Birthday greetings

My oldest daughter turned 11 this week. Having 4 children, we only have "public" birthday parties for years that are derivatives of 5 (so 5, 10 & 15). At our "public" birthday parties, we invite whole families rather than just a kid here and there. No one feels left out of their family or ours (often a younger child of ours is friends with a younger sibling in their family). The kids get an opportunity to celebrate their sibling's birthday without thinking of themselves and everyone has a good time (and we don't end up spending tons on birthday parties and don't have to cart home tons of presents each year the kids don't really need).

Since it was an 11th birthday, there was no "party." A cake (icecream cake that she made herself!) and rollerblades. Our local homeschool group sponsors quarterly rollerskating parties and one happened to fall on her birthday. We don't always attend, so I sent out a secret e-mail letting many of our homeschool friends know that our family would be there (in case they were on the fence about going), and that if their children wanted to surprise our daughter with a homemade card, it would be joyous thing to do! The response was overwhelming. I think she got around 35 cards! She occasionally tells me she doesn't have many friends, so I will definately be using this for amunition of how loved she is. Our homeschool friends and community have been such a source of wisdom, encouragement and joy for our family. If you haven't found a homeschool group that fits your family, keep looking. The reward is well worth the effort!!!

Escape School Field Trip

This is a free field trip that teaches children about strangers and how to get away from them. My children participated in this several years ago and it was extremely non-threatening. Even my "sensitive" child found it empowering, not scary. My oldest was in 2nd grade, so my preschoolers participated, too. We'll be doing this, again this month. I think it's a really valuable program. www.escapeschool.com

It's geared to empower kids (like it talks about if you're riding your bike at the park with your friends - so I would think 11, 12, 13 age), but in the movie they show, it has lots of young children (5,6,7) and speaks to them, too. The guy we saw it from before said he did the presentation for his daughter who was about to go off to college. She was accosted while away at school and fended off the guy using the stuff her dad had presented to her. So, I think it's a pretty wide age range.

From their website :

Escape School is a nationally recognized abduction prevention program that
empowers children and parents by providing them with ways to recognize, avoid or
escape potentially dangerous situations. Offered in an entertaining and
non-threatening manner, the program teaches children how to differentiate
between good and bad strangers, the common lures abductors use, how to "get
away, right away" and how to find help when needed.

Is this similar to the "Stranger-Danger" programs that we heard about when we were young?
No, this is not a 'stranger-danger' program. Strangers are not necessarily bad people. In many cases, a 'stranger' may actually be the person who helps a child in a
potentially dangerous situation. In Dignity Memorial Escape School, we teach
children how to tell the difference between good and bad strangers by the way
they act and not by the way they look.

This is a national program and I've found the presenters in our area to be very eager to put this on for any sized group of kids. Check out their website to see if you can schedule one in your area!

Our first day of school 2007

Our first day back to school was HARD!

I had prayed and committed to try and do school the way I know I'm called to. My children are pretty independent and do a good job at getting their own breakfast, helping each other, etc. I had largely taken myself out of the equtation and wanted them to come to me for questions, but do the rest on their own - the little ones still needed alot of hands-on Mama time.

So, yesterday, I tried to direct each facet of school and be as interactive with each subject as I could. By 10am I was ready to quit. 4 kids wanting 4 different things from me for the 3rd time that morning! My usual m.o. is to emotionally pull myself away so I don't end up yelling at them. I still attend to the things that have to be done, but I distract myself with something else that I'd rather do (not housework.) I prayed and tried to stay the course.

By 2pm, when we were NOT done with school - not really even close - I was exhausted and wanted to quit, again. The girls, however, were giddy with learning and asking me for more. They enjoyed their school day, even though I honestly overscheduled us in our lesson plans for the next 2 weeks (remember the vacation post? it's coming up and we just took all that time off!). They were happy to do the work and eager to stay on the same subject or to move on to the next one. They knew that I could make it enjoyable, even while holding them to a very high standard of behavior and work output. Let's see if we can keep it up today. One day at a time!

BTW - Hittite Warrior is a GREAT book!

Where can I find used curriculum online?

I start with my list of books I want to buy. See the January 2007 post titled "Home school books, how do I decide?"

I buy alot of curr. from E-bay http://www.ebay.com/ . Once I search for the title of an item, I save it in my favorite searches. Then e-bay e-mails me for the next 6 months if that specific item gets posted. I bid some rediculously low bid (what I'm willing to pay - I'm a serious cheapskate) and if I don't get it, I just wait until someone else posts it. I've gotten TONS of incredible deals that way.

