Homeschooling, hiking, reading, playing--we're a busy family! I'm Leslie, and I have dh Mike, along with 7 yo son E, 5 yo daughter R, 3 yo daughter J, and 1 yo daughter RL. Join us on our adventures! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Sun, 15 Apr 2007 00:18:00 -0500 Sun, 15 Apr 2007 00:18:00 -0500 [an alternate title: why you should always LISTEN to the outgoing message when you call someone & get their answering machine] Dh & I were getting the kids to bed tonight when the phone rang. Since we were busy, we let the voice mail pick up. I could hear the voice from upstairs, and it didn't sound familiar. After everyone was settled in their beds, I came downstairs to check the messages, and heard this: Hi Walt, this is Sharon. I just wanted to go over what we're going to do tomorrow and what time we're going to meet. We're going to go Let's Break Bread Together, Midnight on the Olive Mount, The Old Rugged Cross, The Fountain, Hallelujah What a Savior, and He Lives--chorus only. We're going to meet downstairs at 9:30 to go over the music. Thanks so much for helping out, Walt. I really appreciate it. See you tomorrow! There are several problems that I have with this message: ONE: There is no Walt here, which she would have known if she would have paid attention to our outgoing message. TWO: Sharon didn't leave a phone number so that I could call her & let her know that she had the wrong phone number, and THREE: Sharon's phone number is blocked, so my caller ID just says "Private Caller". Well, I tried to help Sharon out, but she blocked my attempts at every turn! Sorry, Walt, but you're going to be in the doghouse tomorrow!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/314616/ Sun, 15 Apr 2007 00:18:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/314616/ Ugh! I am SO SICK of dealing with stomach viruses! We're on round ?? now, and it's been 2 weeks of some child or another throwing up or having problems at the other end! Dh called me tonight while I was out running errands & told me that I needed to come home right away because ds had thrown up. This was odd on 2 counts: 1) Dh is an extremely capable dad & I can't remember any other time that he's called me to have me come home, and 2) he knows that asking me to deal with vomit is asking for more of the same problem! I do NOT do vomit.   So I got home and found out why he needed me to head home ASAP. I walked upstairs to find dh on his hands & knees, cleaning a HUGE spot on the carpet. Turns out that instead of getting out of bed & heading for the bathroom, or staying put & aiming for his blanket, ds got sick from his top bunk by just leaning his head over the edge of the bed & letting loose! Unfortunately, liquid splatters a lot when dumped from that height--yuck! Dh had already cleaned up most of the bedding--there was a mound of dirty stuff at least 2 feet hight! Our poor younger dds have had to temporarily relocate while we strip the crib (even down to the bedskirt!) and the bedding from 3yo dd's bed (she's on the bottom bunk). Only dd in the loft bed over the crib was safe from the onslaught!   Another thing that "doesn't mix" is triple berry pancakes for children who've had upset tummies. Ick. Well, we could do a commercial for Oxyclean--it did a pretty good job of getting triple berries out of the carpet!   I need to go to bed. Yuck. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/252671/ Sat, 9 Dec 2006 02:55:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/252671/ I have to say that I love the freedom of schedule that hs'ing affords our family. We do a modified year-round schedule, and it's such a great fit for us. For instance, we started our new school year the first week in August so that we could take extended breaks at Thanksgiving and Christmas. This week, we "did school" on Monday & Tuesday, and now we're on Thanksgiving break. Doing it this way allows me the time to get ready for our road trip, while not having to worry about getting school done.   After today though, I'm wondering if I should have planned school for this whole week--the kids are out of sorts at having all this free time, and are whiny with me & snippy with each other! Oh, the joys of motherhood! :) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/240181/ Fri, 17 Nov 2006 02:40:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/240181/ duplicate post from SL, but it's funny!   I'm a little jumpy tonight! Dh & ds are camping, and the girls are all in bed, so it's been nice & quiet here... until I was reaching for something in the freezer & accidentally bumped the Leapfrog fridge toy. I suddenly heard "HI! I'M FARMER TAD!!" and just about jumped out of my skin!! :) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/212110/ Sun, 1 Oct 2006 00:36:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/212110/ I just had this conversation with my precious 3 yr old: J: "Mama, what dese hab in dem?" me: "they're craisins--so they have cranberries. Oh, and sugar." J: "Oooh! I LUB SUGAR!!         