My title!!!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Excellency Patricia the Tremulous of Snotting on Wold Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

I know how Evel Knievel's mother felt!

Yes! He is jumping off someone's shoulders in the shallow end of the pool to catch the beach ball in mid air. Sometimes I just have to turn away!

My rock!

What would I do without my oldest peep? She will make a great mom one day. She decided since I have been so preoccupied with this disaster in Peru she would straighten up the living room and dining room for me. What a girl. These boy peeps can destroy the cleanliness of a home in a heart beat. Well, baby peep is not always agreeable to these clean up ideas of hers. He protested and she instead of yelling at him and getting me involved as she is prone to so, she called Papa Peep. Papa Peep is thousands of miles away probably sitting in a meeting discussing coffee and she is calling him to straighten her baby brother out. What a girl! Don't disturb mommy who is having a hellish day of her own.



Here is evidence that miles mean nothing to disciplining baby peep.

Nostalgia

I am feeling very nostalgic today. I wish I was home with my peeps in Ecuador. Since I can't be there I have been looking at pictures from our trip last year and I found this one.

This was taken on a road trip along the coast. This town was called Montanita, which translates as "Little Mountain." We were standing in a church that was in the shape of a boat. It was opened to the air where you could see the ocean on one side and the town on the other. This is how high we were up this cliff.

Across the street was a school and I think they were leaving for lunch or something. Many of them came to the church to "hang out." Suddenly, one of the kids yells, "Ballena" which means whale. We all looked and a little far off we could see a few humpback whales in the distance. They come to these water to give birth. Then they head back North where the waters are colder. We were there towards the end of the season. It was amazing to see them.

Later on our trip to Ecuador we did get a boat out to sea and did see a mama and her baby pretty up close. The winds were bad and the pictures we took did not come out so great, but the kids still talk about the experience.

This is strictly a mathematical viewpoint... it goes like this:What Makes 100%? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%? Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about achieving 103%? What makes up 100% in life?Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions:

If: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z is represented as: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then: H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K 8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

and K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

But, A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

And, B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%

AND, look how far ass kissing will take you.A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G 1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118%

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that While Hard work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it's the Bullshit and Ass kissing that will put you over the top

Peru's 7.9 Quake

The family of a very good friend lives there and we have not been able to get in touch with them. They live in Lima. We are all so worried. It sounds very bad.

I have never been to Peru but can imagine how terrible the situation is right now. They are saying over 350 dead and 1,300 injured but I know how slow this process can be so I expect the count to be much higher. It is very cold there and many people slept in the ruins of their houses. I can not imagine how huge the despair is in that poor country. Sorry to bring the mood of the morning down but I just had to get this off my chest. Thanks for letting me share.


Visit this site for a video

O este en espanol

Clarinet Player, Violin Player, Keyboard AND Guitar!

Oldest Peep has been taking clarinet lessons for almost 2 months now. Sometimes she truly amazes me with her abilities. She has taken to this clarinet very well. I worried about her ability to juggle both instruments (she plays violin also) but hoped she could do it. She has not let me down. She practices everyday both violin and clarinet.

Now she is using her violin sheet music to play the piano. How did she do that????? Amazing!

Now the guitar. She is also teaching herself to play this. One day she opened Middle Peep's book and just started playing. She plucks the strings well and reads the music and uses the charts in the book to figure out which strings produce which notes.

The amazing thing is that I made the child that can do all those things. There is not one ounce of music know how in this body. Thank you Papa Peep. You can take full credit there.

Oh my, I have a brother!!!!

My parents split up while I was still very young. I don't know if my dad eventually remarried or not but I have a brother....yes half brother..... but brother still. Growing up I always wanted a brother. It was always just my sister, my mom and I. All women in a NYC apartment. PMS was rough at times. How I longed for a brother and now I have him. I have not spoken to him yet. I hope to go to NYC soon so we can meet up. My sister has hung out with him and has talked to him on the phone a few times. I would love to also but I don;t want to scare him.

I have a brother!!!!! Would you like to meet him? I would!

Summer Vacation 07

Papa Peep decided that for 4th of July he really wanted to go to the beach. I was drowning in stuff for swim team before the 4th so I left it up to him to find not only a location, but a place to stay and the general schedule of the "vacation".

Well, that will teach me to leave it to him! As soon as I laid this on him I knew I had made a mistake. Papa Peep is just not the type to think these things all the way through. First off the place he found cost too much for what we got. Don't get me wrong, it was very nice and clean, close enough to the beach and the location in general was a good one. The big plus was it was walking distance to the local Wal-Mart. (Can you just hear the sarcasm?) BUT the size of the condo was smaller than my basement. That is OK if it was just Papa Peep and I, but he somehow forgets how much room the children peeps require. We were tight in that place!

Next was the fact that we were there for only about a week. We actually had to cut it short for several reasons I will get into as the post progresses. During that week, he WORKED 3 days. I almost wan tot say he worked on the 4th but I can't remember specifically. Maybe my mind is trying to block that fact out. The point I am trying ot make is that he WORKED! We actually had to drive around to find a Starbucks so he could get his email and make conference calls. He actually got the children some terribly expensive drinks and expected them to sit at Starbucks for who knows how long and wait quietly and patiently while he chatted away. Sometimes it really dawns on me just how clueless Papa Peep is.

Needless to say, we headed out. We actually found a Books-A-Million. It was great I was pissed at him. This way I could buy without remorse. I don't even remember what I bought but I know I enjoyed buying it.

