It is started!

K, I wasn't gonna start tonight, cuz I am so bag tired. But I was too tired to close the computer and I looked up and it was midnight, so I opened my word processing program and wrote, "This is my novel." and then the words just started coming out of my fingers. 367 of them in 15 minutes. So tomorrow I only have to write 1300! ;) I seriously can not keep my eyes open or I would have kept writing, but I wanted to post my progress.
Good luck to the rest of you, can't wait to hear how you are all doing.

Horrid Prose is my goal.

Finally doing our first 2 science tests today. We did the reading so long ago that I let them do the tests 'open book'. We just have Rosetta Stone French left to do today. I have to load the program onto their new computers for them I guess.
I need to spend some time prepping for my novel writing, I don't even have characters yet. My main character will be a Mom, like me. Write what you know is the phrase that keeps coming to mind, so I guess I will. I really have no idea for my plot yet, I love mystery stories, but nothing is coming to mind yet. I hope to get some rough planning drawn out, research done, but I have a feeling I will be mostly winging it. The point really is to get a really terrible rough draft finished, just get the words hammered out and see where that takes you. Quantity over quality at this point, and I have to say that may be the only way I ever do this. I am such a perfectionist that my creativity is often snuffed out by my need to have everything just so. I want an awesome rough draft that requires little editing. Well that is never gonna happen. Evah!
My fingers are itching to get started on this, to get dirty and make mistakes as the esteemed Miss Frizzle likes to say. What freedom!

a novel?

Well, not much to say here. We haven't done much lately. We have fallen behind in science and I have fallen behind in my marking, but it is all good.
The boys are terribly excited because their new laptops finally arrived last week. Dad has spent hours installing drivers and software and working out bugs with tech support. But right now we are all sitting on the couch blogging. Yay!
I signed up the 3 of us for Nanowrimo next month. National Novel writing month. We are gonna write novels, for me that is 50000 words in a month. Should be a crazy, carpal tunnel syndrome filled, caffeine fueled month.
The kids will write less, I think about 12000 word for my 10 year old and 30 000 for my 13 year old. The kids nanowrimo site is really great, I printed off their workbooks for us. The wb takes you write (I mean right;p) through the whole process, helping with character and plot development, etc. There is a teacher area on the kids site that I am finding helpful as we prepare.
I can't wait to get started on our novels, there are a bunch of nanowrimo activities in the city for us to get involved with although mostly for adults. I am hoping to attend a bunch of write-ins and get my word count up sans children.
I need to go mark math so my son can do his test. my favorite thing to do. marking. hm.

Peace in the Storm

My head hurts from the frustration of today, I think my blood pressure has been elevated all day. My cheeks are flushed, I feel a bit light-headed, my shoulders are hunched and tight, so I am sitting down with a cup of tea to vent and relax.
Why can't they just do as they are asked. Why is it when I put their little sister in the tub and am not in the room, they run downstairs to play computer games. Why is the flippin' computer on? Why can I not stop getting after them and watching like a hawk for even one minute without them goofing off/sneaking off? Why do I think getting upset, or yelling is gonna make one iota of difference to them getting their chores/school finished.
This afternoon their close friends were coming over, I thought this would be great motivation for them to get done quickly. Apparently not. I had to run to the store this morn as we had no groceries for breaky or lunch. Did they do anything but make a mess while I was gone? no. So when I got back I had a new mess to deal with. And their dad is trying to sleep with all the kid noise and the yelling mom noise. Not good.
I disliked them immensely today.
My little monkey boy came up at the point when I was ready to completely go over the edge. He had just put pants on after his bath and was clean and damp and cute. He crawled in my lap and asked if I would cuddle him. So I made a choice. I wrapped him up in my arms, inhaled his sweet scent, felt his little arms wrap around my neck and his little voice coo, "I love you Mommy."
I felt my pulse settle, my muscles relax, my breathing slow as I looked in his beautiful hazel/green eyes and said, "I love you my sweet."
Thank you God for my beautiful children, and moments of peace.

the Science Centre

So yesterday turned out much better than expected school-wise. We were done at noon, so that is a major bonus. We still haven't done our science test, so no science this week, but not that concerned. They did spend the day at the Space and Science centre. I think next time we go there I will take them to a show in the planetarium, I LOVE the planetarium! And there are a bunch of new Imax movies out that we could see, but only the 13 year old likes to go to those.

