Learning Organically

Black Schools A Matter of Life and Cultural Death dvd preview

2012-01-29T10:20:00.000-08:00

BSEI PROMOTIONAL VIDEO

2011-12-07T17:30:00.000-08:00

Samori Speaks at the University of Texas

2011-12-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

Proud Mama Moment!!!

2011-12-03T06:56:00.000-08:00

Here's the story. Our children have been involved in this wonderful 10 week program and between the 2 of them they have been taking 3 classes. One of the classes was an acting class. My son LOVES to be seen, thrives off of attention, and has no concept of what it means to be embarrassed. My daughter likes to be seen on her own terms, likes getting attention in familiar settings, and is easily embarrassed. Somehow in this play my son ends up with a non-speaking part and my daughter with a speaking role. He was a munchkin from Munchkin Land and she played the OZ!!! What is the world?! When I found out I went with it. They've seen The Wiz, but never the Wizard of Oz, but they are similar enough that my daughter knew that she had a pretty major role. Last night as we sat in the pews and watched the displays from the other classes my heart began to ache for my daughter. I watched my dichotomous children as one smiled endlessly while the other fought back tears. I wanted to save her. I wanted to sit on the front row and rock her, but I knew that my hug would release a river of tears. Tonight would have to be the night that she learned what kind of women she is birthed from. I, for once, wouldn't be her savior. Well the first time she had to go on stage was for her photography class. To my surprise they had to stand up and read from a card about the various type of photography they'd learned about. Her voice and articulation were AMAZING!!! As of late we have had to ask her to stop mumbling so I was in a state of pure bliss. Not to mention, this child is gorgeous. Beauty AND brains? Um...yea...that's how we grow 'em in our family. Thank ya kindly. Anyway, when she sat down she went back into panic mode and I went back into savior mode. We both fought our respective battles in silence. The play began and when her part came I kept sending her "you-can-do-this-because-you-come-from-strong-women-and-3-of-us-are-here-to-support-you" vibes. Her part began behind a curtain because as you recall The Oz is hidden at first. When her voice boomed through the sanctuary I started to tear up and swell with pride. HONEY!!! That's MY BABY!!! Then in the play when they discovered that The Oz was just a person, I braced myself because now she was in front of the audience. HONEY? She played that part like only a sista could. I thought I was watching The Wiz with a strong female leading role!!! Tears flowing, I look at my husband who is fighting tears too. Y'all don't understand. This child didn't break out of her shell. She melted that that bad boy and was bathed in feminine flyness when she emerged. I was just so amazed my her.

Troy Davis = Naomi Winfrey

2011-10-02T16:27:00.001-07:00

Solove Concord,NC police brutality

2011-10-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

Malcolm X day speech -Samori Speaks

2011-07-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

Wow, I didn't realize that it was this bad...

2011-07-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've been helping my niece who is the Site Coordinator/Head Teacher for a summer camp. When I say help I mean that I come once a week and do a science class and hang around long enough to help her with whatever else she needs.

I wasn't scheduled to come until tomorrow, but I found out that she was there alone and decided to go help out. I found out first hand what the teachers in the school system are dealing with. The causes of it are a tangled web of issues, but I'll only focus on 3. The issues are a lack of critical thinking/curiosity, poor diet, and a lack of discipline.

I walked in to see a frazzled teacher and wild rambunctious boys. Now understand that my niece is good at what she does, but there is something to be said of being a mother and being older...I'm both. I walked in and got everybody settled. I figured out who hit who, set some new ground rules, divided the room up by age, and began playing games. My group of 3 boys played "Guess Who". I explained the game and got them set up to play. When it was time to ask the questions, all of the children seemed to be at a loss. They couldn't figure out the most basic questions to ask. I was prepared for this, because PS kind of "beats" questioning out of children. When my children first came home they couldn't ask a decent question either. Once we started with "Is you person a man or a woman? Does you person have on a hat?" etc. I stopped feeding them the question and encouraged them to formulate their own questions. I got chirping crickets. They kept repeating the questions that I'd fed them. I asked them to tell me the differences between the people, but they couldn't. Rather than getting discouraged, I realized that we just have more work to do.

A part of the program is that they serve lunch to any child that comes in for free. They don't have to be a part of the summer camp to eat the breakfast and lunch. The food that I've seen is pretty well balanced and healthy. I could tell, however, that these children are being feed on a diet of processed foods, sugars, and a lack of water. I saw silver fillings in their mouths, ashy skin, and discolored eyes. Another sign is that they couldn't focus for more than a few minutes at a time. During the reading time I simply stopped more often during the book time to ask questions to keep them focus. During lunch time, however, they were unable to follow the most simplistic directions given by my niece. Every noise would cause them to be distracted. I had to take one baby's face and hold it until he could focus eye to eye with me so I could give him his next instruction.

Children crave discipline. They need it. It doesn't mean that you scream and yell at them. That is not discipline. It means that you help them to organize their thoughts and actions so that they can sort through them and make good decisions. Unfortunately, this requires time spent with our children and many parents don't have a lot of time. That means that we have to put in some time with children that we didn't birth. It takes a village to raise a child. Well the village is all messed up, so rather than complain, let's heal the village. The children need us. The teachers need our support.

Don't complain about the children that you don't take time with. Don't talk about "other people's kids" because traditionally the children belonged to everyone. They NEED us.

Samori Speaks on Afri-cans not Afri-can'ts

2011-04-19T05:42:00.000-07:00

My jewelry

2011-04-08T16:49:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share a slide show of my jewelry. The majority of what I create is one of a kind and intended to be as unique as you are. If you like what you see and would like to purchase some piece visit me at http://www.etsy.com/shop/abenaevolving?ref=si_shop

Pics!

2011-04-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

Art by Sunshine!!! I think this is so beautiful AND I love the contrast colors that she chose as the background (her wall and comforter. ;)

Spike swinging his freshly tightened locks.

I hate when he smiles like this, but he seems to think it's hilarious. lol

Be careful. Those eyes will get you.

My husband the jungle gym. lol

The fun continues!!! Btw, oko mi was sweating by the end of it all. lol

Wearing his Baba's clothes...idk. lol

Back shot

The help. I hired them for the day. They work for food.

Taking a break already?

Okay homeschoolers, WHAT IS THIS? It looks like a fly-bee hybrid to me...

Samori Camara-Mentacide vs Independent Education

2011-03-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

Updates

2011-03-21T06:03:00.000-07:00

What have we been doing? Living. I feel as though I have finally found a balance. That doesn't mean that I am locked into a particular way of doing things. What it means is that I have found something that works well for all of us in this moment in time.

This spring and summer I plan on enrolling Sunshine and Spike in some of the programs that are offered at our local recreation center. Sunshine has joined a book club geared toward African American girls. She loves it and I love that she loves it!

That's really about all for right now.

Sunshine

Spike's teeth finally grew back

Why we should homeschool and intergration was NOT good for us...

2011-01-14T09:21:00.000-08:00

Unit Studies and Currclick

2010-08-29T17:24:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick update. I am trying yet another approach. I am doing a relaxed version of unit studies. I asked both children what they wanted to do. Mari, wanted the continent of Africa and next we will study individual countries. David wanted dinosaurs and next we will study them by continent. I have also learned a lot so far. I have always been interested in Africa and all of it's countries, but I never thought I would find dinosaurs so interesting. This is keeping up relatively busy, especially since our stupid printer is broken. UGH! I'll let you all know how things go.
P.S. I am also helping Mari do a lapbook. YAY!

