For those of you who know Melissa from blogging, consider yourselves blessed.  But, if you're lucky enough to know her in person, how much more blessed you are!  It was such a treat to spend time with her last week.  Not only that, she took on all three of my children while I spoke at the THINK meeting AND hosted us overnight so we didn't have to drive home late.  Thank you, Melissa.  I know I owe you one for sure!  (Toddlers who know how to escape out of the house are so much fun, aren't they??)

On our way home from Melissa's Wednesday morning, I spied a sign for Big Bone Lick State Park.  It had been so long since we'd been there, I decided to take an impromtu field trip.  This is a place where bison, mastadons, wooly mammoths and the like came for salt many years ago.  Of course, that means Native Americans and explorers found their way to the area as well.  We even found (and smelled) a sulphur water spring that became a supposed "healing water" hot spot in the early 1800's.  If you can't tell, the water is almost a creamy white coming out of the spring.

Answers in Genesis has really helped me to be prepared to speak to my children about "millions of years" when we're at a place like Big Bone.  Nearly everything we read talked about the animals roaming the land 300 million years ago, when SO MUCH proof was right in front of our eyes that pointed to a world-wide flood.  Imagine, they found fossils of sea-like creatures smack-dab in the middle of Kentucky??  Imagine, large deposits of salt were found in Kentucky??  I'm so proud that my children can point out the obvious.  They do listen to me! 

Notice the tape measure in the two pictures above.  Caleb just happened to bring along a tape measure and binoculars on our trip.  When I asked him why in the world he would have packed those things (not having a clue we were going to do any sort of nature study), he said, "Well, you never know when they might come in handy."  Indeed they did!  :)  (I wonder what else he had packed!!)

We were again blessed later in the week when my parents took care of the kiddos and hosted us overnight so I could talk at the CACH meeting.  On Friday, we were able to talk my Dad into a tour of the lab in the hospital where he works.  We're studying chemistry this year and seeing all the lab equipment, chemists and live "experiments" in person turned out to be a great visual for the kids.  (My dad used to be the lab manager and I remember spending many a day watching all the lab techs do their work.  I only wish the lab were as safe now as it was then.  I was probably over-protective, but I didn't want to take any chances with all the lovely things hospitals deal with now-a-days.)

The coolest part by far was the pathology area.  The pathologist was in and gave the kids an awesome look into his world.  We watched him dissect gall bladders, tonsils, colon polyps, knee shavings and more.  He even offered the kids a chance to open up a gall bladder.  I think the picture below shows their answer best.

Okay, so I might not have a pathologist in the family, or a med tech, or anyone who goes remotely near a hospital on purpose.  God knows what He has in store for them and I'm excited to see what awaits! 

We had a busy week, but it was a good one!  And by the way, Happy Birthday, Daddy!! 

And thank you VERY much THINK and CACH for allowing me to come visit with your groups.  You are both full of very friendly and encouraging ladies (and gentlemen.)  It was a complete joy for me to share my heart with you.  :o)

Could it be from a full day at Kentucky KIngdom yesterday?

Or possibly shucking, washing, parboiling, cutting off the cob and freezing 150 ears of corn today?

Have you ever visited Shakertown?  It's such a lovely place to visit in Central KY.  This weekend, we were treated to our first ever overnight stay in one of the original village buildings!  My father-in-law took our family and the horses for two days of trail riding, hiking, touring and dining at the historic restaurant.  We had a super time!  Thank you, Papaw!!

Mahayla and one of her best buds have been planning a camping trip since January.  Yes, that's FIVE months!  After many revised lists, faxes to one another and late nights on the phone planning, the trip finally happened this weekend.  The two girls and two other best buds (along with a couple of Dads and, to their dismay, a brother) spent two nights on the back of our farm.

The girls planned every single aspect of the trip and even raised money to buy all their supplies!  Now, for a planner like Mahayla, it was a tad difficult when a few plans had to be changed, but overall the trip was great!  It was even more great that I didn't have to go!!  ;)

School is officially out for the summer, but that won't stop us from taking advantage of many great learning opportunities!  This week we visited our local water treatment plant and the neighboring electric generation plant. 

