First Shave

Recently, BG got a job with our local grocery chain.  We are so proud of him for this great accomplishment.  At one of his orientation meetings, they explained that he needed to s-h-a-v-e his moustache.  (Moustache!?!?!?)  So, CP set about to teach BG how to shave...

That's one HANDSOME young man, if I do say so myself!

In the Heat of the Night

This year for Christmas, we got the kids 3 gifts each.  One gift was "Something Fun to Do".  For BG, JA, and TJ, we bought them tickets to see the

VS.

The Heat is BG and JA's favorite team (and used to be TJ's favorite team until the Oklahoma City Thunder started winning)

We drove over to Orlando on New Year's Eve for the game.  We had nosebleed seats, but with the jumbotron, it was easy to watch the game.  We could still hear the squeak of the shoes from the floor though which was neat.

TJ ended up getting a free T-shirt when they fired some into the stands.  He wasn't paying attention and it literally dropped into his lap when the people behind him knocked it down.

It was an awesome game - it ended in a tie at the end of regulation.

And the Heat won the game in Overtime!  

The game was over by 8:00 pm so we left and had dinner at Steak and Shake before heading home.  We were home well before midnight.  All my kiddos were safe at home at the stroke of midnight (which is something I can't say about my 80 yr old dad!!!!)

High School - Part 2

So, as I began to discover more about homeschooling high school, I figured out one very important thing about the state of Florida.

We are NOT required to teach any specific subjects or any specific amount of hours.  Whatever I define as "high school" is OK for the state of Florida.

I knew that, but somehow, I didn't think about this when I saw the requirement for a high school transcript.

However, I figure it's a pretty good framework from which to structure his educational material.  So, that being said, I started putting together a list of videos for BG to watch.  Fortunately, our local library has a TON of educational videos from which to choose.  My list is found here   along with a number of other free resources for video based lessons.

One other lesson that I think is critically important to teach our children is Personal Finance/Economics.  This is an area that I think is sorely lacking in the public schools.  So, in order to fulfill this requirement, I went searching for some Dave Ramsey materials.  I remembered that many churches offer the Dave Ramsey courses, so I began looking for one close to us that fit our schedule.  There is a Teen program, but it was not at a good time and at a church too far away, but I found a Financial Peace University  class that was starting soon and was at a great location and time for us.

So, I enrolled myself, BG and JA.  So far, it has been very good.  While some of it is not directly applicable to them (Debt Snowball), I am hopeful that having been exposed to this information that they will do the right things to begin with rather than having to dig themselves out of a hole later.

I have even been picking up some good pointers for us as parents.  We have a variety of approaches to chores/allowance over the years, but we tweaked things again after hearing Dave's ideas.  About a month or so ago, I had been to our local bank branch and asked for check registers for all of the kids.  They willingly supplied these for free!  We started having the kids keep track of their allowances and spending in their check registers.  We believe this is GREAT experience for when they are older and have a real bank account.

We had originally assigned the kids chores and paid them once a week whether they had done their chores or not.  However, when we reminded them to do their chores during the week, we charged them a "Reminder Fee".  Now, though, after listening to Dave Ramsey, we have changed how we do this.

We made a set of chore cards and included a "commission" and how often the chore needs to be done on it. The kids get to choose what they do (with some limitations) and get paid for doing it.  However, we tweaked things a little bit.  The kids have all week (Sun through Friday) to get the chores done and get paid for them.  If there are things that aren't done that really need to be done, then Mom and Dad get to assign the chores on Saturday.  The catch, though, is that the kids do NOT get paid for doing these chores (a little incentive to get them done during the week)!

Well, since this is getting long, I'll post more tomorrow.

P.S.  While I would love to take credit for the photos in the previous few posts, I can't do that.  I borrowed all of the photos from various locations on the internet.

High School - Part 1

Before we brought GW home, I hadn't worried much about homeschooling high school.  I know the thought of homeschooling high school scares many people, but I figured if I made it through college, I could get them through high school and with Robinson Curriculum, I wasn't really concerned at all.

At first, after bringing GW home, I wasn't thinking about high school.  It was only in the last few months (such forethought since he became a 9th grader in August!)  that I really started to think about how I was going to teach GW what he needed to know to graduate from high school.

At first, I wasn't worried.  My goal for GW is to be able to pass the entrance exam for our local community college.  I figured two more years at home and the nurturing environment would be best for him.    Then while looking at the requirements for entrance to the community college, I saw that a high school transcript would be required. 

I looked up the requirements for a high school diploma in the state of Florida and this is what I found: 

4 yrs of English
4 yrs of Math (including 1 yr of Algebra 1, 1 yr of Geometry, and 1 yr of Algebra 2)
3 yr of Science
1 yr of World History
1 yr of American History
1/2 yr of US Government
1/2 yr of Economics
2 yrs of a Foreign Language (DONE!)
2 yrs of Electives

That's when I started to panic.

HOW on God's green Earth was I supposed to get all of this information into this boy's head when he is reading English on about a 3rd grade level!?!??!?!  (Which, by the way, I'm QUITE proud of since he's only been home for 18 months!)

