New quotes

"Alex, I need your phone."

"Why?"

"Because I am taking it for a couple days."

"Why?"

"Because you called me 13 times while I was out."

"Well you didn't answer the first twelve times."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As we open the box the Christmas gifts come in from the kids grandma in CA Cyan says:

"I bet grandma bought me a pink ballet outfit."

"Honey, I doubt it. We just scaned your list yesterday, I didn't send it to her."

"Oh yes. I bet she did. She loves me... and she can read my mind."

Tree study going strong

The tree study is going well so far. Today, Alex looked up what type of trees we had in our old neighborhood in the Arbor Association book, and then I had him go out and figure out what kinds of trees we have in our new neighborhood. His best guess was a White Oak. But the book had white oaks only listed on the east side of the country. I had him look closely at the details: 'grow in stands' (place with a lot of the same tree variety) and between our neighbors and us there were 26 that he could see from our front yard. That sounds like a stand to me. 'Has a leaf with rounded lobes and has a rounded crown of branches.' Check, and check. But still... we are not in the middle east part of the US. So I had him check the placement on the map, just to make sure it didn't include somewhere close to us.

Above, he is mapping where the book said the White Oaks were most prevalent, he took string and mapped from each place they said. The book says that they only grow from 'west Missouri, to Maine, to Florida, and then back to Texas." We are in Washington. Not anywhere near there. We were stumped... we definitely have some type of White Oak in our backyard. So we asked the almighty Google for help. Sure enough, we found this in short order:

Garry Oak, or the Oregon White Oak

As far as we can tell, the differences are in the leaves. White Oaks have 5 - 9 lobes, most of the time having more than 7. Garry Oaks have 5 - 7 lobes, numbering in the lower numbers more often. There is also a slight difference in stature. Our oaks are smaller.

Interesting.

We also looked at bark from our Tree Ring Discovery Kit. We figured out how old the red oak was that we had the rounds from, and then identified all of the different pieces of the trunk (heartwood, sapwood, cambium and inner/outer bark layers).

After that, we saw a new bird in our yard... a spotted Towhee... and the lesson moved on. Cyan drawing what she saw out the window, Alex looking up birds and listening to the sounds they make in his bird book. There is a lot of nature in this little yard. Here are pictures from the ten minutes after the lesson before Logan drug me away for an episode of Blue's Clues.

This is a busy little yard. :)

And let me introduce you to the squirrel we have so aptly named "Spider Squirrel" or "Spidy" for short.

First day of school in the new house

What a blessing this set up is going to be! I love not having the tv in the same room as our school time. Logan was able to watch part of a Blue's Clues while we were working, and the kids didn't get up to watch the tv once. It was wonderful!

Those windows may prove to be nearly as much of a distraction though. There are SO many animals and birds around here! What a great nature lesson in our own backyard. Already today we have watched squirrels chasing each other around our yard, we have seen 4 stellar jays in the same tree at the same time (it was a little tree too), and seen 4 other different kinds of birds eating at our feeders. I am glad I decided not to skip the Trees Unit Study. Because this will be a good introduction to the nature in our new neighborhood. And that means that my kids won't constantly be in trouble for pointing out the newest animal in the yard, or the trees that look funny, or the bird that just came to the window feeder. Because I have to admit, it is pretty darn hard for me to not be distracted by all the life out there right now... so it is near impossible for them.

Back in Nov we started this unit study with what trees need to survive. But that was over a month ago now, so today we had a refresher on that topic. We wrote up diagrams and talked about what they need and what each one is called (air, sunshine, water, soil, protection (bark)). Then we started a new mini unit of photosynthesis. The best way to learn that is to see it.

This is our photosynthesis experiment. For the next four days, this leaf, on our healthiest window plant, will be covered by 3 layers of dark colored paper. Nothing else is changed... the leaf is not damaged and still has access to air, water, and soil. The experiment will be to see if it is still the vibrant green at the end of our school week. Alex had to write up what we did for the experiment, a hypothesis about what will happen, and at the end, he will write a conclusion.

