Homestuck?

The teens in our area, including my own, have discovered an anime series called Homestuck.  It's the most convoluted, extensive story I have ever seen.  The writer uses MSPaint to create pictures of his characters and flash to create animations that go with the story.  My head spins just trying to follow the story line. 

Here's my son's drawing of the "trolls" of Homestuck.  I tell ya - it's given them lots to talk about with friends, a sense of community, has forced strong critical thinking skills to keep up with it, and has brought back out the artist in my middle son.  Win!

 

Do your teens read Homestuck?

Homeschool Natural Science - Stream Walking

Through one of the co-ops that we attend four nature discovery days have been scheduled.  One each month.  This month, we went stream walking.  It was a muddy, yet fun adventure!

Heading to the stream

We're in and walking our way upstream



Showing his handfull of natural clay

Climbing down into the natural pool of water

Wading in the pool of water

The narrow stream

Poison Ivy vines

We found a box turtle - the guide is showing us it's a male by the ridge on the bottom

Raccoon skeleton - no touching!  It can still carry rabies.

Beautiful berries

Ten Hints for Homeschooling High School

At first, I was intimidated to homeschool for high school.  It’s the gateway to college, and I didn’t want to make a mess of things.  Then, I got to thinking, there are numerous resources out there, and who wants more for my kids than I do?  So, in we plunged. 

 

After our first year homeschooling high school, here are my top ten pointers:

1.       Find other families who have homeschooled through high school and into college and get their advice.

2.       Look at the local public school web site and find out the courses they require for high school graduation – this is a good litmus of everything you should cover.

 

3.       Start a transcript right away and keep up with it.  Include each text that you use – you’ll need to know this if they want to play sports in college – I love the My Homeschool Transcripts online program!

4.       Check with local community colleges to determine what their dual-enrollment policies are so you can consider this as an option for their last two years of high school.

5.       Talk with your student about what he/she wants to take, what his/her plans are after graduation, and start working towards a plan.  If they don’t know, that’s ok – go with the college prep tract from the local high school.  It’s always better to over plan than under plan.

6.        Check out the requirements of prospective colleges to find out what they require for entrance and if they have special requirements for homeschoolers.  Shoot for the requirements of the most challenging school.

7.       Consider having your student take tests like the CLEP to earn college credit for courses they take in high school.  (Check your preferred colleges to find out which CLEP’s or other tests they accept and their expected scores.)

8.       Prepare for the PSAT and the SAT/ACT.  These scores are what the colleges will really look at when considering your student for enrollment.

9.       Take the SAT/ACT multiple times to get the highest score.

10.   Get your student involved in strong extracurricular activites and volunteering – colleges like these!  There are numerous opportunities available to homeschooled students – be sure to take advantage of them!

It can be daunting, but it is doable.  I know several families who have been very successful and sent their children off to strong colleges.  The internet puts finding resources right at our fingertips.

If you and your student are committed to a strong high school experience, you’ll reap the rewards of four wonderful years working together to lay the academic foundation for their future.

To see posts by other Review Crew Members – click here.

The < = > Approach

A couple of weeks ago, our pastor discussed as concept he had learned about from another member of the church: the < = > concept.  Or, the greater than, equals and less than concept.

What does this mean?  In his discussion, it was suggested that as humans we immediately apply the < = > equation to everyone we meet.  Is this person less than, equal to, or greater than me?  Then, based on that assessment is how we choose to relate to them.

If they are less, then we may treat them as less than we are.  Either by being patronizing or rejecting them.  Perhaps someone who is younger or in a lesser station of employment.

If they are greater, then we might have more respect or be more inclined to want to gain their favor.  Think of a boss, or a pastor, or, for some,  a celebrity. 

If they are equal, then…  Well, that’s a tough one.  Are these the people we are friends with or the ones that we choose to compete with?

It’s food for thought.  I had to acknowledge that while it’s not necessarily a conscious thing, I do believe that we do this. 