I look for a lot of Catholic items and have tried Catholic Swap, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cathswap , but prices in other parts of the country and Canada are not the "yard sale" prices we're used to paying here in the midwest, so I don't find much that's a bargain. I have bought a few things from there, though. You just join it as a Yahoo group and when your membership is approved (a few days), you can post & search for what you want.

I've had good luck for Catholic items as a member of the message board at Oro Et Laboro, http://p105.ezboard.com/boroetlaboro . It's a message board you ask to join. They accept posts as (For Sale) FS: Title or (Want To Buy) WTB: Title of book. In the body of the message you can put whatever you're looking for and even how much you'd like to get it for. I use it more often as an INCREDIBLE resource for loving, grounded homeschool moms who will guide me in any quandry from finding yarn at Wal-mart to homeschool reviews and from pregnancy questions to graduation parties. Those women are God-sent.

Throughout the year, I'll buy used books through Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/ . I put in my book title and if there are used items for sale, they'll show up. I always keep in mind, though, that shipping for used items is $3.50 (about), so I add that to the price of the book to see if it's worth it to me.

We have 2 homeschool used curriculum sales in town in April & June put on by different groups. I rarely find Catholic materials, but BOY, do I find great prices on misc. books and curriculum!!

I have non Catholic friends who use All Used Homeschool Curriculum Board, http://homeschool.crecon.com/classifieds/classifieds.cgi (just type the title in the left-hand column search bar) and they also find things at a local bookstore that caters to the homeschool crowd. I haven't found things at either place - I guess I'm just difficult that way!

Then when I've exhausted these resources, I know, I'm going to have to pay for it new. This is where the final pare down happens. Is it really worth it to me? Will I really use it? Then, when I'm done with my last most painful deletions of the list...

I'll give what's left on the list to my little, local Catholic bookstore. I give them my list of book titles, author and publisher with the cheapest prices (such as Amazon) I can get it new and where I can get that (in case they need to look up an item they're unfamiliar with). I discussed it with them beforehand and they can get me 10-20% off the retail price of many new items when I spend a chunck at one time. I usually end up with $200-500 worth of new items I buy through them at a one time purchase. I don't get that discount if I buy just a few books at a time.

P.S. If that's not enough links for you, try www.geocities.com/Athens/8259/used.html - THAT ought to keep you busy for a while....

Home school books, how do I decide?

These are things I have before I start.

1. I already know my teaching style.
2. I already know my children's learning style.
3. I know what kind of homeschooler I want to be when I grow up (Classical, Eclectic, Traditional, Unschooler, and what mix of these I am).
4. I have an idea of my general goals for our school (sainthood, doesn't stand out too much, academic excellence, satisfied with a reasonable effort, religious focus, well prepared for a trade.... and what mix of these seemingly divergent goals we're shooting for).
5. I have an idea of my goals for each child for the upcoming year (one child may need a serious review of spelling, one may be eager for more challenging science, one may need to learn to read, one may need more social events, etc.)

If you don't already have the above somewhat fixed in your mind, you'll be better off sitting down with a few good books and getting some of it at least swirling around in your head. Since my head is already full of those things, and I'm full of other stuff that you might not want to be a witness to, I can move onto choosing books.

This is my process. I start somewhere in the middle of the year assessing what's working for us and changing what isn't with an eye to next year. Any thoughts, reviews, or druthers, I type or paste into my "Curriculum Wishlist" document. It started as a Word document, but it got too combobulated and I had to convert it to Excel. It's organized by child and by year I think I'll use that material.

My homeschool friends tell me I'm late to every event and early in my planning. Most don't start until after the school year has ended. I'm just a party-girl who likes my summers free! Sometime in the late winter or spring, I start a master list of In-my-wildest-dreams-I-could-afford-all-these-books. I make sure each main subject is represented. I may have 3 language arts curriculae on the list and still have to decide between them.

All spring long, as I'm paring down my book list (it usually starts out at about $5000 if I bought it all and I get it down to about 20% of that by the end of the spring for the 4 kids). I get lots of reviews & suggestions from :

• Oro Et Laboro http://p105.ezboard.com/boroetlaboro . It's a Catholic message board you ask to join.
• The Well Trained Mind K-8 Curriculum Message Board http://www.welltrainedmind.com/activeboards.php,
• Amazon reviews at http://www.amazon.com
• Homeschool Reviews http://homeschoolreviews.com/default.aspx to make my decisions.

As I allow reality to hit, I start deleting books off my list to pare it down.

