Organizing My Kitchen Part 1

This is the first of, hopefully, many posts about the process of organizing my kitchen. I am reading a wonderful book, "Kitchen Organization Tips and Secrets" by Deniece Schofield - "Time saving ways to streamline your kitchen-from storage and cleaning to grocery shopping and meal planning." The book is incredibly thorough, funny, and well-written. Schofield truly takes the reader by the hand and goes step by step through the process of making any kitchen far more efficient.


So far, I have read the first three chapters and am greatly inspired. The titles of the first three chapters are:

• Time Management: The 80/20 Principle
• Creative Kitchen Storage Ideas
• Making Your Kitchen Accessible.

While many homemakers struggle with a small kitchen, this is not my problem. Actually, I have been greatly blessed with a huge kitchen which I absolutely love. Having said that, I realize that I simply do not have it organized very well at all. I end up walking around a lot during meal preparation and hunting for needed items. Making dinner always seems like more of a hassle than it should be.


The very first step Schofield suggests is to Discard and Sort. Schofield suggests using a four box method to do the big Discard and Sort. Before beginning the Discard and Sort, the hopeful homemaker is to arm herself with the following four boxes so that she can stay in the kitchen and lessen distractions:

• Trash
• Give away or sell.
• Put away.
• Don't know.

Armed with the aforementioned three boxes and the trash can in the kitchen, I have begun the Discard and Sort in my own kitchen. I am not waiting for that "huge block of time" that will never come my way - I have decided to just get started and try to work on organizing the kitchen a little bit at a time. So, today, after we were finished with school and before I needed to take my daughter to swim team, I worked in the kitchen for about a half hour. Here is a picture of the boxes which are clearly labeled:

FYI - my husband is the manager of a grocery store and the 40 oz. beer boxes are the BEST boxes for projects around the house - very sturdy and durable. We always keep a stack in the garage. We didn't drink all of the beer ourselves!

I had time to finish one bottom cupboard. I cleaned the shelving, and discarded and sorted using my three boxes. Here is a picture of the completed, clean cabinet.

Schofield, in her book about kitchen organization, recommends assigning each item in one's kitchen with an A, B, C, or D value. A's are those items that are used most often and should be easily accessible. B's are used less often but are still important - access to them should still be easy. C's are those items that are important but are used less often - not daily. C's, for me, are items in this cupboard - crock pots, apple peeler, and bread machine. In my re-organization, I want to keep all of my C items on the far side of the kitchen which is not especially convenient to my food preparation area. But, right now, I am just focusing on DISCARD AND SORT.

Books and Movies from March

I am continuing on with the 50 Book Challenge from my local library. I am still doing pretty good - I am now up to 20 books. So, what did I read in March?

• Kiss of the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Dark Hunter series) ****
• Booster Shot - How to Energize Your Homeschool with Unit Studies by Kym Wright *****
• Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox ****
• The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson ***
• Best Practices for Planning Reading and Writing Instruction by A. C. Fornshell **

I also managed to watch quite a few movies this month. Several I watched with my children and the rest I watched while walking on our treadmill.

• Ghost Rider *****
• The Patriot ***** (I'm not sure I stopped crying through the whole movie!)
• Pride and Glory ***
• Race to Witch Mountain ***
• Monsters vs. Aliens ***
• Bolt *****
• 13 Going on 30 ****
• Eagle Eye ***
• Cinderella Man *****(I know I didn't stop crying through most of the movie!)

Reminding Myself About Why I Homeschool My Children

A wise woman once told me, when my children were very young, that God gives us one child to make us proud, one child to make us humble, and all the rest will take care of us when we are old. I have found much truth in that statement over the past 12 years and my children have taken turns making me humble and making me proud.


My children are taking the Iowa Test of Basic Skills this week. I have very mixed feelings when it comes to standardized tests and children. On the one hand, I know that they are a part of life and an important part for those students wishing to go on to college. I know that my daughter wants to go to college so she needs to gain skill in taking standardized tests. I imagine my sons will want to go as well so they need to start gaining skills in taking standardized tests.


