Cleaning out.

Define soon.

As in "...another post coming soon...", as I promised in my last post.

7 days will have to be soon enough.

***

I've been cleaning out school stuff this week. I may or may not have gotten a little teary looking through all of the papers and math sets from this year.

A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into that work.

{You think I'm kidding.}

I filled up 5 spiral notebooks and two packs of index cards

I had over 400 pages of math sets (front and back). Made me feel very accomplished to have to take two trips to the trashcan to throw all of it away.

This was the trash pile...Mom kept the best papers and tests, but we threw the rest away.

How has your summer been so far?

Friday Update

Oh dear. Has it really been a week? Is it really Friday again? This week has looked a little something like

schoolchurchpraisebandfieldtripsciencespeechanniemusicallasertagbikerideswritestoryfishbreedingroomcleanleafcollecting.

Now you understand why I didn't blog. But I will attempt to make up in a very hurried post about random stuff before I go do some more fun Friday stuff.

I've been playing a little DrawSomething lately, you know, when I'm NOT doing school or blogging or whatever. DrawSomething is a game like pictionary that you can play with friends! I thought my picture of hot sauce was quite amazing. My friend guessing apparently didn't think so, because they didn't get it.

Isn't it great?!

The Annie musical last week was so good! I was bawling like 2 minutes into it. Go listen to the song Maybe and you'll see why- it's really such a sad story! Ever since Friday I've been listening to the soundtrack on Pandora:)

Oh and that speech I was Dreading last week? Well I did it, and I think it turned out okay! I had meant to improv a little with a few facts, and didn't write them all down, but when I got up to speak I got so nervous that I just stuck to what I had written down, forgetting everything else I had planned:) Other than that, I didn't have too much trouble!

I also got my milkshake that I was 'wishing for' last week! Just thought y'all would like to know...

This is what we homeschoolers do all day- we sit around and take crazy pictures.

We like to call it sibling socialization time, since we never come into contact with other human beings.

Afterwards, we went off to sew and make bread and shop for more denim skirts.

{I kid, I kid!}

***

MG got a retainer yesterday, which I think is the funniest thing ever! 

She's had a hard time talking, but it's super cute when she does!

Maybe I'll convince her to let me take a video of her saying something...

Oh yeah...I kinda skipped right over Ben's birthday, which was a few days  before Mei Mei's, but I'm totally done with birthdays for the year.

I've eaten more birthday cake in the last 6 weeks...

Ben doesn't want to be mentioned on the blog anyway:)

So happy birthday secret-person-who-wishes-to-remain-anonymous!

These Days

These days you can find me sitting on my bed, doing homework. You'll find me reading Plato's Republic, drawing the life cycle of a jellyfish, writing a paper, or solving for x.

These days, taking a break is a special treat. I reward myself for my hard work with a round of Temple Run. Which means I better make it past 500 meters!

These days, my fish may not get fed, my hair may not get washed, my thank you notes may not get written. My bathroom may not get cleaned, my pandora station may run out of skips.

These days, I'm busy, I'm tired, I'm stressed. Sometimes I am a tad bit grumpy. Sometimes.

These days, I'm excited. I laugh a lot. I read. I play with my sisters. I babysit. I *think about* riding my bike, completing my 15 before 15, and cleaning my room.

I have fun...I really do.

These days, I'm happy. Yes, I'm stressed out 99% of the time, but it's a happy stressed.

These days are good.

My day, thus far.

I made an astounding discovery today.

There are only 88 days, 9 hours, and 16 minutes until Christmas.

That made my day:)

I took this picture this morning.

I love it!

It made my day:)

I have a grade above 100 in Biology.

That made my day:)

Nana went home.

That made my day sad:(

But. . .

I color-coded my homework. . .which always makes my day happy:)

It really does help - each color means something.

For example . . .

Yah, I know it's backwards. You get the picture:) 

Red is the stuff I really really have to get done (tests, papers, etc.) 

Blue is the stuff that I really could care less about (stuff I can do in a few spare minutes)

Green is the stuff that's going to take me a long time (reading The Iliad, learning vocab, etc.)

Oh and the yellow is just there 'cuz with all that red and green it looked too christmasy.

So there you go - I knew you were just dying to know what I've been up to.
And how was your day?

