Here are some pictures from our day trip to Fantasy Lake on July 3rd.  It was hot, but not as humid as normal.  The water park wasn't crowded at all.  A good time was had by all. 

 I changed this one to black and white because of my sunburn.

I'm spending  too much  lots of time on the computer these days, but there's a good reason.  I finally have a new PC!  My brother-in-law put it together for me.  He's a technological genius.  Then to make a good thing even better, my husband said we could get DSL!  There was a special with our local phone company where it would be $19.95 a month forever (I know the junk fees and taxes will add up).  It amounts to $15 extra a month because we had to get a "qualifying long distance plan" which is $5 more, but we get to lose the dial-up service which was $10. 

So far, here are the good things:

• I can get the pictures out of the camera in a timely fashion.
• I don't have to suppress graphics anymore. 
• Getting around to those sites that crashed the old computer (where I couldn't suppress the graphics).
• I can download enough free curriculum to offset the cost of the DSL.  (8.5 Mb file in 15 seconds vs. 45 minutes)
• I use the phone while online.
• Hearing Christian radio programs.
• Children can play more educational games

Of course there are a couple of bad things: 

• The only thing I don't like is the surprise music.  I almost spilled my coffee this morning when a blast of rock music came on. The speakers are off now.
• Spending time playing on the computer.  The old computer was so slow, I could click on something, fold a load of laundry, and come back just as the page finished loading.   Now I'm doing stuff like this:

Bible:  Explorers Bible Study-God's Perfect Plan

Reading:  Novels from Ambleside Online, Veritas Press, Sonlight, and other Great Books lists.  I want to add a few book reports this year. 

Grammar/Writing:  Rod and Staff Level 4 and Writing Tales 1

Spelling:  Spelling Power

Handwriting:  Italic E

Math:  Singapore Primary Math 4A/4B supplemented with Saxon 65 as needed

Science:  Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry Level 1, Exploring Creation with Botany

History:  The Story of the World 2 (finish up) and 3 with Activity Guides

Music:  Piano Lessons, Listen to classical music tapes

Art:  Drawing with Children and Visual Manna

Logic:  Reading Detective, Math Detective, puzzle books

Foreign Language:  Undecided here—maybe Latin with Children or Latina Christiana; maybe some sort of Spanish

Wow! That looks like a lot, but we don't do every subject every day. Now all I have to do is work out some kind of weekly schedule.

I believe the heat and humidity has sucked the life out of me. I don't like summer. My apologies to those who love summer, but summer holds no magic for me. The average summer day here is over 90 degrees with high humidity. The mosquitoes are thick and hungry. The only relief is in the water. We are fortunate to live near a lake, but we can't swim all the time. It looks we are headed back into a drought this summer. Water restrictions are soon to come.

The children aren't dealing well with all of the inside time. Sweetie and Wild Thing keep fighting (any suggestions?). The Crafter whines “I'm bored” all day long, but she's starting school again in a couple of weeks. Wild Thing needs more outside time to get out his boyish energy. If he doesn't get his running time, he is nearly uncontrollable. I would take them on more outings, but we are trying to stay home to save on gas. It cost $70 to fill up the mini van today. I need for a tank to last longer than a week.

I haven't been sleeping well lately. I feel tired and lazy. I need to get my act together and order the rest of the Crafter's curriculum so she can go ahead and start 4^th grade. I need to purge books and clutter. I need to get back to meal planning. I need to stop neglecting the housework. I need to work out a homeschool schedule for next year. I just can't seem to get enough motivation to do anything beyond the necessities for survival.

I'm a bit depressed. My 35^th birthday was last week. The Historian had his days mixed up and thought that it was the next day. I've gained some weight and my summer shorts are tight. I'm in the midst of a full blown pity party and I need to snap out of it now.

I know that I have nothing to complain about. I know that I am blessed beyond measure. My children and parents are healthy. My husband has a decent job. The vehicles are running. We can still afford to put gas in the cars and food on the table. The air conditioner works.  The house needs some repairs, but God will provide. I have to remember to count my blessings and not my problems.

Whine over.

This is an email I received a while back.  It is really cool.

See the baby?