I also think they are a useful benchmark to use as PART of the overall academic assessment of a child. On the other hand, I know many children struggle with testing and, overall, it is a very stressful experience. I also think we can put too much emphasis on test scores as THE defining characteristic of a child's progress. Certainly, it can be a part of the academic assessment of a child - but only part.


One of my children is really struggling this week with testing. I worry about the percentile rankings of this child's scores. Why? I don't know why, for they are likely only to confirm what I already know about this child. Working with my children, day in and day out, I have a pretty good grasp of my children's academic strengths and weaknesses.


So, rather than worry about issues that I decided a long time ago are of lesser importance to me, I thought this would be a good time to remind myself of why my husband and I chose to homeschool our children 6 years ago and have never regretted our decision. Choosing to homeschool our children seemed like SUCH A BIG DEAL 6 years ago and not everybody in our lives was comfortable with our decision. Now, we've been homeschooling for quite a while and it's just the way we roll. I rarely sit down and think through the reasons that we are doing what we are doing regarding the children's education. So, here's my thoughtful list in no particular order:

• We homeschool so that we can spend as much time as possible with our children. They are pretty much with us most of the time and we really like being with them. Sure, I'd like a mute button sometimes, but most of the time we just love being with them.


• We homeschool so that we can provide a personalized education to our children, one that helps them with their weaknesses and challenges their strengths.


• We homeschool because we like the really great teacher to student ratio that we have here at home.


• We homeschool because we enjoy the flexibility it gives our children to pursue their passions and areas of interest. My daughter swims competitively on a USA swim team. She practices every night for 2 hours a night and has meets 2-3 week-ends a month. My middle son is very artistic and spends hours upon hours sculpting clay figures. Homeschooling allows us more flexibility for pursuing passions.


• We homeschool because we love the flexibility it gives our family to live our life around OUR schedule. My daughter attended a private Christian school for kindergarten and I was surprised by how much it changed our life - our schedule was determined by the school schedule. I love the flexibility of homeschooling.


• We homeschool because we love going on educational field trips together!


• We homeschool because we wanted the children to understand that there are lots of different ways to be smart, all of which are valuable.


• We homeschool because we think it is OK for kids to go at different paces in their learning and at different paces in different subjects.


• We homeschool so that my husband and I can be the primary influences on our children as they grow up to adulthood. This certainly does not mean that we are the only influences but we are the primary influences.


• We homeschool because we wanted our children to love learning.


• We homeschool because I love to homeschool the children. Homeschooling the children is the most rewarding thing I have ever done and I learn so much all of the time.

So, rather than get anxious, I plan to focus on using the test results as I originally intended to use the test results. Not as a bragging feather in my cap or something to worry about, my plan is to use the tests as a tool to point out areas in which each of my children need to be challenged more to help them grow in that academic area. Not as a testament to the effectiveness of my teaching methods or the ineffectiveness of my teaching methods, rather the tests will be used as a tool to highlight those academic areas in which each of my children need more work and practice. The tests will not be a definitive measure of the academic progress of each child but as ONE measure of the total picture of their academic progress. Standardized tests are a tool and the tool will only jump off the counter and beat me over the head if I allow it to. I choose, instead, to use the tool to our family's best advantage.

Book Review - Booster Shot! Energize Your Homeschool with Unit Studies by Kym Wright

This past year I finally fully gave in to my "hands-on momma, let's do a project" leanings and took a unit study approach with our homeschool. I truly think this past year has been the best year of homeschooling so far, at least I've enjoyed it more than any other year!

Last summer, I read several books about taking a unit study approach to homeschooling but my favorite was by Kym Wright. Her book, "Booster Shot! Energize Your Homeschool with Unit Studies" was so helpful to me that I just finished reading it again. As I start to plan for next school year, I want to do a better job of tying individual reading and writing assignments for each of the children to the unit studies that we will be doing. Sometimes I did really well with that this year, and sometimes, not so much.

