Lisa's Logbook - August 27

Current Mood: tired
Outside: 69 and dusky
Wearing: pink tee, white and pink plaid shorts
Tunes: Toto and more tunes of David's choosing, like Black Veil Brides, Abney Park, Saviour Machine, etc...
Kids Are: 1 is showering, 1 is probably dozing, 1 is packing, and who knows what the other is doing 
Hubby Is: getting the van and camper ready
Something New: bought some new pants - 2 pair of jeans, 1 brown lounge pants, 1 pair dark brown. Also joined the Star Teacher club at Office Depot and got a goodie bag and some yummy breakfast today!
Something Yummy:  I have a couple HEATH BARS in hiding.
Blessings: homeschool camping week!
Reading:  Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. Also reading A Praying Life by Paul Miller (which is EXCELLENT. As soon as I finish it, I'm going to start over!). Listening to Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare. Going to start The Three Musketeers.
Watching:  Friday Night Lights (almost finished with season 3! LOL), Limitless
Considering: how to get out of my soccer commitment sooner! lol
Working On: lesson plans
Accomplishments:  Got the van packed and camper ready the NIGHT BEFORE CAMPING!
Looking Forward to: karate testing with 2000 other people, camping week!
Pic: Lake Huron - Suzy and a friend

Lisa's Logbook - August 21

Current Mood: calm and cool

Outside: sunny and 72
Wearing: pink tee, white and pink plaid shorts

Tunes: nothing new really

Kids Are: 1 reading a book, the other 3 have vanished

Hubby Is: reading the newspaper
Something New: We have a new ALTERNATOR! Woo-hoo! I also have new running shoes!

Something Yummy: Suzy made delicious brownies. And I made a yummy crunchy coleslaw salad.

Blessings: my book club!

Reading: The Passion of Mary-Margaret (recommended by my mom!). Also reading A Praying Life by Paul Miller. Listening to Voyager by Diana Gabaldon, and soon will listen to Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare.

Watching:  Friday Night Lights (finished season 2! LOL), Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (theatrical edition), the new Jane Eyre with Michael Fassbender (liked it!), and at book club we watched True Grit (both versions - the John Wayne and the Jeff Bridges)
Considering: Bible Memory and hymns for the upcoming school year

Working On: learning my karate terminology and self-defense moves, also working on lesson plans and getting ready for camp week!

Accomplishments: logged 6 miles today (please note I did NOT say "ran" 6 miles. Not sure I can call THAT running, but I surely slogged through every yard of 6 miles.)

Looking Forward to: going to Lake Huron, our karate testing, camping week!

Pic: 

Lisa's Logbook - August 14

Current Mood: sweaty

Outside: overcast and 70
Wearing: black yoga capris, blue striped tank (running clothes)
Tunes: right now the radio is playing some gospel quartet music (Bob picked that)
Kids Are: 1 doing dishes, 1 painting the landing walls, 1 on computer, 1 bored
Hubby Is: reading the newspaper ads
Something New: I can't think of a single "new" thing!

Something Yummy: Creamsicles
Blessings: having someone else to handle the soccer uniform order

Reading: Current audiobook is Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Also reading A Praying Life by Paul Miller.
Watching:  Friday Night Lights (finished season 1 and now I'm HOOKED with a capital H), Soul Surfer (loved it!), Unknown (could have skipped this one)
Considering: lessons for the upcoming year, also considering the specifics of the writing class I'm teaching this year
Working On: my to-do list - some real doozies on there!

Accomplishments: sewed curtains for David's room and the landing, ran 5 miles again today, made some progress on the literature class I am co-teaching this coming year.

Looking Forward to: Girls night, book club
Pic: 

Reading About Education

I've been reading a few things on education. One is The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner, which was recommended by my friend Sarah (two blogs:  Teach a Fish and Ordinary Canary). This book makes me much less worried about my kids missing out on a public school secondary education. (Not that I was very worried about that in the first place.) It's clear that most high schools are not doing enough to prepare kids for a high tech future in a world where you can't make a living on the assembly line. Am I doing enough, though? Well, there are a few things I am going to change after reading the book - much more writing, more discussions to encourage critical thinking, more experiences designed to make my teens comfortable in the business world. How will I do this? Not sure. But textbooks are not part of it.

You should read this book.

Something else I've been skimming through is The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education by Grace Llewellyn, first published in 1991 when the author was 26. This one isn't as valuable to me for a number of reasons. The author was briefly a middle school English teacher and then began to promote unschooling and even anarchy to teens. The book is written directly towards the teenager and includes advice a homeschooling parent may not want them to consider, such as drug use might not be all bad. The subject area chapters do seem to be fairly useful, but this is a book to be seasoned with a whole salt shaker.  Skip this one, unless you are truly into counter-culture and the concept of total unschooling. 

I also recently finished reading I Saw the Angel in the Marble by Chris Davis. I started this years ago and read a little bit at a time. The book is a collection of essays on education and homeschooling by the owners of the now-defunct Elijah Company, Chris and Ellyn Davis. I highly recommend this to give you a new outlook on education.

I have my set of Chris Davis seminar audiotapes back again. I'd lent them out and almost despaired of ever seeing them again. We'd been listening to them in the car and we will again, when we are driving in the vehicle with the antiquated audio cassette deck. I'm trying to find a place online that you can download these. Thought I had found one a couple years ago, but now having no luck at all. If you have the opportunity to hear these seminars, do it.

Chris Davis has a blog - http://chrisdavis.wordpress.com/

What have you been reading to encourage you in your homeschooling and to enrich your knowledge of education?

Lisa's Logbook August 7 & 8

Started this yesterday but didn't finish. So you get partly today's answers and partly yesterday's - just to be confusing! lol

Current Mood: Cheerful and tired
Outside: dark, 70, raining
Wearing: Black tank, pink pj pants
Tunes: David made a CD of some of his stuff for us to listen to in the car.
Kids Are: 1 is in my bed, 1 is in his bed, 1 is on the computer, 1 is on X-box Live
Hubby Is: in bed reading the Bible
A Giggle: Laughed at a commercial - here it is. (I don't usually watch TV with commercials, so when I do, they're all new to me!)

Something New: Bought a set of double-12 dominos so the kids can play Chicken Foot. Also bought Farkle.
Something Yummy:  Fudge is tasty! Had some at Golden Corral.
Blessings: Got to spend a sunny afternoon at Lake Michigan
Reading: Current audiobook is Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Finished my other book and haven't picked out a new one yet.
Watching:  Friday Night Lights, Psych (finished season 5), The Adjustment Bureau, Who is Simon Miller?
Considering: Camping at a Lake Michigan campground next year. Also thinking exactly when I will teach the writing classes that have been requested this fall.
Working On: finishing up some soccer details and co-op details.
Accomplishments: Ran 5 miles twice (combination of jogging and walking), gave my mom a perm
Looking Forward to: Seeing a movie, scrapbooking, finishing my digital scrapbook and ordering it.
Pic: The kids with my parents.