A busy weekend!

Today we went to a friends soccer game. He is 7, so it was pretty funny to watch. Afterwards, we hung out at their house. They live at the lake, so the weather was perfect - when it wasn't raining. Tomorrow we are heading back to their house to help them take a fence out.

Yesterday we helped Marty's boss pack his moving truck. Ok, I didn't really help... more stood there and inserted sarcasm whenever possible, but Christian helped. He was paid a nice bundle of cash, and for my services I was given a pedestal table with four chairs, and four nice lamps (two table and 2 floor.) Later in the day he called and offered us the contents of his freezer. All hormone free meat... about 20 lbs worth. Not bad for a morning of perfecting my craft.



Last night was another 4H pool party. We have a pool, they need a pool... it all works out. Just the right amount of people came... not so many that the pool was crowded, but enough that they weren't bored. There was plenty of pizza and more chubby 10-13 year old butt cracks than I care to think about. (The last pool party, Christian was one of only three kids that we didn't have to yell "Pull your pants up!" each time they got out of the pool.)

Jailbreak!

The other day Ethan asked me if i have ever been arrested. He was shocked when I told him no. He said he thought everyone had been arrested at least once in their life. "I'm still young" was all I could manage to say before he said the following gem:

"When I get older, I am going to keep a separate ING account for bail money, just in case I get arrested."

Makes a mother proud...

A math lesson

Ethan + Skateboard - Helmet + Concrete = one worried/pissed off mom driving to the emergency room.

He is fine, but will be a little sore for the night. He was lectured by every hospital employee he came into contact with about not wearing a helmet. He is also grounded from his skateboard and bike for what is as of yet an undecided amount of time, because in our house the rule is if you are on a skateboard you have on a helmet and wrist guards, minimum.

Liviu Librescu

I was going to post about Liviu Librescu, the professor from Virginia Tech who barricaded the door to his classroom - using his own body - to keep a madman out. (As a result, his entire class lived.) But for the first time in a long time, words fail me. I can't imagine what I would do in the same situation.

I agree with Carin. There needs to be more talk about the heroes on the VT campus and less talk of the monster who did this.

Ethics question

Here in Michigan we have a item pricing law - usually just called the scanner or scan law that guarantees the item will scan at the right price or you receive the difference plus a reward. The reward is 10 times the difference not less than $1.00 or more than $5.00. If you buy multiple items you only get the reward for one item, but you will get the difference between actual and marked price.

Now, my question is this: Is it ethical to buy multiple items knowing they are marked wrong? You know you won't receive the reward, but you will get the item at the lower price. I guess the next logical question is - is it ethical to buy the item knowing it has just been mislabeled and then ask for the reward?

The reason I ask is because last night I bought Meijer Brand organic grade A maple syrup. The marked price was $3.89, but the tag said $5.49 - obviously a mislabeled item. When I went to the customer service desk to claim my reward, the customer service woman said "Wow! At that price you should run back and get more before they change it!"

A weekend recap

Yesterday we went with our 4H group on a chartered bus to Cabela's. It was a great trip, except that I get very, very bad motion sickness. I will spare you all of the details, but will say that there was no way in hell I was getting back on that bus. A friend ended up picking up my van and coming to get us. We didn't get home until 9:30 PM and were exhausted! (We left the house at 7:15 AM.)

Today we are just hanging out around the house. I have some cleaning to do (weekly stuff) but that shouldn't take more than 1/2 hour. Getting off my butt and starting is going to take longer than doing it.

Christian got tired of the snacks in the house (apples and pop corn) so he is making no bake cookies. I know I need to go to the grocery store but geeze. LOL

Some school planning and research is about the extent of my exciting Sunday plans.

How about you?

Me, happy? Nah!

Yesterday I was flipping through the channels and came across Oprah. I don't normally watch Oprah but the subject intrigued me. How Happy Are You?

I seem to spend most of my day pissed off at one thing or another*, so I took the Satisfaction with Life Quiz fully expecting to be told that I need to be medicated.

Your total score: 30

Are you effing kidding me???

The little blurb they gave with the results was very telling.

If you scored 15 or under, you are dissatisfied with your life. If you scored 31 or higher, you are extremely satisfied with your life.

If you scored somewhere in the middle, happiness expert Dr. Robert Holden has some advice on how to live a more satisfying life. Dr. Holden says the key to being happy is overcoming "destination addiction," which he defines as "living in the not-now."

"It's always about tomorrow, so you're chasing 'more,' 'next' and 'there,'" he says. "You promise yourself that when you get there, you'll be happy. And I promise you, you won't, because you'll always set another destination to go for."

