The Sinister Scribe

Thought I’d show our most recent history activity. Canopic jars! These have been “aged” with coffee. LOL! Here is a picture before the aging.

We followed the directions found here… sort of. Instead of using paper and plaster wraps for the bottom, we used Crayola’s Model Magic clay (in white) around a 4-oz plastic squeeze bottles. The heads are on the lids so they can be unscrewed. That clay is some weird stuff! Kind of a cross between clay and foam.

You can see the one on the far left developed a crack right below where some additional clay was added. The “snout” has a crack where it was joined too. The “stain” was poured over and dried in between coats. Once the desired color was achieved, a damp sponge was wiped gently over them in a downward direction.

Sam and I are pretty happy with them. At some point, Sam wants to go back and make clay “organs” to fit inside them.

I heard the first bluejays a few days ago and we’ve had a flock of grackels (or starlings perhaps) hanging out in the yard for a bit in the mornings and afternoons. It is also tending to be cooler at night (at least this week anyway).

We find walkingsticks just about every day now. Jessie is thrilled. The bugs are probably terrified.

I’m still waiting for the first ripe tomato. They’d better hurry. I’m not terribly fond of fried green ones. LOL! I’ve picked a few lemon cukes now and there are dozens on the vine growing and ripening.

Today was a really good day homeschooling wize. Sam blew through math. He didn’t necessarily get more done, well maybe a few more than average. Mostly it was his attitude today toward math… or lack thereof. Not sure what the difference was. I asked him. He shrugged, but then added that he was actually having fun with the division problems. I’m just going to be glad and move on. LOL!

For some reason, I’ve been pondering our next homeschooling year already. What we might possibly use and how much it costs. I need to be more frugal about it next year so maybe starting to work slowly on it now will help. I am considering organizing links to all the free content I’ve found. Then maybe perusing the GLEs (Grade Level Expectations) with those links in mind, I can cobble together a comprehensive and frugal curriculum. There are zillions of links out there with great content but knitting them together into something complete eludes me. But I’ll give it another go… later.

For right now, I’m going to play php-hack for a bit and then turn in. G’Nite.

“This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world. Once you’ve been awarded please pass it on to others who you feel are deserving of this award.”

Barb at Heart of Harmony presented me with my first blog award. I am both deeply touched and incredibly surprised. The funny thing is that I am up early reading one of her book recommendations, “Drawing with Children.” (pssst… buying from that link will give her credit for your purchase )

Hmmm…. to whom should I pass this award…..

Dotchi–fellow tightwadder and frugalista
She has really helped me out and inspired me to be more frugal
Marta –local homeschooling friend
Writer, hot air balloon crewer, mother, homeschooler… what’s not to admire.

Lookee who was here this weekend! Dayle and Ken made a stop over at our place this weekend. They were between many other points on their amazing motorcycle trip.

It was soooooo good to see them! Ken took Sam on a couple rides on the motorcycle. To say Sam was excited would be an understatement. They took us out to eat and we all went to the balloon festival on Saturday evening. There weren’t hundreds of them by any means, but it was still the most I’ve ever been around. Dayle got some pictures so I’m hoping for copies when she finally touches down at home in CA again. Did I mention how great it was to see them?!?!?

They left this morning before lunch. Sam was pretty sad but we ate lunch out, picked up HP4 and hit the thrift store for clothes. When we finally got home around 4pm, we were all tired but in better spirits for some quiet time.

Other news this weekend: we finally sold the pool!!!!! Bob and I both neglected to properly prepare Jessie for the loss of her “frog pond” however. Her anguish was intense but (thankfully) short-lived.

Next weekend: Japanese Festival in STL! We’re going to try to make an entire day of it.

So, “Jah-mah-tah” (good bye in Japanese) I need to get ready for tomorrow.

On a whim, I searched the iTunes store for Japanese podcasts. (from within the iTunes application) I found lots; many of which are free! (my favorite price)

The best so far (really wish I’d found these guys sooner) is JapanesePod101.com podcast. Their premium yearly price a lot less than Rosetta Stone. If their free podcasts are any indication, it must be a great service. I haven’t subscribed yet, but they do have a free week trial we might try. If we’re still listening to their podcasts next year, I may subscribe. Hmmm… guess I’d better start saving now.

