tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87437393420472606482012-02-01T09:49:18.691-08:00Ramblings of an eclectic homeschooling mom of two munchkins, living in the great PNW.Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.comBlogger2361100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-42777080488332897082011-04-28T08:32:00.000-07:002011-04-28T08:35:10.538-07:00

One of the best articles I've seen in quite sometime, regarding home schooling...Meet My Teachers: Mom and Dad

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-14088809304266406532010-10-01T09:02:00.000-07:002010-10-01T09:11:54.510-07:00

A number of my facebook friends are really into making smoothies for their families. They put all kinds of stuff in their smoothies... like kale, and other stuff that was never found in my Orange Julius as a kid.At any rate, all the smoothie talk has encouraged me to try smoothies with my own kids. Little Brother is a hard-sell - he's not keen on the texture and temperature of smoothies. Not

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-69718413407494096872010-09-21T12:40:00.000-07:002010-09-21T13:13:53.748-07:00

Today the kids and I participated in the International Day of Peace by making our own pinwheels, and sharing our wishes for peace.I found out about the Pinwheels for Peace Project in an email I had received from our local Girl Scout council, and I really liked the idea of incorporating this hands-on project into our discussion of peace. The concept of "peace" can be polarizing from a political

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-60251301505195784862010-08-28T08:52:00.000-07:002010-08-28T09:36:47.029-07:00

After a busy summer that did not go according to plan in the slightest, we started a fresh school year this past Monday. I'd had high hopes of doing school a few days/week through most of the summer, to keep the kids fresh and in somewhat of a routine, but for a variety of reasons that just didn't happen.August was a busy month, prior to the start of school. The kids and I spent the first week at

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-56776841711902985442010-06-25T13:45:00.000-07:002010-06-25T14:05:33.621-07:00

Anyone who knows me, knows that this question surely couldn't be about me, as I have heartily embraced Facebook and espouse it's benefits regularly. No, this question applies to my daughter, and others in the "under 13" set.Facebook's policies state that no one under the age of 13 is permitted to have an account on their site. Many parents do allow their children to have an account at a younger

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-71760186612077303162010-06-15T08:32:00.000-07:002010-06-15T09:19:45.380-07:00

I knew we were coming into the end of May because I started re-evaluating all of our homeschooling materials and methods. I do this every year at this time! It's, not that I do it intentionally - I don't have "Have a Homeschooling Life Crisis" marked on the calendar, but it seems to happen to me every year around this time. I find myself noticing everything that my kids do NOT know, and trying

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-73141657419561373372010-05-19T18:25:00.000-07:002010-05-20T07:58:23.689-07:00

Our backyard that is. We've finally started a "Rivers" unit study that I wrote a few years ago (which I have posted on a blog somewhere on the internet, but can't locate at the moment). On the schedule for tomorrow was to "build a model river", which I hadn't really worked out the details of, but was getting inspiration from this webpage. Presented with exceptionally gorgeous weather this

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-30528403411625940182010-05-18T22:41:00.000-07:002010-05-18T22:56:24.182-07:00

At today's aikido class, Little Brother was honored with The Purple Stripe. The elusive purple stripe was mentioned in a class a few months ago. It is bestowed upon a student who shows good leadership and acts as a good example for others in class. Ever since he heard about, Brother has had his goal set on earning that purple stripe. He was so proud of himself when he told me about it. He

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-81651107332363295212010-05-17T06:23:00.000-07:002010-05-17T08:14:12.898-07:00

I'm a little embarassed that I've gone so long since my last blog post! Time to dust things off over here, I guess!Shall we step into the Dolphin Valley Academy time machine and go back in time to what's been happening these past few months?February 2010:We started out the month celebrating Little Brother's 7th birthday! He had his first friend party ever, and it was a lot of fun. He had three

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-82034045653168692612010-01-26T08:20:00.000-08:002010-01-26T08:37:43.402-08:00

All is well! We're just keeping busy. We all survived the flu in December, recovering in time to enjoy the holidays.Big Sister continues to read voraciously. She's struggling with rote memorization of math facts, so we continue to plug away in the math book while doing daily times table review. This makes her scowl, but she admits it's needed at this point. She's also doing daily journal

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-54190348693299385932009-12-01T10:10:00.000-08:002009-12-01T10:13:11.465-08:00

When I sent Little Brother off to get dressed this morning, he came out dressed in a hand-me-down bat costume. No problem!

