Five things: Study what I want to

Hello!  Welcome to the Homeschool Review Crew's Spring Blog Hop.  We're getting together to provide encouragement, support, ideas, and information.

Day one: The Joys of Working at our Own Pace.
Day two: Miss Natalie and her support  

Today we are talking about the Joys of Studying what you want.  I have to tell you how much the lad love this. 

He has choices.

1. If a curriculum isn't working... we change it.    That doesn't mean that whining pointlessly about a program gets him out of doing the work, but seriously.. if a program or a way of doing things isn't working... It's a reason to talk about it and see what we can do to change it up.  If that means using another program or changing HOW the program is used, why not eh?  Doing schoolwork shouldn't be the cause of stress in the household.

2. If he wants to study something... we do it (this past year his love has been astronomy).

3. If we want to use a subject as a basis of study, we can do that.
  For instance we are using Canada this year.  We aren't working through our Canada History book quickly as we keep getting sidetracked by videos, and art, and research projects.  :)   We delight in doing mapping to for actual Canadian journeys, learning about totems from our own First Nations people, and so much more.  It's good to learn about our own people eh?

4. If he wants to choose what he wants to do for a research project..he can do that.
    He's gotten hooked on Cacti at the moment, and Carnivorous plants (like the venous fly trap).  So he's doing all sorts of research on them.  He's also working hard on a pictorial tutorial of doing minecraft papercraft. 

5.  Time to discover new joys...
Today my lad and I were doing some gardening today.  After supper my lad came and asked "Mom, do you have more gardening that will need to be done?   If you do, can I help please?   I like doing that today."   So I'm thinking later in the week, rather then doing the rest of the gardening myself, that I'll have my boy lend a hand and we'll talk plants and why we grow them.  :)

  It's good you know, to be able to make things work, to watch a boy all excited about the things that he is learning, and giving him the freedom to pursue those passions.   His passion for his cacti and his other research projects pushes him to complete his schoolwork all the faster. 

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Art Book Series: Discover Great Paintings - A Child's Book of Art

 Do you want your children to understand the great artists?  Or even just to know how to look at some of the great paintings done?   Discover Great Paintings will teach you how to unpack these great pieces of artwork so you can discuss them well.

The first chapter in this book teaches a person how to look at art work.
Questions to ask, details to look at and facts about the artist.
The next 13 chapters unpack 13 different pieces of art work, helping the reader to understand them and learn the questions to ask about any artwork you can find. 

Learn to understand the colours, textures, emotions, shapes presented.

As you can see different elements are pulled out of the painting and discussed.

The facts about each painting are drawn out .. such as the castle belongs to a king, skulls show the dragon has been a danger, the princess wants to be saved, and the dragon is a symbol for evil (whereas the cross on the shield is a symbol for good). 

Learn the facts behind the scenes

Remember details about the artist:

 Learn how to look at art work, see everything you can in the paintings you see.  Be aware of all the great questions you can ask of an artist of the work that they do.  Or that you can ask of yourself if the artist is no longer living.  There is more in a piece of art then you might think eh!  :)

Discover Great Paintings: A child's book of art
Author: Lucy Micklethwait
Publisher: Firefly Books
32 pages.
Type: Hardcover
Art Book






This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Recipe: Scalloped Potatoes

My second time ever making scalloped potatoes.   I made some long past when we were first married, but our eating habits changed and I just haven't made them again. 

Ingredients

• 3 pounds potatoes, thinly sliced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 9 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
• 6 tablespoons butter, diced
• 1 quart whole milk, or as needed (I used about 3.5 cups)

Five Things We Enjoy: Miss Natalie

 Welcome to day of the Homeschool School Review Crew Five Day blog hop!  It's so nice to have you come for a visit.

On Day One we talked about The Joy of Working at Your Own Pace.

Today I want to talk to you about one of our favourite people.

Miss Natalie.

