Beating the January Blahs

January is cold, windy and dark around here as the sun sets early and rises late. The winter blahs are a  real thing around her and beating them is a yearly goal of mine.  Since we can't spend weeks at the beach, we manage by filling our time with productive pursuits.

This year, Challenge B and friends had a Science Fair to wrap up an entire unit on the Scientific Method.  Flower came away with First Place in the Jr. and Sr. High School group with her project on, "Salt Crystallization and Super Saturation."

The kids were judged on the project itself, Research, Lab Book, Project Board and verbal presentation. A lot of time, energy, heart and soul were put into each and every project. I was immensely proud of my Challenge B class. As always, they rose to a challenge and excelled, even when planned events happened to fall on days with ice storms. 

Cub missed the science fair because he spent the week at our State Capital, interning for Family Heritage Alliance.  He was thrilled to work alongside Dale and Norman and can't wait to go back. 

Meanwhile, we were putting in about 6 hours a week dancing and practicing for Tantara, Festival of One Act Plays. Cub and Hannah both walked away with "Best Actor" and "Best Actress" Awards. the play was fun and funny and I was so proud of our Cast! We had 15 kids this year, 6 of whom had never been on stage before! 

Kari and Julie were an amazing part of the team, too and helped with choreography, props, costumes, wigs and the zillion little details that went into 1/2 hour performance with 15 kids! 

In the midst of all of that, Flower has been doing TeenPact alumni homework for our upcoming State Class, doing tons of research on entitlement projects. We brought TP to SD 10 years ago and now our youngest is an alumni. A decade sure flies by when you are having fun, working hard, being slammed, busy living.

Introducing TeenPact to the state of SD, with then Governor Rounds in 2006.

Our entire family, sans Flower is in the picture above. Cub is front and center, saluting! 

And here he is below~

Having survived 5 hours of Karate testing for his next belt, including the Bull Ring with Instructor Mike just yesterday. Mike is an awesome teacher and runs a fun and rigorous program. 

And because it's the season, we are also studying for the National Latin Exam. Cub didn't realize that the old tests had all 4 exams on them and flipped out, thinking he knew nothing! What a relief to just focus on LNE 1 and realize that he is, in fact, in great shape for the exam!  Cub is doing the LNE review with Memoria Press. 

In the middle of all of this the kids are reading great literature, studying Latin and Math, writing essays and creating 1 AC's for an upcoming debate, reading great apologetics books like Defeating Darwinism and Saving Leonardo, creating art, practicing Music and even hanging out with friends every now and then. 

And, best news of all, the days are getting longer, it's actually light out after 6 p.m. (o.k., just barely, but still) and spring is just around the corner! 

What are you doing to make it till spring? 

 All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

A Day in the Life of Challenge B

We just wrapped up our 7th week of Challenge B. We are working hard and having a blast. This past week the kids wrote a Persuasive Essay to read-out loud, presented info and an experiment on Michael Faraday and electromagnetism and had a mini-debate on Gun Control. Add in Latin, Logic, Math and pizza for lunch (thanks to our amazing Foundations families) and it was a full and fabulous day. 

I heard recently that CC is a "cheat"on "true" classical education. To that I say, "Posh!" I've done it alone and in community with CC and in the upper levels, it can't be beat. The kids learn so much by wrestling with difficult subject, talking about them, having an audience and  weekly accountability. We are being refined and honed as a group, learning an immense amount, sharing each other's burdens and laughing so hard we cry. It's rich and wonderful. I am blessed to be a part of it. 

Science – we are currently doing the History of Science. The kids present on a Scientist and their work every week. Because our Challenge A community has only 3 kids, B has 12, we often send some of our kids to their class. It’s win for everyone- “B” kids revel in the “good old days” and “A” kids get a chance to see what they’ll be doing in the future. This week, we shared with the Foundations kids, because it was electromagnetism and they have magnets coming up in Science, so win-win for everyone! 