Morning Appointment

2010-06-29T06:27:00.001-07:00

I had to leave a little early to take Mari to camp because I had to get gas. I took my own advice and did it with a good attitude although I didn't want to have to stop. As we pulled into the gas station Mari and I were talking and laughing when I saw a familiar face. He came walking up to the car with a warm smile and I remember the many times our paths had crossed. We'd even shared a meal once. Who was he? He was a homeless man that used to be on the corner of a very busy intersection in Charlotte. When did we share a meal? Well, here's the short version:

One Sunday morning I woke up thinking about what I wanted to eat from Bojangle's. I thought about it all through church service. After church I was finally able to get the food and my mouth was watering. I didn't even eat any fries out of the bag on the way home, because I wanted this to be perfect. Afterall, I'd been thinking about it all day. As I sat at the light, I heard God tell me to give this man my food. Of course this must be the devil speaking, because I really wanted this food. LOL Of course I gave it to him. As I drove away I looked in my rear view mirror to see him literally devouring the meal.

Anyway, this morning I greeted him as I did on numerous occasions. As usual he didn't seem to remember me and as usual it didn't matter. I'd already decided to do what I could which wasn't a lot, because I ain't balling this week either. This time, however, he asked for gas. He said that he and his fiance were riding around on "E". I said I would help. I paid for his gas and mine, luckily their car was small. When I returned to my truck he came over to thank me with a handshake. He told me that he was trying to do better and was looking for a job. I just smiled knowing that he didn't owe me any explanation for being in a rough spot. He talked about his fiance and how he had hit the jackpot by meeting her. I congratulated him with true happiness. He moved in to hug me and I must admit that I did have thoughts of lice and such being that I am a germaphobe and bugaphobe. I hugged him, because I've been in a similar situation as his and didn't want to be so arrogant as to forget what it's like. He has no teeth, wild hair, but somehow the happiest eyes.

I had a morning appointment and it was with an old friend whose name I do not know.

Seedlings and Randomness...

2010-03-29T19:23:00.000-07:00

Pics of our seedlings. We (read "I") forgot to label them so we will have to wait until the mature to figure out what's what. LOL Anyway, here are the pics.

Here are a couple of random bonus pictures for your viewing pleasure...

Picture Updates

2010-03-21T06:51:00.000-07:00

Planting seeds. The kids planted the first batch, but of course we forgot to take pictures in all the excitement. The first batch was veggies and herbs. The set above is flowers and herbs. I'm so excited. I hope they come up!

Those big worms are the wrong worms. They are called nightcrawlers. The reason they may not work is because the dig tunnels that are so big that they may cause the dirt in a small bin like our to collapse and kill them. Then you are stuck with a stinky mess, not to mention the poor worms being buried alive. They are in our yard where we have the best soil anyway, making the contribution. We didn't waste our money on the wrong worms, we simply changed the fate of some very helpful creatures. :)

Okay, so here we they are with the correct worms. Red wigglers. They are small and, from what they lady at the Reedy Creek Nature Museum said, very veracious eaters. She had what used to be a bin of newspaper that had been converter into lovely aromatic worm poop--I mean castings. The worms and paper mites have a symbiotic relationship and it helps move the process along a lot faster apparently.

Sunshine looking like sunshine. Beautiful, natural, and free! Gotta love it!

African American Homeschool Mamas

2010-03-15T03:39:00.000-07:00

I gotta tell ya, being a minority within a minority is really hard. Why? Only a person that is, or at least thinks they are, part of the majority would ask such a question. When it is "Black History Month", I want to go with other people that understand the looks of pity, that some people give when the tour guide mentions slavery. I want to be around people that share the same history and background as I do so that we can teach our children accurate history rather than the same 3 famous African Americans (Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Harriet Tubman) and slavery. I don't want you child hair molesting my child because my child's hair is the polar opposite of your child's hair. It is also hard to be a minority within a minority that is within yet another minority because I am what is considered to be a African American secular homeschooler. I have experienced firsthand that not all groups that say "all are welcome" mean it. I can't honestly say if it was my skin or that I didn't belong to the church that apparently they all belonged to, but I drove 30 minutes to a park day where the people wouldn't talk to me and their kids totally ignored my children. For the record, my children are very hard to ignore. All that to say, I found one homeschool Mama online in a group that lives here and I met another at a birthday party. Although my children attended school with the second Mama's children, we had never formally met. Anyhoo, apparently I needed to vent and express my joy in finding other Afrikan Mamas in the area. Now, I hope that we actually have something in common.

Little update...

2010-03-04T11:24:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I've been absent but I am actually been really busy. This homeschool thing is really going well. I am excited that I might actually be doing what works for us. What is that you ask? Depends on the day and what is going on around us. I have stopped stressing every little thing, but I also have not gone completely over to unschooling like I thought I would. My children at this point are not autodidactic enough for me to feel comfortable just turning them loose. I can say, however, that we all seem to be enjoying ourselves. What does our day look like? Well, here is the intention of the day, although it never really happens in the way it's written, but I just use it as a guide.

I try to do all this stuff in the morning when they are fresh. We tried doing work at night when the little ones are gone, but it didn't work out so we decided to do it throughout the day. I don't really care what order they do their work in as long as most of it gets done. If we have been working longer than expected we might decide not to do an assignment like we did today. I will also things off to take advantage of nice weather like today. Imho, vitamin D and fresh air are just as important as education in some regards. It's called balance.

Morning ritual-Sankofa Learning Academy Pledge, Virtues of Ma'at, Nguzo Saba
Swahili Cards
Mama Read
Assignments
Black History Cards

Mari
Read
Playing Card Algebra
Swahili-Rosetta Stone
DSI word game
Spelling words

David
Math- 3 worksheets and 25 flash cards
Read- 3 books and 25 flash cards
Time4learning
Penmanship-3 sentences from flashcards
Days of the week and months of the year-English and Swahili

Some random pics, but here is a little explanation on some of them. I can't figure out how to add comments after the pictures have been posted. I learn that later I guess. Enjoy!

Playing in the mirror at the museum. Sunshine did a tattoo on my neck that I thought was really cute. The fireplace is ablaze with candles, because this is what we do for meditation. Spike's birthday treats, thanks to Grandma. Sunshine's new hair, the picture at the end is the same thing. The pics where there are a bunch of women in red (and me in the kitchen chopping) are from Sunshine's red party. She started her moon cycle and to celebrate we did a rite of passage. We received a Flat Stanley or in our case a Flat Isaiah, and Sunshine and Spike decided to make a Flat Family. Cool, right?

Virtues of Ma'at

2010-01-13T06:35:00.000-08:00

I found call and response that we use every morning at this site http://cuip.uchicago.edu/schools/woodlawn/2_virtues.html

The Virtues of MA'AT
(Call and Response at Morning Ritual)
Ma'at ("That which is straight.") was the systematized sacred-spiritual ideal of ancient Kemet. It was the underlying current that intricately connected all things including human behavior. It was the universal ethical principle of ancient Egyptian religion, denoting 'justice', 'order', and 'truth.' Ma'at was connected to the entire existence of the universe, and was not limited to ethics for human beings alone. Ma'at was the perfect order, toward which man should strive. It was, therefore, considered essential to live according to the principles of Ma'at so as not to disturb the very fabric of creation. Since the ancient Kemetic society believed that the universe was an ordered and rational place, Ma'at became the embodiment of the seven principles: Truth, Justice, Righteousness, Order, Balance, Harmony and Reciprocity. The whole of the Kemetic society hinged on the furtherance of these principles. At Woodlawn Community School, we believe that these principles are essential to the development of the whole child. It is for this reason, that we remind ourselves of these virtues at our daily morning rituals.

Teacher: The Virtue of TRUTH
Students: We believe in TRUTH!
We will always seek to know what is correct, and we will not lie or speak falsely of ourselves, our family, or our race.

Teacher: The Virtue of JUSTICE
Students: We believe in JUSTICE!
We will always be fair in what we do and we will not cheat ourselves, our family, or our Race.

Teacher: The Virtue of RIGHTEOUSNESS
Students: We believe in RIGHTEOUSNESS!
We will always be correct in what we do and we will not allow others to influence us to do wrong to ourselves, our family or our race.

Teacher: The Virtue of ORDER
Students: We believe in ORDER!
We will respect the Natural order of the universe and we will not separate ourselves from that which gives order to ourselves, our family or our race.

