My oldest son, Chad, decided he wanted to see how much salt was in sea water. What is cool about this is that Chad has never been too interested in science - he's a history/music guy. So, of course, I took him down to the beach and let him brave the wind and rain to gather two gallons of sea water. One thing I love about Oregon beaches is how desolate they are on days like that. It was just Chad down by the water with nothing but the shipwrecked Peter Iredale (the iron remains of a ship that ran aground about 100 years ago) for company. Of course, as soon as he left the car, my Prius decided to flash an unfamiliar warning light at me. While he was enjoying the surf, I was frantically thumbing through my owner's manual, trying to decipher this strange symbol lit up on my dashboard. The bad thing about Oregon beaches on days like this is that they are desolate - just me and my Prius and possibly in need of a tow home. Todd was at home asleep (he had to work later) and the younger two were home but they would be of little use. I did have my cell phone but, fortunately, I figured out what that dang light meant. I had put my cell phone on the car charger for the first time and this light was to politely tell me that my phone was fully charged. AS IF I NEEDED TO BE TOLD! The symbol was of a key with an exclamation point through it. I ask you, does that mean "cell phone fully charged" to you? And the owner's manual showed the symbol but conveniently forgot to say what it meant. I discovered on my own by unplugging the cell phone charger, thinking that it might have something to do with the light. It's a good thing I have a few wits about me.
Anyway ...
We got home with the water but waited until the following day to start boiling. We were thinking it would take all day. We have been discussing Lewis & Clark for the last month or so, since we just went through some of the places that they traveled. And the Salt Works where the Corps of Discovery made their salt during their winter stay here on the coast is down south of us in Seaside, about 17 miles away. We have visited this place in Seaside and during the summer, there is a Salt Work reinactment down on the beach where the actors immerse themselves in the roles of the Corps. If you ask them about anything modern, they don't understand but they'll tell you all about the Lewis & Clark expedition and the making of salt from sea water. So, now, Chad wanted to make his own salt.
It actually didn't take that long. We got it boiling pretty good and after about 45 minutes, salt started boiling over onto the stove top. I think it took about an hour for the water to boil away. Chad ended up with nearly a cup of salt. It was pretty amazing to me. He spread the salt out on a cookie sheet to let it dry out thoroughly. We are not going to consume this salt as it has a lot of impurities in it but the boys will be using it for further science experiments. I think they want to figure out some kind of fuel source involving salt, something like that.
So I think the experiment was a success. Chad enjoyed the process and we all learned something. Fortunately, we don't need this salt to season rotting elk meat, as I believe that was the reason Lewis & Clark needed their men to make salt. The next time you use your salt shaker, be thankful you don't have to work too hard for it. I know I am.
• Nov. 9, 2009 - Apollo Eight Astronauts Read From Genesis 1968
Posted By jaminacema
The other night my daughter came to me with her Awana book and said "It says in here that in the 60's the Astronauts read from the book of Genesis on Christmas Eve from the Moon. Is that true or something Awana just made up?" I happened to be sitting at the computer so I played this for her...
I am assuming I don't remember this from the original airing since I was only 3 in 1968! But I do remember hearing it before. It is quite touching to listen to and somewhat sad to think about how much our world has changed in the last 40 years. I can't imagine something like this happening today and obviously neither could my daughter since she thought they had made it up for Awana.
I am praying for a revival for America! How awesome it would be to NOT be surprised to hear prayer in this country! How wonderful it would be for my children and grandchildren to live in an America that honored the one true God! Please join me in praying for our country.
Over the weekend I worked on some articles to do with Hospitality
My weekly, Live life with your Kids! newsletter. It is free to subscribe and then you can dig around in the archives. (This week's was titled "Show Hospitality")
Character Notes on Hospitality - these are just a collection of thoughts that I will be discussing with my kids over the next month.
