The Colorado Adventure
Commercial try
Posted by liese4 in kids
Joel had to watch commercials for English and we saw some funny ones (Look at your man, now look at me….I’m on a horse.) The girls thought they’d make a fat cat commercial. (Hannah is saying, wait call now and get this free banana.)
read comments (1)
Joel did science (see graph in previous post.) We found a new site for making graphs here, the disadvantage we found is that it doesn’t save the graph. So if you make one save it as a picture and you’ll have it forever. He did math (inscribed angles and polygons in a circle.) He did a few other things, normally he does only 1 course a day, but he has CSAP’s 3 days next week and doesn’t want to do school those days. For English he has to watch TV commercials and fill out a form about advertising and propaganda. Bethany did history, she’s in the middle of the Civil war, and science, she’s on taxonomy. Grace is on Africa for history so she read Sundiata the Lion King of Mali, it was hard reading, lots of African names. The artist made the pictures in the book out of cut paper, so it had a very 3-D look to it. I was going to do art this afternoon because it was supposed to snow, so I waited and the longer I waited the sunnier it became. So, we went to Marcy park.
The girls have a nature club in the trees by the creek and they are so funny.
They were trying to get the ‘most algae’ badge by pulling algae up with sticks. After Hannah fell in we ditched that badge and went on the ’secret hideout’ badge.
In the summer this place is really cool covered in leaves, it’s kind of neat right now too.
We crossed over the creek on a branch bridge and walked up the other side.
We saw cattails from last summer still holding onto their ‘fur’ (as the girls call it.)
We saw curly leaves, green plants and pretty pink flowers in the water.
We picked up some brown thistles on the way back and came home right before it started snowing.
I put the flowers in a vase and we all drew/painted them.
Grace’s
Bethany’s
Hannah’s
Mine
Tomorrow is another lazy school/art day, but that’s ok – next week while Joel is at CSAP we’ll be going around town.
I knew it
Posted by liese4 in School Stuff
Joel had to graph SPF and UV intensity for science, see I knew that SPF 30 doesn’t protect you twice as much as SPF 15!
You know what I love about homeschooling? My homeschool group. I love seeing all of the ways that people teach their kids at home. Today we are going to a meet up at Mc’ds for exceptional kids. I know I’ve said in the past that they are truly exceptional, but the other kids in our group are exceptional in their own right too.
Everyone has something that makes them special, unique, outstanding – and in our group we have a bazillion of those people (kids and adults.) We have so many moms (and dads) who have taken up the mantle of teaching their kids at home. Each of us has trials of our own, but we can come together and collaborate and find new ways or different ways of teaching that may help us.
Having others to walk with you is so much better than wandering the road alone (I know, I’ve been there.)
How awesome is it to have 120 people backing you up? Very awesome. We have people who bring things that others lack. We have scientists, artists, photographers, mathematicians and language arts experts. We have people who used to teach in schools, have a degree in engineering, run a business and so on.
We all bring different life experiences, school and learning experiences to the group.
We use eclectic methods of teaching, unschooling, unit studies, boxed curriculum, play and (gasp) virtual schools (that would be me.) We talk, nurture and uplift each other through good times and bad. We seek information and we willingly give it to anyone who asks.
We all gather what we know and bring it to the table; some may think their offering is small, but every little piece comes together to make a beautiful picture of our homeschooling life.
Just a leaf
Posted by liese4 in pics
My friend Maura took this pic and I stole….borrowed…..snatched it from her. I like it.
More jumping
Posted by liese4 in pics
I hate that I can only post one picture for I heart faces. So, here are some more jumping shots. I like this one because Grace was supposed to keep her cast dry…um…..yeah.
I love this one of my friends boys (minus 1) hopefully I can get up to her place this summer and get some more shots of all 5 kids (she added a girl to the mix soon after this pic.)
Darn tree got in the way on this shot, but you can still see the jumping.
Swim shots from our TX trip.
This Indian girl is not really jumping, just dancing, but I love her action.
Grace at the park. This is where I found the setting on my camera that takes multiple shots per button press.
Bethany leaping.
I ♥ Faces – jump for joy!
Posted by liese4 in iheart faces
At I ♥ Faces this week the theme is jumping. I’ve had this picture of Grace for a long time waiting to use it. We were at the splash ground last summer and she was leaping off the ground with happiness.
More jumping here: http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/
It was a glorious day for a picnic at Daniel’s park. We passed by the buffalo and prairie dogs and parked at a different spot than usual. It’s amazing how different things look 10 minutes from our house.
Here is the view from our picnic table.
We ate in a hurry because the kids wanted to go exploring.
We scrambled over rocks and slid down some others.
We saw some pretty lichen on these rocks.
Hannah found a ton of acorn hats in the crevices of the rocks.
James hiked down to the snow bank and we climbed on the rocks and soaked up the sunshine.
