http://www.lorimortimer.com/blog Aha! moments from a ho-hum life Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:20:22 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Yeah, yeah, I know it's July, but I'm still trying to catch up with my blogging. In any case, back in April, after spending too much time at home during the winter months, I went a little field-trip crazy and signed the us up for a grand total of 12 ... http://www.lorimortimer.com/blog/2008/07/13/april-field-trip-walden-pond/ I've been so bloggedy-blog-blog busy that I haven't had time to, um, blog in the past several weeks. How sad that it's almost summer and I haven't finished writing about spring. I'll never get all the details down now, but trust me when I say we had a lot of ... http://www.lorimortimer.com/blog/2008/06/13/spring-update-ides-of-march-eveeinsteins-birthdaypi-day/ And who am I to argue with the eloquent, hard-working Pioneer Woman? I think part of being a homeschooler is being somewhat of a nonconformist, somewhat of an anarchist, with a healthy amount of “freak” thrown in there somewhere, as well as an overall absence of good sense. The rest of the ... http://www.lorimortimer.com/blog/2008/05/02/homeschoolers-are-freaks-who-lack-good-sense/ Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day! If you loves you some comic books, stop by your local comic book store and see if they're participating. Or better yet, search for participating stores in your area before venturing out. Just by showing up at a participating store, you'll get at least one ... http://www.lorimortimer.com/blog/2008/05/02/free-comic-book-day-2008/ Today isYesterday was National SpankOut Day. I don't usually care for these kinds of days of observance -- mostly because there's a day for everything, including the unbelievably trivial, but also because I don't see much of a purpose to making the days official in some way -- but if ... http://www.lorimortimer.com/blog/2008/05/01/spank-out-day-do-unto-others-people/ Sure, they look all comfy and innocent.... Spring, the season of rebirth and renewal, has finally arrived in New England. Our forsythia blooms, the tulips push through the cold earth, and the magnolia buds ready for opening. Outdoors, signs of life abound. But spring has also brought new life indoors ... ... http://www.lorimortimer.com/blog/2008/04/20/killer-boots/ Check this out: a study by Vanderbilt University indirectly supports the value of homeschooling. It concludes that kids learn best when they explain what they're learning to their mom. Previous studies (if not oodles of personal experience) have shown that people learn more when they generate explanations of what they've ... http://www.lorimortimer.com/blog/2008/03/07/research-shows-moms-help-kids-learn-best/ Last weekend, my son's UU religious education (RE) class learned about labyrinths, which many UUs and people of other belief systems use both metaphorically and as a spiritual practice. The assistant RE directed noted that another local church has two labyrinths in the woods on their retreat property, Rolling Ridge. ... http://www.lorimortimer.com/blog/2008/03/04/walkingfinding-the-labyrinth/ We began President's Day weekend with a flurry of activity out of the house, and then returned home to a cozier flurry of activity inside the house. Some of us chose to doodle, while others dabbled in 3D programming, while still others cooked and wrote and read. Mr. Enigma sat ... http://www.lorimortimer.com/blog/2008/02/25/hanging-out-and-doing-stuff-leads-to-more-hanging-out-and-doing-stuff/ Meet Ooch (a.k.a. Brett Outchcunis), a professional yo-yoer (sp?). He does the most amazing tricks with a yo-yo, AND he gets paid by Yomega to promote their products and teach people how to yo-yo. He's especially good with a crowd of kids, which we learned this past Saturday at the ... http://www.lorimortimer.com/blog/2008/02/20/dude-yo-yos-for-a-living/