Home School WebChats - Hosted by Gayle Remisch

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:04AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Time check

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:05AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Hi jkcook, yes this is it! sorry I'm late, just flew in the
door with the kids from our library day.

Andrea/NASA/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:05AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
JkCook - try starting from the Mars Team Online home
page -- quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/events

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:05AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
I'm in London, Ontario, where are you?

Andrea/NASA/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:06AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
Oops - sorry Jkcook

Don (TX, Homeschool): . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:06AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
jkcook, one chat is finishing and the h/s chat is about to
begin. I expect that Gayle (the chat host) is around
somewhere or will be here shortly. Do you h/s? If so,
where and how many? My wife and I h/s two children,
Danny (8) and Melissa (7).

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:06AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Andrea, thanks, I think our chats are back to back sorry
if we kind come in at the tail end of yours.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:07AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Did I just miss this chat? Looks like it. 

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:07AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Hi Don, how's things, missed you last week!

Andrea/NASA/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:07AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
No problem - we were finished - have a good chat!

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:08AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
No jkcook, you didn't miss it, we're just starting.

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:08AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Thanks Andrea, hope yours was good, what was it on?

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:08AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Cool, here it is, my computer is being slow. Hi, Don,
I'm Janet and homeschool near Denver. I have 2 girls
ages 7 and 4. We do it half time, since I work evenings,
I HS in the morning and they go to the school in the
afternoons

Andrea/NASA/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:09AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
We were talking about the archive of the life science
experiments conducted on Space Shuttle missions - as
part of the S/MORE project. 

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:10AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Hi Janet, I have one 4 1/2 but I have full and part time
day care for homeschooled kids whose parents have to
work.

Andrea/NASA/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:10AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
I will leave you all to your work!

Don (TX, Homeschool): . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:10AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
Gayle, my schedule was kind of disrupted last week
with the holiday and all. I'm back now. However, last
Tuesday night I did "finally" officially kick-off our
MTO project with the support group. It went very well,
although sparsely attended.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:10AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
What do you do involving Mars Team Online? I'm one of
the teacher advocates for CO. I use it with my high
school students and my daughters class at her school

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:11AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Andrea, that's cool, I'll have to go back and read up. I'm
also a smart filter for MTO and have a feeling that I'll
be doing a couple of programs concurrently.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:11AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Hmmm, do I need to push the chat button to see replies?

Don (TX, Homeschool): . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:12AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
yes, use the chat button for replies (not the reload).

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:13AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Interesting. On the other chat servers, they just appear
like magic.

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:13AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Janet, I do very basic introduction and a simplified
version of the activities. However, I have a 17-yr old
who comes once a week and reads up on what's been
going on. He's not sure what parts he wants to do, this
is very new to him. He loves space stuff but never had
the opportunity to do something like this before.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:14AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Did you have him do the challenge questions? I have
one independent study kid who enjoyed those.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:14AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Maybe he could work on the PET, too

Don (TX, Homeschool): . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:14AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
jkcook, if you attended the homeschool convention in
Denver last June then there is a good chance that I have
met you. My wife and I were reps for Lifetime Books &
Gifts. That was our last convention as reps.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:15AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
What works best for your kids, Don? Trying to figure
out what Danielle, my 7 yr old, would like.

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:16AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
He only started coming two weeks ago and he's still
wading through everything but I'll suggest those to
him.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:16AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
No, I haven't done any HS stuff like that. This just
came up in August when I realized working evenings
and her going to school days would not work. I was
going to just pull her out of school completely until they
agreed to let HSers go half days.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:17AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
The afternoons at this school are just investigative
learning. They choose a topic a quarter and focus on
that--field trips, speakers, library internet, experimnets,
writing, everything. It's great for them to learn home to
learn. Then they present it all to the parents and other
students 

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:19AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Have you guys gotten the CDs about Mars from JPL? I
just got Mars Navigator yesterday. It's really great--full
of pictures and info about the projects and the solar
system

Don (TX, Homeschool): . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:20AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
For our first "class" we did Activity 1.1.A (something
like that). The class consisted of 5 children (8 others
couldn't make it) ages 7 to 12. I pretty much used the
materials as given. I did add to it by using some other
materials that I have on hand. For those that missed the
class I intend to have another make-up session.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:20AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Is this for a group of HSers?

