Just two days with rain, look at all the green!

1 comments: Chervil said... Nice garden pics - I love the look of the grass after the rain! Good luck with your new house. June 21, 2008 5:23 PM

A "how to learn" extravaganza, thanks to TED

We visited "the House"!

I think they liked it!

The hawk

Taylor finally captured some pictures of one of the hawks we love to watch.

a few tiny tidbits about the kids

Trevor is firmly engrossed in toddlerhood/himself. He is desperate to not only control himself, but also everything that happens to him and everyone around him. It is fun/aggravating to hear him constantly tell me, "I can't, I'm sorry, I can't". Perhaps I need to not say that ever again. [small interjection, he is as I write this, wearing not one, but two overlapping pairs of pink sunglasses] Also, Trevor and Trent have identical cheeks, right down to the dimples. It is really neat to see. And, I noticed that Jewel is constantly looking for a challenge. She tries to balance right next to the person bouncing highest on the trampoline now. And, will choose a new food over the familiar choice everytime. And, she is finally trying to say the words she is signing. Taylor is also changing, he has begun to try to find his "thing". He is constantly coming up with new things to try and trying to establish himself as "this/that" kind of boy. And, every week he changes his future occupation. The ages and stages Taylor is entering are more intimidating to us as parents than where the babies are. Everything is fun and interesting to them. He is entering that stage where some things are scary to him, and others just stink. He also is beginning to develop sarcasm, much to my chagrin. Thankfully he isn't a mean person.

More experience points!

I know, I know, it is like giving a reward for doing something that they should do anyway! But, but, ...I don't know. It's fun, and it gives Taylor a way to "track" his progress. He tends to worry that he isn't learning enough (he did attend public school for a few years, and homeschooling is still not "accepted" by alot of people we are in contact with, if you know what I mean). And, bribery shmibery, it works! So, I gave Taylor an additional 15 experience points for building this robot. It was a kit from Pitsco.com and was just one of those fun "unschooling" activities we decided to do. However, I find it helpful to make it "count" in the game, because the next time I want to do something and he doesn't, he might just participate for some "points". Sneaky, bad mom. But, nevertheless, here is the robot and it was fun!

This week

This is how you finish off Mom's smoothie, when yours is already gone. Then, share it with bubba. Let me first say that if you have never read "Huevos Verdes con Jamon", you have never heard the best version of Green eggs and Ham. I never did like Sam I am, but Juan Ramone is so funny. Anyway, this week we finished the robot. It would have been finished two weeks ago, but I dropped a tiny little copper piece. So the second kit came this week. =) Now we have spare parts, I think we will try to build it to run on solar power this time. We also finished cutting out the pieces to the castle. (Construction will begin when I locate the missing knife.) =)That is how I managed to keep Taylor home long enough for one day of "school". Oh, and Jewel counted in time to the meter of several pieces of music. On the way to Taylor's music lesson we always listen to a lecture from The Teaching Company. The music lecture we are on is "Understanding the Fundamentals of Music" by Professor Robert Greenberg. Taylor thinks he is hilarious and although some vocabulary can miss him, he is gaining much from the lecture. But, Jewel was the one "counting" to the meter with the professor on Monday. She wasn't saying numbers, but definitly kept time. And, let me tell you what Trevor (2yrs 9 mos) said to avoid going to bed this week. He said, all at one time, "(fake cough) I'm sick, I hurt my foot, I need to go to timeout." Maybe we should have let him sit in timeout first. Taylor couldn't join facebook to play the "brain game" that his dad is beating me with, so we gave him a blog. Trent is home earlier lately so it's been all wrestling, chess, and any other competitions he just has to win. I can't wait until he takes Taylor out to the wrestling mat one day and comes in defeated. (Not against my hubby being a winner, but, does he have to win everything! Well, he doesn't always win ;), now that I think of it. Oh, you know what I mean, dear.=)) That is the best part about him losing weight; I can throw him more.

Now, as I can't really concentrate on anything else, I will give the good news. Tomorrow we are going to see our new home. And, according to my husband, it is something else. I've seen the pictures, and I am really excited, it is by far the newest, biggest home I've ever had. This will (if all goes to plan) be the last "temporary" home for us. We shall see. Now, let the weekend begin!

Trevor got a new "toy" from Mimi and made all of us wear it and "fly" around the house. Taylor took his part very seriously. He also takes his other "big brother" jobs seriously. Here we marveled at the perfect break in the bowl Trevor dropped.

The first try with the robot didn't go so well, because the leg was attached to the wrong hole in the axle. =)

I am so scandalous!