It’s hazy by the mountains because a weather change is coming, rain is on the way. Very strange for early March to have rain, but right now we’ll take any precipitation we can get.
Some stuff for the week: dance and CAP, a Mcd’s meet up, park day – if it’s not raining, and library storytime/volunteer time, not too much this week. From the learning rooms: Joel is doing a webquest on Burma or cyclones or something like that, Spanish and a paper in English on Julius Caesar (oh, he’s real excited about that – not), circles in geometry, rocks in science and taking math tests in thinking skills. Bethany is finishing up 5th grade, doing some US history, spelling and math. Grace is doing math, history and writing. Hannah will be doing some alphabet activities this week.
A quote for the day: ‘If we remain wedded to the way education is currently provided we cannot imagine other ways.. we need some imagination , some fantasy, some new ways of thinking – some magic in fact.’ Hedley Beare, Prof. of Education Melbourne
Today we had a few friends over to paint their canopic jars with us. Here is Noah’s sweet rooster with raffia tail.
Here is L’s cat.
Here is Hannah’s cat, Bethany’s vulture and Grace’s narwhal.
We found a site that translates words into hieroglyphics here, we might print out some pictures and paste them onto the tubes.
I had to run Hannah by the doc to get some meds for her ear infection. I told the doc she had an ear infection, the doc looked in Hannah’s ear and said, wow that looks infected (yeah, I’m no PhD, but I know when a kid has an ear infection.) Then I got Bethany and Grace and we went over to our booth sale to relieve another family.
The business was pretty good from 3-5 and then from 6:30-7:30. We only had one rude lady who shouted out ‘Those cookies are fattening’ to a GS asking her if she’d like to buy some cookies.
Um…we didn’t say you had to eat them, just buy them.
Guys were very funny. One of our chants was this was the last chance, a guy came up and said, ‘Last chance? That’s what my ex-wife said!’ Another guy came up to the booth shaking and weaving around saying the he needed cookies and was desperate for them.
We ran out of thin mints at the very end and people just didn’t want another kind. We had the perfect idea for dieters, buy some for the soldiers!
Grace was saying to buy the cookies so we didn’t have to eat them, we had girls dancing, saying ‘Last chance’ and saying (as it got colder) ‘GS cookies freeze well, girl scouts don’t!’
The girls had fun making change and drumming up business. I’m glad we stayed the next shift from 6-9 (although we did leave right before 8pm.)
So, that’s it. No more cookies till next year, hope you got yours.
Right now I’m full to the brim, I am reading my Bible, I am dancing, school is going well, Grace is getting better; I am full enough to give. But what do you do when the well runs dry? When homeschooling seems to suck you dry, when everyone wants a handout and you just feel like there is not enough time or energy to give out; you feel like you’re in a desert.
I have been burned out before, I have become the lackluster Mommy zombie of homeschool burnout. I have been emotionally wrenched, spiritually worn out and physically tired. I tried switching curriculum, stopping school for awhile, going easy on myself and trying to find ways to fill up so that I could give to my husband, children, friends, family, strangers. Being a mom is a full time job, being a wife/homeschooler/girl scout co-leader/field trip organizer/co-op teacher/HS board member/cleaner upper/chauffeur/playdate organizer – is a lifestyle. It is what I do, it is what we do, it is part of who I am. But, how do I do it?
Days go much better when I have a quiet time in the morning (or whenever I can get a break during the day, but morning is definitely better.) I read my Bible, right now I’m in Job, and take notes. I am going to start the 30 days of 1 book again, maybe Colossians, that was a great way to see the same thing everyday, but get more out of it. Days go much better when I exercise, even if it’s just walking to the park and letting the kids play for a hour (and it’s good for them too.) Days go much better when I know what we are studying, not that I have a schedule everyday, but that I know generally what needs to be done that week for core school work, what field trips/co-ops we have and what extra stuff we are doing. Days go much better when I do something for someone else. Maybe it’s taking a friend somewhere, having a playdate, taking food to someone or just visiting with friends. I need a few things a month, I need my daily dose of Bible and exercise (worship dance, yay!), I need my Bible study group that meets 2 nights a month, I need our HS groups teacher’s night out that meets 2 nights a month, I need our HS groups exceptional kids meeting that meets once a month and I need park days (which happen every Wed. as long as the weather is nice.) Some people need more to get full so they can minister to their family and others, they might need more alone time, more quiet time, more time with friends, more time with family, more time reading or doing whatever it is that makes them relaxed and fills them up – emotionally, spiritually and physically. Find ways to grow in those things too.
I love the Amy Carmichael quote that talks about being so full of sweet water that whenever we trip and spill the only thing that comes out is the love of Jesus, because that’s all that we have stored up in us. I’m not perfect and most times the stuff that spills out of me when I am impatient and mad is not sweet water. But, I strive to fill up with things that make me overflowing with Jesus, with love, with help, with service, with patience, with whatever anyone around me needs. I want to reflect beauty.
