Late November Update

We have been schooling, honestly! I just haven't been updating :-p

We're continuing with Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows for reading. On chapter 8 or 9 I believe. I can't wait until the end of the book so....
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*SPOILER ALERT*
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I can say "I told you so!" to J.T. about Snape not being evil. Heehee.

Our last and current chapter in History deals with slavery in early America. It's quite interesting because, for now, it is focusing on *how* slavery got started. The conditions that made America and England able to enslave Africans and why we didn't try to do the same to the Native Americans...and is also getting some into intentured servitude of whites in America. I think the whys and hows of history are very important to learn to help prevent similar mistakes in the future.

Today's Science was a Nova program on PBS. I believe it was called "Master of the Ants" and showed a tribe of people who use a breed of ants to fight termites when they have an infestation. I only half listened while J.T. watched, but it sounded pretty interesting.

In English...we're learning personal correspondence. We just finished "Thank You" letters today. Now I need J.T. to get something so I can make him send out a thank you note. LOL


On a Mom note, I'm doing a homemade holiday this year. I've made dog biscuits for all the doggies that belong to the families on my list and my mom's dog is also getting a couple of handmade toys...complete with squeakies inside ;-) I'm also doing popcorn balls for everyone and sewing some gifts...already sent my grandma's box to her and my mom and her husband's box will go next. So, other than schooling, that's what I've been amusing myself with.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful November!

Mmm...Chocolate...

Check out this contest to win a theobromine molecule t-shirt. And, while you're there, look around a bit. Fun blog! Added to my "blogs to read" list ;-)

History!

And this should end my curriculum posts. Right? If not, let's just pretend like it does, 'kay?

We own our history book...used of course ;-) because our library didn't have it and I knew for sure this is what I wanted for history this year. Last year, J.T. focused on ancient history...mostly roman times. This year, I wanted to do some American history. But real American history, not the stuff they teach in public schools.

The book we're using is A People's History of the United States of America by Howard Zinn. I use the abridged teaching edition.

This is actually a book that is used mostly in college classrooms, but I find that it's quite easy to teach from. I don't mean that J.T. is some amazing whiz kid at history, we just read each chapter together and it's not hard to understand. Now...the questions at the end of the chapter are a bit advanced so I pick and choose there and/or just do my own comprehension questions.

Zinn tries, with his book, to present history from a real person's POV rather than the leaders and heroes that other books generally focus on. Such as talking about the cultures Columbus destroyed rather than his "heroic" exploits.

With J.T.'s vacation break, we haven't gotten very far into the book yet, but already J.T. was disgusted with Columbus Day talk this year ;-)

I don't want to necessarily teach against everyone who is generally considered an American icon, or try to show that general American history knowledge is completely wrong (because not all of it is) but I do want J.T. to realize that when progress happens it's generally at the expense of someone or something...and to be aware of those affected negatively as well as being aware of positive results.

It's a pretty intense book and I haven't figured out yet if we'll complete it this year, but it is a very interesting book to delve into...even to just read for your own knowledge if not teaching from it. I also like that there are gobs of other programs, movies and books to compare and contrast with.

I think with History that pretty much sums up what we're using for curriculum this year. There is so much learning that J.T. does just on his own and not as "official" school stuff...I just have to get better at recognizing it in a way that the school board can understand.

Another Library Essay Update

Tonight was the award ceremony/pizza party for the winners and honorable mentions (that sounds like underwear for some reason) from the local library's essay contest.

They had a dorky dude dressed funny to sing some songs while everyone came in and sat down. I'm sure he amused the younger children. My 13 year old? Not so much :-p J.T. said he felt embarassed like he was the oldest kid there (he wasn't, actually, he just LOOKS it). I told him not to worry. One of the first place winners (there were two) was a woman who wrote her essay about her grandchildren. I'm sure she loves her library card and all and it's great she raised her family to value the library. Also, there was no age restriction on the contest. Still when the only adult wins one of the spiffy new blue bikes? Okay, whatever, I'm sure it was very fair.

Anyhow, before I get too snarky ;-)



This is J.T. after recieving his award. Being a kid, he didn't realize that when it was handed to him, he needed to be facing me so I can snap a pic.

And this is the award he received. They even framed it :)

That's all for tonight...not feeling great. Will post more when I get some sleep ;-)

The Pumpkin House

Happy Halloween! Gotta say that before it's over!
Tonight, J.T. and I went with some friends and their daughters to "The Pumpkin House". I found a 2006 write up about it HERE which includes better pics than I can take But, never fear, I did remember my camera, so here's some pics for ya!

There were so many people, that it was really hard to try to get any pics of the house itself...it has pumpkins all around, from top to bottom. Here's one pic:

And here's the tippy top of the house...those aren't orange lights, they're lighted jack-o-lanterns:

There are bleachers of pumpkins allllll around the property. Here's one line o' pumpkins:

And another:

And a pumpkin man:

A soda jerk:



They had quite a few religious pumpkins...like Noah's Ark and all the animals:



And this section...I thought it was Jesus (or maybe Eric Clapton?) being attacked by two vampires. Which would have been pretty cool. But, I was informed that the vampires are supposed to be angels:



They had a big wall 'o pumpkins that were synchronized to music...you can see when I snapped the pic, only certain ones were lit up:




There were quite a few college teams, local teams, NFL teams, and state themes. This WV one even had a bear inside:

Another group of pumpkins. J.T. liked the Mr. Peanut guy in the middle:

They had a "cat" theme for one section. If you look toward the lower left part of the pic, though, you can see Plankton from Spongebob!

There were even pumpkins watching from the trees:

It was very neat to see. Personally, my pumpkins would have been much creepier, but that's okay :-p

Afterwards, we were treated to an ice cream stop at Wendy's. J.T. had a chocolate Frosty and I had a chocolate Frosty float with Dr. Pepper. Mmmmmm!!!