Just What Can this Copier-Scanner-Printer do Anyway?

When we packed up and moved into our camper our printer did not make the cut. My thought was that we really didn’t have the room and how much did I really need to print anyway? Well, you do know what happens when you don’t have something,right? It isn’t long before you realize just how much you NEED what you don’t have.

And to really prove my point, I visited the FedEx/Kinkos store for the first time. I paid a small fortune to print items off the computer and left with a handful of copies, spending just over forty bucks. I was appalled. I just about could've bought a printer for that.

So I did. But not just a printer. I found a deal. Printer. Copier. Scanner. All for fewer than fifty bucks and it came with ink. Both Black and Color cartridges. Now that's a deal. Since I bought it online, I eagerly awaited the arrival of my new toy. And that’s what it’s been. A toy. I’ve had fun scanning pictures from our homeschool portfolios, making copies of the notebooking pages I created for the kids and printing e-books because I can’t stand to read them online. Yep. I’m taking my new toy seriously. In the midst of my seriousness...

…my son decided to ask me a question. I’m almost afraid to type this...deep breath...here goes...

"What would happen if I sat on the scanner? Would it really make a picture of my butt?"

Really? Is he serious? Oh my… the workings of the male teenage mind…

Oh, I shrugged it off and chuckled because it was funny. I told him I better never see butt smudges on my scanner and didn’t really think much more of it.Until today.

I used the scanner to scan a document so I could email it and I heard this question…

"Hey, would this really make a picture of my butt?"

Are you kidding me? This time it was not out of the mouth of my children, but out of the mouth of my husband! Ugghhh…the workings of a thirty-something male mind… who by the way proudly proclaims…Great minds think alike!

So, once again...is this just a guy thing?

My 1st Ever Weekly Wrap-Up Post

Since this is my first Weekly Wrap Up post, and I haven’t posted a whole lot on how we homeschool, I thought I’d give you a basic run down of exactly what we do and how it works with our current mobile lifestyle.

First, you should know that I’m really laid back when it comes to homeschooling. I guess part of that reason is because I feel that my children should own their education. In other words, they have to be serious. They should have the desire to learn. They should take responsibility for learning. I look at my job more as giving them the skills that they need so they are able to teach themselves successfully.

As my children get older, I relax more. I worried when they were younger that they’d never want to learn. I was afraid to trust the books that said to back off and allow them to learn naturally. I didn’t want three kids that slept in until noon and watched cartoons every day. The amazing thing now is the more I back off, the more they want to learn and the more they do learn.

When we are really on the road, we don't do a lot of book work. We spend most of our time exploring our surroundings and visiting local attractions. Since we are basically sitting still at the moment, we are more focused on getting things done inside.

Getting back on track since our break has been a bit of a challenge. Though this is now the 4th year that we’ve been traveling, it is the first winter that we have spent in our motor home and there have been a few challenges that have arisen. If you’re really interested you can read about those here: A Sewer Story, Rescue Me.

Monday we were thankful to have a friend come visit. Since I tend to be quite the perfectionist, we spent the morning trying to clean the motor home and look like it’s not lived in. About the only thing I succeeded in was to make everyone a nervous wreck until our friends arrived and then all was forgotten.

Tuesday rolled around with warmer weather, and we couldn’t wait to head outside and take a walk. We were amazed at all the birds that we saw in the campground. We spotted a woodpecker, which we marveled at and later learned it was a Red-Bellied Woodpecker. We’ve spotted him every day since, hanging around an oak tree near our camper. He even woke us up a few mornings.

