Happy Halloween and school update!

We had a very low key Halloween! We went to a friend's house and went around their neighborhood with some friends. I have to admit I love watching the kids dress up in costumes. It's really sad that the kids are starting to get old enough to start thinking about not *wanting* to go trick or treating. (Ok, not mine - they'll probably go until they're 23, but a friends kids are getting there.) I adore watching the kids get excited about.. Well.. SOMETHING. These 2 almost never jointly get excited about something so thoroughly. We've gone to this particular friend's house every year (except one when we were in Seattle) since the kids were.. 4ish? maybe earlier... She is always saying she isn't having anyone, but inevitably she has the BEST neighbors and the safest neighborhood!  (Plus, she's way cooler of a mom than I am - Just ask my girl!)

This year the kids picked 2 costumes. (Mostly, because I found the second one 40% off weeks before it was even time for them to be on sale and I say "Ok, sure if ya promise to let me dress you up and take silly pictures.")

The Boy:

 

The Girl:

 

   These two are about a grade ahead of their same-aged peers. They have both gotten a little lazy about school here lately - this is partially my fault, I haven't been pushing them like I should have been - but the laziness is over. I've set a deadline for each to finish their current grade level work (The Boy is in 3rd, The Girl 4th) by the end of this year. That gives them almost 6-7ish weeks to complete everything they've got left. It's completely do-able. Basically what each has to do is complete their math books, write a research paper (The Girl's is longer and a bit harder), and complete a book report (The Girl's is also a bit more in depth). Writing is difficult for both so they tend to slack in this area. Not understanding language arts, but the actual DOING of the writing. If they had to give a book report orally, they could do it instantly, but they need to be able to learn to overcome their inability to write well. Mean? Perhaps. But the *real* world doesn't care. I have told them they can type it if that's easier.

 Honestly, the whole issue with Common Core may make homeschooling easier because it will have common goals and have them clearly laid out. The books will all have the same goals, just formatted differently. It could be an easier thing than trying to figure out *which* curriculum is the right one. It could always come back and bite us all in the butt, but..



The Girl also had 2 more teeth pulled about a week ago. The dentist has hopes of being able to avoid braces if the teeth stay semi aligned because of the pullings we've had to do since they don't line up. She's does so well at the dentist. The Fairy leaves her some pretty good prizes too!

Change!

So, ever since we moved in the middle of January (yes, I'm slow) our homeschooling has been progressing - albeit slowly - but needing a new routine and *some* kind of change. The Girl is no longer needing to go to therapy for 2 hours a week but we've added things like weekly swimming so our whole schedule has rearranged but we've never really evolved formally WITH it especially with the addition of the Farm. This week is going to be ugly, I admit it, but I'm going to attempt to introduce a more firm schedule. I *think* it will ease 2 wee people's antsy-ness as well as make us all more productive than "gee, what should be we doing".  I've left ample playtime in, as well as scheduled time in there for errands and doctor appointments and the extra travel time to and from these things. I hope anyhow. We'll see. I've got a few slightly larger projects that the kids want to do - but we keep not getting to - that hopefully we will get to this way.

The tentative basic daily schedule looks like this:

6:00-7:45  wake, breakfast, dress, meds (you know all that morning stuff)
7:45 - 8:30 Animal feeding and cage clean outs. I'm going to attempt to come up with a rotating mucking schedule for this too so we aren't cleaning all the rabbits, goats, ducks etc on the same day.
8:45 - 11:00 School. (With play breaks built in.)
11:00 - 12:00 Lunch
12:00 - 2:00 Errands or School Project. A baking project, building the educational K'nex, a geography project, a trip to Target or Sams.. Whatever.
2:00 - 4:00 Errands, School, Projects, Cleaning (like if company is coming the next day), free play is everything is already done, cooking projects, ect.
4:00 - 5:00 Bath, room clean time, play.
5:00 - 5:15 Animal feeding
5:30  (ish) Dinner
6:45 Meds, get ready for bed
7:00 Snuggles and bedtime (which usually doesn't actually start until 7:15 after they negotiate for being "good", but still).

I'm also starting printing off a school list for them so they can try to organize their own school better and not say "But I don't know what to dooooo". Cause they do. They just have to think about it and they get lazy.

So, we'll see this week how that works out. It could fail epically. Or it could work splendidly. Or it could fall somewhere in between. I never know.