We have used quite a few books for this unit study already. The best (which we are still using) have been Trees by Mary Julivert, Berries, Nuts & Seeds, and Trees, Leaves, & Bark, (both in the Fun with Nature Take-along Guide series). The "Trees" book is a field guide. They whole thing is set up in two page spreads, much like a good encyclopedia.

Now we are on our way to the Festival of Trees downtown. Not quite related as they are ALL fir trees... but it will be fun anyhow.

Greensleeves by Mozart

This seemed appropriate for the season. Mozart wrote it, but it was an Englishman in 1865 who wrote the words that have become dear to our hearts this time of year. This is a beautiful tribute to Greensleeves and Mother Nature, who is sleeping, and to the baby that is rejoiced this time of year for his gifts of love.

And for fun, here is the history of the Christmas Carol.

Late start

Last month we were studying trees, Mary Cassatt, and Mozart. And then we found out we were moving in three weeks and all but the basics of homeschool stopped dead in the water. So I decided to bump it a month. This month has been a long one in coming. We have our homeschool corner all set up and are ready to begin some learning with our first full day of school in the new house tomorrow. :) I am excited and I think so are the kids.

I think I am going to try an experiment for this month. We are not going to do basics. By that I mean, we are not going to follow our reading, writing, and math curriculums as we have been. We are going to be studying trees, Mary Cassatt, and Mozart. And we are going to base everything, unit study style, on those three things. Cyan will read books about trees, or read captions in books I am reading. Alex will write papers, and keep a journal on the different types of trees they find in the neighborhood, and Cyan can draw pictures. They can count how many acorns they find in the back yard now that Alex has raked... or better yet, they can count how many acorns they find in a 2X2 square in the back yard and then walk the back yard to see how many would be in the whole yard that way. I want to try it. I think this is the best way to learn, personally, and I find it fun. So for this month, I think that is our plan. To immerse ourselves in the beauty of the trees we are getting to know. To draw and paint like Mary Cassatt, and to listen and appreciate Mozart and learn about his life. Maybe we will find a new way to do school in this month, and perhaps we will turn back... but it certainly won't hurt to try.

A neat tree web site we have been playing with:

Arbor Day Tree Identification

Logan speaks!

My sweet boy is really starting to talk. Today, Don left to go out with a friend for Starbucks, and Logan came running in and said "MAMA! Ba-ba, go, bye-bye." Yes, the punctuation is correct. He paused between each word... also correct is the fact that he calls his daddy "Ba-ba". Don't know why. Who knows a one year old's logic? But today, he sounded more like a two year old to me. Speaking in sentences that didn't have signs that went with them... My sweet boy. Growing up so very fast.

In other news, Logan had his first real visit to the ER last week. He wasn't breathing correctly. At first, I thought that he just had a cold. And then, after 24 hours, I started to think that he may have gotten something stuck in his airway. He did have a very distinct stridor, with the dip in his chest caving each time he fought to take a deep breath.... which of course was the thing making me the most nervous, so on night #2 of this abnormal breathing, I took him strait to the ER. They did a quick X-ray, which showed no blockage and they determined that it was actually Croup, but without the characteristic 'seal bark' cough. Which is quite abnormal. She asked me quite a few times if he coughed when upset, or had a high fever, or any other sign of croup... but each time the answer was 'no'. He was just fighting for breath.

It took them a steroid shot and two different nebulizer meds before he didn't sound like someone was sitting on his chest. He was apparently never lacking for oxygen however, even though he was fighting for every bit of air he got; they had that little red light thing on his toe (that made him look like a distant cousin of ET) to keep track of the oxygen in his blood. Which was good. But we were there for 5 hours with him hooked up to the ET thing keeping track of his O2 levels, and they finally called a respiratory specialist in. She gave him the shot of steroids and within two hours (or the length of the movie 'Chicken Little') he started breathing easier and we were able to go home around 4:30am.