So I sent out a plea for help on our local Homeschool Teens yahoo group. 

God sent an Angel.  One of the folks that responded is an unschooling mom who just happens {wink, wink} to be the ESL teacher for the international students at our local community college!

Unfortunately, we weren't able to meet for about two weeks, but during that time, I kept digging and thinking and looking and I finally stumbled across (what I thought) was a genius idea

Documentary Movies

I had noticed that GW is understanding the TV shows (like Cosby and Little House on the Prarie) and movies we are watching.  What an easy way to get the information into his head!  But then my question was "How do I know the information is getting there and staying?"  This is where the ESL teacher provided an answer.

She told me to have him write about what he watched.  She said to have him start with just one sentence.  Do this for six to twelve weeks (we school year round - six weeks on; two weeks off), then for the next six to twelve weeks, have him write a sentence, but mark it up and have him make the corrections.  Then for the next six to twelve weeks, have him write a paragraph.  Keep this up until he is writing a full five paragraph paper. 

She also gave me some other terrific tips, but since this post is getting so long, I'll write about those next time.  I'll also post about a number of sources I've found for educational videos, and eventually I'll post about my plans for JA. 

Shark Bait

CP, BG, and JA had the opportunity to go Shark Fishing with our church youth group last night.  They had a great time (with the minor exception of when BG got sea sick).  About 27 guys and dads went on the trip.  Almost everyone caught a shark.  Some were kept and some were thrown back.  The best part of all was some quality time the boys had with their dad.

Toot your own horn

This summer, three of the boys were blessed to be able to participate in a summer youth band program.  For FREE!  The only reason all four boys didn't participate is that the program was only open to 6th through 9th graders.

BG chose to learn trombone; JA chose to re-learn drums; and AT chose to learn to play saxophone.  They were also joined by a friend from church who is learning to play clarinet.  They practiced two hours a day, four days a week for four weeks.  At the end, they put on a concert for the public.  They played four songs - London Bridge, Early Bird March, Eagle Summit March, and Mouthpiece Waltz.  Mouthpiece Waltz is a special arrangement of the Blue Danube Waltz using mouthpieces.

Here are two pictures of our musicians:

If you can't tell, they are each "playing" their instrument.  We forgot to bring the camera so these are the only pictures we have.  They did sell a DVD which I purchased, but haven't received yet.  Hopefully, I can get some more pictures off of the DVD.

A Wedding

Today we went to my nephew's wedding.  He waited until he found the right one for him.  I am so proud of him for waiting!  I pray they have a long happy marriage!

I took the opportunity of a captive audience to take some pictures.

I also managed to get pictures of all the boy cousins

and the girl cousins

We had a great day!

Corporate 5k

When TJ finished first in the Eye of the Dragon and the Zoo Race, he decided to try to win the special award for winning one race in each series (there are 3) in our county.  The only races left for the third series are a 5k and an 8k.  

TJ wasn't sure about running a 5k since he had only run 2 mile races before.  I found out that my company would pay for our entries in the Corporate 5k, so I asked TJ if he wanted to run this race as a practice race.  He wasn't sure - mainly because he didn't think it was a "real" race.  I finally convinced him that it was a "real" race and he decided that he would run.  Of course, I think it helped that I told him that I was going to run (ok, walk) the race and that if I could do it, then he could do it.  

So, tonight at 6:00pm, we set off.  

SG actually joined me in the race.  We were near the back of the pack and on the opposite side from CP (our photographer).  

As expected, it didn't take long for TJ to make it around all 3 miles (this race was run in a neighborhood).  

He actually finished the race before I crossed the 2 mile mark!

Here is SG finishing her first ever race!

and finally

me 

(technically, I "ran" a 5k about 3 yrs ago, so this wasn't my first)

This race didn't have age groups since it was a Corporate 5k.  All of the awards were for the company teams.  However, TJ came in 31st out of 600 participants and he was the 1st boy in the 9-11 yr old age group.  (Of course, there were only 4 boys running in that age group since this was for employees!)

I think he should have NO problems winning another trophy in the 5k on Saturday.

Harlem Globetrotters

Homeschooling has it's benefits!  We were able to get group tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters AND since we had such a large group, we were able to have a Meet-n-Greet with a couple of the players before the game.

Here is Bingo with the kids (HJ didn't want to join us)

This is Stretch. He is 7' 4" and wears a size 16 shoe.  Notice how "tall" SG is standing next to him!

This is Handles.  He is the "Clown Prince" of Basketball.

Not sure who this is.  This was during warmup before the game.

Needless to say, this was not your ordinary basketball game!

Slam Dunk!

They have a lot of crowd participation.

If you have ever been to a Harlem Globetrotters basketball game, you know they do a great water trick. If you aren't familiar with it, you can see video here.

Well, WE were the recipients of the water bucket last night!

It was great!  I knew what was going to happen, so I was snapping away.  Unfortunately, I had my zoom lens on, so this was about the best I could do. 

AT, TJ, and JA who were sitting closest to the aisle were sure they were going to get soaked!

We had an AWESOME time!