Leaving on a Jet Plane

Don't know when I'll be back again. Leaving...

Actually, I'm not leaving in a jet plane and I do know when I'll be back again. We're packing up the mini-van and heading down south to Cannon Beach, OR for our annual camping trip. We'll be gone for five days this year. Normally, we only stay three but last year's perfect weather left us wanting more so we reserved a longer stay. This year's iffy weather has me hoping it works out and we aren't too bored. The forecast for rain our entire stay has changed to rain this morning, partly sunny for two days, and mostly cloudy for two days with daytime high's in the low 60's to low 70's...not exactly what I'd call beach weather. But we'll make the best of it.

I'm hoping to bring enough to keep the kids busy. We'll continue with our basic school work while we are there and have a couple of read alouds to bring. I'm packing up a couple of games and a punch art craft set. We also have a brand new all-terrain wagon for dragging stuff to the beach (we're camping four blocks from the beach) but the kids can play with it in camp too. Hopefully, there'll be some other kids at the campground around the same age as mine. That's always nice but doesn't always happen since it is a small private campground with only 19 sites.

There's no internet or cell phone coverage at the campgrounds. Hopefully, I'll be able to walk the few blocks to the local coffee shop that offers wireless internet a couple times to check email and maybe post. I don't know...we'll have to see. There will be no Tacoma Kids Weekly this week because of this. I just don't think me disappearing for a couple of hours to research and post that will be much appreciated by the family...sorry! So, see you back for that next weekend.

Have a great Labor Day!

Ha, ha, Modern Art, Giggle, Snort

Have you ever noticed how modern art can take any strange thing, or even any mundane thing, and call it art? How some artists make thousands of dollars selling paintings that are essentially nothing more than blowing some different colors of paint onto a black canvas with a straw? Or smearing it all over with their fingers? You know those pieces of fine art that people pay good money for the opportunity to see and tons of money for the privilege of owning it? Well, here's on that fits that mind-boggling category of art.

This not-to-be-missed exhibit is currently being showing in Seattle? The installation is a collaboration between Gallery4Culture and the Seattle Art Museum. You need to hurry because this art exhibit will only be available until the end of October. And you'll never guess the topic of this exhibit. Never ever. Not in a million years.

Wanna know what it is?

Orange traffic safety cones.

Giant ones.

Yep, you read that right. Someone made giant orange traffic cones...the ones used to block off or redirect traffic...and called it art. And someone else decided this was worth being put on exhibit as part of the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle.

I don't get it.

A Question For You

I have a question for you. If you're a lurker, now's the time to come out and comment.

Now that summer is over and the free events are slowing down, would you like to see my Tacoma Kids Weekly series continue through the school year? Do you use the information in the post? Or would you not miss it at all? If you are in the area, let me know.

Jury Duty

The people responsible for sending out jury summons have the worse possible timing when it comes to sending me summons for duty. I received my fourth summons this week and for the third time, I'm having to send in a request for exemption.

Now I'm not saying I wouldn't mind serving on a jury. There were those years between the ages of 18 and 25 when I was very interested in and willing to serve on a jury. I thought it would be interesting and wanted to be called to serve on an interesting case. But I never received a summons during those seven years. Not one single time.

My first summons came when I was pregnant with Mika. I was throwing up an average of every hour or anytime I dared to put food in my mouth, whichever came first. My midwife wrote me an excuse to send in and the court found it a reasonable excuse.

The second time I received a summons was about a year later. This time I was as unwilling to serve as I was unable. I was the stay at home mother to a newborn, nursing baby. I had no access to child care as we have no family in the area nor money to pay for full time child care. Plus there was the whole problem with the fact that I was the sole source of nutrition for my newborn and did not own a breast pump. I had no problems getting excused.

My third summons came during my pregnancy with Sammy. I was to report precisely two days before my due date. The only problem was that between having a two year old and feeling miserably pregnant, I forgot to respond to summons. I ended up calling them a couple days before I was to report. I was very apologetic about forgetting. I explained that I was willing to report in. Then I asked about bathroom priviledges for jurors, explaining that I was 9 months pregnant, due on such and such date, and found that I needed to pee every hour or so. They told me not to come in; they didn't want me going into labor in the court room.

Now here I am again. What's standing in the way of jury duty now? Well, several things. I have three children, no childcare, and no money to pay for childcare. I am responsible for the education of two of those children and, under the RCW for alternate education, have to provide a minimum of 20 hours of schooling for Sammy and 25 hours of schooling for Mika. I'm not sure I can accomplish that from the courtroom. Then there's the fact that I'm pregnant again with the same old problems of all my previous pregnancies. I asked for the childcare exemption but if I'm denied I'll have to get my midwife to write a note explaining how I have to eat every 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours to avoid the possiblity of going into a hypoglycemia coma and that even then, I'm prone to nausea and vomiting on occasion. I'm not sure they'll want to break that often so I that can go prepare and eat something.

I wish I could just tell them to take me off the list for the next 16 years or so. That should get me past childbearing age, young child age, and get me into that stage of parenting and homeschooling where I can just trust that all the children will be safe at home getting their school work done without supervision.