Instead, Dr. Holden says if you are unhappy with your life or looking to improve your score, there are two things you can do. "We have to learn to let go of our past, we have to give up all hopes for a perfect past. Let the past go, it's gone." After that, he says, "Take a vow of kindness. Be kinder to yourself and to others.

"It's never too late to be happy," he says.

I have spent my life saying "as soon as I..." and have missed so much! "As soon as I lose X pounds, I will swim with my kids!" or even silly things like "As soon as I can speak French fluently I will buy that great movie!" or "As soon as my house is organized, I will decorate it!" GGRRRRR!!!
Maybe it is because I am getting older, but I have slowly come to realize that if you are always putting off happiness until *whatever*, it will never happen. Corney but true.

Our plan is to head to Hawaii as soon as the kids are on their own, established in their own lives. I am not waiting for "retirement" to live my life. I am not going to take the chance that one of us dies before we really get to live the life we want. We are (for the most part) living the life we want to NOW. With a few exceptions (like location! lol), our lives are exactly where we want them to be, if we could do it all over again.

*Ok, I don't really spend most of my day pissed off. I promise. I used to be quite a bitch, though. It has really been within the last year or so that it *clicked* and I finally decided I didn't want to be the bitch anymore.

The boys and I were chatting the other day about Anthony LaCalamita (the guy from Troy who shot to death one person and injured two others Monday at accounting firm from which he was fired last week.) We were talking about how someone could get so mad that picking up a gun seemed like a good choice. I don't know. I told them that I have never been so mad that picking up a gun (or baseball bat or whatever) seemed like a good idea. The fact that the news reports are calling him a "a man with a troubled past of suicide attempts and mental illness" isn't really a surprise, is it?

Enough Already!

We have a winter storm warning in effect until 2AM.

I love dental insurance!

Alex went to the dentist this morning. He is now the proud owner of 1/3 of a root canal. He has 2 more appointments over the next two weeks that should take care of it, and then a few more for a crown. The dentist said his teeth look "great!" except for this one, so that is good to know.

By the way - I love dental insurance! I have always felt stupid paying for dental insurance that we don't use beyond normal maintenance stuff. Today, I am getting my money back. Root canal, crown and other miscellaneous stuff = $1697.00. My total out of pocket expense = 635.50. Oh yeah!

Anyway, back to our normal, boring day. School, chores, maybe the pool. Marty is off today, so he is only going in to work for a few hours. (Can you sense my eyes rolling? They are, believe me.)


It is a whopping 36° right now, so of course I am freezing. Maybe we should ditch school and head to the hot tub? Yeah, I wish!

Another small town rant

It has been a while, you knew it was coming...

Alex woke up with a toothache and we have a brand spankin' new insurance company so today I tried to find a new Dentist. Not a problem... the town is full of them. Finding a Dentist that is in network, however, is a whole 'nother story. There are two, and they are both in the same office. Neither of them are accepting new patients. Wonderful!

I found a dentist through a friend. Not in network, but they can get him in at 8am tomorrow, and will only have me pay 20% until they bill my insurance company. Cleaning, exam, x-rays are covered at 100%, but they will only pay the "going rate" based on the Dr's zip code. So if he charges $100 and they have determined that most dentists in the area charge $80, I have to pay the additional $20. Is that normal? I have either been incredibly lucky or incredibly blind to our coverage before.

I managed to find two Family Practice Doctors in town, but don't even get me started about hospitals. There is a perfectly good (in fact great) hospital a few blocks from us. Not in network. I have to drive to Bay City to get a hospital in network. We only go to the hospital in emergency situations (like most sane people) so I can't see us driving to Bay City for an emergency.

Rant over... maybe.

Spring and Summer school plans

So far Spring is shaping up to be just as boring as winter. Of course it still seems like winter, so that may have something to do with it.

Math
Alex will be chugging along with BCM. He should have been done with it a while ago but I let him whine about needing more practice (read: not wanting to move on) too many times. Sigh. When it comes to math I suck, I know.

Christian is chugging along with Algebra. 100% on his test today, thankyouverymuch. Yeah, I know. Algebra in 9th grade?!? I suck with accountability in math, remember?

Ethan will probably start BCM next week. He and I had so much fun doing other things for math this year we didn't bother to do a formal program. Oops! The good news is, he has done most of it so will fly through it. The bad news is that I am always willing to set math aside for history, reading or just about anything else.

History
Alex and Ethan are still working in Kingfisher. So far we have just read and read about each topic, but I think I am going to start making them write a page about each topic ala TWTM. I was going to get History Odyssey because it looked so darn fun, but I am tired of buying a program, using half of it and then changing my mind and buying something else. We will probably just stick with Kingfisher, but follow TWTM recommendations more closely. Next fall I will probably take a break from Kingfisher and do a unit on US history, using the Hakim series and the Sonlight core.