Teacher: The Virtue of BALANCE
Students: We believe in BALANCE!
We will strive to understand and respect the need to be complementary and we will not be in conflict with ourselves, our family or our race.

Teacher: The Virtue of HARMONY
Students: We believe in HARMONY!
We will always be in rhythm with what is good and we will never be in opposition to what is good for ourselves, our family, or our race.

Teacher: The Virtue of RECIPROCITY
Students: We believe in RECIPROCITY!
We will always strive to do the proper thing at the proper time and we will not bring shame to ourselves, our family, or our race.

Kwanzaa Year Round

2010-01-13T06:27:00.000-08:00

The Nguzo Saba

Umoja - Unity
To strive for a principled and harmonious togetherness in the family, community, nation, and the global African community.

Kujichagulia - Self-Determination
To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves, instead of being defined, named, created for and spoken for by others.

Ujima - Collective Work and Responsibility
To build and maintain our community together and make our sisters' and brothers' problems our problems and solve them together.

Ujamaa - Cooperative Economics
To build our own businesses, control the economics of our own community and share in all its work and wealth.

Nia - Purpose
To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Kuumba - Creativity
To do always as much as we can in the way we can in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than when we inherited it.

Imani - Faith
To believe with all our hearts in our Creator, our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

Our Pledge

2010-01-13T06:24:00.000-08:00

I just thought that I would share our pledge that we say in the morning. The reason that I wrote this is so that we can have a pledge the reflects who we are and what we believe and strive for culturally.

In reverence we dedicate our hearts, minds, and spirits humbly to the Creator. We pledge our undying love and allegiance to Mama Africa from whom all life sprang. We pay respect and acknowledge our ancestors, elders, our Babas and Mamas, our teachers, and sisters and brothers. We will always do good and help to others. We will honor our bodies as creations of the Most High, and feed them good things so we can be an asset to the rebuilding of our African community and not a liability. We will ask lots of questions and study the true history of time, both ancient and modern; to know ourselves and reawaken our minds. We are African watoto of the Diaspora and Maafa with our fists held high as a sign that we won’t stop until we reach the sky.

Baba- Father

Watoto- Children

Maafa-the African Holocaust

Holocaust- A mass slaughter of people

Mass-a large amount (in this case at least 100,000,000)

Diaspora-scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland

Titled: Untitled

2010-01-12T09:16:00.000-08:00

I don't have anything to write about, because I wish it was spring. I hate the cold and I am ready for it to be warm outside and I am pouting about it. *arms folded, bottom lip protruding*

Kwanzaa 2009 slide show

2010-01-03T17:07:00.000-08:00

My 100th post & Pics from Reedy Creek Park

2009-12-21T14:38:00.000-08:00

Winter Solstice Pictures

Just Pics

2009-12-12T16:53:00.001-08:00

Africentrically eclectic with a relaxed unschooling bent!

2009-12-08T05:09:00.000-08:00

I apologize for my slackness. I have been really busy and learning quite a lot. I have finally decided on the type of homeschoolers we are. We are Africentrically eclectic with a relaxed unschooling bent. I like it. It's ours and ours alone. LOL Anyway, I had to come up with something since we live in a world of labels.

I have thrown in the towel finding a history curriculum that is accurate so I have teaching from all the facts that I already have floating in my head and the ones that I am learning. I have also thrown out my third or fourth attempt at a curriculum. Now, I just write a plan so that it we come upon a brainfart moment we will have something to draw upon. I spent yesterday afternoon learning about their learning styles and multiple intelligences. It was interesting and showed me why some stuff just wasn't working and wasn't going to work. Reading, writing, and math are required.

I have gotten on the dreaded Face book and I have a true love/hate relationship with it. It takes up a lot of time, which used to be spent blogging. I have, however, learned a lot and met a lot of interesting and knowledgeable people. Catch 22.

We have also begun really using and focusing on Swahili. We ordered it from Rosetta Stone. It is expensive, but if you want to learn a language and learn it fast this is an excellent program.

I have also made a vow to buy as much second hand/consignment and handmade as possible. Except shoes. Second hand shoes gross me out. We are also using our old jeans to make different things. It's been really fun so far.

I finally feel like I did something today!

2009-10-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

Okay so this is what happened. It is raining and cold. My son wanted very much to go outside. My husband is back in school after a much needed 3 week break. My daughter is having withdrawal from the television. I am coming a little bout with PMS. Okay so all our family business is out there in the street. So needless to say I wasn't in the best of moods, because I have to deal with everyone else's mood while trying not to lose it, because if I lose it everyone else think it's a license for them to act a fool too. Anyway, I pulled out the "What Your Blah Blah Grader Needs To Know". Guess what? It worked and everybody is still alive and well. Yay! Now, let's see how tomorrow goes.

Spike Eating Outside.

2009-10-19T16:17:00.000-07:00

Sunshine, Spike, Sunshine's friend, and myself were all outside and Spike decided he was hungry. I thought he was going to stay inside and eat, but no. He brought his food outside and ate in my nephew's car seat. He was happy and so was I. He's so cute. Isn't he? The correct answer is yes.

Hey look what I got!!!

2009-10-19T02:28:00.000-07:00

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_gsyMgx4HzHo/StwjRkVjQLI/AAAAAAAABAA/Ya7cC4RiM-E/s1600-h/kreative-blogger_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg

This is supposed to be an image of an award but as usual either my computer is acting up or we have a case of operator error. LOL Anyhoo it doesn't take away from the fact that I GOT AN AWARD!!! YAY!!!

Thandi, whom I have been following for a while and have become distant Sisters with, has given me my very first award. She is wonderfully strong woman to be deeply admired AND she is great blogger. She takes you on all these wonderful, scary, funny, and sometimes sad adventures. I have taken all kinds of vicarious trips with her by reading her blog and you should to. Thank you so much Thandi. I feel special that you or anyone else (other than family as they are obligated) would even be reading this blog. LOL
Okay so here are my seven things that you may not know or care about for that matter. LOL

I can't eat apples, because they have the same effect on me as nails on a chalk board have on most people although nails on a chalk board don't seem to bother me. Go figure.
I really wish I lived in the country in a cozy house with 5 dogs, goats, chickens, a horse, 2 cats, a huge garden, fruit trees, a wildflower field, and a 1.5 mile driveway with the mail box at the end. Oh and a tractor of course.
I hate for my heat/AC to ever be set above 70 degrees, and at least 1/2 of my clients are anemic or just cold natured so I keep blankets for them
I am petrified of bugs.
I love amphibians and reptiles and have always been truly fascinated by snakes. I think they are beautiful.
I have been married for almost 3 years and believe that I should've married my husband much sooner than I did.
I am deeply in love with banana and vanilla almond milk smoothies.
I want to get my husband and my dna tested at http://africanancestry.com/ and then spend 6 months to a year in those places.

Okay that's 8, but it's my blog, I'm the youngest child, and breaking the rules is part of my creative process. LOL

Eveyln has literally saved my life. I began watching her on youtube and fell in love because she is southerner like myself and she has a garden that made me lovingly jealous. Because of her I have made changes in the diet of my family and have seen dramatic results. I am not a far along as she is, but she makes you feel good about any improvements you make. Thanks Sis

Cinnamoncurlz is someone that is a fellow homeschooler, but this is her hair blog. I just love her writing. She is even this good when she exchanges emails with you. I have also enjoyed following her hair journey because for African American woman it is TRULY a journey.

A. Hermitt has a wonderful homeschooling blog that I have used as a homeschool bible. You just need to go an visit her, because it's just wonderfully done. Anyhoo, I first encountered her on youtube and loved her strength and tenacity. I was like "I want to be a homeschool Mama bear just like her". LOL I later met her in the same yahoo group that I meet Cinnamoncurlz in.