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-42889478395819736332009-11-25T07:13:00.000-08:002009-11-25T07:57:38.667-08:00

Pathetic, eh? Doing a single post for an entire month? It turns out that between homeschooling, driving kids all over, and too much time spent on Facebook, my little blog suffers. Here's what we've been up to...Big Sister's Spanish class had a Dia de los Muertos celebration, complete with sugar skulls, pan de muertos (I was able to make some that was dairy and soy free, for our friends with

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-73168224709558338252009-10-27T07:25:00.000-07:002009-10-27T07:50:00.342-07:00

Friday is Little Brother's last day of public school! We've been going through a rough patch with first grade, and it didn't make sense to keep trying to muddle our way through when there's another option available to us. I'd obviously not been won over by school this fall, but was trying to be supportive of a choice that was making my boy happy, and certainly wasn't damaging him - until it

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-44155201466403120902009-10-01T07:05:00.000-07:002010-06-21T06:48:40.249-07:00

A recap: Little Brother is in first grade at the neighborhood elementary school, and Big Sister homeschools. Little Brother says he likes school. Mom doesn't like school. Little Brother frequently comes home and shares things about school that make Mom cringe. Little Brother is a grumpy beast every single morning when we are getting ready to walk to the bus. Mom has told Little Brother that she

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-27922778930655288882009-09-11T08:09:00.000-07:002009-09-11T08:39:10.556-07:00

I can't believe what a joy it has been to get back to serious homeschooling with Big Sister. With her reading falling into place last year, and her overall willingness to learn, it's been a breeze these last couple of weeks. Her attention span is miles beyond what it was just a year ago, and we can work together through the morning, moving from one subject to the next, and the time is flying by

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-43098705779125643542009-08-23T16:42:00.000-07:002009-08-23T16:52:50.267-07:00

Little Brother said he wants to learn about space, so we're off on a voyage through the galaxy, where we'll explore planets, stars, and other out-of-this-world objects and phenomena. As we go along, the kids are going to be compiling their own Space books using resources I found at Enchanted Learning's Zoom Astronomy, Learning Page.com (membership is totally free, and there's a lot of fun stuff

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-75951521562239843562009-08-20T11:43:00.000-07:002009-08-20T11:55:40.784-07:00

It's been one crazy summer. July was filled with one road trip after another, with only 12 or so days spent at home. The first week in August found me and the kids at Girl Scout Day Camp - I volunteered (teaching Map & Compass), Little Brother was in the boys unit (for sons of parent volunteers) and Big Sister was in a 5th grade unit. We had a fantastic week! The morning after our final day

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-29625791187410266622009-07-01T07:59:00.000-07:002009-07-01T08:13:50.683-07:00

Big Sister went on her first solo sleepover to Grandma and Grandpa's house over in Yakima. See Grandma Sharon's post over on their blog.They had driven over to our side of the mountains to watch Sis perform in her play "The Princess Plays". There were two acts - in the first she played one of the Princess Court, and One o'clock, and in the second she was one of the Royal Soldiers. Cute play,

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-4026766896849303132009-06-30T07:29:00.000-07:002009-06-30T08:01:02.890-07:00

Yesterday was a terrific day! The kids finally woke up shortly after 9am. While they ate breakfast, I reminded them that I wanted to get to our schoolwork before they got involved in their game, and they were both totally fine with that. They finished eating, got dressed, and met me downstairs. Big Sister covered handwriting (she's working on learning cursive), spelling, and math, and Little

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-47904393057393022762009-06-29T08:08:00.000-07:002009-06-29T09:01:15.639-07:00

Summer. The sun comes out, and suddenly I want to do nothing more than relax and shrug off any sort of constraints to the pursuit of nothingness (constraints being schedules. and any tasks pursued for reasons other than my personal enjoyment). Consequently, in the past couple of weeks, there hasn't been a whole lot happening in la escuela de Koch. Late bedtimes for the kids, followed by

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-44556836794492038082009-05-13T07:13:00.000-07:002009-05-14T11:56:49.495-07:00

We just got together with some friends the other morning for the first meeting of the "Monday Math Club" - which met on Tuesday... but that's another story.In preparation, I went searching for printable math games online. Little Brother's kindergarten teacher has been using a number of dice games with printable game boards during small group time in his class, and they're a fun way to reinforce

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-82253359259532001982009-05-08T10:07:00.000-07:002009-05-08T10:46:08.773-07:00

For the longest time, one of the biggest obstacles to feeling like our homeschooling was going well has been the fact that my kid couldn't read. It didn't matter that she has always been kind, caring, attentive to the needs of others, assertive, able to talk with adults, a whiz at math, a history buff, a budding conservationist, an animal lover, etc. The big "marker" of our success or failure

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-29580173977572594982009-04-08T14:11:00.000-07:002009-04-08T14:44:19.722-07:00

Little Brother is on spring break this week, and I've been reminded how nice it is to just go out and have fun with the kids. Monday we went to the zoo (with half of western Washington, it seemed). Surprisingly, even with a half million people piled into the Woodland Park Zoo, we somehow managed to run into a group of friends when we got there. We were about to join them when I realized that

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-51283809168739751602009-04-03T05:57:00.000-07:002009-04-03T06:02:40.119-07:00

Our weather really has been cr*p. From the National Weather Service this morning:IN SEATTLE...RECORD RAINFALL HAS BEEN RECORDED AT SEATTLE-TACOMA AIRPORT ON BOTH THE FIRST AND THE SECOND OF THE MONTH. TOTAL RAINFALL FOR THE FIRST TWO DAYS OF THE MONTH WAS 1.31 INCHES WHICH IS OVER HALF THE MONTHLY NORMAL RAINFALL TOTAL OF 2.59 INCHES. THE ONLY TIME IN SEATTLE WEATHER RECORDS THAT MORE RAIN HAS