"Booster Shot! Energize Your Homeschool with Unit Studies" contains compelling arguments for the use of unit studies. She explains the differences between the three most common types of unit studies. My favorite part of the book, though, is the great advice she gives for the "textbook" mom who is concerned about integrating school subjects into a unit study while making sure grade-level skills are taught. My favorite tip from her is to use a grade level checklist for all subjects covered in the unit study approach, therefore, you have a guide to follow. For example, if you know that outlining is to be covered in 6th grade, you can be sure to cover outlining within the framework of one of the unit studies planned for the year.

Kym Wright includes a topical list of skills needed in writing, reading, reference skills, book genres, art, science, history, civics, and geography. For me, the lists are not detailed enough to be particularly useful but they can serve as an outline to which additional detail could be added.

The importance of vocabulary study is emphasized throughout the book. This was very encouraging to me to make the vocabulary associated with a unit of even greater importance next year.

She includes an entire chapter on planning your own unit study which was very helpful to me. The unit study planner pages are reproducible. I especially appreciated that she included pages which are filled in and pages which are blank. Looking at how she planned a unit study with the pages clarified the planning process that she describes in her book.

She also includes lots of great ideas for ending the unit study with a meaningful conclusion. Alternative means of assessment (other than tests) are discussed in great detail as well. Lastly, she includes an entire chapter on cultivating creativity in children and home educators.

I highly recommend Kym Wright's book to any homeschooler who is interested in unit studies!

Carnegie Science Center

I just love our Science Center membership! In addition to admission to our local science center, our membership allows our family to visit science centers all over the United States for free! Last Friday, we took advantage of this great benefit and visited Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Carnegie Science Center is my favorite science center - we always have such a good and educational time there - our last visit was no exception.

The highlight of the visit for me was the Cooking with Chemistry show in the Kitchen Theater. We were treated to a demonstration of Fruit Flambe complete with lighting the dessert on fire! Quite impressive, although I am afraid to try the recipe at home. If you are braver in the kitchen than I am, you can find the recipe (and many more) at this link on Carnegie Science Center's website:

http://www.carnegiesciencecenter.org/explore/kitchen_theater_recipes.html

The most fabulous part of the demonstration is that each of us got to try the caramel sauce over a small cup of ice cream at the end! Yummy!

The highlight of the kidlets' visit was getting to try the Orbitron and the Bungee Jumper. My husband and I thought the Orbitron looked like a Medieval Torture Device but A and M LOVED it! Our youngest, D, was wise enough to steer clear of the Orbitron. D did enjoy jumping on the Bungee Jumper, though.

Playing in the hands-on children's play area always scores big points with my kids! M and D loved building with the water pipes!

A, on the other hand, had no interest in getting wet at the water pipe station and devoted her time to making stop-motion animation films at the stop-motion animation film station.

The last highlight of the day was watching the IMAX movie, "Under the Sea," for A and me. K took the boys to see a laser show. They had never seen a laser show before and really enjoyed it. I couldn't resist taking one last picture of my boys in their happy shirts overlooking the city of Pittsburgh. Now, that's what I call a field trip!

Crying in the Parking Lot at Super Walmart

For whatever reason, I found myself really struggling last week. Most of the time, I'm a pretty cheerful and goal-oriented person. Last week, though, every day seemed to be a challenge. It just seemed like the weight of all of the details of our busy lives and all of the demands on me from the people that I love were pressing down on me. The details and demands were pressing really hard, too.

On Thursday, we took the day off from our normal school routine. The boys had karate in the morning, M had a time-consuming afternoon appointment to get fitted for a retainer, and A had swim team practice at a different pool further away than usual. In between all of that, there was little time for a normal day of school.

