The HerdKeeper

Josiah (11) total left brain. This looks identical to the one he was shown. Ben, age 12 (learning delayed) When snapping the picture of his cell. He hollared "wait, I think it blinked" Then of course he laughted hysterically. Ben is definitely right brained. Melaina is 9 and is left brained. While her brain cell was not detailed her explanation sure was. On our journey I have learned so much about my children. One of my favorite things about Konos is observing my children. By nature I like to jump in and take over and I like things done just so. Left brained I guess. But by sitting back and observing and letting my kids do the work they learn so much more and I learn about them. What they think, how they tick, there sense of humor. The three brain cells my kids made were a true reflection of their personalities. They each took their time and were serious about their project. The younger kids (1st, K and preK) did not participate in this. They were busy making ta...

I am not one of those hands on type of people. Konos is a stretch for me. I like to read. I knew going in that my kids would need to see and touch and do to get this human body unit down. I was not looking forward to it. We had a lot of fun discussing who was right brain and who was left brain. It was truly fascinating to me as I noticed that those who are left brained actually tend to hang together and those that are right brain hang together. Is that wild or what? We dug into the nervous system and did all kinds of hands on experiments that helped them nail down the nervous system. It was so great. The kids were playing hide and seek tag on Sunday night in the dark. (We can do that, we homeschool and do not have to catch the school bus at dark o'clock). My son Josiah was so excited to come in and tell me his nervous system is alive and well and that he experienced the autonomic reaction of fight or flight. Another fascinating thing happened, I handed out play dough to ...

Samantha and Asher Bear Emma and Zachariah The whole gang Josiah ( the melodramatic one) Zachariah James - the Prince On a late summer/early fall day with 100 percent humidity we got dressed up and my daughter had a photographer friend who did pictures for us. They turned out fantastic.

The human body is not going as well as the bridges unit. It was easier for me to do the hands on with bridges, it was not touching slimy things. Could use some prayer there that I would just buck up and DO IT. We are self employed so finances are an issue with getting supplies as well. With that being said my kids drew in their bones and if I do so say so myself they did a great job. They are not going to be artists anytime soon but for kids who whined and complained that they couldn't do it. They DID IT. They are tossing around words like "hey, you stepped on my phalanges". We started work on the muscles yesterday and my kids were quite grossed out by the concept we were eating muscle. We have a roast to put in the oven this morning and we are all going to wash our hands and poke at it a little to see the grain. Then we are going to look at pictures I have of muscle cells. Not sure everyone will want to eat the roast beef tonight. We seem to be c...

True to our plans it was a crazy week. Three birthdays and a holiday plus sports in 14 days has left us whirling BUT my kids have learned so much. Our truss bridge was a huge success until the 3 year old decided to stress test it. The sugar cube arch was a huge fail but you know what my kids learned so much from that experiment (so did mom, do not let certain neighbor kids help) . I am still trying to figure out what happened to the remains of our collapsed arch but I am pretty sure 8 children + sugar cubes + icing = missing remains. On our trip on Labor Day we crossed many bridges and everyone was so excited to tell me what kind they were and why the engineers would have chosen that type based on the area. Even my 4 year old was yelling, look mom it is a beam bridge over a road, that is called an overpass. We crossed Francis Scott Key Bridge and a debate ensued over whether it was some sort of suspension bridge or truss bridge. We of course looked at all the part...

I hate, hate, hate washing clean clothes. Every Saturday the boys would bring down a monstrous load (their designated wash day) and I would find clothes still on the hanger or folded. I can not begin to tell you how frustrating this is. So I brainstormed and Don put my vision into existence. We are on Day 3 of this new system and I have to say it is absolutely wonderful. My 6 year old can now find what he needs and get dressed by himself without coming down without something missing. Putting clothes away is a snap and even I do not mind doing it for them because it takes seconds. I can actually see what they have, what they need and what we can do without. NO excess flowing out onto the floor. I actually ended up with a garbage bag of clothes that were so old and stained that they only decent place was the trash and I came away with two bins of winter clothes to pack away to get out in a few short months. Each boy has 10 slots and each slot holds, shorts, shirt, undies and s...

Where has the time gone. My little man is one. He has brought so much joy into my life. His knickname is "the Prince".

Emma graduated in May 2010. I cannot believe how quickly those school years went by. I am sad they are gone. I feel like I had so much more i wanted to share.

I cannot believe the school year is coming to an end. We did not accomplish everything I wanted but I trust we accomplished what we needed. I missed all of the homeschool curriculum fairs this year because of time constraints. This is the first time in 15 years that I have missed a curriculum fair. 15 years ago I had my son so I was a little too busy to go. Top on my wish list this year is Rosetta Stone Spanish. So this year for math I need Math U See Algebra I - three books - have one book Math U See Epsilon - one book - check Math U See Gamma - one book Math U See Alpha - two books My 3 high schoolers will be doubling up on math this year they are also taking a consumer math class at a co op. I am still pondering Language Arts I think we will be doing IEW for late elementary and maybe Easy Grammar for the actual grammar I really want All About Spelling - to round this out. I have IEW and Easy Grammar. Of course Literature will be some good solid historical fiction to go with ...

Busy busy busy Saturday 1. deep clean kitchen 2. clean my bedroom 3. fold clothes - check 4. pick out light fixture for school room - check (shopping on line) made Lowes list - play sand, garden hose, tomato cages, string - check 5. Prepare clothes, shoes and kids for church tomorow. 6. work with Josiah on English 7. make dinner - not sure what yet 8. clean out fridge and get it ready for grocery shopping trip - check 9. drop Bekah off to meet her boyfriend to go to a picnic - check Sunday 1. Sunday school at home with littles that are sick 2. Lunch as family 3. return clothes to dress barn 4. give Emma manicure and have her give me one.