Happy Thanksgiving

Mother Colette's first vows

This was such a tender moment to be part of. I was so touched as the brothers so gently and lovingly put Mother Colette's new black veil on her and took off the white one. It was as reverent and sweet as a moment could be. Mother was almost dancing person to person to get her hugs. Mother, you are such a wonderful gift from God for our family and we are honored to be a part of your life!

This is what volunteering looks like

February & November trips to St. Vincent de Paul store in Decatur to volunteer and help organize the store.  Our crews do a great job!! 

The Kates look snookered -- I'm happy to report that they weren't!

Writing Expectations

This is one of those homeschooling walls I hit my head on over and over until I figured out what worked for our family. Amazing what you can figure out in 12 years. I'm just glad we have younger kids so I can apply my knowledge to the other kids. :-)

For 1-2 grade, they do narrations that I type up.  For 3-4th grade, they do narrations that I type up (~ 1 paragraph).  The 3rd graders use half of the narration for copywork (and we paste the other half onto the paper.  The 4th graders start with the full narration as copywork and work into writing out their own narrations through the year.

For 4-6th, I expect 1 paragraph once a week in history.  We don't do any re-writing, but I will show them 1 major editing thing that I'd like them work on for the next week. 

For 7-8, I expect 2-3 paragraphs once a week, with the student starting to type them. I have them submit it to me half-way through the week, we edit it together and they have to rewrite it to submit it by the end of the week.

 For High School, I ask for 4 - 2page papers, double-spaced & footnoted per semester plus one 4-6 page mini-research paper, double spaced & footnoted per semester.  The mini-research paper has to have at least 3 sources and one of the sources must be from a print book (not a webpage). 

The high school grade divisions don't come in paper length, but in expectation.  I may let a 9th grader off the hook for research papers & footnotes.  I may let a 10th grader off the hook for research papers.  I'm more picky grading 11th & 12th grade papers and they don't get out of anything. 

Often, I will alternate expecting a history paper every other week with expecting a literature paper every other week.  More academic-minded kids will have more than one paper assigned per week - but that depends on the kid and is the exception, not the rule.

(Only in my dreams do I get all this done with all 5 kids each week.  I'm much better at holding the older kids accountable and hit or miss on the younger kids.)

Halloween 2013

Everyone got soaked and cold, but it started well...

All Hallow's Eve with the Hollys.

My MIB

Teaching Test Taking Skills

Today my least favorite part of homeschooling is studying for tests. Studying for a test yourself is waaaay easier than trying to teach someone else to study for a test. It's an agonizingly long and arduous process. However, it must be done. My oldest suffered through my lack of knowledge in teaching her how to do this before she got to high school. Those middle school boys benefit from her pain. 

So, today we're all in pain together. Isn't that what homeschooling is about??

 I use textbook science books to teach studying in middle school. Text has clear colored/bolded headers for each topic, bolded vocabulary words and bolded key concepts. The headers and paragraphs length themselves to easy outlining and the pre-chapter and post chapter questions assist in knowing what will be on the test. 

Right now I have the boys read and outline the chapter over the course of 3-4 days. 
     I ease them into this over the course of a year. This is not a skill the kids innately know and we have to teach them how to do this. We have the book in front of us and read through it together.  For each paragraph and every key concept and vocabulary word, I write what notes they'll need to study for the test on a wipe-off board.  They duplicate it with me in their notebook. I wait for them and they wait for me to finish writing.  Then we read the next paragraph together.  
     By the end of the year, I have weaned them off me doing all of the summarizing for them.  I'll write a few things on the board, like the heading of that section, but as we read together, they have to summarize paragraphs and take their own notes.  First they'll summarize it orally to see if they've got the idea and then they'll put it in their notebooks.  When they're done, we read the next paragraph together.  By the next year, I just assign them to read the chapter and take notes, looking over their notes at the end of the week to make sure they did a good job.

Day 5, they have to write separate vocabulary and key concepts on index cards. 
Day6 they have to answer the questions in the back of the chapter without going back into the chapter. 
Day7, I grade it and they mark in their notes and on their vocabulary cards concepts they missed. Then, they go back into the chapter to find the answers to the missed questions. 
Day 8, I regrade and we discuss any concepts they still don't get. 
Day 9 I give an oral pretest from the actual written test, changing some of the phrasing. At that point I'm able to see their notes and their vocabulary cards and see what problems they're having outlining or keeping track of their own mistakes. We use highlighter markers for mistakes in their notes and on the vocabulary cards and they have to quiz their missed concepts until they have them memorized the day before the test.
Day 10 Test day.  If they haven't done well on the test, I let them use their book & notes to re-answer their missed questions and give them half credit for them.  I want them to see that doing well on a test is worth their while.

First day of school exhaustion

First day of school. Check.
Finished up last minute details. Checked enough.
Work graded. Check.

Oh bed, my love, where art thou?? How long doth my eyes weary waiting to close upon thy sheets.

gf, df, sf pizza

Her first gf, df, sf pizza and she's sooo happy!! Thanks for the use of your oven, Katie Katie Woolsey!! You're a wonderful neighbor!

In place of cheese, she used Go Veggie - it's a brand of fake mozzarella (vegetable based) - not yummy, but the right cheese texture when melted.

Bob's Red Mill GF Pizza Crust mix, Go Veggie mozzarella & homemade pizza sauce from this recipe http://livesimply.me/.../perfect-homemade-pizza-and-sauce/ with additions of basil & lemon juice boiled until thick.

SF is sugar free.