As far as book work goes, the kids each have their own daily assignments that they are required to work on. This includes courses that Connect the Thoughts offers, math (Life of Fred and Math Tutor DVD’s), literature- they chose from a pile of books that I’ve selected for them and their own personal Bible reading. I also require that they write in their journals each day. In addition to their own assignments, we also have what the kids affectionately call ‘Story time’, when I read to them. Even though my kids are older, I’ve never stopped reading to them and it’s something that we all continue to enjoy. We read devotion, a passage of scripture and then take time to prayer together. Following this I also read a chapter from a devotion type book which we discuss. Right now we are reading Created for Work by Bob Schultz. Though it is written to boys and men, I feel that my daughter and I can still glean from it. We are also reading a book about the faith of C.S. Lewis, Inspiring Men of the Faith, that we find pretty interesting. For fun we all learn a new vocabulary word from Vocabulary Cartoons.

By Thursday the weather was wonderful, so we went to a nearby hiking trail to enjoy a few hours in the fresh air and sun with our friends.

Right now my 13-year old daughter is on the computer teaching herself French. She also began teaching herself how to play the guitar this week using an online study. My 14-year old son is spending the day putting math into action- fractions, geometry and algebra- while working with his dad on a job. Finally, my 16-year old is in a nearby field watching the wildlife, so far he’s seen numerous birds and a deer, while reading a history encyclopedia. This week has been a wonderful encouragement to me. I am so thankful to have children that once again love to learn. If you're curious about what school looked like in other homes, stop by the Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

You can make a Difference

Haiti Earthquake

If you've watched the news, turned on the computer or listened to the radio in your car this past week, no doubt you've heard about the devastating earthquake that has crippled Haiti. Like many, you may be wondering how you can help, but simply don't know what charity to give to. I'd like to suggest Compassion International. Right now any money that you can give will provide critical relief for those who so desperately need it. To give you can click on the banner at the top of this post. If you'd like to learn more about the developments in Haiti you can read updates at the Compassion International Blog.

Rescue Me

Full-timing. In the winter? What were we thinking? I spent last week asking myself that on a couple occasions and almost asked my husband if we should check into temporary housing. One week of freezing temperatures and no water was all it took. Boy, am I a wimp.

It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if my vehicle was here, but we are stuck. Well, not really because I could drive the camper if I really wanted to. But that just seems like too much work for me right now. Unhooking everything and hooking back up and leveling up. No, I’d have to be pretty desperate to drive away. I wouldn’t do it just to make a Walmart run. Not to mention that I’ve never driven it. Not that I wouldn’t. I just haven’t. Yet.

But I’m getting off track. I really didn’t want to boo hoo about how terrible it is to be stuck in the cold. I just wanted to whine a bit because we’ve been cooped up and getting on one another’s nerves. Well, that is the kids are getting on my nerves. As much as I love them. And I do. And before you judge me for being a terrible mother, in my defense let me just say that I’d rather be with my family than anywhere. Most days. But in all fairness, they are sick of me too. And I’m okay with that. Believe it or not, I am not perfect. There. I said it. Now you know. As if you couldn’t have guessed for yourself, huh? You do know I'm joking, right?

Back on track. Other than going on two brief walks in the freezing cold, we hadn’t been out together. And we were ready to go…anyway…so when the temperatures rose and our friends suggested that they pick us up and take us for a hike, we couldn’t resist.

It’s unbelievable how spending a couple hours in the fresh, WARM, air hiking with friends makes everything better.

I also forgot to mention that I posted an article at The Homeschool Classroom this week, My Top Ten List of Homeschooling Books. Why not stop by and tell me what you think? What is your favorite homeschooling book?

Consequences of Travel

This week I've been looking at some of our homeschool portfolios from several years ago. Since travel has always played such a huge part in our educational philosophy, it's only natural that I'd have included quite a few photos of our adventures. Seeing the pictures have caused us all to do a bit of reminiscing and of course, we want to go back to every place we've visited, with few exceptions! I guess that's one of the consequences of traveling to fun places. You always want to go back, but there is so much more of the US to see!

Here are a few of our past highlights:

Washington D.C.

Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland (or Virginia)

Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

Epcot, World Showcase

St. Augustine, Florida

Sanibel Island


How about you, what is your favorite travel destination?