The Colorado Adventure
I ♥ Faces – kisses
Posted by liese4 in iheart faces
Of course the theme this week at I ♥ Faces is kisses. I have the perfect picture….
More kisses here: http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/
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the weatherman was right. It started snowing yesterday, which is good, we haven’t had any snow in a month. I’d like to swim in the creek this summer – we need snow!
You know it’s cold when the mice insulate their hole in the garage. I think our snake, Gus, that lives under the porch is hibernating right now. The mice have taken advantage of that and procreated a bit. I hope Gus wakes up hungry.
Dance starts today, Hannah is excited! I changed the hours again so we will get home and have a breather before I need to take Joel to CAP, nice. Tomorrow I have a painting co-op (musical painting), I think it will be fun. Wednesday is a kids meeting at Mcd’s with our HS group, Thursday is a co-op (Teddy bear tea, which reminds me I need to fix bunny before that), Friday is a co-op about storytelling and then we’re going to CU Boulder to do some Navajo weaving.
That’s our week in a nutshell.
I’m down to only one child who stills says we’re going to a vegetable instead of festival, I’m sad.
Saturday we went to try out a place on Old Pearl street called Duffeyroll.
It claimed it had really good cinnamon rolls. Well, they had really good pecan sticky buns, but the cinnamon rolls were…..different. They weren’t bad, we just like rolls with lots of gooey icing on them, like at Cinnabon. These rolls were made out of croissant dough and had glaze dribbled on them. The glazes were good; Irish cream, Orange, English Toffee, maple, original, but they just weren’t covered in it. I liked this sign they had out though.
So, I guess if you like pecan sticky buns or croissant type rolls, this is the place to go. If you like gooey icing and bread dough, then stick with Cinnabon.
After breakfast we headed to Old town Arvada, we were a bit early so we had to wait for the merchants to set up. We grabbed a chocolate treasure hunt guide and started going into places to find clues.
In the Army surplus store the clue was ‘I’m a fuzzy reptile and I’m 50% off’, we had to search a bit before finding the Crocs on sale (get it? They are reptiles, but the shoes are furry….) We were rewarded with chocolate and went on our way. Rhinelander bakery had a clue and really good cookies.
We had to ask for our chocolate when we found the clue, I guess they didn’t want people just eating all the chocolate. We took a break from clue finding to stand in line and gobble up chocolate treats from fudge brownies, chocolate rum sauce pizza, peanut butter chocolate cheesecake and chocolate milk.
The tix were $1 and proceeds went to a local shelter, so that was good. One neat thing about the treasure hunt is that you got to go into stores to check them out. The spice shop smelled delicious and I love their fake kitchen.
The resale shop had lots of pretty necklaces, the leather shop had patterns for cutting the leather hanging up behind the counter and smelled like dried cow….ummm….the pet store had a cute puppy for adoption (hah! Just try and look cute for us, no way!) We went all the way up the street until we had only 1 more clue to find. Then we turned in our sheets and hoped they’d call for the basket of chocolate that was sitting there for anyone to win.
It was fun and bunny and baby otter came along too.
My only thought, have more chocolate.
Night flight
Posted by liese4 in flight
James needed to do a night flight so I went up with him.
We stood out in the cold pre-flighting the plane for 30 minutes, there is a whole checklist of things to do.
Then we finally got clearance to take off. The view at night was so different than the one during the day.
The streets were glittering with lights, cars and it was so cool.
The lights made patterns of circles, the freeway cut lines in the dark, the ice on Chatfield lake was barely discernable in the dark (there was no moon.) The pics are shaky because it was hard to hold the camera still in the plane, we were traveling fast and I didn’t use a flash, still I think they are beautiful.
Music badge
Posted by liese4 in girl scouts
At GS today we were doing the music badge. Lucky for us one of our co-leader moms used to be a music teacher, plays like 13 instruments and wanted to do the badge. We started off by singing a round of a song; I think we needed louder people singing. We listened to different types of music and it was funny to hear the kids say that this type sounds like Tom and Jerry and this type sounds like Bugs Bunny – all good opera is done by cartoons don’t you know. Then we talked about how a conductor conducts the orchestra.