Leslie doesn't know it, but she is my homeschool God Mama. She is one of the first people I "met" online that helped me out a lot. Here blog is beautiful and she has the most beautiful pictures. Her blog is literally serene. Going there is like a vacation. LOL...no seriously it is.

Tonia is loved by me because of the love she shows others. That's pretty much it. She is transparent about it and it is simply a beautiful thing. I "met" her in a locking group but her blog is much more than hair. Enjoy it for yourself.

Babs is so cool. Yes she is one of my clients, but she is a counselor to anyone who needs help and she follows her own helpful loving advice and has the best love story EVER...well except for mine of course. Anyway she has beautiful wonderful kids and now a wonderfully funny re-husband. What's that? Go read about it.

Caffeinatedjive is straight foward and to the point. I have learn a lot of homeschooling social etiquette type things from this site and as a new homeschooler it is good to be up on that kind of stuff. I have learned that just because your children have "hometraining" that is doesn't mean that everyone's lovely homeschooled children do. Anyway, I have learned what could possibly come up and how to handle it without "catching a charge".

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award
2. Copy and paste the award on your own blog
3. Link the person who nominated you.
4. Name seven things about yourself that folks may not know.
5. Nominate seven Kreativ bloggers
6. Post links to the seven bloggers you nominate
7. Leave comments on each of the blogs letting them know that you have nominated them!

Sunshine's Hair Cut

2009-10-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

So here's Sunshine with her new hair cut. It's not that drastic, but it was enough. Her grandma also bought her some "Attitude Glasses" a.k.a fake glasses that are used solely as a fashion statement. I have to admit that they are pretty cute on her. She looks cute in almost anything...well, you know she has good genes. LOL

At the park...again.

2009-10-12T04:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, I was spinning and fell down. Actually, I rolled down the hill head-over-heels and when I stopped I was so spin drunk that I didn't even know that my wonderful Sunshine was taking this picture.

Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure!

2009-10-05T11:17:00.000-07:00

We participated in the Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure. Our morning started at 5:30am. Sunshine and drove to Grandma's house where we ate egg sandwiches before we left. As you know I used to walk 3 miles 3 times a week, but this was totally different. Plus we had to walk about a mile or two to get to the start line. There were lots of freebies and interesting outfits to look at during the walk. Hopefully we will do this again next year. My niece and nephew joined us although they rode in the double stroller. All together it was me, Sunshine, my sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephew, and 3 cousins. There were said to be approximately 14,000 people present. I hope you enjoy the pictures, because we sure enjoyed the walk.

Television...to see or not to see? That is the question.

2009-10-04T09:14:00.000-07:00

Your thoughts?

Internation Festival at UNC Charlotte

2009-09-26T14:41:00.001-07:00

We went to the International Festival at UNC Charlotte. It was WONDERFUL! I will be there every year from now on. There were many opportunies to talk to people about their cultures, to see native clothing and dances, purchase crafts etc from different countries, and of course TONS of foods from every where. Sunshine and Spike, both got henna tattoos for $30 and were so excited about it. My camera died hence the shortage of pictures. Some of the countries represented were Eritrea, Ethiopia, Egypt, Thailand, China, Bosnia, Haiti, Kenya, Tanzania, Japan, Korea, Italy, Pakistan, Palestine, Iran, Saudi Arabia, El Salvador, Mali, South Africa, Native Americans (yes, I know that's not a country), Senegal, India, Tibet, Nepal...and some others. I know I'm forgetting somebody.

Festival in the Park

2009-09-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

We wen to Festival in the Park at Freedom Park. It was really fun. Today was "Kids Day" and it was really good. It will probably be even better/busier once all the ps kids get out of school. Parking was already pretty tough so I can only imagine how bad it is right now. If you have 2 children take at least $30. It is free to get in, but there are rides, food, and as you can see face painting.

There were lots of WONDERFUL artists that made me wish I had more money, because their pieces were as beautiful as they were varied. I love the kidlets, but it will be nice to go back ALONE.

Field Trip to a Friend's House.

2009-09-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine's husband has a love for animals, and he is very good with them. Anyhoo, she invited us over for Mr. Anthony to teach us about all of his animals. Here are a few pics.

Frog Dissection

2009-09-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

Sunshine, Dove, Spike, and the frog.

The frog before the dissection.

Sunshine feeling the frog's "teeth".

Dove feeling the frog's "teeth".

Sunshine feeling the frog's "teeth".

Poor frog.

Spike doing the first cut.

Dove doing the second cut.

Still cuttin'.

Sunshine joining in the fun.

I had a blast doing this.

Talking about some of the organs.

Wonder Woman getting in on the fun.

Still cuttin', but now we are down to the organs.

Cutting away the muscle.

We found the liver!!!

Talking about the frogs legs, and how they are similar the the cricket that Dove and Wonder Woman brought over.

Ummmmmmm! Yummy!

She's never been a picky eater. LOL

Here's what's left.

Schoolin' Outdoors.

2009-09-15T08:42:00.000-07:00

Absolute Organics

2009-09-01T09:47:00.001-07:00

I just received my $40 box of organic fruits and vegetables and I must say that I am quite pleased. Everything looks so delish, and I am ready to eat, eat, eat. I might have to order another box sooner than later.

WHAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

2009-08-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

Reedy Creek Park

2009-08-27T15:50:00.000-07:00

Karen Davis is Simply Fun!

2009-08-26T06:35:00.000-07:00

I recently went to a homeschool conference where I bought this game that helped my daughter and I get to know each other better. I recently went to a WINGS event and ordered more stuff. From who? Karen Davis, whom I have dubbed the "The Homeschool Queen". She is a wonderful person and has been a huge help to me. Here is the link to her page for Simply Fun, which is a very appropriate name, because the game are both simple and fun. Shhhhh, don't tell the kids, but they are educational too.

Freedom Park & The Nature Museum Vids

2009-08-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

Freedom Park & The Nature Museum Pics

2009-08-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

Shhhhh...Artists at Work.

2009-08-15T09:28:00.000-07:00

Take Care Of Your Teeth!!!

2009-08-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

Slime Time!

2009-08-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

Our Egg Rolls...Kinda

2009-08-11T18:17:00.000-07:00

This is our first attempt at making egg rolls. They turned out alright. We learned from some mistakes we made. For instance I knew they cooked fast, but it was MUCH faster than I expected so some of them a slightly more that golden perfection. The other thing is that I have allow more time for it to drain off from frying in oil. We used olive oil. All of them were stuffed with that broccoli slaw mix that you can find in the grocery store, but Sunshine and Spike had leftover chicken from a birthday dinner chopped up in theirs.

Sunshine preparing the egg rolls to go in the oil.

Spike trying to get over being sick. Yes, he still smiles a lot when he is sick. At least more than most kids I know. LOL

The taste test. They passed. I think because she made them. Deschooling is kind of fun, huh?

Sunshine's Pedi

2009-08-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

Sunshine was invited to a sleep over at The Great Wolf Lodge in Concord NC. During the sleep over they went to the spa and this is what Sunshine had done. Isn't it cute? She claims the polish was scented but none of us volunteered to confirm her claim. LOL

What I've learned so far deschooling

2009-08-11T17:35:00.000-07:00

I have learned that the behavior of others should not dictate my behavior.
I want to be able to actually have conversations with my children.
I want to know what they are interested in.
I need to focus on the positive aspects of my children rather than riding them about the things that could be improved.
I need to include them in daily living so that they will model those behaviors.
I need to have behavior that I don't mind them modeling.
I can't throw my issues (ie, anger, uncertainty, frustration, etc.) off on them.
I can decide what kind of parent I need to be in order to have children that are autodidactic independent thinkers that love to learn.

I will continue this journey of self discovery, but I have to admit that I am really enjoying getting to know myself and them. Sunshine and I even played this game that I bought from a game company called Simply Fun. It is just a keyring with conversation starters...or more like questions that you might not ever think to ask. LOL Anyway, we talked for about an hour just playing around with that. For the first time I feel like we had a real conversation. She is quite a wonderful girl. To bad it took me this long to really figure that out, but we are on our way to a much better relationship.

