Couchschooling - and a fish joke (to lure you in :)

You wouldn't know it by his expression, but algebra is almost enjoyable when you can do it on a screened porch, reclining on a rattan couch (newly covered...Aren't those little palm trees and the striped hammocks adorable?...), with a comfy soft blankie protecting your bare feet from the whirling fan overhead. This is Winston, seriously contemplating a polynomial or some other kind of nomial. I took Algebra 1 three years in a row in high school. I think it was because they didn't have rattan couches and blankies where I went to school :)






I try to separate the children for math, so they can each concentrate. Andrew likes to "talk" the problems out - so we found the perfect place for him.....Outside, where we can't hear him! This picture was taken from inside the screened porch looking out. I have no idea how he can focus on his long division with that sparkling pool in the background. You can also see the trampoline behind the pool if you look closely. Many a multiplacation table has been learned while jumping on that thing.







This picture really has nothing to do with homeschooling, but Winston asked me to put it on my blog. Actually, it does have a connection to homeschooling. He had to leave for this deep-sea fishing trip at 5 am and he didn't get home until almost 10pm. By the time he got the fish cleaned, finished telling us about his day (Can you believe he actually caught 29 fish, ......but threw most of them back? I didn't either), it was very late. But homeschooling gives us the option of staying up late to rejoice in a brother/son's Catch of The Day, without worrying about our academics suffering. We slept in a little the next day, and had a bunch of teeny-tiny fish pieces for dinner the next night. They really were yummy. A fish just tastes better when it's been reeled in by one of your "men" :)

In honor of (or maybe it should be "in memory of") the fish, here's a cute joke -and yes, after only 8 days of Blogging Every Day in May...I am already getting a tad desperate for material.


Little Tim was in the garden filling in a hole when his neighbor peered over the fence.Interested in what the cheeky-faced youngster was up to, he politely asked, "Watcha doing Tim?"

"My goldfish died", replied the boy tearfully, without looking up. "And I've just buried him." The neighbor was concerned. "That's an awfully big hole for a goldfish, isn't it?"

Tim patted down the last heap of earth then replied.
"That's because he's inside your cat."