Wow, we’ve really done alot with this challenge since I last updated. We have finished listening to The Prisoner of Azkaban, and I have to say that it’s funny the difference you pick up on between the movies and the books. My daughter was constantly pointing out the differences, and even commented that the book tells the story better.

We’ve also listened to the entirety of The Goblet of Fire, and I remember now why I like this book so much, it is the real turning point of the series, when we really get down to business in the battle between good and evil. Miss Muffin pointed out that the tasks seemed much scarier and less fun in the book, I think she’s got a point.

We’re 5 discs into The Order of the Phoenix, right now and I’d forgotten how dark the series gets at this point, it’s like someone turned a switch and took all the lightness out of the story. It’s okay though, because life is like that sometimes, and we all need to learn to laugh when what we really feel like doing is crying.

This challenge has really has been great for us. I’ve given up the idea that we will get to reading them before it is over, but that’s okay too, the books aren’t going anywhere. I’m even contemplating what series we’ll try when we’re done, perhaps A Series of Unfortunate Events or Percy Jackson & The Olympians. Which would you pick?

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With Valentine’s day coming up our girl wanted to create some fun crafts and decorations.

A few foam heart, pencils, and pipe cleaners held together with a little white glue and you have a happy kid.

She started out making decorated pencils and then just went wild. Now that she’s found the paper heart doilies and paper plates who knows where she’ll go.

And with all the jumping, dancing, bouncing, and racing around she did while making these I don’t think we’ll be worrying about cholesterol treatments for her any time soon.

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We’re getting a slow start this week, there were kids home to play with on Monday so I skipped that and then I got bogged down in blog difficulties today and somehow it all got away from me. There are times when this scares me half to death, I keep thinking that we’ve got to keep moving forward, we can’t fall behind.

I think I just need to keep hold of the fact that she has almost finished the second grade outline I set out this past summer, and we have time before I need to shop for student loans online; we have time to let her be a kid, have fun, and discover the world at her own pace. Later today I will try to get us on a slightly more organized path and then we finish the week up with some fun activities and a little Time 4 Learning.

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I’ve been looking into online educational programs a lot lately, I am thinking about going back to finish my Bachelor’s so that I won’t have any homeschooling issues when our girl reaches high school. I know she’s only seven but gosh that seven years has passed really quickly.

While searching I came across Lewis University and their Masters of Science in Information Security. They are a non-profit, regional accredited university with both online and traditional classes; and their program in Information Security offers both Managerial and Technical concentrations.

I would think that in a world of growing dependence on computers this type of degree would useful and lucrative. The flexible online format would work with my other commitments and I have always enjoyed a challenge.

Perhaps after I’ve finished my Bachelor’s this would be one to look into further.

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One of the difficult things about homeschooling in Tennessee as opposed to Georgia is the education requirements for parents. You can homeschool through eighth grade with a high school diploma or GED; but you must have a Bachelor’s to homeschool for high school.

Because of this many parents opt to use umbrella schools or church related cover schools so that they can continue to to teach their children at home without meeting this requirement. Unfortunately I don’t really care for the expense or outside control that option presents, so I have been looking at ways I can afford to finish up my Bachelor’s.

Western Governors University is an online university that was founded in 1997 by nineteen U.S. governors to help expand access to quality higher education, especially for working adults. It uses a competency based model that focuses on skill mastery and allowing the student to progress at their own rate rather than the more traditional learn as a group purely for credit approach.

WGU is non-profit, totally online, regionally accredited by the Northwest Commission of Colleges and Universities and nationally accredited by the Distance Education and Training Counsel. Each term six months long and students are allowed to complete as much as they are capable of during the term for a single flat rate tuition fee. Financial aid, scholarships, VA and military assistance, and corporate reimbursement programs are available to those who qualify.

The idea of being able to learn at my own pace appeals to me, I was always one of the bored and distracted ones in traditional college settings. I need the flexibility of working more some days than others and having days when little or nothing gets done, my life demands this. The fact that every student gets a mentor that assists them in planning their educational path and helps to keep them on track is fabulous. And the fact that I am able to decide when I am ready to test and when I need more assistance is nice, it’s about what you know, not about how long you spend learning it or how many hours you spend enrolled in their school.

Western Governors University offers a variety of online degree programs in areas such as nursing, information technology, teaching, and business. Now I just have to decide what I want my Bachelor’s in…

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So we did the week after Thanksgiving in a very unschoolly manner talking about things and researching things as they came up during our holiday decorating. It gave me a chance to relax a little not having to come up with curriculum in advance, but I know I’m not disciplined enough to do that all the time.

Now we are finishing up our second week of our regular schooling only to go back to a looser style through the Christmas and New Year holidays. I’ve amassed a huge amount of Christmas and winter themed puzzles, games and coloring sheets, as well as a Polar Express unit done with both the book and movie and a lot of fun activities for Christmas Eve.

Maybe I’ll even get photos one of these days of some projects, or just an ordinary day (jammies and all).

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We’ve finished The Chamber of Secrets and started working on The Prisoner of Azkaban. I think at the rate we are going we will be able to listen to all the books and read at least the first three or four before the July 31, 2010 deadline for this challenge.

The Chronicles of Narnia was the first audio book set we ever listened to, we used it before and during our move as away to keep Miss Muffin entertained. She had just seen the first movie and really wanted to know more about the series. Since then the only other book we’ve listened to besides the Harry Potter ones is A Christmas Carol on our way to see the Disney train tour this summer.

The Chamber of Secrets has never been my favorite of the Harry Potter books, but it certainly is one that lays a lot of foundation for things to come. I think that one of the things is that the early books were edited much more strictly than the later ones, cut down to child size and so there is sometimes that sense of lost time, a feeling of having missed something or of lurching unevenly along the school year.

Glad they gave up on that by the time the last few were coming out, can you imagine The Deathly Hallows at a quarter the size?

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