they lived because here and there in the house are objects that we still link to them: the blue glass collection that was passed on for Melody to have when she is grown, a child sized rocker that Grandma Myrtle had as a little girl which is for Tim who was a wee tyke when she passed, a telescope from John's dad, toys that she kept at her home for the grandkids are now actively a part of his every day play. I even read Betty Matz'es description of heaven to him – the same part I posted here at the blog a few days ago. He seemed to pass from having a quiet fear of death to smiling and talking about how he had a guardian angel. We talked about Adam and Eve, the fall, and what Jesus did to fix it all so we could go to heaven too. He has been very happy and full of kisses, cuddles, and “love you” all day since our talk. We watched Polar Express and despite its Santa is real theme, he realized that it was just a part of the story.
As soon as he seemed satisfied with my answers about Santa, I moved into discussing how Jesus is not a myth. I didn't want any confusion here. We were deep into some very heavy conversation at his own leading about death and heaven. Death has been a subject much on his young mind ever since John's dad passed away this last year. Like John's mom, who died before Zachary was born, Zachary never met him. He has reminders of the fact that they lived because here and there in the house are objects that we still link to them: the blue glass collection that was passed on for Melody to have when she is grown, a child sized rocker that Grandma Myrtle had as a little girl which is for Tim who was a wee tyke when she passed, a telescope from John's dad, toys that she kept at her home for the grandkids are now actively a part of his every day play. I even read Betty Matz'es description of heaven to him – the same part I posted here at the blog a few days ago. He seemed to pass from having a quiet fear of death to smiling and talking about how he had a guardian angel. We talked about Adam and Eve, the fall, and what Jesus did to fix it all so we could go to heaven too. He has been very happy and full of kisses, cuddles, and “love you” all day since our talk. We watched Polar Express and despite its Santa is real theme, he realized that it was just a part of the story.
December 9, 2005: Computer Construction Now Under Way
John has the design made for our two new computer counters/centers and is getting and making the initial cuts on the wood today. Currently we have a messy looking hodge podge of computer desks in the dining/school room. Each one a different color and design. Not to mention my much longed for art table has been tied up for most of the last three years with computer duty. Yay, I will be drawing and painting again soon.
The design looks fantastic. Each of the two counters will will hold three computers each. I will be in the middle on the kitchen side with Tim's and Zach's system on each side of me. Yes, Zachary will benefit from the trickle down hardware and now have his own dedicated system for Christmas. He is going to be so excited. He doesn't have to beg onto John's or my system now. On the opposite wall will be the counter with Melody's, Gregory's, and the family system (the only system we focus on keeping current w/ technology – though the left-overs after an upgrade trickle down the line to the older systems).
It will all look so unified and uncluttered. Lots of storage is a part of the design. No more will some of us have to store all of our computer gear right on the surface of the desks making for the messy look we have right now. Yay, I will finally feel like the room we live in the most looks clean and neat!
Between the major upheavel while the computer centers are being installed and the fact that our entire Christmas this year is upgrade oriented (can't put it under the tree when it is in the computer), I am considering us all taking a computer fast for the week(s) prior to Christmas. That is going to be a hard thing around here. LOL. Both school and free time are heavily invested in computer-oriented activities for every family member. But, it will make Christmas morning's gift giving all that more special. I want to fill the fast with lots of special fun, togetherness, real Christmas meaning, and the boys (and we gals) learning some carpentry skills.
Between all of Gregory's hard work that he has put into getting all the upgrade and trickle down hardware installed and John's hard work with making the centers, we are going to have a fantastic setup here. How very blessed we are that the two of them have invested in learning the practical skills of life. And how blessed we are that the Lord has provided us with the materials to do so. The project was almost dropped altogether when Melody's oral surgery bill made buying the wood to make the center this year out of the question. Just this week, a stack of 14 sheets of 4 by 8 feet white melamine countertop came available – free! Our God is an AWESOME God!
The design looks fantastic. Each of the two counters will will hold three computers each. I will be in the middle on the kitchen side with Tim's and Zach's system on each side of me. Yes, Zachary will benefit from the trickle down hardware and now have his own dedicated system for Christmas. He is going to be so excited. He doesn't have to beg onto John's or my system now. On the opposite wall will be the counter with Melody's, Gregory's, and the family system (the only system we focus on keeping current w/ technology – though the left-overs after an upgrade trickle down the line to the older systems).