Gown

Mind Dump

I feel as if I have nothing in my mind to dump but it's been several days since I've posted something and I have no brain power to come up with a coherent, single-topic post. So, I'll just ramble.

While we are still rather busy, everything is moving in slow motion. Well, at least I am moving in slow motion. I have absolutely no energy or ability to move quickly. I'm falling behind in chores. (Anyone want to come do my laundry for me?) I'm falling behind in my special projects. (Anyone want to come declutter and organize my house so we can replace the flooring and get Mika moved into her new bedroom?) I'm barely getting the bare minimum done. I'm hoping this improves some. It didn't when I was pregnant with Mika or Sammy but it did, most days, with Josh. Why, oh why, am I pregnant again when I know how hard it is on my body?

On a whole different topic...we are suppose to be going camping next week. We always go camping over Labor Day weekend but this year we decided to go for five whole days. Five days! What was I thinking?! Now the extended forecast is for mid-60's and showers at least three of the five days we are going there. Camping in the rain for three young children. That will be fun! Oh, and we are going camping at the beach. Maybe we'll get lucky and the weather will do a major turn around and be hot and sunny instead. Right?

On the school front, we're doing ok. We've managed to get a little bit into the swing of things. We've been getting phonics and grammar completed but not spelling and writing. We've been doing math every day. History is caught back up. That's the one I'm worried about getting behind in because I'm trying to squeeze a 42 week curriculum into 36 weeks. Science is behind but that curriculum doesn't even begin to cover a whole year unless you supplement it heavily so I'm not worried about it at all. School officially begins next week so I'll have to find a way to rev things up and get it all done each day. I'm making progress on writing my kids' learning plans so that's good. I won't be scrambling last minute to get them done before they are due.

We just finished reading Mr. Popper's Penguins. The kids loved it. I knew they would. It was one of my favorites in grade school. We're reading Where the Red Fern Grows next, starting tonight.

Hubby declared himself the family hero last night. After hearing why, I agree...he's a hero. Apparently, when he went into the bathroom yesterday morning, he found himself face to face with a giant house spider just inches from the light switch. It was bigger than the one that I called him home from work to kill a couple years ago. Neither Mika nor I would have survived such an encounter.

Well, that's all for now.

Yard Sale Success

Well, I'm happy to report that our yard sale this weekend was a success. For some experienced in holding yard sales, it may not have looked like a success. After all, we didn't have a lot to sell. It was only for one day. And the heat kept a lot of potential customers away. We know that other yard sales in the area also experienced a very slow day. Still OUR sale was successful for many reasons.

One reason it was successful was simply the fact that it was thought up, planned for, and completed. My daughter had come to me a few weeks ago asking if we could have a yard sale and send the money to Mariam, our sponsored child. I explained we couldn't do that but we could send the money to World Vision to help a needy family somewhere. With that, the plan was hatched. I'm proud of my daughter for coming up with the idea and even donating some of her toys to the sale.

Another reason I consider the sale successful is that my son jumped in whole-heartily. He helped his sister paint our giant banner proclaiming the fact that all proceeds from the sale was being donated to World Vision. During the sale, he became a real salesman. He greeted customers, showed them around the sale, suggested they buy a soda, and told them why we were having a sale. He was so cute and did a great job.

It was successful because we got to witness the generosity of a few great people. One elderly couple stopped by, bought nothing, but added $20 to our donation jar. Another couple bought a bunch of items and discreetly dropped a $50 bill in our donation jar. The visiting mother of one of our neighbors asked my daughter to tell her husband why we were having a yard sale and then told her husband to give her $10 to the cause. These people helped renew my faith in people in a neighborhood where this kind of faith in people is hard to come by. It also allowed my children to witness the generosity of other people. It was primarily because of these three couples, that we met our goal.

Finally, it was successful because we met our goals. We wanted to make enough to buy at least one goat ($75) and donate the remainder, if any, to World Vision's Maximum Impact Fund. We accomplished both of those and added some "hope to sexually exploited girls."

I'm happy to see generosity growing in my children. I hope this trend continues. I'll be looking for additional opportunities for them to practice giving in the future as well. I have one possibility in the works; I'm just waiting to hear if children are allowed in this particular opportunity to help others.

And one last thing...once the sale was over, I packed my van nearly full and took it all to Goodwill. My house is that much lighter.

Yellow Water

Imagine it's a hot day. You're thirsty so you walk into the kitchen, choose your favorite tall cup from the cupboard, and retrieve a few ice cubes from the freezer. After turning on the kitchen faucet, you let it run a few seconds because you know you have old pipes and then fill your cup. As you raise your cup to your lips to pour cool, refreshing water into your parched throat, you pause. The water has a curious tint. Drinking it anyway, you notice it tastes different, sort of...well, funky. Later, you fill your white, porcelain-lined bathtub for your child's bath. Yes, the water is definitely not clear. It has a decidedly yellowish, brown tint to it. It looks as if several, very dirty children have already bathed in it.

