Enjoying the Autumn Weather
We had our first cool front come through last week – a much needed, much appreciated cool front. It’s been unbelievably hot this summer, and even though I say that every year, this summer really has set records. I’m not an outdoors-y type most of the time, but between the swarm of love-bugs that have finally left town (or died out – whatever) and the unrelenting heat, this first taste of cooler weather made me positively antsy to be outside.
We packed up the kids’ remaining school work one day last week and went out to one of our local state parks to enjoy the cooler weather. It was actually quite a bit cooler than we’d thought when we left the house; several times, I had the kids run around the pavilion we were sitting at to warm up. We did nearly get carried away by mosquitoes; normally those nasty little bloodsuckers fade away once the weather turns, but maybe the woods offered some shelter because even with the cooler air, they were out in droves. Yay for bug spray!
When we got home, in keeping with the autumn atmosphere, we made caramels. This is my new favorite thing ever: MICROWAVE caramels. Yes. Microwave. You just mix everything in a big Pyrex bowl and throw them in there, stir occasionally and in six minutes, you have lovely and brown and bubbly and smooth and creamy caramel… and with a tiny sprinkling of flaked salt on top, they’re oh, so very tasty!
The recipe is from Food Network, but I found it on Pinterest.
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup light Karo syrup
- 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
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Combine all ingredients.
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Cook 6 minutes, stirring every two minutes.
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Stir and pour into lightly greased dish.
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Let cool.
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Cut, wrap in wax paper & store in air tight container.
I didn’t have brown sugar, so I used a 1/2 cup of white sugar with a tablespoon of blackstrap molasses. I didn’t have Karo, so I used a 1/2 cup of white sugar with 2 teaspoons of water (stirred to dissolve the sugar). The caramels didn’t quite set up the way they should have, but they taste fantastic. One day, I’ll buy the other ingredients and make the actual recipe… maybe. My version is more like a thick caramel sauce and is amazing in coffee and over ice cream, in case you were wondering.
Hope you’re celebrating fall with hot cocoa every morning!
Warmly,
~h
32 Down, 8 To Go
We are a mere 8 weeks away from finishing our second year of homeschooling. I was sitting here, trying to think of something clever to title this post when I realized that – I can not believe how fast this year has gone by! 32 weeks just ptttph! Gone. Unbelievable. We were so ready for our week off last week; it seemed like all we’d been doing forever was school, school, school. Now that I realize how close to the end of the year, my inner Uber-Teacher is panicking just a wee bit!
I know, I know… deep breaths… meditation – these things are my friends.
Now that we’re done with this week’s outings, we will be hitting the books pretty hard starting tomorrow. Not in response to realizing that we’re almost done with this year – this was the plan before I got off on that tangent. Since we started workboxes, the boys have accomplished a lot of work – more than we would have otherwise, I think. I’m happy with their progress, but … break’s over!
We started this next four-week session off with a bang; the Houston Children’s Museum had their homeschool day on Monday. We’ve only ever been once before, and the boys were really little. It’s undergone extensive renovations since we’ve been! I’ve read about them, and heard other people’s tales, and now we have finally gotten to inspect the edutainment goodness for ourselves!
This is PeaGreen back in 2005. He really liked the Mexican Village section. It was one of the first areas that you saw in the old layout. Apparently, it’s still one of his favorites, because he spent quite a bit of time in the newer village area, too. They’ve updated and enlarged it with a school, a cobbler’s shop, a huge fountain, a little mini-bus taxi and a touring bus. It was one of the last things we saw downstairs - the layout is very twisty-turny, which is fun, but makes it so that it’s easy to miss things if you’re not paying attention.
LBB was all about the science this time. They have a mini-lab set up in one section, complete with lab coats and eye protection for the kids with several stations set up for them to ‘work’ at. East station had a concept and lesson with an experiment to do that illustrated the concept - very fun! He very much enjoyed playing the role of ‘mad scientist’ and disappeared a couple of times. I found him both times back in his ‘secret lab’.
That was kind of interesting to me; I would have expected them to be interested in the opposite thing;
PeaGreen is all about the lab and creating things, and LBB is usually more interested in simulated life… they’re full of surprises!
We briefly visited the Kidtropolis city; it’s a kid-sized ‘real world’ where they can visit businesses and service industries and ‘work’ (do assignments for a paycheck, which they can then cash at the bank and go shopping in other areas. It looked really neat, but it was very crowded, so we browsed with the intent of coming back some other time to really sink into that experience.
As much as they enjoyed inside, the hit of the day was, by far, the Flow Works outside – a huge system of water tanks with every possible water ‘thing’ you can imagine or want to play with – rivers that flood, canal locks, several types of dams, plumbing and running pipes, water cannons, boat races, water wheels… they spent most of the afternoon building and playing and learning – I really couldn’t have asked for a better day.
We did miss our friends; it was supposed to be a group trip, but only a couple of other families in our homeschool group were able to make it. It was really nice just to spend the day with ‘only’ my kids. We’re always in groups – which are always fun – but it’s nice to be able to really let the kids follow their own time-table and sink into a game or idea or activity instead of being moved along at touring speed through a museum.
A few more pictures from the museum:
Always with the non-stop, action packed adventure that is our life; today was our homeschool group’s field trip (we go every Tuesday). This week is Fire Safety Week, so we had a tour of our local fire museum and talked about fire prevention.
The fire museum here has a great education department. Since the museum is in what was a working fire station, there are bunks upstairs and fire poles that come down to the main floor – the kids always learn something when we’re there. They have a mini-house set up so the kids can practice calling 911 and fire drills and climbing out of windows; it’s pretty extensive, and really kid-friendly.
We would have park pictures from this afternoon, but LBB banged his head on the car getting in after the museum tour, so we decided to come home instead – which worked out well, because it was beautiful outside and I got to do some fall crafting while the kids whiled the afternoon away doing boy-things. I made lavender/orange peel incense pellets (with the honey method), cedar/pine/rosemary/magnolia smudge sticks and finally finished a broom-making craft with driftwood I found on the beach a few weeks ago. The magnolia/pine smudge sticks smell exactly life fall. They’re easy to make and everything is already dried – pine needles and magnolia leaves are ALL over our yard – just wrap and burn! Here are the other smudge sticks hanging to dry:
Tomorrow and the rest of the week, we’ll be putting our noses back to the grindstone. I’ve updated our workbox system and am still figuring out how the chore chart will be worked in, but expect pictures and details soon.
Warmly,
~h
NBTS Blog Hop – Student Photo Week
Once again, we’re participating in the Not Back to School Blog Hop over at Heart of the Matter. This week, it’s student photos!
Even though our school year ‘officially’ starts in January, it’s really hard not to get caught up in the excitement of ‘back to school’ around this time of the year. We stock up on school supplies (OMG, SALES!!!) and clothes and take their ‘official’ school year picture.
