Hello, Goodbye

We are so excited to say, Kylie finished Explode the Code Book 4 and is on to Book 5. Good job, Kylie! She has learned about open and closed syllables, how to split up syllables, expanded her vocabulary, and learned how to spell many words.



This is an amazing program Kylie can't wait to get to the next book.

Stella Awards

Everyone remember Stella Liebeck, the 81-year-old woman who spilled McDonald's coffee on her lap and sued? Well here is a post showing the Stella awards for 2009.

Even though these are funny, they show how horribly corrupt our court system is.

Tomorrow Belongs to the Obama Youth

While checking out LewRockwell.com I came across some scary videos:



They compared it to this:



Also, get ready. Obama is forcing you to get health insurance instead of fixing the costs.

Basic Music Theory

I found a great book on Music Theory that you can read for free online (it suggests a donation of course). Basic Music Theory: How to Read, Write and Understand Written Music. I'm going to try it out in Kylie's music studies. We'll see how it goes.

(Thanks to 5Js)

Proof I Was a Born Gamer

Me age 5. Playing Dig Dug on our Atari.


I'm totally stoked for my new SNES.

How Do You Homeschool?

I get this question often and it comes across as if the person is saying "I couldn't do it, so I don't know how it is possible for you to do it." But let's just pretend that these people are really interested in how we do it, structurally speaking.

BOOKS:

First, we bought lots and lots of books. We went to Amazon.com, the Goodwill, Barnes & Nobles, used book stores, we asked for books on holidays, etc. We made sure there were tons of workbooks and curriculum books on hand. Most of the ideas for books came from The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise, The Complete Home Learning Sourcebook by Rebecca Rupp, and recommendations made on Amazon.com.

Next, we organized those books. One shelf holds all the age appropriate work books for Kylie along with supplies like pencils, pens, paint, clay, an abacus, markers, hole puncher, stapler, pencil sharpener, scissors, rulers, paper, dictionary, thesaurus, erasers, and more.

TIME FOR SCHOOL:

This part is simple. I say "After breakfast wash your face, brush your teeth, brush your hair, and get dressed. It's school time." I know many homeschoolers avoid the word school but what am I going to say? "Time to stimulate your mind by building a foundation of knowledge that will benefit your future"? I don't think so...

When Kylie is ready for "school" she goes to her bookshelf, chooses which workbook to do first, and decides which supplies she'll need. I keep track of the work she does in a binder on a calendar I made using Word.

THE SUBJECTS:

Kylie is a Kindergartner according to the public school world because she is five but here is a list of subjects and books we are currently working on daily:

Phonics -
Modern Curriculum Press Plaid Phonics B (2nd Grade)
Explode the Code Book 4 (2nd Grade)
First Language Lessons (1st - 2nd Grade)

Reading -
Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading (K - 4th Grade...Kylie only has 16 lessons left!)
McGuffey Eclectic Readers (K - 12...using this for oral reading)
Reading Skills (1st Grade)

Writing -
Spelling Workout A (1st Grade...only 5 lessons left)
The Complete Book of Handwriting (K - 3)
Writing Strands Level 2 (2nd Grade...postponing this book for a few more weeks)

Math -
Modern Curriculum Press Mathematics A (1st Grade)

History -
The Story of the World Volume 1: Ancient Times
The Story of the World Workbook
The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History
The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

The Trivium suggests teaching history from beginning to end, 1st grade is dedicated to ancient times, in 4th grade you study modern times. You start again at ancient times in 5th grade.

Science -
The Complete Book of Animals (K - 3)
The Kingfisher First Encyclopedia of Animals

The Trivium suggests 1st Grade to be dedicated to biology. First animals, then the human body, and last plants.

Spanish -
The Complete Book of Spanish (1 - 3)
Teach Them Spanish! (K)

Art -
Drawing With Children

Music -
The Usborne First Book of the Recorder

We try to complete the work before Joel gets home from work. This can take anywhere from 2 - 5 hours depending on Kylie's mood and comprehension of certain subjects. I remember one day we spent almost 2 hours on math alone! Kylie is a determined person who must understand the concepts or she gets mad.

We go into more detail and move faster through curriculum than most schools because we don't have "Summer School", "Spring Break", etc. We sometimes take a few days or a week off if family visits or we feel like going to the beach. The point is, we spend more time each day doing work and more time each year dong school so we can be thorough in covering all the subjects and she can be further along in her studies than most kids her age.

ACTIVITIES:

One other question that comes up often is "What about friends?" Everywhere Kylie goes, she makes friends. She has a personality like her mother, she can talk to anyone about anything. Socialization is the least of my worries for her. As far as getting her involved in some activities, we are working on that. We wanted to wait until she was six and we got moved into our new country home.

Some ideas on activities:

Ballet
4-H Club
Girl Scouts
George's Observatory Homeschool Program

I think I am going to avoid sports for now because Kylie takes winning a little too seriously and I want to work on that first. I'll update everyone on what we decide to do.

So there you go. That's how we homeschool. It's not complicated. It's lots of fun. Kylie is learning so much every single day.

