Soaring Wings Academy
Aug. 20, 2006

What We Learned at The Chattahoochee Nature Center

We learned that you actually can SEE a Great Horned Owl.  We usually only get to hear them.  We learned that beavers are bigger than they appear on TV and that a beaver pond smells.  I learned turtles come up to the surface if you spit on the water.  Apparently this is what my boys learn at Scouts!  I did waive the usual $5 fine for spitting, but did ask them to stop once we saw several turtles.  We learned that you have to give vultures a carcass for meals.  And that it smells worse than the beaver pond.  We learned that nature center maps are not drawn to scale and that uphill trails are not marked as such.  We learned there are no alligators in our wetlands.  (We already knew this, but I had to keep up the “we learned” thing.)  We learned there are some weird looking trees that have some medicinal use.  For instance the tree with bumps and thorns on the trunk is called a Toothache tree because you can eat the bark and leaves to relieve toothaches.  I learned that a teenage girl can whine as much as a toddler.  I also learned that when said teenager asks how much longer, it is so much fun to say, “We are planning to camp here tonight.  Where are you putting your tent?”  We learned that a visit to Dairy Queen is a great way to end a field trip on a hot summer day.  We learned that we have some great friends and field trips are the best when shared with them. 





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Aug. 15, 2006

The EASY Button

Apparently I spoke to soon about math going smoothly.  I am unable to understand how he can forget from one day to the next.  It is driving me crazy!!  I think I need one of those EASY buttons from Staples.  I have the Saxon Math book ready to see if we just need a different approach.  But he insists that he wants to stick with MUS.  So we are giving it one more week.  If it doesn’t start clicking, we are switching.  At least until I get that EASY button.

I did a lot of reading today.  I read from Children’s History of the World about the Benedictine Monks.  I read two more chapters in Otto of the Silver Hand.  I read a book about Saint Nicholas.  I read two chapters of Pagoo. The kids hate to stop that one!  That is a lot of reading aloud for my still-sort-of-weird-bells-palsy mouth!  I am so grateful for books on tape!  Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is an online resource from my library. I didn’t even have to check it out.  It just downloads onto my computer.  So handy!

Latin and Spanish continue to be fun for us all.  And I am still in amazement that they love grammar and spelling!  The Easy Grammar and Spelling Power are proving to give a big bang for the time spent.  It really has been a wonderful addition to our school day.  

The boys started back to tennis today.  Actually it is Connor’s first class, but he went to tennis camp this summer and of course he is out there learning from Dad a couple of days each week.  I was really surprised to see how much Zachary has improved.  I haven’t been going out to hit with them these last couple of months because of the bad air quality and my asthma.  I am looking forward to seeing how well they do in ALTA this fall.  For all of you not in Atlanta, ALTA is the biggest recreational tennis organization in the country.  Basically for me it means a lot a driving!  But I love to see them out there playing and I am sure it makes Sung proud.

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Aug. 14, 2006

Blogging in the Family

My son started his own blog.  I have to say I am so proud because he picked the template and took a picture to replace the horse one.  It is a great picture!  And it has gotten him writing.  He decided to write about the hummingbirds and wanted to add a picture.  I have been guiding him through it step-by-step so hopefully he will be able to do these things without me soon!  Stop by and see his blog and leave a comment!
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Aug. 10, 2006

School in the Garage

Sometimes education just moves into your garage.  Connor went to the garage to take out the trash and “screamed like a girl.” (Sorry if this offends any girls, but if have ever heard Connor scream that is exactly what you would say.)  He comes running into the house and screamed that there is a snake in our garage.  Just so you know, nothing like this EVER happens when hubby is at home!!!

 

I told Connor to grab the camera.  I am not one to let an educational opportunity slither by!  I knew there is no way I was going to stop and get close enough to this thing to identify it later.  It was hiding under our old spare refrigerator.  Zachary and Connor were in the back of the SUV with the door open.  I was outside the garage just waiting to snap the picture, as I was sure the snake would just run away. Zachary banged on the fridge and it came out!  I started taking pictures and I think I was screaming at the same time.  Because once it saw/heard me, it went right back into the garage behind the gardening tools. 

 

We tried to scare it back out but it just crawled into a crack beside the door to the garage.  That was enough excitement for me.  We just left the garage doors opened and hoped that he would vacate the premises on his own when things got quiet.

 

The picture came out a little blurry.  Perhaps one can't hold a camera steady while screaming.  We were able to identify our visitor as a Black Rat Snake.  Completely harmless.  That is, of course, unless you give yourself a heart attack by screaming!  I sure hope he went home to his mommy! 

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Aug. 8, 2006

Short and Sweet

We got to sleep in today since we all stayed up late to watch Hidalgo again.  I just love those underdog wins against all odds movie!  The day went well.  The highlight of the day for me is hearing Connor repeating the Latin vowel sounds as he was doing his chores and at dinner saying the first part of the prayer we learned.  The boys have really taken to the languages of our study this year.  Zachary has a good ear for the sounds.  He always did.  When he was little he would mimic my Korean MIL and he sounded just like her.

 

Our history stories today covered the Dark Ages of Britain, named so because so little was ever written about what happened during those years.  We learned how what little we know today is due to the passing down of songs and poems.  We read the poem of Beowulf of the Celts and the story of Craith of the Anglo-Saxons.  We started Otto of the Silver Hand and we think it is going to be a great book full of adventure and it is filled with so much history information.

 

We got to sleep in today since we all stayed up late to watch Hidalgo again.  I just love those underdog wins against all odds movie!  The day went well.  The highlight of the day for me is hearing Connor repeating the Latin vowel sounds as he was doing his chores and at dinner saying the first part of the prayer we learned.  The boys have really taken to the languages of our study this year.  Zachary has a good ear for the sounds.  He always did.  When he was little he would mimic my Korean MIL and he sounded just like her.

 

Our history stories today covered the Dark Ages of Britain, named so because so little was ever written about what happened during those years.  We learned how what little we know today is due to the passing down of songs and poems.  We read the poem of Beowulf of the Celts and the story of Craith of the Anglo-Saxons.  We started Otto of the Silver Hand and we think it is going to be a great book full of adventure and it is filled with so much history information.

 



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What We Are Reading



Otto of the Silver Hand
by Howard Pyle


Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
by Jules Verne


Pagoo
by Holling C. Holling

What Zachary is Reading



Mossflower
by Brian Jacques

What Connor is Reading



Holes
by Louis Sachar

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words


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