reading for fun and by force - dissection lab and eyeballs!!!
  The weather was so nice today that we all did school either outside on the picnic table or in the swing.  My daughter and I sat together on the swing and read our books that we picked up ...

Four letter words and my siblings...
(Yesterday) We went out of town today and had lunch with my sister and her husband.  While we were waiting for our food my children began to doodle on their children’s menus.  I don’t know how we got on the ...

Thoughts over Coffee - Motivating Learners (TAKS rant)
I normally don’t turn on the television in the morning unless the weather is really scary.  I like to burn my mouth on coffee while I check my e mail and lurk over at the TVAO article comments section.  Usually ...

Motivation and Learning

factoring trinomials with children
My 13 year old is factoring trinomials again today in Algebra.  Remember how to do that? If you are an average person who didn’t major in math or go into pipe-fitting, you might not remember much about your advanced (Algebra ...

Coffee thoughts - multiple ages in the learning environment
I can't spell or function before OR AFTER coffee.  This morning my son and I were playing around on the internet.  Actually, he had woken up and crawled in my lap while I was looking up Eva Braun.  I had ...

Give a child a computer.... and they might teach YOU a few things.
Old blog: I put our old computer in my 8 year old daughter’s room. Just leaving it in her room and allowing her to play on it unsupervised has taught her so much! She has figured out how to use ...

Converting Fahrenheit to Celcius (turned into a rant on freedom in learning)
My children and I have a little game that we play whenever we get in the car.  When I start the engine we all look up at the display panel to see what the temperature is in Fahrenheit and then ...

Give a child a computer.... and they might teach YOU a few things!
I put our old computer in my 8 year old daughter’s room. Just leaving it in her room and allowing her to play on it unsupervised has taught her so much! She has figured out how to use the Paint ...

Converting Fahrenheit to Celsius
My children and I have a little game that we play whenever we get in the car.  When I start the engine we all look up to see what the temperature is in Fahrenheit and then everyone guesses what the ...

More on Spanish - The Second Best Way to Learn a Foreign Language
I took Spanish in high school and college and I can’t speak it or understand it today.  Am I the only one?  “Use it or lose it.”  I never had a chance to use it in my daily life.  I ...

The BOOK that GOT me HOOKED
This would be a commendable post if I were an 11 year old but I am in my twenties.  LOL A few months ago, while having coffee at The Hardback Café and venting about life with some other mommies, one ...

Where do you sign up to host a family?
I know it’s popular to be appalled and disgusted with this polygamist community and to only talk about the negative and to focus on the word 'abuse' when you consider this community, but you have to admit they have a ...

It's not too late to learn! Resources for AUTODIDACTS or homeschoolers
Do you feel this small   .    when you watch, “Are you smarter than a fifth grader?”  You aren’t alone.  Remember the episode where the double degreed high SAT scoring confident young man didn’t even make it past round two?  I ...

SCHOOLED in Construction
  How do you learn?  You watch an expert, help them when you can, and then try it on your own.  (Or you buy a book on TILING from Lowe's)  That's how my husband and I learned how to ...

Cat Feeders
We set out four "cat feeders" in our backyard.  I meant for the feeders to be for MY enjoyment, but the cats seem to get more amusement out of them. Cat Feeder We set out four "cat feeders" in our ...