So, I used the time in the later afternoon to go to Super Walmart. I REALLY needed to go to Super Walmart. We were out or just about out of most of the things that I purchase there. We do most of our grocery shopping at Aldi and my husband doesn't mind going there once a week - he can be in and out with perfectly packed boxes in 30 minutes or less. But, sadly, we can't buy everything we need at Aldi. So, about once a month I have to make a big trip to Super Walmart. I absolutely HATE going to Super Walmart. It just feels like an ordeal every time - the store is so big, my list is so long, the lighting is yucky, it's hard to find everything on my list, and it seems to take forever to get all of my shopping done. But, since I couldn't put it off any longer, I drove to Super Walmart (by myself) and parked the mini-van.

As I was sitting in my mini-van, preparing to go in the store, I was suddenly gripped by an overwhelming anxious feeling - I just couldn't face going into the store and purchasing all of the items on my list. I just started to cry and the more I cried, the more upset I became until I had worked myself into a crying fit. My nose was running, my breath was ragged, I was openly sobbing. I crawled into the back seats of the mini-van to hide and just had a really good, long cry. When I was done, I was splotchy and red, my eyes were swollen, and I looked horrible. But, I cleaned myself up a bit, braced myself and went shopping.

Shopping at Super Walmart was an ordeal, the store seemed even bigger, my list WAS long, the lighting was particularly yucky, and I struggled to find everything on my list AND it DID take forever. But, I was feeling better and I made it through the shopping expedition.

Then I started to worry about my parking lot meltdown. Am I losing my mind? Are the pressures of homeschooling finally causing me to come unglued? Am I a good mother? Am I a good wife? What is wrong with me that I can't even complete a simple shopping trip without making a scene?

When I got home, I talked to my husband about what happened. He just looked at me and said, "That's why I always park far away." And then I started to laugh. And I laughed and I laughed and I laughed. Riding the bumps of life is so much easier with a wonderful husband who cushions the blows with humour and kindness.

Cinderella Stories Around the World Unit Study

We recently finished a unit study about fairy tales using "Cinderella Stories Around the World Project Pack" from Hands of a Child as the primary component of our unit. The unit was a big success with all three of my children (6th grade girl, 4th grade boy, and 2nd grade boy). I was a little nervous about how my boys would react to "Cinderella Stories" but there is enough action and intrigue in the stories to keep any active boy interested! I also extended the theme to include fractured fairy tales and those funny fractured tales were a HUGE hit with my boys!

The most interesting aspect of the unit study for me was comparing and contrasting the different Cinderella stories. My daughter noticed that the stories varied widely in how the mean step-mother and step-sisters (or whoever was mean to the Cinderella character) were punished (or not punished) in the end. For example, in the Chinese version, nothing at all happens to the step-mother and, to some extent, she is allowed to save face at the end. On the other hand, in a Russian tale, "Baba-Yaga and Vasilia the Brave," the step-mother and step-sisters are all killed. My children all enjoyed "rating" each Cinderella story on a scale of 1-5 stars in their "Around the World with Cinderella Stories" rating mini-books. It was fun for me to see them debating on just how many stars to give each of the stories we read together.

The unit's suggested target range was 4-8th grade but I was easily able to include my 2nd grade son in the unit study - I just did not have him do a few of the more challenging mini-books. One suggestion I have though for those who would like to include younger students in the study is to check your local library for picture books to coordinate with the study. Even though the full text for many Cinderella stories are included in the Project Pack, I was able to find a picture book version of many of the Cinderella stories at the library. The pictures really helped to keep everybody's interest during our read-aloud times.

Here is a list of all of the books that we read during our fairy tales unit. While many of them are Cinderella stories from different cultures, I also extended the unit to include fractured fairy tales. We also covered a few more Cinderella stories than were included in the Project Pack.