1. The first question I ask myself is if this would be a good fit for the child I'm buying it for. (The item has already appealed to me and my teaching style to get on the list, but I guess that would be the first-first question.)
2. The second question is how would I use this item? As a supplement? As a spine? How many spine/supplements do I really need for one subject?
3. The last question I ask myself is do I really have time in my school day to actually USE the item (We book-a-holics have to really buckle down to ask this question). Sometimes, I have to write out the kids' schedule to answer this question. Example: If I only want them to do foreign language for 30 minutes / day, do they have time to do the main curriculum I bought plus this foreign language readers?

I don't usually discard items based on price. I may have a cap that it's only worth $xx to me, but I don't delete it off my list because it costs so much from the publisher. That's what the next post is about...

Once I have my (mostly) finalized list, I buy as much curriculum used as I can. See the January 2007 post, "Where can I find used curriculum online?"

Pamper Yourself

I'm having a Pampered Chef party. If you know me, even remotely, you're invited. Thursday, February 15, 2007 @ 6:30pm.

It's a Valentine's Theme (a day late - the day after Valentine's - and a dollar short - I can get those conversation hearts 1/2 price, then! )

The special for attending a party in February is All Stoneware 20% off.

If you want to book a party, the February hostess special is 60% any 2 stoneware items. (I think January is cookware.) That's why I'M hosting a February party - I really want that New Traditions Cranberry Stoneware - at right. I've wanted them since they first came out, but they are REALLY alot. I also couldn't see spending the $$ when they weren't big enough for my family. I went to a party this fall (thanks, Julie) and MY consultant, Kim was doing the party. She said they came in bigger sizes, now. She also REFUSED to let me buy any cranberry at full price - she knows Dave really well, too. She told me if I wanted it, I had to have a party in February when I could get it at such a discount.

I won't feel bad at all if you don't come to my party, but want to book a party off my invitation. E-mail me and I'll get you my consultant's info to book a party. (See how altruistic I am??)

If you want to take a look at some products before the party, either stop by to look at the catalog (but not the cleanliness of my house), or go to the Pampered Chef website www.pamperedchef.com If you don't want to come to the party - because you're having major surgery that day, or really don't like me THAT much, I can take orders ahead.

REALITY : I LOVE throwing any kind of party, so you can come feast, maybe win a door prize and not buy a thing -- and I'll be thrilled that I even have friends. I like throwing parties so much that I'm even MAKING little door prizes... so I hope some people come who don't order ANYTHING, so they can just enjoy the door prizes I'm doing. That's what I call a PARTY - food, friends, and I don't have to cook!

Don't forget that Kim has a little something if you bring a friend (that I didn't already invite).

No Christmas Tree, No Christmas Tree ....

I was told that I HAD TO BLOG this incident - yes, it's an incident.
Well, Maggie, our black lab was so happy that there were no longer presents under the Christmas tree blocking her view of the window. She watches out for ferocious dogs who happen to be casing our house to kill us all in our sleep who are pretending to take a walk with their masters on the sidewalk. On New Year's Eve, she saw a killer cockerspaniel and jumped on the window. That's how we discovered which replacement windows our windows take last year when she cracked one by jumping on it to get a killer chipmunk - btw, our windows take SPECIAL ORDER!
So, we're having a birthday party with our friends on New Year's Eve (Happy Birthday, John!), eating the chocolate covered nuts they brought, pretending to have fun like grown-ups (while the kids were running screaming through the house) and Maggie jumped on the window. she reared back (I'm sure to protect her family from that killer!) and fell into the Christmas tree, which promptly fell over. Dave jumped up to catch it, but missed. He tried to pick it back up again, but snapped the top off the tree. Upon examination, the base was also snapped. The ornament that had a sleigh with 6 little snowmen heads with each of our names on them that our friends had just given us an hour or so before ... had missing snowman heads for Jenn & Dave.

So on New Year's Day (to the tune of Let it Snow) we sang "Go to Lowe's, Go to Lowe's, Go to Lowe's". Then (to the tune of There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays) "There's no place like Lowe's for the Holidays...if you want to be happy in a million ways, for the Holidays you can't beat Lowe's Sweet Lowe's." Then we got there and in a large empty room I sang a solo of "No Christmas Trees, No Christmas trees..." We went to store after store - everything was either sold out or closed.

I have no pictures to show you, because...I DIDN'T get a digital camera for Christmas. I TOLD you I wasn't going to get one, but still you readers and co-bloggers got my hopes up...
So next year it looks like we'll have to pay full price for a Christmas tree. If only she'd knocked it over on Christmas Eve rather than New Year's Eve.