Latin- We chant forms every week together. I often ask the kids to chant  forms individually, without looking. Assess to bless. The kids who know it love to show their prowess and it’s another way for the kids who don’t yet know the forms to to hear it and know that they can. We are doing daily diagramming and sentence patterns almost weekly. I usually assign sentences by table and then the tables present their sentences to the class. Not everyone in our class really understands diagramming and that’s o.k. We are learning together and gaining information as we go. We are using Chart A from Essentials and refer to it weekly. For me, diagramming has really been the key to translating Latin well. Without the diagramming, I often translate the meaning incorrectly, or get confused, even if I have the declensions translated correctly. Latin Scrabble and Latin bees often show up weekly.

Logic- I have the kids go to the board and create a Square of Opposition very quickly, at the same time they are creating a Square of Opposition individually on their white boards at their own tables. We drill vocab, we create syllogisms together. I love Logic- Can't wait for more formal debate in Challenge 1!

Debate- Current Events this year has been challenging to say the least. The kids are super loving how CE has turned into a simple debate. This has been one strand where every one shines! This is where the larger lap boards comes in very handy. 

In the Math strand I present a topic from Saxon and then 3 kids use  a 5 Common Topics sheet to lead a Math Discussion. More experience practicing presentation skills, and the kids are learning that even if they don't initially understand the Math problem, they can probably break it down to the point of knowing something about it. 5 Common Topics to the rescue once again! 

Expo and Comp- this week the kids read their Persuasive Essays on Little Britches. As a class we loved this book. We talked about it, quoted from it and several of the kids have already started on the sequels. Writing and Reading are my thing, so this strand is always one of my favorites. Love watching the kids gain so much confidence in how to write well and with style. Love knowing that they can be moved and changed by works of great literature. 

http://i1297.photobucket.com/albums/ag30/Lisa_Nehring/siggywithflower_zps2ffa66ba.png @Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Here, There and Everywhere

*1*

What a busy, crazy fun week.

Of course, there was work, music lessons, math - the usual. 

And a trip to the Capital to hear Franklin Graham speak. Loved joining hands and faith with 3000 other Territorians to pray for our state, country and leaders. 

 *2*

Cub has made armor on his own in the past. Because, you know, Gear. This year, I brought him a "Warfare by Duct Tape" book and this was the result:

Pretty awesome! He has big plans to invest in the rest of the series. 

*3*

CC Parent Practicum- this year, History. Great stuff! And Challenge B training. 

Challenge B, baby. Classical Conversations Challenge program is the.best. Coming right up:

Mock Trial, Science Fair, Short Story Anthologies, Science Time-line, Latin and LOGIC. 

Woohoo!

If you love education or kids, get to a CC Parent Practicum. Fun times. 

*4*

After a week of everyone going to work and friends and different cities and generally in many different directions, we all met back at home to play games, eat and do laundry. 

Ticket to Ride is always fun. 

This is Feeche's, "I am strategizing to win" face,

And yes, he did win, but I gave him a serious run for his money. 

*5*

And then we watched, "Heart of the Sea" because the Practicum Speaker mentioned it. 

A great story, well depicted with amazing graphics about the tragedy of the whaleship Essex and the inspiration of Moby Dick. Thought provoking on many levels to the point that we all looked up more info on the Essex and the story today.

Last week we watched Ken Davis' "Fully Alive" - excellent and ohsofunny! Part sermon, part comedy routine, totally inspiring! 

*6*

You do expect Baby-spam, right? Just over a week old. My kids have collectively decided that the shape of Mr. Samwise's head takes after his Italian side and that he needs a Fedora and suit.

*7*

There is clover everywhere; a carpet of fragrant loveliness. Which is a vast improvement over the wormwood and thistles that were choking our property when we first moved here.
Of course, we have bouquets of it inside, too, because, you know, Flower. 

