Planning for High School =)

So I've been thinking about next year lately... Austin will be in high school already! They seriously grow up too fast, don't they?! I've also been thinking about the fact that our budget is kinda tight right now as well. So the wild thought crossed my mind that we should do a fund-raiser of sorts. I mean public, state-funded schools do fund-raisers every year (Austin regularly had a minimum of 3 per year in public school) & if anyone really NEEDS the help with school expenses it's the stay at home, homeschooling mom. After running the idea across several other homeschooling mommas I have learned that apparently it is more common than I initially realized so I'm thinking of maybe a yard sale or maybe selling some goods and/or services or both. Someone even suggested a small family business & getting Austin involved. Now THAT would be a wonderful idea!

What about curriculum? Well, I've created a rough "High School Plan":


So for science we will probably do one of the following:

• Caninology (aka the study of dogs)
  
• Biology
• Geology

Luckily our Earth Science that we are taking this year counts as a high school credit (woo-hoo) so we will only have to take 3 science credits within the next 4 years. And I still need to work out the details of exactly what Social Studies is required so that we can make a decision on that too.

So right now, I'm thinking Alpha Omega English & History, Math-U-See Algebra, Caninology or Alpha Omega Biology, PE, & The One-Year Adventure Novel as our elective since Austin wants to be a writer. We may also decide to substitute the One-Year Adventure Novel as our English & use Bible studies and/or choir as our elective.

Wow, it can be difficult to KNOW what direction to take while homeschooling but I wanted to get it all out there so I can come back, look over it, & pray about it; letting the Lord lead me where He wants us to go b/c ultimately He knows which direction is best & His ways are perfect.

Lord, please guide me in all my homeschooling efforts. I can't do this w/o You & desperately need Your wisdom when choosing curriculum & the overall direction to take with homeschooling. Please continue to give us all the resources we need to homeschool & all the wisdom & strength to do this each day. Lord, please come & be with us each day as we school & teach us what YOU would have us learn. Our home/school is Yours & we invite You in each & every day. Lord, we love you & thank you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Have you ever tasted the color blue???

We have!





Okay, not really... it's blue food coloring!!! We were learning about category fallacy in our Christian Worldview class.

Category Fallacy - occurs when you mistakenly apply a category to an object or event when the category does not apply. For example, what does the color blue taste like or how much does the number 5 weigh.

So I had the bright idea, "Hey, we CAN taste the color blue" so I get some blue food coloring (the gel kind) out of the cabinet & we both tried a little bitty dot. I don't recommend doing this at home! It tasted HORRIBLE!!!

So, wanna see what math manipulatives are good for?!



We haven't used the manipulatives much but when we did Austin had to start building!

Austin's First Short Story!

Car Crash by Austin

“Hey Nacy, what cha’ doin’?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“C’mon, tell me!”
“I already told you!” She shouted “I’m not doing anything!”
“You’re doin’ somethin’,” I argue, “You jus’ won’t tell me nothin’!”
“Can we go on one road trip without you two fighting,” Dad asks from the front. We are supposed to go to Atlanta, Georgia. But I hate this car!!! It’s cramped so I’m shoulder to shoulder with Nacy. It also smells like Swiss cheese. Swiss cheese!!! It couldn’t have been cheddar. I hate Swiss cheese but love cheddar cheese.
“Me fight?” I reply “Now I would never do that, right sis?”
Boom!!!
A car smashed into Nacy’s side of the car. That the last I see before blacking out.
I wake up a few minutes later, under a red SUV. I smell gasoline. A lot of gasoline. I can’t move. Then I see a big problem. Fire! It’s everywhere! The smoke starts to smother me! I desperately need help. I look around frantically. Nacy is right beside me.
“Help,” I scream! I get Nacy to finally wake up.
“Wh-what’s going on?”
“A fire,” I tell her! “Now get up and get otta here!”
“What about you? Your leg is smashed under that car!”
I start hacking. The smoke is thick now. I feel Nacy trying to pull me out.
“What are you doin’, Nacy?!”
“Helping you!”
“Run! Get outta here! I’m a goner but you’re not! Get…”
Boom!
I hear an explosion. It must be our car.
“I’m not leaving you, Lisa! We’re sisters! We both live or we both die!”
“Alright you stubborn fool! There’s a saw over there. Saw my leg off so I can get outta here!” She does it. But the pain makes me pass out.
Two hours later I awake. Nacy is by my side. The only other person is a nurse.

I don't know about you, but I like it!!!

Lazy Homeschool Days! :)

Catching Up!

I know... I haven't update the blog in like forever!!! Forgive me!

So, what have we been up to??? Well, let me tell you...

Austin wrote his first Ballad Stanza in Creative Writing:

A feather floated through the air
birds flew over head in V’s.
A duck waddled by undisturbed
of the feathers that dropped down here.

It may be just me but I like it!!!

We are already finished with Math-U-See, Epsilon & according to the placement tests we're skipping Zeta (though we will be doing a decimal review) & then moving straight into Pre-Algebra! Yay! Austin's finally caught up & doing 8th grade math! He really flew through fractions! Wow!

He has also gotten his first report card & I must say he did well... all A's & B's! Praise the Lord! This is a huge improvement from public school & no Mama isn't just giving him grades... he's earning them! I think the main difference is that Mama knows what he's doing in school & not letting him get away with NOT doing work! In public school I had a hard time figuring out what he was doing so that I could stay on him to do it but not anymore!

We have also gotten his school pics done. My 2 favorites are...



We have been on 2 more field trips (one to a local Fall Festival where there were Civil War & American Revolution exhibits & one to an old mining museum/community)...











And our latest school projects...





I think you're all caught up now!

First Field Trip!!!

I have been meaning to update the blog for a while now but lately it just seems that I am always busy doing something or another.

Before getting into the field trip details, let me share our latest Science project... constellation finders! These were a big hit... all of us LOVE them & think they are waaaaaaay cool!



And here's a pic of our cat learning how to do math! He actually was swatting at the TV a little! It was precious!



And now, for the moment you've all been waiting for... our first field trip!!! We went to St Bernard Abbey/Ava Maria Grotto in Cullman & had a blast. Although our tour guide got called away at the last minute on an emergency so we didn't get an official tour of either place. We did get to actually walk through & see the Grotto, but not the Abbey! That was very disappointing to me b/c I REALLY wanted to get a tour of the abbey! I'll post a few pics for your viewing pleasure!



The Grotto...


The Monk who created it all...


The Abbey Church...


The Cemetery located beside the Grotto...
The pathway to the cemetary was lined with the 14 stations of Jesus! I loved them... they were beautiful!


The small church that was in the middle of the cemetery...


Leaving the cemetery...