That's what we experience every day here in Tacoma during the late summer, early fall months. It happens each year. Weeks after I have noticed the change in the water, the city gets around to sending out a letter explaining why our water is yellow. Thanks for the advanced notice!

The letter assures us that the water is safe to use and to drink. It's simply a problem with the reservoir being low. This causes the iron and magnesium concentrations to be higher than at other times of the year. Plus we have to draw the water from deep within the reservoir where these elements are found in even greater concentrations. The water treatment process turns these elements back to their visible state. It can't be avoided right now. Hopefully, improvements to the reservoir will allows us to draw the water from a high water level, avoiding this minor problem in the future. We're sorry if you don't like drinking this perfectly safe yellow water. (See last year's letter)

I can tell you that yellow water is definitely not visually pleasing. I mean, really, it's hard to convince your mind that yellow water is ok to drink. In addition to that, it tastes different. I don't know if other people notice it (my husband, who eats nearly anything, doesn't), but I do. Because of that, I drink even less than I normally do. And that's bad since I'm one of those chronically dehydrated people. It's really bad when you consider that I'm currently both pregnant and nursing a toddler. I need even more water than normal to stay healthy and protect the baby growing inside me. Dehydration can cause premature labor. Ask me how I know.

So, for the next few months, I'm grateful for bottled water although it becomes expensive when it is your only source of drinking water.

It's YARD SALE day!

I mentioned a few days ago that we are having a yard sale. Well, today is the day! It starts in just two hours are there is so much work to do that I really don't want to do. I'm tired! I want to go back to bed.

Anyway, here's just a few of the items I have here:

**Saxon Math 3 - entire set, unused
**Saxon Math 2 teacher's manual
**Saxon Math 1 teacher's manual
**Phonics Pathways
**Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
**14 piece view-thru Geometric Solids set
**Melissa & Doug Kid's Easel w/chalkboard on one side & dry erase on the other, holds rolls of art paper
**What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know
**What Your First Grader Needs to Know
**Konos Volume 1-older version (pulled apart & in 3 ring binder)
**The Phonics Game (I think the score cards are missing but other parts are still wrapped.)
**Signing Naturally Level 1 w/CD (some pencil writing was erased)
**Candy Land - Dora the Explorer version
**Candy Land regular version - new still in plastic
**Let's Make a Deal game
**Young kids books
**Christian books (commentaries, devotionals, Church history)
**Stuffed animals in excellent condition
**Household goods
**clothing (Men's, Women's Children's)
**and misc. other stuff

And remember ALL PROCEEDS GO TO WORLD VISION.

If you live in the Tacoma area and want to come by, shoot me an email and I'll give you the address.

Favorite Curriculum

The Heart of the Matter Friday Meme
Please share with us your Favorite Curriculum or Books! With the new school year beginning it would be wonderful to hear why your curriculum works for you, new ideas you're looking forward to trying, or really great book ideas you would love to share.




I'm one of those homeschoolers who just can't figure out what they want to use. Each year I've tried something different, especially in the areas of history and science. I do have a few choices that have managed to survive from year to year.

One curriculum that we found last year and is here to stay (at least through the elementary years) is Math-U-See. Math-U-See has transformed our math studies from daily tears, battles, and never getting it done to tearlessly getting it done without battles. My daughter tolerates math now and will even admit to liking math a little bit. We have now switched my son over to Math-U-See as well. Both of my school-aged children like this program.

We have found it easy to use while not consuming a lot of time. One thing that does not work for us is long, teacher-intensive lessons. My children's attitude is "just show me what to do and then let me do it." They do not like working problem after problem with manipulatives like some programs do. Math-U-See is very easy to implement in this manner. Usually I sit down with my children and run through a problem or two, explaining to them how to do that type of problem and explaining why we do it that way. Then I can let them loose to finish the rest. Because of the way lessons progress, they can usually complete several lessons with just that one, short lesson. When one of the children reaches a problem they don't understand, they ask for help and I provide it. We rarely use the base ten blocks used with Math-U-See and only occasionally watch the video lessons. It's been that simple for us.

Fiasco at Costco

Last week, I wrote a somewhat humorous post explaining what it is like being the mom of a certain herculean 18 month old boy named Joshua. If that didn't convince you of how exhausting he can be, consider this completely true tale of our misadventures in Costco this evening.

While Scott and Sammy were off doing some father-son bonding time, the rest of us headed over to Costco to purchase a few things and eat dinner in the food court. After buying what we needed, we parked the cart so we could order our food and eat. Mika and Josh found a table in the surprisingly not busy food court while I stood in line to order. Everything was wonderful; Josh was happily entertained at the table with Mika while I kept an eye on them from line. Unfortunately, it didn't last and soon Mika was struggling to keep Josh at the table with her. Not far away, I told her to let him go and he ran over to join me in line. At this point it was my time to order. I received our food and cups and Josh and I returned to the table to set the food down. This is when things turned bad.

After dropping off the food, I headed back to the soda fountain to fill our cups. Josh was tagging along with me. Then as I turned to fill the cups, Josh bolted for the central aisle and headed for the door. Hands full, I told Mika to run after him. He got about 30 feet away before she caught him. Meanwhile, with my eye on Mika and Josh, I headed back to the table to unload so I could take off after them.

