Amusing

Here's a conversation I overheard today between Brenna and her friend that lives in the neighborhood....

Friend: "So did you do any school work today?"

Brenna: "Well I did some fun stuff today that I also learned from, like writing and spelling. That's what me and Mom do. We have fun learning. I've learned a lot that way."

Friend: "Learning isn't supposed to be fun. I think that's illegal."


Oh geez, I really had to keep from cracking up when I heard that one!

Creativity and Fun!

The other day Brenna decided to get creative with styrofoam plates. She made a bunch of masks and wrote a play using them. I took a few pictures to share. She had such a great time!

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Today Rhiannon is over here playing. Those girls are so crazy and so silly when they get together. Tonight Brenna is having a sleep over at Rhiannon's house. You would have thought they were going to Disney World when Mieree told them. LOL

Livestock Show

We went to the livestock show yesterday and had such a great time. Brenna went to her very first rodeo and saw bronc riding, barrel racing, calf roping and bull riding. The whole thing lasted about two hours and apparently Brenna was not all that impressed. LOL I loved it and so did Brendon but she did not think that grown men riding crazy, wild animals was all that impressive. After the rodeo we went to the carnival and of course that was more her thing. We always get her a bracelet and she rides whatever she wants. They had lots of fun houses there and Brendon and I just kinda hung out while she went through them over and over and over.
I took a bunch of pictures and posted a few of them. There are not any pictures of animals because it was the last day and most of them were gone already. The last day is terrible for most of the kids because they have to get rid of their animals. I remember having to load up my pigs and my steer on the big trucks and I bawled my eyes out every single time - especially with my steer. You try not to get attatched to them because you know you can't keep them but sometimes you just can't help it.

Anyway, here's a few pictures....

Spring Break

This past week was pretty fun and we did some cool stuff. Brenna had her friend from basketball over on Tuesday and she was here all day. They had such a great time and got along wonderfully. I talked to her Mom and I think we will start picking her up from school one day a week so that her and Brenna can play for a couple hours.
Thursday Brenna and I went to the museum with Mieree and Rhiannon. They had the "Grossology" theme and I tell you what - it was disgusting! They had fart machines, name-that-smell (yep, use your imagination! I'm sure what you're thinking is right on! LOL), a rock wall that looked like skin with moles and pimples and warts as the 'rocks' you climb on. They had a play area for the kids that looked like the digestive system. The kids went through the mouth, up a ladder, then slid down the esophagus slide, into the stomach and then had to crawl through the large and small intestines to get out. LOL Oh this place was GREAT! Brenna learned so much too. They had things written everywhere and even had a pretend game show set up that asked questions about the stuff there. We are definitely going back with Brendon! Of course I forgot my camera - realized it as soon as we got there. I will remember it for next time and post some then.

Anyways, I have not posted any pictures of my garden! Brenna and I worked on it yesterday and laid some mulch down. The mulch helps with weeds and keeps the dirt from drying out so fast and it also prevents the vegetables from laying in the dirt and rotting. It really helps around the basil and the thyme because my herbs aren't touching the dirt at all. Right now we have 4 cucumber plants, 5 tomato plants, 2 zucchini, 5 pepper, 3 garlic, basil and thyme. I also bought some marigolds and planted them because they are natural insect repellents and they also look pretty and add a bit of color.
I took a picture of Brenna laying some mulch. It was evening so there were lots of shadows. (You can click on the pictures and make them bigger.)
Tomorrow Brendon, Brenna and I will be going to the livestock show so I'll post about that this week and hopefully have some good pictures.

Video

I found these videos on YouTube.com that this unschooling mother of three has made. They are all very good and I thought I would post one. Might post more later.

Busy Week Ahead

We have a busy week this week - I absolutely love seeing my calendar with things written on it!