7 am Epiphany

2009-08-11T03:54:00.000-07:00

I am still awake from my last post. So this post may not be totally coherent.

When I was younger I enjoyed writing, drawing, pottery, ceramics, painting, clay sculpture etc. I wanted to try gymnastics and piano (my aunt was going to let me use her piano) really bad and really consistently.

While I was at a session at the homeschool conference, due to a conversation that we were having, I realized that I don't really have a passion, hobby, or anything else that is just mine. I thought that natural hair was my passion, but I think that it is just something that I happen to be good at. How in the world did I get to be 32 years old and not know who in the world I am? At some point I must have just put the passions that I had to the side seeing that they were going to be realized. I feel really sad about that. I guess while we are all being deschooling and probably subsequently unschooled I will explore my learning styles and multiple intelligences along with my children and hopefully rediscover my passions along the way.

Synchronized Stomach Viruses

2009-08-10T22:49:00.000-07:00

About Tuesday or Wednesday last week my daughter woke up with the lovely symptoms of a stomach virus about 1am. I couldn't really help her as I had taken some cough medicine. My husband was a HUGE help. Of course he swore that it was horrible, and went on to tell me that I no idea how bad it was. Yea right. I have handle more middle-of-the-night-stomach-virus-onsets to count. I still appreciate him for that more than I can ever express, because most men would have played sleep. LOL Well, I have been up for about an hour with my son. I would just rather us sit on the couch and watch Noggin so I can prevent any "accidents". He sleeps in a loft bed and the last time it was REALLY bad and let's just say it is much better to just stay awake washing sheets and staying vigilant.

All that to say this. Why do the symptoms always start in the wee hours of the morning? Why can't it ever start in the middle of the day when we are already up? Why?

Deschooling on a Sunday afternoon.

2009-08-09T09:59:00.001-07:00

Instead of buying countless water bottles, we refill the ones we have. My sister buys nursery water for my nephew and we reuse the bottles to keep them out the the landfill for a little longer. Anyway part of what I learned yesterday is that we should just include our children in our lives. Spike wanted to know why we couldn't just buy more bottles of water. I told him that was reuse because we try to recycle as much as possible. When the bottles reach the end of their usable life for us, Spike puts them in the recycle bin so that it hopefully will never finds it's way to the land fill.

Loaded up and ready to go the the health food store to refill our water bottles.

This is the health food store closet to our house. I love this store the employees. AAAANNNNDDD they have REALLY clean bathrooms. YAY!

Unloading the bottles.

My Spike helping me out. This is the first time he has ever pushed a cart, I am WAY too protective.

He said these were his big ears.

This is Spike dancing on the back of the truck.

Spike is showing off his scorpion keychain that I bought at the Love To Learn Conference from Tami Fox

Filling our water bottles.

Happy because I bought him a fruit snack. So easy to please. LOL

www.doodlebuttons.com

2009-08-09T08:38:00.000-07:00

Do you want to express yourself without saying a word? Do you want to support the entrepreneurial spirit of some wonderful young homeschoolers? Do you love wearable art? If your answer was yes to even one of those questions you should visit http://www.doodlebuttons.com/

Do not let my photography/outdated camera be ANY reflection on the quality of these buttons. Just in case you can't read it the top left one says "Homeschooling is my Super Power", and the top right one says "I am not talking to myself...I am having a parent teacher conference", and the last one belongs to Sushine and it says "I am homeschooled. I am socializing while you are sitting in a classroom. HA HA" I love them. Please support these beautiful children in the endeavor. After all these children belong to all of us. Also, so don't be cheap add a couple of extra dollars, as a contribution, to you total.

Deschooling...Karen was right!

2009-08-08T18:38:00.000-07:00

Karen Davis (google her) told me in the beginning to allow my children to decompress, detox, and deschool for a while. I DID NOT LISTEN! In my usual way, I was going to learn the hard way. My children don't need deschooling, after all, they have me. That was just the problem, they were stuck with their stiffneck stubborn Mama. I wasn't going to do it the way that thousands of successful homeschoolers had done it before me, I didn't need to glean a thing. HA!!! Yea right.

Well, today I have been humbled. We will be deschooling at least until January. It still sounds really scary. I have learned through other dealings that I have problems when it comes to trusting processes so, y'all just pray for me...pray for us. We will be going more, doing more, and reading more but it just won't be so schoolish.

Here we go!!!

Karen Davis, Lori Barklage-Getting, Traci Liebmann, & Rachel Fields

2009-08-08T16:46:00.000-07:00

The names listed above changed my life and the lives of my family today. I went to my first homeschool conference today and it was a beautiful experience! It was the love to learn conference. I attended wonderful sessions with wonderful women that taught me things that I didn't even know I wanted to know. LOL

Karen Davis a.k.a. The Homeschool Queen (that's what I call her) is my mentor, well again that is what I have decided. I met her for the first time today face to face. I was so excited. She may as well have been a celebrity. She hugged me really warmly and she was so down to earth and genuine. We had a wonderful, albeit short, conversation and like a good book I left wanting more. She is awesome, and I can tell that helping others discover homeschooling is a ministry for her.

Lori Barklage-Getting taught a class on starting to homeschool in NC. She was wonderful too and so was her family. If you need some custom made buttons with some really cute sayings and designs, her daughters are the best. I bought three and I love them. I have them pinned to my purse as we speak. She spoke to us in a way that made us feel empowered rather than fearful and unsure. I left there knowing that I had done everything right...at least up until this point. LOL

Traci Liebmann's class was like an extremely challenging therapy session. It was called "Love to Learn About Yourself". I thought I had it all together until I stepped through that door. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the class, but it was quite difficult to deal with some of the things that surfaced emotionally. She is better than Dr. Phil. She had a little Oprah too, because she almost had me to the point of crying a few times, but I held it together.LOL The people in the class were great too. They were very transparent, helpful, and encouraging. They even fussed at me a little, but it was filled with love. That was the most difficult, but the most needed class.

Rachel Fields. Rachel. Rachel. Rachel. What can I say? She is a ball of fire and fun. She has a way of painting a picture of learning that you never will forget. Because of her, I have an entirely different view of learning. I was able to finally become okay with deschooling. Arielle (spelling?), a fiery little redhead unschooler(?), also made me feel so much more comfortable with her smile and wisdom beyond her years. Rachel taught me so much about deschooling and made the concept something that I could understand...FINALLY!!! She also conducted a session about valuing individualism. I was able to learn so much about seeing things through my children's eyes. I learned to value the way they learn and think as individuals, and even to value the way I think and learn. I learned that however children are as people and learners is fine. I just need to provide resources and opportunities to learn.

I asked Karen as I was waiting for my husband outside if we could go ahead and register for next year. I am so excited about next year already. I wouldn't change a thing...well I do wish some of the classes were longer. Please come to the conference next year if you get the opportunity, it was well worth it.

Last Day At Freedom Park

2009-08-06T10:01:00.001-07:00

This was the last day for the weekly activities offered by the Mecklenburg County Park & Rec.

It was wonderful. Over the summer we have played Gator Ball, done Arts and Crafts, participated in Mad Science, and lots of other stuff. I am already looking forward to it next summer. Anyway, this was the last day and it was great. They had kinds of stuff for the kids (and the adults). They had face painting, moon bounce, a wonderful D.J., Coco Cola provided 2 Wii games and all the drinks, and a very talented balloon animal person. They even ordered veggie dogs for us that we tried for the first time. I came home and made them for dinner. I was great. Anyway, here are some of the pics.

Spike the photographer

2009-08-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

Sunshine "washing dishes" & makin' puddin'

2009-07-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

My poor child takes over an hour to wash dishes and now you can see why. LOL

Self Hatred...Today!

2009-07-29T11:04:00.000-07:00

Petrified!!!