My husband and I just celebrated our 15^th anniversary.  We had an absolutely wonderful time.  Some friends agreed to babysit overnight for us. We went to Fayetteville which is about an hour away.  We enjoyed some child-free meals and a nice hotel room.  We ended up going to the local mall Thursday night because it was too smoky to walk outside due to a forest fire near the NC coast.  I haven't been to a mall in a long time, and now I remember why. 

Friday, we went to the Cape Fear Botanical Gardens.  It was beautiful.   I highly recommend a trip there. I want to go back when the camillias are in bloom. The weather was breezy and surprisingly comfortable.  We had a nice hand-in-hand stroll.

On these excursions, I observed a lack of fashion sense among the late teens/early twenties crowd.  Granted, I am no expert.  You may laugh at my "mom uniform" of jeans, a T-shirt, and tennis shoes, but I can assure everyone that nothing is showin' that shouldn't be.  I would now like to address some of those young people. 

To the young men with your pants falling down to the point you have to use one hand to hold them up:  Congratulations on your weight loss!  It is a great accomplishment to lose those 50 extra pounds.  I think you should all get together and write a diet book. Then maybe you can afford some pants that fit or maybe JUST USE A BELT!  I do not want to see your underwear!

To the young ladies with the low, low rise pants or shorts:  I don't want to see your underwear either.  If someone walking behind you can tell that you are wearing a thong, your pants are too low.   

To those wearing mini skirts:  BE CAREFUL HOW YOU BEND OVER!  Enough said.

To the mothers-to-be with the exposed bellies:  Congratulations on your expected bundle of joy.  I know that you are excited and want everyone to know, but most people can tell that you are pregnant without full flesh exposure.  If I was mistaken about you being with child, my apologies.

To the tube top wearers:  If you choose to wear one, please be aware that your bra straps will show at the top.  Yes, even the flesh colored ones show.   If you chose not to wear a bra, gravity is taking its toll and I could tell.

To the lady wearing 3 inch white heels at the botanical garden:  What were you thinking? I know they matched the rest of your expensive white outfit, but you were touring a garden.  Gardens have dirt and grass.  High heels sink.  I know you suffered.  Sorry if you saw me giggle.

I hope I have the sarcasm out of my system now.

It's hot here in NC.  We have had 100+ temperatures with high humidity since Saturday.  It's typical weather for late July, not early June.  My children are cranky and bored.  They are constantly fighting among themselves.  I would throw them out, but they are not very heat tolerant.  They have red, sweaty faces after a few minutes outside.  The mosquitoes are also horrible in our yard this year.  I have to coat them in Off before I can let them out or they come in covered in bites.

I had intended for us to take a real break from school until July, but that's not going to happen.  We need to do something.  We are continuing on with history and a bit of math for the Crafter.  I'm working on getting a bee unit study together for everyone.  I have a Hands of a Child lapbook from a free download that I hope to use.  It will be our first lapbook.

Yesterday, I tried to keep the kids happy by letting them play on the Slip and Slide for a while.  I can't let them use it everyday because I don't want a huge water bill.  They played  peacefully for about 30 minutes, then I had to turn the water off.  I told them to come in for baths.  I had started running a tub when I heard screaming.  Wild Thing came in with his face covered in blood.  I put my screaming child in the tub and started looking for the source.  He had a half inch cut right in the center of his forehead.   After a few minutes of direct pressure, it stopped bleeding, but the tears didn't.  It took him a while to calm down.  Wild Thing was pretty scraped up.  He was running away after antagonizing his sisters when he tripped in the gravel driveway and face planted on the rocks.  Thank God he wasn't hurt worse.  He's fine now.  It's amazing what a couple of Band Aids can do.

     I have decreed that third grade is over.  We have completed 180 days plus of "instruction".  No, we did not finish all of the books.  That's OK.  I don't recall ever finishing a book when I was in public school.  Grammar and science were finished weeks ago, but I was holding out hope for finishing math. 

     The Crafter finished Singapore Primary Math 3A and 3B and Extra Practice 3.  I wanted her to work through Singapore's Challenging Word Problems 3.  Well when they say challenging, they mean it.  She hit a wall and I couldn't help.  You would think that having a math degree would fully equip me for anything third grade math could throw out, but NO.  Oh, I can solve the problems quite easily--if I use algebra.  Somehow, I don't think third graders should need to use systems of equations.  It's time for the Crafter to put the Challenging Word Problems away, but I will conquer them.  It's personal.