If you've ever read The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks, then you've visited our water treatment plant!  :)  I was amazed at how closely the book and the local process were alike.

 We are standing on the pumping station overlooking the creek where the water comes from.

After learning that the water is first cleaned with (many ) chemicals, we were taken out to the settling basins.  The two basins on either side are full of water with alum.  Alum essentially grabs the dirties from the water and gets heavy enough to sink to the bottom of the basin.  The middle section is the cleaner water then being pulled out and into an indoor filter room. 

If you look closely, you can see the alum - little white specks. 

This is a picure of the alum basin and the clean water running off to the right.  Can you see the difference in cleanliness already?

Inside, the site manager showed us a model of what happens in the filter basins.  Water brought in from outside goes through the many layers of charcoal, earth materials and rocks to finish the cleaning process.  (I have a science experiment based on this model that we're going to do next week.)

Finally, you can see the clearest water yet that comes out of the filter process.  Here, more chemicals are added (like flouride) before the water is sent out into the world and into your faucet.

Right next door to the water treatment plant is the electric generation plant.  You won't hear much explanation about this part of the trip - partly because I got busy talking and missed part of the presentation and partly because I really haven't a clue about the ins and outs of electricity.  Thank the Lord for people who do understand it, though.  I sure appreciate my lights and other electrical conveniences!

Wanna see what we did for a field trip this week?  I love the zoo!

 

 

Here are two pictures of most of our gang - my children, my sister and her children and my parents all went.

 

 

 

Here's what Eli thought about each and every animal we saw.

 

 

 

And here's a very fun new addition to the zoo this year - a small water play park!

 

 

In the end, we were rained out and had to leave early.  We only missed a few animal exhibits - penguins, kangaroos and orangutans.  I guess we'll just have to go back and visit again soon!

 

Thanks to our area minor league baseball team, we had FREE tickets to one of their games this weekend!  The Lexington Legends host a reading challenge each year that allows kids to read for two free tickets to a game.  Both of our older children earned two tickets, so off we went.......

This weekend was also the kick-off for Caleb's baseball season.  After a parade of the teams through town and a short field dedication, each team batted through their line-up once.  We love baseball season! 

There's a Toyota Plant not too far from us.  For years I've been wanting to go on the free tour they offer,  but my children have always been too young.  Children have to be at least 1st grade with a parent chaperone for safety reasons.  Anyway, this year, we left baby toddler Eli with Grandma and Grandpa and joined our homeschool group for a very fun tour.

You aren't allowed cameras (or bags for that matter) in the buildings, so the only pictures I have are right out front of the visitor's center and the only shot my camera would allow just inside the visitor's  center. 

After viewing a short film about the plant history and manufacturing that takes place there, they load you up into little trams, complete with your own safety goggles and headphones to hear the tour guide.  The trams go over acres and acres of building space as you see almost every area of production.  As half-finished cars travel overhead, engines are being placed to your left and wheels to your right.  The size of the buildings and amount of work going on around you is truly amazing!  And all this in a very neat and orderly fashion.  The engineers who designed this space must be beyond brilliant.

Some of our highlights included the huge rolls of steel that we saw being cut and then stamped into trunks, the robots that were stamping and welding, the little robot cars that traveled from space to space delivering materials, watching the cars "come to life" from the beginning shell to the complete car driving off the assembly line, and all people it took just to make this place go.  As soon as we got off the tram, my son declared that he need to know how old you have to be to work at Toyota.  Of course, he already has plans to own a Chik-Fil-A and work at a McDonalds, so I'm not really sure how Toyota is going to fit into the picture.  Time will tell.  :)

If you live anywhere near a car manufacturing plant, call about a tour.  It was a great field trip!

Mammoth Cave is the most amazing site!  As the longest cave system in the world, there are many tours offered to cover miles and miles of underground beauty.  We chose the easiest tour because of Eli, but it also happens to be one of the most beautiful tours as well.  The Frozen Niagra tour is one of the only "wet" tours, which means you get to see God's work in action.  Stalactites and stalagmites are being formed as you watch.  Plus, you get to see the most amazing works of God's hand, including a huge formation appropriately called the Frozen Niagra that looks as if Niagra Falls has been frozen in rock.

