Continuing on, we're reading Mr. Revere and I by Robert Lawson, and I'm pleased to see Aaron enjoys it a lot. He even asks me to wait if he leaves the room for something. He values the book. He laughs at the funny parts and asks questions. It makes me feel great to be reading a book that he likes as much as I do.

He's still incredibly slow at writing. He can think of 1001 things to do besides writing... but I have a secret plan. He has a bike repair book here on our table he is very much wanting me to read to him. I made a deal - and that is if he can do his writing assignment without spending the time talking like a radio announcer, I will read to him a bit from the book. Too much talking will of course cause my willing participation to go south for another day.

Today we watched the end of "The Ship" - a great series on The History Channel. If you go to that link, click on the ship graphic for a fun and interactive website on the program with games, maps, etc. ... The Ship was about the journey of Captain Cook in Australian waters off their east coast, and north to Indonesia. A crew recreated the journey using a replica of the Endeavor.. the ship Cook used to circumnavigate the globe.

Aaron was happy he got his friend, Shane, outside today... he convinced his friend to do six laps around the block with him on bikes. He keeps saying he's training for the Tour de France. Aaron may be fast enough to do it. I went to pick him up from his friend's house downtown and rather than come home with me he wanted to race my car home. He was nearly as fast as I am, but of course I was going pretty slow because I was driving in town. He even rode to the top of our hill without stopping to rest. (We live on a hill just outside of town.)









  ¶ 3:15 AM  

  I made it a social studies day. I picked out some good programs I thought Aaron would find interesting and asked him to watch them. The programs were from the History Channel. He watched one on the true story of the mutiny on the Bounty, and one about myths re: the Titanic. He also cleaned his room and rearranged his bedroom furniture... spent time visiting with his friend downtown, rode his bike around town.. and in general had a very good day.

Here's a good political cartoon from today's Orange County Register. I'm printing out a copy to tape to my front door. I'm saving a second copy in my homeschool legal folder. 1 picture = 1000 words ...

There's a new lesson plan about homeschooling for teaching children why they are being homeschooled and the significance of it. The lesson plan has an extensive list of famous homeschooled people (presidents, inventors, writers, etc.) ...

LibertyForum.Org has a discussion of CA homeschooling happening today.

I watched the programs with Aaron. The Bounty disaster happened at the same time as the Revolutionary War was underway in the USA (late 18th century) so in a way it ties in with what we've been studying.

In other news, my daughter, Cimeron, went to a seminar in Yreka with the other 8th grade girls in her class. The seminar was put on by the Soroptimist International club to promote self-esteem for all the 8th grade girls in our county. She had a great time and when she got back she wrote to them to tell them how much she enjoyed the day. Looking through the booklet she brought home I noticed that one of the presenters was a homeschooled girl, a senior in highschool with an impressive list of accomplishments under her name. Cimeron said the homeschooling teenager was in charge of the 4H fashion show.

  ¶ 12:22 AM