Lisa's Logbook - January 20

In our home education last week... My oldest has decided to go to a local comic con coming up in May and is making a Master Chief (Halo) suit out of foam and hot glue and paint. I'll put up some more pictures later but here is one. My younger son (age 13) also decided to make a costume, inspired by his brother, yet a bit daunted by the difference in their abilities. This is the 13yo's first project like this and the 18yo has made several things of this nature before. NOTE: This was not part of their "curriculum" per se; they both had all their regular lessons to do.

What's working for us: having my 3 older kids enroll  in the writing classes I am teaching. During the fall semester, they did not join in the classes. But this time I wanted my 13yo and 15yo to practice their basic essay writing skills and I definitely wanted my 18yo to take my Advanced Essay Writing Techniques workshop since he will be off to college in the fall. You can read more about my writing classes by clicking the links in the sidebar.

One place we visited: I took my younger two children (ages 10 and 13) to the circus on Friday morning. We also took along one of my daughter's friends as a birthday gift for her friend. Fun!

We're reading:

Uncle Tom's Cabin - my high schoolers are reading for their American Lit class

A Wrinkle in Time - my 7th grader is reading this

Pilgrim's Progress, simplified - my 5th grader

Pride and Prejudice - a re-read for both me and Emily for book club

The Freedom Writer's Diary - reading with my sisters and mom to discuss at Sister Weekend

...then just stay fat by Shannon Sorrels - a Kindle freebie I am reading

Walking with Bilbo - a devotional I am reading

I'm grateful for:  Forgiveness. Yep. 

My favorite thing this week: getting together with my friends to watch a movie and chat. So relaxing! Oh wait, did you want to know about my favorite homeschooling stuff?

Favorite Resource this Week: The blue colored overlay you see Suzy using in the pic at right does help my 18yo read better. He has found some success using the blue overlay; he tried some other colors but they weren't as helpful. Suzy hasn't found them to be as useful as David does but we are still experimenting with colors. You can buy expensive colored overlays designed to treat scotopic sensitivity syndrome (aka Irlen syndrome), but I made do with colored transparencies from the office supply store (I think I bought some single sheets at a local store, but it's been so long that I cannot recall where now) or amazon - here's one choice. 

Helpful homeschooling advice to share… Insist they do things they don't want to do. They'll be stronger for it and may even thank you later. (Or at least admit that the experience was beneficial.)

Questions I have: How does one know if one has attained that ideal balance between laziness and industriousness? LOL

A photo to share… That's Monkey-Toed Suzy up there demonstrating one of her unorthodox reading poses. Hey, whatever gets her reading is fine with me. The pic was from October.

I am inspired by… my friend Jennifer who completed a half-marathon today - at Disneyland! You rock, Jen!

Coming up this week: Ice Skating at a local rink, Open gym at a local gymnastics studio, and a kids retreat for my youngest! Fun times!

Lisa's Logbook - January 11

In our home education this week, we started in on an ambitiously planned January schedule. 

What's working for us: Making the kids earn their screen time by doing physical activity.

Places we went and people we saw: DOCTORS - I visited the doctor's office three times this week. Once with my husband (check-up), once with 3 of my kids (well child and immunizations - yes, we do those), and once ALL BY MYSELF (the ever-so-enjoyable annual PAP smear and physical). Three different doctors, all in the same building, on three consecutive days. Bob also had a cardiologist appointment that he went to without me.

We're reading:

• Uncle Tom's Cabin (my 12th and 10th graders, for their American Lit class)
• Les Miserables (me and my 10th grader, for our book club)
• My Side of the Mountain (my 7th grader)
• Pilgrim's Progress, simplified (my 5th grader)
• Walking with Bilbo devotional (me)

I'm grateful for: my 5th grader rising to the challenge of a difficult reading book. She is doing well! My hope was that she would find that she is more capable than she (or I) thought she was. And it's true!