It's Spring Break so tomorrow Brenna has a play date with one of her basketball buddies. BTW, Brenna is going to do basketball again in September and I am soooo happy about that! Her Mom is Brenna's coach and she is also a friend of mine, as well as my Mom's. We worked together when I was a pre-school teacher three years ago and her daughter was in my class. Natalie, the little girl, is a year older than Brenna and they get along so great. I think I am going to talk to her Mom and see if we can have a scheduled play date once a week. Natalie goes to school at the private school I used to work at and she is in day care after school from 3pm till about 4 or 5. I'm going to see if we can pick her up once a week from school so that Brenna and her can play. Anything to get them kids out of day care! LOL :)
Wednesday I will be going over to my sister-in-law, Lisa's, house to "lady-sit" while they go to the livestock show and they have graciously invited Brenna to go with them. I know that she will LOVE it!
Thursday Brenna and I will be going to the Children's Museum with my friend Mieree and her kids. Right now they have the theme of 'Grossology' there, which is all about your body (germs, mucus....disgusting stuff like that. You get the point). Sounds pretty cool to me! Brenna is really looking forward to it.
Friday we have a picnic to go to with the homeschool group. We have not done much with them for a couple months. The last few times they have gotten together we were either out of town, sick or had a dentist appointment. So we are looking forward to seeing everyone.
Saturday it's off to the livestock with us! Yea! I love, love, love the livestock show! In High School I was in FFA and raised pigs and a steer and we literally lived there all week. Seriously, my parents took the trailer and we lived there. LOL I have such great memories of that. It was so much fun! When Brenna gets a little older I would love for her to be in 4-H. It's kinda the same thing as FFA but FFA is through the high school and 4-H is through the city.

Anyways, hopefully I will have lots of pictures to post at the end of the week. I still need to get some up of our garden! My plants are growing rapidly and I can't wait to have fresh veggies. I have already used some of my basil for spaghetti sauce. I tell ya, it was pretty darn cool going out and picking some basil and coming inside and adding it to my food! Made it taste good too!! This week I will be making my apricot chicken and that uses fresh thyme so I told Brenna that I will "send her out to the garden to fetch some herbs". She looked at me like I was a nut and then laughed. LOL I'm always keeping that little girl on her toes. :)

Well, till fingers and keyboard meet again..... hope you all have a great week!!

Dissecting Sentences and Random Pictures

Last night Brenna got her "Silly Sentences" game out and played with it for a long time. It's a cool game that teaches nouns, verbs, prepositions, articles and adjectives. She's had it for a while and usually she'll just use all the words and see what kind of weird non-sense sentence she can make and that's pretty much it. Something along the lines of, "A green cow jumped over the spotty banana." :) You should see her laugh! It's great. I've never tried to actually teach her the parts of a sentence using it before. We have been getting into Mad Libs recently though so she has already learned what a noun, verb and adjective is using the stories.

So last night I decided to get on the floor and play with her. As I was making my sentences I started nonchalantly mentioning articles and prepositions to see if she would be interested at all. I would say things like, "Hmm, I need an article to start my sentence. Oh, here's one!!" It kinda peaked her interest a little and she asked questions and we made a little game out of it. We spent about 30 minutes dissecting sentences and then trying to make sentences better by adding more descriptive words. I also held up words and asked her what kind it was. I was so proud of her.

Apparently 30 minutes is about all she can take though (see picture below!).

"ENOUGH MOM!! No more articles and verbs and nouns!!!" LOL

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Here's a couple more pictures that Brenna wanted me to put on here. One is of a mermaid that she drew and the other of her ironing. I was ironing Brendon's shirts one night and she wanted to do it soooo bad. With a little help she completed one shirt by herself. She was very proud and made Brendon wear her shirt the next day. :)

San Antonio

Last week Brenna, Brendon and I went to San Antonio. Brendon had to go for work so us girls took advantage of the opportunity and tagged along with him. While he was working on Friday Brenna and I went to the zoo and the park downtown with Dea Jae. We rode the train at the park and Brenna thought that was the coolest thing ever.

