Fragments Of Libraries, Kefir ads and HSBA

It's Friday Fragment time at half past kissing time.



Here are my fragments . . .



I used to spend a lot of time using our local libraries computers. Now due to the miracle of wifi, and the fact that I have a laptop, I have been using my computer at the library. This Tuesday night I was at the library w/o my laptop and decided to write my blog from there. I was reminded of this annoying yet funny (to me) system issue they have. Each user has an hour to use their computer. When there are 15 minutes left a pop up comes up and tells you how much time is remaining. At 10 minuts es a new pop up comes up and asks if you want an additional 15 minutes (when there is not a que). You are warned again at 5 minutes and at 2 minutes you get a countdown clock. I know this because I have gone down to the last 10 seconds before.



What really gets me is when you finally click the log out button you get another pop-up that says are you sure you want to leave?



And I'm thinking aren't you the same computet r that's been kicking me out for the last 15 minutes, and now you want me to stay? It's crazy!



***********************************************************************************



Speaking of annoying. On the way home from the library I was listening to a radio commercial about Keat kefir. The ad said that a clinical study proved that kefir may improve digestive health.



You needed a clnical study for a maybe? Wasn't it a maybe before the study?

***********************************************************************************

The HSBA Awards voting ends very soon you can vote bt clicking here.

Here is what the first quarter of my ballot looks like

Best Home School Mom: Home Spun Juggling
Best Home School Dad: Home School Dad
Best Blog Design: Live The Adventure
Best Photos & Artistic Content Blog: 1+1+1=1
Best Crafts, Plans & Projects Blog: The Activity Mom
Best Family or Group Blog: The Homeschool Classroom
Best Encourager: Psalm 104:24
Best Current Events, Opinions or Politics Blog: Why Homeschool.
Best Homemaking or Recipe Blog: The Pioneer Woman.
Best Teen Blog: A Young Woman for God.

I have some errands to run but wilil fill in the rest of the ballot when I return. To return to Friday Fragments click here.

Keith Time: Memories of The Funeral Part II

HSD Rewind: Library Week

HSD Rewind

Originally Aired January 2009 (Edited for the second decade of the 21st century) We are taking somewhat of a fall break this week as we have 2 field trips, a birthday and a few doctor appointments scheduled for the week. Taking the week off from organized schooling reminded me of our Library Week tradition. Here is what I wrote about it in 2009:

Libraries are a staple in the Roller family. My across the street neighbor when I was growing up was the Elk Grove Village Public Library. We were never able to borrow sugar, but I could get a cook book out, if I wanted to. Now, many years later, while I don't live as close to one as I did, libraries are still near to my heart.

A couple times a year our family embarks on library week. We stop formal schooling for a week and visit at least 1 library each day.












Here are the kids at the main library in Madison, WI.

In all we hit 5 libraries in 2 states. Library Week works for us because:

1) Libraries are fun, inexpensive places to learn and relax.

2) While library week gives us a break from our regular classroom environment, it does give me many ideas for future studies.

3) A well planned library week allows us the opportunity to drop in on friends and family and to visit other towns and cities. This type of multi-task travelling is educational as well as economical.

Even though we home school, I think library week can work for any family regardless of their educational choices. Spring, Winter or Summer breaks make the perfect time for library week. This is actually when we have done most of ours, so as not to interfere with Awana, and co-ops. Even if you have no children or no children at home, visiting libraries with your spouse or significant other can make an excellent date night.

Meanwhile back in 2010 . . .

this post is included in this weeks carnival of homeschooling hosteud at The Home Spun Life. There are many other great posts listed there. Be sure to check them out.

Keith Time: When I Heard Keith Was Sick
.

And the Winner is . . . Me, Not Cougars.

Labor Day 2010

If I made a list of things I really like, libraries, winning things, and minor league baseball would be pretty high on it. None of them would be as high as spending quality time with my family. But when I can spend quality time with my family that involves libraries, minor league baseball and winning ,that's what I call fun.
In fact you can even call it fun on a budget.

Let me explain. . .

Fun on a Budget is in a 3-way tie for 12th in the labels I used most in my first 300 posts. Fun on a budget is not really about saving money. It's about having fun without breaking the bank, but it's mostly about having fun.