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-69673425844086074472009-04-02T18:25:00.000-07:002009-04-02T18:56:24.559-07:00

I'm dabbling in geology, writing my own Rocks and Minerals unit study to do with the kids in another month or so. It's coming together nicely! I was inspired to get us going on Rocks after a family bike ride that took us across the Tolt River a few weeks ago. The four of us made our way out to a gravel bar that had formed, and spent close to an unplanned hour poking our way through all the

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-10402467776803302302009-04-01T08:59:00.001-07:002009-04-01T09:22:33.988-07:00

In case you needed proof that boys really are different from girls, some gems from my 6-year old...LB: "Mom, you know what chore is my favorite?"Me: "No, which one?"LB: "Putting away the silverware, cuz I get to put away all the sharp knives!" Followed by a sinister laugh...The other morning I was about to wake LB to get ready for school, when I heard quiet singing coming from his room. "Oh, how

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-64942779139934484192009-03-20T08:46:00.000-07:002009-03-20T09:05:24.227-07:00

We checked out book #3 of Mary Pope Osborne's Tales From the Odyssey from the library the other day: Sirens and Sea Monsters.You may know author Mary Pope Osborne from her incredibly popular Magic Treehouse series of early chapter books. In her Tales From the Odyssey series, she spins the tales of Odysseus' journey in a way that's entertaining and accessible to young kids. Little Brother, in

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-48302241508565512752009-03-18T21:58:00.000-07:002009-03-18T22:21:25.243-07:00

We received the test results from the standardized test we had Big Sister take last month - less than three weeks after returning them for scoring. Her results surprised me, mostly because she did far better on the reading section than I expected her to. Based on last year's scores (from a different test, so comparing apples to oranges to some extent) she's advanced two grade levels in reading

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-37416746497197487292009-03-11T07:24:00.000-07:002009-03-11T07:50:00.883-07:00

One of the things we've been doing since focusing on building reading fluency for Big Sister (age 9 1/2), is repeated readings. Repeated readings as a method to build reading fluency has been documented in studies to boost a reader's self-esteem, as well as their overall reading fluency, especially with learning to read in phrases vs. individual words. You can see a review of The Fluent Reader,

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-26640024444364616022009-03-06T06:52:00.000-08:002009-03-06T12:19:34.877-08:00

It must be something in the water around here, cuz both my kids have been losing teeth recently! Well, Little Brother has only lost the one, but Big Sister has now lost three in the past couple weeks. Two molars, and a canine (or whatever you call the sharp pointy ones when you're a human). The third one came out while she was eating ramen at lunchtime yesterday. She washed it off carefully,

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-66139670542869486732009-03-04T06:45:00.000-08:002009-04-01T21:47:18.317-07:00

One of my blog readers, whom I met through the comments section not long ago (and who has two terrific blogs that I've since started following: Best Family Adventures and A Year of Living Charitably) was a little confused by my last blog entry The "Importance" of School. Totally understandable. You think you're reading a blog about a homeschooling family, and then the blogger makes a comment

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-69546792714469768962009-03-03T14:24:00.000-08:002009-03-03T21:46:47.395-08:00

Every other week Little Brother comes home with a newsletter from his school. Each edition contains a message from the principal, usually talking about how proud she is of their school community, the work the families and teachers are doing, etc. It's a nice, rah-rah, pat on the back kind of message. Mostly "fluff". A few episodes ago there was a message that talked about the importance of

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-41460270022267350342009-03-01T13:36:00.000-08:002009-03-01T13:48:35.307-08:00

I'm reading a book titled The Fluent Reader: Oral Reading Strategies for Building Word Recognition, Fluency, and Comprehension, by Timothy V. Rasinski. In spite of the rather dry-sounding title, I'm finding it quite interesting.Anyway, what I wanted to share was a method for determining reading level of a passage through the use of a word processing program, such as Word (I can't take credit for

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-69253352382217789232009-02-28T08:05:00.001-08:002009-02-28T19:54:58.020-08:00

Welcome to my Saturday morning calm before the storm! My thoughts have been pre-occupied with details of this morning's Girl Scout cookie site sales. This is the opening morning, and I was able to get our troop three different sites in the first available time slots. That's great for selling, but also means I need to clone myself or perfect time shifting so I can juggle three sites at once.