Everyone got a baton and a chance to stand at the music stand and conduct some Peanut’s jazz. Hannah thought this part was the bomb, she went a little crazy.
We talked about different types of instruments and Marsi let the kids hold a viola and play it and blow into a flute (no one got a sound out of it.)
We talked about stringed instruments, wind instrument and percussion. We played a piano, bongo drums, a Chinese drum and recorders. We set up glasses with varying amounts of water in them and played twinkle little star, the kids had fun banging on the glasses.
To top it off we watched an Erhu concert on You tube and then drew instruments that we made up.
That was a very fun badge to work towards.
was tonight.
Psalm 55
16-18 I call to God;
God will help me.
At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh
deep sighs—He hears, He rescues.
My life is well and whole, secure
in the middle of danger
Even while thousands
are lined up against me.
God hears it all.
i know why i hate the cage of my sin
i rattle around in it
bang against it
moan at the bars
that surround me.
i know why i hate the desolate cage of my sin
yearning to be free
of the dark
the walls closing in
that engulf me.
i hate it because I know what freedom tastes like
sweet on my soul like honey
wings spread not confined
vast openness pours out around me
as far as the east from the west my cage bars fly apart
for no sin can stand next to the mercy of a loving God.
i know what freedom feels like
rescued from night and shadows
my life is well and secure and blessed
because i called out to God and He heard my cry
He hears it all.
-Liese
A friend wanted some typical questions and our answers to things we get asked about homeschooling, enjoy.
Are you insane? No, are you?
You must have sooooo much patience (well, that’s really not a question) Umm….yeah, not.
How do you school so many kids?
When did 4 become so many?? Well, I have this great quote that James always says ‘in structure there is freedom.’ By structuring our day a certain way we know that we can get any sit down type school done before noon and then have time for field trips, doing our own thing, etc. People need to realize that life is school, learning happens everywhere all the time and it doesn’t take 8 hours to teach core subjects or otherwise.
Aren’t you afraid you are missing something to teach them or that they will turn out stupid?
No. I have a curriculum and about 20 other things we use, not to mention rabbit trails we take on a daily basis. Today we might be learning about Vikings, density of gold, fractions and making yarn bowls (and that’s the stuff that’s not in the curriculum.) I have children who aspire to be pilots, dancers and marine biologists. Ask my 7 y/o anything about cetaceans – oh you don’t know what that word means? Maybe you weren’t taught it in school, but I bet if you can read and it was an interest for you, you could learn about it.
People think all learning is taught in a brick and mortar school, but really we are learning all the time. Did a school teach your child how to walk? No, you probably held his hand and guided him to a table where he could cruise along. Did a school teach your child language? No, he probably learned by imitating you, listening to you, opening his mouth and making noises. See? In a homeschool situation I can guide my children to the fount of learning, I can find out what interests them and give them more information about those things. I can help them when they get stuck on a problem, I can make the things they hate to learn fun, so they like it. I can spark an interest, light a fire in their souls and fill them with not just knowledge, but the love of gaining knowledge.
But, don’t you go crazy being around your kids all day?
OK, I admit, I used to think homeschooling was for everyone, but I have seen people who are driven crazy by their kids. So, in short, no I am not personally driven crazy by being home 24/7 with my kids. But, I need to point out that those who know me would say I’m never home anyway. I find it invigorating to get outside, drive to festivals, go to library shows, volunteer, see theater shows, hike, play, etc. We are usually on the go every afternoon with co-ops, girl scouts, dance, park day, volunteering, civil air patrol, field trips, library shows, etc. That’s just what floats our boat. I think that even those who say their kids drive them crazy could stay home with them if they weren’t at home the whole day. Take a break! Read a book out loud, take a hike, play at the park, dance with scarves, sing out loud, go hop on the bus, find out what floats your boat.
I also have ‘me’ time. I don’t need much, a few hours a month at our homeschool group teacher night outs, a few hours a month at Bible study, weekly park days and I’m good to go.
