This article appeared in last month’s Field N Forest Magazine. A COSTUME FIT FOR AN ANGLER

A seven-year-old is rarely a veteran of anything.

But my son, Craig, is a veteran angler. He’s tagged along on family fishing trips since age three. He uses the lingo and tells fish tales like a pro, explaining Grandpa’s definition of “cookie jar” to anyone who will listen. “That’s where we fill our limit if the walleye aren’t biting anywhere else.”
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Having survived our first week of homeschooling, we’re anxious to start a second one. But we’ll do it without leaving the house this time.

This week’s theme is “government” — we’re gearing up for the elections next Tuesday. I’m using government-related social studies units about local, state and federal goverment from grade 2 and Wisconsin government from grade 4, as well as a story about “Officer Buckle” in second grade reading. Toward the end of the week, Deena will begin to analyze the candidates for office in our area. I’m looking for an age-appropriate novel to read aloud to them this week, — something related to government, politics or elections. Any ideas??
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During the FOX pre-game today, they replayed a clip of Terry Bradshaw flipping out about a decision somebody made. I didn’t hear the conversation, and wasn’t paying attention to the show, but during his rant, he said the coach should just “Shut up.”

To which Curt responded,

“He needs to put a dollar in the trip jar.”

Don’t we all.

While pretending to discover fossils in rice (thanks Holly and Christine for your two versions of this excellent activity), Wayne teased Curt by breaking the pasta “bone”.

Wayne: “What would happen if an archeologist broke a fossil?” He was expecting an answer something like, “it couldn’t be fixed” or “you can’t get any more”.

Curt: thinking

Curt: “He’d get fired.”

How would you like him for a manager?

1. Pull your kids out of public education, so that you become solely responsible for their academic success.

2. Cram a week’s worth of dinosaur curriculum into two days, in preparation for a field trip to the science museum, two hours away.

3. Set up your exhibit booth in Minneapolis, for the next day’s national youth conference prior to driving back to the science museum in St. Paul. Oh, and definitely do all this in an unfamiliar metropolitan area with missing street signs.

4. Catch up with family you haven’t seen for six months, the evening after visiting the science museum. Attend a football game with them.

5. Bring your two elementary-aged children along on each of the previous steps, as well as two days of a national conference. Make the four-hour roundtrip home in-between the two days.

Now it’s your turn. How have YOU overextended yourself??

Other Homeschooling Experiment milestones:
The Beginning
Week One – Starting with a Frazzle
Five Steps to Drive Yourself off a Cliff
Week Two – Just when I thought I knew what I was doing
Week Three — Let there be CRAFTS!
One-month Review
D’s Review at One Month
Week Five – Stress and frustration
Week Seven – Flip-flopping curriculum
Note to self – Consider having low expectations some weeks
Two-Month Review — Some aha moments
Three-Month Review — Not all peaches and cream
Four-Month Review — Loving ancient history
Five-Month Review — What I underestimated
Six-Month Review – Let’s Just Skip this Month
Seven-Month Review — Curriculum Review
D’s research paper — Save the Earth Saturday series
Tales of a Fourth-Grade Guinea Pig
All posts about the experiment — including WAY-COOL FIELD TRIPS!

HOMESCHOOL EXPERIMENT RESULTS SERIES:
WHY WE STARTED
the JOYS
the STRUGGLES
the FUTURE for us

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