Award-Winning McLoughlin Boys

What good is a blog if you can't post pictures of your kids doing cool things? So here are my sweet oldest boys with their dad's their prize-winning Pinewood Derby cars from Scouts from January. The secret is to put weights on the butt of the car so it will go faster. If you get a chance, check out the movie Down and Derby. It totally captures the essence of a dad's a kid's Pinewood Derby and is freaking funny.





I know who looks most proud in this picture!

A Great Gift for a New Parent!!!!

 I have these cool things hanging on the bedroom wall. My mom buys one each time I have a baby. They are from a company called Birthday Keepsake, and run about $10 plus shipping. Each one has my kid's name, birthdate, weight at birth, time of birth, place of birth and then a lot of stuff that was going on the year they were born. I love this kind of stuff because you can see how much a gallon of gas or milk was the year your kid was born. You can see popular shows and toys and which movies won awards and what was in the news.

I'm not getting anything to write about this company; just wanted to share it because anytime anyone comes over and sees these on my bedroom wall they freak out and want one for each of their kids! I'm a little sentimental and am pretty sure someday I'll sit and stare at these and cry when my babies are all moved out of the house. Hell, who am I kidding? I do that ALREADY. Some days they drive me INSANE, but always in the back of my mind I am aware of the fact that it is all zooming by too fast. And YES, old ladies, I DO appreciate it all right now and try to treasure every day!

Kids Kill Televisions Sometimes

shop.panasonic.com

Kids kill televisions sometimes, and so our Panasonic TC-P50S30 50-inch plasma flat screen TV is dead. I am writing this post as a public service announcement for all those who are researching before buying this TV (like my husband did). Here's the deal:

A tiny plastic ice cream cone from a Play-do set was tossed in the air (not even toward the direction of the TV). Slow-mo-like, it hit the month-old TV. It left a 3-inch "crack" like the star of Bethlehem BETWEEN THE LAYERS OF GLASS. The TV shut down and won't turn on at all.

No TV appliance repair place will touch it to try to fix it. It will be cheaper to buy a new $700 TV. Breaking stuff doesn't make the warranty kick in, folks. 

Best Buy is where we bought it and they do not sell screen covers. They are losing lots of money every day because of that. Also, we won't be buying our next TV from them because that's like rewarding them. We do, however, have to take our OLD TV to them so they can recycle it since the TV has nasty gasses trapped between the layers. Landfill fun for the future generations!

If you have small children, even hanging the TV on the wall will not prevent something being tossed at it. I suggest you find another TV option to satisfy your TV happiness until your children are older or else BUY A SCREEN COVER. Here is a place you can get one, and it's called TV Armor. Yes, it costs a lot but not as much as a new flipping TV that you saved for months to buy!

The irony is that my husband RARELY watches TV. He didn't own one when we met (I wasn't sure the relationship was going to work out but clearly it has).

Homeschool Chemistry: A Bunch of Advice From Kerrie

My friend posted this comment yesterday in response to me saying we had an "off" week homeschooling because I was sick and yet the kids learned and did so much anyway:

THANK you for posting that! I'm new to all this homeschooling stuff and really don't know how to do it on my own or at least I'm scared too. I am slowing pulling away from a boxed curriculum but have only done it with Science and History. Here is my MAJOR worry. My friend, who uses K12, says that my kids should be learning all about chemistry right now or it's gonna really mess them up for high school. They have to really, really understand it, the ins and outs. I feel like they are still really young and it seems to be going in one ear and out the other. Would love your thoughts.

1. K12 is not technically homeschooling. The HSLDA does not recognize it as homeschooling. You are not a protected homeschooler if you use that program because you are using a state program. It's like public school at home on the computer, no? A lot of people use it when they are just starting out because they don't want to mess up their kids, and they need some guidelines. I totally understand and love my fellow homeschoolers who use this program. If it works for you, great. If it's just a means to schooling your own way eventually, that's great, too.

2. Some people choose to move away from K12 and structured curriculum (i.e., often COSTLY) as they gain more experience in THEIR OWN KID. They learn what their kid likes and is good at and they want to foster that. They also want to make sure their kid knows things like: how to balance a checkbook, how to do laundry without turning it pink (chemistry!), how to cook (chemistry again!), how to clean a bathroom naturally and how different products (like baking soda and vinegar) act together (there's that dang chemistry again; it's getting annoying!). If you're doing stuff like that, they will absorb it! If you do flash cards of H2O and O2 and sodium di-whatever-ide, they probably won't retain it.

3. Do you remember the entire periodic table of the elements (is that what it's even called?) from 7th grade? I barely squeaked by back then and it didn't make a bit of difference in my life. Haven't blown anything up. Got through high school and 2 years of college just fine. I can hold my own at a cocktail party, as well. Scratch that. I've never been to a cocktail party.

4. Don't let people scare you! It's hard when you're just starting out. Surround yourself with positive people who have been there. I don't have kids in high school yet and plan to do high school myself (already the naysayers are getting to me on that and I just ignore them). But I am in groups of homeschoolers who have homeschooled many high school kids and they are lovely to talk with. They are smart. They go on to college. They are in careers they love.

5. I don't know what to say about your friend. What "ins and outs" does she mean? Can she give you specifics so you can touch on some of those things? If you get really freaked out about things in general, do some standardized testing that you can get online and give the test at home. Then you can see what holes your kids may need filled before, say, taking the ACT or SAT. Around here kids can get into JuCo at age 16 and then go to another college no problem. I would really only worry about super-schooling if you have a brilliant kid who wants to go to Yale. I know people who have brilliant kids who win chess trophies and spelling bees and I am happy for them. They have an extra challenge and they are rising to it. Good for them!

6. In all your spare time, since you're a SAHM and eat bon bons, read all you can ... I'm working on some John Holt right now that if it doesn't put me to sleep it might get me all fired up and renewed about homeschooling. Try some John Taylor Gatto, as well.

Love ya, friend. I'm here for you! We'll do this together, long distance homeschooling pal. After all, can we do any worse than how WE were schooled? I think not. Our kids will be fine, so will the school kids. It will all work out how it's supposed to :-)

"Wasting" Foil and Other Household Stuff

Joel apologized for wasting foil to make little nunchucks for himself and his siblings. He was hot glue gunning foil balls to the ends of yarn to make little weapons. Michael once apologized for using parchment paper like tracing paper so they could trace Pokemon figures and then cut them out and laminate them.

I don't see any of that as wasting because they are learning. They are being resourceful and making stuff and they are having fun.

I was sick some last week and we didn't get a whole lot of formal homeschooling done. So we "wasted" our week on stuff like this:

• The kids set up little stores and sold stuff to each other (math, economics, handwriting, spelling).
• They had a friend stay the night (social).
• They got to play at a church with an indoor gym and outdoor play area (physical education).
• We had dinner at a friend's house twice (manners, social).
• Daddy was in Wyoming (geography).
• They made these oil/water/salt/food coloring lava lamps (science).
• They got to see the Marching Cobras at Callie's Upward Cheer celebration (music appreciation).
• They gave to a food drive at the celebration (altruism).

Oh, and Joel read a lot. So the week was NOT a total bust! On to the next ...