LBJ Library

We went up north this weekend to visit with some of Joel's family. Joel's dad decided we should visit the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum at the University of Texas at Austin.

Walking up to the entrance I had to get a shot of the infamous clock tower Charles Whitman shot and killed 14 students from.

Kylie in front of LBJ's ride.

A look at the campus from the 10th floor.

Kylie practicing her speech as First Lady.

Entering the replica of LBJ's Oval Office...Check out the ceiling!

Kylie with Papa George.

5 stories containing 40 million pages of historical documents

After the library we head to the best BBQ spot I've been to since we came to Texas. If you are ever in Austin you have to check this place out!

Unpretty

I was watching the Friday episode of Dr. Phil on my DVR last night. He was talking to teenage girls that wanted to get plastic surgery. One girl had already had breast augmentation to a C-cup and wanted to move up to a DD.

Her father had fronted the money for the first surgery and was afraid that if she did this again she may become addicted to plastic surgery. She had convinced her father she needed to do it for self-confidence.

How is Dr. Phil going to deal with this issue?

A - Tell the father he is creepy and weird for providing his daughter with the money for the first surgery.

B - Tell the whole family they may be to blame since they all look like they are made of plastic.

C - Tell the girl that even though she desires being a model/actress, no amount of plastic surgery can make you taller or make you bone structure right for the camera.

D - Tell the girl that she is too young to make a decision like this.

E - Tell the girl that if she is intelligent and a good person, she should be confident. Confidence is not achieved through bigger boobs...it didn't work the first time, did it?

F - Dr. Phil and the father insult what other girls look like.

If you chose A-E you are wrong, but I would have loved for him to say all of that. No, their reason for her not to get this surgery was because if you have DD boobs, then guys will assume you are a stripper! If you have boobs that are naturally DD, you should get a breast reduction!

I was shocked. No wonder girls hate their bodies. It's guys assuming that Body Type = Whore.

Another problem is women.

As a teen, I heard this from programs geared towards women:

"If you are skinny you are either anorexic or bulimic"
I thought it had to do with metabolism and genetics...

"Men want a REAL woman"
Great, now I'm fake?

"Most women are not a size 2"
I wear a 0 and they think 2 is too thin, now I feel like a freak.

Me at 17

Obviously, I have gotten over these ridiculous messages at 26, but I hate that young women are still getting them today. Someday soon my little girl will be in that stage and I just want her to know that when women or men insult you for having a skinny body, being too tall, or for having big boobs...they are doing it because they are jealous or they want to be with you. This doesn't mean you should be cocky or think you are great. It just means their insults stem from an insecurity deep within themselves.

"A competent and self confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity." ~ Robert A Heinlein

UPDATE: Apparently, according to Dr. Phil, 40% of women in Australia would be considered strippers by men!

No Particular Place to Go

Another highlight from Liz's visit to Texas. On her last day here we took a road trip to Downtown Houston. We just kept driving until we got to a park. There will be videos posted later...but for now here are some silly photos of our trip to Downtown.

Cute Kylie.

Sexy Liz.

...and moi.

Screw safety!

When your alone
And life is making you lonely
You can always go downtown

Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc.

They aren't real, I heard you say,
But in my heart is where they'll stay.
And as long as to the dream I resist
They will in my mind forever exist.

Raaaah!

Aaaaah!

Oh, I Fell Over!

Ouch! My Back!

Cousin It

We made it to the park without killing anyone!

Craw Fish Festival

On Sunday we went to the Craw Fish Festival in Old Town Spring. The first shop we stopped by was Boutique Blvd. It's an adorable shop where they make custom clothing and hair pieces for little girls. We had to get this outfit for Kylie. The only problem was there weren't any hair pieces that matched it. So Schelle, the owner, custom made these hair pieces for Kylie and gave them to us for free! I love this shop!



Kylie just had to wear the outfit the rest of the day. Can you blame her, it's absolutely adorable.

Scala and Kolacny

A few months ago I discovered a choir consisting of 60 girls from Belgium. Their name is Scala and Kolacny. They do remakes of many pop songs including Smells Like Teen Spirit, I Can't Get You Out of My Head, Creep, Dream On, Sweet Dreams, Enjoy the Silence and With or Without You...



I just thought some people might enjoy checking them out.

Poop in a Five-Year-Old's Backpack

"Poo Packin" Teacher Not Dumped - Yet another reason to keep your child away from public education.

CNN Makes a Homeschool Post

10 Homeschooled Celebrities

I thought it was pretty cool CNN posted this. Here are few more:

John Stuart Mill - Philosopher, economist. Check out his "The Subjection of Women".

John Jay - Founding Father of US.

Erik Demaine - Scientist born in 1981. At age 20 he became the youngest professor at MIT.



Christopher Paolini - Eragon author.

Bertrand Russell - Philosopher, mathematician. Check out his "In Praise of Idleness".

Not to Mention Some Famous Homeschool Parents...

Will Smith

John Travolta

Chuck Norris

Lisa Welchel

Jimmy Wales - Founder of Wikipedia

Branjelina

John and Elizabeth Edwards

More Here