We meet with our Distance Education Liason with the School District tomorrow. Our last check-in/assessment/evaluation before the summer break.

We have not completed this last ‘module’. We will have merely the first of I don’t know how many math workbooks completed, just, to present to her. She will ask Beasley what he’s been working on and he will say, in typical nine-year-old-can’t-remember-past-this-morning’s-breakfast kind of way, “ummmm….. Nothing.” Helpful.

Despite the fact the child is learning to use my big ol’ digital SLR. He is loving taking pictures. He bakes muffins. He is at this very moment dismantling my kitchen making Smoothies. He will, in fact, reassemble and clean-up said kitchen. We have been camping. He has been diligently caring for his new veggies that are growing, while planting with great care new seeds as well as the plants he has been nurturing, like his very own new babies, these past couple of months. He participated in his first Triathlon. He reads all the time. He is LOVING reading… oh God, just writing it makes me all, like… VERKLEMPT! He LOVES reading. His own words. Oh, no… I knew it. Eyes. Dewey.

If I’d asked him if he enjoyed reading four months ago he would have screwed up his pretty little face and stated emphatically, out of squishied-up mouth, ‘NO!’

But, alas, he will say ‘we do nothing’. The insights of a nine-year-old.

And in her mind, he will likely be right. Because in two months we’ve not managed to complete an 18 day long ‘module’.

I’m having highschool flashbacks. Sorry. Homework. Not. Done.

Yesterday marked the launch of BlogNosh Magazine…

an online magazine featuring the best archived content from primarily personal blogs, spotlighting a cross-section of topics and perspectives. New posts daily.

As an Editor in the Education Channel, I am so excited about this! It offers any number of opportunities to find new blogs and new posts covering a variety of aspects of education and in particular, homeschooling. I look forward to finding the best in homeschooling posts to profile because as a parent new to the whole homeschooling gig, I know I need any bit of information I can find… and if I can help someone else find their way a little better through this homeschool journey in the process, well shucks, then that’s just that much better!

Things have been a little free and easy here in our Rocky Mountain Homeschool. The gardening has taken a fair bit of work, but other than his voracious reading of one graphic novel after another, not a whole lotta academics is going on. Oops. Other than twice daily TutorVista sessions- for these periods when structured academics with mum hits the pooper.

However the _ _ it hits the fan this week- literally- as we have mounds of manure to mix into the soil to get the LAST of the garden in.

Also, our P.E. assignment of the spring was this past weekend’s Wasa Lake Triathlon. Beasley participated in the TriKids event on the Saturday. He finished it. After a good swim and then 8km on a piddly little one speed, he was pretty much sapped for the run. Tank. Empty.

An exercise in perserverence, one foot in front of the other, just keep swimming, and all that. He did it. It nearly killed the little bugger, but he did it. And he was smiling at the end.

And he is certain he wants to do it again next year. On a different bike.

Yup. Ditto for mum, little man!

After two weeks of the most horrendous weather, I woke early this morning to find the clearest of clear skies. Our mountains sharp, snow capped peaked against the crisp blank of the blue sky…. Just glorious!

Our mood around here has without doubt been influenced by this seemingly endless string of cold, rainy, windy weather. All of us have been overcome by procrastination, lethargy and just a profound case of the blues. Interesting how it manifests itself in the kids as unlimited, uncontained misdirected and dare I say, somewhat aggressive energy… and in me, well, I just want to lay on my couch. Did somebody say Oprah?

Anyways, today was deliriously lovely. Our new work place, our school-room, our library was flooded in blinding sunlight and my little miscreants all sat in a perfect row… quietly engaged in their work. OMG. I was overcome with joy. It was just the best beginning to a day!

And each child had fresh content for their respective notebooks.

I am loving the notebooking. And I think the kids are all enamoured with having their own big old binder to fill up with their stuff. We’re in the very beginning of getting into a routine with them, but the creative aspect to notebooking seems like it might help us all keep better on track. Regardless the weather.

I love the concept of Notebooking. And given our commitment- or lack thereof- to diligently following the modules of our BC Curriculum, I’m looking at it as a really fun alternative!

I think the kids will appreciate the creative collection of their work and it should encourage them towards filling it up- a tangible, daily record of what we do- of what they do.

It will be particularly useful in keeping Beasley’s new hobby organized. He has taken an interest in my camera. The big SLR, with the big lens. Oh and did I mention, expensive?

So, when he is using big, expensive camera, he is required to wear it around his little neck. At. All. Times.

And so, notebooking will allow us to keep a fun, ongoing record, safely archiving his prints, while also having something tangible to show lady liason with our district. She was concerned in our lack of art- Samson does not like art, per se. Sitting, painting, drawing… as he doesn’t feel it is something he can do. Well, now he has an outlet. A way to make art that he enjoys…

He’s off to a great start!

Husband recently spoke with a colleague about our homeschooling.
Well, holy schmoly. You’d think he’d announced he was newly initiated member of FLDS, taking on new wives and handing off underage daughter child to middle aged prophet, while also busy campaigning for immediate release and pardon for Charles Manson.

The questions. The doubt. The concern. We are obviously off proverbial rockers, engaging in mad, misguided experiment with children’s precious futures. Ack!

In response: No, other than knowing my children and their needs, academically and otherwise, I am absolutely not qualified. And no, trying not to be concerned with not being qualified. Ill prepared? Oh yeah… without a doubt! Do I know calculus? Um… nope. Will I? Probably not. How will they be appropriately socialized? They won’t. Part of our program is locking children in cage in deepest, darkest corner of basement… feeding them cracker crumbs and Kool Aid and making them watch Three’s Company on continuous loop. Mad experiment, remember….

And the kicker: “shielding them from reality”… right. Seeing up close and personal what happens in a day full of work, expectation, working through conflict with us and each other, chores, how we make our money, going to the bank, shopping for groceries, demands of the day, etc., etc., etc., leaves them blind to the realities of life. Ahem. Believe me, they see it all. We are merely shielding them from the daily grind of classroom management with disruptive delinquents, fruitless stress of trying to keep up with peers, and Christmas concerts. Daaaay-ummmmb.
Structured? Hell, no! But, this winter we sure put in an earnest effort. Since? Out. Window.

Our schedule? Play. Exercise. Lots of gardening. Taking pictures- Beasley has recently caught the bug. Errands. Chores. Outings. Reading. Art. TutorVista sessions. A workbook here or there. Travel. Camping. Time to discover new and varied passions.
OK… so there’s a bit of mad experiment involved. But my eldest, previously non-reading, child… is now reading. Voraciously! OK, so they’re graphic novels. But they still have words. And he’s reading them. Voraciously! Honestly, on this issue… I don’t care if he’s reading Penthouse Forum- just as long as he’s reading.