Our house is run like most home schooling families where I do most of the actual teaching.  The boys tell their dad what they are doing through out the day but it is not the same as him doing things with them.  I decided a couple years ago to make my husband their “science teacher”.  Science is a “fun” lesson and a lot of neat things can be done while throwing in the learnin’ !

The boys have done several science projects with their dad but this one that they found on the T4L site has been the best so far.  To compound the fun of the science lesson, the boys had Kati’s son over for a sleep over and my boys cousin stopped in to say hello.  All the “boys” have been waiting for this experiment to work and it was great fun to watch them!

I think that when you take your child to the doctor they should just provide mom and dad with medication too!!!  Because we WILL get it!!!!!!

 This week has been crazy.  We went on Tuesday to get my son assessment tested and a monsoon came and we were all soaked.  Wet to the socks …Hey, those little dryers in the ladies room work pretty well….but not totally well!! Anywhoo… the next day mom was sick, little guy was sick…the big kids were holding strong.  I feared school Thursday because Wednesday night I had a fever and was yucky…or punie as they say here in the south.  But…  My fear was in vain.  The kids did great, they logged on and did their T4L with no effort from mom…I too was able to sit in the chair Kleenex in hand and “supervise.” We even got some bible/history done too!!!  Yeah us !! 

Thank you all for the responses to my posts.  I too have been wondering if there were things or great bells and whistles that we were missing.  John…is there a tutorial or a ” features” section that explains the entire program. I saw a brief one when we started…  ???  

Tracy, you said that your kids have been tested also…what did you use?  I have been thinking of the Iowa Basic Skills….has anyone used this? 

My boys are involved in a fine arts program called Master’s Academy of Fine Arts.  They have fine arts classes every Thursday an hour from our home and I drop them off and my husband picks them up; bringing them home.  This past Thursday he pulled me aside and told me that on the way home the boys were messing around in the back seat and one of them said “Oh, it’s Time4Learning now!”….  We talked about how nice it was that it is always in their heads and they use it as “catch phrases” during normal time.  I enjoy when he has alone time with the boys and hears for himself how much they talk about Time4Learning.

But my most favorite part is when they are done with a lesson and are so excited about something that they do research to find out more.  It usually happens in science and social studies but sometime something is mentioned in other parts of lessons that they want to know more about.  In the past I have encouraged them to “research” something when they have had a question but now they do it just because they want to.

Having both boys about at the same level encourages scholastic interaction between them and usually one will begin to research something and the other one migrates his way to see what is going on.  Discussions begin and it is neat to sit back and watch the interaction.   I enjoy seeing them brainstorm, research, and discuss things that they have questions about and it usually leads to more in-depth conversations.  This is only the beginning for them and is setting the groundwork for down the road when I begin to assign actual research projects and they know how to get information, come up with ideas of their own or build off lessons that they are studying.

It will be nice, a year from now to go back and see how nice the year has been; we are almost half way through and I can’t get over how nice it has been for our whole family.

Well we have been busy and thing are still rocking and rolling with normal “stuff”……   We were gone all day Saturday and although it was not freezing, it was chilly.  The boys had a great morning with Kati’s kids at the park and then we flew almost 2 hours away to a Master’s Institute program that was a reenactment of the Oregon Trail.  It was an incredible day all around but the kids were outside all day from about 9-6pm and Q ended up a little bit under the weather.  He had been fighting the same cold that we all have had and the day out in chilly weather got him.  Sunday was a very quiet day for him and this morning he is still under the weather…. No big deal, the boys never get really sick and this will hopefully be our only sickness of any kind this winter!

With that being said I am bound and determine that they are going to stick with the schedule and they are going to not get out of school work for any reason other than loss of limb or the one day that we are actually traveling all day to go to Florida.  There will be no excuses, no begging, and no skipping of days this year for any reason.  So I was ready….  Armed and prepared.   They woke and did their normal routine for the most part, turned on water for hot cocoa (but I talked Q into hot green tea with honey for quicker healing), got breakfast, and got on the puter to play a game.

Enough time passed for them to finish breakfast and wake up and I told them to get started on school work.  They both signed on.  Of course, Z said: “Q’s sick so we should not have to” but that is as far as it went.

I know that I tend to gush…..  But hey…..  When you have something that is working it is fun to gush….

First off let me say WOOOHOOO to Z ( and mom) for completing the LA lessons!!!  That brings to mind a question about the LA section.  Are the extensions a part of the LA curriculum or are they just “extensions or extra practice” ?  ( Is that proper punctuation…the ” followed by the ? …  I think mom needs more grammar….aaahhhh) Also, has anyone come across the need for using the writing tool ?  I am wanting my children to do weekly writing assignments but have not seen where the writer is used?   

As you know we are new to homeschooling.  We have had the usual objections from parents…they are supporting but reluctantly. On Tuesday my son will go and take a academic assessment test given at our local university, ( the girls already took it last week during the appendix issue) ….so the girls will spend the morning with my mom.  Thanks again to T4L I will not have to worry about their school work.  Hopefully seeing how great this program is and how much fun the kids have with it my mom will be less reluctant…..   I will keep you posted!!