Back to School Time

    For public school anyhow. We do year round school. Back to school time means friends that go to "Big School" (public or private schools) are going to be sadly missing from weekday playdates. 1 & 2 are sad because we have a few staple friends we see regularly they adore and see less of and there's a lot less of the "Hey wanna play?" going on. The good news is Back to School clearance Sales in about a week. They LOVE those because I let them pick out pretty much as much art supplies, writing implements, markers, notebooks, clearance clothes and whatnots they want. 75% off! WOOT.. We also get the added benefit of having an Back to School party with them because we're all down with any reason to party.

This year I've found a new homeschool group. I'm also going to look into a new co-op I've found that meets 2 times per week and is free of fees except supplies when *I*  would be leading (which is - from my understanding 4 times per year with another person so.. 2 times a year? ) and parental involvement is wanted on the days you aren't leading which is more ideal that some other co-op setups (for these 2)  I've seen. I'm going to a "Mom's Planning Meeting" next week where I'll hopefully find more out about it, but the consistency of a group like that with the same people, a familiar routine but with new people teaching the kids new things *I* would never think of is somewhat appealing. People like that tend to do crafts and stuff that I abhor. I don't know if it's going to work out, but it has potential so I'm gonna give it a whirl. Plus, it may be a good way to find wee boy some more "boy" friends. He's a little too comfortable answering to the term "Hey, Girls! Stop!" whenever we go out with friends.

Girl Scouts starts again soon too. It wee girl has really enjoyed it so far. I think she's finally settling in with this group of girls even though she is by far the youngest and smallest. She's on par with reading, writing, and other academic skills and at the end of last year she told the girls she's got Aspergers - though I don't think any of them get it. (And really, why would they? The oldest girls are 9.) This year one of our *goals* is to ask for help. When she gets confused by what people say - which happens a lot - she tends to just stand there and be confused. So we've talked about how when she is confused about a game, a phrase, what's going on - to just ask. Maybe pick a friend or 2 (she's got a couple of good ones in there that are just fantastic girls) what something means. The other girls won't care, they're beginning to realize she's a little different and like most little girls when they've been around someone for a while, just ignore it.

The boy working on typing!

We turned the fish tank into a frog/tadpole tank. I ordered 15 tadpoles from Ebay (yeah, who would have thought??) and they arrived via Fedex a few days later. Oddly, only a couple got eaten and the rest have been turning into successful little frogs!

Our tadpole turning into a frog.

Baby Eagles..

So we've been watching the baby Bald Eagle nest on their web cam. Yes, the Bald Eagle nest has a web cam - and I don't. How's that for irony. But, the kids love it. They get to watch the Eagles from the day that they hatched and we check them every day and have watch both the mom and dad Eagle feed them.

Join us at the Eagle Camera. It's really pretty cool.

Anyhow, you know you are taking the Eagle watching a little TOO seriously when you join a facebook discussion about the 3rd eaglet being beaten up and when it will die or if it already is. That poor 3rd one is TINY compared to the other 2 and barely gets any food.

Now the really cool thing, this counts as school. Bwhahhaha! I can justify sitting around watching live baby eagles beat each other up and look cute and call it "education". Even better? I check the site and if they are doing something interesting I just holler at the kids - and they both come running down to check it out too.

The First Day of School

Today is the first day of school. Public school that is. School my kids refuse to go to. That they vehemently refuse to even ponder. This is supposed to be a sad day for me because T2 is supposed to be starting Kindergarten today by "normal" school standards. Instead, it's simply a remind at how inept the system is for us. T2 would fail being in a big class of kindergartners all day.  He can't behave himself all day at HOME. He can't sit still. He can't undo his pants. BUT, at the same time, my wee man is doing all 1st grade work. He is having trouble writing, which MAY be one of the only things he DOES to that is age appropriate. There will be no first day of school photos. No dropping him off at class and leaving him. No having time without kids here.

Then we have savant child T1, who is giddy at the only geography book we could find - a 3rd grade book. She loves it. She's trucking though her 2nd grade materials a a swift speed. She's 6-1/2. The child cannot figure out how to do basic skills like pour juice, turn on bath water, wash her hair, put on shoes, BUT, she is figuring out ON HER OWN how to solve things like 4*5 +7*5 at 6. For the kicks and giggles of it. She has blatantly said that if we ever try to send her to "big school" she will do everything she can to get kicked out. She'll kick the teacher, start fights, punch people, be stubborn, etc. Sooo yeah. We clearly need to work on those interpersonal skills some more.