Another one we’ll soon be listening to is Japanese Classical Literature at Bedtime podcast. If we’re going to listen to someone speaking Japanese, why not someone reading classic Japanese literature. I just need to burn them to CD.

If you are wondering what all this has to do with a tree frog on a peppermint plant… nothing. I just took this picture yesterday and thought it was kind of cute.

Picked these beauties from the lemon cucumber vine the other day. Yummmmmyyyyy!!! There are lots more little ones on the vine and they are taking their time. Not as slow as the tomatoes though.

Hosting issues are resolved, for now. Email came today that the old place had cancelled my subscription with them. Huzzah! Only took 2 days. I had to submit the request through their “trouble” ticket system. So for now, I’m happy with the new host. Had the sites up and running within a day.

More later. It is midnight. I think I’ll turn in.

Since we’re still live….

I started with the 5th Grade Math Mammoth worksheet pack this year and I am thinking I should have used 4th or the operation specific packs. At this point, I am not going to switch though. As we progress though the 5th grade materials and find a subject he has trouble with, I print out sheets from the operation specific packs and work with those until he is confident with the operation. So far, so good.

We’ve switched to 4 sessions per week with Math Mammoth. For the fifth session we are using the Math Wizardry for Kids book and doing the exercises together. Sam really enjoys it.

We’ve also looked into other multiplication methods such as Napier’s Rods and Egyptian Mathematics just for fun. I almost didn’t show Sam the Napier Rods but I did and to my surprise he seemed to understand! We both agree that the Egyptian method was scary because it is amazing anyone could use it on a regular basis. LOL!

For now, we’ll stick with all this.

No, not a new house but possibly a new host. Viux was great for awhile until they restructured pricing and systems and now they can’t get me a proper invoice or respond to billing questions in a timely manner.

I’ve been waiting for a response for nearly a week. My “subscription” ends tomorrow. I’m a hair away from switching to Bluehost right now and telling Viux to stuff their subscription.

So, if the blog isn’t here tomorrow you’ll know why.

I’m really starting to feel that either I paid no attention in math classes or fun math stuff was never available to me growing up.

For example, today I learned about Napier’s Bones. Even learned two ways to use them. Before you go “Ewwww, gross!” click here to learn a bit about it and one way to use them. No, they aren’t REAL bones. ;p The illustrations are hard to read so I found this site that has better ones AND another way to use them. I went so far as to create “blank bones” thinking I’d show Sam how to use them but I am not sure. I may do the “Multiply Like An Egyptian” on that same page with him instead.

The Math Night Modules website has been added to my links too. (under math on the Homeschooling link page) Some really cool stuff there!

We’ve covered eight spelling rules so far. According to my Year-By-Week list, we are a week behind. ?? Not sure how that happened but I don’t think it is a big issue.

My goal for spelling with Sam this year is to promote a greater understanding of spelling rules and where we got them. I do think we are getting there but I cannot really prove it at this point. I need to do a review/test week to see. (something to plan)

I started by having him write the rule from The ABC’s and All Their Tricks then choose fifteen words from that rule’s word list. That was just seeming too cumbersome. It would take two sessions for him to complete just that exercise for one rule.

So, I’ve taken to creating a worksheet with the rule already on it and having him choose ten words. He can easily complete this exercise for two rules and he is not so frustrated at the end of the session. As much as I try to avoid spending oodles of time creating worksheets, I think I will continue with this for now.

After choosing the words for that week’s rules, for each word I have him look up syllable breaks, part of speech, definition and origin over multiple sessions. Then he reviews and I give him an oral test.

I need to organize some type of review of the rules covered during a five week period. Perhaps having him match words to the rule. Maybe even going so far as to use words he did not choose since we are going for mastery of the rule. He has an amazing capacity for memorization too.

But then what else? If we have four sessions per week… three sessions of review and the forth would be the test? Rule matching, definition, origin and parts of speech would just about cover three sessions and the fourth would be a combination of those for the test…? Hmmm… something to ponder.