A-B-C-D

Since I have a few weeks off between quarters, I've been struggling a little trying to find things to do with the kids. But now that we have a new "home school" focus, that means that ANYTHING we do can be turned into a learning experience.

So we've been working on the Alphabet.

Once a day, we're coloring a letter, finding pictures of things that start with that letter, practicing writing that letter, and running around the house to see who can find something that starts with that letter the fastest. You get the idea. It's nothing formal by any means. Just things I throw out off the top of my head. So far so good...

One wall in our living room has been turned into the letter wall. (Dad wondered out loud if the letters were going to continue down the hall and around the corner... Nope! They're going into a "letter book!")

Ryan is really good at writing his letters, Megan not so much. She loses interest pretty quick. No worries, at least she knows the letters and things that start with them!

Its been fun - especially when they ask to do another letter every day!

A is for Abby Cadabby
(Not sure what the crazy face is for!)
B is for Berry Book
C is for Cards and Crayons

D is for Dog

Since When are We Entomologists ??

The past two days we've acquired a few new pets. First, a praying mantis that has really cool stripes. Second, a HUGE black beetle. (He flies too...)

Check this out...

He has been "kid handled" a little too much I'm afraid, so he's not moving around all that much anymore. But he's been fun to watch! Since we have no idea what kind of mantis he is, we looked through all the pictures on the What's That Bug? website, but no luck. So last night we sent the pictures in to see if they could identify him.

Ryan has decided that he wants to build an obstacle course for him and has been letting him crawl all over him. I'm thinking that he won't be around that long, unfortunately...

I'm really surprised that Ryan has been playing with the mantis so much, just a few months ago, he was deathly afraid of any bug! Looks like he's starting to grow out of it!

We'll have to pick up a magnifying glass and a microscope so we can check everything out up close and personal!

(By the way, it's amazing how the praying mantis will clean itself and look around. You would almost think that it had a few things to say! Maybe it does!)

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Our other new acquisition is called a Tile Horned Prionus - from the long horn beetle family. We're not letting this one out of the jar though. Who knows what kind of mischief it would cause!

This guy is quite shiny and active. Fast too! Here's a closeup if you dare! (On another website.)

So yes, our little entomologists are quite fascinated with the insects we've found so far. As long as I don't have to touch them, were all set!

For Better or Worse...

Well, here we go. Does it make it official if I blog about it? :) We've decided as a family that we are going to home school Ryan and Megan.

Why?

Lots of reasons.

Even before we had kids, Ric and I had talked about it. His thing was that if we couldn't afford to send our kids to private school (not that you get a better education there...), we would keep them at home.

More and more as I hear the news and stories from other parents, I'm convinced that this is the right thing to do.

For example...just last week, the top schools in the country were announced. Newsweek magazine looks at a bunch of factors and 1600+ schools made the list for 2010. Our local news happened to casually mention that NONE of the schools in Rhode Island were on the list. WOW.

Another thing I thought was interesting...

A very short amount of time each day is actually spent actively learning in public school. (I heard somewhere it was only about 58 minutes or about 16%) I'm not sure of the actual time, but research shows that it's a very small part of the school day. (here, here, and here) To me that says that the actual things kids end up learning during just one school year could be learned in 28 days, if the actual learning time was a full 6 hours a day. (So what happens the other 8 months of the school year? That's rhetorical, don't answer that.)

Even though we've made the decision, it doesn't mean that I'm not feeling COMPLETELY overwhelmed by the idea! I definitely have a lot to learn, so this place (blog) is the place to record what we learn, what Ryan and Megan learn, and so on and so on...

Fasten your seat belts, I'm sure it will be an interesting (bumpy) ride!