New Computer Arrived- WYVA

don't mind the dust bunnies

While we were away at Co-Op this morning the computer hardware for WYVA came from FedEx. I knew it would require a signature and I also knew we wouldn't be home. Fortunately for me the FedEx guy is really nice and often will sign for me and put my packages in the entry way, out of sight. *But I didn't say that!* It was hilarious that one box was about 9x6x6 or so (totally guessitmating there) and all it had in it was a cord. I'm thinking it was initially forgotten and it was rushed (it said AirMail while the rest were normal). 

That brown bit on top of the printer in the photo are two ink cartridges that came with the printer. The kids were excited that it had ink lol. My printer is always out...And the monitor- it is a 19"! My laptop is 17" and we thought it was huge :)

I had to get out the second card table that had been tucked away to make more room in the living room (but honestly it didn't give much- Fox's school desk used to have it's back to the wall and he made sure to take up plenty of room!). I think that the set up is nice. We are able to still use the other card table as we had been; half is Lee's and half is Fox's. They both have those wicker type baskets with their school books and folders. 

I will need to get an extension cord with four plugs, at least, because the printer cannot be plugged in at the moment. I still haven't figured out what to do about the internet. I think I will call and have them relocate the modem so that it will be based in the living room. My laptop does have wireless and I do have a router but it doesn't always work- either one. 

I was so hoping that Fox's school supplies would have arrived. But it is okay. He is liking the Power-Glide Spanish and would do nothing but that if I'd let him. He had to do a reading assessment (as well as a math assessment but he did that a few days ago) this morning before Co-Op and when it was done he started working on Spanish. Total today for Spanish: 1 1/2 hours. Total for math: 25 minutes.... Lol. Priorities, yep. I am working on getting him to do more of the lessons for his subjects without the books (since we don't have them yet) because he can easily assess out of the lessons. He can easily look at the introduction and if he feels he already has covered the material, he can take the assessment and if he passes, he doesn't have to complete the lesson- but it gets marked as complete because he assessed out.

I'm still figuring everything out :) I'm not any where near as stressed as I was when I first registered him. Also, his teacher has been helpful (and 'human' lol) through kmail. Setting up Fox's computer, Lee was feeling left out but when I mentioned she could still be registered as an eighth grader she wasn't too keen on the suggestion. We have decided (as long as all goes well with k12 for Fox- and myself) that we will go ahead and enroll her for high school. I worry that she will be deficient in areas because I'm not strong in them nor do I have a desire to learn/teach them. I can and do sometimes but really some (like lab sciences- nu uh) are better left to others....imho. Of course, that would still have to be done at home with k12... eh, guess I'm not gettin' out of that part! At least they will have the credits and the experience. 

And if it doesn't work- we can go back to Charlotte Mason. :)

And in other news:

The mail did not come to our house today. Quite disappointing since we live for mail lol and there were a stack of outgoing mail. And my Spanish class was canceled due to an ill instructor. It's been a strange day :) My writing class went well-ish. I do have one boy in particular who does not participate the way I would prefer him to. I am hoping by the time the class is over that will change. Perhaps.

That was my Monday so far :) And I'd say that other than 'strange' it's been pretty good :) Hope all yours have been too!

What's Been Up Over Here :)

Today is already Tuesday (and only Tuesday!) and I feel that I've been gone forever. 


Saturday was productive. Out of the list of to-dos I had, we finished at least 4 of them and started or got well into another 2 of them. The rest will have to wait until this weekend (ie: the rest of the fence being stained and the weed extermination). 


Sunday was good, we went to both services at Church. And I should have posted on Sunday because there was something great that I heard/thought because of the service and now I can't recall :( If I think of it I will post it another time. But either way: God is GOOD. Always.


Monday was our second week at Co-Op and a local new friend has started to attend also. She has two children, an 8 year old and a 10 year old. Her son (the 10 yo) is on the autism spectrum - but where I couldn't tell you - and he gets over stimulated easily. We worried some that the new atmosphere and the amount of kids (and people in general) might cause him to have an anxiety attack but he did surprisingly well. Her daughter, so far, is a typical 8 yo (as typical as one can be with living with a brother with autism)- she's super sweet and surprisingly (or not so surprising maybe) mature for an 8 yo. We didn't bring a potluck contribution this week so we had pb&j sandwiches made with the bread I made on Sunday. We came back home and picked up 40 lbs of flour from a generous friend from church that is moving soon and trying to lighten their packing. We will definitely miss them! I'm so grateful for the flour as I was down to my last 5 lb bag and would have had to buy more shortly. God is good :) & she is nice too ;)


Today is Tuesday (lol in case you'd not figured that out yet!) and I feel that the week has zoomed past already -then I catch myself and realize it has really just started! I am still waiting on two books for one of my classes so worry that I will fall behind. Fortunately, he's emailed everyone the first week's reading materials. Perhaps he is aware the books are backordered. I've not even started the other class other than to look at the 'homepage' for the class. Last week I did do the first assignment but haven't actually 'turned it in'. Well, I do think that all is going well.


