Here is some information from the Bowers Website on the Warriors Exhibit.

“Enter the great tombs and temples of the powerful, and the cunning men and women who ruled imperial China. “Warriors, Tombs and Temples: China’s Enduring Legacy“ is a landmark exhibition drawn from China’s most important archaeological excavations assembled in cooperation with seven leading Chinese institutions.”

This exhibit ties in nicely to Ancient Asia studies, which the twins are working on now. The exhibit was very interactive, and it held all the kid’s attention, including my youngest. He loved it!

The Scrimshaw exhibit, while small, was also very interesting. The kids and I knew very little about Scrimshaw before the exhibit, but we left with a great appreciation of this American art form.

Scrimshaw is the art created by American whalers using the bones and other material of whales. You can read more about it here.

Unfortunately the Scrimshaw show is gone now. We actually caught it on the last day (lucky us!). However there is always many wonderful exhibitions at Bowers, so if you are ever in the area, you should check it out.

The girl and I went on many walks this week.

Autry was on a final schedule at her school this week, which meant she had Monday and Friday off, and she had half days on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I loved having her home so much. I miss her when she is at school, and I cherish the time when she is here. Because she is only in seventh grade she did not have too many finals. Most of her teachers opted to not give finals, which she was happy about. The two finals she had were in Jazz Dance (she got an A!) and pre-algebra.

Autry spent most of the week singing, taking photos, writing on her blog, and hanging out with her twin brother.

Decca has been working on a Monet study the last two weeks. He and I read several books about Monet, including Charlotte in Giverny, which he loved. He also spent the last two weeks exploring impressionism and trying to paint and sketch in that style.

We finished with his Monet study this week and started a unit study on Rocks and Minerals. He was excited to start digging for his dinosaur bones in his kit, and he can’t wait to start using his Rocks and Mineral kit.

Decca also spent much of his time this week working on math with Dreambox learning, working on his handwriting skills, and working on his writing skills. He is a contributor to the Scooby Doo fan wiki page, and he spent hours writing for this. I love that he can do something he is passionate about, and I can count it as school. It works out great for both of us.

Tru read A Single Shardand The Kite Fightersthis week, and he is working on an essay in which he is comparing and contrasting the two stories. He told me yesterday how much he enjoyed reading both books, and he has decided that Linda Sue Park is one of his favorite authors.

Tru is working his way through Life of Fred Pre-Algebra with Economics. He is on chapter 15 now. He has taken two bridges and passed them both on the first try. I have a feeling that most of the information in here is review, but he wanted to get the book and work through it anyway. When he is finished working through this book (which he has read all the way through twice this week) he will start Saxon Algebra 1 4th Edition. I haven’t read too many reviews about the 4th edition, but Cathy Duffy gave it a positive review, so I thought we would try it out. I will let everyone know how it goes once he starts working on it.

Tru studied Ancient Korea this week to go along with his reading, and Autry is studying Ancient China in school, so I decided to take the kids to the Bowers Museum on Friday to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. It was a great field trip!

I have so many pictures I want to share from our day at Bowers. Not only was there the Warrior exhibit, but they had another interesting exhibit on Skrimshaw, which is the art of the American whaler.  I will have to make another post with all our photos from the day soon, but I will leave you with this short video on Decca’s favorite part of the exhibit. Make sure to watch to the end of the video to see a working miniature guillotine.

And that is our week in review.

The first couple of years with the charter I was very happy. The charter was very hands-off. We had to do state testing each year, and we had to meet with an ES once a month. It was a good trade-off, a little of our time each month for $1800.00  a year per kid.

After the first couple of years the school started to change. The changes were small at first, but they kept happening. Every year more regulations, rules, and tests. In addition to the changes, the school was growing by leaps and bounds, so new ESs (Education Specialists) were hired for all the new students. This is when I started to get annoyed. One ES would have rules that another ES wouldn’t. I would tell one family what our requirements were, and this family would have completely different requirements, then another family would have different requirements from either of us. It seemed terribly inconsistent, and in some cases, unfair.

I finally had enough, so in November I withdrew the kids. It took a whole month for the kids to be formally withdrawn, and I became very annoyed with the whole process. I really can’t say why the school stalled our withdraw process; I am thinking it had to do with money. I was finally told I could withdraw the kids in December, but all materials that the school had ever purchased (as far back as 6 years ago) had to be returned before they would un-enroll my students. It took me days to find some items, and because of that the kids and I were stuck in limbo. Not only would the school not un-enroll my kids, they threatened to report me to collections for anything that was not returned.

Finally I found everything and got it all turned in. The kids were no longer students at the charter school (yeah!), and I felt a freedom I had not felt in a very long time. I was so happy that we had become independent homeschoolers, taking this journey on our own. This happiness was short-lived.

