Updates on our latest adventures! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:24:00 -0500 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:24:00 -0500 How can it possibly be so long since I have written?  Well, for one thing, my life is NOT all that exciting!  I am working at the Kenai Watershed Forum, and that is going great.  The people I work with are wonderful, and I am enjoying what I do.  Crunching numbers for non-profits appears to be my niche!  We have been painting and redecorating our house.  Trying to get settled in and make our house a home again.  Madison loves her "flag" room and I am enjoying seeing my house take on a new personality.  Claire Rowley has been a life-saver in the painting department - I can not thank her enough!  She and have made a habit of sharing a meal at St. Elias before we hit the paint brushes.... I just returned from counting boats on the river at Pillars.  It's part of an intensive 3 day study of hydrocarbons on the river.  I really like that I get to work "out in the field" occassionally.  However, after sitting  on the floating dock for over an hour....my head thinks it's floating for the rest of the day.  Luckily I don't get nauseous ---- just "float" for a while.  Oscar is just as happy as always...he's loving being able to fetch a ball/toy that's thrown more than 6 feet!  Our summer has been TERRIBLE weather "wise", but the past 2 days have been nice and sunny and I was able to be a sun worshiper for the first time this summer!  Got a bit of a sunburn, but nothing serious.  That's all the update for now....I told you my life's not THAT exciting!  We did go camping last weekend with my sister-in-law, and the kids had a ball.  I should try to post some pictures of that -- but have to reload my camera/picture program onto my laptop again...and I have no clue where it is.....somewhere in the garage in a box.....with ALL the other stuff!  Thanks for checking in...............Rhonda http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/563515/ Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:24:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/563515/ http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/545451/ Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:17:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/545451/ This past weekend we ventured up to Anchorage to see Cirque Jungle.  It was a fun-filled trip!  We went with my sister-in-law (Lauri), my nephew Spencer, and the Jackson's kids Sullivan and Celina.  All of us in my brother's Durango.  It was comfortable but cozy.  THEN Lauri decided to buy some MONGO-HUGE planters for my brother's office - about 2 1/2 feet diameter!  The kids had to hug them in their seats for 2 full days - in and out every time.  They were troopers about it - I kept thinking we were going to meet up with my friends, the Birds and pass off some of our packages to them....and so I kept saying, "This is the last time you have to hold those planters", and then we'd get in and I'd say it again!  Finally, we really did pass them off right before we left Anchorage to head home! We stayed at a hotel with a pool, ordered pizza and ate the hotel's fresh cooked chocolate chip cookies.  The kids had a ball, and they all thoroughly enjoyed Cirque Jungle, even Spencer who slept through a very short portion (he played too hard in the pool the night before).  Madison like the contortionists the best and wants to learn how!  She is rather flexible, but I don't think a career of contortioning is in her future!  We are wrapping up the homeschooling for this year - it has been a great year of learning for both of us.  My favorite was History, hers was Math - gotta love that kid! :) That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping buy...feel free to say "hello" while you're here!  Rhonda    http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/520712/ Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:58:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/520712/ Hi All!  Last night I had an amazing experience.  I had noticed in the paper last week that a concentration camp survivor was going to be speaking in Moose Pass about her experiences.  I knew right then and there that I had to go.  I have always been fascinated with that time period in history, and with the whole concept of concentration camps and the survivors of such.  When I travelled to Germany in high school we actually visited the concentration camp Dachau.  It was a very surreal experience, one I have never forgotten.  Coincedentally, I was nearing the end of a very long book called "Nuremburg" about the trials held in Nuremburg following WWII for the leaders of the Nazi party in which most were found guilty and executed.  Anyway, I invited several people to accompany me, and none were able.  I normally would never attend anything like this by myself, but me and my pathetic car (which continues to have problems no matter how much $$$ I pour into it) set off for Moose Pass.  When I arrived at the Moose Pass Elementary gym, the community potluck was in full swing.  I had already eaten, but instantly realized I would have been welcome to eat along with all the "Moose Passers".  People were very friendly and there was electricy in the air.  The woman who arranged the whole visit of Gerda Klein spoke first about her experience bringing a Holocaust survivor to Moose Pass, Alaska.  The Gerda Klein spoke for about an hour and took questions from the audience for about 45 minutes.  She was very well spoken, but also very down to earth...you felt like you were listening to a friend talk.  She did not speak of the horrors of her journey...she said you can read about those easily and that everything you read is true....but she primarily addressed the young people of the audience and how it is on their shoulders to carry on America's legacy into the years she will never see.  She turns 84 next month.  She spoke quite a bit about America and what a tremendous country we live in - brought me to tears.  She also shared a few distinct experiences about her journey and people along the way.  I can't begin to sum it up in a words, sentences or paragraphs....it was too powerful.  I will never forget it.  She has addressed the United Nations as their keynote speaker during the first official recognition of the Holocaust (20 some years after it happened), and has written several books (I, of course, have ordered one).  