It will all look so unified and uncluttered. Lots of storage is a part of the design. No more will some of us have to store all of our computer gear right on the surface of the desks making for the messy look we have right now. Yay, I will finally feel like the room we live in the most looks clean and neat!
Between the major upheavel while the computer centers are being installed and the fact that our entire Christmas this year is upgrade oriented (can't put it under the tree when it is in the computer), I am considering us all taking a computer fast for the week(s) prior to Christmas. That is going to be a hard thing around here. LOL. Both school and free time are heavily invested in computer-oriented activities for every family member. But, it will make Christmas morning's gift giving all that more special. I want to fill the fast with lots of special fun, togetherness, real Christmas meaning, and the boys (and we gals) learning some carpentry skills.
Between all of Gregory's hard work that he has put into getting all the upgrade and trickle down hardware installed and John's hard work with making the centers, we are going to have a fantastic setup here. How very blessed we are that the two of them have invested in learning the practical skills of life. And how blessed we are that the Lord has provided us with the materials to do so. The project was almost dropped altogether when Melody's oral surgery bill made buying the wood to make the center this year out of the question. Just this week, a stack of 14 sheets of 4 by 8 feet white melamine countertop came available – free! Our God is an AWESOME God!
December 11, 2005: Sunday and Filled with Anticipation
I am at home with our younger two kids while John and the older two have gone on to church this morning. The wood is cut for the computer center and it is teasing me from under the plastic on the porch. We are waiting for hardware to arrive via UPS before the next phase can occur. I am sooo excited about soon getting my art table back from computer duty, I can just about taste it. What a wonderful Christmas gift to be able to get back to painting again.
December 13, 2005: My Studio Gallery Is Now Open
Well, my art table is now an art table instead of a computer desk. Yipee! Its new availablity has spurred me to go ahead with a dream of mine – to turn the foyer into a studio gallery. Not that I am going to have a ton of admirers stroll through, but it is so nice to feel like I have a specific art-space of my own.
December 15, 2005: Free Pencil Portrait
I was browsing through Flickr and came across an excellent pencil portrait artist that holds a raffle every two weeks to give away a free pencil portrait of a jpeg you submit. It will be a printable scan of the portrait so you can print it out on your home computer. I guess if you liked it really well, you could buy the original pencil and have it shipped to you.
What a neat idea! I have been thinking about how badly I need the drawing practice after being away from drawing and painting for most of the last 3 or 4 years. Not to mention, those 12 foot tall foyer walls are desperately empty. My original portrait market has bound to have gone cold by now as most of the orders I took before dropping commissions four years ago were from Greenville, SC. That is 780 miles away – we moved from SC to Arkansas in 1997. I doubt that I am going to be doing that kind of traveling any time soon. LOL. So, I am going to try raffles too.
What a neat idea! I have been thinking about how badly I need the drawing practice after being away from drawing and painting for most of the last 3 or 4 years. Not to mention, those 12 foot tall foyer walls are desperately empty. My original portrait market has bound to have gone cold by now as most of the orders I took before dropping commissions four years ago were from Greenville, SC. That is 780 miles away – we moved from SC to Arkansas in 1997. I doubt that I am going to be doing that kind of traveling any time soon. LOL. So, I am going to try raffles too.
December 17, 2005: KentuckyJourney Won. See the Portrait Progress
Kim (kentuckyjourney) won the first portrait raffle. Here are a few scans showing the portrait in progress. I should be able to finish it by tomorrow. That means I will be drawing another name for a portrait with the possibility that a second one might be finished before Christmas. If you haven't already entered, send in your photo by Monday morning (next raffle drawing date).
If anyone knows how I can post the in-progress pictures as a java script slide show, let me know. I think a slideshow progression would be so cool. :0)
If anyone knows how I can post the in-progress pictures as a java script slide show, let me know. I think a slideshow progression would be so cool. :0)
December 19, 2005: Pictures of the Kids in the Christmas Play
Our church Christmas play was last night. All the kids did a great job! My favorite one of Melody in her role as Mary:
December 21, 2005: Well, We Have the Holiday Bug
No, not the bug like 'Oh I am so glad it is the holidays', rather it is the sickness kind.