Let's take today for example. This summer, all 3 of my children participated in a summer reading program at our local library. I have gone on an on in these pages about about how I feel about libraries. Summer reading programs may be the cream of the library crop. The reading program ended over a month a go and we are still reaping the benefits. Yesterday we used a restaurant coupon one of the kids earned and today all 3 kids used vouchers they earned for a ticket each to the final regular season game of our local minor league baseball team. Sure, Amy and I had to buy tickets but that only cost us $20.00 total. That's less money than I spent on parking at last Sunday's White Sox game. (Cougars parking was free.)



The thing I like most about minor league baseball is that it's basically a circus with a baseball game in between. The fans eat the peanuts rather than the elephants. Every 1/2 inning there is some cool event. Today was extra special since it was fan appreciation day. It seemed like they gave something away after every pitch.



Another thing I like about it is the cool teams names. I have seen Bees, Bombers, Chiefs, and Sand Gnats just to name a few. Today it was the Cougars vs. the Timber Rattlers. The home team Cougars who had already clinched the playoffs seem to phone it in, losing to the Rattlers 7 to nothing.



But all was not lost. In one of the every 1/2 inning fun events I mentioned earlier, they picked a random fan to participate in a game called true or false. Faithful readers know that they could not have picked a more random fan than yours truly, and pick me they certainly did.



The idea of the game is they say two statements about the Cougars. I was given a sign that said true on one side and false on the other. With the help of the audience, I have to choose if the statements are true or false. Now, this was my first game of the season so I wasn't exactly up on Cougars trivia. So I did what I did on more college exams than I would like to admit, I guessed.

And I scored about the same as I did on some of those exams, 50%. But instead of getting a fat juicy F, I was given a really cool Cougars cap. I collect baseball caps, so this was really really cool.



Libraries, Minor League baseball and winning things you collect are 3 examples of fun on a budget. I hope this blog post has given you some fun on a budget as well, as all it probably cost you was a few minutes of reading time.



Next Time: Bob Newhart Loves Dave and other Short Stories

Frogs and Toads and Friends

As my loyal readers know our family loves libraries. One of the things I love most about them are the presentations they have for kids. This past Saturday Randy Korb, a wildlife educator and author came to our library with a live frog demonstration for kids. He brought in many samples of amphibians native to our area.

Mr. Korb told the story of Blinky, a frog who got hit by a car. His grandson found him and brought it to him and now Blinky makes the rounds with Mr. Korb as an ambassador for frogs.

In addition to Blinky, There were salamanders,



newts,

small frogs,

and big frogs.

It was an informative presentation and very hands on. Sometimes it was even frogs on, as this video will attest.

Charlie and Emma loved every minute of the presentation. Especially when the show was over and they made a presentation of their own.

Next Time: Hitting 300

Randy Korb travels through the Midwest 3-4 times a year with his live frog & monarch butterfly presentations. Learn more about what he does at stcroixwildlife.org.

Carnival of Home Schooling: Library Week Edition

This is week 212 in the carnival of home schooling. If this was the carnival of home schooling for dogs it would be week 1,484.



Before I get started with the theme of this week, I thought this would be the best time to talk about the big news story going on right now. I certainly don't mean Leno vs. Conan. Laura presents 21 Ways For Your Children To Help Haitian Earthquake Victims posted at Practical Homeschooling.



Twice a year, our family embarks on library week. It is a week where we go to at least 1 library every day during the week. It serves our family as both a break in the academic year and also an opportunity to discover the various amenities and learning opportunities afforded at these libraries. In past years, we have crossed state lines to see how the other book lives. This year we kept it strictly in Illinois. Interspersed amongst the fine articles that I have assembled for you this week, I will tell you of our library travels during our Christmas break.

Our first home school article comes from Jenn who presents More Homeschooling (Plus Bonus Funny Interlude!) posted at Rational Jenn. She says: "As the needs of my kids (ages 7.5, 4.5, and 1.5) change and grow, things are getting harder to juggle in our homeschool! Yikes! "

Speaking of juggling, Cristina presents Home Spun comic strip #435 posted at Home Spun Juggling.