The places we found to eat dinner were terrible for the most part. The sad truth is that Applebees had the best food around. Terrible!

The beaches...well we will just say that the seaweed and the jellyfish hanging about made it tough to enjoy.

Now you are wondering where did Papa Peep take us too.....The RedNeck Riviera!

DOH!

This is why I love him!

Why don't I ever get to see my uncle!

These were the words two cousins uttered this past week. Papa Peep is always traveling and his older brother is always busy with his business. Their family lives across the country from us. We use to see each other more often but now it is few and far between. They have 2 boys that fit nicely with mine. Oldest Peep is the only girl cousin in both mine and Papa Peeps family.

When Baby Peep's cousins visited last week (they were in town for 2 weeks), he wanted to know where his uncle was, and his cousin wanted to know where Papa Peep was since they never get to see their uncles.

This past Sunday we made an effort to get together at Papa Peep's youngest brothers house. He lives in the same town we do but his job and a new baby keep him pretty busy too. We had a cookout and we swam at their pool. All the little peeps had a great time swimming, eating, and playing Transformers. The Brother Peeps had fun watching their sons play together with toys they played with when they were younger. Life comes full circle.

Here is a picture we took to remember the occasion.

The local schools start back today!

We officially started 2 weeks ago, but since the local PS had not started yet, we have not gotten much done. I am glad they are starting today. We are falling further behind on our schedule. It is nothing we can't catch up. I will post those schedules soon.

I received the grammar program I will be using with baby peep and I think it will be perfect for him. I tried it with middle peep and it was too repetitive. He bored. With baby peep it will be just what he needs. I will report after a few lessons.

Oldest peep is really understanding CW Homer. She completely impressed me last week with her grasp on grammar. Latin Prep is really working out far better than I thought. She is basically working alone on Latin and fully grasped the language. Spanish is coming along great. I must remember to make them speak it more. That is the goal. 30 minutes of talking in Spanish. Math is wonderful as I am not teaching her. She is doing it on her own. She is getting most of the problems correct. Most is review still, but she had not fully understood it before. French comes this week and even I am excited about it. I think it is something I will do only with oldest pep unless the boy peeps beg for it too.

Middle peep is chugging along as usual. He will start Latin Prep soon and I can't wait to see how he does. I think he will really like it. He is working through SM 6B easily. I was hoping he would slow down. Tonight I will look into Russian Math 6 as I am almost convinced NEM1 will be too much for him. His writing is coming along, but his handwriting is still lacking. I will start another HWT books with him today. Let's see how it goes. Spelling has to be our focus this year. I must get him to par on that.

Baby peep is adding himself to the mix nicely. I seriously considered sending him off to school . *GASP* It was just that bad! Now he is asking for school work everyday and gets upset if we don't do something. I should not have picked Right Start for his Math. Not that he is not learning with it, but it is so time intensive that it will be the first thing to go if we are pressed. He doesn't have the Math understanding M had at that age so I must make it a point to do it everyday. Something! Anything!

Well, our first full school day must begin. No interruptions! No calls to come play or swim! Just me and my peeps working hard to learn.

Music Rx Concert

I should have taken a picture of them with all their instruments but I totally flaked. Well, here is Oldest Peep with all her Ensemble Mates. They did very well considering they practiced for less than 8 weeks. I am a proud Mama Peep.

Music

Oldest peep and middle peep are both taking music lesson at a great local music store. The owners are simply fabulous. They are a true mom and pop store with a huge love of music and a strong desire to share that with everyone.

The lady owner is teaching oldest peep clarinet. She began about 4 weeks ago now. According to oldest peep , she has always wanted to learn clarinet but I made her take violin. (I think made is a very strong words here since she begged for violin when we talked about lessons.) Oldest Peep is also taking private violin lessons. The home school band we joined last school year did not work too well so we went looking for private lessons. We were lucky to find the violin teacher we have. She is a great musician and a great teacher. They do not always go hand and hand as we have discovered.

Middle peep is taking guitar lessons from a great man. He is stressing the note reading middle peep has always fought me on. Despite having to be reminded to practice and practice exactly as the teacher tells him too, middle peep is making progress. He would rather just rely on his ear to play but now is starting to understand that note reading is necessary.

Today was their lessons. After the lesson, the violin teacher tells me that oldest peep needs to work on her intonation. She is reading notes very well. She can figure out how to play pieces easily. She is doing things the teacher has not exactly taught her yet. She remembers how to do something easily. However, because she feels she knows it she doesn't bother to play it with great tone. She stops at making it sound beautiful. She promised to practice intonation this week.

A few minutes later the guitar teacher comes out and tells me middle peep is doing great but we still really need to work on reading. He has a great instinct for the sounds. He is still relying on his ear. He can hear something played once, remembers the sounds and stops reading the notes on the page. He promised to read notes this week.

As I was going to the car and explaining to Papa peep what the teachers said, something hit me like a ton of bricks. My children are true to their learning styles. I have pegged them right on. Middle peep is 110% auditory. He simply needs to hear it and it is ingrained forever. Oldest peep is visual and kinesthetic . She must see it, imprint the picture in her brain and then manipulate it. She is 0% auditory. If I talk talk talk at her she stares at me blankly. It only goes in if she reads it herself or experiences it herself.

Way to go kids......

(i will soon post a pic of them with their instruments)

Scheduling....planning....and more..