Since my kids started Kindergarten in school-school, their picture each year was always taken in the fall. I have one of those big Kindergarten though Graduation progressive picture frames for each of the boys and so to stay consistent, I take their ‘grade’ pictures around back-to-school season so that the pictures are about a year apart. I always wanted one of those frames and now, having one for the boys, I love seeing how much they change from year to year.
I’m not obsessive about haircuts and uniforms the way I was when they were in school, so even though we have head-shots, they’re not as tailored and ‘posed’; artificial, like they were in school. I think my kids are super cute always, but so far, I think I like their homeschool ‘school’ pictures better.
Technical info: I try to take their pictures outside; natural light and all that, then I edit in Picasa and add the text. I am a font-freak and downloaded that one from DaFont.com.
I also update their school ID cards each year. I think it’s helpful to have something ‘official’ for the kids. We haven’t ever been bothered with questions that are invasive, but I like to be prepared.
On the fronts of the cards, I have spaces for their names, grade, and birthdate as well as my name and phone numbers and our homeschool group affiliation. I used a template at Homeschool Oasis. If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, there is a downloadable MSWord.doc that has samples of all the card templates she offers. I used the ‘Card E’ layout and added more stuff into the card – our homeschool crest, our city’s flag and the state flag, and you can’t see it, but I added our homeschool group’s logo and name. I did not sign the front of the card because I have the back signed.
On the backs of the cards, I have a signed medical information, emergency medical release and emergency contact information, as well as a notice that they’re exempt from the daytime curfew in our city.
There’s also discussion on a list I am on about daytime curfews so I thought I’d share my ‘solution’. We do have one in our city, and though I oppose the ordinance, it passed with flying colors a few years ago. According to the state law though, we’re exempt. It’s not actually spelled out in so many words, but if we were accosted, I think my interpretation would hold up. One exemption is in the event that a minor child is with a parent or other appointed guardian. My kids are nearly always with me, and when they’re not, they’re with someone I trust, so them being out and about alone is a moot point. The reason I claim ‘exempt’ is because in TX, homeschoolers are considered private schools, and as such are exempt from compulsory school attendance laws. In any case, I updated their ID cards this year with the city ordinance and state statute that grants their exemption from daytime curfews.
I also made an educator ID card for myself, and I have both of the boys’ names on my card and their grade and the homeschool group affiliation. I put my homeschool group membership card on the back of my educator ID card. Our homeschool group operates on more of a traditional schedule (Aug/Sept through May/June) and we (parents) have group ID cards for discounts at places like Joann’s, Michael’s , Barnes & Noble and more. Once the cards have been updated for the new school year, I print them and then have them laminated at the print shop.
Do you use a homeschool ID card? Post your favorite resources, or links to your blog if you feel like sharing yours!
Warmly,
~h
Ancient Egypt and Bubble Day at the Library
This year’s theme for our Summer Reading Club is ‘Dig up a Good Book’. The libraries here go to great lengths to put on good shows, and so far, we’ve been impressed with their efforts. Some of the libraries here have attached meeting rooms, and some have community rooms next door. It’s nice when the programs are in larger spaces since these events usually draw a crowd.
This week, the kids got to explore some ancient Egyptian activities with our very favorite Librarienne Extraordinnaire, Ms. Robin. She brought out a bunch of books on Egypt and had the kids sit down with a page of riddles in hieroglyphs and a translation chart. The boys did better than I expected them to; in fact, all the activities that they did that day, they worked diligently on.
This may be a bit of a mama-brag, so bear with me for a minute, but as a homeschooling mom, it’s rare to get what seems like ‘real’ feedback on how your kids are doing. You know how much effort you put into working with them and going over material, but it’s hard, at least for me sometimes, to really know for sure how much they’re ‘getting’ from it. So when they answer questions in groups like this one, it’s really reassuring to me to know that they are paying attention and that wheat we go over does, indeed, sink it. Ms. Robin asked about the Nile river, and the boys were able to answer questions about it. We’ve been covering China for the last couple of weeks, so granted, PeaGreen mixed up the Yellow River and the Nile when he answered (he said rice when she was asking about their crops), but he did get the flooding and dam-building parts right… so color me impressed.
After the riddles, she divided the kids up into teams of three and had two wrap the third member of the team in two rolls of toilet paper to simulate a mummy. That was fun; the boys’ team even added a cardboard tube on LBB’s chin to simulate the beard that is found on a lot of death masks. Of course, busting out of the paper – and the incredible mess that made – was the most enjoyable part of that activity.
The kids all settled righ back down though and started working on plaster carvings. Ms. Robin gave them all small squares of plaster and had them use the hieroglyph chart to draw out their names or whatever design they wanted, then trace them onto their plaster blocks, then carve the designs out with toothpicks. Then they used paint to define the cravings. The kids really enjoyed making their blocks and even asked to take a second block home.
The next day was Bubble Day, sponsored by the Energy Museum of SETX. They had 10 stations set up for the kids to see and try out different properties of bubbles. Some were niftier than others, and we ended up skipping some of them due to the crowd, but the kids had a great time.
After the bubbles, we went over to the library to sign up for a drawing class that they’re putting on all next week, then we checked out a few books on China to complete the lapbook we’re working on for history.
Next week: NASA fun!
Warmly,
~h
Happy Texas Independence Day!
I’ve made an effort this year to plan for speical events this year. By ‘special’, I mean things that are outside of our normal curriculum. Today, March 2nd, is Texas Independence Day, and certainly qualifies as a ‘special event’ day. To celebrate, our homeschool group planned a trip out to the San Jacinto Monument Museum in La Porte, TX. We’d oriuginally planned on a picnic lunch and tour of the museum, but I think we failed to take into acount the camping trip that we just got back from on Sunday and the need for recovery from said vacation, so everyone bailed (the lazy bums).
Adventurers that we are, I decided to take the boys and go anyway, and since it was just the three of us, we decided to go ahead and visit the Battleship TEXAS as well. I got the boys patches for their adventure vests for both the monument and the ship, and we also picked up a Passport to Texas History for the three if us. If you collect all the stamps from the historic sites in the Texas Revolution, then you’ll get a free gift from the Texas Independence Trail Region. Not just for homeschoolers, this is a really interesting way to bring history to life. I don’t know if we’ll get all of the stamps by December, but we’ll give it a good shot.
Inside, we toured the ground floor and then went into the theater to watch a film that went over the timeline and details of the Revolution. We’d gone over much of the information already while making our Texas Independence Day Lapbook. I found a short video from 2009 that hits the highlights on YouTube, but it was nice to have the facts reinforced, and portraits of some of the key players. The film also used many of the paintings that are hanging in the museum, so having an explanation and context was helpful.
After the film, we went up to the observation deck.
Normally, there’s a reflection pool in this shot, but I guess there’ having some drainage issues, so the pool is underwater at the moment. You can see the Battleship TEXAS in the distance (the big black ship, top, right); that was our next stop.