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-43499926987306182412009-02-20T09:25:00.000-08:002009-02-20T09:42:28.785-08:00

A week or so ago I ordered the PASS test (Personalized Achievement Summary System) from Hewitt Homeschooling Resources. For planning purposes, you have the option of indicating when you would like the materials to arrive (once the test materials arrive, you have to return them within a predetermined time frame, so you don't want to get them too soon). I wanted to do testing next week, and the

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-70207501686017371452009-02-16T07:08:00.000-08:002009-02-16T08:35:05.318-08:00

It was a busy week - this is a long post!Monday night, Big Sister had a Cookie Rally to attend. One of the other Junior girl scout troops was hosting the rally, where different stations were set up for the girls to participate in a variety of activities to get excited for site sales. They role-played selling cookies to difficult customers, decorated signs for their tables, learned about the

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-11890454493436009212009-02-11T16:00:00.000-08:002009-05-13T11:37:47.491-07:00

Death by fractions - that's what will be written at the top of my headstone. Big Sister has been learning about equivalent fractions, and simplifying fractions. Today she was comparing fractions with different denominators - ie. she had to come up with a common denominator to determine which fraction was greater. This was easy enough when comparing denominators like 3 and 6, or 2 and 10, but

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-13137226769878189862009-02-10T08:17:00.000-08:002009-02-10T08:18:41.041-08:00

Little Brother lost his first baby tooth last night!

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-49022117089976345042009-02-09T19:38:00.000-08:002009-02-09T19:58:10.444-08:00

That's the name of the Girl Scout badge that Big Sister completed today. I figured that as long as we had snow on the ground, and I was thinking about it, I should have her work on the badge. The badge books are actually a great homeschooling resource. Today we read all about signs, symptoms, treatment and prevention of frostbite and hypothermia; did some snow painting using colored water and

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-45315815935178943142009-02-05T15:21:00.000-08:002009-02-05T15:36:44.887-08:00

Little Brother went back to school, after staying home sick for three days. Not having left the house since Saturday, I quickly escaped from the house with Big Sister once LB was on the bus. With hubby gone 12 hours/day for work, and a really sick kiddo, we were starting to run low on some essential items. And I was running low on sanity. Our pantry, and my mental health, have now returned to

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-59846865932822453402009-02-03T13:03:00.000-08:002009-02-03T13:17:25.468-08:00

Packages on the front step are always a nice surprise, especially when they are addressed to you!A mom and her boy. A little blurry, but I still like it.Auntie SixGreenZebras and cousin The Little Man came over...I made his cake, but had some icing issues. I couldn't find my writing tips anywhere, so I tried to improvise by piping the icing through the corner of a plastic bag. It was sort of

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-37565945833041873702009-02-02T16:17:00.000-08:002009-02-02T16:28:07.878-08:00

My poor little stink (aka Little Brother) stayed home sick today. He's got a barky cough, and his temp has been over 102 for most of the day. He had a rough night, but his fever wasn't too high when he woke up. He was even feeling well enough that I thought he should do some schoolwork with us this morning, but part way into it he curled up on the dining room chair to rest. I suggested he go

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-55877462112735578402009-02-01T08:21:00.000-08:002009-02-01T08:28:41.236-08:00

My baby turns 6 years old today. He's got his first wiggly baby tooth, ready to fall out any day now. I guess he's not a baby anymore?The Birthday Morning Photo Tradition lives on...He can keep getting older, but he'll always be my baby...

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-62603635559446654042009-01-30T16:24:00.000-08:002009-01-30T16:26:50.029-08:00

I overheard Little Brother telling Big Sister that if he were a baby bird, he would never fly out of the nest. Smart cookie - he knows when he's got a good thing!She tried to reason with him that if he never left the nest he would freeze to death in the winter time.He countered that he would be a baby bird in Mexico.

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-76022371977377808132009-01-29T10:08:00.000-08:002009-01-29T10:36:11.996-08:00

Just placed my order for RealScience4Kids Level 1 Biology. We've been really happy with Pre-level 1 Chemistry, which we are about to finish up. Real science, using the real language of science, at a level easily comprehensible to kids, coupled with experiments that utilize materials that are easy to come by - perfect. I'd like to note that this is one of a very select group of curriculum I've

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-52108454841680664992009-01-26T13:22:00.000-08:002009-01-26T13:25:02.780-08:00

A hilarious tribute to girl scout cookies...

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-24222896104465314012009-01-23T13:03:00.000-08:002009-05-13T11:38:25.716-07:00

edited (1/24) to add: "how embarassing to have a typo in the title of a post! bleh!"While watching Bis Sister work on her math last night, I decided I'm not pleased with her recall speed on many of her multiplication facts. We'd been using Timez Attack quite a while ago, but she didn't care for it - she got really anxious when it came time to face the big ogres in the dungeon, to the point of

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-68323552792535216522009-01-20T13:26:00.000-08:002009-01-20T13:58:27.939-08:00

What an historic day! President Obama's words were as inspiring as ever, and now I'm thinking more about what I can contribute to do my part as a citizen of the world. I really hope the country can move forward from here.The kids and I watched the President being sworn in, which meant that Little Brother was a little late to school today. I really wanted to watch it, and it was important to me

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-23203464548363592732009-01-12T11:43:00.000-08:002009-01-12T12:29:06.078-08:00

A while back, Big Sister had stumbled upon a Warriors graphic novel at Barnes and Noble. She really, really, really wanted the book, and despite the fact that I was skeptical of her ever reading it (many a book has come home, only to be set aside when she quickly loses interest - that's why we love the public library), I went ahead and bought it for her. She devoured it. She couldn't pull

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-26202154305156571232009-01-11T11:43:00.000-08:002009-01-11T11:48:19.625-08:00

For the benefit of our relatives who have kindly ordered cookies over the phone, I thought I'd post a photo so you can get the full effect:"Thank you for supporting Girl Scouts!"