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Winter Frenzy Weekly Review

The desk of a Challenge A Tutor- beans and candy, white board markers/ wipes, guide, glasses, note cards and lots of coffee.

Our weeks have flown by and been book-ended by busy week-ends as well. This week was no exception.
Last Saturday we had scheduled a TeenPact Study Day, but the crazy sub-zero weather prevented others from trekking out. We used the time to knock out a chunk of the homework, anyway. Sunday was pretty mellow, but Cub, Flower and I spent at least a couple of hours doing Latin. Feeche got ready for a week away, getting classes and living arrangements nailed down until he can move in to his more permanent quarters up north.

(Catechism pictionary- Radiometric dating-lol!)

Challenge Community Day on Monday; the kids have presentations and papers due almost every week, plus Latin and Math to present, Apologetics and debate. The days are full, fast and fun. Challenge A is still about a lot of Grammar and I have a reward system, candy and games, good discussion and challenge to hand out each week. Love my class of hard-working, opinionated, smart, funny and curious Challenge A kids!

We've had play practice twice a week all month and this week was no exception- 5 hours a week of drama games, blocking, coaching, props and role discussion. Presentation at a whole different level.

It was a quiet week with Feeche gone, and we spent most of it thankful for a very warm house during sub-zero weather and working/ doing homework. What we have discovered about CC's Challenge is that it's not intellectually overwhelming as much as organizationally a challenge to master. The biggest hurdle to overcome for my own kids has been that they can't always everything done in one sitting. This is doubly true for Challenge I. Dividing the work/ projects up throughout the week has been an on-going project.  While CC is strongly in favor of the kids taking ownership for their education, I help them do this by sitting down with them each week and mapping out their schedule- project by project. We put everything down, including church stuff, social stuff, TeenPact, Play and school stuff. It can be a lot of stuff.

We've all been enjoying the Lord Peter Wimsey DVD's Dr. Dh gave me for Christmas (I told them they'd love them!), and discovered that Ian Carmichael lost the tip of his middle finger on his left hand to an accident with the turret hatch of a Valentine tank, Our son in law is in good company, what, what.

We further fed our Anglophilia by watching a version of Persuasion that we haven't seen before. I was out-voted and the running in public without a hat by a lady killed it at the end, but up till then, I liked it. Mr. Elliot is loathsome while Capt. Wentworth is decidedly dashing. To balance out all of that lovely English literary theater, Cub and I are going to see Star Wars tonight.

In between all of the busyness we've had birthdays and relevant parties. Cub turned 16 and Flower 13. Love them. Aren't they just the cutest faces?!

Speaking of cute faces- here's the Geek Squad in their Snorg tees from Xmas: The Mordor Fun Run, The Power of the Dork Side and the Alderaan Weather Forecast.

And in case you haven't heard, we are adding one more cute face this May when we'll welcome our first grandson!

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Plugging Away

We have had a super busy, intense, hard work U kind of fall. It's been great. It's been fun. And this coming week the kids have Blue Book exams- the CC Challenge equivalent to end of semester tests. Except they are not multiple guess, teach to the test kind of tests. They are utilizing tools (Topic Wheels, ANI charts, Have/Are/Do charts), drawing from Memory Work (Latin, Catechism's, Geography terms and maps) and asking the kids to integrate and talk about what they've learned.

It's super cool, a bit intimidating and totally classical.

We've spent the past week getting ready, as much as one possibly can. In other words, drill and kill, baby. Should've been my middle name. We've drilled Latin vocab, forms and grammar. We've drilled Catechism charts to the point that the older boys know the definition for The Hopeful Monster Theory, et al and have made every kind of fun of it, and have drawn map after Western Hemisphere map in prep for drawing the whole thing from Memory early this week, including Prime Meridians, Tropics of Cancer, bodies of water and features, along with capitals and countries.
And that's just for the 7th grader.