My favorite thing this week: challenging my children to find opportunities to pray throughout each day using ideas like THESE from Barbara Bartocci.  Here's one that I hope we all learn: The count-to-60, stop-a-fight prayer. Ever burst out in anger and regretted your words later? Next time, count to 60 this way: one-for God, two-for-God…

Favorite Resource this Week: The Body Book: : Easy-to-Make Hands-on Models That Teach by Donald M. Silver

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share: I am not sure how helpful this is and it is rather humbling to think along these lines, but when I was a brand new homeschool mom (and formerly employed teacher) with a kindergartener, a preschooler, and a baby, I knew more about "the right way" to homeschool than I know now as the mom of a senior, a sophomore, a seventh grader, and a fifth grader. Crazy, eh?

A link to share…  A sad cautionary tale on the Love, Light, Laughter & Chocolate blog. 

Coming up next week: A visit to the circus with my two youngest children; my oldest has an orthodontist visit

January is a Fresh Start

January lesson sheets are freshly copied and collated, ready for bright-eyed children on Monday morning.

Well, maybe the children won't be bright-eyed, but at least the work is all planned out. Three weeks off refreshed all of us and gave us a much needed break, however, getting back on schedule is always a relief.


My goals are always high at the beginning of the month, and doubly so after a long break, so the fully planned month gives us a realistic goal, yet one that will push us to achieve more. Monthly lesson planning has worked well for us for years now.

What's in store? Here's a sampling:

Everyone will be doing a lot of writing, starting with some thank you notes. Three of the kids will be joining my weekly writing classes for the upcoming session, working on essay writing.


David and Emily will be reading Uncle Tom's Cabin for their American Literature class. James will finish My Side of the Mountain and read all of A Wrinkle in Time. All of this reading will be accompanied by book reviews. Suzy will be reading a children's version of Pilgrim's Progress. (This will be a huge challenge for her; pray for us!)

Teaching Textbooks math will continue. James should finish Math 7 by the end of the month, so it's time to bite the bullet and purchase Pre-Algebra for him. The others will keep plugging away!

Our geography focus will take us into Canada and Central America and we will also review the U.S. maps we've worked on.

In Anatomy, James and Suzy will be working on the functions of the eye, the ear, the tongue and the skin. They will build paper models of each organ and learn about how they work. Emily will be studying the Avian world in Biology.

David will continue working on mastering JavaScript (via Codeacademy.com) and will continue his economics study (which he tells me is pretty interesting for the most part!)  in Whatever Happened to Penny Candy and the Bluestocking Guide.

That's not all, but that's enough to fill a blog post. Oh, one more thing - we will be taking our first karate tests as red belts sometime in February, so January will be a month of intense learning and practice for us!

Pilgrims Progress Book and Video

Emily (age 10) read the A Beka Book version of Pilgrim's Progress recently. (Yes, I know it's a 3rd grade reader, but I don't care. I don't think she would have enjoyed as much in 3rd grade. Besides I forgot to have her read it then! lol)

David had read it a few years ago, as well. (Yeah, probably in 3rd grade. Back then I was a little more anal about stuff like that.)

ANYWAY. When I taught school, I taught in a Christian school that used A Beka. (And yeah, I had third graders.) So we did Pilgrim's Progress. And then we watched the video afterwards. It was an animated video and I don't have access to it now. I think I saw it in the CBD catalog the other day, however!

But on Netflix, I found an older live action movie version. It even starred Liam Neeson, in what I found out was his first movie role! So, I got it for the kids and we watched it today.

It was pretty good, even considering the special effects circa 1979 and the obvious low budget. My kids all enjoyed it, even 5yo Suzy, and I think they got the concept of the story and could follow the plot. Before the movie started, there was a short overview of the life of John Bunyan, the author. George Beverly Shea, the famous hymn singer, was the narrator.

And yes, they all recognized Liam Neeson. After all, he plays Qui-Gon Jinn in the Star Wars movies AND he does the voice of Aslan in the Narnia movies.

David asked me if Liam Neeson was a Christian. I had to say I don't think so, based on his movie roles, although I don't know for sure. He sure would have to know the truth as his main role in this film was Evangelist, and he also played several other characters including Jesus.