Here are some family pictures from our January trip to Myrtle Beach.

The Historian

Wild Thing

The Crafter

Sweetie, the Chemist, and Wild Thing

     Homeschool Achievement Day was last Saturday at our church. I signed the Crafter up for her first piano performance and to present an astronomy project from Exploring Creation with Astronomy. I thought we had taken more pictures, but we ended up with only a few. So stupid me thought we should type up her narrations from each lesson. Then we couldn't find them, so the Crafter and I spent 2 solid days reconstructing narrations from all 14 lessons. This was our first experience with a project deadline. Thank God we homeschool. The Historian did not like us working so hard on it. He kept telling us that we should have started earlier. I don't think this family could survive regular school.

     To make matters more complicated, my parents and grandmother and the Historian's father were all coming too. So there was all of the emergency house cleaning to do. The Crafter and I worked frantically to finish the project, vacuum, dust, clean the kitchen, hang out laundry, and clean the bathrooms while the Historian kept up with Wild Thing and Sweetie.  We had Chinese take-out for lunch which simplified things greatly.

     All in all the visit went well. I drove the van with the children.  My parents and grandmother followed me and the Historian and his dad went in the truck.  When we got to church, I was informed that my brake lights weren't working.  We couldn't do anything about it on a Saturday afternoon, so we went in and set up the astronomy project.   The Crafter played her pieces very well during the music recitals.  Everything was nice until intermission when Sweetie wet her pants. Fortunately, God told me to pick up a pair of extra shorts before we left. That's the only reason I had them. When Achievement Day was over, we all said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. The Historian took Wild Thing and the Crafter roller skating. I went home with Sweetie in the van with no brake lights. We made it home safely, but the van saga was just beginning...

Here are some pictures from the Crafter's project:

   This is the solar system model.  Jupiter is a watermelon.

  Lava on Venus.

  Preparing for the erruption of Olympus Mons.

    Hurricane tube from the Jupiter lesson.

AWANA finished up for the year last Sunday.  The children all love it.  Our church doesn't have AWANA, but they go to a near-by church.  This is the first year all 3 attended. 

The Crafter finished up her first year of T&Ts, her 5th year in AWANA.  She finished her book, just barely, and received a First Book Award.  We had to get a waver on "the bring a friend" requirement.  That is always so hard for her because we don't know a lot of kids to invite.  The Crafter's friends are either already in AWANA or they live too far away to come with us on Sunday night.  She did try.  Her teacher let her to make a list of names and allowed that to count.   The Crafter was Clubber of the Month for April.  Mama's proud.

Sweetie went to Puggles.  Really it's just a nursery, but the workers were wonderful.  Sweetie often says "I go Puggles."  I don't know what we'll do next Sunday when it's time to "go Puggles".

Wild Thing started going to Cubbies after Christmas.  He did OK.  He liked the games.  He placed second in the AWANA Grand Prix for the Cubbies.  But here's what Mama is proud of.  Wild Thing was very generous with his AWANA bucks at the AWANA store.  He spent most of them on the Crafter.  He bought her a My Little Pony!  I still can't get over this spontaneous act of generosity. 

We're going to miss AWANA.

Every once in a while they all work on something together and all is quiet.

Here's my not so humble take on the subject.