Christian is doing great with Spielvogel. He says he hates it, but will be the first to admit that he has learned more than with any other book/method. He particularly hates the "civilization worksheet" because it forces him to dig deeper into each culture. I am using lesson plans that Virginia Dawn wrote and they are fab. I hope I can talk her into sending me the next set she wrote.

Language Arts
Yet another subject that I don't really hold them accountable in. (Are you sensing the theme here?) We need to step up to the plate, get our butts into gear and finish what we started. It seems like if we are focusing on one thing (legible handwriting, for example) all other things under the LA umbrella fall to the wayside.

Science
I need to figure out what to do with Christian once he finishes up Biology (any day now.) I was planning to use Astronomy: A Self-Teaching Guide but the reviews on TWTM high school board haven't been favorable. I will see if I can get it from ILL and see if we like it.

Alex and Ethan are still using the Prentice Hall Science Explorer series (currently Chemical Building Blocks.) I am going to stick with this series until we are done with all of them. They like it. I like it. It is cheap. Perfect!

Electives/Other Stuff
Various boys will start and/or finish various programs like geography, logic and art.

Our last official archery meeting is tomorrow, but there will be plenty of practices before competition.

Instead of summer camp Ethan and I are going to do our own homemade cheap summer camp. Using this really cool site that Cindy found we will work through the Ecology Box. Once we are done with that we might move on to others. A few friends will join us, so hopefully I don't mess it up!

Christian is applying for a job at the bike shop. When we were in there getting something fixed, the guy behind the counter mentioned to Christian that they hire a bunch of high school kids during the summer to work on bikes and clean up (and from what I can tell from being in there during the summer - hang out) and that he should apply. He thought about it and decided he wanted to, so he picked up the application a few days ago. Now Alex wants a job, of course, but will have to wait another year.

The boys will continue to work on their afternoon projects once they decide what they will be. All three of them decided they want to build something (Christian and Ethan want to build a half pipe) or take something apart (an engine.) Not quite what I had in mind for all of them, so we will see.

We will start Field Trip Friday again, once it is warm enough for me to leave the house without whining. (At this rate, mid-July...) We have a big list of places to check out, so it should be fun.

Toss in a vacation up north, a week at the county fair (free in Midland county!) a few trips to Ohio and various Detroit friends visiting, and a change in the weather and it should shape up to be a full and fun summer!

No Easter for YOU!

We all slept in (and by all I mean everyone but Marty.) Marty was off to work early. Hopefully they won't get too busy and he can get out of there at a descent time. Fingers crossed.

The boys are chowing down on candy and watching movies. There isn't much candy, so it should be gone soon.

Graduation party last night was fun. The boys had a great time and I got to sit and talk to real live adults! I had heard a rumor that such a creature existed, and now I have proof!

I talked to Sydney this morning. The Easter Bunny is coming to visit twice. I said it must be because she was extra good. Her reply? "I stayed in bed all night!" When you are three that truly is something to celebrate.

The ham is in the roaster, the kids are all sugared up, and it isn't snowing. What more could I ask for?

Happy Easter, everyone!

Lial's Math

Someone posted a question in my comments section about why I like Lial's math. The question was asked this past week on a post from 2004, so I suspect they found it through a Google search.

The question:

Hey....what is your big deal with the Lial texts? why do you like them for homeschooling? I have heard other homeschoolers go on about the Lial texts. Are her texts really better for HSing? why?

My answer:

I can't say if Lial texts are better for homeschooling, but what I can say is that they are the best I have found for our homeschooling.

I like that they start at the beginning, assuming no previous math knowledge. Seriously - Lesson 1.1 in BCM is Reading and writing whole numbers as in:

The decimal system of writing numbers uses ten digits

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

to write any number. For example, these digits can be used to write the whole numbers:

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

and so on.

This math-phobic mom loves that the book teaches to the kid. It doesn't expect me to teach it to them. For the kids that need a teacher, there are also DVT's (Digital Video Tutors) that walk them through a lesson, with a teacher standing at a white board working out the problems.

Older editions of the books are available used for very little. (I think I spent $3 for BCM.) The DVT's can often be found used, but even new are only $35.

We use the Student text, solutions manual and DVT. (I told you I was math-phobic!) We rarely pulled the DVT's out for BCM, but as we progress through the series we have used them more and more.

The only complaint I have about Lial's is that it glosses over long division. That was easily solved with extra practice using worksheets. For other times that we have needed extra practice we have used worksheets or the Key To series.

Happy Weekend, Everybunny!

I am sitting here listening to Hawaiian music, sipping Iced Tea, pretending it isn't 20° and snowing outside. It is working pretty well, until one of the kids says "Look at all of the snow flakes!" or "Look Mom, it is 80° in Honolulu!" Brats. All of 'em.