Even as we listened to our tour guide talk about millions of years, we were able to clearly see God's handiwork through the flood.  We were able to quietly explain to our children how the truth of the Bible could be proven in spite of some of the things the tour guide was saying.  I actually got brave and asked what sorts of fossils they've found in the cave.  He said, "Oh, we've found many, everything from mollusks to shark's teeth."  Sharks teeth!??  How can they explain sharks teeth (a salt water animal) being found inside a cave in the middle of Kentucky?  Well, we just winked at our children because we all knew the answer. 

Can you see the running water over the cave entrance, as well as the frozen water?  It was just above freezing outside, but the temperature inside the cave remains a constant 54 degrees all year long.

After a Friday full of caving and swimming at our hotel, Saturday was conference day.  CHEK puts on a Leadership Conference every year to encourage and inform the support group leaders in KY.  It was a wonderful day!  (Especially because Steve took all the kiddos away for bowling and shopping for the entire six hours of the conference!!)  Many good speakers, a round table discussion and getting to know new homeschooling friends from around the state = a great time!

I had the opportunity to present a workshop on managing your homeschool group without neglecting your family.  Even if you're not a support group leader, you may find some of the organization principles helpful.  Here's the link to my workshop notes if you're interested. 

For those of you who live in KY, CHEK is updating their website.  Over the next few months, you'll want to check in often to see what's new.  They're also beginning a monthly newsletter that you can sign up to receive for free  - look for the sign up box on the website. 

We went to the Creation Museum again this week, and it did not disappoint!  The first time we went was during the pre grand opening and several things hadn't been completely finished.  It was nice to see everything completed this time around.  What an awesome ministry!  What an awesome day!

Later that evening, we were able to attend a Stargazer's Night with Dr. Lisle.  We were supposed to have gone outside to observe the sky through telescopes, but the clouds didn't cooperate.  Instead, we viewed the night sky in from the planetarium and learned so much!!  Let's just say Dr. Lisle left no question unanswered.  What a brilliant man!  Considering we had recently finished our astronomy unit, this class was perfect! 

If you ever have the chance to be near Northern Kentucky, you won't regret taking a day to visit the museum! 

Our Keepers group has started up again.  At the first meeting, the girls made potholders that turned out SO cute!  Thanks, Edith, for such a fun, easy and cute sewing project.

Our second meeting was a tour of a 1700's house that's in the process of renovation.  The owner of the house gave us a complete history of the house, as well as a history of the little town that used to be.  I was amazed to find out that the little town consisted of four mills of various types, a doctor's office and a general store in the late 1700's!  Because this one was made of stone, it was considered a fancy house.  The wooden addition on the right most likely came from a "houseboat" that was recycled once it reached its destination.  History is very cool!

Our field trip today was a weather class with the local tv weather man.  What a great class it was!!  He used the children to demonstrate the water cycle, hail, lightning, thunder, tornadoes and hurricanes.  I think I learned more than the kids!  Our group made it on the news this evening, too.  :)  (Sorry for the blurry picture.  We really need a new camera.)

Now, this has nothing at all to do with Keepers or field trips, but  I had to share this for my own memory's sake!  Caleb was doing his own experiment with various spices and water.  Every time he added pepper to his concoction, he would sneeze.  The next thing I know, he's standing at the table with this snow mask on.  I ask what in the world he's doing and he answers very matter-of-factly, "I'm keeping the pepper out of my nose!"  Ah, if only I were that smart!  :)

After coming back from Michigan with 100 pictures, several brochures and tons of memories, I racked my brain for a practical way to put it all together.  Then I remembered Sheri's blog and the notebooks she uses with her Five In A Row studies.  Perfect! 

I found the 10x10" spiral notebooks in the scrapbooking section at Walmart.  The covers are plain and colored, so they will decorate nicely when we get around to it.  Inside, there are 50 card stock, archival quality pages just the perfect size for a memories journal. 

I copied several pictures from the trip in wallet size.  Then, gave the kiddos the pictures, some brochures, scissors and glue sticks, and let them have at it.  The only thing I asked was that they write some of their memories on each page.  How's that for a secret writing lesson?