What is one piece of advice you have for those thinking of homeschooling?
Get in a good homeschool support group. I can not emphasize this enough. I have seen so many people burn out on home teaching because they did not have a group, a life line, a support system. This is hard stuff, teaching your kids at home. If you are not surrounded by people with a common goal who can help you attain it, you will most likely burn out. It’s tough, but having a support system with people who are: full of information, wise in years of home teaching, give good advice, and can help you walk the path of homeschooling; will be a help you can never put a price on.
Funny Hannah
Posted by liese4 in kids
Conversation with Hannah (translation in parentheses.)
Hannah: My wind Huntey has a bunny rabbit and he name is yocks
Daddy: Really? Hunter has a bunny named socks? Why do they call him socks?
Hannah: I yon’t know…..maybe he mells like yocks!
(I don’t know….maybe he smells like socks!)
Daddy: Hmm…I think they call him that because he looks like he’s wearing socks.
Hannah: No, I think it’s because he mells.
Today we went to a friend’s house for a play date and then to the library with them for a Mardi Gras celebration. We got to talk about king cake, Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, why it’s called a king cake, what is Mardi Gras and so on.
When we got there the kids got labeled with colored crowns. They had three things going on, eating king cake, playing a king cake game and making masks.
We came with masks already in hand, but still made some.
Hannah really wanted to eat cake (ok, really she just wanted the icing) and her color was up at the tables eating cake, lucky for her. Grace wanted to play the game, but her color was making masks, so when they switched stations Hannah and Grace switched colors. Guess what? It was time for purple to be at the cake table and eat cake, so Hannah sat down and ate another piece of cake. Grace won 2nd place in the king’s game. You had to roll the dice and then walk the number of squares you rolled. Hannah wanted to play next, she got a crown too (because she whined, not because she won.)
Everyone got beads, dubloons and cake.
Mardi Gras actually means ‘Fat Tuesday’, another word that sounds nicer than fat is shrove. This is the last day to eat gluttonous food before Ash Wednesday and Lent. Since you’re supposed to give up something for Lent I suppose some people eat that on Tuesday. If I were giving up Reese’s (which I am not) I’d eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner on that Tuesday. This year Fat Tuesday is the 16th. Shrove is just the English word for shrive which means to obtain absolution for one’s sins. Fat Tuesday is also known as pancake day, maybe that’s why IHOP has all you can eat pancakes in Feb. ($4.99 till Feb. 21st) and why on Feb. 23rd you can get a free short stack of pancakes (donations accepted for Children’s miracle network.) Nowadays there is a whole season of carnival and Mardi Gras, not just the one day.
The whole season is really a celebration, but I think people forget where it came from and just want to get drunk and collect beads. The season starts with Epiphany which is the celebration of when the Magi came to visit Jesus. Then you have a celebration of Mardi Gras to eat some rich foods (and probably get sick) which reminds us of the sin of gluttony and how too much of something can be bad. Next comes Ash Wednesday when the palms from last year’s Palm Sunday are burned. Then in repentance people come forward to receive ashes in the sign of the cross on their heads. Not only to remind us of the work Jesus did on the cross, but to remind us of our mortality – to dust we shall return. Then we look forward in reflection and repentance to Palm Sunday when Jesus rode into town with cheers from the people, to Good Friday when He was taken down from the cross His work done and finally to Easter Sunday, when He went back to the Father. Yes, once again the church grabbed hold of a pagan holiday (both the Mardi Gras and Easter) to bring some pagans into the Christian celebration. I think that to see Jesus in the celebration is not a bad thing, it just is what it is. And since we believe in Jesus, we’re going to see that part of the celebration.
ont une heureuse Mardi Gras et rappelez-vous Jésus vous aime!
Boulder
Posted by liese4 in family outing
After school yesterday we headed up to Boulder to do a few things. First I needed more tea, so we went to Celestial. You can get some Celestial teas at the store, but you have to go to Celestial to get some kinds of tea they don’t carry in the regular stores, get tea that is individually packaged (to put in our Tea Tuesday letters) and to taste any kind of tea you want.