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-25723565055068814412009-01-09T10:59:00.000-08:002009-01-09T11:09:31.793-08:00

Yesterday I mentioned that Big Sister had gotten ahold of an origami book I'd found. After creating a plethora of various birds and fish, today we have furniture...

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-86109425335186234122009-01-09T10:39:00.000-08:002009-01-09T10:46:54.108-08:00

Here's a link to photos of flooding in our county. To give an idea of how close we are, a large portion of our homeschool group's members live out in Carnation and Duvall (mentioned in captions of the photos). Our group isn't having LEGO club today, because the legos are housed with a member in Carnation, and there's no way in or out of the town. The good news is that the river has crested,

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-58979050649183744902009-01-08T15:48:00.000-08:002009-01-08T16:09:15.463-08:00

Rain, rain, go away....Not much to report here. Instead of starting the morning off with homeschooling, Big Sister and I ended up grocery shopping. We ran out of milk after I made Little Brother's oatmeal, and I didn't have anymore in the downstairs fridge. Oops. On the way to the store, I mentioned to Big Sis that some other families we know let their kids plan and prepare one dinner/week.

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-1293616884686935612009-01-07T14:57:00.000-08:002009-01-07T15:44:33.218-08:00

The week is going well over here. Little Brother didn't get to go to school on Monday (it snowed overnight, so the schools were on late start, and the AM kindies didn't have class), so we didn't get back to our routine quite as quickly as I'd imagined. We're easing in, though.So far our homeschooling this week has been very "real" and relevent. Girl Scout cookie pre-sales are about to start,

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-80816076481931575762009-01-05T13:15:00.000-08:002009-01-05T13:18:27.052-08:00

"The ranks of America's home-schooled children have continued a steady climb over the past five years, and new research suggests broader reasons for the appeal." View the entire article here.

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-1379189022676802692009-01-04T08:03:00.000-08:002009-05-13T20:37:52.656-07:00

The end of our laziness and absence of routine that has developed over the holidays, that is!Little Brother is excited to go back to school and see his teacher. He has missed her. With all the snow, and his teacher being out for minor surgery the week before winter break, he was never able to give her the ornament he'd made. Once it's no longer hanging on the knob of my kitchen cabinet, I will

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-55010777906527482532008-12-25T18:05:00.000-08:002008-12-25T18:22:27.796-08:00

We had a great Christmas, spent with family today. Lost power for about 8 hours, but managed to spend most of that time at my sister's, who thankfully did have power. The temperature has been warming up just slightly, and as the snow gets heavier on the tree branches, we've been hearing the snap and crack of branches coming down everywhere. When we got home, hubby and I surveyed the damage

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-38302861496007551342008-12-23T06:31:00.001-08:002008-12-23T07:01:10.485-08:00

We've received a heckuvalot of snow. My mom is supposed to be arriving today by train, but the train hasn't even been running. They're tentatively planning to restore service today, but even getting her to the train station down on her end is presenting major challenges, since cabs, buses, and everday mere mortals are not driving on the streets of Portland.Mom, this is for you:I didn't get my

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-45329438075300792842008-12-18T08:56:00.001-08:002008-12-18T11:11:37.608-08:00

It's a good thing I like snow. The weather forecasters have been teasing us with failed predictions of snow for days, and days, and days. Forecasts of a crippling snowstorm were so dire that the school districts canceled school merely in anticipation of the snow... snow that never came. Until last night, that is.We got around 3-4 inches of snow last night around dinnertime, and another 4 or

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-29575822550801316602008-12-14T07:49:00.001-08:002008-12-14T08:22:09.903-08:00

Yesterday I was fortunate to spend a delightful afternoon with my sister (who, if mom had had a blog would have been Little Sister), and my daughter (aka Big Sister). My sis came over with my nephew, J-man, who would be staying here at the house with his uncle and cousin for some guy time (which sounds like it involved playing a lot of Wii - I think hubby now wants one).The ladies were headed

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-74830503544596241612008-12-12T07:08:00.000-08:002008-12-12T07:30:22.945-08:00

Really, it is. At least for the birds in our backyard. Big Sister and I decided we wanted to decorate our little evergreen tree out in the backyard with some natural decorations for our fine feathered friends (or whoever else might decide to stop by). We made a couple of garlands of air-popped popcorn, dried cranberries, and dried cantaloupe (the kids won't eat it, and I didn't know what else

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-24662581329868791462008-12-08T06:55:00.001-08:002008-12-08T09:14:34.865-08:00

We've been on a cleaning rampage this weekend. Keeping a tidy house is not high on my list of strengths. Anyway, I'd been working my rear off, and as dinnertime approached I wanted to reiterate to my dear children how important it was to me that they not promptly mess it all up. We have an eating nook with an L-shaped bench in our kitchen. The corner of the "L' had amassed quite a substantial

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-81373751302947665752008-12-07T08:06:00.000-08:002008-12-07T08:27:17.458-08:00

When we bought our laptop last December, we also installed a wireless router so that we could have some mobility. If you haven't experienced the mobility of wi-fi and a laptop, you are so missing out. After a few months, our router developed an annoying problem where it couldn't clearly broadcast a signal (turns out there was too much "noise", whatever that means). The solution was that we

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-44774825171153422002008-12-02T12:58:00.000-08:002008-12-02T13:11:25.751-08:00

Below is an email reply to an inquiry I made a number of months ago. While I appreciated the woman's frank reply, the whole thing just struck me as funny. "We give school tours" ...if you dare.