Brenna and Grandma waiting for the train

Brenna Butterfly

Brenna on the train

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Saturday Brendon, Brenna and I went to Sea World. It was the first time that Brenna has ever been and she is now in love with that place! We saw all the shows, fed the dolphins and rode on a lot of rides. Brenna was amazed with Shamu as well as the dolphin show and the seal show. I have seen those shows sooo many times but when you go with a kid who's never been it really is pretty cool. Kinda makes it seem like you're watching them for the first time again too. It was a beautiful day and for it only being open for two weeks, it was not crowded at all.

We ended up getting season passes because Brendon will be going to San Antonio more often for his job so now Brenna and I can go with him and spend the day at Sea World! They have a big water park now so when it gets really hot this summer it will be nice to go and have a place to cool off for the day.

(Brenna and me on a roller coaster - she rode this three times!)

Trip to the Children's Museum

Brenna, Rhiannon and I went to the Children's Museum a few weeks ago. It is such an amazing place and the girls had a blast! We stayed for about four hours and when it came time to leave, they definitely were not ready to go.
There's all kinds of things for kids to do there. They have a pretend farm, kitchen, boat, weather stuff and a doctor and dentist area with real x-rays! I took so many pictures but had to narrow it down to a few for the blog.
There's another Children's Museum that we are going to go to pretty soon. It's a little further away than this one but from what I've heard it is worth the drive.

Why do I Homeschool?

Someone asked me today WHY I homeschool my daughter.

Wow, what a very broad question with so many (too many!) possible answers. Got all day? (that was my answer to this person! LOL)

Ok, so you don't want to sit all day and read a long extensive post, I get it --- and believe me, I could write all day on this but I will spare you. LOL I'll TRY to make it short. :)

So this question has been in the back of my mind and I've been pondering this pretty much all day. I think my reasons have changed some since I started. Well maybe my top three reasons have changed a little or they have become a little more important as the years go by.

Okay, to the point now.....

My main reasons for homeschooling:

-my daughter is already going to growing up WAY too fast - I can't believe that she's going to be 7 next month. Seems like she was just a baby a couple years ago. I don't want to spend the rest of the time I have with her at home just during the evenings when everyone is tired from a long day (Brendon working, me working a paying job (cuz I would if I wasn't doing what I am) and Brenna at school), trying to get homework done, dinner made and get to bed at a decent hour so we can all wake up at 6 AM and do it all over again. Sorry, doesn't sound fun at all - I don't care HOW much money we would have with two full-time workers - not worth it, at least not to us.
I don't want our quality time together to be only on weekends and vacations. I have so much QUALITY time with my daughter every day. I'm sorry, but to me quality time does NOT happen during busy evenings and you don't get as much as you need with your child on weekends. Everyone knows weekends go by super quick. I refuse to fall into that rut. I will absolutely cherish and be so grateful for all the time that I have been able to spend with my daughter when she is grown and out on her own. And I'm sure she will too.
You only get one shot and I'm not wasting mine. Time is too precious.

