School Days, School Days...

Dear old Golden Rule days,

Reading and 'riting and 'rithmetic,

Taught to the tune of the hick'ry stick.

You were my queen in calico,

I was your bashful, barefoot beau.

And you wrote on my slate, "I love you so,"

When we were a couple 'o kids.

Ahhhh, school days!

New school supplies!

Coloring pages
(who remembers the smell of the purple mimeographed ones??),
pearl pink erasers,

perfectly sharpened pencils,
chalkboards,

 and brand new crayons. :-)

New clothes,

the promise of fall,

football games and bonfires...

I've always loved back to school. :-)

We've had different traditions over the years.

We've public schooled, 

home schooled for four years,

and we're back to public school now.

I have a 6th grader in intermediate school

and a 9th grader starting high school this year!

Exciting times ahead.

A special breakfast and first day pictures 

are traditions we always have no matter where we are going to school.

And for some reason when we were homeschooling,

we always liked to have Frito pie for first day lunch!

The year the children went back to public school

I made this banner to celebrate!

Happy back to school and happy fall -  it's just around the corner!

I'm linking up today at Kelly's Korner
for Show Us Your Life Friday - Back to School

Also linked to Back to School Traditions Link Up.

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school for my children.

After homeschooling for the past four years,

they are going to public school.

My daughter is in junior high.

And, my son is starting his last year of elementary school -

which will be his first year of school outside the home.

We might not be "homeschooling" this year

but we will still be learning and schooling at home,

as was evident while I was helping my daughter

with her math homework tonight... ;-)

This year will bring lots of changes,

and we're looking forward to new adventures.

Happy first day of school!

I pray it's a wonderful year for all! :-)

Testing 1, 2, 3 :-)

Since we began home schooling,

I have administered standardized tests

to the children after each school year.

After the first year, we tested in May. But, in years since, we have tested mid-summer ~ and, found it to be much nicer that way. In May, the children and teacher are a little weary. Taking a good, long month of "summer" first, seems to make everyone a little more fresher and ready for a week of testing. :-)

I have used the Iowa Test of Basic Skills for the past four years. I had to register to be a test administer and then I just simply order the testing materials each year. I use Bob Jones University Press for testing supplies.

After the testing is complete, I mail all of the materials back to Bob Jones where the tests are scored and ranked against students across the country. The results that are returned to me show the children's strengths and weaknesses and also how they are comparing nationally to other students.

It usually takes about 2 to 2 1/2 hours each day over 3 to 4 days to complete the testing.

And when we are all done, it's fun to do something special at the end of the week! :-)

Foods from Around the World

Last fall, our co-op semester ended with a medieval feast. Today we are attending the last meeting for our spring semester. The theme is "Foods of the World"!

Our contribution ~ tea time treats from England. :-)

shortbread

scones with lemon curd

cucumber tea sandwiches

and

chicken salad tea sandwiches

A Morning in a Spring Garden

A friend of mine (that I have known since I was the age my daughter is now!) invited me and the children over to enjoy her wonderful garden today. We jumped at the nice invitation! :-)

First we met her very sweet bunny.

He ate this whole carrot! Very quickly!

The children picked spinach greens,
and beets,

and lettuce.

They helped to plant some corn.

The onions weren't quite ready.

But the potatoes were!

The children dug some up...

... and our hostess prepared them for our lunch.

The very best potatoes I have ever eaten! :-)

What a wonderful time we had in a spring garden!

Space Exploration Day for Home School Students

The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum hosted a Space Exploration Day exclusively for home schooled students. My children and I (and 250 others!) had the great pleasure of attending today. The programs were fascinating and lots of fun!

We attended a class entitled "Reaching the Future", given by a NASA Aerospace Education Specialist, where we learned about the Constellation Program. The program is designed to send human explorers back to the moon, and then onward to Mars and other destinations in the solar system during the next decade.

A NASA space shuttle project engineer, specializing in space suit technology, talked to us about how space suits are designed and tested. We got to see and touch the parts of a space suit and we learned a lot of interesting facts about life as an astronaut!

A NASA mission control employee of Johnson Space Center taught us about the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle during his talk entitled "Help Us Take the Next Human to the Moon and Beyond". (In this class I learned that my son knew the names of all five shuttles...and I did not! ;-)

We also enjoyed a self-guided tour of NASA's mobile "Driven to Explore" exhibit where we touched a moon rock! And a self-guided Museum tour of the current display "Beyond the Moon: NASA's Continuing Mission" which will be at the Library through August 2009.

There was a small amount of time for a brief stop through the main part of the museum to learn a little bit more about the lives of our 41st president, George Herbert Walker Bush and first lady Barbara Bush. :-)

love this!

having a "chat" with President Bush :-)

taking a peek into the White House

an actual piece of the Berlin Wall

We are very blessed to have such wonderful educational opportunities so close to home. Please visit The George Bush Library to learn more about the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum and NASA to explore the wonders of our great nation's space program!

Thanksgiving Activities for Children

keeping 'em busy...

Websites to explore -

Theme Units Thanksgiving

Enchanted Learning Crafts Thanksgiving

Kaboose Thanksgiving

Billy Bear 4 Kids Thanksgiving

Homeschooled Kids Thanksgiving Games

Primary Games Thanksgiving Games

The Kidz Page Thanksgiving Games

Books we've enjoyed -

"Let's Celebrate Thanksgiving - A Book of Drawing Fun" by Janice Kinnealy

"Crafts for Thanksgiving" by Kathy Ross

"Cranberry Thanksgiving" by Wende Devlin

"A Turkey for Thanksgiving" by Eve Bunting

"Why We Have Thanksgiving" by Margaret Hillert

"Silly Tilly's Thanksgiving Dinner" by Lillian Hoban

"Thanksgiving Day Crafts" by Arlene and Herbert Erlbach

"Thanksgiving" by Cass R. Sandak

"Over the River and Through the Woods" by Lydia Maria Child

"Pilgrims - a Magic Treehouse Research book" by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce

"Thanksgiving Unit Study Adventures" by Amanda Bennett

Fun things to do -

thankfulness chain

pumpkin pie playdough

Tammy invited me to join her home school open house. Please visit Tammy to discover what other home schools are doing to celebrate Thanksgiving! :-)

The Middle Ages

Tomorrow is the last meeting of the semester for our home school co-op. We have been studying Susan Wise Bauer's The Story of the World: The Middle Ages. A medieval feast is planned. Our contribution - "Viking Bread" and "King Alfred Cakes"...recipes in the Activity Book.