After tutoring on this cloudy, humid day, we packed up and had school at the library! We did this several times last year and it really gave us a boost. New scenery, books as far as the eye can see, new computer games, quiet, aaahhh!! I almost felt like my old self there; getting back in my rhythm of fun learning.
We have been studying stars, constellations, navigation and such. The kids have really enjoyed learning about the wonderful lights God placed in the sky and how people from long ago used them to find their way. I learned that the big and little dippers are not constellations, but asterims. They are part of the constellations, Ursa Minor and Ursa Major or the Little and Big Bear, respectively. I found a great constellation book with glow in the dark stars! We would blast off to my closet flashlight in tow and discover new constellations every afternoon. It was a lot of fun and memorable! We kicked off our unit with a trip to the Planetarium at UT in Arlington. We saw "The Stars At Night, Are Big and Bright" (deep in the heart of Texas!) The kids made lite bright constellations, as well as created their own with black construction paper, chalk, then they poked holes in the paper, which sparkled like stars when illuminated. I gave them the task of making a planetarium. I handed them a black trash bag and a fan. It took some questioning on my part to get them to come up with a "planetarium", but they did do it. So what did they do, you may be asking? They placed the fan at the opening of the bag an turned the fan on. This held the bag in place and the air kept it open. Then they poked holes in the bag to simulate stars. So, when looking into the black bag, it looked like you were looking at stars in the night sky! Another great Konos hands on, thinking activity! Stellar, simply stellar!
In honor of The Year of Astronomy, we are extending our studies next week to include Planets and Moons! At the library today, the kids found books for their planet research papers. Mitchell chose Mars, while Madilynn will focus on Saturn.
They enjoy the fun computer games at the library and took turns going on a mystery tour while I worked with them separately on nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. I ran into a fellow home school Mom, who also has kids who learn differently with Dyslexia. It always a blessing to run into her and I am quite certain, God orchestrates our chance meetings. We understand. We get each other's kids. We are not alone.
Carving out time just for our family is getting tougher these days. There are many good things, in which to be involved. However, choosing the season and time of life to do them is critical to keeping family bonds strong. (Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.- 1 Corinthians 10:23)
So, this semester, Wednesday nights are Family Night! This is a night with no outside distractions, activities, chores or meetings. It is family dinner time with some good face time!
Here is our loose plan, so we don't fritter our time away...
Devotions
Prayer Time - requests for others, praise reports, concerns and requests for family/self
Show and Tell - share special work from school
Games or Special Activities
Mitchell at the Archery Range at Cub Scout Camp.They also got to shoot BB guns. The Scouts take it seriously and had an awesome safety instruction prior to being allowed on the range. Madilynn got the hang of archery!
End of May and June have been a bit of a blur. We have been to the water park multiple times with friends, went home to Bastrop to see the familyf and hiking in Bastrop State Park (lots of Pine Trees!), went to Cub Scout Day Camp for a week (8a-4p in the very hot weather), and began reading tutoring! Whew!
Reading tutoring was not on my agenda this summer. However, one thing led to another while I was researching Dyslexic reading programs and the Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic program. I reconnected with Mitchell's 2nd grade teacher (no longer teaching), who is a Reading Specialist and a trained Dyslexic Specialists. She agreed to assess the kids in reading, phonics and spelling. The assessment revealed they both needed help. We knew this, but were stuck as to which way to go. There are so many programs available now. His teacher suggested Alphabetic Phonics. It is the 4 day a week, 2 year program we are just beginning. It is hands on and structured. The kids are going through all the letters via speaking, handwriting, (cursive) spelling and some kinesthetic activities. It is slow going here at first, but will pick up as we move along. They are responding well and need this instruction. We are so thankful to have Cathy's expertise! She is great with the kids and they enjoy the interaction with her. The one on one instruction, or two in our case with my minimal help, is a huge blessing!
Echinacea in full bloom! Love, love, love this flower!
I love to sit in my swing and look at all the beautiful flowers in bloom!
Zinnia popping out!
Mitchell's tomatoes.
Cilantro in bloom. We love this herb.
We have a good crop of cucumbers growing too. My kids just figured out that a pickle is a cucumber! Funny! Madilynn's strawberries are blooming again as well. Seems this time a little varmint may be getting to the berries before we do. We also have green peppers, carrots, onions and Italian Parsley growing. Even though our tomato plants looks ragged, they are producing good fruit.
With the wet spring we have had, camping has just not happened. We have all been disappointed but instead, have gone on some wonderful day trips! Dinosaur Valley in Glen Rose, Texas was our trip du jour. The weather for that day was about 60% rain, but coverage would be sporadic. We rose early and headed out armed with a picnic lunch, my camera, the dog and Mitchell's walking stick.
There are dinosaur prints and hiking trails and camp sites along the Puloxy River.
We saw an abundance of wildlife and plants. The kids were thrilled at seeing their very first, real live, ROAD RUNNER! Mitchell researched the terrestrial bird not too long ago. I used to see them all the time when I was a kid growing up along FM 969 in Bastrop, Texas. The kids have been wanting to see one for quite some time. Deer, bunnies, bugs, butterflies and birds were everywhere. Our ears were especially attuned to the call of the Northern Cardinal. They were everywhere.
