Our First Day of School for the 2007-2008 School Year

Four of the five kids at the dining room table this morning.

A picture of the kids including Julissa sitting nearby. She was drawing on a paper with crayons. She said she was writing a "D." But in reality, she was just scribbling.

Education is an Atmosphere

A link to a thought provoking post I read this week. A very fitting title with all the thermometer usage that has been happening here this week.

Are You a Thermostat or a Thermometer?

The Boxcar Children

Last night Alex came to me and told me that he could read The Boxcar Children books. So I had him read the first page to me and sure enough he read it quite well. He then got the first book in the series and read two chapters before going to bed. This morning he spent a lot of time reading and then not long after lunch he finished the book. He is my Kindergartner with whom I have not really spent much time school wise. My older two books read this series the summer between first grade and second grade. After he finished reading the book, he came and told me about some of the things he had read in the book. It is exciting to see a child move into chapter books. Welcome to the world of reading! Today I found a post that relates to this post but is said in oh so much better a way than I have done. Take some time to read this post. It is "Goodbye Dr. Seuss."

A Sound Poem by Curtis

The Thunderstorm
By: Curtis Stephen

The rain poured down.
Boom! Crash! The thunder roared.
The lightning flashed.
Pitter, patter went the rain
upon the windowpane.
The wind whistled through the trees.
Ting! Ping! The hail hit against the pail.

Curtis was ecstatic yesterday when we had a thunderstorm that included hail. He got his poem and read it to us during the storm.

Indiana State History

We would love to spend some time this summer learning more about Indiana. Neither my husband or I are from Indiana so we don't know a whole lot about the state's history. I am looking for living book ideas for my soon to be third and fourth graders and suggestions of historical places to visit to reinforce some of what we will have read about. If you would like to share some suggestions with us, please do so by leaving your ideas in the comment box. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Starting Young

Photo taken by Briana (our 4 year old)

Julissa (our 2 year old) studying the dictionary.

Working Hard

Curtis working hard - writing those spelling words.
This is one of his least favorite things to do.

I'm Home!

A distant view of the place where they held the 1st Cincinnati Homeschool Convention.

A nice quiet place to sit and "reflect"!

A tree in bud.

I am home from the Cincinnati Homeschool Convention. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and learned a lot. I went to four sessions that were an hour each in length. The sessions I went to were all given by Susan Wise Bauer of The Well Trained Mind. There were many sessions to choose from but I felt that these would be most beneficial at this time. It is not often that she comes to a convention nearby. I feel that having heard her speak, I will be better able to understand her book "The Well Trained Mind" that I have owned for quite some time. I have read the pertinent sections several times but I plan to read them again as I endeavor to put together my curriculum for our next school year. One thing I learned during the sessions was that my note taking skills are extremely rusty. It has been about fifteen years since I finished college. Oh my, where has time gone?

I really enjoyed the somewhat relaxed pace. They gave a 1/2 hour break between sessions which was very helpful. It was nice to be able to leave a session without having to race to the next one. Another thing that attributed to the relaxed feeling was the setting of the convention. While the buildings look old, they were set back a long winding drive and the place was surrounded by trees such that you couldn't see the surrounding city or interstate. It gave one that relaxed feeling that one gets out in the country.

The pond in the middle photo is right alongside the drive before getting up to the parking area. There was a manmade waterfall along the drive before getting to the pond. I had wanted to take a picture of it but it wasn't running on Friday when I went back. The tree in the last picture reminds me a little of the tree in the book "Sky Tree" by Thomas Locker. This is a book that we have enjoyed together. Check your library to see if they have it and if they do borrow it and enjoy it with your child(ren).

While in Cincinnati, I spent Thursday night at my sister's house and enjoyed the little time I had visiting with her. On Friday I drove down through rush hour traffic in the rain (people in Cincinnati seem to have great difficulty driving in rain or snow), picked up my sister, and then we went across the river to get fuel and supper. We ate in the car on our way back to drop her off so that I could get back to convention in time for the last session. I left the convention to drive my “20 minute” one way drive to my sister's place with 2 hours and 5 minutes in which to get there and back. Needless to say, due to traffic I spent almost that entire two hours in the car.

Cincinnati Homeschool Convention

I spent this afternoon and evening at the 1st Cincinnati Homeschool Convention. These are just a couple pictures I snapped of the some of the buildings that are there. It is being held at a place called Landmark. On the drive back into the place there is a really neat manmade waterfall which I will try and get a picture of tomorrow. I went to one session given by Susan Wise Bauer which I thoroughly enjoyed. I then spent the rest of my time browsing the exibit hall looking through various curriculum, etc. I made a few purchases and then headed to my sister's for the night. Tomorrow Jeff and the kids will join me for the afternoon.