1. The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it. Psalm 24:1
2. Since God made the world, He (not people) will decide how and when it's destroyed. How arrogant are we to think that mere humans can destroy what The Almighty spoke into existence?
3. The world is cursed because of sin. Romans 8:22   Because of the sin , we humans make big messes of all our relationships, including our relationship to God's creation.
4. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states: All processes go from order to disorder.   This means that the state of planet Earth is also tending toward disorder.  Can't argue with physics.
5. God gave man dominion over the earth. Genesis 1:26-27 As Christians, we are commanded to be good stewards of all of God's gifts, including the world's animals, plants, water, fossil fuels, etc. just as we are commanded to be good stewards of our time and money.
6. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-discipline (sound mind) 2 Timothy 1:7.  It makes me so mad to see little children being made fearful of global warming and begging grown-ups to "do something or I may not grow up."  God gave us brains to think. We must weigh our decisions carefully by considering the motive behind and the consequences of changes we are asked to make.
7. There are no totally good environmental decisions. For example, there is a push for everyone to use compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL's). They are more expensive up front, but they last longer and use less electricity. The environmental downside--they are hazardous waste because they contain mercury vapor and cannot be put in household trash. I will have to store used CFL's until there is a hazardous waste day at the county landfill and then drive 20 miles to take them.  Also, most CFL's are made in communist China, while incandescent light bulb are made in the USA.  See, changing a light bulb isn't simple. Even growing organic crops (which I totally support) has its share of problems, and the ethanol issue is much more complex.

OK, so where does that leave my family on Earth Day. We do without what we can. We don't waste food, electricity, or water. We have some compact fluorescent light bulbs. We recycle what our recycling center takes. We write on the backs of envelopes and junk mail. What little garden we have is organic. We buy used when possible. We don't eat a lot of processed foods. We use grocery bags for trash bags. We drive as little as possible, though more than we would like. We use mostly homemade, natural cleaners.  That being said, I used disposable diapers on my children and I refuse to feel guilty about it.  Our "green" habits generally correlate to "cheap" habits.

I guess my point is that there is no"magic bullet" that will rid the world of pollution or solve our energy problems.  I can only attempt use what God has given me wisely and encourage others to do the same.   Worrying about it only wastes my time and energy.   

• What kind of tree can you hold in your hand?  A palm tree
• Why are apples jealous of oranges?  They just have more appeal.
• How did the blackbird tie his shoes?  With vel-crow 
• Why didn’t the teddy bear finish his dinner?  He was stuffed.
• What do volcanoes eat their dinner on?  Tectonic plates 
  
• What does baby lava call his parents?  Mag-ma and mag-pa 
• How do you get a frog off the windshield? Turn on the defrogger.
• How do frogs take notes? On lily pads.
• What happens to an illegally parked frog? It gets toad away.
• What's a pig's favorite karate move?  A pork chop  
• What do you call it when a glass of milk passes through your line of vision?  Past-YOUR-EYES milk 
• What do you call a boomerang that doesn't come back?  A Stick
• And finally, a Crafter's original....What kind of dinosaur likes to skate?  A  rhamphoRINKus (actually rhamphorynchus)

I'm usually good at rolling with the punches, but right now I am close to burning out.  I feel as if all of my energy and creativity are gone.  I haven't had taken time to plan out the rest of this year much less think about next year.  I have been in “do the next thing” mode for several weeks now.  We haven't done any projects or experiments or any of the fun stuff lately.  The Crafter is cooperative, but bored.  I think she needs a break too.

Anyway this week we have the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.  Another mom asked me if I was going to count the testing days as “school days” since we weren't doing any “instruction”.  You've got to be kidding.  Of course I'm counting them!  Don't public schools count their standardized testing days?  Why shouldn't we?

That got me thinking, why not take the rest of the week off?  We finished up a test prep book on Monday, and we've been reading the latest stack of library books.  That was enough for one day, right?  Tuesday and Wednesday are test days.  Thursdays are tough on homeschooling because I'm not at home from 8:30-12:30.  We generally don't get much done on Thursday anyway.  Friday's the only day left.  Who wants to start working on Friday?  Not me!

A couple of days off so sounds like a good plan.  We could plant the garden.  We could spend some time reading aloud together.  We can watch something noneducational on TV.  We can just rest.

There was a play that she disparately wanted to attend.  It was at night.  The Historian works at night.  Wild Thing and Sweetie do not do well being out past their bedtime.  The Crafter's best friend's mother graciously invited her to attend the play with them and to spend the night afterward.  We gratefully accepted the offer on the condition that the Crafter diligently complete her work for the week.  I even got organized and made a color coded spread sheet listing each assignment for each day.

Everything was going well.  The Crafter completed her work on Monday in only 3 hours—including piano practice.  The Historian and I strongly encouraged her to work ahead a bit.  Thursdays and Fridays are difficult school days because I teach at the college.  She didn't want to work ahead; she wanted to have extra play time.  Tuesday and Wednesday passed in a similar fashion.