The timing of our day was only orchestrated by the Lord. We completed our long morning hike just in time to finish our lunch before the down pour. The rain stopped and we headed back out. We visited the Camp Store where Mitchell purchased another state park medallion for his walking stick. Then the kids donned their swim suits and walked along the river splashing and playing. Cache loved it! It began to rain again and we headed to the van for our trip home. We stopped at Cleburne State Park on our way, to check out it's camp sites and fishing. A good fishing hole, Troy said. We did use our GPS, hoping to snag some geocaches, but we did not find any. Actually we only looked for maybe two. Without my paper trail to give me clues about their location, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
We had an awesome day and can't wait to go on our next hiking adventure!
The kids have been going every Wednesday night to T-Kids. It is a program at church where the spend time having interactive fun learning about bible stories and playing with friends. Each week the memorize a verse and we do more in depth study of the week's bible story at home. They receive "special money" or Kingdom Kash for returning their homework and reciting their verse each week. With the Kash they can buy things and special Store Nights throughout the year. Mitchell had his eye on a Rip Stick since September! He saved every single one of his Kingdom Kash for 9 months in hope of buying the modified skateboard. Finally, May 20th he got his reward at the last Store Night! He was so excited and I was very proud of him. It was a long year for him and it was not without temptation of calling it quits! He pushed through it, with our insistence, and came out the other side triumphantly.
He is a quick study of anything physical. That evening after T-Kids, we spent about 30 minutes outside, so he could master the tricky ride. He did it!! He and Troy Googled rip stick, watched a short video about how to get started and voila! It looks so fun to ride and even easier than a traditional skateboard. I want to try, but am pretty sure I would hurt myself!
Madilynn did very well at T-Kids too. She was such a helper to her teachers each week. Perhaps she will be a wonderful "teacher" one day! She also was able to make some special friends and spend time with them each Wednesday evening learning about God's love. She too memorized scripture and had homework weekly. Madilynn likes to spend! So she bought items at every Store Night. Journals, hair accessories, candy, key chains, she loved it all! She just could not bring herself to save up for that mini iPod she wanted. ;) Just as well, she is only 6! I am so proud of her too for sticking with the program all year and learning how to be in a community of Christ, sharing and learning together.
As usual, if I snap a photo of Mitchell she wants in on the action! Daddy just raised her seat on her bike, so I was told to document this via a snapshot!
One of Madilynn's T-Kids teachers is a missionary from Vietnam. She and her family have been at our church on a year's break. They will head back to Vietnam in September. We hope to be pen pals with Ms. Becky, learning all about the culture and seeing how they are serving the people of Vietnam. Maybe one day, we can go on a mission trip to Vietnam ourselves!
Our nature adventure did not extend beyond our own front yard today. The kids have been playing in our Bradford Pear trees which line the streets in our neighborhood. Today while perched up in his "nest" Mitchell spotted the tiniest little yellow droplets. He seemed to know what they were instantly. "I found some ladybug eggs!" he exclaimed. He proceeded to search the web to confirm his findings. Sure enough, he was right!
Below is an up close photo I snapped while precariously standing on an old stool. The tree is barely big enough to sustain Mitchell's 80 lbs., so I figured it would not hold my, well, let's just say, more than 80 lbs.!
We will keep our eyes on them and hopefully will get to see them go from egg to larvae and then their metamorphosis into adult ladybugs.
It is so awesome to see the creations of God unfold everyday in a new way, through the eyes of eager to learn children.
Day 2
Mitchell was eager to check out the status of the eggs this morning. Much to our surprise, they had already hatched and were dining on their egg casing. The little bugs are so tiny!
The tiny white spec is what is left of the egg casings, which are covered with tiny, dark larvae.
These pictures were quite hard to get. The larvae are much tougher to see as opposed to the pretty yellow cluster of eggs. Once again I found myself dubiously poised among the small branches of our tree. My zoom lens would not capture the shot because I was too close and my regular lens was not magnified enough. I did not have the equipment or skill to get just the right magnification. I have lots to learn about photography. (another hobby of mine that takes a backseat)
Once the excitement of the hatch was over, we settled in the backyard to see what else we could observe. Mitchell went for one more look in the front yard. As I was sitting on my new swing (Mother's day gift!) Mitchell came running, noticeably upset. He did not have to say what happened. I knew instantly. He had inadvertently knocked the ladybug larva off the tree. Such a bummer for all of us, as we were hoping to watch them change and morph into ladybugs over a couple of weeks. Oh well. I reckon he will be more careful next time. And we will never forget such a wonderful find.
May. 18, 2009 - Cub Scout Graduation, Art with Beans and Garden Finds
Mitchell graduated from a Bear Cub Scout to a Webelos. WeBeLoS stands for We'll Be Loyal Scouts. This new rank marks the beginning of two years as a Webelos. There is more emphasis on den outings and completing badge accomplishments within the den vs. parent directed activities to earn badges. Troy will be stepping up as Den Assistant for our group. He and Mitchell are looking forward to the upcoming Scout year! They are planning a summer camp out just for his den.
