Fun with Jane & Dick » Homeschooling

Back into the groove. Homeschooling at Starbucks again.

Jane — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:25:11 +0000

Because the weather was so nice, and because I can’t seem to stay away, the whole family ventured to Starbucks to homeschool.

It’s days like this that make homeschooling more fun and I don’t have to be muttering under my breath between gritted teeth,

“I hate teaching, I hate teaching!”

Usually, I’m saying that when I am explaining something and after a few times of explaining it and they don’t get it, I’m quite frustrated. I know, great teacher. Listen, I’m not naturally inclined to be a patient person (hence why I resisted homeschooling at first) but I TRY. I’m great at giving assignments though!

Dick is working, making phone calls, etc.

We alternate holding Benz.

After a bit, Benz gets sleepy.

The other day though, I was asking the girls if they wanted to go to Starbucks again to have class.

Louise was like, “No!”

I was surprised, “Why???”

“Because I’d rather play when I’m at Starbucks and I can’t. I have to do homework.”

Weh, weh, weh. No complaining!!

Yes, being a “teacher” really tries my patience.

I seriously SUCK at teaching.

(This is why I signed up to be a lunchlady at our co-op).

But having school at Starbucks like this makes it MUCH better.

-Jane, Starbucks Homeschooling Mom.

Being Green. I’m not talking about the environment, I’m talking color!

Jane — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 11:23:08 +0000

It was green day at our homeschool co-op again. Usually it falls on Saint Patrick’s Day but we had to delay it due to maintenance being done at the school. Even still, our co-op is about having fun and GREEN DAY was still on the agenda. Yay! Because my girls love to dress up, like their Momma.

So, the girls donned all the green they could.

Their class.

GREEN FOOD

Tradition at our co-op is that we also have GREEN FOOD on this GREEN DAY.

Chicken Fettucine Alfredo.

With a little bit of green food coloring…

And voila!

Green Chicken Alfredo.

Not bad…kinda like eating that green pasta.

Green garlic bread.

Green beans.

Green dessert.

Green rice crispy treats.

The food tasted great! It was just a matter of getting past the color for some of the kids.

-Jane, Green Chef.

Painted Hand Art.

Jane — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 16:18:02 +0000

Our homeschool co-op encourages and allows kids to explore their inner creativity.

On this day, the middle schoolers used their hands, literally & physically, to create art.

Swan head. Awesome!

Snake with open mouth and fangs protruding.

Siamese twins is what I believe this student told me this was.

Writing with a piece of chalk. Pretty cool.

This student told me this is an eel. Yes.

A sun.

Nemo.

Pity the Fool.

Every student expresses themselves differently.

Didn’t they do a great job? Awesome!

-Jane, Lover of Art.

Homeschool in bed…

Jane — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 15:21:55 +0000

My girls just don’t know how lucky they got it.

Who else can have class in bed?

Here they are, all snuggled in bed, in their pajamas and I’m reviewing some English basics prior to their Standardized Testing (SATs) coming up.

Yes, I get them tested yearly to make sure I’m not retarding their brains. Oh and I’m not trying to offend anyone and be non-PC. “Retarding”, in its verbial form, means to delay or slow down.

Here were doing a review on syllables. I was showing them a weird method one of my language arts teachers taught me. She was a nut but I love her! (Shout out to Mrs. Robbins.)

Anyway, so every time your chin hits your hand when you’re saying the word, it’s one syllable.

Except, the girls are exaggerating their intonations creating too many syllables!

So, this method proved unsuccessful for us.

We move on to review subjects and predicates.

Remember I painted a chalkboard in their room when I redecorated it?

It’s come in handy!

I may get criticized for my teaching methods (Yes we homeschool at Starbucks, outside, by the fireplace and in the car, etc.) but my girls kick ass in math on their placement tests and are in the mid 90s percentile and average or above average in English. Not braggin’, just sayin’. It’s probably just good genetics though and not my teaching ability. (Was that a backhanded way of complimenting myself? LOL)

The apple does not fall far from the tree. I always aced the math and bombed the English. I’m Asian, what can you say. You can probably tell from my writing I was not an English major (Not many Asians are.). My writings are just sputterings of all the crap in my brain.

-Jane, Homeschooling-in-bed Mom.