- socialization. Yes, you read that right. Socialization is one of my top reasons for wanting to homeschool.
But isn't that the main reason why most people think homeschooling is bad, because of the supposed lack of socialization? *big eye roll* Pleeease......
I don't think children get very good socialization at school at all. Yeah, they GET it but what kind of quality? Isn't quality better than quanity? Why do I want my child hanging out with "Joe's" kid who goes and sees rated R movies with his parents on weekends and comes and tells my 6 year old all about it? Yeah, you've all seen the little kids at those movies, don't say you haven't. If their parents are letting them do THOSE things then no telling what else they are being exposed to. I'm not going to put MY child in jeopardy and have her learn things that she shouldn't just because some other parents are complete and total idiots and have no common sense (everyone knows exactly what I'm talking about). I'm not going to let my child endure the effects of bad parenting when I've tried so hard to raise her the right way with morals and values, right and wrong, manners and respect, ect... That's just way too much for me to have to correct over and over again. Things have become so much worse from when I was a kid - just read the paper or talk to parents of public schooled kids. Now you got 2nd graders in the bathroom (at a private school no less!) showing their friends their mother's thong under ware (true story I heard from a teacher! I kid you not!). Seven year olds! That is soooo screwed up. There is usually one teacher per about 20-25 students. That is not acceptable supervision to me.
Socialization at school is way over-rated and if people just actually took the time to stop and really think about it they would realize that kids do not benefit at all from the "almighty school socialization" ---- the "your-kid-won't-be-normal-unless-they-go-to-school". Yea, whatever. I'll risk it. Gladly. But it's totally not true. One of the myths of homeschooling.
School socialization actually is not that great (*gasp!* who would've thought??). Like I said before.... waaaayyyy over-rated. If I would lock my child in a closet all day and let her have no interaction with other people then you could tell me that she wasn't socialized. Not happening -- never going to.

-quality of education. My third reason. And a very important one to me. Not so much at the beginning but it is now becoming a lot more important as our homeschooling journey broadens and as she gets older.
Do I want my six year old spending all day at school doing table work and learning from text books and worksheets? Do I want her having an hour of homework every night after being at school all day? Do I want her going to school just to learn how to pass a government test?

Heck no.

These are facts. I have friends I talk to who's kids go to public school. The public school that she would be going to has 23 bench-mark tests per year for the government tests that schools have to pass. Twenty-three! That's crazy! I refuse to let my child go to school just to learn how to pass a government issued test.
I want my 1st grader learning things that SHE is interested in and I want her to keep her strong desire for learning. That's how you retain information. Do you think that if schools are shoving that many tests down my child's throat that she's going to love learning? I think not. After a while it's going to become monotonous and so robotic. Learning is going to become a chore instead of a "I-want-to-learn-this-because-it's-cool".
Brenna gets to experiment and do things that SHE loves and is interested in. Everyone by now has heard the story of Brenna learning to read. I'm not going to repeat it so here's my post on our schooling style. We are extremely relaxed and for right now that is the best thing for my child. She is getting so much more out of that then if she were going to public school.
I've written so much about our schooling and my approach and reasoning, that I'm not going to even go there right now. My daughter is flourishing and learning plenty.

Ok, so those are my top three reasons for homeschooling. I'm always trying to find intersting things to post about and when I was asked that question today I just thought that I would re-visit that topic on my blog.
I really didn't think that it would be that long but of course I tend to ramble on. LOL :)

Another thing I found on the Internet.... thought it was interesting (and very true)

DECLARATION OF NON-PARTICIPATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOL FORM FOR HOMESCHOOLERS

OUR RIGHTS 101

HOME SCHOOL MOMS QUESTIONAIRE FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Can the school board guarantee my child’s safe return home from school each day? This includes the time that they are entrusted to your care during school hours. This includes but is not limited to safety in the rest rooms, in the hallways, on the stairways, in and under the bleachers, in the lunch room, in the class rooms, on the playgrounds, or on any school property.

COMPLIANCE

Can the school board guarantee that a member of it’s faculty including but not limited to teachers, principals, aides, janitors and any school official, will not fall in love and attempt to sleep with, marry, fondle, molest, and sexually mishandle my children in anyway?

Can you guarantee me as a parent that my child will get a top notch education from a top notch school with verifiable records to prove it? Can you provide me with at least 50% of your current years students, verifiable records of above average success on all academic levels? With the exception of your hand picked students, can you provide me with a high level of excellence in academic records for at least 300 students that are above the national level for a period of 3 years?

Can you provide me with medical proof that all of the students that your school district has deemed autistic, ADD or ADHD are indeed suffering from these clinical deficiencies? Can you prove that the person, or persons who made these medical diagnosis are qualified to do so? Can you guarantee to me that the school board has a real interest and concern for my child’s education and is not only interested in getting state or federal monies for my child’s presence in their school district?