Not all schooling takes place indoors as Becky Johnston informs us in Animal Tracks posted at Wide Open Campus.

The outdoor learning continues, as Amber presents October Nature Walk posted at The Mommy Earth.



Day 1: St. Charles Public Library. I previously blogged about our trip there but for those who missed it is Emma's report of our time there:


Name of Library: St. Charles Library. St. Charles, IL.
Something I liked: I liked all the Animal Ark Books they had.
One thing I didn't like: They didn't have one of my favorite books, Bunnies in the Bathroom.
A book I read while I was there: 2 Minute Mysteries by Donald Sobol author of Encyclopedia Brown.
Dad asked me to ask the Librarian a question. Lucy said she would, so I followed her with my notebook.
Lucy: Knock Knock
Librarian: Who's There?
Lucy: Emma
Librarian: Emma Who?
Lucy: Emma Kayrene (My Middle Name)

Next up, we have Cindy who wanted to get into the nitty gritty world of the planning of her unit studies. This she has done with gusto in Unit Studies Revisited, an informative Q&A, posted at Our Journey Westward.

A good homeschooling book to add to your personal library is The Socialization Trap by Rick Boyer. Click here for my review. I thought of that book when I received a carnival submission from Molly Cook of Southern Spunk. It seems she wrote this piece in response to having had her fill of ignorance outside of the homeschooling circle. She had heard the socialization word one too many times and decided to set some people straight. Well, you go girl! Here she is with, Don't Go Hatin' On The Homeschoolers.

Molly is not the only one out there confronting stereotypes and misinformation. There seems to be a plethora of education "experts" out there essentially making up their own facts and bending those facts to meet their agenda. To that end, last week's host Alasandra presents Robin L. West takes a potshot at homeschooling posted at Alasandra's Homeschool Blog.



Elena LaVictoire weighs in on the Robin L. West issue with The Double Standard of Robin West - Author of The Harms of Homeschooling posted at My Domestic Church.

Day 2. Our library Journey continued to Lake Zurich, Illinois where we visited the Ela Public Library. Emma and Lucy had a play date with some girls from our church. Things we liked: We could use our library cards there and what we checked out would show up at our regular libraries website. They also had a cool super hero section that Charlie enjoyed.


Sebastian from Percival Blakeney Academy has submitted Egyptian Art Projects for Kids. It is an insightful post rounding up links on ancient Egypt.



Sandra Foyt presents A response to the New York homeschooler arrest case, describing our typical homeschool day, and arguing that there is no such thing as "no-schooling." in Homeschooling, Unschooling, But Not "No-Schooling" posted at On Living by Learning.


e-Mom presents Family Life: Top 100 Books for Kids posted at C h r y s a l i s. This is an excellent list. A great place to get a hold of those books would be your local library.


And speaking of libraries that brings us to day 3.




That's a picture of Charlie and me at the entrance of the Oak Park library. Oak park is a lovely Chicago suburb that actually feels more like downtown than a suburb. No offense to my friend Patti who grew up there, and has fond memories of the previous library building, this one has all the warmth of a bus depot. A children's section that is on tile rather than rugs did not add to that impression. They did have a very good selection of books to choose from. I also taught Charlie how to use a microfilm reader, which he was extremely keen on.

When I visit libraries I spend a lot of time with a kid and a book in my lap. Lapbooking is the subject of our next post, as Lynn presents Lapbooking Ideas posted at Eclectic Education - Homeschool Blogger.


Here is a quick family science experiment submitted by The Family which I give two big thumbs up. It is aptly titled Genetic traits of the thumb and posted at Once Upon a Family.


Michelle Dennis Evans presents an excellent work titled Freedom and Kids posted at Michelle D Evans.

One thing I have noticed about libraries, is that they often have good craft ideas especially around holidays. Libraries aren't the only ones with good holiday ideas. Here are some valentines day articles worth looking at . . .


Shannon Dodds demonstrates with Valentine Craft (sun catcher) posted at Mommyapolis.




HappyCampers presents Valentine's Day Homeschool Ideas posted at Reese's View Of The World.