Jane fails first Glucose Test and must go in for the 3-hour Test. Ugh…

Jane — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 18:53:04 +0000

So, I failed the preliminary Glucose Test but missed the mark marginally. I scored 152 and 140 is the limit. Still, they wanted me to go in for the extended Glucose Test, which lasts THREE HOURS and fasting is required…because telling a pregnant woman to starve herself is a good thing.

After delaying and forgetting (possibly purposefully) that I needed to come in for this test, I finally dragged my ass to the doctor’s office. Who has three hours to sit around and do nothing? Not this Jane.

Like I said, you are to eat NOTHING after midnight from the night prior to coming in. The nurse even made sure that I didn’t have any breath mints or gum. Then they take the initial blood sample. I say initial because you end up getting stuck with that needle FOUR TIMES.

Then they give you this ultrasweet, nasty orange drink…the “glucose drink”, which I was told must be downed in 5 minutes.

Geez, I’m all boobs and tummy.

I am very disturbed by how they REST on my tummy too.

It was a struggle but I did it…and under 5 minutes too!

Yay for overachievers!

Now it’s a matter of waiting.

And waiting…

Oh good!

Ellen is on!

I love her!

This keeps me entertained for a a good hour.

Heidi Klum is beautiful but not that funny.

Then I get the needle again.

More waiting…

And waiting…

Can you tell I’m bored?

And again another blood sample on the hour.

This happens until I’ve given blood four times and I’m left sure that I could never be a self injecting drug addict, even though the nurse says I have great veins. This is not a compliment….protruding veins.

I leave STARVING and am ready to chow down. It’s a co-op day and although I was not there to be a lunch lady like usual, I am headed there for lunch because they had SHRIMP BOIL for lunch. Yum!

Here’s my first plate. Yes, I said first.

And here’s my second plate.

And dessert.

Yes, this preggar can eat. (No snickering Dick!)

Good thing I already had the glucose test.

I have also just gotten the results…PASSED!

Oh yeah!

(I’m doing my preggar happy dance…

…which cracks Dick up when I dance with my big belly rollin around.)

Phew! I wasn’t looking forward to having to adjust my diet.

-Jane, Eating for Two Preggar.

Taking the Classroom Outside

Jane — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 23:43:12 +0000

Recently, we’ve been having some amazing weather for February in Metropolis. Sunny, mid 60s and beautiful. So, we moved the classroom outside, cause you can do that when you homeschool.

The girls just spread out a blanket and bring their assignments outside.

I’m also there in the event there are questions.

And, I’m getting the Vitamin D my doctor says I need.

I prefer to get it naturally.

I have a great view since I trimmed my bushes.

Should the girls have any questions on their assignements, they can step into my “Office”.

Snacks are provided.

And yes, that’s me, falling asleep during class.

Old habits are hard to break.

-Jane, Homeschool Teacher.

Thelma goes CRAZY at crazy clothes day at our homeschool co-op.

Jane — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:17:04 +0000

Our co-op often has a special day where the kids can dress up. We have pajama day, crazy hair day, crazy hat day, etc.

Today was crazy clothes day and Thelma threw something together that morning. Pretty crazy that girl and she didn’t even have any help from her crazy Momma. I stopped dressing them a few years ago.

She’s so cute, she kills me.

-Jane, Mother to Crazy Thelma.

Mind Blowing Science: The kids learn about acids and bases.

Jane — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:29:39 +0000

For Christmas, my cousin from Australia (MIA), you know the one who visited me and we went mechanical bull riding, sends the girls an awesome Science kit called Mind Blowing Science.

The girls have been itching to do the projects ever since Christmas and yes, I’m just getting to it now. Because I’m thinking this could get messy, it’s take me some time to be able to sit down and do it with them.

Today, we did Activity 2: Color Changing Liquids.

(We also did Activity 1 but the pics aren’t as interesting.)

This “lab” shows the girls what happens when you add an acid or base to Red Cabbage Powder.

We start out with three cups.

The girls take turns doing stuff in order to be “fair”, each pouring water into their cups.

We add red cabbage powder to water.

It dissolves and turns the water PURPLE.

Then, they both added the BASE to their solutions,which turned the purple water BLUE.

Thelma used more so hers turned darker blue.

Time to see what happens when you add ACID to one of the solutions.

Acid turns the solution RED.

So now you have an ACIDIC solution (red) and a BASIC solution (blue).

Now to see what happens when you add the BASE (blue) to the ACID (red).

RED and BLUE make PURPLE!!!!

So we’re back to our original Cabbage Powder Purple.