What are the things that suck the life out of you? What are the things that fill you up? Find a way to get more of the latter in your life!
GS cookie badge
Posted by liese4 in girl scouts
At todays meeting we went over some of the steps for the GS cookie badge. We’re doing a booth sale tomorrow and I wanted to go over how to sell cookies, politeness, making change, make some posters and such. We talked about 5 ways to sell cookies (like places to sell them), what to do if someone says ‘I’m on a diet’ or ‘I hate buying stuff from girl scouts’. We talked about what kinds of cookies we offer and looked at the ingredients of each one. We went over what to say if someone asks for cookies without peanuts in them or what to say if someone asked us which cookies we liked. We talked about saying ‘Thank you’ and ‘Have a nice day’ to people. We used pretend money to order cookies and give change.
We talked about the making of the cookies from farmer to baker to advertiser, dristibutor, dietitian, etc. Then came the fun part, we made posters for the booth sale.
We drew out an idea first and then made the posters, here is my pretend poster
……just kidding (I mean yes, it’s pretend, but no, we wouldn’t put that up at the booth!)
Our posters talked about the kinds of cookies we have, the price, the fact that this is the last chance to get them and so on.
Hopefully tomorrow will find lots of people running to King Soopers to buy groceries and cookies.
“Can” opic jars
Posted by liese4 in co-ops
Today was my paper mache’ canopic jars. We read this story which tells about how someone was mummified and what role the canopic jars played in that process. There were four jars holding the lungs, liver, intestines and stomach of the deceased. The heart was left in since it was considered to be the center of intelligence of the person. Even later on when the Egyptians put the organs back in the mummy (instead of in the jars) they still buried the mummy with 4 canopic jars full of trinkets for the after life instead of dried out organs.
Our intent was to learn a little Egyptian history and create a canopic jar out of a pringles can (or candy can or kool-aid can) with whatever head the kids chose to make for the top.
I noticed no one chose the 4 sons of Horus……but that’s ok. We had a dinosaur, cats, eagle, monkey, Webkinz animal, narwhal, butterfly and a rooster.
Kelly was saying she wondered how could she ever form a rooster out of clay….look at that thing!
Shut up!
The kids had fun paper mache’ing the tubes, Grace was really into it….piece after piece went on there and I think it weighs 4 lbs.
Some heads were clay, paper mache’ or a mix and that’s cool. We’ll be painting these on Saturday at my house. Hopefully Grace’s can will be dry then.
More on canopic jars here and here (click on A to Z and then look under C for Canopic equipment.).
Sounds like a challenge to me
Posted by liese4 in information
The new Sun chips bags say they are 100% compostable in 13 weeks (made with 90% plant based material.) Hmmm….sounds like a good science experiment, we just need another bag that is not 100% compostable to compare it to. Thanks for the science experiment Sun chips!
A day late
Posted by liese4 in information
and a dollar short, but think of how many people didn’t see this yesterday?!
Yesterday was Spread the word to end the word, you can read Maura’s post about it here. What is the word? It’s the word “retard”, used as an insult.
In our group we have “exceptional kids” of all kinds and they are truly exceptional. The things they face on a daily basis, the hurdles, the hurts, it is part of who they are – and they are exceptional without a doubt.
You can go here to find out more about the campaign and pledge not to use the R-word. It helps no one and hurts everyone.
Hike it is! (Actually Joel did a school item at Panera, Grace is still on the mend so we’re not taxing her brain right now and Bethany had CSAP testing in the morning, so that counts as school.)
It was such a glorious, sunny day that the rocks cried out with songs of joy.
It was 50, warm for here in March, and with the sun it felt warmer than that. We picked up Bethany from CSAP and got some picnic supplies – bread, chips, water, doughnuts, meat, fruit and headed over to Red rocks.
We ate our lunch at a table surrounded by red rocks, tweeting birds, zooming jets and a light breeze. We hiked up the road to a trail and wandered around.
The kids thought this creek with chocolaty water rushing by looked like the chocolate river from the Willy Wonka movie.
Joel was investigating a small cave and found some ice stalactites, Grace had her fossil book and was searching for some trace of a fossil. We found no fossils, but we did see some owl poop and used a stick to poke around in it, we saw a few small bones in there.
We also saw lots of moss and lichen happily soaking up the sun.
I was getting some pics of this rock and sun flare, cool.
It was muddy from the melted snow on the trail, but one of these days we’re going further up that hill.
We walked back down the hill and stopped to take a few pictures.
We wrote out some Tea Tuesday letters, speaking of which we got this cute card from Joel’s friend M thanking us for our visit with him.
I love that card, it would be great for Tea letters. Tomorrow is supposed to be another sunny day and we plan on going to the park to play in the afternoon. James gets home tomorrow night – to which we say, yay! Here is a picture of Hannah showing how she eats toast, what a waste.