http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/193176/ Wed, 30 Aug 2006 15:07:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/193176/ Phew! We've finished our first week back to school! I'm still tinkering with things, but this is what we did this week:   E, age 7 (2nd grade) Sonlight Core 1 Mystery of History SL Science 1 Explode the Code book 4 (continuing from last year) SL Language Arts 2 Intermediate: MCP Phonics Level C & Diamond Notes   (Creative Writing Program) Math-U-See Beta (continuing from last year) Handwriting Without Tears My Printing Book Critical Thinking Activities book   R, age 5.5 (K) Sonlight Core 1 Mystery of History SL Science 1 Get Ready for the Code SL Language Arts K Math-U-See Primer Handwriting Without Tears Letters & Numbers for Me BOB books & SL Funtales   J, age 3 Whatever she wants to do from her Costco Preschool workbook   RL, almost 11 mos hopefully napping during school   We started school on Monday, which worked out well since it was dh's day off. As the principal of our school, he took the older kids out to breakfast to celebrate their first day. J & I stayed home & had a special time together making "First day of school necklaces" by stringing beads onto yarn! Dh had a good breakfast & was able to spend some time encouraging them & admonishing them to do their best. We've told them that they each have a focus this year; for E, it's improving his handwriting (hence the LA-heavy schedule above); for R, it's learning to read.   Our first day was long, as it was the first time I was formally schooling 2 kids, and I need to figure out the best way to do that. E hasn't been too happy that I'm not instantly available to answer his questions or check his work! We're also trying to add in Mystery of History, and it's a lot to combine with a Sonlight core. I still need to work out the kinks. Never mind that I also need to work in the occasional art appreciation lesson and classes at the Y for both the dc and myself! I'm not sure where in the schedule I can do some compressing without losing important components.   I took some pictures today of the kids with their Creation booklets that they made to illustrate our first Mystery of History lesson, and their pencil boxes, of which they're very proud of all their new school supplies! I've already had to take away J's scissors because she kept cutting up paper into little bits & refusing to clean them up! And E cut a "v" into the tablecloth. Sigh. I need to get dh to help me post the pictures, but that will have to wait--this mama-teacher is wiped out & needs to go to bed! :)   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/182569/ Sat, 12 Aug 2006 03:18:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/182569/ On Friday, we put the rest of the family to work (those who were packed & ready to go with a minimum of fuss, as they didn't have 4 kids to watch over!). Auntie Jaime is a very good baby-holder, and put baby RL right to sleep!   To make the most of our vacation, we took our time getting home . Again, Auntie Jaime & Uncle Mark took the 2 older kids in their car & we met up with them & Uncle Matt's family in Fresno to have some yummy Mexican food. Then we gathered up our clan, said our goodbyes, and headed south through the Central Valley ("America's Bread Basket"!). We only drove as far as Tehachapi, where we had a lovely evening swimming in the hotel pool, eating freshly-delivered pizza, and watching cable TV. Gotta love vacation! The drive home the next day was the easy part--then we got to unpack & start laundry! Thanks for joining us on our journey. I hope you enjoyed it! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/182566/ Sat, 12 Aug 2006 02:46:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/182566/ We hadn't yet visited the General Grant Grove of trees yet, even though we were staying in Grant Grove Village, so the Adams Family made a "quick trip" (as though anything we 6 could do would be quick) to see the General Grant tree and finish up the requirements for Elijah's & Rebekah's Junior Ranger program. Some of us were not as happy as others to pick up trash! (J grouched pretty much the whole time about having to carry the trash bag )   You just can't get a very good idea of how big these trees are unless you stand next to one. Or go in one! After our trip through the Grant Grove, we drove back to Giant Forest for the requisite family picture in front of the General Sherman Tree. This tree is the largest living thing on our planet--it's HUGE!! Gramma couldn't make the walk to the tree (they've redone the paths to better protect the trees), so we had to do the picture without her. :(Our new Junior Ranger, 5 yo R, posed with the Ranger who went over her paperwork. The rangers took the Jr Ranger program very seriously -- going over each page & making sure each child met the requirements before giving them their patches & signing their certificates. It was really neat! After that, we had fun playing at the Kaweah River near the Visitor Center. Well, until Elijah threw a rock into the pool nearest me, splashing me with the ice cold water. Oh, he should have known that you don't mess with The Mama and not expect revenge--you're getting thrown in the river! OK, so I didn't really throw him in the river--I just got his shirt wet. :) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/182565/ Sat, 12 Aug 2006 02:41:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/182565/ On this day we all planned to explore Kings Canyon. We caravanned through a beautiful gorge that the Kings River has carved out. The drive was just amazing as we descended down into the canyon. There were waterfalls alongside the road, and tantalizing glimpses of the river as we got lower & lower. We stopped at almost every corner to hop out & take pictures! The road was incredibly curvy.We stopped to look down into the gorge, and it was amazingly deep, with the Kings River white with froth at the bottom. 