Downtown Ducks

After a week of unpacking (and however many weeks before that of packing) we decided to get out and take advantage of living downtown!  Our neighborhood is right next to the zoo and the huge city park with ducks.  Tucson is my personal favorite city we've ever lived in and I hope we will live here for quite a while. With all "school work" being on hold during our move (with the exception of piano) Luke, Isabel, Sylvia and Hazel have been finding and creating things to invent and games to play.  They've also been wonderful at helping unpack, cook, and clean, all of which I count as school.

History Lesson on England... Britain?

Our history lesson today was on the "Middle Ages", or the "Dark Ages" in Britain/England/Ireland/Scotland.  We sort of learned the difference between Britain and England, but I am still confused.  England is everything BUT Whales, Scotland and Ireland?  Is Britain all?  We learned about the Celts, the Anglo-Saxons and the story of Beowulf.  We are also having fun reading stories from Celtic Fairy Tales and Celtic Memories. Here they are in their cloaks with their brass dragon brooches.  After our history lesson they ran around in their cloaks playing Harry Potter.  I guess that's what they associate with England and cloaks.  (Notice Sylvia's wand.)

NOT why I homeschool

I was about to title this NOT why we homeschool. Joey and I probably feel the same about this list, but you never know, so I should always only speak for myself. I know I've talked a lot about why I homeschool, but here is a short list of NOT why I homeschool. My meaning is that I feel that these are big reason for some people to homeschool, but not for me.

Dissatisfied with the School System: I hear so many people complain about the Clark County School District. This school district isn't known to be great....or even good....okay, it's known for NOT being good, but for the two years that Luke was in school he had great teachers and I think that made all the difference. So I've never had a problem with the schools and never thought to question public school in general.

Religion: Let me make it clear that my religion is very important and dear to me. It is nice to be able to discuss or answer a religious topic when it comes up in the middle of something, but I personally have never been bothered by the no public prayers in school thing.

Genius Kids: My kids are very smart, but if whether or not they become geniuses has to do with my teaching skills, then they can just forget about it. Enough said.

My Personal Views and Opinions: Joey and I (oops, I better stick to speaking for myself) I am not a very opinionated person. Things are controversial for a reason...because both sides are very convincing! But, my own opinions or views (like my weird thing about how I don't like flags, I like the U.S., just not the flag) I strongly keep to myself in front of my kids. I mean, of course my views about homicide I share with them (in case you are wondering my view is that homicide is bad.) What I am talking about are scientific theories, political views, and all that. I like to try and let them speculate or decide for themselves. Sorry I am going off on a tangent about this, but the other day I heard a little kid say that on their Idaho trip it was really cold so see, there isn't such thing as global warming. Which, for a little kid to say that....that's weird.