Friday....

We were watching a biography about Albert Einestein, again much of the biography focused on this man's many women friends other then his wife. Kelly was disappointed again to see that another extraordinary man we are researching was unfaithful to his wife (if you remember we ran into this topic with Mozart). I am finding it is hard for Kelly once she hears of the infidelities of these men to look past it and see what the person has accomplished : ( Isn't it sad that so few of our admired roll models have such low moral standards to which they lived by?

My husband is also teachingKelly & I the game of golf.... Kelly is great at hitting the shot long while I am better at the short shots. I'm not really interested in it at all, but it something new for Kelly to work on and it does get her out of the house and away from the computer.
I want to send my heart felt sympathy to my dear blogging buddy (Home*School*Home) who just lost her Dad!

Teenage PMS - Oh My!

I really don't know how public school teachers teach a room full of teenage girls who are PMS'ing! I have one and what a handful she is this week!
For starters our computer again got that 2010 virus thing, I had to do systems restore again.... when the computer isn't working right she is a crank pot but add in the PMS and we have a monster on our hands.
We watched a cd about Hitler - this one was alot better, it moved very quickly but it gave us some background to work with. Took a lunch break and then watched a math cd (I knew it wasn't a good idea to do two cd's in one day but I went ahead and did it anyway). The fellow showed us the latice method for multiplication. I had never tried it before and I found it to be useful but Kelly refused to even try it : ( We will work on it tomorrow but not sure if I will have Miss Jekyll or Miss Hyde to work with!

Plans Out The Window Already

I was all geared up to start my pre-planned schedule today..... but early this morning we had a nasty thunder storm which woke us all up way to early! We started the morning off cranky and complaning which is not how I was hoping to get the day off to it's start.

My son decide to go have his taxes done, We were going to do it over the internet with the free turbo tax since his tax return is cut and dry but I just felt a bit nervous about it since he sooo needs the money to get his car fixed and I just didn't want to miss any of the possible tax deductions. We went to Jackson Hewitt, they charge him $100.00 to fill out his taxes (luckly I had printed out a $25.00 off coupon, so it cost him $75.00 - Ouch!). He is getting back $790.00, He needs $1,400.00 to fix the car.... and if you remember he is also moving out at the end of Feb.! I don't know how this boy is going to afford it all : (
Anyway, after we got back from Jackson Hewitt the day was already shot! I made a quick lunch of hotdogs and we got to school work, We started off with a netflix cd "Discovering England", Gosh it is georgous over there!!!!! I would love to live there. All the beautiful castles and the buildings are just made with such care. I told my husband our 25th anniversary is coming up on Feb. 23 can we go there???? Only in my dreams. The cd was 2 hrs. long so that was all we got done today : ( I just hate days like this! Tomorrow nothing is planned so we should be able to get more school work done - I hope....

Sunday's This And That

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! They go by so fast.....
Have you noticed that so many homeschooling blogs are now like watching/reading a commercial? It seems to me so many are reviewing this product or that. I had to go back over my favorites and remove some of them, I love reading about products/curriculum that is working for each family but to constantly be reading about items that they have never used seems just to commercially to me : (
I was reading a blog how this mom prints out the entire year schedule and of course has to tweek it here and there but pretty much has a road map to follow. So I figure we have about 18 more weeks left of school, I printed off our schdule form and was all ready to get organized and then I just sat there looking at the form.... I can't seem to plan that far in advance. I know we are going to finish off the BiblioPlan America and the World: 1850-2000, work through Galloping the Globe (not sure how many countries we will finish), pick and choose some chapters from the Apologia Zoology 1 book (we have covered a large number of the topics in the book already from other sources), Beyond Five In A Row/Above And Beyond Fice In A Row - We are working through as many of the books as we can, Math - I was reading over on one of my fav. how the mom was thinking of making up her own math book which I think I am going to do. As for the other topics spelling/grammar/nature study they all seem to be falling to the wayside. I would really like a road map for us though it might help me keep Kelly moving.... Well I have all day today to think about it and maybe I can get something down on these blank papers : )

What videos do you rent from Netflix?

What videos do you rent from Netflix to add to your schooling?
We got our movie today from Netflix, I picked one about Hitler. Gosh I sure did pick the wrong one.... I wanted one about the man and what he did, We got a video about the concentration camps.
We also got one about England, the country we are working on. I thought it would be fun to tour each county by video instead of just by reading about it.
On Monday I have a multiplication/division video coming not sure how well that will go over with Kelly (hates math!).
I really look forward to using Netflix to help give our homeschooling a little something extra.

Busy Teacher's Cafe

Here is a website that I found: Busy Teacher's Cafe
It has a topic of making your child their own "Mini-Office" with directions and forms all you have to do is supply the folders.
I have been thinking of making one of these for Kelly for awhile now, I would include of course the multiplication grid and a few other things that she has trouble remembering.
The website has alot of other topics that you might enjoy also : )
Have a great day!

Feeling Kinda Sad.....