We end it by seeing what happens when you add Baking Soda to the purple solution.

It fizzes! Hence I guess this is how they get Soda drinks.

Dick happens to pop in during class to see what we’re up to.

Ooohhh…ahhhhh…

Naturally, after we’re done, the girls do a spectacular job cleaning up.

Thanks cousin MIA! I know it took me a while to get them started on this but we’ll be making it a part of our weekly science class lab. They love it!!

“So cool and fun!” – Thelma.

“This was awesome!” – Louise.

-Jane, Science Teacher and cousin to MIA.

Homeschooling by the fireplace and in the car???

Jane — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 02:37:43 +0000

Today was a blah, overcast, occassionally rainy, chilly kind of day.

Perfect, I thought, for some homeschooling by the fireplace with some mellow music in the background (like Sade, Dido, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Michael Franks, etc.). If they are few and far between, I welcome such days that force me to slow down.

Damn my kids are lucky.

And some hot Persian tea too?

Do you think that if you got to sleep a good 11 hours (11pm-10am), woke up, had a great breakfast that wasn’t rushed and had class by the fireplace with hot tea, a blanket, and soothing music in the background that you would do well in school??? I’m pretty sure I’d be 10 times smarter than I am now. Now imagine that! Wouldn’t that be a magnificent improvement.

Slowing down didn’t last very long. I had to go buy some more school books for them because they’re blasting through the ones I have. Instead of doing their grade level workbooks, I had to buy one grade level up. When you homeschool, you move so quickly in much less time.

After that, it was off to the training academy for Thelma. We happened to arrive fifteen minutes early. Huge surprise. It’s been a long time since I was early for anything. I’m sometimes on time but I’ve morphed into my hubby (gasp!) and his LATENESS has defnitely rubbed off on me.

Now, I guess a negative of homeschooling (in the eyes of my girls) would be that because homeschooling is mobile and flexible, AND because we just got some new workbooks, we are able to homeschool IN THE CAR while waiting for Thelma to finish her training.

Like Yin and Yang, there is good and bad to everything.

But remember,

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

-W. Shakespeare.

One of my favorite quotes and so utterly true.

-Jane, Homeschool Mom.

Dick and I attend Prom.

Jane — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:54:21 +0000

Our homeschool co-op was the host this year for the Homeschool Prom of Metropolis.

The venue was the ballroom of one of the hotels in downtown Metropolis.

Of course, there was a dance floor.

There was even food at the prom. I assure you we had no food at my high school Prom!

The theme of the night?

A night in Vegas!

Guess who the photographer is for the event? Yours truly!

I also bring Dick as my helper and J Lo so she can see, (and me too, my first homeschool prom),

what a homeschool prom is like.

I’ve never shot a prom before but I figure, how different could it be from a wedding reception?

THE KIDS

The kids at the prom looked so beautiful.

PARENTS ATTEND PROM TOO.

There were several parents on hand who came to chaperone and to have a good time!

Some didn’t even have kids that were in high school and were still there to party.

Ahem Shirley (my fellow lunch lady). Actually, I think it’s pretty cool.

I know, can you imagine having your parents at your prom???

You would be horrified.

That is, unless you had cool parents like Dick and I.

Ok, I don’t know why I’m looking like CHYNA (That super buff reality TV star and former WWF wrestler) but it must be all that weed whacking. I’m not really down with the MANLY look for myself.

Anyway, like I was saying…I’m sure Thelma and Louise wouldn’t mind if Dick and I attend prom with them. Spoken like a true delusional parent.

Dick goes on to say: “They’ll WANT us there with them. It’s more fun with us.” He’s more delusional than I am.

YMCA

It’s a full house and there are about 300 or so kids here. The DJ is doing a FAB job of playing good dance / hip hop Top 40 music, which keeps a FULL dance floor the ENTIRE night.

What kind of prom would it be if the DJ didn’t play the ultimate party song, YMCA by the Village People.

After seeing these kids look so beautiful, maybe I should have an ADULT prom as one of my theme parties.

The only times I’ve ever gotten this dressed up was at my own proms and at the black tie dinner on a cruise to the Bahamas.

-Jane, Prom Photographer.

Ducky and Monk Get Schooled.

Jane — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:24:20 +0000

Thelma and Louise treat Ducky and Monk like their own kids, changing their clothes, feeding them…taking them everywhere we go.