Melody is deep in the throws of it right now. Thankfully it didn't hit her Sunday night when she was performing as Mary in the play, but almost 24 hours later she was at the youth Christmas party and felt really tired and dizzy during it and thought it was because she didn't get much sleep the night before. By the time I picked Gregory and Melody up, she was so dizzy she had to be held up with me on one side and another adult on the other to get her to the car. Not just spotting her in case she would fall, but full weight, she would be flat on the ground without it support. She has been resting since then – when she is not stuck in the bathroom being ill. She has been running a high fever, which is very rare with her. John just called with a reminder to keep her drinking liquids because he heard that several people at work have ended up in the hospital with dehydration with this stuff. Melody has been there and done that before. I don't think any of us would care for a repeat of that experience.
Oh, I hope everyone will be well for Christmas day. Of all the days to be sick, it is no fun being sick on Christmas or a birthday.
Melody is deep in the throws of it right now. Thankfully it didn't hit her Sunday night when she was performing as Mary in the play, but almost 24 hours later she was at the youth Christmas party and felt really tired and dizzy during it and thought it was because she didn't get much sleep the night before. By the time I picked Gregory and Melody up, she was so dizzy she had to be held up with me on one side and another adult on the other to get her to the car. Not just spotting her in case she would fall, but full weight, she would be flat on the ground without it support. She has been resting since then – when she is not stuck in the bathroom being ill. She has been running a high fever, which is very rare with her. John just called with a reminder to keep her drinking liquids because he heard that several people at work have ended up in the hospital with dehydration with this stuff. Melody has been there and done that before. I don't think any of us would care for a repeat of that experience.
Oh, I hope everyone will be well for Christmas day. Of all the days to be sick, it is no fun being sick on Christmas or a birthday.
December 28, 2005: Happy 42 to Me
Today is my birthday. I am not ashamed to be moving through my 40's. As a matter of fact, this is a great decade to enjoy. My oldest kiddos are old enough that I can smile as I see the fruit of the years of labor throughout their childhood, and I have their help with the youngest who is just starting out on the homeschool adventure – 13 years of homeschooling done and 13 more years to go. :0) How very blessed I am!
What wisdom has 42 years of life and 13 years of homeschooling brought me? A recognition of how lucky I am and how wondeful these child-rearing years are. Though full of labor, the reward is great. Though full of uncertainty, the presence of the Lord is ever realized. Though focused on the microscopic details of the present, the telescopic target of the future is ever in view all forming one seamless whole. I get to be such a big part of my children's lives unfolding. How can I feel anything other than a profound sense of awe and gratitude?
What wisdom has 42 years of life and 13 years of homeschooling brought me? A recognition of how lucky I am and how wondeful these child-rearing years are. Though full of labor, the reward is great. Though full of uncertainty, the presence of the Lord is ever realized. Though focused on the microscopic details of the present, the telescopic target of the future is ever in view all forming one seamless whole. I get to be such a big part of my children's lives unfolding. How can I feel anything other than a profound sense of awe and gratitude?
December 28, 2005: Holiday Week Update
We have been so busy this last week that I haven' been able to make daily entries. Here is what happened Christmas Eve -
Christmas Eve Morning Delivery of Surprise Computer Parts:
Some good homeschool friends of ours arrived with big boxes of used computer hardware to give Gregory. The parts were rejects from a local private school that probably needed the space much more than the parts. He will be able to get two full, powerful systems up and running with a minimal investment in bought parts. One will replace Greg's machine and one will replace Melody's machine. These two older machines Gregory can then sell to infuse his computer business with seed money to get two additonal partial systems up and running that he can sell. We have always told the kids that by 18 and graduation they will have to work to 'pay rent'. Actually 'rent' is really just a forced savings account which they will recieve when they move out on their own and need it to set up their first household. I remember moving out on my own with $2000 of saved earnings. Wow! Was I amazed at how fast that disappered into deposits, kitchenware, bed, curtains, etc. Gregory should have his business pretty well ready to go by graduation. Until then, the family sure is benefitting from his learning and he will have a valuable skill and a good savings account to set up with when he is ready to fly from the nest.