Feeling kinda sad today....
My son and his girlfriend went and filled out an application for that apartment that they want to rent together, they are hoping to be able to move into in March I think. I can't belive how sad this makes me feel, I guess it's like when your child goes off to college and leaves for the first time for a long period of time. It's sad but I would rather them move out together then get married at this time since there has been so many rough patches for them. In my gut I can't see this lasting very long but maybe they will surprize me. I just can't belive how sad I am feeling about the whole moving out thing! I really don't see him very much now but it is so nice to know that he is home at night and safe. The apartment they are looking at is right across the street from the Daytona International Racetrack behind the mall there. It sure will be different from living where we are now.... Is it normal to be so sad about a 20 year old moving out???
On to Kelly and school work, we watched a four vol. video set about the great depression that I got out from the library, We found it to be very interesting. You know that one picture you always see from the depression era of the women with her two daughters tucked up around her neck and the women is looking so sad? Their story is so sad, the women's husband had died, she had seven children to take care of all by herself. The fields where she had hoped to be paid to pick the peas froze and there was no work for her at all. She sold the tires off of her car for food for the children... they had been eating the frozen peas. Can you imagine having to deal with those types of conditions!
We are moving onto Hilter next, I signed up again for Netflix (we couldn't really afford it but I felt like Kelly is doing so much better with watching and learning that I'll give it another go) we have a bio movie picked out about him, we should get in a few days. Other then that we have been moving at a snails pace since the holiday break! I think the biggest problem has been me and not being organized enough for the lessons.

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Happy Martin Luther King Day!
We are having school today even though our public school has off today and tomorrow - We need to make up a few days....
I have been really thinking about what works for Kelly and what doesn't school wize. I have been watching her and seeing what she remembers and what we were using each time and I have come to the conclusion that she really remembers things when she sees them in video.
It's funny we watched a video about Mozart and I asked her what she thought, Instead of saying brilliant composer ect. she said he was a dog. I asked why, because in the video it mentioned that he had cheated on his wife.... That's my girl, Kelly is so, I can't think of the right word for it but she sees things so clearly on human issues. My almost 15 year old daughter (b. 2/19) is telling my 20 year old that his girlfriend is just using him to move out with someone, that he can't afford the apartment, that he should wait and see if his jobs are going to keep him (his second job he was hired only as seasonal), Now isn't that something! My husband and I area always asking her opinion on things because she just seems to know the right thing to do - Does that make sense? I think she is just an old soul living in a teenager body : ) And to think this child thinks of herself as dumb.....

Some Times You Can Just Talk Till You Are Blue In The Face....

And your children still won't listen to you!
My son who is 20 years old has decided to move out with his on again off again girlfriend. If you remember they were supposta be married this March but she broke up with him, they got back together and she broke up with him AGAIN and now they are back together. You would think from just all these break ups that the relationship is not a stable one at the moment but they have decided to move out together. We have talked to him to try and make him see how this is just setting himself up for a big fall especially if they sign a year lease for an apartment and she breaks up with him again and leaves him having to pay for the apartment by himself (which even with his two jobs he could not do). He just won't listen to anything we say, He feels they can do it. At this point I have just had to step back and let things fall where they will. If you remember his car is also broke AGAIN and needs a new engine $1,400!
Kids they sure do make your hair gray : (

Computer died :(

Our computer has a nasty virus - it was terrible, We had to delete the entire contents of the computer : ( It was like losing a bunch of friends since I lost all of my favorite links & documents. To top the day off my son's car broke down again at 3:30am this morning. It was during one of our coldest days yet, when he was on his way to work. I feel for the kid he bought this mustang thinking if he paid a bit more (close to $7,000) for it he would get a car he could count on but it really is a clunker :(
On a good note, My son got the laptop working that my in-laws gave me for Christmas (doesn't Christmas seems like ages ago?). He bought this device that allows you to run more then one computer at a time - Yea! To be honest I don't like the laptop at all.... I like having a mouse to work with. Kelly was all over the laptop at first but now she is eyeing up this computer again, I don't think she likes not having a mouse either.
We are really struggling with getting back to school work! It has been sooooo cold here that it is hard to get going. It is like all you want to do is hibernate - wrap the blankets up around your neck and sleep the day away.... It really is too cold here, it is so sad to see the manatee's in the lakes and canals struggling to stay warm. They have had to rescue the sea turtles because they are becoming paralized from the ultra cold water. The crops down here are struggling also, I can imagine that the prices for oranges, strawberries, corn will increase very soon. The fern growers also are desperate to keep their ferns alive. Anyway, they say we are going to warm up this week, I sure hope so!

Holy Cow It Sure Is Cold Here In Florida!!!!!!!

Wow, It sure has been cold here! We have deep freeze warnings for most of this week : (
I woke up this morning and it looked like it had snowed, the ground was all white from frost.
I know low 20's doesn't sound cold to you all up north but it is terrible cold for us here in Florida!
Our horses have been looking at us like "What The Heck Is This Weather!", I took my sleeping bag and have tied it around my horse Roper to try and warm him up a bit (He is a bit older then my daughter's horse Chance so I figure he deserves the blanket). I just hate it for them having to stand out there in this terrible cold weather - They just are not used to it at all. I have been running around the house for days now trying to shut off anything using electric in my New Year's Eve to do list of lowering our electric bill but now with us having to put the heat on thats shot!
I sure hope it warms is soon!!!!!!!!!

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe night last night!

I decided that since I have watched the ball fall in NYC on tv. every year since I can remember that this year I was going to go to bed early and maybe that will change the luck of the year for me.... All I can say is good riddence to 2009, it almost ended in a bang for us! As I said yesterday was one of "those" days at our house, as soon as the mail man dropped off the unemployment check in the mail box we were off to cash it at the only bank in town. We got down there about 11:45am. police were every where! The bank had just got robbed! If we were there just a tick sooner we would have been in the bank when this all took place, the guy left a package on the counter they thought it was a bomb.... To top it all off the guy got away! It sure is getting crazy around here!!!!!

Enough of that.... I hope everyone has a wonderful day to day and all of your hopes and dreams for 2010 come true!!!!!

Happy New Year 2010!