If we have to leave them at home, the girls always sweetly explain to Ducky and Monk why they aren’t allowed to come with us.

Today, the girls decided to homeschool their own “kids”.

MUNCK

What’s this? You mean Monk doesn’t spell her name M-O-N-K?

Apparently, all this time I’ve been getting Monk’s name all wrong.

Monk’s name is spelled MUNCK!!

I’m not sure I can retrain my brain to remember this.

You know how it is once you’ve already labeled something in your mind, it’s hard to change it.

HANDWRITING

So, Ducky and Monk are practicing handwriting today.

Here Louise is giving Ducky some assistance. Ducky is supposed to be holding the pencil but unfortunately her little arm flaps are too short to reach. Awww.

SCHOOL PICTURE TIME

The girls inform me that it is now time for student pictures.

Ducky…

Monk…

These are the easiest subjects I’ve ever had to photograph…I don’t have to keep telling them to sit still.

-Jane, Mother of Homeschooling Thelma & Louise.

Crazy Clothes Day at our Homeschool Co-op

Jane — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:46:15 +0000

Our Homeschool Co-op always has fun things that we do. This time, it’s crazy clothes day.

One day, Louise comes over to me and tells me that crazy clothes day is coming up and she can’t think of anything to wear. She complains that she never wins any of the fun day competitions. I tell her winning isn’t important and that it’s more about having fun. But, if she did want to win, instead of moping around and already telling herself she won’t win, to put that effort into being creative and figuring out what to wear so that she could have a chance at winning. She mopes off anyway, disappointed that I haven’t solved her problem for her.

Yes, I could have helped her figure out what to wear but then she wouldn’t help herself. I’m all in support of helping her put something together but I want her to come up with the idea. Honestly though, I don’t even know where to start. What does “crazy clothes day” even mean? I’ve never participated in a crazy clothes day. So, I let the girls interpret it for themselves.

Later, an idea pops into her head when she was playing around with a cardboard box we had.

Louise gets the idea to use the box as part of her outfit. She wants to paint it. So, here’s where my support comes. I help her paint it.

“I’m SO excited I think I’m gonna scream!”

Louise was super excited for coming up with an idea on her own and following thru with it.

The next day, we get to school.

The girls are ready.

Thelma decides to wear an old Halloween costume of Louise’s when she was 2. It’s quite small but she made it work.

And Louise…

We wrote “crazy” on the front and the definition of crazy on the back.

Of course, crazy has several meanings so I chose the one I felt was appropriate for Louise.

Extremely Enthusiastic.

(This is quite fitting as you can tell from the pictures of her.)

And finally, Louise got her wish. Her and Thelma got third place. She won something!

Louise was so excited to win something!

I am extremely proud of my Thelma for putting her efforts into a goal that she had and following through with it.

-Jane, Proud Mom

Homeschooling on the road.

Jane — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:16:01 +0000

As I may have mentioned, one of the great benefits of homeschooling is that you can take it on the road. This is one of the main reasons why we homeschool.

Thelma is numbering her paper for a spelling test. Spelling is not her strong suit.

Yes, the desk is a bit unconventional.

She misses 4. We still have work to do.

-Jane, Homeschool Mom

Pajama Day and Breakfast for Lunch at our Homeschool Co-op.

Jane — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:44:10 +0000

Our homeschool co-op loves to have fun so today is Pajama Day and we’re having breakfast for lunch.

JANE: LUNCH LADY

No, I do not wear a hair net! Here is me and my fabulous LUNCH LADY CREW.

Laverne, Me, Shirly

We all agreed that we don’t actually look very fabulous today. But, it’s pajama day and well, it fits with the whole rolling out of bed and going to class thing.

We may not look fabulous but we cook up a pretty fabu breakfast/lunch.

SAUSAGE

I take care of the sausage.

PANCAKES

Buttermilk Pancakes. Compliments of Laverne.

Chocolate chip pancakes, dee-lish!

Compliments of Shirley.

DANIEL FAST

Poor Shirley can’t eat anything we’re serving up today because her Church just started a fast: The “Daniel Fast“. Her and several others in our co-op are all on a strict diet. I don’t know much about this fast but from what Shirley tells me, these are some of the restrictions:

1) You can’t eat anything with added sugar in it. Natural sugar is fine.

2) It’s a vegan diet so nothing that comes from an animal is allowed – No fish, no meat, no milk products, no eggs. ‘

3) Fasting lasts for 21 days.

She just started 2 days ago.