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-35019671599345040422008-11-27T08:15:00.000-08:002008-11-27T08:15:01.841-08:00

LOL - this one looks like this year on the ranch......and this one just made me laugh...

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-77803336208576007322008-11-26T07:28:00.000-08:002008-11-26T07:49:07.958-08:00

Here's a short video of Dr. Susan Love in an NBC Today Show interview discussing the importance of moving breast cancer research into finding ways of preventing this cancer to begin with, better predicting who is at risk, and how Army of Women will help make that happen.Sign-up at Army of Women today! Once in a while you'll receive an email from AoW detailing a research study you may be eligible

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-6601608939957203232008-11-25T21:57:00.000-08:002008-11-25T22:14:14.300-08:00

Tonight, after reading a story to the kids, Little Brother was laying down next to me. He was being very still, with his body very straight, and his arms straight down along his body. Then he said to me:"Look, Mom! I'm the Floating Bridge!"For my non-local blog readers, the 520 Floating Bridge is one of two bridges connecting the Eastside with Seattle, across Lake Washington. My kids are both

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-61260995569469060082008-11-25T12:40:00.000-08:002008-11-25T13:03:15.144-08:00

It seems our washing machine is broken. I'm not sure how broken, but the dial you turn to start the cycle? it just spins without any resistance. In the process of trying to pry the knob off/get it to do something other than spin there uselessly, I somehow got it to start up again. I have no idea what kind of a cycle it's currently doing, but it filled with water and sounds like its agitating.

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-33813932598460282742008-11-25T05:16:00.001-08:002008-12-07T08:37:31.451-08:00

Of particular note in this article is the section regarding admission of homeschool graduates to colleges. It's reassuring to know there are so many paving the way before us, since we'll be joining those ranks in another nine years!Full text of article at the Hoover InstitutionAs Popularity of Home Schooling Grows, Greater Numbers and More Diversity among Families Choosing OptionFOR IMMEDIATE

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-39046525447706873062008-11-17T17:32:00.000-08:002008-11-17T17:51:41.577-08:00

On Sunday we had a lot of yardwork to accomplish, seeing as how sunny weekend days are hard to come by this time of year. We also had my nephew, J-Man, over. When I went to pick him up at my sister's, I mentioned to him that I had a couple of jobs in mind for him, and that there might be payment involved."Quarters??!" he asked, enthusiastically.LOL - that's my kind of yard help!Little Brother

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-27823619155279130552008-11-11T11:41:00.000-08:002008-11-11T11:53:10.890-08:00

I made a deal with the kids yesterday that we'd get them a small Christmas tree for the family room/play room if they can get it clean, and keep it clean for a week. And it has to stay clean for the duration of the tree's time in the room, or it gets taken away. I'm hoping that if they manage that for the amount of time the tree is up, they'll have gotten into some better habits. Probably

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-22006206336682568872008-11-05T09:33:00.000-08:002008-11-05T15:41:18.183-08:00

Feeling elated today, like things are finally heading in the right direction. People are energized, engaged, and involved. Such a stark contrast to the despair I felt after each of the past two presidential elections. My condolences going out to my friends out there who hoped it would go the other way. I know you want the best for the country. Get inspired, seek change, make your voice heard

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-49657705897372061972008-11-04T22:58:00.001-08:002008-11-05T07:00:12.664-08:00

What an amazing night.From the president-elect to his faithful supporters:I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first. We just made history. And I don't want you to forget how we did it. You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-80132091370530396422008-11-04T06:52:00.000-08:002008-11-04T19:23:14.094-08:00

Please go vote today, if you haven't already. I've been hearing estimates as high as 85% for voter turn out, which would be phenomenal. This election is a real nailbiter, and the suspense today may just do me in. I'm taking Big Sister to the polls with me after I get Little Brother on the bus. That gives me about 2 1/2 hours to stand in line if need be. Rumor has it that 50% of my county's

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-92088571815271664092008-11-02T07:56:00.000-08:002008-11-02T15:45:02.495-08:00

...and it's not school. It's cable television. If my kids turn out weird, it won't be for lack of being out in the world - no, it will be because they were watching the wrong stuff on tv. After an afternoon with friends, Big Sister said that she feels left out because she doesn't know what the heck they're playing (pretending to be characters from shows on cable). "How come everyone has cable