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:21AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
I like the "something like that!" That's how most of our
activities turn out, too.

Don (TX, Homeschool): . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:23AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
Since I was planning on having my two children do the
MTO project I went ahead and opened it up to our
support group as well.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:24AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Did anyone see the launch last night? Hopefully, one of
my friends taped it for us. Do your kids react to the
launch as excitedly as we did with Apollo launches?

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:24AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Janet, have you done any reading on Homeschooling?
John Holt, the Moores, etc.

Don (TX, Homeschool): . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:24AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
For the time being if we get more interest then I plan on
also involving them in the PET and Red Rover projects.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:25AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Red Rover is beyond us, cause no one has CUSeeME, but
my class at school is registered for PET. Gets good
discussions going. I haven't talked about it with my
girls.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:27AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Gayle, no I haven't read much. We just sort of wing it,
nothing serious. Since my 7 year old is reading on a
high school level and way ahead in math, we don't have
to really teach her anything. We just do stuff and go
places and observe and experiment. On sundays at
church, she works on a workbook that follows a Core
Knowledge type curriculum to fill in some holes.

Don (TX, Homeschool): . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:27AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
I didn't see the launch. I don't have access to cable or a
satellite dish. I have been trying to have a friend record
them for me.

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:27AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Unfortunately, we don't have cable, let alone satellite
access. So last year for Live from the Hubble Space
Telescope we (en masse) went to a very understanding
and helpful satellite TV dealer who allowed us to sit in
the store and watch the show! We have to get
creative...a lot!

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:28AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Don't know what I'll do with the little one. She goes to
a Reggio pre-shcool and is ready to start reading soon,
but she'll probably be hard to keep up with, too! 

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:29AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
I have CNN's Life on Mars, PTK's Mars Team Online, and
the CNN coverage of the MGS launch on tape if you
want copies, send me an e-mail at
wecooks@ix.netcom.com with your snail mail address.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:29AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
If Geoff got the Pathfinder launch, I'll add that on, too.

Don (TX, Homeschool): . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:30AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
Funny you should mention your child's reading level.
Although my son is not reading at that level, he is
reading very well. When he reads that is. Just 5 minutes
before this chat began I received a call from my wife
telling me that my son was refusing to do his reading
again. Frustrating!
 

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:31AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
oh, Danielle is like me. Can't get her nose out of a
book. Maybe he just needs to find the right topic to
hook his interest.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:33AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
What all do you do with PTK with your kids, Gayle?

Don (TX, Homeschool): . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:33AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
I've seen the "wecooks" address before. I just can't place
it. Possibly on AOL 1¸ years ago or in Practical
Homeschooling magazine?

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:34AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
I dont' know. I just registered with that this last summer
when I got my educator's account at NETCOM. Thought
it was better than using just my initials since it was for
the whole family.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:34AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Do you get Discuss-lfm? I post on there a lot.

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:35AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
That's great, Janet, your daughter sounds like what mine
will be like in 2 1/2 years. She's been reading Gr1-2
stuff since she was 4 and loves things like chess,
German & French, and Lego (as math manipulatives).
She says, "Mum can I please go play that math CD on
the computer?" I turn to my husband and say "Gee honey,
do you think we should let her play that again!?" I know
I'm lucky. I thank God every day. At Sunday School she
is in with the first graders, and tends to be the one out
of 90 or so who is sitting on the teachers lap - every
Sunday. But she is human, she has her 'days' too just
like everyone else. She is just getting into the Mars
stuff. I think because I have a long poster on the wall
that shows the planets, she askes questions more often
because it's up there.

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:37AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
I recognize Janet's address for the discuss-LFM list.

Don (TX, Homeschool): . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:37AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
Yes I do get Discuss-lfm. That must be where I've seen
it. Thanks for clarifying that otherwise the rest of my
day would have been shot.