I was trying to find a spicy chai and something with licorice in it. I found Detox AM that has a really strong licorice flavor and India spice Chai. I tried the coconut chai, it was sweet and not spicy. Bethany got sleepytime tea because she loves mint.
Grace got tangerine tea and Hannah got Raspberry tea. We sat in the tasting area gulping down tea after tea, Hannah says ‘it’s good to the last drop!’
Then we headed over to 29th street to an outdoor mall that has science stations around outside.
This station was about the sun, but you needed to go earlier in the day, the sun was behind a building and we couldn’t use it. Next stop, the planets (sitting on Saturn.)
The kiosks at each station were fun, loaded with trivia, facts, meet a scientist and lessons about whatever the exhibit was about (I think they should have put in about 5 more computer screens per kiosk though…)
Moving on, we went to the rocket station; it was just neat to see the rocket.
Coming back up the escalator I took a few pics, I call this one: shadow at the top
and this one: sun glare
We went to a station where we learned earth facts and then went to the sundial sculpture. What time is it?
Yep, it was right on 3 pm. It’s also good for climbing.
Hannah found a picture of Mr. Otter too!
Next stop was Boulder creek. We were looking for the fish hatchery with windows to look in and see the fish, but I think I had the wrong address. At any rate we had a nice walk by the creek in the sunny 50 degree weather.
We admired the reflection of the trees in the creek, walked up a very short maze,
traversed bridges and saw pretty patterns in the sidewalk.
Under the bridge they had painted waves and Grace thought they looked like this painting we have from Utagawa Hiroshige.
We got back to the car and drove to the CU Boulder history museum. Why? Because it’s free, close and we still needed to have tea and write our Tea Tuesday letters. I guess we could have written them at Celestial, but I forgot.
The museum made a bio lounge downstairs near the kids section.
We grabbed some tea and wrote our notes. Then we played and walked around looking at the exhibits, among them – life in a drop of water.
Bethany said she never wants to drink water again. Upstairs we colored Pteradon and Triceratop pictures, saw the dinosaur bones and went through the Navajo weaving exhibit again.
We’re doing some art like this, I’m not sure if we’re using yarn or just coloring pictures when we do it though.
Done with our tour of Boulder we went home and gathered around the TV to watch the first show of the last season of Lost. Yeah, we’re addicted to it.
Curiosity Cabinets Co-op
Posted by liese4 in co-ops
Try to say that 3 times fast. This afternoon we met some friends at the MOA and talked about the cabinets.
Then we headed inside with scavenger hunt cards to find some items. We read books that some of the art was based on and did some more hunting; looking for things like red riding hood’s cape, three blind mice, Ms. Muffet’s curds and whey and just looking around in general. I found Pi written out across the top of the wall.
Hannah and her friend L were searching for clues with their magnifying glasses.
Bethany and her friend K were looking at frilly clothing, while Grace and friend explored more cabinets.
We went into the sound gallery and sat and listened to music while space pics, geometry lessons and sacred sites popped up on the screens. Then we went back out and explored the museum some more. I think we’ve been to this exhibit 4 times, but every time we go I find something that wasn’t there before. And since people are constantly touching things, some of my scavenger hunt pics were very hard to find – one globe was in a totally different place and a fan was closed and hard to find amongst the trinkets. That was fun, if you are in Denver go see it. It’s at the MOA inside Englewood civic center, it’s free and it’s on display until March.
Stained glass
Posted by liese4 in art
Here are our fake stained glass pieces.
Just get a cheap frame that has glass (not plastic) on it, spread glue all over it and attach glass beads (we got ours from the dollar store.)
Let dry for a few days. If you have spaces you get a frosted look (like Bethany’s.) I would try to use all the space and next time we’re using a bigger frame. Fold the tabs over the glass edges to hold the piece in place in the frame and if you want to hang it, get screws and string.
I’m reading a book about Pascal called Pascal’s Wager – the man who played dice with God. I’m not very far into it, but already I have learned a few things about Pascal and children in general. Pascal was homeschooled because he was a sickly child, some of us today choose to homeschool a child that would be in a horrible situation at a school filled with germs (can you imagine how often we’d be at the hospital with Grace if kids were coughing on her every day?) But that’s not the lesson, the lesson is that children have an innate desire to learn and even if we don’t teach them certain concepts they will learn.