2009-07-26T17:03:00.000-07:00

I am petrified. There I said it. I have this whole schedule set up and then here come my children with these bright ideas. Spike wants to learn about dinosaurs and Sunshine wants to learn about the tallest people on earth and how girls around the world live. This is not a part of my schedule!!! Didn't they see my nicely worked out schedule that I did for each of them individually in their favorite colors? Didn't they see how I put it all in a table with a detailed description of each topic. I even ordered "What you 1st/4th grader should know". I thought at the most I might have to change to unit studies or something like that.

I have a sneaky feeling that we are leaning toward deschooling/unschooling and eclectic something or other. I don't do well with labels and I hate rules, but I love learning. I know I was being a little dramatic for fun in the beginning of this blog, but I have to admit that I am a little scared. I don't trust my children to just learn things on their own like I do. Afterall, I didn't start doing that until after I was out of school. Yes, I said it. I don't trust them to learn if left to their own devices. I know some of you want to jump on me, but I am new to this. I am learning too. I would never tell them I don't trust them to learn, but I am venting it to you all because I know you love me. LOL Tonight when they told me what they wanted to learn about I paused. Sunshine quickly said,"Well you said we could learn about whatever we wanted and you could just make it fit into all the subjects that we need." Gotta love that young memory retention. NOT! I am going to give it a try. We have 2 years before the North Carolina Department of Education can come out and see what we've been up to so here goes.

Spike lookin' a little special.

2009-07-23T16:53:00.001-07:00

All I can say it that I am so embarrassed, but for those who know Spike they are not surprised at all. LOL

Sunshine's Version of Washing Dishes

2009-07-23T16:52:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Screen names for the family & Posting Instructions

2009-07-21T07:11:00.000-07:00

I asked the kids what they wanted their screen names to be rather than dd=dear daughter and ds=dear son. So dd will now be known as Sunshine and ds will now be know as Spike. Dh=dear husband will be Big Daddy. Okay, my sister-in-law will love that one. LOL

If you want to post a comment move your pointer icon over the word comment at the bottom of each post or just type into the comment box. If you don't have a blog just type in your name and follow the rest of the directions.

I hope this helps everyone.

Random Pics and Trying Out Smile Box

2009-07-20T15:40:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I LOVE BOB!!!

2009-07-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

Bob Books are the bomb. My son is in first grade and behind, IMO, in reading. He is not behind due to any learning issues. Now that I am his teacher I have figured out why he is so very behind. He was missing all of the foundational knowledge for both reading and writing. He knew all the phonetic sounds, but couldn't put them together. He had no confidence whatsoever, so even when he know a word already he was scared to just take chance and say it. That wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fear on his face. There were lots of other problems, but we reviewed the letters and their sounds and started the books. He is on the third one. I am so proud. He reads a new one each day after rereading the one from the day before. Of course we move along as he is able and I get overly excite about anything he reads. He is also able to follow the simple and cute story lines.

I know that I look mildly psychotic, but I haven't been feeling well since about Thursday and haven't had any sleep. So maybe due to lack of sleep I am mildly psychotic. LOL

Why?

2009-07-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

Why has my son taken to sleeping in my niece's bassinet?

My Moment To Sulk

2009-07-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

I don't feel well and nobody cares. Poor me.

No seriously. I don't feel well. Feels like my body is fighting the flu or something, but we are making it. I am learning my first lesson that "the show must go on". Dd worked on her own as usual, althought she played dumb about a less than desireable math score on www.time4learning.com. Ds needed some help, and I did so with my head on the kitchen table. LOL He actually ended up doing his math independently too. Dh was pretty helpful in the a.m., because it was taking me a minute to get myself together. I took some melatonin to help me sleep last night and boy did it. Of course there was all the nastiness that goes along with the a.m. when you have a cold anyway that we won't mention.

Okay, I think I am done whining for right now. Thanks for patting me on the back while rolling your eyes heavenward thinking, "these newbies are so wimpy". LOL

Homeschool Corner

2009-07-16T09:22:00.001-07:00

What is a homeschool Corner? It's what you use when you don't have a room. LOL We do have a garage and during the summer it seems like a good idea to convert it into a room, but then winter comes. Let me tell ya. It's a beautiful thing to pull into the garage with a trunk full of groceries to unload and not get wet. So until we are able to add another room onto the house we have a homeschool corner.

I have a desk that doubles as a work desk for me and a desk for the children,.Ds is drawn to the kitchen table to play and work, and dd is drawn to my spot on the couch (ugh! I can't have nothing...not eve a spot on the couch. LOL). I finally bought some hanging files for their work. I don't really know how I am going to use it, but it seems like something I will need. It will probably continue to morph like all my other bright ideas. LOL I bought a composition notebook in an effort to journal daily so that I can "look where He brought us from" (old gospel song for those that don't know). We have also been making frequent trips to the library and the kids love it. I do too.

I decided not to give them breaks unless totally necessary until they are done with their work. It seems to work MUCH better. I haven't wanted to choke either of them in two whole days. YAY!!!

As always, input is both welcomed and encouraged.

Homeschooling @ Freedom Park & Home

2009-07-16T08:54:00.001-07:00

Just giving y'all a little glimpse of what goes on with us sometimes. This was an all around good homeschool day. We all liked each other all day. LOL

David doing his new math homework. I found some fact family addition cards on http://www.donnayoung.org/ that have been a big help. I combined them with some beads that we had laying around. He basically builds the equation using beads instead of numbers and the card helps him understand the concept and memorize the equation.

Mari is using http://www.time4learning.com/ for most of her work. What does she do you ask? She does social studies, science, math, language arts, and language extensions (supplements). Right now we are trying doing science for a week and social studies for a week. It is working and she is retaining the information very well.

I know they look like they are miserable, but they really aren't. Trust me. There was a young lady from Mad Science there this week and she was wonderful. They made slime, which we are going to make again at home, because it was the bomb. They also made paper airplanes and talked about the different elements of flight. I wish they would give you an information sheet, because it would make it easier to remember all the cool stuff they teach. Anyway she was the bomb and now dd wants to have a Mad Science party.

Why does ds look so confused? LOL

My Son Is Driving Me Crazy!!!

2009-07-12T08:44:00.002-07:00

Why can't he just SIT DOWN AND BE QUIET?!?!?!?! He has been talking, running, yelling, playing, and jumping for over a week. Yes, I realize that this is natural. I am venting more so than asking a solution. We have a big backyard, and we go to the park and all that but to no avail. He was taking gymnastics and was still jumping around afterwards. Again, I just wanted to vent. Afterall, I am grateful that both my children are able bodied and of sound mind. Some people wish their son could behave like this...I just wanted to vent.

Yay!!! I'm almost done...I think

2009-07-11T18:45:00.000-07:00

I have revised my schedule for both children thanks to http://donnayoung.org. I will mostly stick with the way I was doing it anyway, but I think that I am going to just incorporate somethings into other subjects. For example, when we study African History we will study the music and art along with it. With my dd, I would love to see her have more of a concentration on art because that is her favorite subject. I haven't gotten to the point, of course, where they are working independently yet. My ds doesn't seem to want to work at all...go figure. I have also added www.time4learning.com which I think is wonderful!!! I really like it, and it is wonderful for beginners with a great price.

Crab Fight & Shell Change

2009-07-06T04:27:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to post this since last week. I thought it was kind of cool. Anyway, this video is of our crabs fighting over the pink shell. The one in the blue shell was originally in the pink shell, but decided to change to the blue. The green one then decided that he wanted the pink shell, at which time the blue one decided he wanted it back and the fight ensued. I really hope you enjoy it, because I have been praying that this video would upload. LOL

What Is Your Goal?

2009-07-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

My goal for dd and ds is what is living according to the 4 L's. Live, Love, Laugh, Learn.

Live in the moment. Enjoy where you are right now. Don't worry about what has happened or what will happen. Just be right here right now. That is all God is asking you to handle.