I’m claustrophobic and always shudder at the thoughts of being on a submarine – ships like that seemed only a step up, but I was surprised at how much room there was in the belly of the ship. They have almost the whole ship opened up so that you can go up and in and down and around to pretty much everywhere. We toured the bottom two decks - those are some STEEP staircases! – and I even braved the heights so that PeaGreen could get a good look off the towers (LBB sensibly kept his booted feet on the main deck).
It’s been a really long time since I’ve taken just my boys out for a field trip. I’m amazed at how many questions they asked. I think the group setting is distracting – they get so wrapped up in seeing what everyone else is looking at that they can’t focus on what they are looking at. Not that we don’t absolutely adore our group-y friends and have a great time on group trips, but this – being able to focus only on my own two kids – was nice. We may have to go off exploring on our own more often!
Warmly,
~h
I wanted to close with this picture (because it – and the story behind it - is awesome):
and found the ‘Flags of the Revolution‘. My kids are in bed already, but we’re going to go over this tomorrow. I just love the internet, don’t you? ~h
Sunrise on the Beach
I took the kids out to SFK’s house to watch the eclipse on Monday night. We brought the kids’ bikes and sleeping bags with the intent of making a night of it, slumber party style. The kids roamed the neighborhood with bikes and flashlights (and I was happy to see that ours were not the only heathen children out and about at all hours, despite it being a ‘work night’) while we moms basked under the full moon, then we piled them all into cars and went down to the beach at midnight.
We unloaded the kids and a bunch of blankets and watched the earth’s shadow creep across the moon. It was absolutely magical – at least, it was until the kids started griping about being cold (and I admit, it was pretty windy, so sand was a factor as well), then piled back into cars and went back home. We actually had pretty good visibility; a few clouds here and there but overall we had a clear view while we were on the beach. Once we got back home though, the clouds had rolled in and we missed everything but the occasional glimpse of the red moon.
We put the kids down in sleeping bags in front of a movie at about 2:45AM, then we moms even sacked out about 3, with plans to rouse everyone at 6 to go greet the sun on the beach, however when it came time to get up, most of the kids were beyond waking, so the boys and I went by ourselves.
We drove out to the beach again and parked facing east. Sunrise was at 7:08AM, and we got there just in time. Unfortunately, it was very, very cloudy and I was afraid that we would miss it. But we waited, and as the sun came up we could see the colors change behind the clouds. There seemed to be a strip of cloud-free sky just above the horizon, and as we waited we caught the first glimpse of the new-born sun! It was so still and quiet and peaceful. we watched the sun climb over the clouds and then headed back to SFK’s for breakfast. What a great night!
Warmly,
~h
First Camping Trip!
Well, we made it… there and back again, safe and sound. In a possibly not-well-thought out, last minute plan, we (myself, SFK & PB&JMom) decided to take our heathen crew camping for 3 days/2 nights without the dads.
We all three endured much weeping and gnashing of teeth during the entire first half of the week over the fact that we were not scheduled to leave until Thursday. I must have listened to PeaGreen ask for ‘clarification’ on his dates (his words, not mine) at least 30 times.
My family used to go camping alsmot every weekend. My dad was an avid outdoorsman, so we were roughneck camping in the winter at the hunting lease, and on the lake in the summer (for fishing, skiing and other outdoors-y fun). My kids’ only experience with camping has thus far been in an emergency refugee from a hurricane situation. Loverly Husband and I did not enjoy that, but I guess to babies who barely remember it, it may have been fun…
This was much better all around.
We reserved two screened shelters (we opted FOR water and power) and brought tents as well. With 3 moms and 8 children, we needed the space to spread out. My kids each have their own tents – a bee and an elephant – that I found at Target when they were babes. We never expected that they’d see ‘real’ camping, but the elephant tent is well and truly indoctrinated into camping life by this point! LittleBoyBlue is a mama’s boy through and through, opting to sleep in the big tent with me, while PeaGreen and PuddleJumper shared the elephant tent. There were many complaints from our fellow campers about the noise level from that elephant in the wee hours of the morning… They had a most excellent time though, so it’s hard to complain too much!
Once we got set up, PB&JMom took the kids to the swimming hole while SFK and I finished setting up and got the grill going. We had hobo packs for dinner and let the kids roast marshmallows over the grill. There was a fire ban in effect, so we didn’t get to have a nice big fire, but it was mostly acceptable. I’d have preferred a real fire, but the fines are heavy, so we opted for rule-obeying and safety.
Day 2 began early, as mentioned before, with noise from the elephant tent. We had breakfast and coffee, then the moms and I had some AM meditation and yoga-ish stretching before heading off for a long hike.
For the afternoons, we lunched, then headed out to the Nature Center with Ranger Stephanie, then biked through the Forest Trail. We should have done the Texas Nature Challenge mission that went with this park, but we were having too much fun elsewhere to focus overmuch on that. We’ll just have to go again in the future {wink}.
Saturday was a pretty relaxing morning with not much on the agenda. We all were pretty pooped by this point and decided to pack it in relatively early. I got home around 3PM Saturday and slept in Sunday in preparation for today’s ‘back to the grind’. We started M7 in truth today (the last 2 weeks have been a mish-mash of school and break) and are looking forward to getting back into our groove.
As a final note, I would like to say how much I enjoyed this weekend. For a spur of the moment plan, it worked out well, and I look forward to doing it again soon! You can read about PB&JMom and SFK’s account of this weekend on their blogs, Enlightened Life & The Adventures of a Domesticated Woman.
Warmly,
~h
Field Trip Kit
After our trip out to the wildlife refuge last week, it came to my attention that we were lacking some necessary supplies. After some discussion with the other moms, we decided that we should all probably make up a field trip box to keep in the backs of our vans so that come what may, we’re prepared and ready to hand the kids what they need to make the most of any learning opportunity.
I already keep a first aid kit in the car, and bug spray and sunscreen (through we often forget to take advantage of having them on-hand). I have 2 boys, so the first aid kit gets frequent use – I am sure I need to replenish its contents by now.
After some consideration, as much as I’d love to say that a backpack would work, I think that a bin might work better for us. I have a bunch of rubbermaid 18(ish) gallon containers used for various purposes in our home- they have them on sale at Target after holidays for SUPER cheap – I think one of these might work best for us.
I’m including:
- binoculars
- pencils/colored pencils
- notebook paper & clipboards
- towels
- sunscreen
- bug spray
- specimen bags
- paper bags
- magnifying glass
- our letterboxing kits
- extra clothes for me and the kids
- baby wipes
- hand sanitizer
- field guides (birds/plants – I still have to buy some more of these) and park guides
- craft sticks (for poking or picking things up that one doesn’t want to touch)
- maps
- string/rope
I’m sure I’ll be adding things to the box – I’ll come back and update this post when I do. So what’s going in your box?
Warmly,
~h
Play Attention!
There is something about the beginning of a new month that makes me very happy and optimistic. I have to enjoy this kind of mood when it strikes because it never lasts long and is quite outside my usual nature.
But today, the first of September (isn’t that a Dr. Seuss book – nah, that’s Octember. Anyway…) has been a lovely day in so many ways!