They loved this "assignment"!  We all agreed that we should try to do a page or two for each of the field trips we take this year.  What a great keepsake these will make!

Every two years, the KY Folklife Festival spreads out in downtown Frankfort.  We always love it!  Music, dancing, instruments, demonstrations, crafts, cultural tents, educational stations, food and more = fun and lots of learning! 

The only negative.....this year was overrun with school groups. 

Chinese papercuts

Storytelling

Appalachian Clogging

Guatemalan Sawdust Figure of Jesus.  They make these in the streets during Holy Week.

Why is it that you usually feel dirtier after showering at a hotel than you did before you showered?  Why is it that once the baby finally falls asleep in his carseat, somebody else in the car decides they have to use the bathroom and can't possibly hold it - thus waking up the baby with all the commotion of stopping.  Why is it that a seven hour trip seems like a 15 hour trip with a baby?

Thank the Lord, and my husband, that we decided not to go to Jamestown this year.  That would have been a 10-12 hour trip.  I can't imagine Eli on such a long trip.  I was only partially grumpy from the seven hour trip.  I'm sure I would've been fully grumpy if we had traveled any longer.  ;)

In spite of a grumpy baby and momma, we had a lovely time in Saugatuck, Michigan!  Our hotel was nestled in between Lake Michigan and the Kalamazoo River.  The views were spectacular!  We practically had the beach to ourselves!  And we found plenty of kid-friendly things to keep us busy when the temperatures kept us off the beach. 

Wednesday turned into our Dutch education day when we traveled a few miles up the road to Holland.  Yep, that's the same place that sends you a tulip bulb catalog.  We stopped in a bulb outlet - oh, the variety of tulip bulbs was amazing!  We enjoyed a Delft pottery factory, a wooden shoe factory, and a wonderful farmers market.  The highlight of our day was a Dutch village complete with an authentic, working windmill from the Netherlands.

Some other highlights of our time in Michigan included dinner and fresh pies at an apple orchard, a hike up Mt. Baldhead (a sand dune), and a dune buggy historical tour of the dunes that have buried Singapore (a booming lumber town 100+ years ago.)   The pictures below are proof that I walked straight uphill 282 steps to the top of Mt. Baldhead and lived to tell about it  (that's 17 flights of stairs!!), and the dune buggy that toured the other sand dunes.

On our way home through Indiana, we stopped in Napanee, an Amish community.  There, we visited Amish Acres for a tour and films about Amish life, plus lots of shopping.  There was supposedly a wonderful restaurant there, too, but we decided to head on down the road - much to my husband's dismay.  The kids hadn't gotten to swim much in Michigan, so we promised to find a hotel with an indoor pool for the night.  They wouldn't let him forget that it was time to find a pool.  :)   

The final day, we stopped in Peru, Indiana at the Grissom Air Museum.  It was, surprisingly, a fun stop - especially for the kids.  Caleb said he was "famous" because he touched every war plane on the field.  Steve is a history buff, so he had fun telling stories about each plane and how it was used. 

Like the title says, though - it's good to be home.  Traveling with a baby, keeping him off the dirty floors, watching for safety hazards, messing with his eating and napping schedules, etc -  doesn't make for a relaxing vacation for momma.  But, the memories we created are worth all the hassles!

What fun we had visiting WKYT TV in Lexington today!  They took us on a tour of the newsroom, video control room for broadcasts, video control room for taping shows, and the live set.  The kids all had the chance to stand in front of the green screen to try their hand at pointing correctly on the weather map.  It was hard!  Anchorman Bill Bryant was interviewing the Lexington mayor and they ageed to a picture with our group.  (Thanks for the picture, Tracie!)

We took an impromptu history trip Saturday to Blue Licks State Park where they were having a reenactment of the Revolutionary War battle that took place there in 1782.  Okay, so we missed the actual reenactment by seconds, much to my son's dismay, but had a great time anyway.