Pascal’s father knew of the intense all consuming fascination that mathematics could impose on a mind. He knew of people so distracted by math, engaged in solving problems that they passed over other knowledge. So, he devised a homeschool plan where grammar, literature and languages were in the forefront and math would be entered into later in his son’s life, when he was ready for it. But even though Blaise was never taught math, never allowed to use figures to make problems and solve them through his father – he taught himself. Blaise didn’t know what these figures and numbers were that he came up with as he sat scrawling them with bits of coal, but his mind was working out these math ideas.
‘We are usually convinced more easily by reasons we have found ourselves than by those which have occurred to others.’ Blaise Pascal Pensees
You see, Pascal’s father did not teach his son math, Blaise just knew it. He figured it out, he played, experimented, thought out things that were already in his head. When his father saw this, he started teaching Blaise what these figures meant and were called. I think a lot of learning in children is just there waiting to be enlightened and discovered. I didn’t teach Hannah how to say triangle or how to draw the letter T. She was drawing shapes and wondered what this thing was called that had 3 sides. Hannah was scribbling letters I had not ‘taught’ her to draw. Then I would tell her that a particular shape was the letter ‘b’ and so on.
Play is an important part of discovering the world around us. I start my kids off with a kind of unschool/Montessori type of education, because I believe play is not only important – it is a foundation that other things can be built upon. When Hannah sorts pasta shapes by size, shape and color she is learning. When she places bottle caps with letters onto the matching letters, she is learning. When we play outside, inspect wasps nests, catch tadpoles, follow bunny tracks, we are learning. We are learning when we read about Vikings, castles and rocks, and when we go to festivals and learn Japanese words, African dance and Wild West history.
‘Imagination decides everything.’ Pascal
‘Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything.’ Pascal
‘Through space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like an atom; through thought I comprehend the world.’ Pascal
There is a time for learning that is obtained by teaching, and there is a time for learning that is obtained through wonder and discovery and play. Don’t be afraid to put away the worksheets and allow a child to do some self directed learning, you might just learn something in the process.
Went very well, we had about 12 presenters on topics from whales that live around Haiti (guess who?), Webkinz, Otters, Galileo, planets, princesses, dolls, rats as pets, poetry, stories, how to put on a carnival (complete with cotton candy and fishing for prizes for everyone) and signs and what they mean. Then we went over to the playground and played.
Hannah loves to swing.
Noah was there, I played around with his pictures.
It was so cute, Hannah had a letter for him and he had one for her. (Pop art Noah.)
He is just so cute.
This is what it would look like if Noah and Hannah had their own cartoon.
The kids found some empty wasps nests which we took home and they followed bunny tracks in the snow (but never did find that bunny.) We went to our library beforehand to do story time and volunteer. We bumped into 2 friends and had a chat with them. Joel was at home doing some geography and math. We actually have, gasp, nothing planned for tomorrow besides doing laundry and having dinner with friends. But that’s ok, we’ll make up for it next week when the busy co-op season starts.
Last night we went to the library to watch a sing-a-long Annie.
We got treat bags with props in them, camera, flowers, kissy lips, kazoos and money (and lyrics.)
We met a friend there and sang along to the movie as it played. This was my girls first time seeing the movie. Not that it’s a bad movie, but one summer when I was a kid my sister watched this movie every day all summer long; I guess subconsciously it was irritating. Grace has a good memory so she will be singing these new songs for days (irritating Joel.) Every time there was a scene that involved bubbles a lady walked around the room with a bubble machine, very interactive theater!
There were signs on the walls with some phrases from the movie.
There was even a table of kids with signs ready to pop up and prompt us to say ‘Boo’, ‘Yay’ or ‘Uh-oh’. This is as close to a 1930’s looking orphan we got.
A cute movie with great songs, we suggested the next time the library does this that they do Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, we know all the words to those songs!