Day 4





Johnsburg is a small town in Mchenry County in Illinois. It has a population of less than 7,000 people. Yet it boasts one of the finest libraries I have ever been to. For homeschoolers it is a special library. It houses a homeschool resource center with shelves of curriculum and other materials available for checkout. Homeschoolers can check out material for 6 weeks at a time and renew for an additional 6 weeks as long as there are no holds on the material. I am test driving an Abeka spelling book I checked out from there with Emma.

Since socialization gets brought into the home school discussion so often, I have decided to bring it into this week's carnival again. Janine Cate wrote a very insightful article on socialization based on a recent conversation she had. She says it comes down to what socialization means to you. I proudly present It depends on what you value posted at Why Homeschool.




Kathy says Read my review of the first Camp Club Girls book, a fun new book series for your tween girls. You can find Camp Club Girls and the Mystery at Discovery Lake posted at Homeschoolbuzz.com Reviews.



Misty shares a couple of tricks to make multiplying by 9 more fun. Check out (Library Pun Intended) Fun Multiplication Tips and Tricks – 9’s posted at Homeschool Bytes.

Katherine from No Fighting No Biting went out on the first non-frigid Saturday in a long time and took her big kids to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. She says the inspiration was worth the long lines. Read all about it in National Archives.


You know what else has archives? That's right, libraries. Let's get this fun over with and move on to day 5. Amy read on-line that Downers Grove library was having a game day so we decided to end our library week there. There were tunnels and little rooms for the kids to explore. Lucy played on a children's computer while Amy and the kids played games. Their favorite was a dice game called Shut the Box. We liked it so much we ordered one from amazon.


Speaking of Downers, very few downers are more depressing than thinking about the many terrorist acts that have been in the news lately. ChristineMM shares ideas about how to talk to young children and tweens who ask about news stories about terrorist attacks against American civilians. Take a peek at Thoughts about Parenting Kids in Times of Terrorism posted at The Thinking Mother.


We check out all manners of things out from our library. The main 2 staples are books and DVD's. With that in mind, Rachel Lynette presents Comparing the Book to the Movie posted at Minds in Bloom.



Linda Dobson revisits The Animal School saying it's a wonderful classic. It's posted at PARENT AT THE HELM.

Lynn presents 10 Ways Save Money on Homeschooling posted at Lynn's Gather Page. I just want to say that 3 of the 10 ways include using the library. Way to stay on theme Lynn!

Well we did it! We got through library week. 5 days, 5 libraries in 5 different counties. There were several things we did during library week that didn't involve going to the library. I'm sure we ate, shopped, I think we might even have bowled once. I didn't really go into detail about them here because I was focusing on the library part of library week.

In the same way, I received many submissions this week that had nothing to do with homeschooling. Some were fine articles, but I just didn't think they fit here, so I left them out. One exception to that was a fine article from Leah, The Danger of Parenting Books posted at Ingathered. It really described a perspective to parenting that I think is similar to my home school tale on it.

Next week's carnival is being hosted at Corn and Oil. Susan has a post this week entitled Don't burden the innocent. She says The public schools seem to be making attempts in several states to close in on homeschoolers by using truancy as their weapon of choice

Announcement: The library week carnival of homeschooling is closing in 5 lines. Please select from the articles above and then go on with your homeschooling Day. You can submit a post by clicking here.

Next Time: Looking forward to our trip to Washington DC.

Library Week

Six Word Saturday

Library Week with my Intrepid Reporter

Twice a year we have library week as part of our home school activities. We generally spend 5 days going to various libraries. Since Amy gets two weeks off at Christmas time we have decided to take two weeks to visit libraries.

Our first library chose itself as Charlie was invited to a afternoon birthday party 30 minutes from our house. While he sleds and has general merriment with the Bioncle and Star Wars set, we went 600 feet (thanks GPS) across town to the local library.

I have assigned Emma with the task of reporting on each library. I am actually posting this while visiting library #1.

Here is Emma's report:

Name of Library: St. Charles Library. St. Charles, IL.

Something I liked: I liked all the Animal Ark Books they had.

One thing I didn't like: They didn't have one of my favorite books, Bunnies in the Bathroom.