3 yo J was the only kid brave enough to get out & look into it! Finally we reached the bottom of the gorge & stopped to take more pictures at a spot where the road crossed over the Kings River. Our next stop was a lovely place called Grizzly Falls. The falls were pounding down on the rocks, creating a lovely mist blowing through the area. We all enjoyed the coolness! After a brief pit stop in Cedar Grove Village, we drove to Zumwalt Meadow, near the end of the road. Mike & Jaime took the older kids for a hike while I stayed back at the picnic area to feed the baby & protect our gear from the intermittent rainstorms. They hiked down to a footbridge that crosses the Kings River. The kids had fun fooling around in the ICE COLD water! After the hike & our picnic, we all had to high-tail it back to our cabins to get cleaned up for our big family dinner at the fancy Wuksachi Lodge near Giant Forest, back in Sequoia. Since that would involve an hour's drive back to Grant Grove, clean-up time and then an hour's drive to Giant Forest, we weren't able to stay at Zumwalt Meadow for very long. The Lodge was lovely though, and we had a fun time all having dinner together. We finally got everyone together for a family picture--all 21 of us (one cousin had to go home earlier that day). Night had fallen by the time we got everyone in place & looking the same direction! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/182564/ Sat, 12 Aug 2006 02:37:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/182564/ After breakfast in our room on Tuesday morning, we packed up to head to Giant Forest in Sequoia. We still hadn't seen any Sequoia trees, so we were pretty excited. The whole family piled into vehicles & headed out. It was about an hour's drive, but took us longer since we had to stop for pictures, and to let other cars pass our caravan!It was a little drizzly in the Giant Forest area, but it was a nice light rain, and made the day actually quite pleasant. We first went to the Giant Forest Museum, which used to be a gift shop way back when there were cabins in this area (this is where our family used to stay before they tore down the cabins in the late 90's to protect the Sequoia trees). The Museum was neat; it had an exhibit that showed how big a Sequoia is compared to other "big" things, and even showed a Sequoia seed. It's amazing how the world's largest living thing can grow from such a tiny thing--God is so amazing! E found a Sequoia cone, and shook out a seed so that we could see how little it was. R also enjoyed checking out the books, as she did everytime we went somewhere with a book section!We took some pictures in front of the Sentinel Tree in front of the museum, then walked across the street to Round Meadow. This was so odd for me--the last time I was here almost 20 years ago, the dining hall looked down on the meadow, and our cabins were a short walk up the hill. Now there's no trace that any buildings ever existed. The dining hall was right between the two big trees in the following picture. It's cool how the forest reclaims its own. It was also neat to see my kids doing the same things I did when I was a little girl: standing next to a Giant Sequoia tree & seeing how big they were in comparison!Of course, the adults have to do the same thing!We walked around the meadow & E read the signs to us (he's such a great reader!)while we all swatted at mosquitoes. Ugh!After we all got back together, we took a family picture before walking back to our cars. Rachel was a little trooper all through the transfers between car & stroller, etc. She loves to see the camera come out! She turns into *such* a ham, all smiles & little teeth!We drove by Morro Rock on the way from Round Meadow on the way to Crescent Meadow, but decided against climbing the rock this afternoon. Something about an exposed rock outcropping & a thunderstorm not sounding very appealing!We couldn't miss driving through the tunnel log on the way either! How many people can say they've driven through a tree & lived to tell about it?!Our next destination was Crescent Meadow. What was lovely about most of these places was that there were hardly any other people at any of them! It was just the 22 of us, and about a kajillion mosquitoes! A huge tree had fallen across the meadow and we used it to shorten the hike around. Even just the root system is so big that it dwarfed the kids. Amazing.We hurried to get back to our cabins in Kings Canyon, to get everyone cleaned up so that we could grill out for dinner. We had to toss all the kids in the bath, and the baby was especially happy to get all that insect repellant washed off!My dad entertained the girls while we all worked to get dinner on, while E found his own entertainment (playing with glow sticks)! It was nice to have so much family around to help with our kids, since they're all pretty young. It was a good experience for us all!We had a great dinner of carne asada that Gramma had brought, and everyone else pitched in a dish and helped with prep & cleanup. Once again, the kids crashed out after a very busy day! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/178627/ Sat, 5 Aug 2006 01:22:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/NoUglyOneYet/178627/