2011 Bear Creek End of Year

Field Day with Sports and Games as well as fun. The Houston Area Field Day was a huge success! It was a fantastic day to play outside with our assortment of games like Water Balloon Volleyball, Gunny Sack Races, Tug of War, Kickball, and the Fireman's Relay. Our volunteer's from the both TXVA staff and Booster Club, did an outstanding job at running, as well as participating in these games. I do believe it was just as entertaining watching them playing as it was for the mto be playing.
The National Coalition for Public School Options donated our scrumptious Hog Dog lunch and boy were they yummy. Not only did we have hot dogs but we also had Snow Cones, Cotton Candy, Face Painting, a Firetruck, and a Police Car. The Firemen and Policeman were completely awesome letting everyone try on their gear and play with THE equipment. I do believe the highlight of the event was the super cool Science experiments that Bryan Lankford, who is a TXVA High School Science Teacher, showed us. Such as the exploding Mentos in Soda, which shot so high it ended up on the ceiling, and the Balloon Animal in Dry Ice experiment. Mr. Lankford inspired imagination and was quite entertaining, plus he showed everyone how EXPLOSIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE Science can be.

Eikefjord, Norway

Fourth Grade Field Trip - Hordaland (help·info) is a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark and Rogaland. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population. The county administration is located in Bergen. Before 1972, the city of Bergen was its own separate county apart from Hordaland.

Sognekongen, Bergen

I'm on a boat (I'm on a boat)

I'm on a boat (I'm on a boat)

Everybody look at me 'cause I'm sailing on a boat (sailing on a boat)

I'm on a boat (I'm on a boat)

I'm on a boat

I got my swim trunks
And my flippie-floppies
I'm flipping burgers, you at Kinko's
Straight flipping copies

The dolphin's splashing, getting everybody all wet

But this ain't Seaworld, this is real as it gets

Straight floating on a boat on the deep blue sea
Busting five knots, wind whipping at my coat

Take a picture, trick

I'm on a boat

I'm on a boat and
It's going fast and
I got a nautical themed
pashmina afghan
I'm the king of the world
On a boat like Leo
If you're on the shore,
then you're sure not me-oh

Cultural Investment

We were downtown Bergen, and he was riding around on his scooter. I was taking pictures, when he told me "I don't want pictures of me riding a scooter in Bergen to end up on the internet".....



Immersion Education in Norway for three weeks. Mai 17 is the National Holiday!

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Edmund and Lucy Pevensy along with their bratty cousin, Eustace, are transported through a painting into Narnia where they join Prince Caspian on a voyage to the west. The children are tested on this voyage, and visit strange lands and encounter unusual creatures. Eustace is turned into a dragon, and then helped to return to human form by Aslan, the lion god.

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 1544 KB
• Print Length: 256 pages

Grade Level Equivalent: 5.5
Lexile® measure: 970L

More Stinking Assessments

first Benchmarks at the beginning of the year, again before Christmas, then TAKS, then more Benchmarks, I am sick of tests

På stranden i Arna

Back in Norway

long stinking flight... 4809 Miles or 77379 Km, technically only 10 hours, but when you add in a stop in Amsterdam... oy!

why we choose to homeschool

I knew in my heart before my child even entered school, but my husband was adamant that we not 'unschool' so I sent him for K - 2, but by the end of 2nd, I had had enough of the school. Enough of the HUGE classes (19 kids when he really needed small classes of 8-10), I got tired of him going to the nurse 3 days a week sick from the stress of anxiety each day and panic attacks.

I also got totally frustrated that they dragged their feet a year when he was not learning how to read, I finally insisted that they give him testing, and resources to learn how to read, but after 1 year of 'extra help' he was still 14 months behind in reading, and they 'graduated him out' because he was only failing 2 of the 4 criteria so they wanted to redirect resources to other children, more at risk.

since I had to find a curriculum that was a regimented as my husband wanted, and as guided and directed as I needed since I was college educated, but in math and science instead of elementary education, I went with k12. since I am by nature a frugal person, I opted for the TXVA so that I could get whole package for free. While I like most of the program, there are some components that I do not like, so I have replaced them with alternatives, like the music program I replaced with a foreign language and piano. I still provide a lot of outside enrichment that I feel are more interesting like trips to Glacier N.P. to learn about glaciers, going to Carlsbad Caverns to learn about stalagmites and stalactites instead of reading in a book. Next week we are going to Ocean of the Pacific to learn about oceanography.

We needed the structure in place, but I still have the final discretion to add or subtract what we learn, how we learn it, and where we experience it. currently we are split up, my 4th grader is on his way for 3 weeks of language and cultural immersion in Norway, while I am here in California with family for 3 weeks of family and west coast activities that I would not have had the option to do with a Brick and Mortar school and all the attendance drama.

I do miss the two days a week that my son had of socializing at the school and it is a real shame that the public school is so 'territorial' that they do not offer the option for a hybrid of resources that benefit the children instead of excluding them because of funding. Imagine an education system like the colleges where you can pick and choose your courses, some online, some in the classroom, some independent study, some small group, some huge lectures? I first discovered just how 'territorial' they are when we could not even participate in Chess Club, and after school program that I thought was an excellent community resource, but sadly it was exclusive to the school district and that exclusivity is hurting our children. Something that just torques me off, since I send a yearly check for a couple thousand dollars for taxes directly to that school district.