Life on Planet Caddick

Yes, I had to show both sides!

Here is a picture of CG's Christmas present. He did a mighty fine job for hating anything "artsy".

We took a break from our Sonlight this week and studied the First Thanksgiving.  It was a short week, only three days, but we stayed on track with math, grammar, spelling, and language arts.  Some things just need to be done!  CG enjoyed the unit; mostly because we got to read a Magic School Bus book!  He loves the MSB!   I've been rethinking the whole "stretch this core to last until 4th grade".  First of all, I just don't think I'm creative enough to make it go that far.  Second, since Core 2 is also Intro to World History, I think it would be great if we moved on before CG got burned out!  So, I've finally decided on a schedule that will stretch this year and then I will worry about all the rest later.  See me relax?!  Now that I've decided on something I find it very interesting that I don't spend hours at night pouring over the IG and trying to tweak it.  That's how I know it's the right amount of everything everyday. So, what is the ...

Yes there is ~ I've seen him (her?) with my own eyes.  I suppose I could try and set out a mouse trap; but then I'd have to dispose of him myself too.  Um yeah, not so much my bag, know what I mean? So State lost yesterday.  That's ok, we will still get a bowl bid.  How exciting!  I've looked at some predictions and they say MSU vs. USC (o.k. that's the University of South Carolina - not the real  USC).  That would be cool since I totally live in Gamecock Country!   This week is Thanksgiving Week.  Take a moment to be thankful for all we have, the great country we live in, and the men and women who keep us free.  For school we are going to do a three day study on the First Thanksgiving.  I know, it doesn't seem like long enough, but since we will be homeschooling for a long time we can cover it more in depth in future years.  Since we are taking Thursday and Friday off I only had three days.  Hopefully next year my planning skills will be more advanced!  I'm...

So, I have made my decision about belonging to two groups.  Since it's just really not possible I have opted to stay with the group here on base.  I really loved the Eastover group - but I had to add 45 minutes to an hour to everything we did and I was just losing too much time out of the school day.  So, there it is.  Decision made. I have also decided to use Core 1 for the duration of 2nd and all of 3rd grade.  This does require some stretching and adding on my part - but I worked out the numbers and I think I can make it work.  If my math is faulty I will find out next year and then I can either slow it down some more or speed it back up.  For math, reading, language arts/handwriting, grammar, and spelling we are staying right on track.  Everyday for those subjects.  Then we will alternate history, geography, read-alouds, and science on a 2 day/week or 3 day/week schedule.  This will stretch out what I currently have to 62 weeks - which does leave me about 6 weeks short in third...

We had a good week last week overall.  CG actually started listening to Charlotte's Web.  I know this because we got to the chapter where Charlotte dies and he was crying and upset with me for not warning him that Charlotte died!  I read that book in 4th or 5th grade - which was too many years ago for me to calculate in my head - and I honestly didn't remember that Charlotte died!  I only remembered all the good stuff.  Ah, selective memory is a wonderful thing!  Well, most of the time anyway!  Friday night we went on an Owl Prowl at the Congaree National Park .  They only do this a couple times a year (spring and fall) if you live close to Columbia  I suggest making a reservation to go.  We didn't see any owls, but we heard them.  We also saw trees that are over 600 years old!  Sadly, no pictures.  We are going to go back this week during the day though.  We want to see the fall colors and the big trees in the daylight!  I will definitely take that camera for that trip!  ...

So McCain lost.  I'm not a sore loser, so congrats to Obama.  For everyone that voted for him please make him accountable for everything that goes wrong during his Presidency.  Don't pull the "it's because of Bush" crap.  The Democrats now have control of the House, the Senate, and the White House - when the country goes even more insane please remember - these are the changes you voted for and take responsibility for them .  It's easy to blame; hard to take responsibility.  Good luck with that. OTOH - I'm glad I can post from my blackberry! And one more thing - I received a comment about my 'things that bug me about homeschooling' blog.  I want to answer that.  I know that many homeschoolers are  fundamentalist Christians but don't homeschool for that reason.  I apologize for not stating that in my original post.  I believe the majority of people homeschool only to give their children the education they can't get in public school.  

I am trying to post from my blackberry.

I thought that voting would be a PITA given all the media hype about long lines and troublesome machines.  However, in my little neck of the woods everything went great!  I was in and out in under 30 minutes.  Now we just watch and wait.

To vote tomorrow!  It's so very important to get out there and make yourself heard.  Even if you feel your vote won't count on the national level make sure you vote for your state and local choices.  You can't bitch if you don't vote!