The whole next day he sounded like he had asthma with a constant loud wheeze. But he wasn't fighting like he was the night before... and he was a normal toddler again in other ways too... like constantly getting into my purse, and wanting to watch specific movies... but not any that I chose. Stuff like that that makes you know your child feels better. He recovered quickly after that... but of all the childhood diseases that I have encountered, this one was one of the most scary. Watching your baby fight for breath is really frightening. He is doing great now though. And I am very grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I realised something about the video I posted last week. At the end, when he keeps saying no, he said "Um..... kitty!" and then we asked him for a doggy noise, and he says "no"... and then proceeds to meow at us. lol! Smart boy. I certainly didn't catch it in the moment. In fact, it took me two or three times watching the video to catch that he said that.

Lately I have simplified my life to where some who know me are kind of not sure what to think... got rid of animals that I loved, moved from a city I adored, got rid of a garden that I pride myself in... but I have needed to simplify. Let other people do the work that I have done for the last few years. Pull in, and strive to not have so much to do... so I am free to move just a bit slower, listen just a bit better, and react just a bit calmer. That is my goal for this move. So far, this move has been crazy. Not awful (although there are many things going on I could do without) just crazy. But in all that, I can already see it is a good change. Just in the way my children play.

I am wishing for a quiet holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Blessings for Hannah

This is Hannah. My best friends little girl and one of Cyan's very dear friends.

Right now this beautiful little girl is very sick. She has a ruptured appendix and had surgery this morning. Please pray for her and her family and for her speedy recovery.

Many prayers are coming her way from us.

Doggies say 'no'

Cuz my kid cracks me up!

Toddlers are so much fun

Logan is learning new words all the time. Two days ago he ran into Alex’s room, ripped the head off one of his bionicals… and then ran as fast as his little legs would carry him. Alex goes out to get it from him, but trying not to hurt him, he just grabs his arm and tells him over and over that he has to give it back. And Logan starts SCREAMING “Let go! Let. Go. Me! No no! Let GO!” Then I walked over. I told Alex to let go of him, and then said to Logan “You can’t have that right now. It’s Alex’s. Mama says no.” And he handed it to me without even an abashed look. It was like he was thinking ‘well as long as I don’t have to hand it to him.'

Alex was not quite so pleased with the calm outcome as I was.

Cultivate Creativity

My clan.

“Call it a clan,
call it a network,
call it a family.

Whatever you call it,
whoever you are,
You need one."

- Jane Howard

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." ~ Dr. Seuss

Cyan's review for November

Language Arts: This month she has started reading books. Simple, (very simple) books to get her speed and fluency up in reading. We are still playing games, but lots of them are packed, so books are easier. The first time she read two books in one sitting without much fuss I nearly jumped for joy! And she was happy with herself as well. She has started the 3rd Explode the Code book and is enjoying that, and we are still working with the Dolch word set... but mostly, she is just reading right now.

Math: She is finally slowing down on the Math-U-See work. She ended up stopping around chapter 8 because there were a few things she didn't understand, and so we have started to work with the blocks again, and have her get some of the concepts. What is funny is that this work is early algebra (ie: __ + 4 = 9 ) so after these three chapters that have to do with that, she may start flying through again... but at the moment, we are paused and learning fun new things.

Science: Still working with nocturnal animals. We will be moving on to trees and leaves. She can't wait to work with the leaves we pressed last month and paint fall scenes... so she will transition after the move into the tree unit easily I think. We finally got our Science curriculum... but I already have another planned out. Not sure how that is going to work.

Social Studies: Still in Egypt. She is really enjoying the Ancient Egyptian Fashions coloring book! Right now we are reading a book about ancient Egyptian gods and their wars for the world, and about the transition from Kings to Pharaohs. It is a fun and interesting study.

Fine Arts: We are studying Mary Cassatt and Mozart this month. When we get into the new house, we will be able to do more hands on art with the concepts and techniques of Mary Cassatt and Cyan is thrilled about that! She can't wait to paint. And she has been really enjoying the books and lessons of Mary Cassatt so far... she has told me that when she grows up she is going to be an artist just like her. Successful lesson. ;)