During the actual battle, the English, Canadians, and Native Americans were fighting against the Americans.  The Americans were sorely defeated with almost 70 being killed in about 15 minute's time.  Daniel Boone lost his son in this battle that is said to be the last battle of the Revolutionary War.  Here are some pictures of various soldiers and encampments from the reenactment. 

We also enjoyed a live bagpipe band and the kids each got to make a small pot at the potter's wheel.  Yes, even Eli!

The park has a nice buffet dinner sort of restaurant.  Saturday, the main meat was buffalo.  BUFFALO!  Because of some, ahem, allergies, I chose not to partake of the buffalo.  But, the veggies and desserts were great! 

100 degrees, a nursing baby and an amusement park are not three things that are normally spoken in the same sentence for very good reason.  Don't get me wrong, besides almost having heat strokes, we had a great time! 

We had free tickets to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom (yep, the one where the little girl's feet were cut off.)  I had been "mentioning" to my hubby since June that "we need to use those tickets before it gets too hot."  Well, this week it officially got hot and the tickets just happened to expire at the end of this week.  So, off we went - three kids, a stroller packed to the gills with baby supplies, swimming gear, and eight water bottles painstakingly hidden amongst it all.  (We're not really that cheap, but $4.50 for one drink is asking a little much, don't ya think?) 

We packed lunch and ate in the car before going in.  The park didn't open until 11:00.  By 3:30 when we came back out ot the car for a snack, we were all (okay, I was) ready to go.  It was so hot!  After sitting under a shade tree and refueling a bit, we headed back in for another go around.  The earlier part of the day had been spent at the water park, so the late afternoon was time for rides.  Funny thing, we rarely had to wait in line for anything.  Hmmm....I wonder where everyone else was?  Oh, yes, they were probably home enjoying their air conditioners on one of the hottest days of the year.

All joking aside, the kids had a great time.  Eli was amazingly good and very much enjoyed his first trip into a pool.  And I survived.  I am making a note to myself, though, to skip the amusement park next time it's 100 degrees, even if I have free tickets.  Oh, and I  should bring a babysitter, ahem, grandma and grandpa, if I want to enjoy the rides, too.

What a great weekend!  Hubby and I were able to go to the CHEK Convention Friday and Saturday, and boy was it good this year!   The speakers were great and the vendor halls were packed.

Ken Ham (from Answers In Genesis and the Creation Museum) and his brother Steve were the keynote speakers.  You gotta love Ken Ham!  He speaks with confidence and conviction, he gets right to the point, and he speaks about very relevant topics.  I don't ever feel like I've wasted my time listening to him, you know what I mean?

Most of the other speakers I had the opportunity to hear were great as well.  Nancy Carter from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine spoke on grace in our homeschools.  I needed to hear this one!!  We can be really tough on ourselves thinking we need to be doing better, doing more, doing school just like the Jones', or just plain getting weary in the homeschooling process.  Her talk was so uplifting and encouraging.  She's a super sweet and very down to earth person.  It was a priveledge to meet her!

Tina Burnell spoke on multi-sensory reading and spelling techniques.  Just the thing a momma with a struggling reader needs to hear.  She packed this hour full of helpful ideas and resources!  I may even do a blog soon outlining some of her techniques, web resources and books she recommends.

The last speaker I had the chance to hear was very intriguing!  Joanne Calderwood of URtheMom.com taught about the self-teaching method of homeschooling.  I brought home a booklet she passed out that I'm working quickly to finish because I'd love to start some of these methods with my 10 year old.  She talks about all sorts of advantages to allowing your children to be responsible for their own work.  You choose the curriculum, your children take responsibility to get it done with as little intervention by you as possible.  I know, it sounds too good to be true, but she explains it in very easy to understand terms.  I don't think I'd want to turn all areas of our homeschool into this sort of learning because we really enjoy family unit studies and they require mom's attention.  But, we will be looking into self-teaching for some subjects, like math and spelling this year. 

So many speakers, so little time!  Now I'm ready to get the new school year underway! 

Lots of new speakers have been added to the CHEK Convention line-up!  I hope I'll see you there!!

Anyone joining me?

CHEK Conference 2007

The keynote speakers are Ken Ham and his brother Steve!  I could never pass up an opportunity to hear Ken Ham speak.