I think Dick would love for us to go on this diet. Uh oh.

On the plus side, I’d say there would definitely some weight loss involved!

Listen to me, all I care about is losing weight when it’s more of a cleansing.

Yes, a cleansing would be super nice too.

(And losing 10 pounds.)

But now my kids are now like…

“Mommy, you know how to make chocolate chip pancakes???“

Crap. Thanks Shirley!

OJ, SYRUP, AND DESSERT

Orange Juice.

Syrup.

Ice Cream Cake

A WHAT??? A SNUGGY???

Since it’s PJ day we’re somehow talking about PJ’s and something called a “snuggy” comes up. A what? What the heck is Snuggy? I have NO CLUE what they are talking about.

Laverne and Shirley are shocked. They’re like…

“It’s on those commercials on TV…”

No, I don’t watch TV.

Then one of the high school kids comes thru the lunchline in one.

Thelma calls it a “backwards robe”. Good description. At first glance, it looks like a blue monk’s robe.

I think I still prefer a throw.

Catering and serving up lunch for around 100 people is not as easy as you think. Luckily, we have a great crew! I love my lunch ladies…we jive so well!!

-Jane, Lunch Lady

Homeschool Feild Trip: Mayfield Dairy Tour. A day full of CORN, HAY, and TEETS.

Jane — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:52:54 +0000

Time for another Homeschool Field Trip with our Co-op.This time we visit the Mayfield Dairy and go to their 1200-acre farm where they have a Corn Maze, Hay Ride, and so much more!

First stop is the Mayfield Dairy. Like most manufacturing plants, they’re afraid you’re going to go a divulge their secret processes or start milking cows yourself and compete with them. So, no taking pictures allowed inside. I’m super disappointed. We get a tour of the facility where they show us how the plastic gallons are made and the milk is packaged.

We have to wear these lovely bright red hairnets inside the facilities…cause you don’t want to find our hair in your milk, do you? SUPER SWEXY! I take one home for Dick as well. lol.

My favorite Mayfield product is hands down, the Brown Cow Juniors. They’re the perfect size and I love the crispy chocolate on the outside with the creamy vanilla on the inside. Yum!

FUN FACT: Did you know that a cow can smell as far away as six miles? That’s pretty far!

NEXT STOP. THE FARM.

The farm is two miles down the road from the dairy. On the way, I see a beautiful country farmhouse that looks like it belongs in the country-sides of France.

We almost decided not to go to the corn maze today because it was windy and cold and I thought, it’s just a corn maze. But, when we got there, there was so much more than that.

As soon as we pull up to the farm, I immediately notice the massive field of sunflowers. I love sunflowers!!! I’m so happy with the way these images turned out.

Since I’m going to a dairy farm, you’d think I’d see some cows right? No, not even one! Mayfield gets their milk from local dairy farmers, so no cows here! This old milking area is what the Mayfield’s used to use before they outsourced their milk. This nice, local dairy farmer explains to us just how it’s done. Being a farmer is hard work folks! Much respect.

The girls were SO ready to milk a real cow but instead, they get to practice on these fake ones. Darn and shucks!

Joe Pesci: This could be confusing for you. “Teet” may sound like “teeth” to you given the pronunciation, but they’re not. Teet are the cow’s nipples.

NOW TO TOUR THE MAZE.

This year the maze is cut into the shape of a pumpkin. I’m intrigued as to how they plow the field to make these shapes…how do you know where you’re going when you can hardly see anything but corn stalks?

This picture I took made me think of that horror movie, Children of the Corn. I never watched it though since I don’t like watching horror movies. Why would I want to scare myself into oblivion? Reminds me of the time I went to my prom, afterwards, the guys had this genius idea they would put in a scary movie (Cape Fear) so the girls would cuddle close with them and be our saviors. It put me to sleep instead.

The kids have to find six checkpoints and every corner almost looks the same. It’s quite easy to get lost but luckily, there’s a “corn cop” to help you find your way in case you do. We had to consult to the “corn cop” on several occasions.

HAY JUMPING.

You wouldn’t think large bales of hay would be any fun would you? Guess again. This keeps the kids busy for quite a while as we’re waiting to go on a hay ride.

THE CORN BOX.

It’s all HAY and CORN folks. We’re on a farm, what do you expect?

WHAT ELSE IS THERE?

Lots to see and do…

FINALLY. THE HAYRIDE.