OK so July is here and I did not do half of what I had planned in June. We had a lot of swim team things to concentrate on. Now that summer league is over and there is a lull for a little bit I can go back to planning. I am not sure when officially we will start the next school year. We are still finishing some stuff from last school year. This is only because we did not start until October some time and we took too many breaks this year. I had a lack of energy and had a hard time fitting baby peep into the plan. I hope to do better this year as he is officially 1st grade and we still need to get some basic basics down.


So for Oldest Peep the plan is as follows:


Math - finish Lial's BCM and begin Lial's Introductory Algebra. I have found the DVT's for the Algebra program so I hope to stay out of her Math learning. She seems to do better with me not involved. We will also work through Right Start's Geometry program. I feel like both S and M need more practice in that area. I admit at being less than enthusiastic about teaching this to them. They both seem to be clueless when it come to geometry and I admit I have not had the patience to walk them through it. I just don't see the difficulty. That is where I need to work on slowing down. I need to remember they are not going to get it on the first try especially if I am impatient. I also thought the focus on drawing the shapes before manipulating them would be something they would enjoy. I hope it is.





History - We will finish SOTW 4. We are half way through it at the moment and will work on 2 chapters a week until it is done. Getting this done involves more of me planning it then any level of difficulty. They are enjoying listening to the chapters read by Jim Weiss than me reading it to them. For some reason S focuses better when someone other than me reads aloud to her. Go figure. Once we are done with SOTW4 we will begin right away with History Odyssey Ancients and Middle Ages. S is in 7th grade so I have 2 years in which to cover the 4 year cycle with her. We will have to do this round lickety fast. I think it is doable since this is her least interested subject.


Writing - We will finish Classical Writing Homer A in a few weeks (4 maybe) and start Beginning Poetry A then finish the year with Homer B. I think the Poetry books will be a nice change of pace from the regular CW layout. I will post about this as we begin.


Grammar - We have dropped Harvey's not because we did not like it; it was just not getting done. It required me to be involved and with J in the wings waiting for me it was the first thing to get pushed aside. Grammar thankfully is not something I am worried about with her so we can skip this. I did get the Warriner's texts and she can work independently through those.


Science - We have a little more to finish the Prentice Hall Life Science book. I think in August we will start the Earth Science one with Miles joining us. I want to get some rock kits and other Earth Science stuff to make it more fun. I am so not an experiment mom.

*UPDATE* They want CHEMISTRY!!!!!! I was all set for Earth Science and they all want Chemistry WITH LABS! What am I going to do?????


Latin - finishing Latin Prep 2 and start on Latin Prep 3 sometime in January. We are so very thrilled with this program. I can not rave enough about it. The publisher, Galore Park, really understands how to teach languages. I am impressed with Latin and Spanish from them.


Greek - After looking at a copy of Elementary Greek we decided to go with them. I was really hoping to find something Attic but nothing is available for children and I just can't wait for Galore Park's series. They are not sure when that will be available. Perhaps baby peep can take advantage of that.

*UPDATE* Galore Park has an Attic Greek book. They don't publish it but they carry it. I hope since they carry this book, it will prove useful. If not I think we will just wait for their Greek Prep series.

SPANISH - Of course I have a warm place in my heart with this one. We are happily using So You Really Want to Learn Spanish. We should finish book 1 before Christmas and then start right into book 2. We will hopefully go to Ecuador in March for a wedding and the peeps will really be able to communicate this time. (cross my fingers) I will give a review of this program soon. I just need to sit down with it in front of me.



French - Oldest peep insists on learning French this year along with the other languages. I am all for it. I just wish I knew what to pick. At first I tried holding her off but if there is something I have learned from homeschooling oldest peep, is that when she wants to learn something I better hop to it. She will not stop asking for it until she has mastered it. I am torn between the Galore Park's French series or Breaking the Barrier. I love GP but since this is a living language that I do not know well, I think an audio component will be better. The GP cd's are very expensive. I have heard a few complaints about the Spanish audios so I am hesitant. However, I have never heard anything about Breaking the Barrier.

*Update* I am waiting for the GP French book. I just decided to go with my gut. GP has not let me down yet.

Logic - I am still looking for something appropriate. I may end up writing something myself from the Introduction to Logic by Copi and The Open Minds and Everyday Reasoning by Seech books I have.

As always oldest peep will join swim team again. She has been moved up and will swim 6 x a week for 2 hours each day. I think I will only make her go to practice 5 x a week.

Boy Peep's schedule coming soon..........

My Color..do you agree? I don't know yet.

Your Inner Color is Purple

Your Personality: You're a dreamer and visionary. You believe you were put on this earth to do something great. You in Love: You're very passionate but often too busy for love. You need a partner who sees your vision and adopts it as their own. Your Career: You need a job that helps you make a difference. You have a bright future as a guru, politician, teacher, or musician.

What's" Your Inner Color?

Soccer

I tried to get this shot centered but they were playing so fast. Middle peep finally got to kick the ball. He is the one in the yellow shirt (his Ecuador soccer team shirt)and it is his leg that you see kicking forward. He stopped them from scoring yet again. Way to go middle peep! He is a great defender. His coach wanted to play him as striker more but they needed good defenders too so middle peep usually got that task.

Well, that is over now too and I just don't know what I will do with all this free time. Maybe now I will have to clean house and cook.

Go Barracudas!!!

And today starts summer swim team.....when will it all end???!!!

