Monthly Archives: June 2010

The Quest for Playgrounds

Posted on June 29, 2010 by

We hit two completely different but exciting playgrounds on our southern travels, both worth a mention because I’m totally obsessed with playground design.  It’s just so exciting to find a playground that isn’t made up of the exact same set … Continue reading →

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The Kids Want a Haunted House

Posted on June 28, 2010 by

As we gathered up unread Judy Moodys and a pile of audio books for our trip at the library the other day, Mushroom happened to spot a chapter book series I wasn’t familiar with.  The Araminta Spookie books are about … Continue reading →

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Southern Travels

Posted on June 25, 2010 by

For anyone not in the know, we’ve been trekking through the south this week and having a grand time.  Now I know for sure that the kids and I can all survive a fifteen hour trip in the car together … Continue reading →

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Spies Like Us

Posted on June 24, 2010 by

Last summer I got really into the Alex Rider books and this summer I can already foresee that my spy reads will probably be the Gallagher Girls books.  I read the first one in an afternoon and there’s a new … Continue reading →

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Tightrope Parenting

Posted on June 23, 2010 by

There are some things I’m dogmatic about.  I don’t ever intend to send my kids to school, for example.  But with most things, I feel like parenting and homeschooling are a tightrope walk.  Not A Man on a Wire sort … Continue reading →

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Enchanted Glass

Posted on June 22, 2010 by

Enchanted Glass is Diana Wynne Jones’s latest middle grades novel about a man who inherits a magical manor with strange colored glass panes and a boy who runs away and happens to find a place there.  When I went to … Continue reading →

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Have Kids, Will Travel

Posted on June 21, 2010 by

Having kids and especially homeschooling kids, has made me wake up and notice things going on in the world around me that I never noticed before.  I always thought I was basically with it on the local cultural front.  I … Continue reading →

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Summer Geography

Posted on June 18, 2010 by

We signed up for a postcard exchange with other homeschoolers this summer.  So far we’ve gotten postcards from North Carolina, New Hampshire, Missouri, Florida and Saskatchewan.  So, using the giant printable maps resources at Owl and Mouse, I printed us up … Continue reading →

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The Joy of Assessment

Posted on June 17, 2010 by

That’s right.  I think it’s a joy.  I’m here to proclaim my love for it.  Assessment in schools is usually a dreary affair of grades and standardized tests, with lots of pressure thrown in.  Our assessment isn’t like that. We … Continue reading →

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Mushroom the Artist

Posted on June 16, 2010 by

This picture is a testament to the unusual and creative quality of kids’ art projects everywhere.  We have a huge bag of junk from a place called The Scrap Exchange, near my mother’s house.  It’s a wonderful place full of … Continue reading →

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