before i forget

just to jot down things that happened today - nothing significant, just so that i can claim that i did something today with the kids - albeit sidney on lap, or crying or making noise, or otherwise. At 10:00, we had a visitor that was here until 11:00, but kids plugged on through.

~ Brain Breakfast - Simon did luminosity and Lucy did Free Rice (mommy got sidney dressed and in chair)

~ Handwriting (cursive)

~ Poem Practice - due this Friday

~ Daily Math (circumference/radius for Simon) (Standardized Test Practice for Lucy)

~ Math - (Simon percentages and ratio) (Lucy 3 digit multiplication)

~ Science - Stored Chemical Energy - did a couple of YouTube science classes that discussed this issue at length. While with visitor, Simon and Lucy read about Nuclear Energy in science books.

~ Quiet Reading time (

Weekly Reader or reading box)

~ Viking Time: Viking computer game, Viking Trivia game, Viking movie "Vikings, Journey to New Worlds"

~ More Viking computer game, as i was down nursing Sidney in hopes of another nap

~ Writing (Simon beginning of writing project for his writing class) (Lucy, proofreading and editing practice)

~ "Do You Know What I Know" Both Simon and Lucy added something to the Viking subject.

Then, library and back to reading before choir time.

Training our minds….for what exactly? I wish I had the answer at times. Today is Martin Luther King Day and knowing the bigger picture, I shall shift to a micro focus of my day…something of which is in continual battle with my kids; but I digress; for now shall be about me.

This morning, as the kids awakened to Martin Luther King Day, I was approached by one small Avenson, asking if he could have the day off. My first response was, no. Our day would be cut short anyway because I would be taking them sledding with friends soon after lunch.

While brushing my teeth, my thoughts transpired to popular Homeschool culture. “What a privilege it is to have our children home, to wake up late and do school in our pajamas. “ “What a privilege to wake up at 11 and read all day and once math is done, call it a day!” “What does this truly matter in the long run? We are homeschooling to raise children of character and God fearing individuals.”

I can’t escape these beliefs of culture. Am I a hard-ass within this world? Why don’t I concur with “Kids don’t need grammar until 6th grade?” “Less is more?”
I am already feeling imprisoned by my impounded creativity. My boundaries are well laid with an infant at home. As I type this, I am sitting in my van, with a baby asleep in a seat behind me and three others sledding and screaming with friends down an icy hill.
Listed below – absent from creative fun – is my daughters Monday schedule. After breakfast this morning, she picked her schedule up off the dining table (where it sits on all Monday mornings), put it in her binder and began. All is expected to be completed. I do not follow within the form of others – and wonder if I actually might be in the wrong? Not sure.
LUCY
 8:30 begin school
 Devotion
 Brain Breakfast: choose online geo game or Luminosity (Brain Training exercises) (10 minutes)
 Awalla Words (A Wall of Words)
o Choose from the following – Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire or Vikings and give mom 1-2 sentences to write about on our wall This will be daily.
o Define Elocution in your writing notebook.
 Read Aloud (typically done when Sidney sleeps – but today, Monday, is compromised as we are now sledding) Palace of Laughter
 Science: This is a ‘b’ week, next week, we will do social studies (Vikings), this week, we are working through our Physics Book – we probably will not get to this today, given the schedule and the fact that my daughter just asked for a friend to come over to enjoy the remainder of the afternoon.
 Math: two fold
a. 3 digit division, prime/composite numbers
b. Standardized Test Practice (Math) 3-4 grade
 Handwriting (Cursive)
 Language Arts – Lucy had a fable to proof read today – learning about proper editing markings.
 Poem – Memorize a Jack Preltutsky Poem
 Viking Movie (sledding may have pre empted this) Time Warp Trio – “Viking it –and Liking it” oh wait, school CAN be fun, what was I thinking.
In time slot box “IF TIME WORK” – if Lucy has time left in her day, she has a packet of comprehensive questions to answer from the book she just finished, “Tuck Everlasting” by Natalie Babbitt.
Library – we were going to go to the library today (try to go every Monday), but again, friend will be coming over instead and this is just as important.
Tomorrow, there will be an afternoon art class, on Friday there will be a morning chess club and soon after, a gym class. This Thursday is Book Club day where both will go to separate homes and spend the afternoon with friends.
This is a lot to pack in – especially with a two to three hour window o’ fun. But it is doable and we get through it. I am not sure how our time would be spent if we lived by the creed, “,Do your math and read and – hey, good for you!” My children are happy. They are healthy. They have friends. They seem to like what they are doing and if asked if they would like less work – well, of course they would. But I feel I need to do this for my own sake of doing what I believe is right. Am I cramming it down their throat? I don’t think so. There seems to be plenty of time in the day to manage this. Insight is always welcomed.

Sea Monster Lore

Simon's next writing assignment was to take a very popular folktale or fable and make it is own. He chose to write under the umbrella of "A Boy Who Cried Wolf." You should be able to see the resemblance.

A three masted brigantine, christened the “Monkey” carried a group of swash buckling pirates on the high seas. These pirates were the oddest bunch of pirates that lived. They believed if you were lucky enough to be eaten by a sea monster, you would be reborn and receive all of King George’s gold; although, all the ‘normal’ pirates knew this wasn’t true. Immediately before the boat set sail, an exceptionally bored kid stowed away onto this particular pirate ship. This kid, who was shifty by nature, overheard some pirates talking about sea monster lore. He appreciated the humor in the brainless pirates’ chat. One day, the captain, a burly man by the name of Capt’n Jules, assigned him to be on the lookout for sea monsters, of course the kid was happy and delightedly responded in his best pirate voice. “Aye Sir!”