We had such a good turnout from our homeschool group that we’re packed in like sardines.The more the merrier! The views of the farm are spectacular. However, as much as I love the farm, this Jane could not live that far out in the country.

We had a FANTASTIC time at the Mayfield Farm. The only negative was the mud from all the recent rain. Luckily, we didn’t have rain today until after all the fun was done, but we were definitely victims of the mud. Louise was running and got her shoe stuck in the mud and so…FOOT in mud! DAYUM! Ok, so we’re throwing out those socks. Mommy is not very excited about the mud in her car or cleaning those shoes.

Thanks for a great day MAYFIELD!!!

-Jane, Mud-cleaning Mom

Homeschooling Field Trip: Part 2 – Wonderworks

Jane — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 12:37:33 +0000

We’ve just left Parrot Mountain and now here we are at Wonderworks. Wonderworks calls themselves an “Amusement Park for the Mind” that offers things such as an Inversion Tunnel (My kids freaked out and refused to go thru this.), a Bubble Lab, Optical Illusion Art, a Light and Sound Zone, Disaster Simulators, and tons more! The upside down building is enough to spark your interest alone! But, this week was FREE for homeschoolers & their family so who can pass up that deal when it’s normally $20/adult!?!?!?

Earthquake simulator.

Tornado simulator.

“It’s MY turn for the shooting game!!”

Here, the pulses of light trick your brain into thinking the raindrops are moving upwards…but, in actuality, they’re not!

An air-hockey game that is has no puck or those knob things that you smack them with (What are they called???). It’s controlled just by the wave of your hand and the shadows of the puck move around like a real air-hockey game. I want one of these for my house!

These two guys have electrodes strapped to their heads and are trying to move a metal ball (Can’t see it in this pic) that is in the middle of the table with their minds. It’s a battle of the brains, only, I think the ended up falling asleep while focusing so hard!!!

The girls got to rock climb.

Look! It’s like that life-size keyboard at FAO Schwartz in the Tom Hanks movie “Big“. Love that movie!!

Thelma was so proud of herself for being able to lay on a bed of nails. I was proud of her too because I tried it and it hurts…alittle…

We had a psychedelic time playing with the light screen.

Now for some psychedelic art.

You are getting sleepy. No, you are getting dizzy!

Field trips are the best!! I know I always looked forward to them when I was in school.

There was so much more to do here and my kids had an absolute blast!

Our family enjoyed a super-fun filled day together exploring, learning and having fun!

-Jane, Homeschool Educator

Homeschooling Field Trip: Part 1 – Parrot Mountain

Jane — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:46:49 +0000

I’m taking Thelma and Louise on a field trip with their homeschool co-op. Where are we going today? We’re headed to Parrot Mountain and Wonderworks. Because our co-op scheduled a group tour, we were able to get a discount at Parrot Mountain for only $5 per child, one parent is free. Also, Wonderworks was running a week special: Free for Homschoolers! I invite my lovely mom along too because I know she loves birds and gardens and would enjoy a day with her daughter and grandchildren.

For those that don’t know what a co-op is, it is a supplemental “school” day(s) where your kids go to a more traditional school environment with other homeschool students, have classes, eat lunch, and go on field trips together. You can select anywhere from 1-3 additional school days to supplement what you are already teaching at home. Our co-op meets only once a week and I LOVE our co-op because it’s an awesome group of ladies that get together to make learning for our kids fun.

We’re headed to Parrot Mountain first and the drive is about an hour and half. I let Fanny Mae drive because I want to take pics and write stuff down. My mom doesn’t realize this about herself but she can’t stand those uncomfortable silences. She feels the need to keep the conversation going and has a tendency to talk and talk and talk. Even still, I just smile and let her talk because with me being so busy these days, I want to just enjoy this rare one-on-one time with her.

However, my brain can’t help but talk to itself and as she’s talking, I’m thinking to myself:

1) Man, her lips are going like 100 mph.

2) I wonder if she notices she’s hardly let me say word.

3) Breath mom, breath!

4) Slow your roll Fanny Mae!

PARROT MOUNTAIN

As soon as we pull up to Parrot Mountain, I see these parrots. I thought they were the fake, decorative kind but no, they’re real and they don’t even fly away!

We stop to take some pictures of the gorgeous, flower-lined stairs and railing.

Just whimsical and beautiful!

I love this pic of my mom and the girls.

The gorgeous, sweeping stairs.

