Giant T.V. Boxes

A Good Backyard circa 1960
My husband has recently been hired by a major airline. This means we will eventually move from our beloved little town, far from an interstate, to the inevitable matrix of commercialism, toll roads, and bustle inherently found near major airports. I am trying real hard not to think about [...]

Our Favorite Bird Poems

We have followed these wonderful bird poems all year long. How I wished we owned this book! Check it out!
http://www.kellscraft.com/yearwithbirds.html

Wanting your Math Reviews

It’s that time of year again…time to assess my homeschooling program and make changes.
We have used Math-u-see, Saxon, and Singapore Math. We are beginning to sound like “math hoppers” but I don’t think I’ve been crazy about a single program. I like the clear explanations of Saxon, but find it a bit overwhelming [...]

Racehorse writers/Reluctant writers

I ran across my daughter’s second grade journal today and began to panic a little. My son, nearing the end of first grade, is nowhere near the skills shown by my daughter’s writing, even at the beginning of her second grade year. I know that it can be folly to compare children but [...]

More than You Ever Wanted to Know about Vultures

Amazing how you find yourself doing things for your kids you never thought you’d do.
Yesterday, I found myself throwing my laundry basket over a stunned turkey vulture in our yard. Yep. Commonly known as a buzzard. Bald, red head. Big.
I also found myself becoming genuinely concerned for the little guy (or gal) [...]

Book Review: Baby by Patricia MacLachlan

My 10 year old tossed Baby by Patricia MacLachlan at the end of her bed last night. “That was sad” was her only comment.
Having an attraction to “sad” books, I immediately grabbed it and began reading it while putting my toddler to sleep. I stayed there until I finished. When I finished [...]

Nature-Deficit Disorder? Surely Not in this Family!

I have been intrigued by a book my sister-in-law has been reading about our children being “nature deprived.” The book is provocatively titled Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Apparently, we have so little contact with nature these days, that we have become scared of the natural [...]

Dangerously Low Resources, Part II

The last few days I have been pondering the term “dangerously low resources,” the crisis message that recently appeared on my computer screen. Too bad that we don’t all get a message that pops up on our foreheads when we are dangerously low on our own resources.
For example, when I have skipped too many [...]

Don’t ya just love the ‘net?

I just hate it when I sit down to teach a lesson and realize I need something, say a stopwatch, in order to finish the lesson and only God knows where one is in the house ( I don’t mean to take His name in vain, I literally mean this!)
So today, I thought “Aha! [...]

A Schedule for All Seasons

It seems to be in my very nature to resist schedules.  As immature as it sounds, schedules are very boring to me, so as soon as a new schedule’s novelty wears off, I find it very hard to follow.  Being that routines are mini-schedules, I have very few.  I recognize this as bad.  And [...]