Breath peep!

Go soggy peep!

Baby Peep likes to float on his back!

I survived baseball season!!!!

Well, yes I survived this year with both boy peeps on different baseball teams on different leagues in the same park, and oldest peep swimming year round. It has been a crazy couple of months. Both boy peeps had 2 practices and 2 games a week since March and oldest peep swims 5 days a week. There were times when Middle peep had batting practice from 6-6:30, oldest peep swims at 6:45, middle peep a chess class at 7 and baby peep a game at 7:20. WOW! Thankfully Papa Peep was not on a project for a lot of it and was able to be another driver for the athletes.

GO THUNDER!!!!

Baby Peep's team after a tough season (the first for many of these players) ended the season 4th in their division and then 3rd place in the overall post season tournament. He started the season spinning in the outfield and only really wanting to bat. He hated being in the field. He caught a ball in t he mouth one game. But slowly and with the help of his coaches and his big brother, he improved amazingly. He made his first out during the post season tournament. He received 2 game balls during the season for great play. He was definitely the clown of the team. Every time he was at bat and just could not get the ball he would switch bats and smash the last pitch. He loves smacking that ball. And like a true Jackson runs FAST!

The Mighty Durham Bulls!

Middle peep's team had a GREAT season from the beginning. They were 7-0 before spring break. They were a little rusty and lost 2 straight when they came back. When they were 8-2 a tragedy happened and middle peep had an accident. He and oldest peep were helping me in the kitchen when they collided. She was carrying a pot with hot water to the sink and the water splashed on his shoulder. It was crazy. If not for our good friends, it would have been a lot tougher. The great news is that after 2 weeks of care (and a little surgery) he is fully recovered. Kids are amazing healers. There will be no scar and the color is already coming back. So during this accident the team played 3 games and lost one game by one point. Middle peep took it hard because he believes had he been able to play it would have been a win. No worries, he was able to come back for the last game and win. They ended the season with an 11-3 record. They won first place in their division. In the post season tournament, they played some amazing games. Real nail bitters, I would say. They lost one game. (it is double elimination) Because of that they had a double header last night. They came back to beat the same team they lost too, and then lost to the number one team in the other division. But I tell you, it came down to the wire. 2 innings over regular time and they held those boys to just 9 runs while they scored 8. Those boys showed true heart!!!! They finished 2nd in the post season tournament.

Go Stingrays!!!!

Oldest peep the swimmer. What a season she has had! She started competitive swimming in October. Boy was she rusty, and those others kids so fast. She was upset about for a long time. Slowly and with a lot of determination on her part, she made her way up. Her first meet was great, but her second....WOW! She dropped many seconds off a lot of races. She finished the short course season (25m at a time) in top shape. And then she turned 11 (moved up an age group) and the long course (50 m at a time) began. Her first long course meet went very well. She needs improvement in her butterfly stroke but that comes with time. She did a great job. Everyday she WANTS to go to practice. She pushes herself to swim faster and better. I am so proud of how determined she can be. Don't tell her she can't do something. She will prove you so wrong. She has another meet in the beginning of June and her summer league team starts practicing soon too. She can't wait to be in t he water all day long. She is committed to practicing everyday with her summer team and at least 4 days with her year round team. I don't know where she gets all the energy. On her year round team for practice they swim in lanes 5-8. She started the year in lane 8 (the slowest). In February, her coaches moved her to lane 6 and then shortly after lane 5 (the fastest). She is not the fast in her lane but definitely one of the fastest for her group, after being the absolute slowest. And she is having a BLAST!!!!

Papa peep is doing great at work also. Papa Peep's company continues to recognize his great talent.



And I am trying to get these kids educated. Slow and steady we are doing it. This year I have added baby peep to the mix. He is reading so much better than at the beginning of the year. We are so happy. He still says he can't read but he can. His penmanship is great also. He loves art and says all he time that he will live with middle peep when he grows up so he can paint all day while Middle peep goes to work. Middle peep agrees to this deal as long as baby peep let's him invest all the money he makes! I am up to my ears in planning for next school year. We will all be learning 4 languages to some degree......Spanish (going very very well), Latin (WOW!! We all get it!), Greek (working on the alphabet), and French (oldest peep insists). In History we will be studying the Ancients (reading some Homer and Plato, etc.). In Math, oldest peep and middle peep are both starting algebra and hands on geometry, and baby peep will be starting the basics. Writing is going very well for everyone. I finally found something that is rigorous and is teaching them some very strong writing skills. We will dabble in Poetry writing for a semester in the fall. Science will be Earth Science for all with lots of experiments. I hope I survive!!! And for Critical Thinking we are going to start Philosophy. It has been tough finding books for this, but I think I have managed to put something together. I found a college text I am using to learn it myself and then write something up for the kids. We will see how it goes. I have all summer at the pool to plan that one.

Well that is our little update. We had a lot going on and I don't see an end in sight, but I survived baseball and swimming in one season. I can do anything!!!!

Aquarium Field Trip

Later today I will download the shots I got at the aquarium today.

We attended a home school workshop. It was really great. The tour guides were very friendly and very attentive of the children.

They divided them up by age ranges and so I had to stay with Baby Peep and the other 2 went along together. I felt better about it when a friend came and her daughter was in their group.

The tour guides took us first to see the whale sharks from the top of the tanks. They are amazing creatures. The swim gracefully in the water and have an interesting shape. To me they look like you could swim right along with them and they would enjoy to have a friend near by; someone to scratch behind their blow hole.

more later as we have music class to get to.......

