You know how sometimes things happen in dreams, and then you wake up, and you aren't sure if they really happened or if you are just dreaming?
So, the Queen of England is trying to convince Switzerland to support her plan to make the US give Alaska to her and the Russians, because it's not culturally American anyway. She had maps and stuff.
Waking up from that one was a doozy. It was like last night's march of nations was a reminder of all the countries she used to own, so she decided she was going to do something about that.
Giving Alaska to the Canadians would be entertaining politically, though.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Friday, July 27, 2012
Random tidbits
1. I chopped my hair off again. It has never been this short, I don't think. My mom will be happy because it is physically not possible for my hair to fall into my face. Unless it has previously fallen out of my head.
2. Insomnia is teh suck. Luckily I have an appointment with my doctor on Monday because oooooooohhhh myyyyyyyy, this is like having a newborn again, except without the sweet baby head to snorgle, or the tiny little hats, or the general smooshiness.
3. I cleaned out my office this week. I kind of cried. Maybe. Also, I have a lot of books. I think I need another bookshelf. Or two. That seems to be a recurring theme lately.
4. Also, I went to that new used bookstore. It was okay. Nothing fantastic, and the shelves weren't labeled, which is kind of annoying. Also, it mostly seems like an excuse for random hipster guy to just play his guitar and get paid for it.
5. I do not know how to play guitar.
6. Between the moving out of my office and the changing of the living room into the playroom, there is a lot of framed art that needs to get hung stacked up against various walls in my house. Apparently, I like pretty. There are also giant fly guts on my wall that I need to clean off, because I just killed a giant fly. Apparently sleep deprivation does wonders for my reflexes...Okay, now I have cleaned the giant fly guts off my wall, because ew.
7. I cleaned up my bedroom yesterday. (My mom is going to be so proud of me with this post.) Apparently I fling my clothes when I take them off because I found dirty laundry in the oddest places.
2. Insomnia is teh suck. Luckily I have an appointment with my doctor on Monday because oooooooohhhh myyyyyyyy, this is like having a newborn again, except without the sweet baby head to snorgle, or the tiny little hats, or the general smooshiness.
3. I cleaned out my office this week. I kind of cried. Maybe. Also, I have a lot of books. I think I need another bookshelf. Or two. That seems to be a recurring theme lately.
4. Also, I went to that new used bookstore. It was okay. Nothing fantastic, and the shelves weren't labeled, which is kind of annoying. Also, it mostly seems like an excuse for random hipster guy to just play his guitar and get paid for it.
5. I do not know how to play guitar.
6. Between the moving out of my office and the changing of the living room into the playroom, there is a lot of framed art that needs to get hung stacked up against various walls in my house. Apparently, I like pretty. There are also giant fly guts on my wall that I need to clean off, because I just killed a giant fly. Apparently sleep deprivation does wonders for my reflexes...Okay, now I have cleaned the giant fly guts off my wall, because ew.
7. I cleaned up my bedroom yesterday. (My mom is going to be so proud of me with this post.) Apparently I fling my clothes when I take them off because I found dirty laundry in the oddest places.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
I have a blog?
Oh yeah, I have a blog.
Poor neglected little blog.
Let's see, what have I been up to in the last six weeks?
I have a totally new yard. We've been saving for years and this year we did it. Patio, fence, new grass, xeriscaping in the front. It's fantastic. It also involved a broken water line to our house and a flooded basement. That was not so fantastic. We also installed egress windows in the basement which has made the basement so much more liveable. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to take advantage of the increased livability of the basement. I think there has to be a way to turn one of the windows into a little reading area, but I haven't figured out the exact best way to do it yet.
Geekboy managed to fall into one of the window wells. He's still healing from the cuts and scrapes. Cooper has managed to lecture his father on not falling down holes multiple times in the last few weeks. "You are not supposed to fall down holes. You take the stairs and if there are not stairs you take the elevator. You do not just fall down holes."
We have pretty much moved every piece of furniture in the house except our bed and dresser. The living room is now in the playroom. The playroom is now where the living room was. It's also been turned into a learning space, so the table and easel that were in Cooper's room are now upstairs and the train table is now downstairs, and... you get the idea. Of course, as all those little things lost places to live they ended up on the kitchen table, so the last of them finally got rehomed today, so we used our kitchen table for the first time in about, oh, a month today for lunch. That's not quite as horrible as it sounds because we have been using the table on our new patio to have meals and it is so lovely to have a patio to have meals. When Cooper's done, he gets up and runs around the yard and plays and Geekboy and I sit in our fake Adirondack chairs and we all just hang out and it is lovely.