As I was heading towards Mika and Josh, I watched as she caught up to him and attempted to pick him up so she could carrying him back to the table. He wasn't having it and threw a fit. Unfortunately, Mika is unable to hold Josh when he throws a fit; his size and strength is too much for her. So, she put him down. In one swift motion, Josh threw himself to the ground and proceeded to throw a fit. Defeated, Mika sat down next to him, refusing to abandon her baby brother. As I am nearing them (less than 10 feet away), a lady decided to intervene. I heard her tell Mika, "Let's go find your mom." The lady had not noticed me at this point so I told her I was right there. It was then that this woman decided to start some trouble.

All of this happened over the course of just a few seconds. All of this happened while I was watching. I witnessed the entire show that my son put on. It was because of this that I knew this lady was LYING to me when she told me that my daughter had dropped my son on his head. I responded calmly, "No, she did not. He hit his head on the ground. He does it all the time." "No," she argued, "I saw her drop him so that he landed on his head." My daughter, at this point, tried to defend herself and said, "I put him down carefully." I walked away with my children and told my daughter that I believed her.

We returned to our food and ate our dinner. Josh, of course, refused all food except for the lettuce and tomato portions of the Caesar salad the three of us were sharing. He's a strange kid. All was well until we got home and he refused to walk from the car to the house. I was trying to carry in two gallons of milk so I had no hands to pick him up. So, he threw himself on the ground and screamed until I put the milk down on the porch and returned for him. I sat him down in the living room where he again screamed while I retrieved the milk from the porch and put it in the refrigerated. Then I sat down and grabbed the nursing pillow. Seeing the nursing pillow, his legs began to work again and dutifully carried his little body to me where I nursed him to sleep.

Ahhhhh....the quiet is so nice!

A Visit With the Dentist

I've been remiss with my children's dental care. A year passed between the last appointment and yesterdays. Despite that, I was relieved to find out that neither of them (my youngest doesn't see the dentist yet) have any significant problems.

Mika had no cavities which is surprising because her teeth attract plaque like it was a valuable commodity. We discussed a loose tooth that has been loose for over a year. The dentist is not worried about it as it is prematurely loose and not causing a problems with permanent teeth. We also discussed the issue with the lack of space on her lower jaw. A couple of years ago, we had to pull a tooth to make room for a permanent tooth that couldn't come up for lack of space. It had actually gouged through the root of the tooth blocking it. Now the permanent tooth below that pulled one is finally heading up but there is no space for it. At the next check up, he'll probably need to pull the next tooth to make room for it. This was expected but my daughter is still not happy with it. In a few years, she'll need braces to deal with the overcrowding issue. They also wanted her back in for sealants on her permanent molars.

Sammy was in pretty good shape too. His teeth and gums were in pretty good condition with very little plaque. The dentist told us his top two teeth are loose. We hadn't noticed yet but I just checked them and they are, indeed, loose. He also noticed a chip in one of his molars and made note to keep a watch on it. If it chips more, he'll need to cap it. Finally, he noticed that Sammy has the very beginnings of a small cavity. It doesn't need to be filled at this point so we'll just be watching it in the future.

I know I can trust this dentist because he's not the type to recommend treatment unless it is essential. He cares about the feelings of the patient and considers their age and comfort level in his treatment recommendations.

Now, if only I could find an adult dentist who is so good.

My New Toy

I bought a new toy today. Actually, a couple of male members of my family has been bugging me to get it as I hadn't gotten around to it. I finally did today and I got to use it not once, not twice, but three times.

About a year and a half ago, Sammy decided he wanted his hair shaved. Rather than take him to the local kids hair salon, I pulled out my husband's beard trimmer. It's the same thing only smaller, right? Not really. My husband's poor rechargeable trimmer just couldn't hack cutting a full head of hair. It took several hours and three recharges to get it done. We continued using the beard trimmer for a while. And then we let it grow out a little. Then one day he wanted it short again but I didn't want to spend several hours messing it with so I made him an appointment at the local place. We arrived at the kids' salon at the appointed time. Five minutes and $25 later, we left without his hair. I got to thinking and realized that two haircuts would cover the price of hair trimmers. I suggested it to my husband and they've been bugging to get around to visiting the beauty supply store every since. Today I did.

Here's Sammy sporting a concerned look at the off-centered mohawk I secretly cutting into his hair. It's hard to cut a mohawk into hair that has a cowlick right in the way so it is curling even further off center. In the end, he ended up with exactly what he wanted: a shaved head with about 1/8th of an inch of hair left.

Then Scott showed amazing amounts of trust and sat in the chair. His hair isn't as short as Sammy's, though.

Then Josh was instantly transformed from baby to big boy with his first hair cut. He wasn't thrilled with the idea but he survived it without making it too hard.

With just these three hair cuts, we've already paid for the clippers. Hooray!