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-57752860015174564942008-10-31T17:37:00.000-07:002008-10-31T17:49:37.074-07:00

Big Sis and I went over to Little Brother's school today for his class Halloween party. He dressed up as Indiana Jones/an explorer for school because there were rules about no costumes with violent themes, and I wasn't sure how they'd feel about a Jedi. He wore a denim shirt with khaki pants, a safari hat, and a pair of binoculars.Earlier this week I found out that some of the merchants in town

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-9393972923192987982008-10-29T17:16:00.000-07:002008-10-29T19:01:00.306-07:00

This year the kids are going with a "future careers" theme:Big Sister is a veterinarianLittle Brother is a Jedi (yes, that's his Obi-wan Kenobi costume from last year)From parkday with our homeschool group:And our family of jack o' lanterns:

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-52950893554379522992008-10-28T22:43:00.001-07:002008-10-28T22:55:50.007-07:00

I spent the past hour making playdough for Little Brother's kindergarten class. At back-to-school night there were sign-ups for each month for playdough, and I took November. Made the stove top kind, with cream of tartar. Makes a nice playdough, but have you seen the price of cream of tartar lately??? I made four batches, which wiped out my large container of c.o.t. so that's all they're

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-30975544478351047242008-10-28T08:17:00.000-07:002008-10-28T09:07:01.070-07:00

Big sister and I took part in a girl scout workshop on orienteering on Sunday. It was ccccc-cold out there! The workshop was great - they had some folks from the Washington Surveyors Association who brought different maps and gps equipment, including a couple of women working in the field who told the girls all about what surveyors do, and how they can become licensed. The ladies were

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-21459054875839400872008-10-23T11:52:00.000-07:002008-10-23T13:50:04.922-07:00

Singer/songwriter Tom Chapin has written a song titled "Not on the Test" that illustrates what may be taking place in public schools that are no longer providing instruction in art, music, and physical education due to restrictions placed on them by NCLB. The video and lyrics, as well as Tom's experience as a student of the public school system vs. what he sees in his grandchildren's generation,

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-4284420922621289282008-10-22T15:51:00.000-07:002008-10-22T16:10:47.194-07:00

No more driving for me. Today was my day for driving drama carpool, so I go pick up our other drama princess, drive to Kirkland, drive back to pick-up my kindergartener, drive back to Kirkland, drive back to drop of drama princess #2, and drive home. We were supposed to have parkday afterwards, but by then I'd already put 50+ miles on the van this morning, and parkday was way the heck out in

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-22626754328382745092008-10-21T13:59:00.000-07:002008-10-21T14:09:12.208-07:00

I volunteered at Little Brother's school today. They needed some volunteers to help with the hearing and vision screening they do on all the kids each fall. I found a friend to ship Big Sister off to, and decided to give it a go. I was assigned to test hearing. It went well, with the exception of the poor little girl who I injured shortly after she sat down at my hearing station. I was about

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-90888516551361864762008-10-19T18:45:00.000-07:002008-10-20T20:28:06.140-07:00

The other day Big Sister told me that she heard there's a guy named Dino Rossi running for governor, but she saw a commercial that said there are a lot of people that don't like him. She also saw a commercial that showed Christine Gregoire, and it said that a lot of people don't like her, either."Mom? If you don't like any of the candidates that are running, do you have to vote for one?"A good

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-65518257921874269862008-10-19T16:48:00.001-07:002008-10-20T20:29:26.043-07:00

From our hike today in the Redmond Watershed...UPDATE: Thanks for the nice comments! That hike was a lot of fun. We just kept making really cool discoveries, and on our way back to the car after our turn around point, I started taking pictures of some of the stuff we had seen. I couldn't believe all the different varieties of fungi out there. I took 87 pictures along a half mile stretch of

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-61246262916783013792008-10-18T08:10:00.000-07:002008-10-18T08:12:10.907-07:00

These USA puzzles are kickin' my rear. All those square states look the same! LOL - I'm sure the residents of the square states are shaking their heads at me.

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-43112477487035933392008-10-14T21:40:00.001-07:002008-10-14T21:47:34.581-07:00

We have to take advantage of these last few sunny days, since we don't know which one will be our last. It could be months before we have any natural UV again! We spent part of the afternoon at parkday with our hs group.This morning I drove Little Brother's library book to school. I debated about making him suffer without his book, but it was library day, and he loves checking out a new book

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-4291954983451390652008-10-13T20:42:00.000-07:002008-10-13T20:45:05.321-07:00

Don't go to JigZone if you know what's good for you. I found out about it from vegiemama, and I now spend far too much time putting puzzles together. I'm getting faster! ...so easily amused...