On Oct. 1st the kids and I were in the car headed to the pumpkin patch! They were all dressed in fall t-shirts and I was ready to take some great pictures! Then it started raining...I pulled over and made a few quick calls to the homeschool friends we were suppose to meet. We all decided to go another day. Little did we know it was going to rain for 30 days straight! (I am exaggerating a little here, but honestly this is the wettest Oct. I have seen in my life!) Meanwhile we were in the middle of moving. The rain meant we were moving in the mud and the last thing I wanted to do was trek out into a pumpkin patch and collect even more mud. As the month headed to a close I started to realize a trip to the pumpkin patch was not going to happen. So I did the next logical thing...I decided to have a Pumpkin Party! LOL
What is a Pumpkin Party??? Honestly it's something I made up. But, we had our first one on Nov. 2nd with 97 people in attendance! Thankfully the rain finally stopped and we found a park with lots of concrete to keep us out of the mud. The party was a huge success and a LOT of fun! Here are the highlights....
We started out with the kids each decorating a pumpkin cookie.
Then they ate their cookies while waiting for the pumpkin story to start.
Next we listened to the Pumpkin Gospel You can read all about the story at the link below http://ginaconroy.com/ginablog/wordpress/2007/10/30/the-pumpkin-gospel/
Then we played pumpkin games!
Pumpkin Parachute Game. I got a package of Fun Foam Pumpkin and made a smiley face on one with a marker. Then they would put all the pumpkins in the parachute, throw them up in the air and the person who found the smiley face got a piece of candy. Repeat until everyone wins!
We also had Pumpkin Hot Potato.
And we had Pumpkin Relay Races!
We finished off the party with lots and lots of pumpkin food! Everyone brought a pumpkin dish to share. We had pies, breads, cakes, cookies, pumpkin dip. The food was amazing!
It was a great day and I am sure we will have many more pumpkin parties in the future.
It just so happens that all five of the people in our family have birthdays in a six-month period. So from mid-August to mid-February it feels we are constantly in birthday mode. Tomorrow is my husband's birthday, so that got me thinking about what birthday freebies are out there. I found some great ones, including a list of restaurants that give free food on your birthday! There are also free printable cards, cake ideas, and much more!
I hope you enjoy this week's birthday freebies!
Family Fun has a wonderful selection of birthday cake ideas you can easily make at home. I have made many of these for my family, and they are always a big hit!
This is a neat website. You can see a time capsule of the day you were born. Find out what bread cost, or how much you would have paid for a car. Learn what the minimum wage was and lots of other fun information!
There are two incidents that have happened around here in the last week or so that I just shake my head over – it doesn’t happen every day – thankfully!Let me tell…
The other day Pete had an early start to his day.He was filling up with fuel at the 24hour BP at 3.00am.As he was at the bowsers he felt the car drop down – he just thought the car was adjusting to the weight of the fuel but then the car started up and started to drive away on him.He looked up and there was someone in his car – driving it away. Someone was stealing his car – and he was standing right there!!He had the presence of mind to pull out the fuel hose, jump in the back seat and whack the gear stick into Park.The car stopped.He realised the woman in the car was so ‘out of it’ drunk that he got out of the back and walked around to help her get out of the car.She was very drunk, very distraught and had no idea!!Obviously she was still able to steal a car though.
I am personally very impressed with Peter's presence of mind. I would have had no idea what to do.
Second thing happening in our life is that we have acquired a Bull – he’s not a pet bull, he isn’t even really our bull but he seems to like us.Next to our farm there is a scrub block and it appears as if this bull has lived there quite happily for some time.But he has since found our place and seems to like the company.He has been right upto the house yard fence, grazes down near the chook shed, and today has been enjoying the shade of the mango trees.We would like him to be gone!He is very big.
Bull near our house yard fence
Bull grazing on old bale of hay down near chook shed and veggie garden
I was unpacking some boxes today and I came upon something that really blessed me, so I had to share.
Last spring I did a Women's Bible Study at church. One of the things we did was write down things we needed to give to God and put them in a box. One of the girls brought us all boxes that looked like a flip flop. Very cute! So I stuck mine on a shelf and forgot about it, like I was suppose to. Today I found it. I smiled when I saw it because I knew most of the things I had put in the box God indeed had taken care of. But, just for fun I took off the lid off and started opening the little slips of paper to see the words I had written. One by one I saw that they were all handled by God! Then I opened one I honestly do not remeber putting in there. It was just one word...space. WOW! Did I really put that in there? Yes, our last house was too small, but I had NO intention of moving. I really, really wanted to stay until our oldest was through high school. (3 more years.) We had even thought we might even try to buy it so we could add on to it at some point. We had even looked at those sunrooms you can have built on as a possiblilty for more space in the future. Now as I am sitting in my new house (which is more than 50% bigger than where we were when I wrote the word "space") I cannot help but just be amazed. It was just a fleeting moment. Write something down they said...Okay, give me space. And He did!