One of the doors on my minivan has had a broken hinge and it’s been a complete PITA to try to get it fixed. Now, almost 2 weeks after the original ‘take it in to the shop for a look-see’, I have my van with both doors in complete working order. When they were checking it out, they caught one of the side panels on a lift and tore it off, so they’re replacing it – it’s actually in and they’re matching the paint, so that’s nearly done as well. Yay!
We spent most of the morning in their very nice waiting room doing school work. They had a table so we could spread out a bit and a train table that the boys were motivated to play with enough to finish both math and handwriting fairly quickly. While they were playing, we did our grammar/LA lesson (nouns, proper, singular & plural review). I asked the same question a couple of times and tried to tell them to pay attention, but I mis-spoke and say ‘play attention’. They thought that was super funny. After some discussion, we decided that it was rather appropriate since they were playing while we did the lesson orally, and so that became the phrase of the day.
We hit the library to stock up on books for the next week’s lessons, and to see if they had anything on the coastal marshes ecosystems, and they did so we snagged those since we have a field trip with our homeschool group tomorrow to the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. We’re doing the Houston Wilderness Passport program, and trying to visit all of the eco-regions in Southeast Texas, and we’ll get our ‘coastal marshes‘ sticker tomorrow. The boys have their Big Thicket and Other Places stickers (two each of those, actually). Yay!
After the library, we went next door to the park, which was delightfully deserted (have I mentioned how much I enjoy school being ‘in session’ – the parks and libraries are EMPTY – it’s SO nice!!), and the boys got to run around for a bit. They found some little mushrooms growing in the mulch, which led to a discussion and some YouTube surfing for time-lapse mushroom growing. I didn’t think about there being ‘magic mushrooms’ on there, but there were. We skipped over those lest Mommy have some ‘splaining to do… (Mommy, what’s a ‘head shop?’)…
I have to say that I’m super proud of my kiddos. Their first inclination when they found the mushrooms was to take pictures of them and go home and look them up. I’m so glad to see this excitement for learning in them.
After the mushroom madness sidetrack, we read over some of the books we found on marshes and found some of the native plants that we may see tomorrow. Of course, the most interesting by far were the carnivorous plants (venus fly trap and pitcher plant), so we YouTube’d some more and learned all about how they trap food.
And, the icing on my cake – September means that I get to have a new folder for pictures. Yay! I keep my picture files organized by year, then by month and special event. It always makes me happy to have a new folder to fill with pictures.
Warmly,
~h
Exploring…
Since my Loverly Husband is off this week, we’re spending the last of the week and weekend with my brother and sister-in-law in Jasper, TX. It’s a small town, and there are aspects of small town life that I envy. The availability of things within walking distance, for example. They have this bridge and park that is near their house that runs through town, and along the track is the library, the police station, a couple of play structures… it’s all so close. I would love to live in a place where everything was so accessible.
We took the kids out for a walk yesterday afternoon…
Today, the kids are in the splash pool outside. Tomorrow, we’re going to the lake. I love long weekends like this!
Warmly,
~h
Not All Fun and Games
We had a really crappy morning in school today. I don’t know why this surprises me. It happens every time we start back with desk work after a break. Yesterday was the more or less ‘official’ start of M5. We’re actually running about a week behind. That’s okay though; one of the supreme advantages of homeschooling is that it’s flexible enough to take breaks when you need them. PeaGreen’s birthday and ensuing celebratory activities, combined with the constant go-go-go of Summer Activities over the past few weeks, have us all drained. We needed a bit of an extended break, so we took one. That’s all well and good, but for some reason going from ‘break’ back to ‘routine’ is excruciatingly painful. Especially the first few days. It’s like running around trying to catch all of the raindrops from one storm in a cup – you’re constantly moving but making little progress.
Then there are the mulishly stubborn offspring to factor in.
Let’s hear it for the child who can take something as simple as 2 + 2 and come up with EVERY ANSWER BUT 4 and insist – insist – that 9,276 is a viable option. We spent almost an hour solving this riddle: ’I begin with /ch/. I rhyme with lamp. I am another word for winner. What am I?’ Keep in mind that his spelling words this week ALL begin with /sh/. His grammar for today was a worksheet focusing on the /sh/ and /ch/ sounds. His favorite song in the world is ‘We Are The CHAMPions’ by Queen…. suffice it to say that the boy KNEW the answer and was flat out REFUSING to say it. He danced all around it. ‘Tramp’ ‘camp’ were two offerings that stand out in particular as taunting Mom instead of just finishing it. We ended up putting it all on the chalkboard and he was left with no option but to write ‘champ’. Then he finished the last 2 riddles with virtually no problem.
I recounted this story to my BFF & SFK (both of whom came to a potluck/swim day event at our house this afternoon) and got the expected chuckles at my frustration… BFF asked PeaGreen why he wanted to torment Mom like that, and his response was his standard, “That’s the way how I roll” with a big fat grin. Who would’ve thought that a 7-year-old child could be that diabolical? It positively staggers the mind. It’s impressive when you’re removed from the situation, really. That he could hold out for that long on his little tangent before finally tiring of the game and deciding to finish up so he could go play with his friends says a lot for his future as a lawyer.
Then there’s the other one… 8 years old and already a champion procrastinator. If he applied one tenth of the effort that he put into avoiding doing his work into actually finishing it, he’d be the speediest student in history. His spelling assignment today was a cryptogram style worksheet where you have to figure out which number = which letter, then fill in the blanks with the right letters to match the numbers. It wasn’t difficult, just time-consuming. He piddled. He fidgeted. He went to the bathroom. He sharpened his pencil. He got the cat out of his basket (on his desk where we store school books). He got a drink of water from his water bottle and dropped the cap. It took 10 minutes to find it and four other things under his desk. He added a letter. The repeated the process. Frustrating!! We won’t talk about the language arts lesson. We just won’t.
I honestly don’t know what to do on days like this – where it’s just a battle of wills that apparently must (for some reason) occur in order to settle back into the daily grind. If we had not just had a 2 week break with zero schoolwork of any kind, I’d have just scratched school for today. The most annoying part about this is that normal tactics of logic and sympathy just don’t work. If they did, then I could simply empathize that yeah, it sucks to go from carefree playtime to recalling how math works, but we want to learn things and to some extent, this is how we do that*. But no matter what logic you throw at them, no matter how much you sympathize, they won’t have any of it.
Once I’m out of my funk and irritation, looking back I can pick out the parts of the scenario that I would admire if it involved another adult. My kids are tenacious and goal oriented – they know what they want (in this case, not to do school work) and are willing to go the extra mile to accomplish it. They do know when their rock meets a hard place and understand that sometimes giving in is the best course of action. I can never say that they didn’t give it their all – they tried everything they could think of to get out of doing work today. I’m not sure what lesson we all learned today (and I’m sure we’ll repeat this scenario again…) but I do know that I need to figure out how to work smarter, not harder – I need to brainstorm on how to motivate them better.
