Sona Creidhe Homeschooling

Despite last year's complete failure as gardeners, the kids and I have decided to give it another shot this year. Mommy has decided to cheat a little this year though by buying a few starter plants. Hopefully that way we'll have a better chance of SOMETHING growing. *laugh* So as not to completely bypass the beginning process, I did however buy a few packets of seeds and we joined the Tomatosphere project again.

I bought starters of- thyme, Italian parsley, and strawberries

Seed packets of- eggplant, spinach, zucchini, and grape tomatoes

I also got an English Ivy plant for inside and then of course we have the Tomatosphere seed packets.

We've had the starter plants for almost two weeks now and they are actually doing well (surprising for us I know!). The Italian parsley is growing really nicely and MonkeyBoy has been kind of excited to see white flowers show up on the strawberry plants. We haven't started the seed packets yet but that is on our agenda for this week.

I guess to say our foray into gardening last year was a total loss would be a lie. After all, MonkeyBoy's little pot of mixed flowers survived and even continue to bloom in our windowsill throughout the winter. Seriously, one of the flowers grew upwards two feet and then bloomed a pretty yellow flower. We're all waiting to see what it can do when it's the right season!

These are the words muttered to me by MonkeyBoy recently when I informed him that he needs to do something educational for awhile. You see, he received Pokemon Colosseum for Gamecube for Christmas and is completely addicted to it. On one hand, I want to let him play because the poor kid has pretty much been left out of playing the Gamecube for the last three years. On the other hand, I'm not big on kids spending a lot of time playing video games and his constant want to play Pokemon is starting to grate on my nerves.

MonkeyBoy knows exactly what the attacks are for each Pokemon. He can actually read words for the attacks like "metal claw" and "mud shot" so he feels that playing Pokemon IS educational. After all, Jumpstart World and Pajama Sam are games and Mommy says THEY are educational. I think the rotten child has me there.

So I've been trying to figure out how to let him play the game he loves so much (when he earns game time) and not obsess over it when I'm trying to get him to learn other things. Good luck I know. *smile* I thought if I bugged him constantly while he played that he would get tired of it and not want to play. Instead the kid become a living Pokedex and starts telling me everything imaginable about more Pokemon than I ever knew existed! Yeah, that one backfired on me bigtime!

Anyone have any other suggestions? I'm more than happy to listen.

So far the CSI Unit Study is going slowly but we have been working on it. Big B has been reading the CSI books I got from the Library and I think his favorite thus far is Never Suck A Dead Man's Hand by Dana Kollmann. Sis hasn't really started reading the books yet but in order for us to continue with the unit study she at least needs to skim them so we're all "on the same page" so to speak. Then again, I can't talk because I've had my nose in Rosalind Miles books the last few weeks. LOL

As I said, I also bought a Fingerprint Kit for us to use and it's been hell trying to keep everyone out of it until we're ready! Even MonkeyBoy keeps telling his siblings to touch something so he can "lift your fingerprints and steal your DNA". *laughing* I'm afraid of what he might do once we get to the hair sampling part. HAHA.

Since deciding to do a CSI Investigation unit study we have developed an addiction. Yes, the older two kids and myself are hopelessly addicted to watching CSI (the original series). The addiction is so bad that not only do we watch the new episodes but we also watch older ones on Spike TV from 4pm until 7pm Monday through Friday. Every once in awhile we actually watch it the whole three hours while throwing food at MonkeyBoy so he'll leave us alone but usually we catch an hour of it a day. Considering this is the only TV we watch, I'm not going to feel too bad about it.

You should hear the language in this house though! This is some of the things said in my house this week...

*Big B to Sis after she entered his room looking for her pen* "Did you have a warrant giving you permission to enter my room? You do know that anything acquired without a warrant cannot be used in court right?"

Sis- "Tell it to the judge criminal!"

*MonkeyBoy to Sis while charging her with eating his cookie*- "I am going to send these crumbs to Trace and you better HOPE nothing comes back on it! I'll take a Qtip and steal your DNA!"

Sis- "I'll bite you if you come near my mouth!"

MonkeyBoy- "I'll send your spit to the lab!"

*Big B to Sis*- "Don't you think my room would look cool decorated in blood spatters?"

Sis- "Whose blood are we talking about here?"

Big B- "Are you volunteering?"

Sis- "MOMMMMMMMM, Big B wants to use my blood to decorate his room!"

Mom- "Big B, that would leave evidence all over your walls linking you to whatever crime you commit against your sister!"

Big B- "That's true...damn!"

Yes, we're a sick bunch but it's been fun!

MonkeyBoy has been practicing writing his letters alot lately. He likes to have you write a word and then let him copy it and he's getting pretty good at it. He also knows most letters by sight now so since this seems to be the way he likes to learn then we'll do this for awhile. He's also obsessed with counting and money as well so it has been quite interesting around here. I reviewed the Jumpstart World 1st Grade CD-rom last month with MonkeyBoy and that has also been his favorite thing to do. Surprisingly he has mastered alot more of it than I expected and it helps me gauge what he needs help with.

Big B and Sis have both been keeping up on their Copywork, Vocabulary, and Reading with a half-hearted effort on Math and Algebra. We all know we need to pick up the pace in that area it's just something none of us enjoy so we avoid it right now. I think the New Year is going to see us buckling down quite a bit though.

I took the reins on the Copywork and Big B is copying Robert Frost while Sis is copying Maya Angelou. I think both are great examples of prose and while I also need to have them do copywork that will teach them proper puncuation, I think it's important for kids to know Poetry and be able to name the authors when they hear the works.