More haha's!

Baby peep came into the kitchen while I was filling a pot with water. I was stirring something at the stove and he looked at the sink and said, "Mom, your pot is over flooding." HAHAHAHA! This kid cracks me up.

Salvete!

I have much to write about but I have not been in a writing mood. Today, while schooling the oldest peep in Latin, I was so proud it made me want to tell you all about it.

Her assignment was to translate a story written in Latin to English. She had to translate it nautically. The author of this text is very silly that way, which is one of the many reasons we love it so much and HIGHLY recommend it. She did such a marvelous job that I will share it with you.

i will leave out the accents because i don't know how to add them here

An Adventure by Sea

olim quinque pueri cum quinque puellis novam inculm petere constituerunt. ibi non incolas superare cupiebant sed invenire aurum. gladios et hastas trans undas non vexerunt, sed multum cibum et multum aquam et magnum librum. librum scripsit poeta Quintus et parvis nautis dedit; pulcher erat et pulcher verba continuit; nautae librum magnopere amabant. fortier per undas navigabant; ubi venti boni fuerunt, laeti erant; sed ubi mali fuerunt, quod in magno periculo erant, miseri erant. tandem insulam invenerunt; in oppidum festinant. ibi incolae nautis "salvete!" dicunt.

Translation by an 11 year old!
Once upon a time, five boys with five girls decide to seek an island. They did not want to overcome the inhabitants, but to find gold. They do not take swords and spears across the waves, but much food, much water, and a big book. The poet Quintus wrote the book, and gave it to the small sailors; it was beautiful and it contained beautiful words. The sailors loved the book. They bravely sailed through the waves; when the winds were good they were happy, because they were in great danger, they were miserable. At last they found the island; they hurry into town. There the inhabitants say, "Hello!" to the sailors.

to be continued................... What do you think happens to the boys and girls.........will they find gold............will the inhabitants help them or chase them away....stay tuned to find out...........

I peaked ahead so I know there is more to come.

She wrote all that and only asked my help a few times. I think this peep has got this Latin thing down! We are almost done with the first book in this series and can't wait to start the next one. The best thing about it is that I am learning just as much as she. I can't remember the vocabulary as well as she can, but I have the Spanish to help me out there most times. Anyway, I am such a proud mama.

Out of the mouth of babes

A high school film student has created a short film on a study she performed. It is impactful to say the least. Most who watch it are left stunned. We must be better aware of the stereotypes we pass onto our children.




On a lighter note, today, baby peep raced downstairs in a puff. He immediately blurted out, "Mom, I just saw a wood pepper!"

He has a thing for renaming birds. One day oldest peep was telling him that the pretty bird outside her window was a blue jay. Later that day in the kitchen he pointed to a bird and said, "Mommy look! A red jay!" I will miss these days when they are gone.

Homeschool regulation: The revenge of the failures

Here is a good article in support of homeschooling. The author has a Ph.D. from Stanford and a law degree from Harvard. He currently practices law in Houston.

Human nature will never seize to amaze me. Instead of recognizing their own failures, they will find someone else to blame in order to distract the attention from their own inadequacies. In a nutshell, because you feel incompetent you bully the competent ones. Once a bully always a bully, I guess. Where else does that occur all too frequently!?

History in Action!

We are using Story of the World Volume 4 for History this year. We started a few weeks ago but are only on chapter 3 because we are getting together with friends to do the activity and map portion of the lesson. My friend is a super busy home school mom, writer, editor, entrepreneur so we can only meet when her schedule allows us. Anyway, I have been thinking over and over the last few weeks what activity to do. I did not particularly care for any in the guide for this lesson so I combined 2 of them somewhat. I made the kids pretend we were traveling back in time to search for Dr. Livingstone in the wilds of Africa.

I had them prepare back packs with things they would need for the journey. The girls, in true girl fashion, packed lotion, shampoo, a pet dog, a pet bear, a blanket, chocolates, oranges, water, and of course the Nintendo DS. The boys, in true boy fashion, packed the weapons (bows and arrows, bombs, swords, daggers, super heroes, etc.), food and lots of it, sticks for fire, blankets and toys. We were ready!

We began our journey on boat. It was rough but we made it to Cape Town. Since it was night we made camp and had us some dinner. We set up a fire and talked about how we would start looking for Livingstone the next day. We heard some elephants near by and there were monkeys swinging from the vines about our heads, but fortunately no lions. The next morning we brushed our teeth, the girls put lotion on so they would not smell since we had no river near by to bath in, broke down camp and headed north. The map carrier got the map confused and had us walk straight tot he bottom of a mountain. It was tough going but we got ourselves and all of our stuff up the mountain (stairs). As we continued to head North we almost walked right into a heard of sleeping lions. Our translator spotted them and we were able to avoid them.....almost. One man was busy looking the wide open sky and did not notice we had turned a different direction. he ended up right in the middle of the pack. The male lion awoke and gave chase. The weapons came in handy and we had lion stew for mid morning meal.

We continued north when we ran into another small mountain and then into a very wild African tribe.