The semester is over. I have to go clean out my office sometime in the next week. I'm not sure where I am going to put all the books I bring home. Oh, the books. We moved all the bookshelves in the house and reorganized them, and for about six minutes there was actually empty shelf space in my house but then homeschool happened to them and there are no more empty shelves. I also found a new used bookstore in town. I have not yet been there to check it out, but it is within walking distance from my house. That may discourage me from buying books that are not truly necessary (what? what does that even mean?) if I have to carry them home.
We adjusted Cooper's medicine back down. He was too focused, wouldn't stop what he was doing to eat, and becoming obsessive in his play, like to the point he couldn't make himself stop long enough to use the bathroom. He is on one extended release tablet in the morning, but he may go to a multiple pill regimen once he is at home full time. We'll see how he handles schooling on the lower dosage before we make any more changes to his medication.
I have lots of blog post ideas for the next few weeks. My feelings about transitioning to full time at-home momma, the end (for now) of being a professor, a full picture show of our awesome new yard, the schoolroom, first day of kindergarten, etc. The last six weeks or so have been chaotic, both at home and at work, and transitions are always difficult to process while in the midst of them. But I have lots of thoughts up in my head that will eventually make it onto the pixellated page.
Poor neglected little blog.
Let's see, what have I been up to in the last six weeks?
I have a totally new yard. We've been saving for years and this year we did it. Patio, fence, new grass, xeriscaping in the front. It's fantastic. It also involved a broken water line to our house and a flooded basement. That was not so fantastic. We also installed egress windows in the basement which has made the basement so much more liveable. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to take advantage of the increased livability of the basement. I think there has to be a way to turn one of the windows into a little reading area, but I haven't figured out the exact best way to do it yet.
Geekboy managed to fall into one of the window wells. He's still healing from the cuts and scrapes. Cooper has managed to lecture his father on not falling down holes multiple times in the last few weeks. "You are not supposed to fall down holes. You take the stairs and if there are not stairs you take the elevator. You do not just fall down holes."
We have pretty much moved every piece of furniture in the house except our bed and dresser. The living room is now in the playroom. The playroom is now where the living room was. It's also been turned into a learning space, so the table and easel that were in Cooper's room are now upstairs and the train table is now downstairs, and... you get the idea. Of course, as all those little things lost places to live they ended up on the kitchen table, so the last of them finally got rehomed today, so we used our kitchen table for the first time in about, oh, a month today for lunch. That's not quite as horrible as it sounds because we have been using the table on our new patio to have meals and it is so lovely to have a patio to have meals. When Cooper's done, he gets up and runs around the yard and plays and Geekboy and I sit in our fake Adirondack chairs and we all just hang out and it is lovely.
The semester is over. I have to go clean out my office sometime in the next week. I'm not sure where I am going to put all the books I bring home. Oh, the books. We moved all the bookshelves in the house and reorganized them, and for about six minutes there was actually empty shelf space in my house but then homeschool happened to them and there are no more empty shelves. I also found a new used bookstore in town. I have not yet been there to check it out, but it is within walking distance from my house. That may discourage me from buying books that are not truly necessary (what? what does that even mean?) if I have to carry them home.
We adjusted Cooper's medicine back down. He was too focused, wouldn't stop what he was doing to eat, and becoming obsessive in his play, like to the point he couldn't make himself stop long enough to use the bathroom. He is on one extended release tablet in the morning, but he may go to a multiple pill regimen once he is at home full time. We'll see how he handles schooling on the lower dosage before we make any more changes to his medication.
I have lots of blog post ideas for the next few weeks. My feelings about transitioning to full time at-home momma, the end (for now) of being a professor, a full picture show of our awesome new yard, the schoolroom, first day of kindergarten, etc. The last six weeks or so have been chaotic, both at home and at work, and transitions are always difficult to process while in the midst of them. But I have lots of thoughts up in my head that will eventually make it onto the pixellated page.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Bad idea
Buying a rock pick for a five year old is a disaster waiting to happen, right? Right.
Okay.
Putting down the science catalog and backing away.
