Alma Mater: September 2014

Monday, September 29, 2014

My Crazy Kids...

There is no risk of taking ourselves too seriously around here. Any time I think I'm starting to get an orderly system in place, disaster strikes and I have to regroup and start all over. Even as I grit my teeth and rip out some hair, I force myself to see the humor in our most ludicrous moments. Like the other evening when Siobhan and I were working through some tough chemistry equations, and Baby Lux began tearing through the kitchen in his diaper, screaming like a banshee and digging guacamole out of the trash. I started thinking that homeschooling 6 might be too big of a job for me and resigned myself to the fact that my kids would be ignorant of science. Just then Filia came around the corner and, seeing her naked brother, exclaimed, "Mom! He looks PERFECT for the Archimedes play we are putting on!" :)

Tert brings so much laughter to our lives. He comes out with the craziest stuff (some of which is a bit too shocking to share on our family blog ;). Each morning we have a brief "educational movie break." Something like a dry documentary to make me feel less guilty for sending them downstairs to watch TV while I teach the older ones. The other day Tert said, "Mom, does my movie HAVE to be educational?! Because I am thinking of a couple with crude humor that are educational in my mind..."

On the phone with Grandma, Tert said, "Hi, Grandma! We need to borrow your toilet plunger, and I was the only one brave enough to ask you." :)

I told Tert that he wasn't allowed to join the big kids on their bike ride. He protested, "Mom, you said that you didn't trust me last time either, and I was FINE!"

Rus - "Mom, isn't it glucose that makes people's skin look dark?"

I feel sheepish on the rare occasion that I bring a parade of school-age kids to the grocery store in the middle of the day. Walking through Market Basket with my 4 youngest, I wondered if judgmental shoppers would assume I was slacking off as a home school mom, dragging a lot of little "unschoolers" on errands. Rus interrupted my thoughts when he pointed out some taco bowls and observed, "Mom, look at those edible salad bowls! They remind me a lot of trenchers from the Middle Ages." :)

The other night Leo burst into our room and announced, "Mom! Dad! Tert is calling people names and telling them to shut up IN HIS SLEEP!"

An older sibling accused Tert of lying today, and he said, "Nope, I didn't lie. I was just misrepresenting things."

I was saying to Filia, "Isn't Grandma kind to make us these dinners?" She replied, "YES, SHE'S MY FAVORITE KIND!"

Friday, September 26, 2014

Back to School Photos 2014 By: Siobhan

I know these are a little late, but that is because we were without a camera for our first few weeks. :(
I was able to get a new camera (and of course we found our old one the day after we ordered our new one!) I am really pleased with my new camera.
Below are the first pictures I took with it...

~Alma Mater Academy~

This is our 11th year!

~Shaila aka Filia~

Shaila is in preschool this year. I am helping her do the Letter of the Week (LOTW) curriculum that I did with Tert. She is really enjoying it, and she is doing really well.

-Connor aka Tert-

Connor is in 1st grade this year. He is loving it, and he is becoming an amazing reader. He is enjoying his and Rus' science program. He is doing Saxon Math 1.

-Aidan aka Rus-

Aidan is doing 4th grade this year. He loves it, and he is especially enjoying his online history course. He has started Math 5/4 and DIVE CD's. He and Tert are doing an Apologia Junior Chemistry and Physics. They have done some really cool experiments.

-Ethan aka Leo-

Ethan is in 8th grade this year. He is doing Omnibus for the first time this year with Stella. He has started Apologia General Science and Algebra 1/2.

~Siobhan aka Stella~

I am in 10th grade this year. I am continuing Omnibus, and I've started Chemistry and Algebra 2.

Filia's Tea Party By: Siobhan aka Stella

This past summer Filia had a tea party with a few of her friends. This post is late because we lost our camera for a while, and these photos were on it. We were so glad we didn't lose these photos, because they are so cute!

We found a lot of tea party favors/crafts at Michaels. The girls had so much fun with them.

We used my final cake from my cake decorating class for the party.

Tea Party Princess

Making visors and bracelets

Even the boys had a blast.

Lunch

Fruit, Veggies, Pita Chips and Hummus, Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips, Wraps, Tuna Rolls, Pb+J, Yogurt, Crackers, and Cheese

Goodie Bags :)

Nail Polish

Next, the girls decide to facepaint each other.

Rus and Sam joined in

Cake Time

New England Meal 2014 By: Siobhan aka Stella

We are doing U.S. geography this year, and we are cooking a meal for each region of the United States. Our first region was new England.

~Menu~

Quahog Clam Chowder

Fresh Whole Wheat Bread

Mocha Cake

We used a chowder recipe out of Mom's Sconset Cafe Cookbook. It is a lot of work, but it is absolutely worth the effort.

We got our mocha cake recipe out of a cookbook called Eat Your Way Through the USA. Unfortunately, the cake did not hold together at all, so I just turned it into dump cake.

-Wheat Bread-

-Chowder-

-Mocha Cake-

Stay tuned for more Regional Cooking posts :)

Retelling of "Belling the Cat" by Rus (age 8)

A Cheesy Solution

Aidan Piercey

Once there was a family of cats that would sneak into the kitchen and grab all the

food they could find. One day an army of mice came into the kitchen because the humans

were fond of cheese and left it everywhere. The mice would follow a leader and even copy

what he said. Every ten seconds you would hear them squeak, "MARCH!". Then the cats had

a meeting, for they were losing all the food. The mice did not only like cheese! Then as they

held a meeting, the oldest asked, "How will we get rid of these mice?"

Then the youngest squeaked, "Let's put out mouse traps to catch those mice."

"Great idea!" the others praised.

"Very well," croaked the oldest mouse, "Who will set the traps?" Realizing they had

no traps to set, no one meowed any more.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

FACT Presents the Little Mermaid By: Siobhan

Recently I was part of a production of Disney's Little Mermaid. It was a lot of work, but so much fun! For the past few years I have done FACT (Franklin Area Children's Theater.) Once a year we get together and put on a musical in only two weeks! This year I decided to do FACT as a teen intern. Teen interns get paid to teach the kids who do the camp basic theater skills, help them learn the lyrics and choreography for the songs, teach them games, and learn our own parts for the play. We had two 1 1/2 hour productions. Our cast was made up of 53 people! I played a Mersister. We were all very sad to see it end.

Thankfully, someone came in on one of our rehearsals and took some amazing pictures, so I do have quite a few to post here. Since it was a rehearsal, we did not have all of the costume pieces, but we had quite a few, so you get a good idea of what it looked like on show night. :)