Oddly, I don’t get a lot of protesting with the actual work once they get past the mental block that they throw up when we start a new mod. I kind of wonder if the farther we settle into homeschooling the smaller these kinds of hurdles will be. With PeaGreen, especially, it seems like if we go even a day without reading something, he slips back into such a negative head space with reading that it’s really hard to pull him out of it. Even with as crappy as this morning was, we managed to overcome that negativity relatively quickly and move on to actually sounding out the letters and reading the words (instead of seeing a mass of words and freaking out because there are so many). LittleBoyBlue, once he realized that I was not, in fact, kidding about tacking on extra writing if he didn’t get on the ball, actually finished his work with a fairly decent attitude. It took a while, but they both completed the assignments given to them and we were able to visit with our friends and carry on with the afternoon with basically no conflict.
If we hold true to form, tomorrow will be awesome. Actually, this afternoon as pretty great. We had friends over to swim and managed an impressive 3 hours in the pool. The kids played well together (all 9 of them!) and we three moms got to chat for a bit without having to regulate too many kid disagreements. When we came back inside we pulled the watermelon that we popped in the freezer before we went out and had frozen watermelon slices – so yummy!
Incredibly, it didn’t seem like that many kids when we had them all running around.
‘This, too, shall pass‘ is an often tossed out phrase among the mothering groups and forums I frequent. When you think about it, that’s a phrase that almost never has anything good come from it. If things are bad, then you’re repeating it over and over again while simultaneously looking for solutions and strategies that work better than whatever you’re doing right now that isn’t working. When things are good, that phrase is a reminder that the days are slipping by quickly and to hold on to that moment.
As I write this, my kids are gone. When my sister came to pick up Fred to go home, the boys managed to get permission to spend the night over there since Fred’s coming back here in the morning. Loverly Husband and I have spent the evening in near silence, just reveling in the quiet. Strangely enough, I actually miss them. As awful as this morning was and much as I need the break, and though I am supremely grateful to my sister for taking the kids off my hands for the evening, I am very much looking forward to tomorrow’s lessons and a fresh start.
We’re headed to my other sister’s house in Jasper tomorrow, so we’re planning a little car-schooling. I’ll print out some of their work and we’ll take workbooks for the drive. We’re planning on hitting Martin Dies Jr. State Park either tomorrow or Friday for the TX Nature Challenge mission there. It’s been a while since we’ve done one so this should be fun. Or we might just laze around the house. Plans are in the ‘as yet undetermined’ state at this juncture.
Warmly,
~h
*No method debates here, please – we’re working hard to integrate three distinct learning styles here and to some extent, desk work will always play a part in our homeschooling. When I say ‘desk work’ it’s not necessarily ‘working at a desk’. I use that term to describe anything that is from a workbook, worksheets and assignments with lots of handwriting or written demonstration of lessons learned. Some homeschoolers opt not to keep track of progress with written work, others do. I choose to keep track this way for my own peace of mind, to show their dad and as a CYA-type thing if we ever get called to the carpet to prove what we’ve been doing with the kids’ education. Texas is easy to homeschool in now but it may not always be that way. Plus, even though writing may be drifting towards obsolete as technology becomes more and more integrated into daily life, that also may change one day. Just because we type more than we write doesn’t mean that writing shouldn’t be an integral part of education. My kids do an actual handwriting/penmanship lesson in addition to journaling and the written portions of whatever lesson we’re doing that requires writing. Boys, especially, seem to have a harder time with writing assignments so I try to keep writing assignments short, sweet and pretty narrowly focused. But however much they protest, write they most certainly will.
Magical Monday
Monday is generally not my favorite day of the week, but as Mondays go, this one started out much better than anticipated. We got up pretty early – our plans would keep us out for most of the morning, so I wanted some time to check my email and stuff before we left. Okay, I confess, the real reason was because I created a Facebook page for my blog since all the cool kids were doing it for theirs (and if you haven’t yet, you should totally “like” it and subscribe to my blog – go ahead! There’s a box in the sidebar!!) and wanted to see who my ‘real’ friends are… {shame} yes, my vanity knows no bounds. {/shame}
Moving on…
The McFaddin Ward House is a former private residence turned museum that has really impressed me with their offerings of kid-friendly activity this summer. I don’t know if I just never saw any of their summer programs or if the inclusion of kids in the activity lineup is something new – whatever the case, they’ve had some really interesting and educational offerings that we have taken full advantage of in the past few weeks. There are still several things happening this Summer and Fall that we’re going to do, including a day-camp for kids 8-12 that explores life in the 1940′s. If you’re local to Southeast Texas, I’d recommend bookmarking their site and checking back in the Spring to see what they have planned for next Summer. I heard something about the theme being ‘behind the curtain’, dealing with seeing how the servants contributed to the household and featuring Mary Poppins… definitely something fun to plan on.
This week’s feature was a screening of Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks. We’ve been reading the books by Mary Norton with the intention of finishing them before the movie, but time got away from us so our discussion on the differences between the original story and the adaptation will have to wait. I’d never been to the Visitor’s Center – in fact, had never realized that the McFaddin-Ward Complex was so big. Spanning 2 full city blocks, with at least 5 buildings, it’s quite a large estate for being in the middle of downtown. It took us a couple of tries to get to the right spot, but when we got there we were greeted warmly and ushered right into the screening room. We were a wee bit late, so the movie was already started by the time we got there. The kids settled in and I went to sign in; when I did, one of the ladies said that I could pick the kids up at 12:15…
I have a mini-rant here. I don’t see the value in drop-offs that are only an hour or two. Maybe I’m crazy, but the point of summer ‘stuff to do’ from my perspective is so that we can do them together. It bugs me that moms with little kids – oh, they weren’t babies or anything; probably around the same ages as my kids – but it bothers me that the mom can’t even take a couple of hours out of her busy schedule to stay and watch a movie with them. Not only that, but who leaves their kids with strangers?? Not that the ladies that work and volunteer with MFW are suspect or anything, but your kids don’t know them, and they don’t really know your kids. It’s such a common practice here. Almost everything is a ‘drop off’ event. I don’t usually leave my kids and am always either the only parent, or one of a couple… it’s quite odd to me. Whatever. As my mom says, “You screw your kids up your way, and I’ll screw my kids up my way.”
In any case, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen the movie, and I’d forgotten how many educational discussion opportunities are brought up in such a relatively short time span.
The kids even got to be in the “Seen” section of a local paper:
“Bedknobs and Broomsticks” at the McFaddin-Ward House Visitor Center
The children in the film were evacuated from London during the Blitz bombings during World War II. As a homeschooling parent, if you can’t find at least 3 points of discussion in that sentence, then shame on you! We talked about children being orphaned, foster families and adoption (social studies), WWII & The Blitz (history) and where London and England are (geography).
It rained again today, ruining our plans to hit the post office to send out our next Postcrossing cards, so we came back home with the intent of furthering the English flair our day had taken on (after all, Professor Brown does talk about doing things ‘with flair’ in the film) with a lunch of Bangers and Mash, Texas style. We had sliced jalapeño sausage links and loaded mashed potatoes with apples and oranges. We’re Southern, and it’s deep into Summertime here, so we replaced hot tea with sweet tea over ice, naturally.