Oh... we like Miss Natalie.  I'll actually going running out the doors sometimes in my stocking feet to say hi to her. :)  (She ALWAYS scolds me for doing so).   She usually has a ready smile and a willingness to pass the time of day (until she needs to get going again).

You know what she does for us?

1. She talks happily with my lad.  Listening carefully to him.  She is kind to my boy.. he likes her and willingly talks to her whenever they meet.  She's a grandma and I often read posts on facebook with her spending time with them, and sometimes they tag along and play with bunnies when we're away.  

2.  She brings us books!   Lots and lots of books!!!   Many that my lad likes as well, so Natalie is a favourite around here.   Here's one she brought recently the lad and Dad will be working through together this coming year.

3. She cares for our critters whenever we are away.   Caring for the lad's snake, fish, plants, mice and cats.   Taking care of my bunnies.  Watering our gardens.   Without her we couldn't do our vacation time, do extended field trips or many other things.

4. Peace of mind.  Oh my.. Natalie is an easy lady to talk to, she shows her care in her easy smile and her honesty.   Her care for our mail packages, our critters, and us, causes us treasure her dearly.    

5. Of course you need to understand something, over the past years of Natalie being part of our five day a week life, of her lending a hand here and there, she is not just our mail lady or our vacation/field trip allower, she has become a part of our lives.  She's a dear sweet lady and I am grateful to know her.

We owe this lady a debt of gratitude.

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An InLinkz Link-up

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Review: Fish Girl

A graphic novel by David Wiesner and Danno Jo Napoli, where a young mermaid learns there is more to life than where she is living, finding friendship, learning her true history, seeing the depth of love in others.  This is a real coming to age story that should delight and amuse: Fish Girl. 

About the Authors: 
David Wiesner is internationally renowned for his visual storytelling and has won the Caldecott Medal three times-for Tuesday, The Three Pigs, and Flotsam -the second person in history to do so. He is also the recipient of three Caldecott Honors, for Free Fall, Sector 7, and Mr. Wuffles . He lives near Philadelphia with his family.
Donna Jo Napoli is a distinguished academic in the field of linguistics and teaches at Swarthmore College. She is also the author of more than eighty books for young readers. 

Book Synopsis: 
Fish Girl lives in an aquarium where she is the main attraction.  The owner claims to be Neptune and says he controls her, the last of her kind.  Life isn't all bad but Fish Girl is seeing there is more to the world. She's learned to be fearful of humans until she meets a girl who is nice to her.  Life changes, and this book is the story of that change. 

My Thoughts: 
Great story.   Seriously.  I liked it.   Seeing Fish Girl blossoming.  It was so nice.  

The graphics are nicely done.  Not all dark and graphic novelish...but clean, clear images, with nice colour.   Some of the images were full page which made a nice contrast to all the boxes.

The writing wasn't hard to read, but nicely sized lettering that you didn't need to squint to read well. :)

Fish Girl
Authors: David Wiesner and Danno Jo Napoli
Illustrator: David Wiesner
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages: 192
Ages 10-12 years
Style: Graphic Novel, softcover
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.



Where to find:
 Amazon.ca: Fish Girl

Amazon.com: Fish Girl

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Five Things we Enjoy: Work at Your Own Pace

Did you know that my son suggested this series to me. I was asking him what homeschooling theme I should write about and he tossed out "Why don't you talk about what I like mom?" I thought that was a great idea so here we are. :)

The VERY FIRST thing he said was "you should tell them how much I like working as fast or as slow as I want to mom".

When I asked the lad why this was important he said "I'm not rushed or slowed down.   I don't have to worry about rushing or slowing anyone else down either." 

This is very important to my 11 year old "I want to keep people happy" young man.  Being able to work at his own speed (with the odd reminder) is extremely important to him.  He can take a break when he wants to and play with a mouse.   He can work extremely hard and be done by 11-12, or be more leisurely and finish at 2.  It's all good in my book.  Applying outside pressure has an adverse effect on him.
I have to admit that I am sometimes flabbergasted at how quickly, a highly focused lad who has plans for the afternoon, can get his schoolwork done.   He's going to sew, work with his cactus, go pokemon going with Dad or just whatever catches his fancy.   