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-13009221927642615982008-10-11T09:39:00.000-07:002008-10-11T10:20:51.046-07:00

Sorry - I was out of commission for a week or so with the tooth and all. I have no idea how people become addicted to pain killers, because I absolutely could not function on them, even on the lowest dose. I could barely keep my eyes open, and I felt just plain weird. Weirder than normal, that is. ;PLast weekend I went with N's girl scout troop to help chaperone on the encampment they were

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-85445362735318966002008-10-01T10:49:00.000-07:002008-10-01T10:57:21.052-07:00

Yum. As soon as I knew I was going to be on smooth foods for a week, I started craving this soup. I couldn't wait to make up a batch this morning!CREAMY THAI CARROT SOUPINGREDIENTS2 cups chicken or vegetable broth1 pound baby carrots1/2c. chopped onions1 medium garlic clove, peeled and minced2 tsp. freshly grated ginger root1 1/2 tsp. yellow curry powder, or thai curry paste1/2 tsp. salt6oz.

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-63552824922018859682008-09-30T13:25:00.000-07:002008-09-30T14:38:29.144-07:00

I have to start by acknowledging the passing of our beloved Tommy Ratboy. He was struck by some kind of virus that swiftly knocked him down last week. Monday he was fine, but by Thursday he had ulcers on his eyes and was coughing. I called to try to get him into the vet, but the small animal doc wasn't available until yesterday (Monday) evening. He really went downhill over the weekend, but was

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-32571892813305339732008-09-24T12:38:00.000-07:002008-09-24T12:41:15.094-07:00

I won the Schoolhouse Planner in the giveaway Brenda was hosting over at Homeschooling From the Trenches. I'll let everyone know how it goes when I start implementing it into our home/school!

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-57127803822210638072008-09-22T21:38:00.001-07:002008-09-22T22:53:57.141-07:00

I'm going to the dentist in the morning. I should have been in for this tooth a few years ago. I have serious dentist issues. I'll have to share my horror story with you sometime. For now? just think good thoughts for me, and I'll try to remember to breathe.

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-1940661492994203682008-09-22T08:42:00.000-07:002008-12-07T08:53:49.614-08:00

This article can be viewed in its entirety at their websiteHomeschooling Surges in U.S. as Parents Reach for Legal RightsMonday , September 22, 2008By Shannon Bream This is part of the America's Future series airing on FOX News Channel, looking at the challenges facing the country in the 21st century.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Homeschooling is

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-15492430418804760352008-09-20T20:00:00.000-07:002008-09-21T16:37:56.244-07:00

We're about five weeks into our school year, and Big Sister and I are getting into a good groove with the schoolwork. We're really getting a lot covered while Little Brother is away at school for 3 hours each day.After the computer snafu earlier in the week, I had to reload my Homeschool Tracker Plus (which I had dusted off once I became a little paranoid after the annual filing hassle I'd been

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-81636332161417705022008-09-19T20:37:00.000-07:002008-10-13T20:45:56.807-07:00

Big Sister became a Junior Girl Scout this afternoon. She joined a new troop and they held a small bridging ceremony for her. Here's a picture from the night she bridged from Daisies to Brownies, taken two-and-a-half years ago in December 2005...We took a few pictures before leaving for the meeting...Her new leader asked me to present her wings to her, since I've been her Brownie leader for the

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-89941928339230487732008-09-19T11:44:00.000-07:002009-05-13T11:39:55.814-07:00

MATH DICE GAME AND MATH BINGOMATERIALS REQUIRED2 6-sided dice4X4 blank bingo cards for as many people as are playing OR one score card for each person (details below)pen/pencil and stamper (optional)DICE GAME RULESEach score card should be set up as follows (this formatting doesn't look right, I'll have to fix it later):1 162 183 2045 6 247 25891011

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-6936187543179310072008-09-19T08:18:00.000-07:002008-09-19T08:26:01.004-07:00

Unfortunately, it happened to us. Our computer picked up an adware virus the other night, and it completely disabled our system. It plastered stuff on our desktop wallpaper, and removed our ability to access parts of our computer. Norton was worthless in this instance, and it couldn't even perform a system scan once the virus got in. Hubby found instructions for virus removal (for a while we

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-28838810731550483432008-09-15T14:00:00.000-07:002008-09-15T14:12:01.602-07:00

Days like this make me glad that the money I invested in the stock market was all pretend. Only down 2.5% though, so maybe I'm still doing okay.Stocks Get PummeledAnd speaking of make believe, the kids thought I should put this on my blog today... (no, we can't take credit for it, but it made us laugh)

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-32381052372541536302008-09-14T08:48:00.000-07:002008-12-07T08:53:08.559-08:00

The ABCs of Home Schooling - Today's Model of Personal Education is Not Your Grandmother's Home Schooling (CBS) For a growing number of American students, "homework" is two words, not one, and a classroom is the one place they're not likely to be, because when it comes to education, for these students and their parents, there's no place like home. Tracy Smith spells it out for us:Please go to the

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8743739342047260648.post-42125031921470556442008-09-14T07:43:00.000-07:002008-09-14T08:10:22.533-07:00

We've been getting one last punch of summer weather these last two weeks, so my eyes are turned to our garden once again. I'm cheering for the onions, strawberries and tomatoes that still remain. A young friend of ours was turning five years old recently, and when I asked for gift suggestions, his mom mentioned his love of gardening. We ended up getting him his own set of gardening gloves, and

Laura K.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00515398536163204549noreply@blogger.com0