Today truant officers showed up at my parent’s home. Our old charter had reported the kids as being truant. What? Why would they do that? Apparently the school said we had failed to file a private affidavit. My ES asked me about this prior to the kids leaving the school, and I told her we had filed. I filed before the kids last day, and I printed up the affidavit, so I could have it for my records.

For whatever reason, the charter did not have this information in their computers. Also the charter did not have our current address in their files even though I have been living here for over three years and had told the charter my address many times. My parents, not knowing that officials in one county have no jurisdiction over students in another county, gave the officers my new address and all my information.

I have spent the better part of the day trying to call people to get this sorted out, and what I have discovered is two things: 1. No one is taking responsibility for this mistake and 2. No one knows who I need to talk to in order to get this straightened out. The charter is of no help,  and I can’t seem to get a hold of anyone in either counties (my parent’s county and my own) to help. The only information the charter would give me was to call my local school district and talk with them about everything. They would be able to tell me if my kids are truant or not.

Hmm….no thanks. My children are not truant. I am staring at my private affidavit right now, and I can tell you it has been filed.

So what to do? Well it is Friday afternoon, and I am tired. My truant kids and I spent the first half of the day at a museum enjoying a wonderful field trip, and I have spent the second half of my day dealing with this mess. I am angry and  frustrated, so I think I will call it a day.

But before I do I just want to get the message out about charter schools and homeschoolers. I use to support them, but I can’t anymore. If you want to homeschool you should pause and think twice before going with a charter. I know that the money and curriculum they offer can be hard to refuse. I am a single mom, I know how nice it is to have extra money, but you need to understand that it comes with (many) strings attached. Before you enroll your kids just make sure it is worth it. It wasn’t for me.

According to Autry, Camera Plus has many great features that let you take better quality pictures. You can crop your pictures, add borders, and mess with various effects. Autry’s favorite effect is vintage camera.

I haven’t used Camera Plus, so I can’t say anything about it. I have a camera app that I love already, King Camera. This is my go to camera app on my iPhone. I have been using King Camera since last summer, and I have no complaints with it. I like the camera features and the editing features. The developers of King Camera have some tutorials on their web page that would be good for anyone who wants to learn more.

A photo I took and edited on King Camera

I also discovered Postcard On The Run a few days ago. I haven’t had much time to mess around with this app, but I am excited about it. Basically you can take a photo and then turn it into a postcard with just a few clicks. How cool is that? The kids and I will definitely be utilizing this app the next time we go on a vacation.

We walked for a while trying to find the perfect scene to sketch. Every time I suggested something one of the boys would object. Apparently my ideas, such as a grassy field or wildflowers, were not what they had in mind. They finally agreed to sketch this wonderful area (yes I am being sarcastic).

Apparently something about the rocks and dead grass attracted them to this. Not to be one to judge, especially if it is a creative difference of opinion, we stopped, and the boys began to sketch. I thought they would get bored with this fairly quickly, but to my surprise, they worked on their drawings for almost twenty minutes.

Sketching outdoors is a great way to spend a day. Decca, who usually has very little patience, enjoyed it the most. I am going to try to carve time into our days for sketching/drawing/painting  “en plein aire”.

It made for a great day.

My kids are lucky though. We live on a nature preserve in a nice neighborhood. The view out our windows is wonderful, and outside our door are many walking trails. There are trees, flowers, birds, insects, and wild animals all around us. We are out in it everyday, and I am so grateful for that.

I have noticed in our neighborhood though a very strange phenomenon. The grassy fields outside our door are often empty, the trees are never climbed, and the voices of children are often unheard. I see the kids walk home from school, and then I hardly see or hear them until the next day when they are again pushing their heavy book bags back to school. In the summer I hear and see even fewer children, as they are no longer walking to school. Where are all the kids? Why aren’t they outside enjoying this wonderful nature paradise.

I know the answers to that question, and it makes me sad. My kids enjoy modern life. They love their video games, the computer, and their iPods, and I am happy for them to have all those gadgets, but I know it is my job to balance that out for them. They, and I, are much happier individuals because of the balance, because of our contact with the natural world. I hope we, as humans, never get too far from that truth.

The boys were not to keen on the idea at first, but Autry was very enthusiastic about it.

She and I convinced the boys (actually I just told them to get in the car) that it would be a fun adventure, so we all piled in the car and headed down to Crystal Cove. It was a cloudy morning, a little chilly, but we had a wonderful time.

The kids allowed me to take some photos of them. Sometimes a mom with a camera can be very annoying (especially if you are 12).

Then we explored our surroundings, and everyone tried to find something interesting.

Tru found this stick that he wanted to use as a sling shot.

Autry and I loved this shell.

I thought this pod looked like a cool creature.

Decca explored the roots of this washed-up tree. He loved that there were rocks stuck in the roots.

It was such a beautiful morning at the beach.

  I am so happy that we made time to go.