Today for the kids' school they've done well and are moving along well. I will most likely do Weekly Wrap-Ups for that on Friday (unless I periodically get a moment- like now!). The Monthly Barden will be up hopefully by October 15th! Keep an eye open for it!

Weekly Wrap-Up...the one with guts!

Nice title eh? I thought it was a touch much but... it's true! This week we have been attending Hunter Safety Education and ....oh wait, I'm getting ahead of myself!

Monday: We visited Scottsbluff to sign up for the homeschool co-op. Lee chose 5 classes! Oh. My. Fox chose 2 and I made him take another ;) Lee is signed up for Watercolor, Computer Security (whaaa, that means I won't have my laptop for about an hour every Monday morning- oh the horror! I'll survive...), Student Council, PE, Choir (I'm excited for her for that one!). Fox chose Chemistry for Fun, Watercolor, and I made him do PE. We have a problem with getting moving here...ahem. We did get school done as well :)

Oh and it was our first night for Hunter Safety. Wasn't too bad.

Yes, that's my book ;) And that sticker is from Oregon (Crater Lake to be exact)- how'd it get on there?! lol

Tuesday: Because the Hunter Safety class runs late (yes, for us 9pm is late!) I didn't rush to get into school stuff and so not much got done. Well, it did but if we don't start right away then we are the best at procrastinating until there just isn't time to do it anyway.

I was continuing with my 'custom order' for my Etsy shop while the kids were focused on their blog activities (stories, drawings and creations). I also wrote two book reviews for my other blog and can't wait (although I should) for the next ones to arrive for review!

Then we had another night of Hunter Safety Education. There is a 50 question test that Fox is stressing over. If anyone doesn't pass the test, no shooting on Saturday.

Wednesday: This is where it starts to all fall apart :) The late night classes are really taking their toll. I know when my kids need sleep and they are running on a deficit this week! What little grouchy ones I have! When this week is over it'll be back to normal so I'm dealing... I have been having terrible insomnia (fell asleep at 2 the last few nights even though I'm tired).

Fox passed the Final Bridge in Decimals & Percents Life of Fred math book! Yay! It was difficult for him and I think (Hope) that he learned he has to actually do the work- not guess and look at the answers (how could he not know that in the in the first place? he has his own set of 'rules' he tries to live by regardless of what is told him time and time again). Sigh...onto PreAlgebra.... yikes.

Anyway, here's the deer guts part! For part of Hunter Safety Education we get to learn how to field dress our animal so that we can 'harvest' it in the best way possible. Bad field dressing=bad tasting meat. Fortunately, this part was a video and not hands on! The video was very good. But very graphic. I'd never seen a deer field dressed and I'm sure I didn't control my face well during the video.

I thought for sure that Lee would have major issues with the video but nope, she was alright. Fox of course wasn't bothered at all. Dh has seen it all before- and in person, ahem, deer- so he wasn't the least bit bothered.

I can still see more than I ever wanted to see of a deer in my mind, thank you very much...

Thursday: I didn't make the kids do school because- did I mention I've not slept well in quite awhile?- we have all been so tired AND because I've come to see that this Hunter Safety Education class is incorporating so much more than I'd thought it would. Reading (a lot of reading!), vocabulary, so much common sense information. There is a scavenger hunt that is optional and as much as I want to do it, we just don't have magazines. Who doesn't have magazines?!? We have homeschooling magazines :) I don't often see much in the way of hunting related articles or ads in those.

So we learned about survival and survival kits. Also emphasized heavily is hypothermia. Amazing old video they showed. It wasn't graphic but my, it sure makes you think about what you're doing when out in the unknown. Simply put: use your brain. I wish there was a link to the video we watched, I'd post it!

