Thursday, October 23, 2008

Happy Birthday Terry!

Horoscope for Today

TODAY'S BIRTHDAY (OCTOBER 23). This year you realize that you can do more and be more than you ever attempted in the past. You recognize the role you want and through the next seven weeks take a dozen necessary steps to get there. By March you will be holding your prize. Sweet romance is part of your holiday fun. Aquarius and Pisces adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 8, 40, 11, 33 and 16.

(Ben is aquarius and I think Craig is Pisces - very convenient ;)

Monday, October 20, 2008

Nooooo photos.......

So all this week I have been doing all this great stuff and then taking pictures and then thinking that I might just blog about it but then thinking I would wait until I had more time to load and actually sort through the 300 plus pictures on the camera and what you see is the result. So, pics of Roman and Celt battles, Abbey doing adorable things, and the new kitten we acquired are going to have to wait until later. In the meantime I will tell you my embarrassing story.

Friday was Education Days which means in the world of homeschooling that you drive 45 minutes to a place where your kids get to sit at desks and talk to other kids and get something that the outside world calls 'socialization'. I was there and for once was not teaching or being a parent helper in any of the classes and Sadie went to the nursery just fine and Abbey was being all cute so I was having a great day just hanging out and doing what the inside world calls 'socialization'. (No, I don't know what the inside world is; I just suspect that it has something to do with moms who stay home all day and are about to go nuts unless they get to talk to someone over 5 feet tall).
Anyhow, the day was over and a huge success and I was heading over to the elevator with Abbey on one hip and Sadie on the other and a diaper bag loaded down with things like Sadie's rest time pillow and blanket when I saw the elevator door closing. I immediately thought, 'wait, I might have to stand here an extra 5 minutes if you leave without me' and so reached my foot out to stop the door and have it open back up for me and my four children who of course will all fit. That was the plan. What happened was that the door kept closing and my foot was still there and I was trying very hard not to fall over. All the time the elevator door was trying to close and my ankle was all twisted up and my kids were falling off my hips and my other kids were developing permanent phobias of elevators. I ended up having to get help in order to pull it out of the door. Soooo.....if you ever think that those little sensors that are suppose to make the door re-open will always work, think again. Trust me, the extra five minutes won't kill ya.
p.s. the foot in question is not broken, that only happens to my pride.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Hook 'Em Horns


Texas 45
Oklahoma 35
Need we say more?


















Friday, October 10, 2008

Halloween Cinquain (A Japanese 5 line Poem)

Yesterday my kids did a Cinquain for their Halloween project. With these projects I try really hard to sit back, give instructions or ask questions, but make them do it. The Witches Brew was a good example of that and they came up with stuff I never would have. Turns out that trying to teach little kids that it has to be a noun and can only have two syllables or it has to be a descriptive phrase but can only be eight syllables is a little harder than saying, 'so what is the magical brew going to do?' In the end it is all their own work except for the first line which I ended up suggesting. The really sad thing is that when I was trying to explain what a cinquain was they said, 'We know mom, like Sakka does in Avatar with those girls. You know, where he adds too many and they kick him out.' Hmmmm......glad they get culture from somewhere.

silence
tiny, furry
gliding, eating, swinging
wings fly like leaves up on the wind
brown bat

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

In the Hall of the Mountain King





Okay, I know I'm blogging a lot these days. It is fun to have to kids post stuff they did that day but then I come across something I want to share. In this case I came across something that I really, really wanted to share with my brother Nate but I can't. I tend to get really mad at him on those days and I think of all sorts of things to say to him next time I see him. I probably won't do that but I might walk up to him and smack him on the back of the head. Anyhow.....today I found a techno remix of 'In the Hall of the Mountain King'. This happens to be one of my all time favorites and Nate was really into techno which I thought was kinda dumb but somehow for a Halloween soundtrack the two things work well together. So there ya go Nate....we could have had an awesome party. For those of you who want to listen I have my songlist for October down at the bottom of this page.....usually you gotta wait a minute for it to come up though. Oh, and turn the volume on.

The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer

Last year we did this book for our history. This year we have started the second one which covers Medieval Times but in the month of September we did a large review. One of the interesting things they learned was that in ancient times most 'books' were scrolls. We had a lot of projects and took a lot of pictures so we printed those out along with the written work I had saved on our own scroll and pasted them with dates and review cards so that we could make our own timeline to help us remember. It turned out really long.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Halloween Problem of the Day

There are five people who brought treats to the party. Their names are; mom, Eliora, Audrey, Sadie, and Abbey. The treats are; a lollipop, a toy jumping spider, a little clown, ghost candy, and a racing car. Figure out who brought what by using the following clues:
1. Mom's treat was sticky and round.
2. Sadie's treat did not have wheels.
3. Audrey's treat can move.
4. Abbey's treat is funny and lives at the circus.
5. Eliora will use her treat for her birthday party at the slot car racing track.

Who brought what?

Monday, October 6, 2008

Homeschool Week 6

Due to reading the below weeks I think these blog posts are kind of boring. I am thinking about starting up another blog with our daily lessons plans in more detail and what we accomplished for both myself and anyone who actually wants to take a peek but until then I'll just post pictures of favorites. This week was Halloween projects that incorporated math, reading, more pronouns, the planet Mercury, reading projects that incorporated Halloween, and realizing that our paper mache sun got squished. My favorite is below. I wrote it down and they told me what they wanted. I did ask what skiggy meant but they said only a witch would know. I think that's a compliment.

Bewitching Brew
ingredients : frogs, humans, cobwebs, sand, snails, shells, spiders, magic, M&M's and other candy, dead leaves, pumpkins, honey, moonbeams or moonlight in a jar, old skiggy bones, spotted toadstools, clams, breathe of a ghost, gum, snapping fish caught in the moonlight, stardust, sunlight, chocolate, baby food, bat's wings, curdled goat milk, frog jam, Texas mosquitoes, blankets, snake venom, snake skin, and storm clouds.
Pour in ingredients, mix twice, simmer 10 hours, and set by a scarecrow. This brew turns you into an ingredient that the witch can later use and which is much more powerful than any other ingredient. When you turn into the ingredient you look like a ducktoad.

Best CVS Deal yet

This was totally due to a nice check-out lady who took an expired coupon, the order in which the coupons were given, plus the savings were for blood glucose monitors....however,

Spent - $1.35
Saved - $100.99
Coupons given (ECB's) - $26.50

All around, not a bad day :)

Friday, October 3, 2008

I LOVE October....Happy Birthday Aunt Carla!


One of the best parts of Halloween

I always crave these when I see them - eat a lot - and then don't want to see another for a full year. Incidentally, I don't like candy corn all that much.

I remember when I was in second grade and my teacher read us a poem about the months then started asking us which month was our favorite and why. Everyone was saying July and August because there is no school or December because of Christmas. I said October because I love October. She told me it was dumb to have a favorite month simply because of your birthday. (I really didn't like that teacher - Ryan has stories about her too). Anyhow, looking back I realized that is was hard for an eight year old to articulate how awesome it is to have all the colors start to change, to have the weather cool down a little, to get a few good storms, and to anticipate the steamroll of holidays that are all about to start. Seriously, I have always loved October and in my opinion it is by far one of the best months......and it only has a little to do with my birthday :)