The 9th grader has been busy, ohsobusy, researching Padua- the city where The Taming of the Shrew took place, in order to write a paper and do a 5 minute presentation. I typed it for him, so he could get other stuff, like another formal Science Lab written up, and boy howdy, Padua is a cool little ancient city that's had a lot going on over the years. Listening to Ravi Z's sermon on I, Isaac, Take Thee Rebecca, this semester, solidified Ravi Z's place for Cub as one of the current greats of the faith. Love his preaching/teaching!

In the midst of it all we've been wrapping presents to send, buying presents for under the tree, putting up even more lights (because Dr Dh is obsessed passionate about making it shine in our valley) and getting ready for the annual Christmas Craft Party at our sweet friend and remarkable crafter Jannell's, and making ornaments and photo booth props for our end of semester Challenge party.

For fun this week, while all three kids were procrastinating, including College Man, they divided up the world- map, Risk-style, fighting over countries and making trades, arguing about the viability of the countries resources, geography and politics. Love that. 




@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Year 25/ Week 1

*1*

This week marks the beginning of our 25th year of Homeschooling. I've blogged for 8 of them. Pretty crazy how time flies. I've been blogging less, but it's not for lack of cool things to do and share, it's for lack of time. I am always out.of.it. And I do miss blogging. I will continue to muddle along, and hopefully, you will continue to check back every now and then and see what we are up to. . 

*2*

25 years later. We are a far cry from where we started homeschooling: in L.A. with our 2 oldest daughters and 6 full time daycare kids. We did a zillion field trips, went to the beach and the many beautiful L.A. Parks as often as possible, swam in the pool, read so many  books and served so many meals and snacks they were coming out of my ears. All from the comfort of our little grad school back-house, while Dr.Dh and I earned grad degrees. 

*3*

And here we are in the Territories, so many grad degrees behind us, having graduated our 3 oldest and back to Homeschooling Two again. It's a different climate, culture, and Homeschooling World. I started out Homeschooling working full time and going to Grad School and I am mostly back at it working 30+ hours a week at my job. Not another Grad degree, but Directing Challenge is, shall we say, challenging, and I spend my fair share of time doing homework every week. 

*4*

So what's up for school this year? Challenge A and 1. Our co-op will add in Spanish, Art and Music History and a class on Entreprenurialsm. Plus Ballroom dancing, TeenPact events, Drama, and other life happenings (as in, every week-end has been booked solid for the past month). The kids have begged NOT to add in on-line classes. The only one I am still waffling on is the Test Prep. 

*5*

We did finish the last brick walk/patio area/garden bed. The boys also took down more miles of barbed wire fencing, continued to clear the grove of dead wood, continued to take down chain link and old fence posts. It's looking park like around here. 

*6*

Flower's Garden didn't work out so great, but the zinnias,sunflowers and squash that she tucked in here and there thrived. We have a bumper crop of acorn squash and eggplant about to be harvested. She has big plans to make a straw bale garden next year, which we are going to tuck behind the white shed; another re-claimed odd corner with decrepit fencing gone. 

*7* 

We started our Classical Conversations Challenge program this week; Challenge A and 1with a total of 17 kids- pretty amazing since as of the June Practicum we had 1 Challenge program and only 6 kids.  A rocking CC Practicum and several Windows into Challenge Meetings later and here we are. I'll be posting some great Challenge A helps later today, so stay tuned. 

 @Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

July Wrap-Up

July went by in a technically disastrous blur resulting in this monthly smash up versus weekly wrap-up. It was a crazy and wonderful month- full-up with friends, travel, work.

*1*

Shakespeare Camp got the month rolling. Feeche ended up there several days, coaching the younger boys, while Cub and Flower spent the week with Enak and Co.

*2*

Beach, baby! 

Week 2 found us traveling to SC, visiting family on the way to and fro. Dr Dh and the kids spent time doing touristy things like  Ft. Sumter, the Yorktown, the Laffey, Ft. Moltrey, the H.L. Hunley and the Aquarium. Oh, and the beach, which was the biggest hit of all. Our prairie loving kids L,O.V.E.D the ocean, no surprise. Because if there is the great outdoors, water or wildlife around, they are happy , happy people.