Our translator tried to ask if they had seen Dr. Livingstone, but with dialects being so similar here, she ended up insulting them and we had to flew under a carpet of arrows trying to make us lunch. We safely escaped with not one person injured. That was close. We camped again to collect our thoughts and energies near a river. We restocked on water, and applied more mosquito repellent. They are ruthless here. We updated our journals with the mornings activities. We decided to split up here. The cook headed straight west to set up the camp for the night. Dinner would be ready by the time we reached him and we could wonder more slowly asking questions of the natives. The main group headed north west. They ran into a reporter from NY who was also hunting for Livingston. We were close to getting Livingstone's general direction, but failed when our Russian companion insulted the Americans. We had to head out of there FAST! Also our translator was proving to be more of a problem than help. Every tribe she spoke with she insulted and we were chased many times for an offense no one understood.







Finally one brave companion went to his many books on the subject and discovered that Livingstone died near Central Africa and we were close to his death date so he must currently be in that part of the country. We scrambled again and headed to Central Africa. We searched and searched and found no clue. We set up camp near a river when out of the vines walks by the man himself....Dr. David Livingstone. We were surprised to see him but very excited. We had accomplished our mission. We tried to warn him of his impending death if he did not leave Africa with us, but he was a stubborn man. We think he really loved this county and would not leave for any reason. We bid our farewells and returned to the present.

My Title for the Month!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Most Noble Lady Patricia the Innocent of Chignall Duntisbourne Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Fortune Cookie for the Week!

My Fortune Cookie told me: Don't you just hate it when even the aubergines are plotting against you? Get a cookie from Miss Fortune

Politics Again!

OK so tonight was the boring speech almost no one in America ever watches. I must say I was very eager to hear what our Prez had to say. I also must admit that I was not surprised by all the hogwash. It is very sad. You can read the text here if you missed the riveting speech. Too bad you miss the delivery that way.

Late Breaking News!

Well, have we been busy. We spent a few days since my last posting with Baby J. He is so cute!

On Saturday, my middle peep made his first basket in a game. He was so excited. The video is very bad. I took it with my cell phone but I just have to share

Isn't it great??!

His friend also got fouled and got the chance to score as well. They are so cute!

All parents were very happy for them. Again the joy it brings them is priceless!

The PROPHET, by Kahlil Gibran

I love this and thought I would share. Enjoy.

On Children

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children."
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Lord of the Flies!

Today we had a rule free day. I allowed the children to do as they please with no answering to anyone. They could do what they wanted when they wanted. That included me as well. My little experiment worked as I thought it would.

10 year old daughter was begging in tears for rules by the middle of the day. The 8 year old and the 5 year old boys were living it up! MEN!

Anyway, tomorrow all returns to normal. The Oldest Peep will have her scheduled day and the boys will fight the schedule all day long. I would be awful as an unschooler. I would either read blogs all day long or watch soaps all day. I need the schedule as much as the girl. I like checking off little boxes when they are done.

On another note, I received the Spanish program I ordered from Galore Park. I have been looking it over and am very impressed. It is exactly what I am looking for. I will be very happy to see where we are in a year with this. I have become obsessed with them learning Spanish. I am very upset they did not learn it from the beginning. OK I am upset I did not teach them from the beginning. But it is Papa Peep's fault for not making me do it! HA HA! He would laugh at that statement.

The Greek is going well also. They are very motivated to learn it. They like the funny letters.

BARAK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT 2008

Incredibly moving!

Keith Olbermann - Barack Obama on Iraq

click on title for you tube video


I WILL work for the Obama for President 2008 campaign. I fully believe in this guy.



PM

Telemarketers

click the title for a hysterical listen

How I would love to do this to a telemarketer. They always call at the wrong times. Is there ever a right time? But when you tell them not to call back they always do and many times. How I wish that ugly business would just disappear!

Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek

click on title to see website for product

Disclaimer: I do not work for this company nor have any affiliation with them.

This weekend I received my order from Greek 'N' Stuff. I purchased the Reader and the Level One workbook as recommended to me by a poster on the Latin Centered Curriculum Yahoo Group. Looking it over and listening to the cd briefly, I am excited to start this. They go over each letter well and provide the sound and how to write it. I plan on teaching the children (all 3) 2 letters a week including how to write them. I really think Julian will enjoy learning something with the older two and I fully expect him to keep up. He is writing well and reading well now. I see no reason not to include him as well.

I will start tomorrow. I will keep you all updated on our progress. After whatever point that we finish learning the Greek alphabet, I will start Elementary Greek. I am very excited about that.

WOW!!!

This weekend I have been left utterly amazed by my children! AMAZED!

We will start with Middle peep. He is on a basketball team this winter. It is the first team sport he has been in other than summer swimming league. Well today they had a game after a very long break for the holidays. My baby stole the ball like 5 times, had a rebound, a few assists, and 8 attempts! That is awesome!

WHY you ask?

It is great because before this game he had touched the ball in a game less than 5 times and had never even attempted to shoot. I am a proud mama today.

Oh, yeah, they won too!


Now after Middle Peep's basketball game came Oldest Peep's swim meet. She has been practicing really hard for this. She has not always wanted to practice, but like the slave driver I am I have driven her to every practice and talked to her about pushing herself harder and the benefits of achieving goals. Well, it paid off. She did wonderfully. She was better than wonderful.

Her first event was a 100 Individual Medley. That means she has to swim 4 laps on each stroke. First is butterfly, then back, then breast, then freestyle. Her strongest are back (even though she hates it) and freestyle, followed closely by breast stroke. She is scared of butterfly. Her next event was a 50 Freestyle. Third events was 100 breast stroke and then 50 back stroke.