We also had to read about why plain old sausages are called ‘bangers’…apparently, the sausages made during WWII rationing had a tendency to explode when cooked on high heat, hence ‘bangers’. ‘Mash’ was easy – they’re mashed potatoes.
After lunch, we threw in a couple of quick science experiments – ‘acid egg bath’ and ‘sparkling star dip’ from Super Science Concoctions. I know I said it before, but seriously – if you’re homeschooling, this is a ‘must have’ book! The acid egg bath is basically a hard-boiled egg in vinegar for a few hours. Fred read the directions while I washed dishes and though she swears that she did say “hard-boiled egg’, I don’t remember hearing that part – so the kids will have a different result than the one explained in the book. We’ve been working under the assertion that ‘In Science, there are no experiments that are done “wrong”. If the experiment yields data, then it was a success.” Tomorrow, before we leave, we’ll put a hard-boiled egg in vinegar to process and compare the two when we get home.
The star dip solution is just Borax dissolved into boiling water until the water is super-saturated, then you suspend a pipe cleaner shape in a jar filled with the solution. As it cools, the Borax will crystallize on the pipe cleaners. I’m excited about seeing the results of this one in the morning!
It’s really rewarding that as we’ve checked the progress of these experiments this afternoon and evening, the kids have all asked intelligent questions and made good observations. I know that it probably has nothing to do with ‘me’, per se, but having them really be mentally present as we’re doing things like makes me feel like we’re doing something ‘right’. That’s a huge boost to my confidence that, “I can do this. I AM doing this!”
After our mad scientist phase wore off, we got to play White Knight to my friend SFK’s Damsel in Distress. She found an awesome slate chalkboard that someone was getting rid of and sent out a distress call for assistance wrestling the great behemoth into the back of her truck. The size of this monstrosity was evidently misrepresented. However much of a pain it was for two delicate flowers such as we to move, it’s a total homeschooling score and if I wasn’t sporting lovely slate chalk boards of my own, I would have been completely jealous (though hers is a lovely gray that I like better than the tan/brown color of my own…).
Since we were out and about again, we did end up hitting the post office after all and got cards off to Pittsburgh, PA and China (more geography). We did get our first postcard in the mail this past week – from Miami. The card was a Disney Villains card, and it came from a teacher. Since beginning Postcrossing, I find that we are in need of a good-sized world map that we can tack up on the wall. That’s definitely in my shopping plans for next week.
All in all, I’d say that today was a fantabulous start to our week! Tomorrow’s plans include a movie with no educational value whatsoever, the library and possibly a cameo on a locally filmed television show. Stay tuned!
Warmly,
~h
PSA: Get Out There and Support Your Roller Girls!
As a woman, have you ever thought about joining a team sport? I know I certainly had not… at least until our ‘family skate night’ started getting all these chicks in black fish-nets and hot pants showing up. I knew they were my kinda girls – and lo and behold, they were derby girls! I tried it, and ultimately it’s not for me to play, but I LOVE seeing my sister play! My sister is a roller girl – she’s a jammer for the Spindletop Rollergirls and she is amazing.
There are a lot of misconceptions about roller derby – that it’s violent or dangerous, or that it’s not a kid-friendly environment or that it’s a ‘rough crowd’. While there certainly may be elements of that in some areas, it’s not a dynamic that I’ve seen – and certainly it’s less violent than other team sports! The people who love roller derby are there to support the athletes and enjoy the game – just like any other sporting event. And since many of them are completely normal in every way – some have children with them, even babies – they’re polite and friendly and kind, just as you would expect.
The women who play roller derby are not who you think they are, either. Sure, they may be tattooed or have hair that’s dyed a funky color and names that might scare you off, but once you strip away the Roller Girl Persona, you’ll find moms, lawyers, housewives, entrepreneurs, teachers – women you see at the bank or the grocery store – or your kids’ school! Watching these women on and off the track is a pleasure – you can see how hard they’ve worked to become a single unit with every interaction between team mates. That camaraderie and confidence has to carry over into other areas of their lives. How Roller Derby Can Save Your Life is an article that talks about the seldom-seen from the outside benefits of being on a team, and it’s what made me want to write this post. Women often think that sports are ‘not for them’, and derby is helping to change that. It’s a cool think to see!
Think roller derby is not for kids? Think again! Every game we’ve been to has had a ton of kids there. Roller derby isn’t such a formal game that the kids are banished to seats, sitting still for hours on end. It’s a fast-paced game with lots of people standing up and hollering and cheering. There is usually a lot of space for kids who are more active, so they can get up and play – even running around is fine. Encourage your kidlet to pick a favorite team member – make posters and yell her name. She’ll be flattered to see her name glittering in the team’s colors. And if you’re homeschooling, there’s a math lesson to be had in the counting and points system, as well as an opportunity to talk about pack behavior (tie that to wolves) and team sportsmanship.
Ever thought about playing roller derby? First of all, throw out your preconceived notions. Roller derby is a sport, first and foremost. These women are athletes – they train hard, they play hard. But they do it with safety in mind. That’s not to say that injuries don’t occur (just ask Ruby Ridikule, whom we wish the very speediest of recoveries…), but then you get nifty things like titanium rods inserted so you’ll never break that leg again! Just like any sport, there is an element of risk – but what’s life without a little bit of terror thrown in to keep you on your toes? Ask any roller girl why she does it and she’ll probably mention something about skating being cheaper than therapy. That was mentioned in the article and I know that’s true because I’ve actually heard other roller girls say something along those lines. Aside from getting into shape – and I’ve watched several of these women shape their bodies and get toned and fit over the last year and a half – it’s also a great way for “me time”. There are also opportunities for you to get your family involved in your sport. My sister’s husband and daughter often train with her in both team-planned and free time sessions – biking, outdoor skating, running – it’s a great way for families to get some exercise together, too.
If you’d like to give it a try, pick up your gear – you’ll need skates (you need derby skates, not roller-rink skates), knee and elbow pads, mouth guard and helmet:
and head out to Manning’s Roller Rink on College and give the Recreational League a try. They do have a couple of sets of borrow-able gear, but if you want those, come early!! The Rec League meets every Sunday at 8PM and it’s $7.00 per person (must be 18). If you’re not in this area, then check your local roller rinks and see if there’s a derby league in your area.
If playing isn’t for you, then commit to taking your kids out to see a game. Check here to find a League in your area. Be sure to check the Apprentice League section for newer and not-yet-listed leagues. You’ll have a great time, and so will the kids! Not sure how roller derby is played? Watch this beforehand so you know what’s going on: Roller Derby Explained . Learn more about Roller Derby at the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association website.