God is good!
Happy Homeschooling,
Jamin
P.S. Unpacking is going well! I would say we are 75% unpacked. Here is my very happy daughter in her totally unpacked room! YAY!!!! She is one happy girl to have her own "space" now! :^)
On Sunday night I slammed the car door on my thumb. I stood there in shock for a moment before managing to extricate it and then caught up with my husband and friends who had gone ahead into the restaurant, not realizing my distress. They could tell by my face that something was wrong, and I'm surprised in hindsight that I was so quiet about the whole episode. No screaming or tears. I simply held my breath and waited without success for the wave of pain to pass.
I spent the meal in hazy distraction with my thumb immersed in an icy-cold glass of water. A couple of Advil also helped to mute the throbbing. Still, by the end of dinner I was happy to be heading home until everyone suggested that I get it checked out at Emergency. Unfortunately we were too late to stop by a clinic which in my opinion would have been the lest dramatic of my options. After several hours, avoiding patients who seemed to be smitten with flu and drenching our hands in anti-bacterial wash, the doctor announced that there was nothing broken. However, he did puncture the nail to allow the blood that was pooling underneath to have a way out. Lovely. Truly.
So, for the last couple of nights I've been sleeping with my hand carefully laid on the pillow and trying to avoid bumping it on anything when I turn over. During the day I've discovered a renewed respect for this particular digit as I didn't realize, until it was incapacitated, just how much my thumb is involved in most everything I do. Although the pain has significantly reduced, it still remains bruised and swollen and I'm unable to put pressure on it. Just another reminder to slow down and do less during the strange season of learning to live life differently.
This week’s newsletter talked about training each of our children even though they are all at different levels of skill and understanding.One of the ways that has worked for me is by breaking down a skill or moral truth into bite size pieces.Each step is progressive and therefore each of my children can be working at a different stage and yet I keep my focus knowing that we are working on one thing at this moment in time.
An example of working with these progressive steps is going grocery shopping.We do this every week; it is a fantastic training opportunity and yet we miss that opportunity because we want it over and done with real quick!And yet the learning that goes on is huge. Here is a progressive list (it may not be exhaustive) that will move our children through grocery shopping training.
Stay in the trolley or pram
Keep voices quiet, inside voices
Hold onto the trolley, don’t leave mum
Don’t ask for things!
Greet people politely, say a big hello to the checkout lady
Be patient if mummy talks to a friend
Follow instructions, help mummy by getting things off the shelf (the right things, the things I need!)
Help unload the groceries into the car, and then into the house and pantry once we get home.
Go off by yourself and get 2-5 items (initially in the same isle, eventually in a different isle than mum)
Understand comparing prices, understand quality for money
Go off by yourself and do ½ the shopping
Understanding the family budget and nutritional needs
Go off by yourself and do the whole shopping
When I look at this progressive list I can immediately see what Daniel, my youngest, can achieve and what I can teach him next.I can also see what training needs to happen for each of my children.This means I go into my weekly task of grocery shopping ready to teach and practice and I come out knowing that each of my children have grown in this area of responsibility.
These are some character qualities that we can train towards while grocery shopping
Obedience – do what I am told with a happy attitude
Gratefulness – be thankful for the many blessings I have
Respect – the other person counts
Thriftiness – being wise with my money
Responsibility – to be dependable in all that I’m asked to do
Yes, it is true, if we train our children while we do the grocery shop it will take longer, but in the long run you will have trained your children in a very valuable life skill.But grocery shopping is just one situation in our day where we need to be training our children.
You can read all about the story at the link below
I got a package of Fun Foam Pumpkin and made a smiley face on one with a marker. Then they would put all the pumpkins in the parachute, throw them up in the air and the person who found the smiley face got a piece of candy. Repeat until everyone wins!
The kids loved this! I got the idea here: 
Bull near backyard play area
