i knew there was somewhere we should be...

It was time for our car inspection, and it had to be done today. *Had.* TODAY. The DMV used to mail out somewhat helpful little reminders, reminders that would get stuck to the refrigerator before slipping down and under the refrigerator, but now our magnets are useless...the date is printed on the registration card. That would be very useful if we ever felt the urge to open the glovebox and actually look at the card periodically, but that's just ridiculous. So: Today. Jiffy Lube. Surly me. Three kids with three clipboards full of work.

While we were waiting in the oily, tiny waiting room, surrounded by crumpled USA Todays and watching endless loops of the local news, I tried to keep the kids focused and productive. I was a whirl of skirts and gentle orders.

Ian, you've already read about the Navajo? The story of Atalanta, too? Let me check your vocabulary sheet. Your math looks good. Now, just illustrate your numbers for Latin...septem of something here, octo somethingae here, etc, up to 10. Beautiful. Get busy.
Annie: Yay, lovely, your letters are gorgeous! Here's my iPod--pleasebecareful!--you can watch Super Why. (My offical title: Super Because I Said So. Har.)
Allie...summarize with *complete* sentences. Sound your words out, don't be in a hurry! Do those again, but with adjectives and adverbs, and for the love of Pete, capitalization!
Sigh.

I looked back at the middle aged, well dressed gentleman sitting behind me and give him one of those awkward, "Hyuck! What can ya do?" looks.

He looks back, cleans his glasses, and says, "Shouldn't they be in school?"

Cacophony

My youngest daughter found one of those books of birds and their songs on our last trip to the used bookstore that we adore. It's a swell (if a little, umm, noisy) book with nice illustrations, and she fell in love with it immediately. She even chose to spend her own hard-earned (because it's work to be so cute) money from her grandparents on it. She's hugged it and slept with it and pushed those little buttons overandoverandover, picking her favorites and giggling at the one bird that says "RRRRALPH! RRRRALPH! RRRRALPH! Chkchkchkchkbrrrrrchk!" Really. It sounds just like that. She and her sister mimic it endlessly, chasing each other around the house screaming "RALPH!" and sitting on the back porch, hoping to call whatever bird that is to our backyard so they can laugh at it.
It's not too painful, really. If all else fails, I know they'll have a future in this:

I think I'm a little in love with parentheses. (A lot.)

We're back at school with gusto. (Dang! You bet.) I've been working on creating our own lapbook, one on the winter constellations and mythology. (Of course! It's what I do.) It's kind of challenging, and it's kind of a blast. So right now, I'm watching Weeds with the sound turned down, listening to the Rosebuds (holy cow, there are sooo many great NC bands these days, lucky us), and trying to do more with Photoshop than the usual cropping and whitening of backgrounds. I really just learned how to do a square, which is awfully just tragic to admit. Anyway, the lapbook...Once it's finished, I'll post it here. I've gotten the pocket, cards, and lesson done for Orion, as well as the basic intro about stars, constellations, and myth. My kids are pretty hip to the whole myth thing (because they're my kids and all) but I'm trying to make something comprehensive and shareable. If this turns out well, I'd like to make more lapbooks on mythology, polar exploration, architecture, photography, the space race, and Appalachia. Contain your excitement if you can.

The kids have spent the week so far learning about stars, making books on the Iroquois, creating Greek letter and phrase flash cards, adding valuable words to their Latin vocabulary (words so valuable I can't think of a single one right now, and they're also nouns, which thwart my Action Kid plans), (stupid nouns!), loving math/attempting to tolerate math/counting, writing, drawing, reading, and just being glad to be back at work. I gave them some pages to color (beeaautiful pages you can find here) over the break, and I think it was like an early Christmas for them. Yes! We really do get out. (We're going on a hike later this week, actually, because we're insane. It's going to be about 40 degrees, maybe, so it will be a very short hike. I should probably call it a jaunt, or an outdoors non-shopping excursion.)
There is a crazy-lookin' lady on PBS right now, so I'm going to turn the sound up and watch. I hope she's as intriguing as she looks. I actually have a plan for the next post (folk art follies!), and the thought of writing something cohesive here thrills me. Kicks!

A Totally Fun Thing I'll Totally Do Again

Since I began homeschooling both of my older kids, I've been amazed (every day!) at how different their learning styles and interests are. Ian is quick to pick up foreign language, can spell and read anything, and loves to write. He learns best by reading and repetition. Allie can do math problems in her head better than I can on paper, and she loves it. She's also wildly creative and easily bored. She learns best by doing, with lots of hands-on activities and illustrations.

Their differences are rarely an issue. I do their math and English/grammar lessons separately, and our history lessons combine reading and worksheets with art projects and crafts. One area that has been a challenge, though, is our language studies. We're studying Greek and Latin. (We did study French for a bit, but scaled it back for now.) Ian looks at a word or letter once and it never leaves his head. It takes Allie longer to understand, and sometimes she gets frustrated that Ian gets it so much faster and is bored by the constant memorization. So, after reviewing and reviewing and reviewing vocabulary and making worksheet after worksheet, I finally had an idea!


Presenting: Action Kid Comics! Each panel has a Latin verb (first person singular, so it stars Ian! And Allie!) And they do exciting things like: I walk!, I work!, and I shout! (Hey, we'll get more exciting as we go along. You can't start with I destroy! or, I build an empire!) They have to remember what the word is and then illustrate each panel accordingly. Simple, right? Holy cow, they had such a blast with it. They actually were all a-flutter with glee over how to illustrate "navigo." And me? I was all a-flutter over their excitement. It was so much fun watching them draw and to see how differently they chose to interpret each one. Adoro: Ian adores Pokemon, and Allie adores Kit, her American Girl doll. Navigo: Ian drew himself as an explorer, and Allie chose to be a Viking-pirate hybrid. Laboro: Ian apparenly works for UPS and was carrying a box marked "fragile," and Allie drew herself at her desk, reading a book.