Marty has to work tomorrow so we are just going to hang out at home and eat all day. We will probably end up watching movies with some random video game play thrown in for good measure. We might go to his restaurant for dinner, depending how busy they are. I have a feeling they will be packed, but they have no idea. (Last year they were new, so they were always busy.) The pool is closed, so there goes my other big plan for the day.

Tonight we are going to a homeschool 8th grade graduation party. Luckily they have a big house because it is SNOWING. In APRIL. Damn global warming isn't moving fast enough for me. I blame Andre and all of the other Germans who don't use plastic bags.

Solution

Ok, just remember that I said it was a solution, not necessarily a good solution.

Basically, we are going to spend the morning working on what I want them to work on and then the afternoon working on what they want to. I'm not sure what, but they will each have something to work on. Alex's will have to do with "outer space stuff" and Christian's will probably have to do with one of the careers he is interested in - like finding him someone he can apprentice with or a project like building a piece of furniture or rebuilding an engine or something. (He is interested in either woodworking or auto mechanics.) Not sure about Ethan yet. He needs to decide what he wants to do. If he doesn't pick something, I will choose for him. I agree - kids need to learn things that they are not interested in. How many of us would really sit through math if we didn't have to? LOL

I am sure none of you know this, but I am a teensy weensy bit of a control freak. I know. Hard to believe. I need to lighten the heck up. This all started when the neighbor across the cul-de-sac asked me if I would be willing to talk to her daughter about homeschooling. She mentioned that her granddaughter was losing her love of learning and her creativity because of school. (Her grandson is however thriving.) After talking to her I started to wonder if I wasn't doing the same thing to my kids.

It doesn't help that Christian still isn't sure what he is interested in as a career. As his mom I say "Who cares? He is only 15!" But as his "teacher" I think "Geeze! How am I going to prepare him for whatever he chooses if he doesn't choose?" When we have discussed it I have told him that as long as he makes enough money to support his family and is happy with his choice, I will be happy. Hopefully, that is true.

Something to think about

Since we can’t know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead, we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned.
- John Holt

When we first started homeschooling, one of the goals we had for the boys was to create a lifelong love of learning. Our goal has never changed, but somehow over the years we have forgotten about it and instead just focused on checking things of an arbitrary list of what happens to be the current educational trend.

Now, the question is... what do I do now? How do I get away from the list and make learning exciting? I am not naive enough to think learning has to be fun and exciting all of the time, but damn it, there are kids I am talking about. My kids. Why can't learning be fun and exciting? Why can't they spend their time learning what they want to, and not what their crazy, stressed out, checklist loving mom thinks they need to?

I have asked them what they want to study. Christian says "nothing," Ethan stares at me in disbelief, and Alex says the same thing he always says when I ask "About stars and planets. You know, outer space stuff." We just finished studying "outer space stuff" but I guess that wasn't enough. He needs more. But "outer space stuff" is checked off of my list, so we must move on...

So far, Christian is interested in two careers, neither of which would require college. Do I push him and make him go, because we want for him what we didn't have? Marty's goal for them is to not have to work as hard as he does and have a job they love. My goal for them is to make enough money to support their families while doing what they love. If that means collecting garbage or working as a restaurant manager (God help them) then so be it.

Well, if you are still here after my incoherent ramblings, any advice is welcomed. In fact, if you could see me you would see that I am on my knees begging for advice.

Visitors and cleaning the garage

We had a good time with my brother & SIL. They didn't have to leave until Monday night so we weren't rushed and were able to just hang out and do fun stuff. There was lots of swimming, a trip to the skate park to watch Ethan skate, playing at the park, a trip to Dow Gardens for the Butterfly show and of course, dinner at uncle Marty's work. There is something about throwing peanut shells on the floor that a 3 year old can't resist.

I got to send my scrapbooking stuff home with my SIL. I am glad it is with someone who will use it, instead of just glaring at it as a reminder of how much money I spent on a hobby I am just too unmotivated and untalented to enjoy.

Today will be spent looking over school plans for the summer, spring cleaning the garage and catching up on laundry.

I have a few totes of stuff in the garage that I decided I either need to use or get rid of. I am not going to save things for "when the kids are older" or "when we paint" or whatever lame excuses I have used in the past. When I was growing up, my dad collected all kinds of nice things, but stored them "until we buy a house." My parents never bought a house, so the things just sat in boxes in the basement. After my dad died, my mom just gave most of it away, because it was too hard to go through it all. I'm not going to live like that. So what if the antique plate gets chipped or the *whatever* gets broken? It will get broken being used and enjoyed. So there.