Vocabulary and Reading have of course been centered around our CSI Unit. Sis hates all the technical words I'm having her learn but Big B has completely embraced this and is even talking about going to college for Criminal Justice in hopes of working CSI some day. Because of that I'm making sure that I don't glamourize the work these people do like they do on TV. The kids are learning the truth about crime scenes and all the gory stuff that goes with them.

My being sick has kept us inside alot lately as has the cold weather (no snow just cold) but I'm hoping to remedy that soon with some field trips to fun places. I have some pictures I need to upload from various homeschool endeavors so keep an eye on the Flickr badge on the left there for some new and exciting pics very soon!

Anyone who watches CSI: Las Vegas will know what the title is all about. Either that or just read this whole post. LOL.

I have sorely neglected this blog and I hate that because I have so many things to share and say. Time is not a friend of mine though and so I end up not getting to do half the things I want to.

Learning is going well. Big B and Sis both have finally realized that they need to put forth effort in order to learn. Instead of just blaming me and saying they're not learning because I'm not teaching, they now realize that I've put out many things for them to grab on to and learn from. They just didn't want to put any effort into trying to learn. Hopefully now things will go smoother though and we'll all feel a sense of accomplishment.

To work towards that end, the kids and I sat down the other day and decided to do a Unit Study together. It was hard to get to one they both wanted but finally we weeded through American Hockey, Italian Cooking, Football, and Thomas Edison to get to Crime Scene Investigation. Big B and Sis both enjoy watching the show CSI so I figured I would incorporate something they already enjoy into our learning and see where it takes us.

HOW do we do a unit study on crime scene investigation? Well here is what I have so far;

- I checked out as many books as I could find from the library on reading levels that suit all three children so they will be reading about how investigating is done and what investigators look for.

- I have bookmarked various websites on the internet that deal with crime investigation, evidence, and Science experiments that we can do.

- I have also purchased a Fingerprint Kit that we will use to dust for prints not only around the house but we're also dragging the girl across the street into our search. She's a good sport and thinks the whole thing sounds fun so I might even make her one of our victims. LOL.

- We will also be studying hair samples, do mouth swabs, collect evidence from a "crime scene".

- I plan on contacting the local CSI Unit to see if they would give us a tour/talk telling us about the new crime van they just bought and how they do their jobs.

- The kids talked me into letting them do chalk outlines of each other but I drew the line at chalking me. The last thing I want is to see how wide my hips are on the driveway!

- We will watch CSI (the Las Vegas one) and discuss the show as we watch it. So far we are getting pretty good at solving the cases before they do on the show. The kids are learning to look for clues and are even telling me what tests they will need to run on their evidence.

- We'll always remember to have fun and enjoy ourselves!

I have a feeling that this unit study is going to take a good month at least and I plan on covering all subjects while we do it (obviously...unit study...duh). My hope is that this will just be the first of many unit studies that we all do together. Big B even mentioned doing the Immune System next. Of course, he wants to learn about it so he can laugh at me and my suppressed immune system. Rotten child!

I will try to catch up on here and post more about our homeschooling fun. Also, I changed the name and url of my review blog. It is now LWH Reviews as an extension of my Life With Heathens blog.

My friend Summer over at Mom Is Teaching did a post on 8 Reasons To Love Homeschooling which I thought was pretty great. So I'm doing it here as well and encourage others to do the same. I'm not tagging anyone so don't worry. Just enjoy doing it if you wanna.

8 Reasons I Love Homeschooling

1) When my kids were in public school we didn't get along very well. They were both extremely mouthy and disrespectful. Since we started homeschooling they have become so much more mature and appreciative of things in their lives. It's been amazing watching them actually grow each day. So many things I missed when they were little but now I get to enjoy these teen years.

2) I know my kids aren't being taught the crappy History and Geography lessons that I was in school. So little of actual importance historically is taught in school and by the time most of us graduate we couldn't recite the first line of the Constitution much less the first paragraph! With homeschooling I am able to share my love of history and geography with my kids and know that as adults they'll know where Madagascar is or what "The Plague" was.

3) I get to spend time with my kids. With my health being as yucky as it is most days I enjoy getting to be around the kids and make memories now. No mommy has to go to work or mom can't help right now. Laughing, talking, learning, reading, and enjoying each other's company now fill our days.

4) I really KNOW my kids now. I know what they like and dislike. I know who they have a crush on or who their best friend is. I am ashamed to say I didn't have time for those things as a single working mom so I am very thankful for this second chance.

5) Since my kids spend more time with me they are able to understand our disorder and the affects of it better. They see how it has affected me and the tests I take and know that if it's ever their turn for all this it will all be okay.

6) Not having to do the mad back to school shopping crap! I both loved and hated when it was back to school time. In a way it was fun to take the kids shopping for new stuff but it was never fun dealing with hordes of people or school supply lists. Now I just hit sales when I want to and enjoy the savings all year long.

7) FIELD TRIPS!! I never got to go on field trips with the kids when they were younger and now we can go on one whenever we want to. I love that! During our homeschooling time we've been to an ice cave and dormant volcano, a wolf sanctuary, a wildlife refuge, a pumpkin patch, several museums, the zoo, the botanical gardens, to the movies, hiking, and on and on. We've taken more trips in 2 1/2 years than they ever did in public school.

Getting to watch the youngest one start his homeschooling adventure right from the start. The difference in the way he learns and the way the other two were programmed to learn is amazing. No stress, no tears, and he doesn't have to sit still in a desk all day at the age of 4. I just wish I would have known about this when the other two were little so I could have guided them as well.

Those are MY eight things I love about homeschooling. Honestly? I think I probably could have kept listing things so it's probably a good thing this stops you at just eight. LOL.