Now that it has been brought to my attention, I’m much more cognizant of initial meetings and “sizing people up”.  I don’t want to rank people – I want to accept them as they are.  One thing teaching has taught me is that I may be in front of the classroom, but, given a different subject, that position could easily be reversed, and I'm the student. 

Do you judge people the first time you meet them?  How hard is it for them to break out of the mold you put them in? 

Review - Everyday Cooking

 

 

Everyday Cooking

Publisher:  Everyday Homemaking

Web Site:  http://www.everydayhomemaking.com/

Cost:  $14.99 ebook, $17.99 print

I love recipes – recipe books, recipe magazines, recipe web sites, you name it.  I’m not one to enjoy the same meal week after week – variety is the spice of life (especially while test driving new spices!). 

My family, however, is just the opposite.  The hubby always tells me he’d be just as happy if I’d set up a weekly meal plan with the same meal each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.  Then, he’d know what to look forward to and it’d be easier on me.  Well, except that I’d die of food boredom!

So, I compromise.  I try to find recipes that include the foods they like, but are used in different ways.  We do have a repertoire of foods everyone loves that we cycle through throughout the month, but throwing something new in from time to time keeps me happy.

My boys are growing up and their palates are maturing.  They are discovering new tastes and likes – this makes me quite happy!  My youngest has always had an interest in cooking, so when I received the Everyday Cooking e-book from Everyday Homemaking, I knew I wanted to get him involved.

What I really like is that the recipes are simple.  They appeal to my families palate and make my hubby happy.  Most of the recipes I’ve tried or considered have ingredients found right in my pantry.  None of this fancy stuff I have to go to some specialty food store to find knowing full well I’ll probably get a “What’s this? Yuck!” when I serve it.  Want to see what I mean?  Check out their web site where a few sample recipes from the cookbook are featured. 

So, back to my son.  I told him to open the e-book on my computer and pick his three favorite recipes to try.  Later that day, he gave me his list.  I was surprised to see they were all entrees.  The recipe book includes appetizers, breads, main dishes and desserts.  If you would like to see the full table of contents, you can view sample pages from the book here.  He picked Chicken Quesadillas, Chicken and Dumplings, and Stuffed Shells. 

All three of his choices were super simple and made for an entertaining time in the kitchen for both of us.  I got to teach him more about cooking, and he got to do the driving and put the meal on the table for our family.  We loved the quesadillas – we’re all big time fans of Mexican food.  In fact, he invited his big brother and his brother’s girlfriend over another night to join us and made them again.  They were a hit!

 

Chicken and dumplings were a lot of fun and an education for my Southern born family.  Here in the South, dumplings are large doughy noodles.  I’m not a fan.  Where I come from, out West, dumplings were biscuits that are cooked right on top of the chicken stew.  The recipe in this book is Western style.  The dumplings (or biscuits) came out perfect and gave my hubby and boys an appreciation for the non-Southern variety.

Stuffed shells turned out great as well.  I showed him how to put the filling in a Ziplock bag and cut the corner so all you have to do is squeeze the filling in instead of spooning it. 

I really like this cookbook as a go-to family friendly option.  As I said, the recipes are simple and use ingredients right from the pantry.  Plus, anything that gets me and my boys working together to make something wonderful for the family has my seal of approval.  He’s been assigned to pick three more – I can’t wait to find out what we’ll be dining on next week!

If you would like to see reviews by other Schoolhouse Molly Review Crew members – click here.

*** Disclaimer – I received this e-book free of charge as a member of the Molly Review Crew in exchange for my honest review.

Review - Notable Novelists Card Game

Notable Novelists of the 20th Century

Web Site:  http://www.notablenovelists.com

Cost:  $10.95

Age:  Elementary and Up

Notable Novelists is a modern and educational version of Go-Fish.  I decided to break it out on vacation at the beach.  We needed a little family time while hanging out and resting in the hotel.  We always enjoyed Go-Fish when the boys were younger, so, why not now?