*3*

Andrew Kern, Founder and Prez of Circe Institute

Meanwhile I was at the 2015 Circe Conference, soaking up great conversations, meeting amazing people from all over the country and listening to Tracey Lee Simmons, Wes Callihan, Ken Meyers, Martin Cothran and Andrew Kern and so many other Godly, amazing thinkers. After a June that oozed with Classical Conversations, July was pretty lean on CC- other than meeting Heather Shirley, Matt Bianco and a host of other CC peeps at Circe. Love that. 
(check out the Circe Blog for more on cultivating wisdom and truth)

*4*

Wes Callihan, flanked by David and Daniel Foucachon, founders of Roman Roads Media,

Circe found me hanging out with the talented and terrific team from Roman Roads Media.  If you haven't check out RRM yet, do yourself a favor and DO IT!  Their products are GREAT, the company is founded and run by bi-lingual, smart, funny, kind and generous homeschooling grads and their Master Teacher's are names you already know and trust- Wes Callihan, Jim Nance, Matt Whitling. Still need convincing? Check out my reviews: The Greeks, The Grammar of Poetry.

*5*

In between all of the fun and inspiration I worked my day job and wrote reviews 

With Lee in Virginia
Shape Whiz
Project Passport- Homeschool in the Woods 

as well as wrote the next installation in the Homeschool High Shool Blog Hop

Frosting on the Cake- Electives, Work and College Prep
Don't Panic! -Homeschooling High School

*6*

And in between all of that the kids and I have taken down more decrepit chain and barbed wire fence, tons of fence posts (no small feet as they are usually buried posts, cemented in),reclaimed a few more "lost" areas behind sheds, built another brick sitting area, put up and painted the wooden picket fence and gardened. Dr. Dh has been incognito because of a new position at work and a major event he is planning.

*7*

Read much? Not as much as I'd like but I did make it through  "In My Father's House" by Corrie Ten Boom on the way to SC- delightful testimony of how God weaves even the most innocuous threads of our lives together. I also started "A Carless Rage for Life" - a bio about Dorothy Sayers. Love her.
Flower is still reading Pride and Prejudice. Cub is desperately waiting for the next SWB installment (History of the Ren World and Science) and the Space Trilogy by C.S. Lewis. He'll have to fight me for it. I've read it several times but Lewis is always a good idea, right?!

How was your month?

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!

Beach, Baby!

 

It's the beach, right?! Of course we're happy! 

Sand, waves, the salty sea air!

Pictures taken over a few days...

 Dr.Dh and the kids went to plenty of other site- seeing spots as well. 

Getting pictures, however, was not on the list of things to do. 

This is the boy (granted, he got home from Shakespeare Camp at 10 p.m, we put his clothes in the wash and we left the next morning straightaway) who made comments the entire trip such as,  "I hate the car." 

At the beach, "Yeah, totally worth it!"

They take off running. Shark attacks? No problem. 

(actually they were farther north than we were). 

  One of Flower's goals this year was to make it to the ocean. 

(I'm still not sure how this goal came to be?) 

The Chesapeake did in a pinch, but barely compared to the real thing. 

She was happy, happy, happy to find her little self ocean-side!  

Dr. Dh and I honeymooned on the Outer Banks 30 years ago. 

Not quite the Outer Banks, but it was great to get close enough with some of our favorite people in the world! 

Of course there's wild-life. Feeche dug until he had a crab in hand. 

'Cause even though it's pitch black out, there is still sand and water.... 

...which is always cool to float in!

A working light-house on the beach we frequented.

@Golden Grasses 2008-2013. All photographs, artwork and text are the property of the owner unless otherwise stated. Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to Golden Grasses and get our articles right to your inbox!