Just letting you know, we are counting down the days to Disney World. We have less than 4 weeks to go! We are so in need of some time away from here. Living, working and schooling at home has it good points....and its bad.
Never fear, this will be another homeschool lesson. I will have maps for Noah to read on the way down as we are studying mapping this quarter. I am sure I will come up with some other creative things for him as well to do before leaving.
We are also planning a trip to the Kennedy Space Center so I am sure I can come up with a lesson for that!
Happy Homeschooling
These are the days that homeschool moms hate. I am in the middle of my moontime, I have a sore throat and what appears to be a viral infection. I cannot get motivated to do anything and just feel awful. Luckily the neighbors are on spring break, so Noah got to spend the day with the boy next door yesterday and I stayed in bed. I have no idea what to do about today. I think we will do some fun projects as I cannot focus enough to do actual schoolwork.
Calgon...take me away....
Dana
Noah loves his grandfathers. Here are photos of Noah with my dad and Nathan's granddad, also known as Pawpaw and Pappaw. I'll add photos of his other "P" - also known as Pop, Nathan's dad, later on.
Over the past few weeks I have been reevaluating our homeschool curriculum. Not that we use a real curriculum, mind you, just a hodge podge of my own devices. But, what' a New Agey homeschool mom good for if she isn't passing along such wisdom to her little light? So, we went over to my friend
Ramona's shop and let the Croy Kid pick out an Amethyst.
This morning, we got out the fabulous
Love Is In the Earth by Melody and began our study of crystals - beginning with Amethyst. An Amethyst is a variety of quartz that has a deposit of manganese giving it that great purple color. It is great for balancing out our whole system and connecting our Earth bound selves with our spiritual selves.
I had Noah hold it while we discussed it. We used the first sentence from the book as copywork and then Noah had to draw the particular crystal he was holding. It was great. It made me even more determined to make it to Arkansas near the end of Summer for a couple of days of crystal digging. We are so there! It should be right after our trip to the American Society of Dowsers convention in Vermont!
Happy Homeschooling.
Dana
Last week as I told my tale of woe to my friend Brittney, a fellow homeschooler, she laughed at me and said, "you'll be homeschooling Noah again next year." She may be right. We are currently awaiting an answer from the Waldorf school as to whether or not they have a s
pace for Noah in the fall. The longer I wait the more I wonder if I even want that spot.
In the meantime, we are continuing our studies and I am making plans for the Fall. I'll be attending the MTHEA fair looking at educational supplements. If you have not been, it is a great time! I'm going to go ahead and enroll Noah in one of the local co-ops. I'm a little nervous about this to be honest as they are all religious based. But, I am hoping one day a week will be okay.
But, the big thing is I am planning an extended road trip for Noah and I. I have no idea how we are going to pay for it. But, I am planning it. I want he and I to do one of two things. Either we are heading up the East Coast and ending up at the American Dowsers Convention in Vermont or we headed across country and then going up the West Coast. If we do that I a have friends and family up and down the coast we can stay with.
I wish my friend Kara were here. I really have been wanting to talk to her about starting our own co-op and having people pay or my helping her start a co-op so people can pay her. I've also been wanting to ask her if she would like to go part of the way with us across country. At least to the crystal mines in Arkansas. So, Kara, if you are reading this, file this away to think about when you get home!
So, that's where we are now. Today is our free day/playday that we have been doing since Noah's birth. We are meeting friends for lunch and then on to the park. I'm sure a good time will be had by all.
I've told Nathan I need him to take an extended weekend and take Noah to my in-laws so I can regroup. Sort of a Spring Break for Noah and I (a break from each other is more like it!) Hopefully that can happen very soon.
Well, gotta go get ready before Noah is lost for the day!
Peace Out.
Dana
Can you believe that my baby lost his first two teeth today? Not the usual way of course. Tooth number one has been loose for a little over two months. Meantime, the new tooth has come up behind it. Then, a second tooth loosened up and lo and behold, did not loosen much and a new tooth had come up behind it. So, today we went to the dentist. I was very nervous that he was going to freak out before we went, but I told him about the Snoopy nose that the dentist would put on him that would make him giggle. That was all he needed to hear. Unfortunately, he did not giggle and that made him sad.
But, the visit went well. Both teeth were pulled, he received a prize and I took him for a Frosty as he needed something that did not require a straw to ingest. All in all it went well. Now, he is sound asleep with two teeth under his pillow dreaming sweet dreams of the glitter and magic of the Tooth Fairy. I know he won't be disappointed.
As for me, I finally broke down and cried at bedtime as he got ready to read The Tooth Fairy book. I cannot believe we have a child losing his milk teeth. He is growing up so fast. It is days like this that I am so thankful that we have made the decision to keep him home with us instead of sending him to school.
That's it for tonight. So, look for the kid with the missing front teeth and be sure to ask him about his Tooth Fairy visit.
Peace Out.
Dana
Hi All,
Well our school drama is still going on. Many of you know that I have pretty much decided Noah needs to go to school and I need to go back to work. So....we applied to two schools. These are the same two schools that I have said since Noah's birth that are the only two schools he can attend. One is University School of Nashville and the other is Linden Corner School. Two vastly different schools, but both incredible educations. We have been through the assessment and tour of USN and have our
LCS assessment next week.
I have been praying daily that Noah get into one of these schools. I am using every New Age visualization technique I can think of. I am meditating on the schools. I have been doing this for couple of months. But, then, after doing the tour at USN I came to the conclusion that it really is not the best place for Noah. This was before we received the response letter yesterday. The night of the tour, Nathan and I watched Boston Legal, the best show on TV. There was a mom suing the public school system for overworking her Senior level daughter resulting in the girl dying in a car crash. Wow. They gave details of Princeton University's new gap year program, offering incoming freshmen the opportunity to take a year off from academics to travel and do volunteer work. No, it's not just TV. It's true. Click here for an article in
US News. That sealed the deal for me that night. I told Nathan that I just don't think 6 year
olds need academics that badly.
So, I switched gears and though
LCS had been in my focus, it has become my only focus. All of that was nearly two weeks ago. Fast forward to yesterday. We
received a letter from USN putting Noah on the waiting list for the fall 1st grade class. That's fine. That is not to say that we are not impressed with USN - because we are. We just feel that the earliest our kid needs that level of academics is 5
th grade, but preferably in 9
th grade. For now, let him play and draw and explore.
What will we do if he is wait listed at
LCS? Well, I guess we are staying home. Not a problem. We'll know in the next couple of weeks. If he is wait listed there, I am going to attempt to make some money this summer and Noah and I are possibly going to head out West for 3 weeks in August. Stay tuned for more updates on this unfolding story!
I copied this image from www.yahoo.com. It is an image from the AP. A kid in California took a gun to school and the school was locked down. This was at a
Baccalaureate School which is sort of like a magnet school but not. The police searched all 1200 students and the school. These police state images of our school systems burn me up. This is what I am talking about. I would be furious if this happened to my kid. Think this sort of thing doesn't happen all of the time? It does. My niece was involved in a small incident a year or so ago. Let me frame it by saying it was really bad and the parents handled it. And, let me say she is at the top of her class academically and a a cheerleader and learned her lesson. With that said......she was interrogated by a policeman and the principle of her magnet school where she was a 7
th grader for over two hours. She was NOT ALLOWED to call her parents. After getting a thorough tongue lashing from my sister, she was basically told that they do not have to call her and that she has not rights in this incident. Police state folks. Police state. When your child is in the public school system you basically have no rights to them. They are essentially wards of the school while they are there. You think I am crazy. I know you do. But, it is true. Okay class, all together, say "George Orwell."