Christmas Eve Get Together With My Aunt and Uncle:
Uncle Bill and Aunt Ruth visited with us. We had a great time talking and eating. They haven't seen the older kids in 4 years and kept remarking about how much all the kids have grown. It was their first time to ever see our house. Aunt Ruth loved it and went on and on about how lucky we were to get it and how nice it is. I felt so sorry for her. She so longs to have a house. They have always lived in a trailer and like most trailers with that much age it is needing either a major remodeling or demolision. They came so close to getting my grandparent's house a few years ago which was right next door to them. Before Mammaw passed away it was commonly discussed that Bill and Ruth would live it the house until they passed away and it would go back to the other siblings to split the property because Bill and Ruth had no heirs. But such an arrangement was not specified in Mammaw's will and even though all siblings but one wanted to go with letting Bill and Ruth live in the house, all it takes is one to force the property into auction. Bill and Ruth didn't have enough money to have the winning bid and lost the opportunity to keep the house in the family. The winning bid went to the more wealthy holdout of the siblings who openly admitted to wanting to sell the property for a profit. Shameful! What brings even more shame is that the outbidder who wanted the profit is none other than my own parents. Though Bill and Ruth have never treated me or my family any differently than before all this happened, I still feel ashamed of my parent's greed and lack of mercy. I was keenly aware of all this while they were with us Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve Finish Up on the First Computer Center:
John has been working so hard to get the computer centers in place. He worked all day on the 23rd to make sure that the first one would definitely be finished for Christmas morning. Most of it was finished that day with the details finished off on Christmas Eve before Bill and Ruth arrived. You can see a picture of it on Zachary's blog (he got a computer for Christmas) that shows the finished center on the south side of the room. A duplicate center is under construction for the north side of the room.
Christmas Eve Morning Delivery of Surprise Computer Parts:
Some good homeschool friends of ours arrived with big boxes of used computer hardware to give Gregory. The parts were rejects from a local private school that probably needed the space much more than the parts. He will be able to get two full, powerful systems up and running with a minimal investment in bought parts. One will replace Greg's machine and one will replace Melody's machine. These two older machines Gregory can then sell to infuse his computer business with seed money to get two additonal partial systems up and running that he can sell. We have always told the kids that by 18 and graduation they will have to work to 'pay rent'. Actually 'rent' is really just a forced savings account which they will recieve when they move out on their own and need it to set up their first household. I remember moving out on my own with $2000 of saved earnings. Wow! Was I amazed at how fast that disappered into deposits, kitchenware, bed, curtains, etc. Gregory should have his business pretty well ready to go by graduation. Until then, the family sure is benefitting from his learning and he will have a valuable skill and a good savings account to set up with when he is ready to fly from the nest.
Christmas Eve Get Together With My Aunt and Uncle:
Uncle Bill and Aunt Ruth visited with us. We had a great time talking and eating. They haven't seen the older kids in 4 years and kept remarking about how much all the kids have grown. It was their first time to ever see our house. Aunt Ruth loved it and went on and on about how lucky we were to get it and how nice it is. I felt so sorry for her. She so longs to have a house. They have always lived in a trailer and like most trailers with that much age it is needing either a major remodeling or demolision. They came so close to getting my grandparent's house a few years ago which was right next door to them. Before Mammaw passed away it was commonly discussed that Bill and Ruth would live it the house until they passed away and it would go back to the other siblings to split the property because Bill and Ruth had no heirs. But such an arrangement was not specified in Mammaw's will and even though all siblings but one wanted to go with letting Bill and Ruth live in the house, all it takes is one to force the property into auction. Bill and Ruth didn't have enough money to have the winning bid and lost the opportunity to keep the house in the family. The winning bid went to the more wealthy holdout of the siblings who openly admitted to wanting to sell the property for a profit. Shameful! What brings even more shame is that the outbidder who wanted the profit is none other than my own parents. Though Bill and Ruth have never treated me or my family any differently than before all this happened, I still feel ashamed of my parent's greed and lack of mercy. I was keenly aware of all this while they were with us Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve Finish Up on the First Computer Center:
John has been working so hard to get the computer centers in place. He worked all day on the 23rd to make sure that the first one would definitely be finished for Christmas morning. Most of it was finished that day with the details finished off on Christmas Eve before Bill and Ruth arrived. You can see a picture of it on Zachary's blog (he got a computer for Christmas) that shows the finished center on the south side of the room. A duplicate center is under construction for the north side of the room.