Thoughts for the first weeks of school:

1. The 9:00 class period comes wayyy too soon.

2. The 7:00 alarm comes even sooner.

3. Waking up to a very loud alarm is a good thing.

4. Then- after running across the room to turn it off before I wake anyone else up- I'm really awake.

5. Makes for an interesting day.

6. I need to eat breakfast so that my stomach doesn't growl too loudly during class.

7. Don't wear the same shirt twice in the same week.

8. Make sure I have enough shirts so that I can do no. 7.

9. Swirl is the most amazing thing. Ever.

10. Seriously. It is.

11. Eating lunch at 10:30 really doesn't work for me.

12. 2 1/2 hours of Latin after 2 1/2 hours of silent study hall after 2 1/2 hours of Biology is tough.

13. It's really, really hard for me to be silent in silent study hall.

14. I really do try!

15. Very, very few people reading this post will understand my ramblings...

And now I'm wasted a whole minute of your life.

Thank you.

And you go to school where?

Right here

I posted this, then un-posted it by accident. Here it is!

You Must Be Homeschooled If...

This is from the same website as the other homeschooler joke:

1. Someone asks what grade you're in and you're not sure. I think I'm in seventh...?
2. You sometimes go to school in your pajamas. That's the best part!
3. You sleep till 9:00 am on school days, but get up early on Sundays. Check
4. Your favorite author is Jane Austen (girls) or Robert Louis Stevenson (boys). Check
5. Your birthday is an official school holiday. Check
6. You don't get to stay home from school when you're sick. Check
7. Your favorite activity is reading. Most definitely!
8. You know what a unit study is. "What's a unit st..."
9. You have attempted to teach yourself physics. Not yet- that's next week:)
10. You know the scientific names of dinosaurs from A to Z. I failed Dino 101...
11. Watching a movie means you'll have to write a report comparing the film to the book. Sometimes:)
12. You dress up as historical or literary characters for Halloween. Not usually!
13. You exchange e-mail Valentines with your homeschool pen pals. I have two pen pals:)
14. You can get science credit for going to the dentist or doctor. I wish!!
15. You go to the park for P.E. Sometimes...
16. You check out at least ten books every time you visit the library. Between the 4 of us we get 20+ books!
17. You get books and science kits for your birthday. Yep!
18. Your board games all have names like "Bookworm", "Scrabble", "S'math", "Game of Knowledge", and "Name The State". Most of them!
19. Your home library is arranged in Dewey Decimal order. Umm.....
20. Your favorite place to study is outside, under a tree. No- we like it in the tree!
21. You memorize math formulas and Latin root words for fun. Maybe not for fun...
22. You never get nervous on the first day of school. Not really!
23. The only bully you ever run into is your big brother. I guess that makes me the bully?
24. You are unaware of the current fads, fashions, and slang terms. Check
25. You have no idea what rock bands are currently popular. Check
26. You don't have to worry about forgetting your lunch or your schoolbooks. Nope!
27. You don't have to remember a locker combination, just your computer password. What's that password again...?
28. There are only nine students in your class - but all of them are your brothers and sisters. If you include the pets, yes.
29. Your school bus is a nine-passenger van. Nope...
30. You can get extra credit for cleaning your room. I need to talk to Mom about this extra credit stuff- I wish I got credit for cleaning my room!!

This is Hilarious!

Q: How does a homeschooler change a light bulb?
A: First, mom checks three books on electricity out of the library, then the kids make models of light bulbs, read a biography of Thomas Edison and do a skit based on his life. Next, everyone studies the history of lighting methods, wrapping up with dipping their own candles. Next, everyone takes a trip to the store where they compare types of light bulbs as well as prices and figure out how much change they'll get if they buy two bulbs for $1.99 and pay with a five dollar bill. On the way home, a discussion develops over the history of money and also Abraham Lincoln, as his picture is on the five dollar bill. Finally, after building a homemade ladder out of branches dragged from the woods, the light bulb is installed. And there is light.

First Day of School!!!!!!

Today we had sooooooooo much fun! I woke up at 7:30-ish and had started on my Math work by 8:15. Then we did History, Handwriting, Journal writing, a little bit of latin and Grammer. Then, Dad surprised us by coming home for lunch, and we had some delicious hotdogs! We had completed our school day by 12:00- covering all the things we would have done, had we been at school!!