Fostering a Giving Spirit

I still remember how it started. It was began about four years ago. My husband and I had discussed the possibility of sponsoring a child through World Vision as a way to expose our children to the plight of the world's needy children. Not long later I attended a Michael W. Smith and Third Day concert. World Vision was there manning a table covered with photos of needy children all over the world waiting for a sponsor. The two groups made sure to let us know they were there and challenged us to sponsor a child. I stopped by the table during an intermission and searched for a girl close in age to my daughter, who was 4 at the time.

That night I returned home with a World Vision brochure and a photo of Mariam, who lives in Malawi with her family. Malawi, like many African countries, is plagued with food shortages and AIDS/HIV. World Vision has been working there for the past 27 years with 16,000 children currently sponsored. Still, the need there is great, with many children orphaned due to AIDS. We continue to sponsor Mariam to this day and hear about her condition a couple times a year.

Recently, my daughter asked if we could hold a yard sale to help World Vision. Normally I dislike holding yard sales, but how could I refuse? So we put the plan in action. We'll be busy all this week with our final preparations (I've been going through our house gathering saleable items for the last few weeks already) because this Saturday is the day. It will take place from 9am to 4pm.

What will you find there? A variety of things: kids clothes, small household items, lots of books, even some curriculum and homeschool supplies. Mika will spend the day manning a refreshment table, stocked with soda, bottled water, granola bars, and maybe some other snacks. We'll also have a coin drive/donation jar. The World Vision gift catalog will be available if anyone wants to purchase a gift for a family and we'll provide a laptop for on-the-spot child sponsorship.

What will we do with the money? All profits from the sale, refreshment table, and coin drive will be used to purchase goats for needy families. We chose this because the buttons World Vision provided with their giving toolbox said, "Got Goat" on them and we decided to stick with that theme. Any leftover money that is not enough to purchase another goat will be donated to World Vision's Maximum Impact Fund.

If you live in the area and want to stop by, email me for the address.

Tacoma Kids Weekly: Week of August 11, 2008

Here's what I have this week.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Puyallup's Pioneer Park will be hosting another kid's event at noon. This week's entertainment is provided by Zig Zag, a juggling act. Immediately after the show, the wadding pool will be filled and opened. Of course, the playground is always available. Bring along a picnic lunch and swimsuits and make a day of it.

Regal Cinemas will be providing another round of free G and PG movies this week. Movies are shown Tuesday and Wednesday, are first come first serve, and begin at 10am. The line begins forming around 9am so be sure to get there early to ensure you get a seat. Our favorite local theater, Lakewood 15 on S. 84th, is showing Mr. Majorium's Wonder Emporium and Alvin and the Chipmunks. To check out what will be playing at your local theater, go to the Regal Cinemas website.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Regal Cinemas will show another round of this week's free family films. See Tuesday for details.

The Zambini Brothers will be putting on a puppet show at Tacoma's Downtown Main Library at 11am. I think it's going to be a great show.

McKinley Playfield will be hosting a Nature Discovery Night from 4:30pm to 6:30pm. These discovery nights feature frogs and frog activities.

Bradley Lake Park in Puyallup will be the location for a free country music concert featuring Jonathan Harris. The concert starts at 6:30pm. Bring chairs for comfortable seating.

Thursday, August 14, 2008
The Tacoma Farmer's Market takes place today from 9am to 2pm downtown on Broadway between S. 9th and S. 11th streets. Musical entertainment will be provided by the Joshua Cain Band. The Children's Museum is free during the market as well so drop in with the kids and let them play for a while.

Jaydeen Nation's Petting Zoo will be visiting two Tacoma Libraries today. See and pet her small group of animals at Wheelock Library at 11am and at Fern Hill Library at 3pm.

Visit Pioneer Park from 6:30 to 8:30pm for a free concert in the park. Tonight's entertainment will be provided by Geoffrey Castle and Darren Motamedy. Geoffrey Castle is an entertaining violinist and Darren Motamedy plays jazz. There are limited concessions available at the park as well.

Friday, August 15, 2008
Stewart Heights Pool is having a family night from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. This pool includes a zero depth entry, water slide, bubble pool, lazy river, a water play structure, and tumble buckets. Cost for this event is $5 for adults, $4 for kids, or $12 per family.

Saturday, August 16, 2008
McKinley Playfield will be the location for Tacoma's summer concert and movie in the park this week. Musical entertainment will be provided by Latigo Lace. Under the Same Moon will be the movie and will start at dusk. These concerts and movies in the park can really be a lot of fun for the kids. If it is at all chilly, bring some extra layers and blankets to cuddle up in.

Meanwhile, Puyallup will be showing its movie in the park at Bradley Lake. They will be showing High School Musical. Based on last year's experience, I strongly suggest you take along a flashlight and chairs to sit on. The flashlight is for the bathrooms; they didn't have lights and were pitch black once you closed the door. I don't know if they've remedied this problem since last year but it won't hurt to be prepared. The chairs would replace a blanket as geese have been a problem in this park in the past.

Tacoma Public Schools Increase Hours

Each week school is in session, my children are required to participate in educational activities related to their customized student learning plan for a minimum number of hours. For Sammy, the minimum number of hours is 20. For Mika, it's 25. Because we are able to complete our core subjects in much less than that, I must get creative in how I meet these requirements.