Everyone was willing to play – yay!  It is just as simple as it sounds – deal the cards, work towards getting matches.  At the end, the most matches wins.  To see the directions – click here.   The cool thing is that instead of matching cartoon-like fish, you are matching novelists with their mini-biography and their works.  Each match has an Author, Bio and Library Card.  

What I liked about it is that we were learning while just playing a game. Some of the authors we didn’t recognize like Nabokov or Cheever until we saw what they had written.  The Bio tidbits offer small insights into the life of the author you otherwise wouldn’t know.  You can see all the authors listed – here.  

We had a lot of fun playing.  “So, Dad, do you have a Nabokov (imagined this name butchered) bio?” followed by a chuckle.  When a match was made, the person getting the match would then read the cards aloud.  This helped us learn and start to remember which author was responsible for which work.

I can see pulling this game out from time to time – we got pretty sneaky with our strategies for figuring out who had which cards to make our matches.  You wouldn’t think a child’s game of go-fish could become an adult strategy game.  ha!

I think, too, I’m going to bring it in to the homeschool co-op English class I teach.  It’ll be a fun game to play at the end of the semester. 

If you’d like to see reviews by other Schoolhouse Review Crew members – click here.

*** Disclaimer:  I received this card game free of charge as a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review.

Blog Cruise - The Homeschool Juggling Act

We have found homeschooling to be quite the juggling act.  Contrary to the old misconception that homeschoolers are unsocialized, we find that we have to pick and choose just what it is we can make time to be a part of.  There are so many great opportunities and activities out there that school can take a back seat if we aren’t careful.

First the question isn’t, “How do you do it all?”   Because, put simply, we don’t.  We can’t.  School is first – everything else must fit around it.One thing I love about homeschool is allowing the boys to follow their passions.  I make it a point to only participate in things that either I know will further their education or help them grow, or things that they are passionate about.  Often, these two overlap.

School is first – we “do school” formally from 8:30 in the morning until it’s done.  This can be anywhere between 1:00 and 4:00 depending on the day and what needs to be accomplished.  It’s never a rush – the focus is on doing it right and learning, not on just getting done.  Yes, sometimes this is a battle, but, most of the time, they embrace the fact that their education is important.

We are blessed to be in two co-ops.  I blogged about these this summer – you can check them out here.

In the co-ops, we not only have academics, but much of their social activities come from these. 

Youngest is in yearbook, filmmaking, gavel and newspaper.

Middle is in yearbook, student government, speech and debate, and newspaper.

One of our co-ops also involves a lot of social time.  Each Friday the kids meet to do something fun be it game night, a movie, laser tag, etc.  We also do group activities like camping, festivals, kayaking, you name it.  This group is wonderful because there are tons of activities – the boys pick the ones they are most interested in to go.

Middle is also very active in taekwondo earning his black belt this year.  We use TKD as our PE for high school.  Life is learning.

I love all that is available to homeschoolers – sports, Key club, ROTC, engineers clubs, artistic classes, etc.  They really don’t “miss out” on anything they could be doing in public school.  It’s all about balance – finding the best balance between academics and activities.

My advice?  Set your priorities.  Anything that fits in around those priorities and benefits your student is great.  Anything that doesn’t, no matter how cool is sounds, you have to pass on. 

On another note – take care of mom and dad!  I know from experience that mom can run herself ragged making sure her kids get to all their events and activities while also teaching in the home.  Mom has a threshold.  If the kids have to miss out on something so that mom has one night of peace, then so be it! 

Mom and Dad need time together too.  Dad is often the financier of the homeschool.  He needs time and attention.  Don’t let dad fall through the cracks.  Keep him involved and make sure he knows he’s loved too. 

There is a lot to balance, but it's all worth it in the end.  Priorities!  That's the key - God, family, education, activites, fun.  In that order, things will all work out.

How do you juggle your busy homeschooling life?

Interested in how other Schoolhouse Review Crew members fit it all in?  Click here.