A documentary based on the book of her life won an Oscar, and she spoke about that experience too.  She embraced the people of Moose Pass, and I'm glad I went there to see her.  It wouldn't have been the same to sit in an auditorium and hear her.  The main thing she talked about though was hope....giving to others.....tolerance.....making a difference in the world......touching others' lives.  It was very insperational, and her words will stay with me for a long time.  God continually puts people and experiences in my life that put everything in perspective......she talked about waiting in a long, long line with her tin bowl not knowing if there would be food left at the time she got to the front....and if there was....would the server possible dip down far enough to give her one bite of potatoe?  She spoke of constant hunger.  As Americans, we have so much...and yet we think we need more, more, bigger, better, stronger, faster.  And, I, have to confess, want more, bigger, better, stronger, faster also much of the time.  But last night, as I drove home in my pathetic car, I was grateful to have a car....to have a home to go to...that was heated....and clothes to wear in the morning that I hadn't been wearing for 3 years....and a church to attend the next morning.....of my choosing, without condemnation, threats or intimdation or persecution.  I am blessed.  Take a moment today and thank God for the blessings He has put in your life....and then see if you can make a difference in the world one person at a time.....  Rhonda http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/507749/ Mon, 31 Mar 2008 01:13:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/507749/ Madison's latest language assignment...it was based on a book called "Hailstones and Halibut Bones".  She was to describe a color as if she were telling a blind person.  She, of course, picked her favorite color: Yellow is a BANANA freshly picked,  in your mouth.   Yellow is the giant cracked BELL ringing on Sunday morning.   Yellow is the JOY you have when you win the first basketball game.   Yellow is the warm POPCORN on your hand right from the microwave.   Yellow is the homade LEMON PIE you have going into your mouth.   Yellow is the SUN on a hot  Alaskan morning.   Yellow is the grainy SAND from Idaho going through your fingers.   Yellow is the zest of a LEMON in your Pepsi.   Yellow is the scent of a LILLY from the big green field.   Yellow is the HAPPINESS of being alive. Didn't she do a good job?!?!  I'm really proud of her!  She wrote it all by herself.  From a proud mom...Rhonda http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/504116/ Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:29:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/504116/ Happy Easter!!!! Praise the Lord!!!! He IS Risen!!!   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/503531/ Sun, 23 Mar 2008 17:38:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/503531/ Madison and I have spent the past couple days in Anchorage at the state basketball tournament. We have been hanging around the Sullivan Arena A LOT.  Madison's favorite thing is the table with free gum samples that a sponsor is handing out.  She gets at least 1 sample every time she walks by.  CIA girls lost their first game Tues night, then won yesterday and this morning, taking 4th place for the tournament.  We're going back this evening to watch the championship games for 2A division.  We also saw Kenai boys play today - they won in overtime --- it was great.  Headed back home tomorrow....vacation over....back to the telephone, bills, mail, jobs, lame (literally) vehicle, schoolwork, etc.  Oh, to live the life of luxery and just watch basketball games and eat concession food all day.  Guess it's got to end sometime, eh?  Rhonda http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/502034/ Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:01:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/502034/ Madison's latest school project was to research a topic and write a paper on it.  She did a great job!  Read below to see what you researched: Have you ever read a Guiness Book of World records.  I have and I like them very much.  The Buiness Book started in 1954.  Hugh Bever was having an argument in Ireland over the fastest bird and they had no way to tell who's right.  So they decited to fix that.  They decited to make a book of records.  They called it Guiness because Guiness stout ale was sold in pubs and it was a recognizeble name. They published ther first Book and sold 198 ocpies.  It was the best non-fiction book sold.  Now they are selling 3 million copies a year in America!  They are now published in 23 copies!  WOW. At the end...she meant 23 languages.....  I have been really proud of her.  She has been working very hard on her schoolwork and I think I've been learning just as much as she is!  We just covered WWII in history, which I find one of the most fascinating time periods ever.  Thanks for checking in!  Rhonda http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/492680/ Tue, 4 Mar 2008 22:43:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/492680/ Madison just finished a whole unit on poetry and wrote 2 things I wanted to show off.  This first is a limerick: There was a young man from Hawaii, He like to eat mahi-mahi, So one day he ate it, He totally hated it, So decided to move to Kauai! Pretty good, huh?  The next is a conundrum - a play on words using homophones: We couldn't shoot the canon through the wall of the ship because it was a hardship. What can I say?  She's pretty darn good, huh?!  Rhonda http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/485897/ Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:06:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/485897/ Alaska is the CRAZIEST place on earth!  Last week it was 30 degrees below zero and my car wouldn't start..... this week it is 40 degrees above zero and I'm driving through lakes in parking lots!!!!  As a true Alaskan, I know this is not the end of winter...oh, no.... not even close.  It's just a teaser to get us anticipating what other places call "spring" and us Alaskans call "break-up" -- believe me, "break-up" IS a season! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/484851/ Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:01:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rgomro/484851/