Can you guarantee that my child will not be bullied, beat up, abused, fondled, molested, or turned out by other students?

Can you guarantee that my child will not be exposed to drugs or alcohol as a result of going to your school? Can you guarantee that my child will not be racially discriminated against in regards to students of other races? (Whether Black, White or other race depending on the student) Can you guarantee that my child will not be killed on school property during school hours while in the care of your faculty?

Can you prove that your school will not be one of those that helps students cheat on test to raise statewide test scores for the purpose of improving it’s image? Is your school one that accepts responsibility for children not learning or do you blame the children for the failures of the schools? Can you give a realistic account of America’s failing schools or do you consider teachers and school administrators to be completely blameless?

Can you help me to understand why schools are typically not held liable for the injury or death of a child while in it’s care and many times are not even investigated but the same rules don’t apply if this happens while in the care of parents or other relatives, friends and non school officials? Can you give me a legitimate reason why I should entrust my children’s lives into your hands when you don’t have to protect them from hurt, harm or danger? Can you explain to me why my rights as a home school parent are always questioned or challenged when home school students have consistently proven to be well educated? Can you explain why public school officials feel the need to interfere with home schoolers who are giving their children a safe viable education while the children under their very care are failing miserably? Why is that? Do you want more children to be given to you so that they can fail miserably too?

PROGRAMS

Can you explain to me why your policy states that if a child goes on a field trip with your school that the parents must sign a letter stating that the school board can not and will not be held responsible for the death or injury of a child while in the care of school officials. Wouldn’t it be more feasible to say send your child with us on this trip at your own risk? Can you give me a reasonable explanation as to why some public schools don’t report sexual abuse of children on school property, during school hours while in the care of the public school system? Can you explain why some parents have to wait months or even years to find out that their child has been sexually assaulted by other students? Can you help me to understand why the school board is more interested in protecting it’s image than it is the safety of our children? Can you tell me why many school officials oppose home schooling over public school when the school system is full of violence, threatening behavior, immoral activities, delinquent behaviors, and so on and so on?

Can you tell me why many teachers question the social ramifications of home schooling when the children that they would socialize with if they attended public school are the very ones that would subject them to lewd acts, homosexual behaviors, teen sexual promiscuity, alcoholic pressuring, drug pressuring, peer hazing, bullying, racism, hatred, name calling, and so much more? Can you assure me that my child will not be the next victim of an oversexed sexual predator be it a teacher or another student? I know that I have already asked this question but since this seems to be a constant occurrence on the rise, I felt the need to say it one last time.

As I read through the articles on the HSLDA (Homeschool Legal Defence Association) site of current and archived cases that home schooler’s have been faced with around the country, I felt the need to address some issues we home schoolers may have had that forced our decision to home school. I read cases of social workers not knowing the law and overstepping their authority. I see good honest loving parents being accused of criminal behavior all because they protectively home school their children. I see school officials making unnecessary demands on home schoolers to violate our rights and humiliate us as if we are criminals. It seems to me with all these petty cases that the public school system is policing home school families and no one is policing them. They act as if they really care about our children yet, they don’t. They show up at the doors of families ready to remove children and place them in broken, hostile, violent, foster care systems that abuses children, all in the name of public school dollars. They tote perfectly good parents off to jail because of their brutal policing of home schools. It sounds as if we are living under a dictatorship when I read some of these cases. Yet the national headlines always seem to protect parents with drug problems, stating that with the proper help they can be good parents. That may be true and I’m not knocking this, however, how can you basically do that yet put home schoolers under a microscope as if we are some type of alien clan of sub-human species? So many think this decision is weird but yet they are battling teen pregnancy issues, along side scents of marijuana coming from their child’s bedroom.

My last statement is, Get off our backs. Thank you.

Source of the Article: HomeSchoolVoices.com