Friday: Today and not even close to being finished! Here's what's planned: School (simplified version includes math, reading [Hunter Safety Education materials & reviewing], Latin test, and cooking! Yes, today I need to cook tortillas, chicken- for the freezer, and I thought about making up some rice and/or beans for the freezer. Thankfully, the kids actually enjoy helping me cook :)

Our test for Hunter Safety is tonight so we have do make sure we review well. Tomorrow is the shooting range; I'm looking forward to that! I don't want to shoot the shotgun though :( oh well :)

Check out more Weekly Wrap-Ups at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers :)

What We’ve Accomplished Today…09/13/10

It was a whirlwind day. I'm feeling slightly better but now am having troubles falling asleep. Good time to update on what we did today.

Both:

Bible: Exodus 14 and 15 (ahem one of them is falling behind ...again)

Verses: L: Matthew 7:1, 2; F: 1 Peter 3:15, 16

Foreign Language: Latin Lesson VI worksheet sections IV-VI

Reading: L: Prince Caspian; F: Abraham Lincoln's World (maybe did Age of Fable as well) -I was a bit out of it at this time.

Spelling dictation: both had reviewed words from their previous weeks readings and took dictation of words today (spelling test) :) Only one misspelled word :)

Math: Lee: BA HC Lesson 41 (didn't enjoy it too much but she did it alright); Fox: 2nd try on Final Bridge for D&P, didn't pass- reviewed the problems he is having trouble with and will take try number 3 tomorrow.

History/Geography: Lee: World Studies pages 95-96, Section Review #1-5 and vocabulary words; Fox: This Country of Ours, the second half of "Pierce: The Story of Bleeding Kansas"- somehow I ended up narrating again...with the help of both of them!; he also did Complete Book of Marvels chapter 27, Mount Athos (no females allowed!). Here is a link about Mount Athos if you'd care to learn a bit more :) it's a Wiki link...

Lee:
Health: Fearfully & Wonderfully Made chapter 15, second half

Econ/Gov: Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? Chapter 8; she made a graph depicting information about money supply, Consumer Price Index, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average to show any relationships....she fussed and was adamant that she could not but in the end (after reading the material) she made a very nice bar graph that included everything. And she was able to explain it as well... I knew she could do it ;)

Japanese: Reviewed Introduction and Romanization from Kanji and Kana again. She has a quiz coming this week over the 'reviewed' material.

Fox:

Historical Biography: Of Courage Undaunted. He read 5 pages and was supposed to narrate. He did not narrate but marked that he did his reading so I will have him narrate tomorrow....I was probably still a zombie on the couch at this time.

Military History: Boys' Book of Sea Fights. Read and did written narration...I think. This goes along with the previous one...I'm not a bad mom/teacher- I've been sick! :) I'll double check it tomorrow.

As mentioned in my post earlier today, we also registered for Co-op Classes this morning. I am so glad it is only one day a week! This evening we had the first Hunter Safety Class that runs this entire week and the morning on Saturday. Was informative so far but sure makes for a long day. We will add in the required readings for the Hunter Safety Class during our school day during this week. It is about 3 chapters a day of reading...fortunately they are short chapters :) Also there is a scavenger hunt that we can do but it is optional and I just don't know if we will get to it. Looks fun though.

I am really hoping the Co-op will be a good experience. Lee doesn't necessarily miss school but she misses people and the interaction and she is downright teary-eyed about not having an actual ceremony for graduation! (which is at least 4 years away!) Fox just wants to go to school so that he can hang out with his friends. Perhaps this will help fill that little bit for them. Not only that, it allows them to learn new things they might not otherwise learn :) The ladies that I met while there seemed nice and it seems well organized. I am looking forward to it but it will mean an entire day away from home (8am-3:30 or 4pm) on Mondays.

Alright then, I am off to bed. Actually, I think I will make some tea to soothe my scratchy throat and then head to bed...

Sick, Just sick...& Co-op

I'm not entirely sure when but I'll be back... I'm sick. Fox isn't really but Lee is a bit under the weather also. Was an icky weekend- sick and staining the fence...great combo.

Today we went to register for the Homeschool Co-op. Each signed up for at least 2 classes: Lee- Choir, Watercolor, Student Council, PE, Computer Security (really that many??! I guess I wasn't paying attention...); Fox: Watercolor, PE, Chemistry Fun

Fortunately it is just one day a week-- all day --that we have to drive to Scottsbluff but I hope it will be a good experience.

Anyway~ Have a great week all.