It makes me think of how last year I would ask him (as we daily planned out our day) what goals he had for the day.  It helped keep the air clear of the unknowns and gave him a goal to work toward.  I would help him meet his goals and he would help me meet mine...and together we learn that tomorrow is always another day.

But then we have days when ... it seems like we'll never get done.  Everything is a problem or a distraction or too hard or just wrong.. you know those nit picky things in programs that just drive you nuts. ... and suddenly that molehill has become an insurmountable mountain.   Those days are harder to manage so we learned a new rule.  If we are not done by 2 (if a lad has been working all along) then we are simply done. 

He works off this

He puts X's beside what he's not doing (after consultation with mom) and check marks beside what is finished.   This is just our basic schedule and we change it around a bit depending on the week.. like this Thursday I'm hoping to go to the market.   So we'll "X" out a bunch of things OR I'll simply delete them from the schedule... HE LOVES those empty days.  :)

I've tried to do fancier schedules but he gets aggravated or discouraged when there's too much detail on the list.  He hates using a book.  So a simple print off schedule that he can mark up to his hearts content works for him (and I have it saved to the computer for easy tracking).

So what is it like in your schoolroom?   Do you find that your children work best with a basic schedule and leaving them to it?   Or do they work better using a different format?  Tell me about it if you don't mind.

Easy way to visit using the linky below:
This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Easter Is Here

The Homeschool Review Crew does word prompts for Instagram fun, I think it's great to have these words prompts for doing quick posts. :) I find them fun as sometimes it surprises me where my brain goes. :) The word for today is Easter. Let's follow my thoughts along the way eh?

 Easter

Sadness Reigns

The Saviour is gone

Fear

Depression

A hunt perhaps

Danger lurks?

Mourning progresses

Women attend

Shock

Surprise

Fear
Horror

What could have happened?

Conversation

Hope

Telling

Wonder

Disbelief

Truth to be found?

Touching

Feeling

Hearing

Knowing

Learning

Awareness blossoms?

Jesus talks

Jesus walks

He can be felt.

Rejoice

Listen

Learn

See God moving through history

Celebrate

Speak the good news 

Shout it aloud

Jesus is Risen

He is Risen indeed.

Death is conquered

Jesus is Alive!

  

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Review: Quick Tips for Busy Families

 Okay... I have rather neat parenting book for you.  It's not a "normal" parenting book with do this, do that, this is how you parent effectively, but like a "try this neat idea to add some fun", or "try this idea to make your children think" or "how about this thing to create a smile or some lasting memories.".   So let me tell you about "Quick Tips for Busy Families: Sneaky Strategies for Raising Great Kids".

All kinds of ideas are waiting for you in the pages of this Busy Families Tips book.  144 of them to be precise.  

 
Each parenting hack is only 1-2 pages long and is written with a touch of humour, a good deal of humility and drop of seriousness depending on the topic at hand.   I appreciated the real life situations given, and the light touch.   I never felt like I was being talked down, rather like I was being encouraged to think outside the box in regards to how to parent.   I quickly came to the conclusion that he was used to parents with multiple children as I didn't come across many situations dealing with a singleton child. 


All 144 chapters are listed.   I found topics listed that normally you don't find in parenting books, like how to deal with difficult teachers, setting a high bar for your children, the benefits of adding art to your family and more.

God was frequently brought into the conversation, not in every hack, but frequently enough to know that faith is part of the equation.

Is it worth getting?
 I don't know honestly.  It was a fun quick read but I don't know that I would refer back to it or tell people they had to get it, but it wasn't a waste of my time either. 

Some of the tips sent me into a "I have to ponder that a while" mood...and that's not a bad thing eh?

I would definitely say that if you find it in a library, or or able to do a quick read at Chapters (or another book store), avail yourself of the opportunity. 
 