The kid headed up to the rickety crows nest. While high on his perch, he thought of a good practice drill for his prank. The crew, which was just about to doze off to sleep, needed to be fired up. He bellowed. “Avast!” While pointing his finger out to sea the crew heard him shout, “SEA MONSTER, SEA MONSTER ON STARBOARD SIDE!” This definitely got the crew’s attention. They all ran to the starboard side and started desperately diving into the water. After awhile it became apparent that there was no sea monster. The kid told the captain that it was just a drill. The captain, since he was still in his pirate pajamas, got angry and gave him three warnings – one of which would be to get flogged with a licorice whip. Consequently, the kid performed his prank again three more times; the first two were just like the first. The third however he thought for certain he saw a sea monster.

The captain called him to his quarters after the third and final prank. While in the quarters Capt’n Jules warned him not to do it again. If he did he would be flogged with a licorice whip. The next day the young lad spotted an authentic sea monster. He recognized it as a Leviathan, the biggest monster of them all. It was like twenty humpback whales all in one body. The boy, within the unstable crows nest cried out, “SEA MONSTER ON PORT SIDE!” All was quiet. Not a sound. Since this was no drill, the boy yelled again, “This is not a drill, I am not kidding, SEA MONSTER!” Surprisingly, no one came. Whoosh. An out sized wave crashed over the brigantine and as it ferociously rocked, the boy fell in the water. The sea monster, which had not eaten in quite some time, devoured the boy. Possibly, the next day, the boy awakened to a significant heap of jewels, coins and a key lying by his side.

Do you believe in the lore of the Sea Monster?

January 8, 2010

President Barak Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama,

Our names are Simon and Lucy. We are age 10 and 8 and we are homeschooled in the city of Minnetonka, in the state of Minnesota. We learn many things in school, like, math, history, science, language arts, grammar, and now, we are beginning to study World Issues that affect us today. Now, we are learning about Darfur. We know that there is starvation, injuries, deaths, bad drinking water, fear and health problems. Where I live, we don’t have those problems. We get to do piano and piano costs money and we know that people don’t have money in Darfur. Comparing our life to the people in Darfur makes us feel like we are the richest people on earth. We would give all our food to them if we needed to.

We are sending you this letter because we want you to know that we appreciate what you are doing to help the people in Darfur. We are trying to help also by buying a t-shirt that says, “Help Darfur” and playing Free Rice on the computer. Have Sasha or Malia ever played Free Rice? You can find it on Freerice.com. We think they would like it.

Thank you for taking the time to read our letter. Our mom just showed us a video on how many letters you get each day. We hope THIS letter makes it as one of the 10 that is taken to your desk.

Sincerely,

Simon Avenson and Lucy Avenson

THE GARGANTUAN COOKIE

Unequivocally, my Grandma Rita is the ultimate cookie maker. She constantly is baking cookies for all who live in her condo. Her delicious delicacies are so incredibly tasty that even people who don’t like cookies, and people who are on stringent diets have to consume one or two of her cookies every day (although they aren’t supposed to). Oops!!
There was a storm brewing in Central Minnesota and with that, it proved not to be a good day for a walk. Exhaustively, Grandma Rita and her friends began to think of something to do. Finally, someone whose stomach began to rumble, and was not on a diet, decided to have a party. All was good! Everyone was told to bring an exceptional something to share. While standing in the middle of the complex party room, Grandma Rita started to ponder what she would make for the party. She thoroughly looked in the corners of her complex and found a food trolley, although, it may not have been big enough for what she was planning; she used it anyway.

After her discovery of the trolley, my creatively minded Grandma, who always is always using her noggin, had an impressive idea. She would make a gargantuan cookie. The cookie would be as long as a teenager and as wide as a teenager, although, it would not have teenagers inside it and it would be the biggest cookie the condo had ever seen. She carefully finished the cookie, put it on the trolley and rolled it to the door were the party was being hosted. Everyone was staring at the giant cookie with their mouths agape. Then, one of the older ones suggested eating the giant cookie. They devoured it! It was a top notch cookie, and none has surpassed it since. One of the party goers even called her nephew that was in college.

After the party, the residents of the condo slowly drifted off to their rooms to get some shut eye. While they slept, the nephew (away at college) was hatching a plan to get the remainders of the cookie. He lived close by; attending the University of Minnesota. He would drive that night and steal the remainders of the cookie. When Bob got there, for Bob was his name, he took out a grappling hook he had brought and swung it around a resident’s deck post. He climbed up the rope and snuck to the party room… or what he thought was the party room and went in. What he found there was good ‘ol Grandma Rita!!! Because of her cunning mind, she knew what he was up to.

She started throwing wood elephants, which she acquired in Africa, at him. Bob ran out the door, down the stairs and through the last pair of doors that stood in the way of him and the outside. When he got out he was dismayed to see his car covered in pie. One of the people in the condo had gathered up a whole bunch of pies that she had saved from Thanksgiving, and had thrown them out the window and had missed the garbage can. All of the pie had landed on the car’s front window. It took all night to for Bob to get it off. After the ordeal with Bob, Grandma Rita had gone to bed triumphantly thinking about her gargantuan cookie!