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:38AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
My gang tend to go for hands on. I leave stuff around or
put something up on the walls in place of something that
used to be there and that generates questions.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:38AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
That's a good idea. I don't do much decorating and it
probably would be a good way to generate interest.
Have you tried Interactive Math Journey? My kids love
that. The older one likes Operation Neptune, too. That's
a great one for fractions, graphs, and word problems.
Your boys would probably love it, Don. They have to
rescue a crashed satellite in the ocean. 

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:39AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
You would have remembered at two in the morning,
Don!

Don (TX, Homeschool): . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:41AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
In addition to computer math games I have several
board games that teach math from basic addition to
multiplication by 12's and fractions. The kids enjoy
them as well.

jkcook: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:43AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
What board games are those? IMJ comes with
manipulatives, but I haven't used them. I'd like the girls
to get their math facts down well. Do the board games
do that?

Don (TX, Homeschool): . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:44AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
Gayle, you said that you do a "simplified version of the
activities." Can you give me an example of how you
simplified Newton's law.

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:44AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Janet, we have one called dinosoft, but more related to
Mars, we have the Magic School Bus Explores the Solar
System.

Don (TX, Homeschool): . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:48AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
As for the math games, yes they do a very good job
with the math facts. They were made by New Directions
Games out of Ft. Collins (your neck of the woods). The
names of the games are "Fractionals" and
"Cross-Multiply" and "?". I had to call my wife to get
this info. And Danny is now doing his reading.
Hooray!!! 

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:50AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Don, I'm interested in the math games two, Anna loves
dice and I've just introduced them to dominoes.
Don...about Newton's law, around here Newton's a law
means if you don't leave any of them for mum, you're in
trouble. I have a young woman from a program at the
University of Western Ontario, who does a program
called, Let's talk science. She comes in once a month to
handle things I'm not as well versed in. She is coming
next month to do a class on Balloon science, which will
fit in well with that activity.

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:51AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Not next month, this month, December 18 to be precise,
this is September 4 isn't it??? ;)

anonymous: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:52AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Great. Thanks. I've never been to Fort Collins, but I'm
sure they're in the phone book. Sounds like a great
Christmas present! 

anonymous: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:52AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
I'm glad I'm not the only one with not enuf time!

anonymous: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:53AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Dominoes is a great game for kids!

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:53AM PDT (-0800
GMT)
I was in hospital for surgery in August and so I seem to
have lost August and September somewhere.

Janet: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:53AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Oops, lost my connection and forgot to put my name
back on

Janet: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:55AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
WOW! IT's almost one o'clock. I've got to get to school.
The natives are getting restless upstairs, too. Glad to
talk to you both. I'll try again next Wed. Thanks for the
game names, Don. Glad to meet you both.

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:55AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
That's OK we'll forgive you; D - That's never happened
to any of us has it? grin

Don (TX, Homeschool): . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:56AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
jkcook, have you pulled my stunt and lost your handle.
I usually do this at least once per chat. I am going to
have to leave early. I have a 2 o'clock meeting. Gayle, I
hope the surgery wasn't anything serious.

Janet: . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:56AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
See you next week, bye, jkc

Don (TX, Homeschool): . . . . Wed, Dec 4, 11:57AM
PDT (-0800 GMT)
Bye all. Great chat. See 'ya next week.

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:58AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Don, are you lin the same time zone as Janet? Janet,
bye, thanks for coming by, see you next week. BTW,
Marc will be announcing this chat on the Updates, MTO
list which has about 2500 registrants., so if it goes out
between now and next Wednesday, we should have lots
more folks joining us then.

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
11:59AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Don, You answered my time zone question in your last
message

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
12:01AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
No, the surgery wasn't too serious, just a something
which should relieve a lot of my back pain. If anyone
lurking out there has any questions please feel free to
e-mail me at womble@mail.wwdc.com.

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
12:01AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Don, thanks for the Game info, perhaps they'll mail to
Canada? I must be off now too, see you next week.

Gayle, PTK Homeschool/ChatHost: . . . . Wed, Dec 4,
12:05AM PDT (-0800 GMT)
Marc, It was a great chat, thanks for your note, Gayle
signing off for now, until next week... ***Today I have
grown taller from walking with the trees** - Karl W.
Baker