Thursday was not good.  I wasn't here to stay on top of her work.  The Historian was busy with Wild Thing and Sweetie and couldn't help as much as he would have liked.  I arrived home and saw what was happening.  We gently reminded the Crafter that going to the play depended on getting her work done. She said she understood, but the diligence of earlier in the week was gone.  She messed around and spent two hours on math instead of the 30 minutes it should have taken.  She didn't finish Thursday's list. There was still time though.  Her Friday list was short with only math, reading, piano, and a spelling test. She could manage the undone items from Thursday and do Friday's work with time to spare.

If only she had asked for help with her math.  I arrived home to the Historian looking at some math problems or rather some correct answers to some rather involved math problems with no supporting work.  We knew some mischief was afoot.  We asked her to redo the problems and show her work this time. Thirty minutes passed with no math.  I point blank asked her if she had copied the answers from the answer key.  She said no.  After another thirty minutes, she began to cry.  The Historian finally got her to confess to copying the answers and then lying about it.

Daddy handled the discipline.  There would be no play, no spending the night with her friend, and she would have to apologize to her friend and tell her why their plans changed.  The Crafter shed many tears.  I believe that the toughest part of the punishment was when she actually had to confess her sin to her friend.   I pray that we handled this appropriately.  The answer keys are now in a less accessible area.  I hope this doesn't happen again.

He's Alive

by Don Francisco

The gates and doors were barred and all the windows fastened down;

I spent the night in sleeplessness and rose at every sound
Half in hopeless sorrow and half in fear the day
Would find the soldiers breakin' thru to drag us all away

And just before the sunrise I heard something at the wall
The gate began to rattle and a voice began to call;
I hurried to the window and looked down into the street
Expecting swords and torches and the sounds of soldier's feet

There was no one there but Mary so I went down to let her in;
John stood there beside me as she'd told us where she'd been.
She said "They moved Him in the night and none of us knows where;
The stone's been rolled away and now His body isn't there!"

We both ran t'ward the garden, then John ran on ahead;
We found the stone and empty tomb just the way that Mary said.
But the winding sheet they wrapped Him in was just an empty shell;
And who or where they'd taken Him was more than I could tell.

Well, something strange had happened there,
but just what I didn't know;
John believed a miracle but I just turned to go.
Circumstance and speculation couldn't lift me very high
'Cause I'd seen them crucify Him, then I saw Him die.

Back inside the house again the guilt and anguish came;
Everything I'd promised Him just added to my shame.
When at last it came to choices, I denied I knew His name;
And even if He was alive, it wouldn't be the same

But suddenly the air was filled with a strange and sweet perfume;
Light that came from everywhere drove shadows from the room.
Jesus stood before me with His arms held open wide;
And I fell down on my knees, and just clung to Him and cried.

He raised me to my feet and as I looked into His eyes,
Love was shining out from Him like sunlight in the skies
Guilt in my confusion disappeared in sweet release
And every fear I'd ever had just melted into peace

CHORUS
He's alive! He's alive, He's alive and I'm forgiven!
Heaven's gates are open wide:
He's alive, He's alive, oh He's alive and I'm forgiven
Heaven's gates are open wide
He's alive, He's alive, hallelujah He's alive!

Tomorrow is March 14.  It is also known as Pi Day.  Pi Day is one of those obscure holidays such as International Talk Like a Pirate Day and Mole Day (my personal favorite).  Pi Day is celebrated by math geeks on March 14 (3.14 get it?) at 1:59 (3.14159.....).

Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter.  It is used extensively in geometry and is represented by the Greek letter pi.  

Pi is interesting because it is an irrational number. This means that it cannot be expressed as a fraction of two integers.  Sometimes pi is expressed as the improper fraction 22/7.  This is not technically correct because 22/7 is a fraction of two integers. Pi goes on forever without the numbers ever repeating or stopping.  So far, over 1 trillion decimal places have been calculated with no end in sight. 

March 14 also happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday--one of the coolest geeks ever. 

To learn more go to http://www.piday.org/ and http://www.wikihow.com/Celebrate-Pi-Day