http://laraszoo.homeschooljournal.net Just another Homeschooljournal.net weblog Sun, 16 Nov 2008 04:34:08 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A couple of weeks ago, when Jordan decided it was time for her to make some money, I politely shut her down on her request to google "How a girl can make money."   Just didn't think that was a wise approach.  We did get on the library website and search ... http://laraszoo.homeschooljournal.net/2008/11/15/entrepreneurial-spirit/ No, I'm not talking about advanced mathematics.   I am talking about the inverse relationship between the size of the messes my family makes to the amount of time I've just spent cleaning. On Friday and Saturday I decided the house was beyond what I considered acceptable and I cleaned and cleaned ... http://laraszoo.homeschooljournal.net/2008/11/09/chaos-theory/ Somehow I managed to get all of my kids interested in NANOWRIMO this year.   Did all the planets align just right?   Jordan and Alex have made very modest goals (1000 words), but that would be about 1000 words more than they generally willingly write.     The kids site has a forum ... http://laraszoo.homeschooljournal.net/2008/11/03/nanowrimo/ Reading is more fun with a friend My little Halloween ninja.  And, he decided to read Night of the Ninjas today.   He somehow skipped the Magic Treehouse craze as a 2nd grader, but is picking them up now. Well, the teen years could be interesting.... And what's Halloween without some gross food? Now, ... http://laraszoo.homeschooljournal.net/2008/11/03/halloween-etc/ The astronomy class did the ole make a contraption that will protect an egg from a big fall.  Alex designed a tube within a tube with the egg protected  "bungee style" with rubber bands.  Unfortunately, it landed wrong and his eggstraunaut did not survive.  Still a lot of fun. Aubrey got ... http://laraszoo.homeschooljournal.net/2008/10/24/just-an-ordinary-week/ Nothing pithy or enlightening to write about, but having one of those moments realizing I'm not doing much structured work and so I'm wanting to believe we've been doing something productive. Jordan is learning sign language in one of her co-op classes, and even participating in a group deaf chat night ... http://laraszoo.homeschooljournal.net/2008/10/21/learning-log/ I somehow managed to volunteer to team-teach a co-op class on Hands-On science.   We've been doing fun, educational, hands on projects with 22 kids ranging in age from about 5-12.     As I've been gathering stuff together, I started pondering the difference between understanding a concept and being able to name ... http://laraszoo.homeschooljournal.net/2008/09/29/terms-vs-concepts/ We decided to take a fall trip.  September really is the ideal month for homeschooler travel.   We got into all the museums for free, and had the place to ourselves.  Everyone is back in school and yet it is too early in the year for schools to be doing field ... http://laraszoo.homeschooljournal.net/2008/09/19/our-extended-field-trip/ Not sure if I've blogged about it, but I've openly mocked our local public school for their ban on playing tag or any "chase" games.   I mean, its tag.    Not exactly life threatening. Last week at homeschool recess the kids were playing when Alex was ushered over to me by his ... http://laraszoo.homeschooljournal.net/2008/09/19/ooooops/ http://laraszoo.homeschooljournal.net/2008/09/01/a-camping-kind-of-weekend/