In contrast, Tacoma Public Schools, which primarily teach only core subjects (and poorly, at that) has decided to extend the school day for elementary and middle school students. Starting September 3, 2008, all students within the school district will attend school 6 1/2 hours a day. This includes kindergartners who now attend full time as well. Elementary students will begin school at 9am and continue until 3:30pm. Middle schoolers (grades 6-8) will attend school from 8:15am to 2:45pm and high schoolers (grades 9-12) will attend school from 7:35am to 2:05pm.

Why the change? The district must meet a required 1000 school hours for all students grades K-4 in order to receive state funding for all-day kindergarten. They also need the extra time to be able to take off 5 full days for teacher training and their numerous early release days. These days, or partial days off, do not count towards the 1000 hour requirement. They are also claiming that the increased hours reduce transportation costs.

My question is: how will this affect the kids? Is it fair to require kids as young as 5 years old to attend school for 32.5 hours a week? Are they ready for that kind of time commitment? When you count homework, some students will be putting in an excess of 40 hours a week towards school activities. Can elementary students handle that kind of stress without it negatively impacting their health, physically and mentally?

It becomes even more alarming when you consider that the Tacoma School District no longer has set recess times. Teachers provide recess for their students if and when they have time. I know some students only get one 15-minute recess a day, compared to the two we got in school when I was a student. PE, which used to be daily when I was in school, is now only twice a week. I'm not sure how much play time students get after lunch, but I know some schools rotate students taking their lunch at their desks in the classroom to handle the problem of too small cafeterias. That's a lot of desk time and very little play time for these students. I've seen reports that the extra school time will be used to cover current curriculum. Perhaps it would be wiser to give the kids more time to play.

This is a really hard thing for me to swallow. Children need time to play and pursue enjoyable activities of their choosing. There's plenty of opportunities for responsibility and stress later. I agonize over the requirement I have to do school for 20-25 hours a week. I've found that amount of time not necessary to more than adequately teach my kids. They've proven that by scoring exceptionally high on standardized tests. I also tend to have moments when I feel that 4-5 hours a day of school is just too much. It's the only thing I don't like about being enrolled in CVA. At least, I can be creative in meeting that time, filling a good portion of it with fun activities that don't feel like school. Thinking about it makes me glad my kids aren't in school and hopeful that nothing happens to make enrolling them in traditional public schools necessary.

Are we requiring too much of our kids?

CVA Flexibility

A recent email response I received from one of the certified teachers on staff at Columbia Virtual Academy made me want to add another post to further demonstrate how accommodating CVA is to homeschoolers.

One of the requirements CVA must enforce due to the fact that it operates under the alternative education laws of Washington state is that enrolled students must complete a minimum number of school hours related to their learning plan each week. For full-time enrolled students, the required hours are 10 for kindergartners, 20 for first through third grade, and 25 for students fourth grade and above. For part-time enrolled students, the required hours are reduced based on the percentage of enrollment.

With my children, who are very fast learners, meeting those hours exclusively with traditional school work is challenging. Spelling only takes up 5 to 15 minutes a day. My son rarely needs more than 5 minutes for phonics and language arts worksheets. My daughter usually doesn't take more than 15 minutes to complete her math work, including any instruction needed. We supplement our history and science heavily with extra reading from the library to rack up hours, but it is not enough. This year will be more challenging than last year because we have chosen not to continue with the YMCA which provided 3 hours a week last year and my daughter has entered fourth grade and its 5 additional required hours. I was at a loss of how to make up the deficit so I asked the certified teacher. The response I got back is typical of the suggestions you can expect to receive.

The certified teacher understood my dilemma because she, too, has a quick learner. Some of her ideas were interesting and not typical school work. Among the more schoolish suggestions were registering the children at Time4Learning for enrichment, researching and creating a "This Day in History" calendar, and designing and writing a newspaper covering the things they are learning in other subjects. Other suggestions sounded less like school work. An invention class was suggested: allowing them to brainstorm, write a proposal, and go through the entire process of creating an invention. Or perhaps my kids were enjoy writing comic strips with a suitable computer program. One idea I had already considered: a cooking class, including such topics as meal planning, budgeting, shopping, and preparing recipes. I don't know about you, but I never had the opportunity to design newspapers, create comic strips, or invent things in my grade schools.

Since I don't have to meet a minimum number of hours until school starts officially at the end of the month, I have some time to think about it. I've already decided to include "Lifeskills" for my daughter to cover menu planning, grocery shopping (price comparisons, coupon usage, how to choose fresh produce and meat, etc.), and various cooking skills. The class will include all aspects of running a home kitchen, including cleaning it. I'll count, especially for my daughter, personal reading and creative writing time. She loves to do both. I'm considering Time4Learning, as it is self-paced and may cover any gaps there may be in our regular curriculum. As always, we'll include plenty of educational videos on topics we are covering, arts/crafts projects, experiments, and field trips.

So, I'm wondering, what nontraditional things do you do as a part of school?

