To use Ezra’s definition, today was a marked day. We brought home 10,000 bees today. Got their hive set up. Put in enough sugar water and pollen cake to keep them going until they can take care of themselves. Zach pointed out that the pollen cake was a great source of protein. Ezra pointed out that it was “kinda weird. Cuz it’s really sperm cake.” Zach got stung. Came inside for a hug, and went right back out. After they... Read more
I always hated the big fuss people made over PMS. I never had it myself, and sometimes I wondered if these women weren’t just bitchy and sad in general, and looking for an excuse to let it all hang out once a month. Besides, didn’t they know that this did not look good for our gender? How was I going to scale the heights of engineering if all the men I worked with were waiting for me to go crazy... Read more
ADHD. While only two members of our family have an official diagnosis, I wouldn’t be surprised if we would all qualify for one. Focus is not our strong suit. Or maybe I should say that Focus is only one of many suits we wear. Focus is just fine for a little while and under the right conditions. The rest of the time we wear Procrastination. Scattered. Forgetful. Late. Lots of suits. In his book Spark, Dr. John Ratey extols the... Read more
I read that nearly one in five people in the US has a diagnosable anxiety disorder. Can that be true? How are we ever going to pass a budget or design great schools or keep families intact if every one is stressed out all of the time? If Dr. John Ratey is right, the answer is that we’ll all need to engage in a whole lot more exercise. I started to review his book, Spark, back in the fall. I’m... Read more
Too sad to write tonight. Having a delayed reaction to Bill Stuntz’ death. Bill was a good friend, and he died from cancer two weeks ago. Have I mentioned here before that cancer sucks? Oh right, just a few weeks before that, when Barbara died. I hate, hate, hate cancer. Tonight the Christian students at the Harvard Law School, where Bill was a hot shot legal scholar, had a memorial of sorts. They simply read through his words and played... Read more
I long ago promised to continue my review of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. This week I make good on that promise, reviewing one chapter each day, Tuesday through Friday. I chose chapters based on their relevance to our homeschool life. It was hard to pick, and there are not enough days in a week to cover all of our issues and diagnoses. So I decided to give equal opportunity to both boys and both... Read more
I thought I would use a slow day (which really means a day when we didn’t do any school work) to put up something about our unit on colonial America. Below is a list of activities and resources, in no particular order, that we are incorporating into our study of Colonial America. To see a list of the learning objectives I think we will meet by the end of the year, some of which are addressed in this unit, click here. And... Read more
I came downstairs this morning and found the island in the kitchen full of paper and markers and drawings. As I went through them, I found two that were labeled, “Mayflower.” Each boy had drawn one. No big deal, right? Except that I was thrilled. Most kids do this kind of thing all the time. They draw pictures of things they saw in the woods. They build Star Wars fighter jets (or whatever those things are called) with their Legos... Read more
My kids say the most random things. Sometimes I can figure out what the heck they are trying to say. Like this, from this morning: Tara: We’re gonna be several minutes late. Ezra: How many is several. Zach: Twelve. Ezra: No, Zach, a dozen is twelve. Zach: Oh, yeah. Right, right. Tara: Several is three or four. Zach: Well then why is Turkey four. Tara (in her head): What? What could that mean? Think, Tara. It must mean something. Ooooh.... Read more
I never know where the next blog theme will come from. I wake up, have a cup of coffee, really wake up, and start the day. I certainly don’t plan my day around a theme, but before I know it I hear something in the recesses of my brain asking, “Did you notice that? That’s totally connected to what happened in the car two hours ago!” Did that happen before I was blogging, and I just never noticed? Did I... Read more
The Homeschool Chronicles
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In