• Adelita (A Mexican Cinderella Story) by Tomie dePaola
• Baba Yaga and Vasilia the Brave by Marianna Mayer (A Russian Cinderella Story)
• Cinder Edna by Ellen Jackson
• Cinderella by The Brothers Grimm translated by Margaret Taylor
• Cinderella Penguin or The Little Glass Flipper by Janet Perlman
• Cinderella Skeleton by Robert D. San Souci
• The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo
• Fair, Brown, & Trembling: An Irish Cinderella Story by Jude Daly
• The Frog Prince by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
• The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka
• Giants Have Feelings, Too by Dr. Alvin Granowsky
• The Golden Slipper, A Vietnamese Legend Retold by Darrell Lum
• Goldilocks and the Three Bears retold by Jan Brett
• The Irish Cinderlad by Shirley Climo
• Jack and the Beanstalk by Richard Walker and Niamh Sharkey
• Kate and the Beanstalk by Mary Pope Osborne
• The Korean Cinderella by Shirley Climo
• Lily and the Wooden Bowl by Yoriko Ito
• Little Red Riding Hood retold by Trina Schart Hyman
• The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
• Prince Cinders by Babette Cole
• The Princess and the Pizza by Mary Jane and Herm Auch
• Rufferella by Vanessa Gill-Brown and Mandy Stanley
• Sootface: An Ojibwa Cinderella Story Retold by Robert D. San Souci
• Tattercoats by Flora Annie Steel
• The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell
• The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf by Eugene Trivizas and
  Helen Oxenbury
• The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by A. Wolf as told to Jon Scieszka
• The Very Smart Pea and the Princess-to-Be by Mini Grey

I was also able to find some delightful DVDs for us to watch during the course of the study.
DVD – The Talking Eggs
“This colorful folktale, set deep in the bayou of Louisiana, tells the story of a young girl who befriends a mysterious, old woman. The young girl is ultimately rewarded for her kindness with several magical eggs in the class story of good versus evil.”
VHS – Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from China
“Based upon a Library of Congress “Children’s Book of the Year,” and named a “Best Book of the Year” by School Library Journal, this fresh yet familiar tale of good vs. evil, and dreams come true, predates the European Cinderella by 1000 years!”

We also attended a play as part of the unit study. "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters" can be found in book or video form as well. The play was wonderful, though!
Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters
“Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters” has often been called an African Cinderella story. A man’s two very different daughters set out on an adventure. But who will win the heart of a king?”
“Based on John Steptoe’s award winning book, Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, uses African music, dance and storytelling traditions to celebrate goodness, generosity, and love.”

Each of my children completed their own lapbook for the study and wrote their own fractured fairy tales. I have previously posted the text of my daughter's story and the text and pictures of my youngest son's story.

The Happy Shirt

I bought this shirt for my sweet boy, D. I knew he would love it when I saw it at Target. D has always had a cheery disposition - even as a baby. As a pre-schooler, he woke up each day and announced, "It's sunny day," regardless of the weather! He LOVED the shirt! When I first gave it to him, he insisted on wearing it day and night for two days!

We went to Cracker Barrel to celebrate my husband's 40th birthday while D was wearing his Happy Shirt. He proudly showed his shirt to our server. She wisely said, "We could all use a happy shirt." So, remember to put on your happy shirt today!

Writing Workshop Part 2

In a previous post, I talked about what my 6th grade daughter did during our recent writing workshop and shared her fractured fairy tale. Today, I want to talk about what my 2nd grade son did during our recent writing workshop and share his fractured fairy tale.

My 2nd grader already had a really good start on his fractured fairy tale before our writing workshop began. He knew what was going to happen in his story from the beginning to the end and he was about halfway done with the pictures for his story. Each of his pictures corresponded to an important event in his story and were a way for him to organize his story. D used the time during our writing workshop to:

• finish drawing and coloring all of the pictures for his story, "The Three Little Goompas and the Big, Bad Piranha Plant"
• dictate his story to me word by word, page by page, which I wrote on the white board in our schoolroom for him exactly as he dictated the story to me
• after dictating a page of his story to me, he wrote down the story from the white board in his very best handwriting

D is SO proud of his story! He insisted that I read it aloud as part of our school day and shared it page by page with his dad. Here is the text of his story:

The Three Little Goompas and the Big, Bad Piranha Plant

One day there were three little goompas. They were brothers. They wanted to find a house.

