I posted this meme at Life With Heathens but I figured I would share it with my homeschooling friends too. Of course, I had to clean up the language some in order to post it here...*snicker*

Enjoy!!

Accent: I honestly don't have one. I moved so often before the age of 18 that I never had enough time to pick one up.

Breakfast or no breakfast: most times I'm a no breakfast gal but some mornings I'm just a hungry witch.

Chore I don’t care for: All of them? I am an equal opportunity chore hater- I hate them all equally. *smile*

Dog or Cat: We've got three cats so I should say cat so I at least look loyal.

Essential Electronics: Computer definitely computer

Favorite Cologne: Don't have one

Gold or Silver: Both. It's all about the bling, color ain't no thang! *snort*

Handbag I carry most often: This bohemoth black leather thing

Insomnia: I gots it

Job Title: Domestic Engineer, Professional Product Reviewer, Toy Expert, anything that makes me sound more important than I really am.

Kids: Well when a man and a woman love each other... oh you mean how many do I have? Three heathens. Do you want me to finish the reproduction lesson still?

Living Arrangements: All I know is that a large hairy guy walks around my house between the hours of 8-11am and 8-10pm so I guess we have a living arrangement of sorts. He pays the bills and sometimes I show him a little leg. *wink wink*

Most Admirable Trait: I'd rather laugh than cry?

Naughtiest Childhood Behavior: Getting drunk for the first time at age 11 probably wasn't a good girl thing was it?

Overnight hospital stays: Thanks to this disorder and cancer, more than I care to remember.

Phobias: heights, deep water, one of my kids dying, claustrophobia

Quote: "Your ass!"

Reason to smile: My kids

Siblings: I refuse to claim them!!! You can't make me!!

Time I wake up: Usually around 8am unless I'm sick and then it's 10am

Unusual Talent or Skill: I'd teach ya but I'd have to charge. *snicker* Okay so I really have no clue.

Vegetable I Refuse to Eat: Sweet Potatoes

Worst Habit: It's a tie between biting my nails and drinking a 2ltr of soda a day.

X-rays: Yeah, see the "Hospital Stays" answer

Yummy Stuff: Cheesecake. It's the nectar of the Gods I tell you!!

Zoo Animal I Like Most: Hmmmm I'd say the hippo because she knows her butt is big and she's okay with that. She's an inspiration to us all... let your butt expand and you too can spend all day in the pool!

So who else is going to give this a try huh? If you don't you're a big ol' WUSSY! That's right, I said it...WOO-say! Oh geez, now I'm channeling Mrs. Fussypants. ahaha

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.