Quick Tips for Busy Families: Sneaky Strategies for Raising Great Kids
Author: Jay Payleitner
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
237 Pages
Type: Parenting   

Reviewed for: Nutsaboutbooks. 



Where to find:
Amazon.ca: Quick Tips for Busy Families: Sneaky Strategies for Raising GreatKids

Amazon.com: Quick Tips for Busy Families: Sneaky Strategies for Raising Great Kids

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Easter Week Brings Changes

 So we only did three actual days of schooling this week and only two of them were relatively normal.  :)

Monday.. 
Normally we go to London on Mondays, but I still had a headache and the thought of moving didn't set well with me.   I did a few things in the morning while my head was sorta still in place, but then my head fell apart on me and I spent the rest of the day hiding from the light.


Tuesday...
We needed some groceries so we headed out at noon to take care of that.  The lad had a lovely visit with gramma and they even went out for a treat at McD's.  The lad had pushed hard to get his homeschooling done and only needed to do his reading at gramma's to be finished. 


Wednesday..
The lad stayed home to do some really focused schoolwork while I went to the foodbank.  It was a delivery day and we were short staffed so by the time I got home I was totally tired, and then sat in my chair doing some blog posts.   I had hoped to clean the bookroom and all that, but... you know when you gotta rest, you gotta rest.  I did manage to take some pictures and list bunnies for sale at Easter so it's not like I was a total slug.

Thursday...
Off to Kitchener.  The lad was SUPPOSED TO do some car-schooling but got distracted by playing tablet games.   He said "I'll do it later" but later turned into potting some of his new cactus plants.  So his schooling that day turned into doing math as he figured out what he wanted to buy, if he had enough money, wanted to spend the money required for his initial desires or put things back and then in doing some gardening.  Figuring out how to plant the biggest cactus with tons of spines was a bit of a challenge but between the two us, it got planted.  

The evening was filled with a soup and bun dinner at the church where my son does Cadets.   I made a rice/veggie/chicken soup that met my son's approval.

Friday...
Good Friday.   This morning Gramma came up and went to church with us.  We had a lovely dinner with a roast beef made by hubby, taters, veggies, Easter bread made by yours truly, Chicken by gramma, along with dessert, Cut up tomatoes requested by a boy child as he set the table. 

Saturday..
These kiddos will be heading to London with me tomorrow and finding new homes.  Hubby has some stuff to pick up and ... that's about it for our week.  

Sunday ...
Potluck dinner at my mom's with as many of us as can make it. :)  We'll be making Shredded beef and I need to cut up some celery for a veggie tray.  :)  It'll be a happy Easter eh?

 
Reviews: 
Your Next 24 Hours: Some practical ideas about being kind.
John Deere: That's Who - The story of John Deere.
Art Book Series: Claude Monet, Sunshine and Waterlilies - A great art book
CompuScholar, Inc. - Digital Savvy a great computer science course. 

Everything Else:
Braided Easter Bread: A first, the lads loved it!
But Just You Wait: a word prompt post on Empty. 
Parenting: Grace - Learn the value of grace in the everyday of parenting
See the Altar, look forward to Christ.  Ezekiel 43:13-27 devotional
Princes, Foreigners and The Prince, rules.  Ezekiel 44:1-14 devotional
Don't Forget the Sacrifices: Devotional on Ezekiel 44:15-31
Art Book Series: Claude Monet, Sunshine and Waterlilies - A great art book
Five Day Blog Hop - join me next week eh?
Recipe: Italian Bread.   mmm... good bread
MMM is for Maple Syrup: Alphabet blogging on Canada.
Celebrate!  Redeem History - word prompt post
Honey Lemon Rabbit on Angel Hair Pasta.   This was VERY yummy.

Linking up At the Following:

Homeschool Coffee Break

Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers. 

 Homeschool Blog and Tell.

 Homeschool Nook.

 Family Friday LinkUp.

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/