The first little goompa found a house made of turkey sticks.

The second little goompa found a house made of nachos.

The third little goompa found a house made of silverware.

One day, a piranha plant came out of a warp zone. And he gobbled up the first little goompa's house.

And then, the piranha plant came out of another warp zone and gobbled up the second little goompa's house.

Then, the piranha plant came out of a warp zone and tried to gobble up the third little goompa's house but he couldn't. He got a fork stuck in his mouth.

And they lived happily ever after!

***The cover and the last page of D's story are shown at the top of this post. If you want to see the rest of the story, page by page, you can link to it at Photobucket using the link below.

http://s645.photobucket.com/albums/uu176/samvach87/Fractured%20Fairy%20Tale%20by%20D/

Alphabet Book of the Middle Ages

One of my goals for my children is to help them be comfortable with writing and to enjoy writing. So, we do a wide variety of writing projects in our unit studies. Alphabet books are a great writing project for almost any topic and age of child. For inspiration, check out some of the alphabet books at your local library. Here are a few suggestions of some unique alphabet books that should get kids excited about creating their own:

• The Beetle Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta and David Biedrzycki


• The Underwater Alphabet Book by Jerry Palotta


• The Spice Alphabet Book by Jerry Palotta


• The Frog Alphabet Book by Jerry Palotta


• The Desert Alphabet Book by Jerry Palotta.

Alphabet books are great writing projects for children for many reasons. First, the structure of the alphabet book gives the child an automatic organizational structure for his or her book. Secondly, an alphabet book can be completed in little steps - a page or two a day over the course of a unit study will result in a completed book over time. Third, an alphabet book encourages research on the part of the child. Many times I noticed my daughter looking through the basket of books about the Middle Ages looking for a word that would fit in with the letter that she needed. Fourth, an alphabet book project encourages creative expression.

If you are working with multiple ages, the alphabet book project is easily adaptable to various ages. The length of the entry for each letter can easily be made age-appropriate. My 6th grade daughter wrote several sentences for each letter in her Middle Ages alphabet book, a first grader might only identify the picture on his or her alphabet page. An older student could write a paragraph or more about each letter's word.

You can view the entire alphabet book from A to Z on Photobucket that my 6th grade daughter completed as part of our Middle Ages unit study.

http://s645.photobucket.com/albums/uu176/samvach87/Alphabet%20Book%20of%20the%20Middle%20Ages/

Writing Workshop Part 1

We have been working on a Cinderella Stories Around the World/Fractured Fairy Tales unit study for a few weeks now. We are nearing the end of the study and the end of unit project for each of the children is to write their own fractured fairy tale. My oldest and youngest children have both been working on their fractured fairy tales and needed a bit of help. My middle child needed a bit of prodding to get going with his project. So, we took this afternoon to have a Writing Workshop.

Teaching children to be writers and to like to write is a messy process. Teaching writing is time consuming. Sometimes, at my house, my children just need more time, with me available to help, in order to get a bigger writing project finished.

I have been reading an interesting book, "Best Practices for Planning Reading & Writing Instruction" by Antoinette Cerulli Fornshell. The book is definitely written for a classroom teacher but I am finding much of value in the book for my homeschool. The author considers what it means to learn to write in the fullest sense. She posits, based on the work of Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell, that learning to write in the fullest sense means:

• writing voluntarily and often
• writing in a variety of genres
• having confidence in oneself as a writer
• presenting oneself as a writer to others
• using writing as a tool for thinking
• writing to communicate for both personal and professional reasons
• writing to share experiences or information with others
• noticing techniques and styles in other writers
• inviting comments on, responses to, and critiques of one's writing
• drawing on literary knowledge as a resource for writing
• using organized sets of information as a resource for writing.