CBC 3-4 and Summer Reading Club
Day 3 of the CBC was all about ‘creative buzz kills’ and de-motivators – those things, both internal and external that stifle or immobilize your creativity. As I said in my journal, for me, the buzz kill is not so much a lack of creativity (as in ‘coming up with the idea’), but a true lack of talent. It’s the inability to bring what I see in my head to life on the page. I would LOVE to have the innate talent to be able to draw what I picture exactly as I see it, but without years of hard work under me, that’s probably not going to happen. If I was dead-set on being and ‘artist-e’, then that would really bum me out. As it is, I’m content to piddle with drawing and create in other ways.
The prompt for Day 3 was MULTILAYERED. The first thing that came to mind was a group shot of my two boys with my niece (who is staying with us during the week while my sister is at works this summer) all scrunched up together with smiles and hugs… similar to this, only standing and with better editing, lol:
When I do my ‘phase II’ of the CBC, I’ll try to set that shot up. For Phase I though, here’s what ultimately came out:
Yeah, ‘The Princess and the Pea’. All those mattresses. It’s more ‘cartoon-y’ than realistic, but I’m pleased with it. I’m more pleased with the floor and the window than I am with the hand – I just can NOT draw lifelike people-features for anything. Oh, well – the theme wasn’t about realism, so giant-cartoon-hand notwithstanding, I don’t think it’s all that bad – never going to hang in a museum – but not horrible.
Day 4 was about ‘inspiration’ for creative works and the theme was HEAVY METAL. Now, the first thing that came to mind for heavy metal was some punk-rock headbanger kid. Alas, I know no one who fits that bill, so I was left to ponder that topic while we went about our day.
With the arrival of summer break comes the “Reading Express” – our library system’s Summer Reading Club. They feature activities and classes all summer at the local library branches, so today we ventured out to a library across town for an art class sponsored by our local Art Museum. The kids were instructed to make a collage depicting the “Reading Express”.
Since the topic for today’s lesson was ‘heavy metal’, I thought that the train went well with it. While they were crafting, I was really itching to get my hands on some paper to draw this:
Okay, well not ‘exactly’ that – it looks much better and more realistic in my head. And more menacing, I should point out. This is quite childish in my opinion and not really what I had in mind, overall. The thing that stood out most in my mind was the big iron cattle pusher, so that’s what I wanted the piece to focus on, and I think I did that, therefore I am pleased with it. When I do Phase II, I want to try to find someone who looks the part (or dress a kid up) for this one.
We also got to have a history lesson ‘on the go’ today – again with the library’s summer program. A woman who calls herself ‘The Pioneer Lady’ came and talked to the kids about her grandmother, who came to Texas in a covered wagon. She brought all kinds of nifty things for the kids to experiment with and told quite a few stories that her grandmother told her as a girl. She’s a good story-teller and the kids had a really good time listening and participating in the things she brought for them to try.
The kids are well on their way to completing the 20 books assigned as part of the program. They can also log their time over the summer and turn it in to the Mayor’s office to get a certificate and if they’re among the ones who’ve read the most, they may win a prize.
I have been so looking forward to the time when my kids were old enough to participate in this kind of thing. Once they stared school, they were old enough (mostly), but by the time summer arrived, I was so tired of schedules and having to be somewhere with a deadline that we didn’t really feel up to participating. Now, it seems like I’m more able to put energy into this kind of thing. I’m so looking forward to our busy summer!
Warmly,
~h
A Matter of Motivation
One of the biggest challenges that I am finding in homeschooling is keeping my kids motivated. I know, I know, true motivation comes from within – but let’s face it. Who is ever going to be motivated to do 2 pages of a math workbook?
Ideally, the (I’m searching for an appropriate adjective here) thing to do would be to help my son learn the math concepts that the workbook is teaching without resorting to using the dreaded workbook, which would be fine… however. One of the things I am trying to do here is encourage working independently. I have a smart kid – I know that. I also know that I have a lazy kid; one who will always take the easy way out and if there isn’t an easy way, who will procrastinate until so much time has passed that it would be ridiculous to continue. Why can I identify these less-than-stellar traits so quickly? Because he gets it from yours truly. That’s right – good ol’ Mom handed them down – maybe those kinds of things pass through breastmilk or something – however he got them, I recognize them as faults of my own.
Am I slightly more harsh on my kiddo because I identify how those traits have negatively impacted me? Ummm… maybe. I think that’s a problem for most moms; we see exactly how whatever we used to do has hurt us in the long run and are determined that our children will benefit from our superior insight. Unfortunately, I think that a lot of those lessons are ones that people have to figure out for themselves, even our beloved offspring. It’s like learning about fire. Fire burns. It’s always hot (unless you have access to some space-age, NASA fire that for some reason burns cold, in which case STFU – I’m not talking to you) But EVERY kid will, at some point, touch the flame. Why? Even though Mom and Dad and the neighbors and his best friend have all said countless times, “Don’t touch! HOT!”, he will still reach out and try it for himself because he must. Because no amount of telling is worth the doing. And some lessons have to be learned a couple of times before they sink in.
I guess my dilemma in writing this is because it’s hard to figure out at exactly what point to stop ‘babying’ him. Sure, we could sit together on the floor all day and work on math or spelling and it would be great – but at some point, he’s got to learn how to study something or complete a task all on his own, without Mom sweeping in with reminders and cheerleading to help him complete his assignment – whatever that may be.
For now, setting a timer is working. We had a discussion yesterday (when it took 3 hours to do 40 math problems – different math problems even; it wasn’t like it was 40 subtraction with borrowing – which as you can tell is my worst nightmare) about why it took so long to finish. He came to the conclusion that knowing in advance that he had FOUR PAGES ahead of him made it seem like a mountain the he could never climb. In effect, he was mentally defeating himself before he ever got started. Knowing that he is expected to do both a spelling word search-a-word AND have to write words in his spelling list that rhyme with ‘spent’ was just too much to think about. So we agreed that in addition to the timer (which we have used to keep us on-task from the beginning), I would only assign him part of the work and when he was finished with that part, I would tell him what the next part would be, and that he would say things to himself that were encouraging, like “This is easy. I know how to do this”. Breaking his work up into smaller ‘bites’ today, and using positive affirmations has helped. He doesn’t get overwhelmed in thinking about how much there is to do.
In a way, I can relate to that. When I was younger, I remember sitting at the beginning of a math worksheet and seeing a whole page full of blank problems that I was supposed to figure out and it just seemed like SO MUCH and SO HARD. As an adult, I have learned that the only way to get through such things is to start working. Cover half the page (or all but the one I’m working on) so I don’t get distracted by the rest and do them one step at a time. As a kid though, I lacked that knowledge - that problem-solving ability and no one really helped me work through that. And I admit it – it’s hard to put myself back into the child-like frame of mind when math was the biggest problem in my life, even knowing how much it would have helped to have someone not get frustrated with me for not ‘just DOING it’ and showing me strategies to get through it… I still have trouble scaling back to that mindset.