Love deeply. I have prayed to God that he let people feel loved when they are around me. I want my children to learn this too. I am reading a book that is teaching me the 7 points of love which are: Kindness, Patience, Forgiveness, Humility, Courtesy, Generosity, & Honesty. If any of these is missing in a relationship it will be found lacking the fullness of love. We will be working on these constantly and asking in every situation, especially difficult ones, if any of these is missing.

Laugh hard, loud, and often. This is among my favorites because I love to laugh. I think most things are funny. When my husband I get into a heated discussion it always ends in laughter. I love to hear other people laugh especially my husband and children.

This is a birthday party we had for my husband, which is why I have on that outfit. LOL

Learn as much as you can while you can. I have learned that I am an autodidact. I love learning, but I am self taught. I haven't finished my associates degree, because I hate taking classes that I am not interested in. For the sake of finishing what I start I am going to finish it, but I know more about myself now. I know now that I will probably never have a higher degree, but I will always take classes and be self taught. I want my children to grow in their desire to know. I want them to want to know any and everything. I want to stir up that curiosity that has been put into a dormant state by large classroom sizes and one size fits all learning.

How Petty Can I Be?

2009-07-05T16:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it was July 1. It was the day that our letter of notification was suppose to go in the mail. This wasn't the last day to mail it, it was the first day. I have had it filled out, enveloped (Is that a word? Spell check didn't catch it so let's go with it), and stamped since at least May. I was working with a client and remembered that it needed to go in the mail. My DH told me that the mailman had already run. I was so upset. After I realize the light weight of the situation, I took a breath slapped myself for being so petty and went on with my day.

I was just so excited. This is the dawning of a new day for us. An opportunity to do my best by my children.

Scheduling

2009-07-05T16:19:00.000-07:00

I have decided to try loop scheduling. I chose it because it seems to be something that the kids could follow easily and eventually independently. I also think that it looks really pretty, which seems stupid but I think presentation is everything. I am thinking of getting it laminated so that they can both have their own sheet that can be used with a dry erase marker. I ended up with about 8 subjects, but they are things that will only take as long as the kids take with them. I would like to have about 15-30 minutes per assignment depending on what assigned.

Any input or question y'all have are welcome. I am sure that you all will help me to come up with ways to fine tune or things to consider. I'm just trying to feel my way through this.

Art Class & Home Economics

2009-06-30T12:23:00.001-07:00

Here is what we ended up doing. It was kind of an impromptu art class. I have to admit that I thought it was kind of fun myself.

This is DS pictures. The orange one is a man with a hat on. I have to be honest, I have no idea what the second one is. It has something to do with action figures and such.

This DD pictures. The first is a birthday cake made of cut up paper. The second is an umbrella with cut up paper rain. The third is her effort at not wasting paper.

This is mine. The first is a flower using the Pan African colors. The second and third are a woman and man with locks that I made.

All of our art work was made mostly from cutting out paper. DD is really good at drawing and I wanted her to try something different. I think it went well. The funny thing is that I felt like a little kid. I couldn't wait to show my Mom what I did. LOL So sad. LOL

Yesterday, DD made a strawberry pie from beginning to end. All I did was stand there and tell her what to do. It was SO good. I would have taken a picture, but we ate the last of it a minute ago...sorry.

PE Class!!!

2009-06-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, I took a lot of pictures so consider yourself warned! We went to a local sprayground at a playground in our lovely city. The kids had a ball. DD said it was "way better than PE at school" LOL.

David's interpretation of the Statue of Liberty. LOL

We all these "sun faces". It the face you make when then sun is in your face. LOL

Team Work!

2009-06-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

A while ago I went to Lowe's and purchase a bunch of plants and pavers for the backyard since we already worked on the front. Well, I bought all those plants and realize that I needed mulch. We bought two yards of mulch from the local recycle place and we rearranged the pavers in a way that made a little more sense. I learned the meaning of the saying "Many hands make light work". We rearranged pavers, moved 2 yards of mulch, and watered all the plants in about 2-3 hours. It felt really good to have the whole family work together, and I think our work turned out fabulous...yes I am tooting our horn and doing so shamelessly. LOL

Just doin' a little work.

2009-06-30T10:34:00.000-07:00

DD tends to want to sit at the desk or table. She also tends to do her work without being told.

DS shuns both the desk and table and will NOT do his work without a bit of a fight towards the end. LOL

Weird Tomato

2009-06-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

This tomato is 3+ weeks old. It is ans has been in the windowsill the whole 3+ weeks. Not only is it sprouting from the seeds inside, but it shows no signs of decomposition. Do you all have ant offerings of what may going on here. For now I am just watching it sprout more babies (4 so far).

Independent Thinker...To Be Or Not To Be

2009-06-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

From a young age we were told and we later tell our children to be individuals and to think for themselves. Later when they enter into various institutions such as school and church, we want them to follow the crowd mindlessly. Later we tell them that they need to think for themselves as teenagers and we get frustrated when they succumb to peer pressure, yet we have trained them to be followers. We tell them to be who they are, yet we have not let them develop into individuals for fear that they may not fit in. Then as adults the behavior continues. I am trying to hold this in the road as a homeschool issue, but for IMO it applies to any institutional way of being. I tell my children to question the systems. Question EVERYTHING! Things are not right just because it's always been that way.

Letting them develop into the individuals that God intended them to be can both difficult and joyful, but it will make for a stronger, grounded, and loving adults.

Reasons to Homeschool

2009-06-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

The Question of the Day

2009-06-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

I was sitting on the couch on the computer and ds asked another one of those questions.

DS: Mama? Do old ladies wear bras?
Me: Yes. Well, most do.
DS: Oh.
Me: Wait. What's old to you?
DS: Ummmmm...twenty?
Me: Okay, give me an example of someone that you think is an old lady. (I named some people in the family, all of us over twenty years of age)
DS: Uncle Mitch?
Me: Uncle Mitch is a man.
DS: Well, they have old mans too.
Me: Well, Aunt Deedee and Uncle Mitch are about the same age, so is she old?
DS: Yeah, like Aunt Deedee. Does she wear a bra?
Me: Yes, Aunt Deedee wears a bra.
DS: Oh.

He then lays back down on the couch, like all of the unanswerable questions in the world have been answered. LOL

First day

2009-06-15T12:29:00.000-07:00

We watched 2 movies today, because my niece was over and we wanted to entertain her first. Right now they are doing there spelling work. David has a list of 8 words to write 3 times and Mari has a list of 15 to write 3 times in cursive. Next we do math, geography (using What Your K/3rd Grader Needs To Know), and then on to learning sign language.

I also plan to have all of us learn Swahili. They can learn Spanish later. I would like to honor something closer to our heritage first. I will probably go over numbers with ds and do multiplication drills with dd and then we will be finished for now.

Earlier I took my little niece outside to play in a new kiddie pool that her mom bought and she was having no parts of it. Of course dd and ds were playing in it. They had fun although they looked silly with the both of them trying to fit.

Y'all please feel free to give as much advice as possible. Thank you so much in advance.

The Talk...Kind Of

2009-06-09T07:57:00.000-07:00

Well my son was sitting there while I was changing my niece. This is our conversation:

DS: Where did Simone pee?
Me: In her diaper.
DS: I mean what did she use to pee?
Me: What do you mean?
DS: She doesn't have one of these (penis), so where did she pee?
Me: Girls don't have the same thing as boys.
DS: Why? Because it got cut off?
Me: No, we are made different.
DS: So y'all can't pee?
Me: Yes, we can pee, but we just do it from a different part that is in the same place.
DS: So did she used to have one of these.
Me: No.
DS: I mean, when she was first born did she have one?
Me: No, girls DO NOT have penises. We are not born with them at all, ever.
DS: Oh, so how do ya'll pee.
Me: We have a hole, but it's just not a penis.
DS: OOOOOOHHHHHH!

I know this conversation is not over. Not by a long shot. LOL

Next Week!

