St. John Bosco Academy

We are gearing up for spending some quality time in fellowship and study with the families of the Catholic hybrid school, St. John Bosco Academy. Our "meet and greet" is scheduled for Thursday, August 13th.

We are receiving books in the mail almost daily as I ordered several used off Amazon. There are few things I enjoy more than to get a box of books in the mail. I prefer browsing at a library or good book store and taking them home immediately. I got Jacob's Algebra, which costs at least $70 new for $16 off the Internet!

Catholic Bible Study resources

We are waiting until we move so sign up for Pius Media, the "Catholic Netflix". I have looked at Ascension Press materials from afar before and would like to see them before I buy them.

Mom is reading...

I am reading speedily through this engrossing reflection on restoring Christian culture. And, I am a bit slower with the PIG ("Politically Incorrect Guide") to the Civil War, which is such an important book, so timely.

Our well-worn ATLAS

We have had and enjoyed this atlas for years. We have been looking at it alot lately, as we read historical fiction. We finished chapter 2 today of Augustine Came to Kent. Monday was bad, but it was not very bad. JB and Miller have done good copywork, HRM is doing K12 Language Arts and Science as a monthly trial, and Mom is going a bit crazy as she is experiencing labor pains with the new house construction nearly at full fruit. HRM and I discovered LUSH Handmade Cosmetics and it is really interesting learning about this company; we placed an order for some sea salt shampoo, all-natural moisturizer and some other nice soap. J is reading tons as he plays Animal Crossing on GameCube (...or "cubegame" as Mom calls it just to get a rise out of everyone....). JB sits with J and helps him read the cubegame game.... and she has re-discovered her Nintendo DS and is about to finish Marley and Me (not the kid version). We are off in a couple of hours to celebrate Confirmation at our parish. I am a sponsor for a very special young man -- thank you, Sean! Not that he reads my ole, boring hschool journal!

Exploring Math and Science through literature and everyday activities...

I was over here at the Living Math! site and see our approach in this approach. I want to look at this to inspire us to think more about math history. I also bought, and read much of, Maureen Wittmann's new book back in August, and found her philosophy affirming. I have watched all three of my children learn so much math and science while cooking, asking questions and discussing various topics, playing video games and board games, playing pretend (an elaborate restaurant game two years ago was an entire primary math curriculum), painting, drawing, sculpting, putting on plays, self-taught music, formal music lessons, reading and writing poetry and exploring the great outdoors -- oh, and like every suburban mom, driving is also time, with a captive audience, to "carschool" in an interdisciplinary manner. "Mallschool" is our latest venue for interdisciplinary learning. It is my experience, for nearly 13 yrs as a stay-at-home mom, that, when children and young people come to you with a burning question, they soak up the knowledge like a sponge. Even when mine were infants and toddlers, the self-directed games and activities they came up with on their own simply amazed me. It is not a big surprise that I have, time and time again, found wonderful results with a very child-led form of home education. It is a "both-and," meaning that it is often Mom-led (or Dad-led) as well. To educate means to nurture, to grow. What a constant task! What struggles, yet what joys!

HRM and I bought CHC's High School of Your Dreams a while back ago. This type of logging hours is so helpful for unschoolers or other "mixers".