Tuesday, July 28, 2009

still alive and kicking

Not sure how I managed to let this blog slide so. Oh, who the hell am I kidding. It was the same way I seem to let everything else slide. You know, the whole squeaky wheel thing. This blog has not been demanding my attention, so it has not be getting my attention.

So, why am I back now? I just miss it. And I'm going to try to do better by it. I think Annie will one day treasure this record of her homeschooling experience. And I'm going to try to be better about including what the boys are up to, too. After all, just because they are currently in public school, that doesn't make their educations any less important. It just makes it harder to capture. So I shall just try harder.

We took the summer off from official schooling. I think Annie needed it. I know that I did. And of course, homeschooling has still been taking up enormous amounts of my time, even if it hasn't the kids. I've been hard at work planning, and planning, and planning, and planning, and...yeah, you get the idea.

The kids?

Well, Annie just finished up soccer season last week. She's going to miss it. A lot. And I'll miss watching her games. Rich, as assistant coach, I think has a mixture of relief and sadness going.



She also participated in a track and field camp earlier this month. And loved it!




The boys have started karate. After just a couple classes, they're still rather unsure of themselves. I hope they grow to enjoy it.




Gray will begin learning the violin this year in school. They're having a little mini camp for strings this summer. Gray seems to be enjoying it, and taking it quite seriously. Such a relief to us, as he tends to become so incredibly anxious when it comes to trying new things.




And of course, there's been unstructured family fun and learning, too. Like painting.





And bowling.



And hiking.




And reading.

But we'll save that for another post...

Friday, December 5, 2008

this week's winning sentences...and game 3 comes to an end

First of all, here's a look at the sentences Annie chose this week:

Debi might have been more SOLICITOUS, but she knew all too well Rich's tendency to MALINGER to avoid even the few duties required for his SINECURE. (Jean)

The THESPIAN was RANKLED bu the critic's review, noting that it contained many a CLICHE but not a single BON MOT. (Jean)

That arrogant, annoying, narcissistic, moronic, stupid, supercilious jerk actually told me that he would never be confuted. (Rich)

The dog was indignant when I told him that it was cliche to pee on a fire hydrant. (Rich)

I was once arraigned for putting a chink in the wall of the White House with an errant shot from my catapult. (Rich)

This week's bonus word: nostalgia (Jean)

Okay, and now for the imaginary drumroll...the winner of Game 3 is...

Jean!!!

Yeah, like anyone's surprised, huh? :)

Deeply felt thanks to everyone who played, be it for one week or all eight! You have no idea how much we appreciate it!

Game 4 will begin in January, and will be held over at Nothing of Importance. If anyone would like an e-mail notice of when we get started, just leave a comment here.

Thanks again! And congratulations Jean!!!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Using that Vocabulary, Game 3, Round 8

So are you ready for the final round of Game 3? I guess we already know who our winner is, but I do hope you'll play anyway so Annie gets the benefit of hearing her words in use.

*abase

*solicitous

*malinger

*rankle

*cliche

*insolvency

*truncate

*pastiche

*eponymous

*sinecure

*pater

*bon mot

*bete noire

*agglutinate

*agitprop

*fulminate

*confute

*indignant

*arraign

*chinks

*errant

*ponderous

*nostalgia

*thespian

Good luck! And thanks for playing!

Monday, November 24, 2008

this week's winning sentences

The wolf pack's SOLIDARITY was evident in its well planned and executed INCURSION into Farmer Johnson's cattle pen. (Jean)

The clown was DISPIRITED, as the PARESIS of his JOWLS made it impossible to smile. (Jean)

The Republican candidate pounded the podium and PROGNOSTICATED that RECIDIVISM would rise were he not re-elected (he was wrong). (Jean)

I was certainly in a quagmire when I became overcome by paresis while climbing the crag, but the mountain climbing ecclesiastic saved me and carried me to safety. (Rich)

I became wan and despondent when I discovered that my work was moot and that my students were still idiots. (Rich)

This week's bonus word: horripilation. (no points awarded)

*Special note: Rich is being penalized 3 points for posting a sentence (which I deleted) that was wholly inappropriate for a home schooling blog.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Using that Vocabulary, Game 3, Round 7

My sincerest apologies. Again. Rich just called me to ask where this week's words were. I know I typed up the post Monday morning, but he's right...it's definitely not here. (Wonder if I put it on the wrong blog or something?). Anyway, since I'm such a ditzoid, you now have until Monday to do this week's sentences. (Which actually works out okay, because there wasn't going to be a list next week due to the holiday anyway.)

*grandiose

*dispirit

*abate

*closure

*solidarity

*prognosticate

*incursion

*recidivism

*horripilation

*wan

*moot

*jowl

*promiscuous

*despondent

*quagmire

*remonstrate

*paresis

*crag

*badinage

*ecclesiastic

Sorry! And good luck!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

this week's winning sentences

Well, better late than never, huh?

This week's winners:

Rich thought his lecture on the fusion of ROCOCO and ABORIGINE art was truly ENGIMATIC; to his class, however, it was merely HYPNAGOGIC. (Jean)

Women have a predilection to be enigmatic. (Rich)

When I finally cajoled an answer out of him I could tell it was a lie, as his story about being grabbed by armed gunmen, taken to France to join the resistance, and finally abducted by aliens was simply too rococo to be true. (Rich)

I glowered at the student, whose grade was in the lower echelon, when she divulged that my lecture was extremely hypnagogic. (Rich)

The fish was lubricious but delicious. (Rich)

This week's bonus word: cajole (Jean, Rich)

Thanks for playing!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Using that Vocabulary, Game 3, Round 6

Please forgive me for not posting this earlier. Things have been a tad stressful around here, and frankly, I just forgot. :(
(To make it up to you, Annie won't be judging until Saturday morning.)

This week's words:

*glower

*dissipate

*rococo

*cajole

*predilection

*echelon

*aborigine

*skulk

*putative

*gleek

*lubricious

*gamine

*hypnagogic

*pyre

*voluptuous

*enigmatic

*divulge

*implacable

*snood

*immolate

Again, I apologize. And good luck!