This is exactly why I tried to hide one blog, some things I just don't want to say as openly to everyone who might find our family blog. They did/do get mixed up however, because it is hard for me to tell what is "offensive" to others. However, I just have to get this out! Thank goodness (whoever that is) we are moving soon. You see, there is a very dear lady that I have known since the second grade. Her daughter was my best/only friend until 7th grade (when she left our school). I simply adore her; she (the mom) is honest, funny, and in her own way, raw. But, she is also a Jehovah's witness. That by itself is fine with me; it is the urge to read the bible with me that I can't take. I am always polite and usually genuinely interested. The Awake magazine they hand out is actually somewhat good. The two she brought today have some great/interesting tidbits that (especially since homeschooling) I love to collect and research. Info. like there is an "upside down tree" in Australia, and stories about life for kids in other cultures. They also encourage a lot of policies that I find "good". For instance the "cover story" in one (June 2008) is "How well do you know your children?" And, there is even an article (haven't read yet) that is concerning the survival of the Siberian tiger. But, they are a religion and they believe (more even than Christians) that Jehovah will save us from ruin. That is not the only fault I find with religion, but (if you know my family, you understand) that is enough for one post. [can i just interject that a two year old running to the bathroom with everything in him, saying "got to go poopy" is enough to make my entire body tense with laughter. fantastic] At any rate, the point is. Should I risk the ruin of our wonderful conversations, to try to gain more openness in our relationship? I don't even know how I could begin to break her heart like that. "Listen I really like you and enjoy talking with you, even about your religion, but I'm atheist. And, I've given it serious thought (I used to believe, so I've already convinced myself that I was wrong), you will not convince me that there is a God, believe me. I'm sorry, please stop crying." Her only reason for talking with me is to convert me. In fact, once (when I was nursing a newborn and chasing a toddler) she helped me tidy the house, and swept all the floors, just to talk to me. I think it would not be worth it. But, I remember what I used to believe, and I know how much more she believes than I did (even then I hated organized religion). So, thankfully, I have learned to at least be polite, something I wasn't when I "believed". So, that's something. I will just grit my teeth, bare the "dishonesty" (truly a feat for me), and look forward to the upcoming move to "away".

Love that TED!

What is it with Tuesday!

The first golden silk spider couple is here!!!

The house always is wrecked on Tuesday. I don't know if it is the added rush from the time we are out for music lessons on Monday, but, every Tuesday the house is a mess. Today was crazy! The kids all have runny noses, probably from the daycare at the gym, so they have been a little "grumpy" since Sunday. But, a combination of less outside time (due to weather) and a little too much focus on big brother (school sometimes gets carried away), led to a decided effort on the part of two toddlers to "get even". I finally saw the clouds part, so we went outside and Taylor made another "video".

I just couldn't resist!

This quiz is hilarious! It is another from Secular Homeschooling Magazine. http://www.secular-homeschooling.com/003/quiz.php It is called the Overachieving Homeschoolers Quiz. The wishlist in the issue #1 link is also funny. But, this just killed us.

Day 6

Taylor is finally on the silver space. He has been excited about being able to jump around the "map". Because he is a first level scholar, the jump costs 15K and he can only jump to the next silver space along any direction of path. So, he decided to jump to the silver space inside the castle. Not far, but he just has to try jumping, and doesn't want to leave Camelot yet.
We simply covered the Camelot "requirements" for the day. Perhaps later we will attach another challenge to the silver spaces as we progress. We read more of the legends of King Arthur (about Merlin), and continued in the TTW program. We also finished cutting out the pieces for the castle. A misplaced exacto knife prevents us from going on to the next step. =) We also conducted our first full experiment with the Trebuchet (we actually used the scientific method this time, is what I mean) today. Our hypothesis was incorrect, which allowed us to learn something, so that was good. We also began a fun book from Usborne, King Arthur's Knight Quest. (Kind of like Where's Waldo, but better). We also began reading the pretty funny book (again Usborne) The Knight's Handbook. Taylor made up a joke while reading it; "What does a piratey knight say?" Chival me timbers. (I can assure this is, by far, the closest to funny he's ever gotten.) =)
Additionally, as we were having a lazy afternoon (it's summer) discussion about the book I am reading for pleasure, Taylor suggested a change to the game board. And, as it is a particularly brilliant, we immediately started the new section. He has also decided that because it takes so long to get to the moon, each space will be two "days" in the game. (Two web reports, two days worth of activities)This will be really great, because I have a plethora of astronomy materials. It is one of my favorite topics. As we began to add spaces to the board, his design grew. Now we have added the moon (local astronomical interactions), the sun (and stellar astronomy) and "kind of a space of space and stars" as he phrased it for studying space travel and a "little physics". I know what your thinking it looks like the "fabric" of space, I really didn't do a very good job coloring it, but as Taylor said "it doesn't have to be space, it just has to represent it". I think I will have to rearrange and divide the resources for astronomy, but that should be easy to set up before he arrives there. I am very proud of him for dividing the topic up in that way. It shows that he really retained the astronomy we studied earlier in the year (before the game was ready to play). Now, we are trying to decide what special challenge Taylor can face once inside the castle. Tomorrow. He understands that he will have to go back, because to leave the land/win the game every space has to be covered. So he plans to backtrack back to the silver again. =)I am pretty sure that he wants to finish the castle as well. So, the final "value" of the webreport is 75K and 9 exp. points. Taylor didn't roll or draw for more slips on this space, so he will gain some ground on the slip tally, also. Excellent Day, and lots of fun!

just a little tid bit

I actually heard George W. Bush say that America would one day be "free from it's dependence on foreign oil" or something along those lines. I don't know how he did it, but I didn't even notice him turn green. I am sure that choking over those words made him throw up afterwords. Actually, he probably snickered, because he doesn't believe in nonsense like "green energy" and "that science stuff". On a completely different topic, I really don't look forward to moving from this home. We really need a bigger home, but, this yard is so awesome. Today, I saw the baby sandhill cranes again. And the hawks (red-shouldered) have grown so bold that a few days ago one of them landed on the branch 3 feet from Trevor, then grabbed a mole from the yard just 10 feet away. We have watched them since we moved in. Also, the butterfly bush is huge and there are wildflowers all around the yard, so lots of insects. I am surprised though, that the Gopher tortoises in the field have decreased significantly in numbers this summer and no golden-silk spiders have returned yet. But, we have enjoyed all of the wildlife in our yard. I hope our next place has some wildness to it.

Wordless Weekend- Visiting Mimi and Papi