2009-06-09T07:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, so next week we will begin hs. I tried yesterday, but everything that could go wrong went wrong. All my little plans just feel apart and I was feeling quite defeated. If it were not for the sisters on the yahoo homeschool group FOCUHS, I would have still been struggling with what went on.

*Shameless Plug*
If you want to meet some of the most supportive, loving, praying, God reflecting women on the planet, join this group. They are the absolute, total, and complete bomb!

I see now that Mondays are going to be our review day, because I have two teachers come on that day for my niece. That means that it will be near impossible to do anything else on that day. I am normally my worse critic so I am going to have to learn to go easy.

Singing in the Rain

2009-05-28T15:41:00.000-07:00

Hermit Pics & Footage!

2009-05-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

Here are our hermit crabs. Mine is the pink one which I named Big Bad Mama, the green one is DHs which he has named Plato, the blue one is DDs which is named Viva, and the white one is DSs which he named Wolfie Dave. They do have their own personalities. Mine is a little dominant and almost had to go back to the pet store because she was messing with the green one CONSTANTLY. DDs is middle of the road active and DSs is shy. The green one is very active and when on the floor will run away rather than draw himself into the shell.

These are the white shells that we bought when I realized that Big Bad Mama might need a new shell and that was the reason for her aggression. Apparently they have shell fights. I think that is part of her personality too, because DDs crab had outgrown her shell more than mine and she wasn't acting all evil. Anyway, we bought the new shells at a store in Concord Mills Mall.

This is Wolfie Dave burrowing as usual. His prefers the cooler side of the tank.

This is Big Bad Mama after a shell change, which I could have done without seeing. Let me tell you seeing that kind of weirded me out.

Sorry this video is so dark, but this is the hermit crabs crawling around on the carpet.

I hope this video answers some basic questions about our new pets. I hope you like this one a little better than the dark and dreary one. LOL

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-09T18:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day from me to you. I hope you enjoy this weekend, because you deserve it.

My DH bought me 2 outfits that he picked out, and I was almost too cute for myself! LOL He does a really good job picking out clothes for me. He tries to get me to go shopping, but I normally end up with plants so he shops for my clothes. We also went to the movies and I must say that enjoyed hanging with him and the children. It was indeed a beautiful day. Oh, and this afternoon they did a poem/presentation for me. It was SO GOOD! I was so happy!

I was really busy this week and today was a nice break after I finished my clients this morning.

I love my family. They are so good to me.

Tadpoles, Butterflies, Hermits Crabs, & Broken Cameras

2009-05-07T17:19:00.001-07:00

After much nagging of the man at Petsupermarket, he finally had an epiphany and ordered enough tadpoles to get me off his back. So now all is right with the world. Since we have had so much rain here in the Queen City we had a little overflow in the pond. Apparently one of the tadpoles decided to take that opportunity to make a break for it. One of our neighbors' children rescued him and put him back in the pond. *If you are reading this, Iyana (sorry if I misspelled your name) thanks bunches.*

All the butterflies finally made their metamorphosis with much grace and beauty...except one. It was so sad. He had the hardest time getting out of his chrysalis. When he finally got out, he fell to the bottom of the cage. I just kept thinking that I should have put it on the side like the others. That way even though he fell, it wouldn't have been such a long fall. Anyway, his wings never formed properly and so he didn't meet a very pleasant end.

Since we are unable to get the fence repaired right now for a dog, the kids asked for hermit crabs. We bought 3. One for each child and one for us. I am so in love with these things. I think they are so cool. I want to buy a big aquarium so I can have a lot of them. We let them out and put them on the floor to crawl around for a while. One thing I didn't know in the beginning was they are excellent climbers. I can't wait to get a bigger aquarium so that they can have more room and be more active. YAY for crabs...of course I mean hermit crabs! LOL

Now for the bad news. My camera is not working properly. I can take pictures, but it won't load anything onto the computer. I am so sad. Maybe the Lord will make a way for me to get a new one... HINT! HINT!

Be Encouraged & Laugh!

2009-04-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well, we moving on up!

2009-04-28T07:21:00.000-07:00

This is a short movie of me trying to put the chrysalises in the butterfly habitat. I don't know if you all know this, but I am petrified of most bugs. This is also a documentation of how my husband likes to torment me. LOL

Chillin' in Charlotte on a Sunday afternoon!

2009-04-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

These pictures are in reverse order, because for some reason it wouldn't let me edit the page. Go figure.

Anyway this is us at IHOP Eating after a long day doing a lot of nothing. LOL

Sugar Creek Library where I used to work, and one of the more popular chicken joints on this that side of town for the after church crowd.

Train station and dh's childhood home.

Some of the homeless population gathers here until they are allowed back into the shelter and sleeping ds.

Factory and Lynx train thingy.

Pepsi plant that we all toured as children and some industrial art.

Riding uptown or downtown (?)

The way we started our day

And last but not least...the Worm Wars!!! Okay, so I have one in this container that is not building his chrysalis. Why, because he is too busy bothering the other three. He has connected the other one together using his web. Why? I don't know, I'm not a caterpillar. I do know this. When they are in chrysalis form the shake violently to defend themselves if they think someone is trying to eat them. Anyway here is video of what is going on.

Updates!

2009-04-26T08:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I had to go the hospital for migraine problems. I had left sided numbness, vision difficulties, and of course a headache. I am taking a chillout day today. I love chill out days, don't you? Anyway, we have been to Home Depot this morning to buy a water plant. They didn't have much really nice stuff, but what they did have was a lily pad bulb. It is what's in ds's hand. They call it "drop and grow", so that's what we did. Of course you all will get pictures as it starts to emerge. One piece of advice. If you are going to do a pond that is in a black tub or with black lining, I would suggest that you use some light colored rocks and such so that you can see your tadpoles and frogs. They can be very difficult to see against that dark background. I guess I will have to find my flashlight.

7 out of 9 caterpillars are in chrysalis form. Yesterday, we had some drama as one of the caterpillars was trying to assault a chrysalis. He kept wrapping his body around it and pushing it etc. The way that the caterpillar in the chrysalis "defends" itself is to shake violently. It is SO weird looking. Even my mom was looking at them and fussing at the guilty party for mistreating his cupmate. Anyway, the two slow pokes should be on their way in a little. If they take too long, I may just release them, but then something might eat them.

What's up with ds giving me the "joker smile" on the picture? IDK, but he keeps doing it. I have decided to just go on and post them. He will be sorry later. LOL Thanks for hanging with us.

Worms and chrysalises and tadpole! Oh My!

2009-04-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, here are a lot of very unclear bad pictures of our caterpillars. The main thing that I want you to see is that in these pictures one is attached to the top. This is what happened right before it forms a chrysalis. They will hang there for a while, and then their skin will split. They will be green and slimy at first and then it kind of hardens or something.

I hope this movie plays. You can't really see anything, but I thought it would be cool to watch the movement.

On the far right is the one that already has formed a chrysalis. The other two are just hanging there doing whatever it takes to do the same as the one on the right. It is really hard to take good pictures because they have a lot of webs that they have spun on the inside.

TADPOLES! Yay us!
We bought 3 because that was all they had. I will go and get more on Wednesday. I was supposed to let the water sit for 5 days, but I opted to use the water conditioner instead. They are in the pond now. I will take pics of them outside tomorrow if I get a chance.

The pond is finished...as it's going to be.

2009-04-23T17:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, first let me say that I am fully award that the pond is not fully submerged. Look, we are in North Carolina which means this is red clay country. We really intended on making hole deeper, but to add insult to injury the tree roots were a beast. I aske my dad for the pick ax, but he sent me a plain pick. I am not the most patient person in the world so I just made do. Anyway, I still think it turned out really well. It will look even nicer once the clay soaks back into the grass. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

y a

Opposition

2009-04-23T17:04:00.000-07:00

I was talked to a family member today that strongly opposes homeschooling. I wrote a whole rant about it because I was hurt/angry. Then I decided to put on my big girl panties, so this is all the air time it will receive.