Birth Control

I have discovered the perfect birth control, guaranteed to work with 99% accuracy or your money back. And it only takes a month to work for the rest of your life! What's this amazing medicine called? Joshua. It's been in circulation for 17 months now and only has one failure so far.

Joshua is guaranteed to provide the following services...

Open the refrigerator at least 50 times a day, or until you notice your milk souring before the expiration date

Attempt to carry a full gallon of milk to the living room at least 5 times a day

Bring you every box of cereal and crackers that you own

Add cat food to both the litter box and the dog treat box

Attempt to eat something edible out of the trash can

Slam the toilet lid and seat down 15 times a day while you cringe, waiting for the toilet to shatter in a million pieces

Fly through the bathroom door every time you use the toilet and slam it behind him upon entering, often with his fingers in the way

Flush the toilet at least 3 times every time you are sitting on it using it

Remove everything from the bathroom cabinets every time you are in the shower and gleefully run away with your blush brush when you tell him to put it back

Clean toothbrushes in the toilet

Remove every DVD you own from the shelf, open five of them to remove the discs, and only scratch two of them on a daily basis

Randomly choose 20 books to remove from the bookshelf, paging through half of them, ripping 2 of them, and writing in 3 of the library ones

Threaten to impale himself with one of the many sharpened pencils, pens, knitting needles, or scissors that he finds (these happen to be the same ones that you can never find)

Slam his fingers in the front door twice a week

Turn the living room and porch light off and on, over and over, for ten minutes straight on a nightly basis

Get stuck between the couch and the side table three times a day

Climb up on and fall off of the dining room table twice a day

Randomly walk over to you while you are lying on the floor with your older kids and axe kick you in the forehead

Climb on you and bounce on your stomach until you think it has ruptured

Use your chest and then shoulder to reach the top of the couch so he can look out the window five feet off the ground

Eat 25 times a day and drink 273 fluid ounces but refuse anything placed on bread

Nurse 27 times a day, usually using his teeth

Screech at a volume that only a high powered bullhorn can reach

Stick his fingers in his diaper and show you his dark brown fingers in disgust

So, anyone care to borrow him for a month?

Note: This list is only slightly exaggerated. Despite everything he redeems himself with each smile, giggle, and crawl across the dinner table to give you a kiss.

Entering the Land of Bizarre

Like many women, I am plagued with very weird dreams when I am pregnant. I don't have dreams about giving birth to kittens, or toddlers, or even full grown adults. In fact, as far as I can tell, they have nothing to do with my pregnancy other than the fact that they occur when I am pregnant. I awoke from such a dream this morning...

My dream began with what seemed to be a family Christmas celebration. My dad and my grandmother were recognizable. But there were many other people in my extended dream-family as well. One odd thing about the people in the dream, besides that fact that my family included people I didn't know and was larger than my real extended family, was that everyone in the dream wore skin-tight suits like those found in Star Trek, only they were all solid-colored and shiny or sparkly. Every person, of all ages and sizes, wore these suits.

The only reason I thought it was Christmas was the fact that everyone had presents, already open, about. As I walked around I noticed that all the men had received a particular slot car race track and all the boys had received a different race car track (the boys got all the same track, but it was different from the one the men got). There were other gifts but I don't remember them. I was told my gift, a CD set of some sort, was at the end of a certain row.

You may have noticed I said my gift was at the end of a row. That was another strange aspect of my dream. My dream-family "lived" in what I could only describe as a department store found at the end of a shopping mall. All the gifts were arranged in aisles like those you would find in a department store, all set up and on display. The dream-family members were sitting in recliners in one area of the store.

At this point, one of my dream-family members (a male, my age, that I recognized as a high school classmate from my real past), arrived. He wanted to show me something and, together, we walked out into the mall attached to my department store home.

We entered another store a few spaced down that was full of odd chair-like things. We each sat in one. Immediately, they started closing on us. I began to panic as I realized that the chair was going to completely shut me into a very tight, human-sitting-in-a-chair shaped space providing no more than 1/4 inch of space all around. It was also filling up with water. I was going to drown or suffocate. I was told to relax and, in seconds, I found myself inside a space-themed virtual reality controlled entirely by minute movements of my fingertips. Within the virtual reality, I had no conscious realization of being shut into the tight, liquid-filled chamber; I was simply there, able to move freely.

As I stood in what looked like a futuristic space station or ship, I tested out my movements. I was pressing buttons, flipping levels, and doing other movements. In what seemed like only a few minutes, the space station/ship disappeared and the chair was opening. We stepped out of the chairs and walked out of the store into the mall like nothing strange had occurred.

Later in the dream, I returned to the store and entered an underwater simulation for a few minutes. After that simulation, I inadvertently left behind a berry smoothie on a ledge near the chair. Later, my dream-family member who had originally brought me to the store, would return with me to the store to show me the cup I had left behind. I had a distinct feeling that I was not suppose to have gone back to the store on my own. That's when I woke up.

So, what do you think? Is that just the oddest dream you've ever heard? Have you had really dreams of your own?