No idea
I have no idea how people homeschooled before the advent of the internet. Not only does it make it faster to review curriculum because you can download samples instead of having to wait for catalogs in the mail, or going to curriculum fairs, homeschoolers are a social bunch and love to share all their ideas and activities. I've been reading quite a few homeschool blogs to get some ideas of how to get started. Hint: do not buy everything you look at.
The best and greatest tool I've found is Pinterest, though. It's so great to be able to follow other peoples' boards and have this great idea bank of the best and coolest ideas. And you know me and my believe that no knowledge will ever go to waste; I may have managed to assemble the most comprehensive set of homeschool boards in the (less than one year) history of Pinterest.
Of course, as soon as I did that, this new site called Learnist launched, which is basically like Pinterest but for educators, so, yeah.
But, until that gets up and going, Pinterest is where it's at, so I'm participating in a homeschool Pinterest board linkup.
The best and greatest tool I've found is Pinterest, though. It's so great to be able to follow other peoples' boards and have this great idea bank of the best and coolest ideas. And you know me and my believe that no knowledge will ever go to waste; I may have managed to assemble the most comprehensive set of homeschool boards in the (less than one year) history of Pinterest.
Of course, as soon as I did that, this new site called Learnist launched, which is basically like Pinterest but for educators, so, yeah.
But, until that gets up and going, Pinterest is where it's at, so I'm participating in a homeschool Pinterest board linkup.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Deciding how to homeschool
No matter how I choose to homeschool Cooper, someone will think I am doing it wrong.
I've been reading lots of homeschooling books lately, and that seems to be my consensus.
The classical education people think I should be teaching Latin and reading Cicero to my kindergartner. Not that's there's anything wrong with that.
The unschoolers think that workbooks and structured, parent chosen learning experiences will crush the love of learning out of your children. There's something wrong with that (the crushing part, not their philosophy.) You can imagine how well these people get along with the classical education types.
Charlotte Mason thinks I should be spending hours outside everyday, regardless of the weather (easier said in England than in Idaho, lady) and not allowing our children to read "twaddle." But if reading Cars books is going to get my child to read, is that so wrong?
Then there is delight-driven learning, and unit studies, and notebooking and lapbooking and workboxes and Waldorf and Montessori and Thomas Jefferson Leadership and the whole range of Christian/secular debates and comprehensive versus eclectic and three learning styles and five learning personalities and eight types of intelligence and
And my head just exploded.
And that doesn't even get into the whole educating a kid who has ADHD stuff (fidget toys! sensory pillows! no fluorescent lighting! face him away from the window or close the curtains!) that I am trying to deal with, too.
So, I am developing a mantra:
I am educating my child, not a hypothetical child.
What matters is what works for my child, not what someone else says should work.
You are trained as a scientist, view this as an experiment. Make a lab notebook. (Bonus: new notebook!)
If it doesn't work, I can change it.
If it doesn't work, I can change it.
If it doesn't work, I can change it.
I've been reading lots of homeschooling books lately, and that seems to be my consensus.
The classical education people think I should be teaching Latin and reading Cicero to my kindergartner. Not that's there's anything wrong with that.
The unschoolers think that workbooks and structured, parent chosen learning experiences will crush the love of learning out of your children. There's something wrong with that (the crushing part, not their philosophy.) You can imagine how well these people get along with the classical education types.
Charlotte Mason thinks I should be spending hours outside everyday, regardless of the weather (easier said in England than in Idaho, lady) and not allowing our children to read "twaddle." But if reading Cars books is going to get my child to read, is that so wrong?
Then there is delight-driven learning, and unit studies, and notebooking and lapbooking and workboxes and Waldorf and Montessori and Thomas Jefferson Leadership and the whole range of Christian/secular debates and comprehensive versus eclectic and three learning styles and five learning personalities and eight types of intelligence and
And my head just exploded.
And that doesn't even get into the whole educating a kid who has ADHD stuff (fidget toys! sensory pillows! no fluorescent lighting! face him away from the window or close the curtains!) that I am trying to deal with, too.
So, I am developing a mantra:
I am educating my child, not a hypothetical child.
What matters is what works for my child, not what someone else says should work.
You are trained as a scientist, view this as an experiment. Make a lab notebook. (Bonus: new notebook!)
If it doesn't work, I can change it.
If it doesn't work, I can change it.
If it doesn't work, I can change it.
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