A focused writing workshop can help with many of the aforementioned goals. So, what did our writing workshop look like today? My 6th grade daughter already had a really strong draft of her fractured fairy tale finished. She used the time to:

• do a bit of research on the internet to replace a common noun in her story with a specific, proper noun
• proofread her story again
• sit with me while I proofread her story and pointed out some minor mistakes in word usage to her (their instead of there, for example)
• divide up her story into chunks that she could paste on pieces of cardstock to make a book
• practice drawing a wolf for her story.

I left it up to her to decide how she wanted to publish her fractured fairy tale. She decided on making a book using 6" by 6" pieces of cardstock but she hasn't decided on the binding yet. I will post pictures of the completed published book when she has finished. In the meantime, here is the text of her fractured fairy tale:

The Four Little Pigs

Well, we all know how the story of the Three Little Pigs goes. There are three little pigs who go out to start a life away from home.

The first pig is stupid and lazy and builds his house out of straw. I mean what kinda’ hobo makes a house outa’ straw! The second is a tad smarter, but not much. He builds his house out of sticks. And the third, the smartest of the three, builds his house out of bricks.

So then the wolf comes, blows down the first two houses and chases the pigs into the last. The wolf tries to come in through the chimney, but the pigs boiled a big pot of water at the bottom. The wolf ran away crying, with a scalded bottom, and the pigs rejoiced.

But one thing this story left out was that there was a fourth little pig. But he decided to stay home, and later went to college before getting a home. So this is how his story goes.
The pig was out grocery shopping, when he met the wolf. The wolf tried to bite him, but the pig was quicker. He had been taking karate for some time now, it was one of his numerous hobbies. With a few kicks here, and a few punches there, the wolf was on the ground and the pig was in the car driving home.

Now, a few days later, the pig was on a hiking trail when he met the wolf again.
“Hello Mr. Pig. You’re good, but I am afraid that you are no match for me now.” The wolf pulled out an M249 Squad Automatic Machine Gun, loaded and ready to fire! What kind of idiot sells a gun to a wolf?!?
“Put your hands behind your head!” ordered the wolf. The pig did as he was told.
“Good bye Mr. Pig!”
“WAIT!! You can’t just end this like that! You worked so hard to hunt me down and you are just going to eat me raw!?! Now that’s just dumb. What you need to do is make a nice pork chop dinner. I can help you!”

Now the wolf thought that sounded sooooo much better, that he let the pig get up, and start getting things ready to make a meal. And besides, he had a gun!
“OK, we need… one roasting spit and a fire, check. One pig, check. One super special pork chop herb of deliciousness, oh…” said the pig.
“What!?” cried the wolf.
“Well, we need the super special pork chop herb of deliciousness if you want this to work, and it only grows over there.” The pig pointed to the cliff.

“It is only a foot or two down, can you grab that for me?” asked the pig.
“Sure.” grunted the wolf. He leaned over and looked, but there was nothing there.
“Hey, there is nothing here!” called the wolf, just as the pig kicked him and sent him down the cliff, and into the river below.

A few days later, the pig was at home working on grading some papers for the class that he taught at The CFDA (College For Domesticated Animals), when he heard knocking at his door.
The pig hopped up and looked though the peek hole in the door to see who it was. To his amazement, it was the very same wolf!
“Mr. Pig, Mr. Pig, let me in!”
The pig really didn’t have that many good comebacks like his brothers, all he could think of was, “Ah, no.”
“Well then, I am going to blow up your house!” said the wolf, as he pulled out a few grenades. He wasn’t going to try to blow down a whole house again! He isn’t that stupid, you know.
“You just try…” said the pig.