In keeping with our Summer Day Camp theme, Medieval Times, the boys were "
knighted" into their new rank.
Mitchell and Ray, his Den Leader, an Eagle Scout.
Troy, my husband in full uniform.
He finally gets to be a Scout! Never got to as a kid.
When we wrapped up our Birds Unit, the kids did some lovely mosaics of a bird of their choice. We all so love the Canada Goose we saw in Mineral Wells State Park.
Canada Goose in Beans by Madilynn
The Red Tailed Hawk is a common siting here.
Red Tailed Hawk in beans by Mitchell
Speaking of birds, our lovely Golden Retriever Cache loves to watch, stalk and chase after them. She has yet to catch one, until last night! None of us witnessed the great snag, but Madilynn looked out the back door in time to see some feathers flying! Oddly enough, we all cheered. It was a feat, long time coming for Cache! She did not eat it, but rather batted at it with her paws, unsure of what to do next. Troy finally came and put the little Grackle out of it's misery. I did feel a tinge of sadness for the poor little thing, but then this is how the food chain works. Besides Grackles are highly annoying birds in these parts!
Our Bird dog!
Garden Finds
Madilynn's Sequioa Strawberries!
Mitchell's lil' tomato!
Being the amateur gardeners that we are, when we placed our garden box we did not take into account the tree growth and thus the SHADE the garden box is no in. So we are not too sure how our tomatoes will ultimately do. The Sequoia strawberries produced quite well and from what I have read, it is possible it is over for the season. There have been no blooms for weeks now. There are June bearers and some Ever bearers. Thinking we have the June bearers, which produced early with some of our warm weather, as happens in warmer climates.
A little bloom that sprouted up. Was not even expecting the little beauty.
This is my cone flower or Echinacea, which has done so beautifully after emerging from it's long winter's nap. Dozens of these little blooms cover the tall plant. I can't wait for the purple petals to pop out!
Went to Home School Day at the Ball Park in Arlington to see the Texas Rangers play the Oakland Athletics. Our team lost, but we had a wonderful time. We saw a few bats get broken and a player tossed out of the game. Might I add, I had to find my way to the ball park by myself and was never so glad to get somewhere!
Geography - armed with a list of all the baseball teams in the National League and the American League the kids have been locating the cities and states each team calls home, on the map. They are using road atlas', magnifying glasses and larger maps. While doing this they are learning how to read addresses and to determine if a name is a city or state. They seems to have quite a bit of fun with this. It is a discovery activity and thus I just assist and guide. I do not show and tell them where anything is located.
I typed up all the team names along with their home city and state. I had Madilynn cut them out and divide them in piles of teams and locations. Then I had the kids sort the teams by land animals, sea animals and air animals vs. non-animals. They learned that a Ranger is not a horse, even though the team mascot is one! Madilynn also sorted the teams into groups of 5 and counted by 5's to get the total number of teams. The discovered most of the teams are not named after animals at all.
We are reading a variety of books on the subject of baseball. This week we learned about Cal Ripken and his team, the Boston Orioles' great losing streak. 21 games in a row that team lost. It was a good book and good story of perseverance.
A little baseball history is being digested as we read through various historical moments in the sport. The Merkle Moment and the race to the most home runs are but a few.
Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting Baseball with Football - the kids came up with many thoughtful differences and similarities.
I have never fully appreciated baseball all these years, but it is growing on me! Mitchell wakes up most mornings with his glove and ball in his hand and is ready to play. He never expressed an interest in playing little league baseball until recently. We have tossed the ball around a great deal and have so much fun doing so. Cache tries to get in on the action too! Mitchell even crafted me a Mother's Day card out of cut out baseballs down to the red stitching. (which is done by hand, by the way and is amazing to watch)
As I tucked Madilynn into bed last night we had our usual loving banter, with a little something extra thrown in by her. It went like this....
Me - "I love you!"
Madilynn - "I love you too.
Me - "I love you MORE."
Madilynn - "I love you GOOGLE!"
I totally was not expecting that last little nugget! Google! I laughed as I hugged her tightly and asked what that meant. She said "It means all the numbers in the world. I love you more than all the numbers in the world."
I have taught her many things, this is not one of them however. I was so astonished! I told Troy and Mitchell immediately piped up and said, "It means the numbers that go on forever. I taught her that!"
I am a wife and Mother who's brain moves too fast, in too many directions, at the same time! I am quite eclectic and dichotomos in my approach to most things. I love French Country, painted furniture, flawless, traditional wood finishes and chippy peely, old treasures.
Something old next to something new is so charming. Sparkly is great if kept to a minimum. Needing schedule and list to accomplish most things, I get bored quickly with routines. I love conservative talk radio!
Chocolate is a fav as is cheesecake, pizza and fish tacos. I enjoy baking, cooking with new recipes, reading, being outside with the family, camping and watching a good movie. Writing is fun for me and maybe, just maybe one day I will write a book!
I wish I had a library in my house and the time to read each book.