Read Alouds 2008-2009 School Year

Shaping Homemade Sandwich Rolls

You asked how I shaped my sandwhich rolls. Well, here's a video showing it. It was impromptu with no prep so excuse dirty floors, poor video quality, etc. It's just so you get the idea.

Homeschool Can Take Place Anytime

One of the great thing about homeschooling is that we can set our own schedule. We can have school any day of the week and any time of the day that works. Some choose to work their school time around dad's work schedule, especially if dad works an unusual schedule. Some take advantage of their children's sleeping/waking personalities and teach the morning person in the morning and the night owl later when they are ready to face the day. Many chose a four day schedule, saving the fifth for errands, play dates, co-ops, and field trips. If it works for you, you can do it.

Up until this year, we have followed a somewhat traditional schedule of doing school during the day Monday through Friday. The biggest difference between what we did and what public schools do is that we usually started late as neither my daughter nor I are morning people. We also dropped school anytime we wished to run errands or enjoy a field trip. In the past, we took part in a co-op that was more a giant play date than a learning opportunity. We enjoyed the flexibility.

As my oldest gets older, however, I feel a stronger need to get more serious with our studies. The material is getting harder, there's more to cover, and we need to start getting used to having a schedule. High school, while still four years away, feels like it is just around the corner. I'd rather transition slowly than have the shock of going from super relaxed to oh-my-gosh there's so much to do. With that in mind, I've created a schedule where certain subjects will be covered on certain days rather than haphazardly like it has been in the past. In the past, the only thing we were guaranteed to do on a regular basis was language arts and math; everything else was fit in whenever we happened to have time. We are proof that you don't have to be organized to begin or to succeed at homeschooling. But like I said, that needs to change eventually; at least, for us it does.

So, I've been trying to create a schedule when exactly when these subjects would fit into the day. I read Managers of Their Homes. Much of it made sense; some of it I ignored because it just doesn't fit in with our beliefs. I created a schedule and put it on the wall for when school began. And then I began to doubt it. I wasn't happy with the schedule I created. The kids didn't have enough play time for my tastes. I felt stressed just thinking about how my day was going to play out. It was doomed before it began.

Then I came up with an idea. It is this idea that we will be testing out when we start school this week. You see, I had planned a traditional school day leaving all of my kids' play time for the evening hours. I don't like that for many reasons: in Washington days are very short in the winter meaning they wouldn't have much time outside, my husband needs quiet time to work in the evenings so the kids can't really play indoors either, and we usually don't allow them much computer time that close to bed so they can't do that either. So what can they do with their play time but sit and be bored watching TV or do some reading? That's a problem for a mom who wants her kids to have time to be kids

So, what are we going to try instead? We are going to try doing half of our school work at night after dinner. That will give daddy some quiet time to do work he needs to do and will occupy those evening hours for the kids. It will also leave most of the day free for playing indoors and out without concern about the volume level. We will also be free to run off and enjoy an outing without worrying about getting behind in their book work. I'm also scheduling a very light day of nonessential subjects on Monday so we can have that day free for errands and grocery shopping. It sounds wonderful. I'm hoping it works out.

So, how do you schedule your school day? Do you follow a traditional schedule or do you something different?

A New Year Begins

We begin school on Monday, just two (less than two!) short days away. Oh my!

It's weird starting this early but it is for the best. With a baby on the way, I'll feel better if I can get stuff done ahead of time. I already know that I won't want to juggle recovering from childbirth, learning the needs of a brand new baby, and getting school done all at the same time. So, I'm being proactive and getting as much as a month ahead before the baby gets here. That's my hope anyway.

So, with school starting Monday, I'm using this weekend to get the final touches put into place on my organization. It's rather amazing because I'm already more organized for this coming school year than I have been in any year previously. After reading a few posts at Falling Like Rain, I was inspired to organize our year in a similar manner. I created a file crate like hers. The only difference is that I have a single crate (I actually used a long filing box) for both kids and I've limited it to homeschool items only. Once I had the crate set up, I began filing all of our school work by week, like she did. I have a good chunk of the filing completed. I'll be using this weekend to finish it. I'm really excited about this system because I can see how it will make keep on task and finding everything I need so much easier this year. I can't wait to try it out.

With all of our school work filed by week, teaching each week will be a snap. Each child has a binder to hold the current week's work. Each binder is filled with plastic pocket dividers. Each divider has a pocket on each side so it can be used for two subjects. They are all labeled with the subjects that they hold. At the end of each week, I'll grade, record, and file away the completed the work. Then I'll pull the next week's work from my crate and place it in the correct pockets for each child. All their work for the week will be in one, easy-to-find place. It is also portable. If we go somewhere, they can just bring their binder along. Bringing the binder alone means they'll have the ability to complete language arts, math, and penmanship work anywhere. If we want to do history or science, we can easily grab that subject's reading as well. The binder's cover will work perfectly as a writing surface, too. I'll also put together a pencil box with pencils, colored pencils, erasers, and sharpeners so we have everything we need to go. I love how homeschooling can be portable.

I'm looking forward to seeing how everything works out in actual use. I'll let you know.