Oh yes, and Ducky and Monk tag along today as well.

We meet up with the rest of the crew for a tour.

And we met all the birds.

WE GOT UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL.

The kids had a fun time seeing the parrots do tricks and hear them speak and sing. I think the most fun they had was being a branch for the birds to perch on. After the show, we walked around because there were more birds to see. It’s like a zoo with only parrots in it.

I have to admit, it was hard to see these beautiful birds all caged up with hardly any room to fly. When you think of a bird you think of free flying. This seems to inhibit their natural tendencies and seems cruel for us to cage them up just so we can see them up close. I don’t know if they let these birds out every once in a while, I would hope so, but I’d say for the most part they are mostly in these cages. Sad.

The gardens and landscaping on the premises were really nice. It was a peaceful, scenic walk through nature filled with all kinds of flowers, plants, and trees.

“Please don’t crap on my head!!”

Here I was duped by this unassuming, diaboical little Mexican dude to come into this large cage full of birds with him holding a cup full of nectar juice. Next thing I know it’s like a scene out of that Afred Hitchcock Movie “The Birds” where they’re all swarming around me, landing all over me, fighting to get a sip of my sweet nectar. Meanwhile, all this little Mexican dude is doing to help me is to keep refilling my nectar cup so that even more birds come. At the same time he’s laughing hysterically at me, he takes out his camera phone and is snapping away taking pictures of me getting swarmed by birds. I’m sure his friends and family back in Me-hi-co are going to get a great laugh out of this! Muchas gracias amigo!

Love these benches. I wish I had one for my yard.

We had a really great time learning about parrots, meeting and holding the birds, and walking along the beautiful gardens. Next stop. Wonderworks…

-Jane, Homeschool Mom

Homeschooling at Starbucks. That’s right, Starbucks!

Jane — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:37:36 +0000

Sometimes the kids need a change of environment when we homeschool so I decide to move the classroom to STARBUCKS. Yes, Starbucks….because when you homeschool, you can do that! We take our butts, our books, and our bikes out to the land of Java so that Mommy can also get her much needed caffeine.

As we’re biking out there, they’re playing their usual game of “PRETEND”. The PRETEND banters alternate between the girls back and forth. Here’s some of their PRETEND QUOTES:

“Pretend our parents are dead and that’s why we only have bikes”.

(I guess if they have parents then they have sometime to drive them around in a car. LOL)

“Yeah, and pretend only our Nanny is alive and that’s who Mommy is.”

“Pretend we’re poor so we don’t have any batteries for the car and that’s why the car is dead”.

I don’t know why so many of their games involve having dead parents…are they trying to give me some kind of hint?? Here’s my theory: Have you guys noticed that all the big Disney Movies have only one parent? Snow White (mom’s dead), Cinderella (mom’s dead), Sleeping Beauty (dad-no mom), Anastasia (no parents), Arial (no mom), Jasmine (dad, no mom). What’s up with that???

ROD.

When we get out to Starbucks I see my new friend Rod. Rod is also a regular Java-addict and so I introduce him to my girls. (I think they’re alittle intimidated by his size but they see later that he’s just a big teddy bear.)

Today we do some spelling, writing, science, and reading.

Then, the most amazing thing happened. I discovered that I am NOT the only one to homeschool at Starbucks! We meet these really nice ladies that homeschool as well!

And, we’re not alone! On a different day, I met these super nice teenagers that were homeschooling at Starbucks. You can always tell when you meet a child that’s been home-schooled. They’re super down to earth, well spoken and extremely polite!

(Look who’s there again. It’s my friend Rod!)

All I have to say is, great minds think alike!

-Jane, Starbucks-Homeschooling Mom

Homeschooling: Not for everyone but DEFINITELY for us!!

Jane — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:29:27 +0000

I get asked all the time, “Homeschool?!?!? How do your kids get the “social” aspect of school?” My response is…”Besides letting the kids out of their cage for about an hour a day to stretch out their legs, we occasionally take them to the local grocery store to see how other humans interact.”

Granted, I didn’t believe I could home school in the first place but I never doubted the benefits of homeschooling. I was just lazy, selfish (wanted my ME-time), and knocked it before I even tried it. – Is that the correct saying???

Anyway, convinced that I wouldn’t have the patience to teach and wanting to preserve my precious me-time, I sent Thelma to kindergarten at the same public school I went to…a pretty good, typical suburban primary school. I’m not knocking public school since I went to public school K-12 and I turned out ok. Ummm…Wait…Well, let’s just move on.