As soon as the wolf touched the house, an alarm started going off, then police arrived, so did the navy! After what had happened to the pig’s brothers, he had put up a full scale security system. Well, the wolf just ran for it.
Too late! He got hit with a tranquilizer gun, and is now in the JFSAFCA (Jail For Scary And Freaky Carnivorous Animals).

And the fourth little pig now lives happily ever after.
The End.

Book Review - "High School @ Home, You Can Do It! by Diana Johnson

When I started homeschooling over 6 years ago, one of the questions that people asked me was, "What about high school?" I remember quite distinctly thinking that the question was ridiculous given that my oldest child was then going into first grade. Alas, children grow up all too quickly. Now my oldest child is going into 7th grade next year and the question, "What about high school?" no longer seems ridiculous at all.

I just finished a very helpful book, "High School @ Home, You Can Do It!" by Diana Johnson. After reading this book, I am feeling less stressed about homeschooling my children through high school. The book is divided into twelve sections:

• The Homeschool Choice
• Defining Your Philosophy of Education
• Seeing the Big Picture: Kindergarten through College
• Designing the Program
• A Comprehensive Homeschool Course Listing
• Evaluating Coursework Objectively
• Recognizing Your Student's Achievement
• Special-Needs Students
• Choosing a College
• Understanding College Entrance
• College Credit the Alternative Way
• Reflecting on the Journey.

The book is written from a Christian perspective which is evident throughout the entire book. At first, I was disappointed with the book as the first few sections did not deal directly with homeschooling a high school student. Sections one and two discuss reasons for homeschooling and different philosophies of education. One comment from the first chapter did strike me as quite wise, though. "Day in and day out, for better or for worse, for over twenty years we have opened our books and schooled. And it worked." I find a great deal of wisdom in those simple words having labored in the trenches with my children for 6 years now.

After the first two sections, though, the remainder of the book really focuses on the nitty-gritty of how to go about educating a child at home for high school. The author includes high school course and credit guidelines along with an extensive list of suggested curriculum for all core classes. The majority of the suggested curriculum are from Christian publishers, though, which may or may not be an issue for some readers of the book. I particularly liked that the author took a course and showed how a home educator could design the course using her favorite curriculum and projects rather than relying exclusively on a textbook approach.

The section about evaluating coursework objectively was excellent. I particularly liked the course contracts. She suggests setting up a course contract with your high schooler outlining exactly what is to be expected in a particular course. She gives examples of course contracts from her own children and includes blank forms for the reader. She explains how to calculate GPAs and how to make high school transcripts for your child. Blank forms are included in the text and on a CD included in the back of the book. I found this information TREMENDOUSLY helpful.

Lastly, for me, the author helped to take a lot of the mystery out of the college admissions process. I now have a basic understanding of CLEP exams, dual enrollment, and AP exams. She even makes suggestions for different ways to celebrate your child's graduation from high school. A lot of information is covered in 297 pages!

I would recommend this book to anybody who is feeling nervous about homeschooling their student through high school. I felt like I received a ton of practical advice and now have a resource that I'm sure I will refer to again and again over the years.

Books and Movies from February

I am continuing on with the 50 Book Challenge at my local library. While I did not read as much as I did last month, I did get a few books read in February. I have posted my list below with my star rating (1-5 stars). I plan to post a detailed review of "High School at Home, You Can Do It!" this week.

• Dead End Dating by Kimberly Raye ***
• One Bite with a Stranger by Christine Warren *
• Seducing His Wife by Janet Chapman ****
• Death of a Dentist by M. C. Beaton ****
• High School at Home, You Can Do It! by Diana Johnson****

Most of the movies that I watched this month were ones that I had seen in the past. A highlight of the month was watching "Sense and Sensibility" with my 12 year old daughter. While I have seen it countless times, it was precious to see her crying along with me as she watched it for the first time. I guess we are both romantics at heart.

• Mall Cop ***
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire *****
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding *****
• Sense and Sensibility *****
• Reign of Fire *****
• Highlander 2: Renegade Version ***
• Taken ****