A book I read while I was there: 2 Minute Mysteries by Donald Sobol author of Encyclopedia Brown.

Dad asked me to ask the Librarian a question. Lucy said she would, so I followed her with my notebook.

Lucy: Knock Knock

Librarian: Who's There?

Lucy: Emma

Librarian: Emma Who?

Lucy: Emma Kayrene (My Middle Name)

It's time to pick Charlie up from sledding so thus ends the first installment of Library Week

Head over to showmyface.com for more six word fun.

Next Time: Hockey Lessons

Reading Programs

As you can probably tell by our posts about libraries and the many book reviews on these pages, our family loves to read.

Reading in many ways is its own reward. It is also something that our children don't need a lot of motivation to do. Those who read do so with an insatiable voracity, and those not yet reading are constantly wanting to be read to. There are several programs we participate in that reward us for reading and as they say in these parts, that works for us. Here are a few we've used in the past year:

Six Flags

We found out about this through other home schoolers. If your children from K-6th grade read or were read to for 6 hours non school assignment books, they earned a free ticket to Six Flags. I blogged about this particular program earlier. The catch of this program is that pre-school children and 7th grade and above do not qualify. Nor do the adults taking the children. It still is a good reward for what our kids were going to do anyway.

Book It.

Pizza Hut sponsors a reading program for grades K-6. The teacher sets the monthly goals based on the student's reading ability. Once they meet the goal for the month the teacher gives them a certificate for a free personal pan pizza. The program runs from October through March. Public, Private, Parochial and Home Schooled children can all participate. My kids love this reading program. Our local Pizza Hut has the best waitress in the world who is always great at remembering us and the program.

Local Library Programs.

Summer Book Clubs are a library staple. Our local library always does a great job. They have summer reading programs for all ages. Amy and I are doing the adult program, and our kids are doing, well, the kids program. Each year they get several coupons for free or reduced priced retailers like free ice cream from McDonald's and a free buffet from Old Country Buffet. They also get a free book and several library programs including a special program for all club finishers.

Book Store Programs.

Every few years we participate in the Barnes and Noble program. Borders and Half Priced Books also have Summer reading programs, although we have not participated in them.

Emma liked the B&N program where you read 8 books and get 1 free (No Purchase needed) so much she wrote a song (To the tune of Alouette):

Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Barnes & Barnes

Our local Minor League baseball team also has a summer reading program called Ozzie's Reading Club (Ozzie the Cougar is their mascot.) The teacher's determine the amount of books each student needs to read to advance to each base. Students hitting a "home run" earn a free ticket to a home game. We have not participated in the program ourselves, but have heard great things about it. Check to see if your local sports teams have such a program.

Summer Reading Programs definitely work for us. To see what other things are working out there, head over to We Are That Family for this weeks edition of Works For Me Wednesday.

This article is one of many excellent articles included at the Carnival of Homeschooling: We've Got Style edition hosted this week at Home School Bytes.

Next Time: African Tulips

Library Week

Libraries are a staple in the Roller family. My across the street neighbor when I was growing up was the Elk Grove Village Public Library. We were never able to borrow sugar, but I could get a cook book out, if I wanted to. Now, many years later, while I don't live as close to one as I did, libraries are still near to my heart.

A couple times a year our family embarks on library week. We stop formal schooling for a week and visit at least 1 library each day.












Here are the kids at the main library in Madison, WI.

In all we hit 5 libraries in 2 states. Library Week works for us because:

1) Libraries are fun, inexpensive places to learn and relax.

2) While library week gives us a break from our regular classroom environment, it does give me many ideas for future studies.

3) A well planned library week allows us the opportunity to drop in on friends and family and to visit other towns and cities. This type of multi-task travelling is educational as well as economical.

Even though we home school, I think library week can work for any family regardless of their educational choices. Spring, Winter or Summer breaks make the perfect time for library week. This is actually when we have done most of ours, so as not to interfere with Awana, and co-ops. Even if you have no children or no children at home, visiting libraries with your spouse or significant other can make an excellent date night.


So, library week works for me. If you'd like to see what works for other bloggers click here to go to the Works for me Wednesday page at Rocks in my Dryer.

Next Time: The Electrician who was an Angel