Always Forward @ F3

The Always Forward Band

teens are getting ready for F3 Festival opening tonight @6pm with Mass with Bishop Rhoades @ Cathedral and a procession after to Headwaters Park!!

http://www.kofcfestival.com/

Creeper In My Life

I want the WORLD to know that THIS is my !*FAVORITE*! Emma MacDonald song!!!!!
She doesn't have this one on youtube, just facebook.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=206154596210818

GF, DF, SF, etc.

So the girls are now Gluten Free & Dairy Free.  They're supposed to be Sugar Free, but we're not doing as fantastic a job at that part of it.  I'm allowing fruit & local honey -- but sometimes the sugar just seeps its way into their diet.

They're both doing sooooo much better on this diet than on anything else we've tried.  They are on the same diet for different reasons.

Em's (Dd#2) ADHD is doing so much better off sugar.  I think the GF & DF, just regulates more of the sugar and when she's already consuming sugar (in honey & fruit), the carbohydrates just turn to sugar in her body and make things worse.  She's got a few more weeks on this diet to see if it helps her tummy issues she's had since she was 4.

Kate's (Dd#1) body struggles to filter the toxins in our food and environment.  She spent her ENTIRE high school years very sick. It came on gradually since she was 13, but by the time she was 15 we knew she had a major problem that no doctor/specialist we saw could diagnose.  She had chronic fatigue to the extreme, major headaches, debilitating back aches, brain fogginess, personality changes, new allergies to soaps & mold -- the biggest symptom was her immune system was completely incapacitated -- and she was SUFFERING. As it's turned out, the sugars in our regular American diet, plus the GMO from gluten and the lack of live enzymes in pasteurized, homogenized dairy plus the chemicals in city water are not things her body can process. She also struggles to handle mold.  She's been DF for ~ 1 1/2 years, GF for ~6mo.  Now, we've taken her off EVERYTHING -- she's eating filtered water, nuts, vegetables & poultry -- that's it.  And for the first time in 4 years, she's starting to feel better.

Highland Dove Homeschool Co-op Classes for Year 4: American History, American Literature, American Government, Economics, Catholic Moral Theology

Year 4 Brochure High School

A Weekend of Catharsis

Morning prayer in the nicest places - this morning's hymn as I look out Lake Erie with the wind rushing across the island:
 "From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
through gates of pearl streams in that countless host,
singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!" 

It seemed to fit my surroundings. A friend decided I needed a respite away and she and I sought to elude our regular lives for a couple of days. It's the first time away from my family in 19 years.

We posed the question to each other: if you weren't a mom, what would you be? Honestly, I'd be a mom in some fashion - maybe a teacher or caring for needy babies - but a mom. I love my job (however, this is lovely, too.)

Mosquito Bites

The boys are home from Scout Camp and one counted 154 mosquito bites...we've tried heat (thanks, Ursula), baking soda (bummer when you forget it's on and put your hand in your mouth), banana peel (the dog especially liked that one) and apple cider vinegar. They all agree that the apple cider vinegar hurts waaaay more than the others going on, but does the trick completely taking away the itch for a few hours.

Wisdom Teeth

She had her wisdom teeth removed, got dry socket, then had a gum infection.  Inevitably the loss of time from her job led to the loss of her job.  Tough summer for a tough girl.  (12/13 edit: To date she can't stand the taste of cloves.)

Hulk No Like

THANK YOU Emily Warren for taking babysitting Katie all afternoon immediately following her surgery while I was otherwise occupied!

THANK YOU Katie Woolsey for being the kind of woman to drop EVERYTHING the day of Grace's graduation with relatives from out of town to sit with Will and so accurately assess his wounds while you waited for me to get back from the pharmacy. 

THANK YOU Meredith Woolsey for being the kind of girl that boys want to be the Hulk for and then taking such good care of them after their antics lead to injury.

Will (5) was Trying to be the Hulk For the babysitter this morning and picked up the couch and dropped it on his toe. ~8 stitches, not broken. He "blew out" the toe. He'll be excited to get to wear flip flops to Mass this weekend. #Whenittrains…

A friend responded "Hulk no like!"

My lovely daughter...and her dog. Both are such fashionistas.

Stairs Re-do

We took the carpet off, the kids' co-op class stripped and sanded the stairs for us. 

5 kids' + 2 adults' stuff (cothes, bedding, toiletries) brought downstairs to camp out in the livingroom for the weekend. Check. Wood putty stained, in, and sanded. Check. Caulked the gaps between stairs. Check. Stairs wiped down. Check. Now for the risky part - stain opened and being applied...









This is what WE do at 11pm at night when Dave is out of town.  Done with stain. Poly and paint left. 

We were going to sleep downstairs, but one of my BRILLIANT children (Em)
 

thought we could climb the ladder at midnight and slip in an open second story window. (Although in my case there was more scraping than slipping.) So that's what I did and I slept in my own bed last night. Our old dog couldn't stand it and broke through the barrier to come upstairs to sleep, but the stairs don't seem any worse for the wear.

Expanding the garden -- ultimate money savings

Thus morning Drew and I put up the Mother's Day present from Dave - bunny fencing for my extended vegetable garden. Then Pete and I planted it. Thank you Shannon & Christie for the MANY plants you gifted me with! The boys and I spent all this week planting the existing garden & clearing that bed to ready it for my new veg's!!

Pete's 11th b-day

 We packed a picnic dinner of pigs-in-a-blanket and Boston creme cupcakes, chips & pop (Pete's a health food nut) and had a screamingly cold swim in Lake James for the evening. The highlight of the evening was listening to 39 Clues on CD and putting the van in neutral at the top of a hill to see how far it would coast up the next hill before gravity took over. Will said, "I LOVE neutral," as if it were a ride on a roller coaster.