The science centre is a pretty cool place. On the main floor there are 3 permanent galleries. The Police services gallery has a mystery for the kids to solve, you get to walk through the crime scene and collect clues; watch news clips about the 'crime'; listen to witness statements; and then take all your evidence to the lab where you learn all about forensics. I love that part. You compare fingerprints, DNA strands, fibres, learn tons of stuff about forensics through hands-on activities. Then you decide who you think did it, enter all your evidence in a computer program and it tells you if your case against the defendant was successful. It is so cool, I love the little news clips you get to see-all recorded by local newscasters.
Next is the human body gallery. It is set up like an old-time carnival fun house. Very bright and noisy and has hands on activities to learn all about your body and senses. The boys love the gallery of gross, containing jars of boogers, feces, urine, stomach acid, any icky thing in your body. (all fake of course)
The third gallery on the main floor is the Green's Garage and Garden. You learn about the environment, weather, recycling, gardening/growing, water and erosion, etc. In the Garage, they have a remote weather forecast studio, where you can record your own weather forecast complete with real footage of real weather. When you are done you get to see yourself on the 'newscast'. Huge hit with my kids.
On the main floor there is also a stage for live science demos about various topics and the Imax theatre.
Upstairs there are tons of hands on activities/brainbusters on all sorts of topics. There is the outer space gallery with tons of computers to do simulations, view NASA photos; there is a space shuttle to walk through (my kids love to sit on the space toilet), a solar powered mini Mars rover to try to maneuver across the terrain; oh tons of cool stuff. They have a computer lab and a Lego Mindstorms lab in there as well. Next to that is the discovery gallery for the younger kids. There is a blocks and trains area; a water table area, complete with wave machine; a science crate, preschool computer area that has a beehive in the summer; and the top area has a giant floor piano, funhouse mirrors, puppet theatre, giant puzzles. All my kids can spent hours there. Up from that are some classrooms.
The last gallery is the feature gallery that changes themes several times a year. They had an awesome dinosaur display recently and now have a Lego Starwars display. This area also has a bunch of hands on physics and body mechanics type displays and a huge lightning in a box.
On the third floor is the planetarium, can't wait to go there again!

Thursday. ugh.

I don't want to be a teacher today. I kinda want the day off from being a mom too. I haven't managed to shake off the blahs that have been doggin' me the last week. Started as pms, but hasn't really gone away, guess I should have got into bed before 12:30am and then actually gone to sleep instead of reading til I couldn't see anymore. I have a hard time falling asleep when I am in bed alone. ugh.
It is 10 am and I am yelling already. I have asked them to clear the table and wipe it so we can get some schoolwork done numerous times. There are still bowls on the table. I didn't do my marking last night. I watched tv and read blogs. My house is a shambles, I didn't clean last night either. Often during the week I make the excuse that I can't do a good job teaching and keep a perfect house at the same time. But to be honest, neither has happened this week. And I would honestly rather have a clean house, but I think education is more important.
I get really tired of the constant vigilance needed to be here with all 4 kids everyday and trying to raise them to be Godly, responsible, educated, etc...... It is not like they often show any self-motivation to do any of the things I think they need to do. I have to constantly remind them to get back on task; to get back upstairs and back to work; to turn of the flippin' tv, get upstairs, and get their blinkin' work done! I hate that! I want them to love learning, not think it is some job to be done.
Sometimes I just want to give up. Sometimes I am just tired of it all. That is today. I want to go get prettied up and go out into the world of grownups. Anybody want to go for coffee?

Science Centre Homeschool Day

Our first homeschool day at the Space and Science centre! So exciting:) I haven't signed up for many homeschooly things since we have lived here, we have a pretty busy schedule of outside activities as it is. And with Daddy's often extremely busy work schedule, we like to spend whatever free-time we have with him. And I am not that connected in the homeschool community here. anywaysss...
I did it. I signed the kids up for some classes, even my almost 4 year old! We love the science centre and go quite often, and I think this is a great opportunity to see science in action in a way that is difficult at home. And a very awesome bonus is the likelihood of meeting some other home-educating families in the area. I did see a few familiar faces there, and the kids had a blast in their classes, even if they are little know-it-alls. We asked them what they learned and were informed that they knew all that stuff already. hmmm. well.
They did think the new Star Wars Lego display was pretty cool! And the Robot wandering around, and the lightning-in-a-box. One thing I appreciated is that there were lots of staff on hand and all the displays were operational. Often when we go during the week, it is really quiet and certain things are not up and running.
Everyone here is sick with a cold, but we are managing to keep up with most of our bookwork. I do need to catch up with our marking though.
Off to drive the big kid to Bible study, Mom's taxi is never idle:)