Like a good, suburban mom, I joined the PTA. I got suckered into being the Head Class Mom because no one else wanted to (Note to Moms who want to “contribute” – this job sucks ass.), volunteered to help teach Cultural Arts for the class (Somehow I became the main cultural arts person as well.), and volunteered once a month to help out the teacher grading papers and what-not. Here’s a pic of me teaching “cultural arts”:

School started off wonderfully – Thelma loved her classmates and school. She was SO excited about school but after a while the school early start time, 7:45am for a 5-yr old, started to become a problem. It didn’t matter if Thelma went to bed by 8pm, it was still harder than hell to get her out of bed by 6:00am. My little bundle of energy soon became lethargic, unmotivated and didn’t like school anymore. This started to concern me. Since I can’t keep my opinion to myself, I wanted to know if there was anyone else out there who felt the same thing and voiced my dislike of the early-school start times. I called in to our local newspaper that lets residents call in any comments or thoughts about the town. Well, it generated quite a buzz. Some agreed but some were like “this woman is just lazy to take her kids to school”. I actually kept the newspaper clipping. I couldn’t find the responses though…damn!

Needless to say my comments did not motivate the public school system enough for them to change the school times. I learn later that student attendance is directly related to school funding so that explains a lot. It’s all about the money folks!! Really, when you look around, when is it NOT about money in our society. Craziness!

Our mornings would be frenzied and rushed where I’m frantically annoyed, screaming “We’re late! We’re late! Get up! Go go go! Put your cereal in a mug and eat your breakfast in the car!” So, for starters, I didn’t want to start off every morning being a bitch to my kids and be remembered as that crazy Vietnamese woman screaming and rushing the kids in the morning. It’s not really a great way to start off your day.

During the school year, we would miss a few days due to our travels to take care of business. There’s a predetermined amount of unexcused absences (I think 6-7 days) and when you exceed that you are referred to THE LAW. Then you have to explain yourself some stranger judge why you lock your kids up in a cage. Ok, j.k. Our absences came from business trips to take care of our businesses. Dick was on the road often and we felt it was more important to be together as a family. We were never referred to a judge but we were “warned” by Thelma’s teacher that we had missed too many days. I politely explained to her that my husband travels and we feel it’s important to be together as a family. Any missed schoolwork on the road, I mean, it’s Kindergarten for Pete’s sake! Well, it didn’t matter. There are RULES and they must be followed! For me, rules are great if they make sense but making my family stressed and unhappy didn’t make any sense to me.

Since Dick and I don’t have “normal” 9-5 jobs, sending our kids to public school really started to affect our family’s happiness. I believe that school, work, family life is all interconnected and public school was putting a heavy strain on our family life. Life was not good. The kids were miserable. Tired. Not liking school. Dick and I were arguing more because we tend to work late at night (sometimes until 3-4am) and I still have to get up at 6:00 to get the kids ready for school while Dick sleeps in until noon or later. So, Jane not happy! See Jane kick Dick’s ass! You know the saying, “When Momma’s not happy, ain’t NOBODY happy!”. True dat!

We absolutely love and believe in homeschooling and here’s why:

In addition, because it’s one on one, we get so much done in such a little amount of time. We can cover so much material in one hour. At the public school, there are 20 kids to one teacher. Do you think she has time to cover things the kids don’t understand individually and wait until they understand it? No, they don’t have time for that. They have to move on. Every child learns at different speeds but that’s not really taken into consideration when you’re in public school.

And in all my years of school, all I did was study to pass tests. It wasn’t interesting, except for Art. I crammed for tests, would get great marks, but then forget it the next day. I mean, really, why do I have to memorize EVERY DATE in history when I can Google it? Ok, so we didn’t have Google back then. Hell, we didn’t even have the internet. But, It’s not how much information you can memorize but knowing how to get that information the fastest to do what you need to do. I try to teach my girls to think for themselves, to solve their own problems analytically instead of insisting on things that don’t matter.We also take breaks when they’re tired so that they can focus better and absorb more.

Not everyone agrees with our way of educating our children, not even my own family. But, that’s ok. They don’t have to agree. We realize this may not work for everyone but it works for us and keeps our family together and happy! And that’s the MOST important thing for us. Our family’s happiness!

Peace, Love, and Happiness People!

-Jane, Homeschool Teacher