Here is how she did:

Event Time Place in Heat Place Overall Previous Time
IM 1.35.60 1 out of 10 33 out of 84 NT
Freestyle 35.44 2 out of 10 13 out of 95 38.22
Breast stroke 1.47.72 1 out of 10 18 out of 67 NT
Back stroke 42.08 1 out of 10 10 out of 79 46.14

How can mama (and papa peep) not be proud! If you want to see her swim go here.


Now not to be out done, Baby Peep read to me today. We were at a restaurant today and he wanted me to read a sign for him. I was talking to Papa Peep and asked him to wait a minute. I guess a minute was far too long for him because the next thing I know he is running back and forth between me and the sign telling me each word that was on the sign. Some he got wrong because he used each letter sound to read the word. We know English doesn't work that way. But the fact that he attempted to read was a proud moment for me. Every time I mention to someone that he is reading or I say to him that he could read, he vehemently denies it. Today, he took one huge step closer to literacy.

All around today I am a proud mom. Not because of how their accomplishments make me feel, but because of how it makes them feel!



PM (Proud Mama)

Homeschool Band

Today, I loaded the children into the car and drove a whole 3 miles roughly to Homeschool Band. I would walk if

1. there were sidewalks in this crazy city

2. we did not have quite a load to carry with us.

Oldest Peep is learning to play the violin and Middle Peep is learning to play the guitar. The violin teacher could be a bit more engaging but this is her first year teaching. I hope the lessons rev up for the Spring concert. Oldest Peep has also now decided to take Chorus lessons. Today was her first day and I must say I am very impressed. Just speaking with the teacher I got a very good feeling. They will be singing Broadway tunes, Gershwin, and more. Let's see how it goes.

Middle Peep's guitar class is interesting. The teacher is knowledgeable and engaging. He has taught Middle Peep well. His choice of music, however, leaves allot to desire. He sticks to one genre and it is not something we would listen to EVER. I am not sure how to approach him about choosing something more.........central.....mainstream. I would like Middle Peep to continue guitar lessons. I may start looking for private lessons and start those when these are over. I would like him to play trumpet next year but I will have to sit in on that class before I decide.

Baby peep is not old enough to join yet, but next year he will start recorder. He is very excited about it. I will have to see what book they will be using. He can then move to guitar at 8 and then band at 9. I would like to stick with this band but I will have to think about how much of this genre I am willing to put up with.

Overall, they are learning a skill that they can use the rest of their lives.

KidChess in the News

click on title for article.....you may need to register

This is the place we play Chess. We started with them when oldest peep was 5 years old at a homeschool group's classes. We moved to take classes and attend tournaments at their facility when they opened it a few years ago. I am very thankful for Chess in our lives. The KidChess coaches make it fun and educational at the same time. My children have learned alot from the many coaches they have had over the past years. Now our youngest is showing a great interest in Chess and was able to obtain a draw against his sister yesterday. Watch out Papa Peep, he will be beating you soon enough and then everyone in the house will be better than you at Chess. I found Susan Polgar has a blog. How exciting. Also if you like join Chess Talk. It is a yahoo group another mom and I started to help connect parents of chess players in this big city. All are welcomed but the topic will not stray far from Chess and how it relates to the Atlanta Metro area.

still working on a tagline

Power Yoga

So I have been taking the Power Yoga class at the Y for the last few months. I try to only miss it if I absolutely must. I did not attend the week of Christmas because there was no class and New Year's week I had the flu. I went on Tuesday and I found that I am getting stronger.

YIPPEEE!!!

The instructor, who is fabulous by the way, told us to think of a meaningful word and mentally recite it while holding some of the poses. I chose "CALM" and if you know me, you know I am not always this. Well, my entire house is not always this. Calm is not a word I would use to describe any of my children. They are not unruly, but they have so much energy and enthusiasm for life that calm is not something they know how to do. It is not in the DNA structure folks!

I don't know if chanting calm helped me focus better and that is why I felt stronger or if it really calmed me but I had the best workout I have had in a long time. It could also be that I had not done anything "exercisish" since before Christmas. I think it was probably a combination of all of those.

However, my word for this year will be calm. I will chant it as often as possible; even when the children are literally climbing the walls as they do often.

Now for something unrelated....I need a tag line! How do I sign off??? hmmmm.......

Today's Fortune Cookie!

My Fortune Cookie told me: Excessive dedication to unwholesome pursuits threatens to puncture your self of wellbeing. Get a cookie from Miss Fortune

GA Chess

click on the title GA CHESS to go to the rule


As you know middle peep is very much into chess. He is quite good at it and lives for the game. He is starting new lessons with 3 other chess enthusiasts and we hope that this will help elevate his game. He is currently rated 870. Let's see what it will be after a few months of lessons.
My reason for writing this entry is however to vent!

The Georgia Chess Association is THE place to go for chess information in Georgia. They keep a calendar of tournaments as well as follow very important areas of chess outside and inside the state of Georgia. They also run several tournaments in the state. This brings me to my point. For several years they have excluded homeschoolers from playing on teams or in team tournaments. Their reason behind this is that schools make up the teams and it is the schools that are competing...public and private. You need at least 5 student in the same age group for your school to be able to compete as a team. Based on your students' points they award first, second, etc. There are a few tournaments that as homeschoolers we can participate in: any national tournament and some non-GCA events.