Upon further reflection (because it takes a while to write these posts, and I’m often distracted by kids and the need to refill my coffee mug), I can liken his terror at facing an insurmountable mountain of math or spelling with planning for homeschool. I’ve heard lots of moms talk about how they ‘would’, but it’s just so overwhelming. There’s so much to consider, and so much to keep track of and so many options – where do you start? For me, it’s just like getting through math – one step at a time. Just START – start somewhere! Pick up a book and start with page 1, chapter 1. If the method is wrong, you can change it later; and who is to say it’s “wrong” anyway? It’s almost always going to be DIFFERENT, but if we’ve learned anything in the evolution of history, it is that ‘different’ does NOT equate “wrong”! Homeschooling is most definitely different from institutionalized schooling (and thank goodness for that, right?!). Your kids will learn different things, at different times – the time that is right for you and for them. Some things will be learned in ways that make more sense to your kids – I know for us, history along the timeline, in chronological order makes much more sense than learning about your city, your state, your country and then working history backwards. Your mileage may vary, but that’s the beauty of it. You can take your trip however is right for YOU.
Back to my super special little boy… his solution wouldn’t work for me. Even as a child, I don’t think that would have worked for me. I would have gotten annoyed at thinking I was done and then finding out that there’s still another page to do. But it was his solution; one that he thought of himself. The affirmations might have helped. I’m bad about psyching myself out of (or into) a problem. Maybe I should take his advice, yeah? As for long-term effectiveness, we’ll see. If we get into a few days and he starts getting frustrated, we may have to brainstorm ideas again, but still. I’m so proud of him for thinking up a solution to a problem that we’re having and being willing to implement his ideas. I’m proud of myself for slowing down and letting him thing through the problem and come up with a way to help the situation.
Now, I’m off to mix up salt dough and gather materials to complete our history/art lesson at a friend’s house and make lunch to bring with us.
Warmly,
~h
Oh, The Many Things We Do!
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been busier than usual it seems. The last time I posted about what we were actually doing, we were making our Dr. Seuss Lapbook. Since then, we’ve gone on a
zillioncouple of field trips and wrapped up our group’s science fair, made some progress in karate (including getting yours truly involved), kicked off this year’s roller derby season and started (and completed!) a few more lapbooks, all topped off with copious amounts of coffee and conversation with good friends (homeschooling and non).We have had an influx of new members into our homeschooling group and as much as I lovelovelove our core families, I absolutely adore meeting new people who think like we do. Our group is pretty eclectic, and I always try to make sure that anyone coming into our group knows that we have an amazing and diverse mix of people, ideals, philosophies and lifestyles in our group. I think that’s an awesome boon to my kids; you’d be surprised (or maybe not) how many people see that as a threat. Oh well, their loss – but the newbies in our group seem to see such diversity as a bene and are fitting in seamlessly.
Field trips over the last few weeks have been wicked fun. We celebrated Women’s History Month with a trip to our local art museum. The director of education met us with a wonderful program about female artists, including the amazing Mary McCleary, and the kids got to make a collage of their own.
Our science fair was a mix of highs and lows. Most of the participants backed out at the last minute, which sucked, but on the plus side the boys took first and second place! We had a really great time putting the boys’ projects together. PeaGreen made a solar powered desalinator, which interestingly enough, was featured on Mythbusters episode ‘Sticky SOS’ a couple of weeks after the Science Fair, and LBB’s experiment was on fingerprint patterns. We ended up running all over town to take fingerprints from willing friends and family!
We also hit the Spindletop/Gladys City Museum, which one might call the ‘birthplace’ of the Southeast Texas economy. The kids learned about oil drilling and salt domes and the history of our fair city – things they’ve learned about many times before, but seeing it all in ‘village format’ is always a new and interesting experience.
We also hit Gator Country. If you’ve ever seen the CMT show ‘Gator 911′, it’s the same place. Gator Country has been around for a long time, so we’ve been quite a few times, but seeing a bunch of gators up close and personal and being able to hold one is always fun. We made a new lapbook on ‘crocodilians’ to go with our visit. I was super proud of the boys – this was the first lapbook that is 99% their own writing. In the past, I’ve written things while they narrated, or given them small things to write; this time I gave them research papers to read and get answers from and they did it themselves.
The next week, we met up to take the kids to play glow-in-the-dark mini golf. We originally planned on ‘moms against kids’ teams, but by the fifth hole, the kids pretty much decided to goof off and the only girl in attendance decided to come play with the moms. The pictures were dark, but this is kinda what it looked like:
In addition to fantastic mini-golf fun, last week we too an impromptu trip out to Johnson’s Bayou in Cameron, LA to stroll the beach. We ended up finding tons of collectibles in the beach detritus - dolphin vertebrae, fish vertebrae and skull bones, lots of water-logged but smoothed out bits of wood (good for carving and pyrography) and everyone’s favorite: seashells.
Photo by Gretchen
We’ve also been getting plenty of exercise with karate. The boys started in January (including Loverly Husband) and I started about a month ago. It’s hard, sweaty work, but I am really enjoying it so far. The kids did their first belt test a few weeks ago and will have their belt ceremony this week.
One thing about karate; gi’s (karate uniforms) are definitely made for tall, straight, thin people – definitely not short, round people with hips and a booty. I had to get one that was about 2 sizes too big for most of me to fit my hips and then start cutting and sewing. I ended up with a still-large-but-decently-fitting gi, but wow, what a bunch of work! I had to cut about 6 inches off the sleeves and legs, and took up a seam in the waist that brought the bottom of the jacket up about 6 inches so that the waist ties were in the correct place. The shoulders still swallow me, but it’s very roomy!
Aaannnnd last but not least, we kicked off this year’s roller derby season with Spindletop Rollergirls! I’m an NSO this year, which means ‘non-skating official‘. I get to stand in the middle of the track with a clipboard and look important. I love it! I also get a nifty derby name, ‘Tricksy Stixx’, without all the worry over being graceful on skates. If you’ve never been to a derby game before, go! And take the kids! It’s a lot of fun and the women who play derby are amazing. Better yet, if you have the opportunity to play or volunteer, do that! People like to sensationalize the hard-core aspect of derby, but it truly is a sport – these women are athletes and they train – HARD – for it. They’re committed, and it’s a family affair; most of them (us) form a close bond with their ‘derby families’.
Photo by Rodney Cole
That pretty much brings up up-to-date! I have some additional updating to do; hopefully this week. I’ll add links to the new lapbooks we’ve completed and a couple we’ve started (one on rocks and minerals, one on the Titanic, and the Story of the World II that are on-going). I am also planning on updating our curriculum page for the summer months – we’re almost through this ‘grade’! The pool is also clean and as soon as the water temp rises above 60 degrees, you can expect some pool shots, too. {wink}
Oh, and our garden – wait till you see that – we have peppers!
Hope your spring is off to a running start, too!
Warmly,
~h
April 23, 2012 | Categories: All About Me, Daily Review, Day in the Life, Field Trip, History, Rambling Thoughts, Socialization | Tags: balance, commentary, Field Trip, going with the flow, homeschoolers are busy, homeschooling, raising responsible adults, school on the go, socialization | Leave A Comment »