And, hooray, the words are safe and sound in the little houses built for Latin in their heads*. We can move along.

*(What?, you say? Another learning trick that's been funny and successful: We built a house for each subject in our heads, and each house has to be so wonderful that the facts never want to leave. Ian's math house is pretty elaborate, since his math facts do tend to wander, so he built them a house made of gold and gemstones and they have lots of parties and cake. Sometimes bands come and play a show for them. And voila! The multiplication facts are happy at the lovely home in Ian's brain. I kind of wish I lived in the math house, actually.)

(Whatever works, right?)

Thursday Showed Up Too Fast (Apologies to Space Week)

Part One:
Space Week! Still goin' on, just barely. But who needs Space Week for an excuse to study (and love) space? Not us! No, sir, we're rollerskating the rings of Saturn and penning love letters to Wernher von Braun and Yuri Gagarin year 'round. So now I'm going to put down my old copy of The Right Stuff (no joke, I just finished the part where the seven astronauts first arrived in Houston) and share some of my favorite links with you. If I've missed one of your favorites, please share!
Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill: One of our favorite places to go. We've seen several of the planetarium shows there, and the kids love them all. It's fun to wander around the building, some of which is beautiful and full of old paintings and statues, and other parts are very 1950s government building basement-esque. Even that's pretty great, though, because it's easier to imagine the Mercury program astronauts walking the halls on their way to celestial navigation training. (It happened here!) We're always looking for an excuse to mosey down to Chapel Hill, and this is one of the best.
HubbleSite: More than just gorgeous pictures, this site is loaded with stargazing information, podcasts, interactive thingies, crafts, and links.
Best of the Hubble Telescope: It is what it says: A round-up of the Hubble's best. Lots of lovely.
Amazing Space: HubbleSite's sister site, with lots of information and activities for educators.
Science-Teachers.com: They have a few worksheets on the constellations that are very informative and easy to follow.
NASA: Obviously. Great, great site with videos, pictures, space news, interactive features, and a kids' club section with games and fun stuff
Raleigh Astronomy Club: Another site for the locals. Look for astronomy clubs where you live! They're great for offering stargazing sessions and classes, and are always excited to share their knowledge with curious kids and their geeky moms.
EvaDot: This site has some good podcasts on inpsiring our kids to learn and love science, invention, and exploration.
The Russian Archives give a nice little tribute to the first man in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
(Speaking of Yuri, celebrate Yuri's Night every April 12!)
I Spy Space: This site has a thorough chronology of space exploration and several good articles. I especially liked the artices on Grissom and Chaffee.
Dreams of Space: Two of my favorite, favorite things in one place! Vintage children's books + space = bliss. (Also check out the blog that goes along with this site, and then go to see Space Alphabet, which someone posted on Flickr. Joy!)

Pay respect to Laika, our favorite muttnik.
Starchild: Videos and articles on space and space travel
Space.com: Yup, lots of Space...videos, news, forums, etc.
Astronomy (for Kids): Astronomy Magazine's kid section, with videos and articles on observation, nativation, and the solar system.

This is just the beginning! Stay tuned, my little star sailors, for part two, coming (hopefully!) very soon.

(Halfway Through) World Space Week

(Black Hole, by Allie)

Hi, all. Like the title says, we're halfway through World Space Week, which is no small deal in our house. Later today, I'll post some of my favorite spacey links and resources that we're enjoying this week and all the other weeks as well. Right now we're getting up & atom, and here in a bit we're going to go to the IMAX theater to watch a 3D movie on Mummies.

(A Star, Close Up, by Ian)

(The Universe, by Annie)

Who We Are

Hi. My name is Sarah. I'm a 33 year old mom of three swell little kids. (Aren't all little kids swell? Indeed.) We live in North Carolina, in a little town just north of Raleigh. It's a great place to live, especially if you grew up in eastern Kentucky and don't ask for/expect much. We began homeschooling my oldest son, Ian, in January of 2008, halfway through his second grade year. My middle daughter, seven year old Allison, joined us last month, at the end of her first grade year. Our school is The Ashland School, named after the city in KY where my son was born, and our mascot (also chosen by the very cool Ian) is the Fighting Chimeras. (Aren't all Chimeras fighting? Yes, probably.)
See our t-shirts? Sharpies and cheap tees are the bee's knees. We made these for a homeschool group zoo trip. We are very fortunate that we live in an area with a very active, large homeschool community. The group is well-organized and there's always (always!) something going on, thanks to a bunch of energetic, creative parents. A poorly-edited but nice article about the group can be found here.
The purpose of this blog is to keep family and friends up-to-date, to share neat things we find and do, and to keep a record of our kids' education. We've had a blast (a very educational blast) so far, and we're looking forward to all the possibilities each day brings.
This week I'll write a bit more about what we study, how we do it, why we homeschool, and will update the status of our classroom. (We just moved in to our new house a month ago, and have a large loft that serves as our class. So far, we have three desks, a ton of books, and have painted a blackboard on the wall, but we have lots more planned. Ideas are welcome!)
Right now, it's time to get everyone settled down. Bedtime is in an hour, and then I'm going to relax, listen to some music, and get this place cleaned up. Huzzah.