Recently, GCA came out with an official policy on homeschool team participation. Well, I figured it would not be easy to meet the requirements, but these are impossible. After a few of thinking it over, I am ready to explode. Even if the homeschoolers met for classes at a homeschool group not all groups offer classes in all the subjects required or they are not offered at the level needed. It also occurred to me that not even public and private school children meet these requirements. Are all your chess students in the same class learning from the same curriculum? How can a 1st grader be expected to be doing 3rd grade level math? I am very disappointed, at minimum, in this decision. When the GCA told me they were coming out with a rule for homeschoolers, I asked them if they had any homeschoolers in their panel or had they heard from homeschoolers to better understand us and they basically said no and were not interested in learning about us. I offered and I know one other mom who offered to meet with them and be interviewed. They declined us both. They were going to make their decision and we had no say.

The reason behind all this is that they want to avoid a super chess team from forming. Well, to that I must say thank you. Thank you for assuming my son homeschools simply to beat out other kids in chess tournaments. Thank you for punishing those kids that simply want to compete with their friends and they and their friends just happen to be homeschooled. Thank you for limiting who the other kids and teams in this state compete against. With this decision you are not making better tournaments.

If the homeschool teams happen to be on top it is for a very good reason. They are good chess players. When homeschool kids study something they do so with gusto. Homeschool kids have more free time to pursue their interests. They do not sit at their desks for 8 hours or more and watch teachers have to deal with undisciplined children all day long. Then go home and do homework for another 3-4 hours.

An “all-star” team assembled or recruited by student abilities rather than by their pre-existing regular study relationship will not be allowed.

The majority of the children we know are homeschoolers. It is the circle we have decided to be in contact with. From those homeschoolers, we are friends with those whose interest are similar to ours. Those include chess players, swimmers, baseball players, and basketball players. I would have never met a number of homeschool families if not for our mutual interest in chess.
The GCA decision makes no sense. Homeschoolers do not register or have to report to one particular place. How else are we to "meet" if we do not have some sort of relationship. I do not study with groups of people because my children do better at home with one teacher......ME, hence why I homeschool.

Are you seeing the big picture now!!!!!

To say only if you meet for academic classes and do these said subjects and you happen to play chess is ludicrous. NO ONE will meet those requirements.

Now there are ways I can see to meet these requirements but that is not the point. Those kids on my son's team would gladly meet one afternoon and do the required subjects asked by GCA and we could participate as a team but isn't that what GCA is trying to avoid. They think by putting more restrictions it will stop some people. They are dead wrong. It will just make the majority of us angry. Personally, I swear here and now to avoid as many GCA sponsored events as possible, even at the risk of my son's tournament play.

I am sorry for my rant but I thought I would share my anger. My son just wants to play chess and he enjoys it that much more when he can compete with his friends and not just against his friends. At Saturday's tournament he had to play against someone he practices with and has lessons with. Because this child is not homeschooled he could not be on our team. He hated winning against him because he knew it would be a lose for his friend.

My Fortune Cookie!

My Fortune Cookie told me: Even the Amish can use letter-openers. Get a cookie from Miss Fortune

I love this!

My title!!!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Imperial Majesty Patricia the Omnipresent of Throcking in the Hole Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Since I can't sleep AGAIN, I went a searching for blogs to read and look what I found.

Go get your title! I LOVE the Omnipresent.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!

OK! My little sis has bugged me just about all week to write something. I have felt no desire to write since not much has happen around here. I was dog sick with the flu and am still suffering lingering affects. My sleep has also suffered greatly. I spend all day tired but once the kids are in bed I am recharged. This is not exactly a good thing.

Today we did a little school work. I have finally put together a doable schedule.....I hope......for the final installment of our history program. We have not done much history since our return from Ecuador. I just did not have the energy to fight the children for narrations. I also did not want to fight with oldest peet to pay attention. Well I must say she has learned to focus her mind this year. Maybe she is maturing or years of me telling her to focus have finally sunk in...I don't know...but she was very attentive today. I know she likes to know the answers and it frustrates her when her younger brother can answer before she can. Since we are doing it with friends sort of a co-op thing she is enjoying it.

I don't know what I will do next year with her but I do know I have to spend the next 2 years catching her up. She needs to do the 4 year logic stage of history in 2. We took a very long time to get through the grammar stage and we now have to make up for it. I may use Pandia Press' History Odyssey. I really want something secular, with as little bias as possible, and sufficiently detailed to make it an independent program.

Baby peet is going to need more and more of my attention and she must start working more on her own. I need to set a schedule for the little guy as well that will help me keep track of what he is learning and what progress he has made this year. The reading is finally coming along.

Tomorrow Middle Peep will be taking part in a chess tournament. I am scared as to how he will performed. In the last tournament he was in, he had a meltdown round and we still have not really discussed it. It was the last round in a 2 day, 9 round tournament event. I understand his meltdown but it was very much out of character. He is my happy little rock. Maybe on the way to the tournament I will talk to him about it. That reminds me I must print out directions.

Well I am off to watch some TV before I doze off. OH I must tell you all about a new series Papa Peep and I have found. ROME on HBO. It has been very well cast and even though I know the story and how it ends, it is very cool to have it before me. HBO has done a great job with casting, costumes, makeup, and customs of the Roman period. They did their homework. I was hoping it would be appropriate for the kids but alas, it is HBO and definitely NOT kid appropriate. It is very entertaining for the adult enthusias however. The best thing is that most fo the series is available ON DEMAND on Comcast! See you all tomorrow.