It Is Just Plain Hot

With Daddy enjoying a well deserved afternoon of golf, and myself needing to finish some design work for a client --- I took a tip from Dad and pulled out the Slip n' Slide on another way too hot day. I constructed it this time so that the yellow slicker slide sat on the boards in our yard that are raised at an incline (where the second set of stairs in the backyard will be added). This was just enough incline to allow the kids to slide down the slide like a water slide.

The kids taking their pent up sibling rivalry out on a neutral party.

The Autumn Joy Is Blooming

Autumn always makes viewing bug behavior way too easy at our house. We have three incredibly large Autumn Joy plants (really bushes) that attract every type of insect you can imagine, and they are just beginning to open their large heads full of tiny blooms. Right now, there are constantly butterflies in the yard, but the Autumn Joy is attracting some new ones. Our main blog picture above, is a butterfly Grace spotted while doing the Slip n' Slide today. She remarked that it was new to the yard, and the light was just perfect for a photo.

I really like the name of this butterfly, "American Lady".

Our Family's Biggest Supporter

I just realized that not all of our family is pictured here on the Knucker Hatch blog. When you've been living with a family for 8 years...you're family. Here's our biggest most loyal supporter. She's getting up there in age, sporting a lovely new white mask, but you'd never know she was the runt of her litter. The tricks we taught her as a puppy have always stuck with her, and the old girl will still slowly roll over for you if you ask. She's been taking the age jokes in the house well, patiently letting us call her "the old bat". (Truthfully, we could only hope for her amazing bladder capacity when we reach her age in people years.)

So here's to you Maggie. Our practice child, our fluffy floor warmer, our answer to every food spill, and our giant couch potato. We'll never have a better dog than you.

Montessori Tray: Flower Arranging

There has been some talk on one of my CM Yahoo Groups about including tea times with pretty tea cups once a day. This prompted a "What about the boys?" question, and further discussion on not wanting to feminize our boys. It has been an interesting thread, but perhaps I'm the one who is not feminized enough, since I have no motivation to add a tea time with all of the froo-froo in the first place.

But I will take the time to feminize my little knight:


Jesting aside...this is actually another Montessori activity usually done with fresh flowers...but the green thumb in me is completely burnt out this year, so it is paper or plastic. (The kids insist on adding water to the vases).

I actually put this together last term, but it is still out and being used. Cut up a wide variety of plastic cheapy Wal-mart flowers, get some cheapy colorful vases, and a big cheap basket. And there you have it. A big basket of flowers is irresistible. Keep it close where they can arrange on a whim, and you'll end up finding cheerful vases all over your house.

Our Mystery Sentence Game

I wanted to expand just a tad on the jumbled sentence game that I touched on a couple of days ago. The last couple of days I've been pulling sentences from our reading for Grace to unjumble and put together.

Today was fun in that I took 4 "clue" sentences from James Herriot's "Moses" and told Grace ahead of time that her sentences were clues to a book she had read that was in our house. It was her job to guess what book they were from after all four sentences were constructed. She liked the idea of having clues, and had it pegged after the second sentence. Here were her sentences:

Quickly I lifted the little creature and tucked him inside my coat.

She went over to the fireside oven on the big black kitchen range, opened the door and popped him inside.

They say you see something new every day at this game, but this is something I've never even heard of.

I never went to the Butlers' without having a look in the pig pen.

Cream Of the Crop Web Sites for Kids

It takes a lot for me to bookmark a site for future use. The site has got to be very well done, pleasing graphically, easy to use, useful, and oozing with information. Most of my bookmarks revolve around how I can better supplement my homeschooling either through products or online activities. Here are some I have recently added to my small collection. All of these are worth your time:

Molecular Expressions: Exploring the World of Optics and Microscopy
Don't own a microscope? Who needs one with this site! You won't believe the amount of information you and your kids will glean. Hundreds of online slides and video are freely available.

National Geographic XPeditions
Geography lesson plans, activities, and atlas maps from the best of the best.

iKnowthat.com
You won't know where to begin with iKnowthat. I'm still looking through all of the interactive online activities serving to further educate children on everything from the arts to engineering. A first class site.

Steve Spangler Science Experiments
Looking for neat science experiment ideas? You can spend a day here.

Our Dad The Deacon: Update

On Sunday evening, our church ordained 17 new deacons and 2 new elders to keep up with the rapid growth of the church. As mentioned in a previous post, Ken was selected to be one of the new deacons. The service was wonderful. There is something about being in the presence of great men that stirs your heart.

Below is a picture from the service (Ken is seated in the middle).

Engines & Coaches: Double Digit Numbers

Jack's only math work consists of recognizing his numbers, and counting consecutively in correct order. Last term was wonderful. He is a flashcard hoarder, and he loved carrying around his 1-25 number cards with numbers on one side and animals on the other. By the end of the term the cards were cake to him, and we were counting to 30 with no skipping.

So I purchased a set that went from 1-50, and we've been dealing with a brick wall ever since. The problem is he is inconsistent in how he reads a double digit number. He'll call 34, 43 instead. Of course he aces numbers like 22, 33, 44, etc. He also aces 20, 30, 40 and 50. Just everything inbetween is read backwards. The frustration lies also in that with our first set of cards we had zero problems with 21-25, but all of a sudden there is confusion.

Just now approaching 4, there is no rush, but as a mother I find myself fighting back the knowledge of links between left-handedness and dyslexia. He is my train fanatic, so I tried explaining that the first number is the engine and the second number is the coach. That he needed to say the engine first. He got the concept, but still struggled with the delivery.

Today we may have had a breakthrough. Laying out the 20, 30, 40, and 50 card on the floor, I handed him a set of 20 cards. I explained that this was the train roundhouse and all of the lost engines needed to make it in the proper compartments of the round house. For example, all 20's engines needed to be laided in front of the 20's card. Jack was amused that his cards were lost, which motivated him to put them back in their correct locations. I noticed as we worked through the cards, a connection was beginning to set in. He still argued with me on a couple of cards insisting that a 23 card needed to go in the 30's slot because of the 3. But we didn't have nearly the same number of mistakes.

Fingers crossed for my little lefty.

Our Jumbled Sentence Game

Grace has been working over the last term on recognizing 100 sight words via flashcards. This has gone well, but at the beginning of this term I could tell that she had these aced and it was time for me to take the next step.

Excited to have her share in the thrill of "reading" a book, I checked out some easy readers from the library. This did not go over well. Her confidence in her reading ability was not high enough to feel comfortable with reading even a simple sentence --- even when I knew that she knew the words. Grace would instantly clam up and state that she didn't want to read it.

Chucking the Easy Readers aside, I began thinking of a less intimidating way to approach the task. I decided to take our flashcards and turn it into a game. Ahead of time, I formulated sentences out of flashcards, and then jumbled them up on the floor. It was Grace's job to hear the sentence dictated to her, and unjumble the sentence by placing the words in the correct sentence order. Grace took to this challenge like bread to butter.

If you think about the process, this is an even more difficult task than simply using one's sight to read and follow a sentence. Grace needed to hear the dictation properly, visualize the words, and then place them in the proper order.

For two weeks I have given her 4 jumbled sentences a day, and almost always she has pulled the sentence together with little hesitation and error. I did find I had two problems: flipping through flashcards to create sentences took awhile, and there are only so many interesting sentences that you can create out of 100 words.

Today, we tried a new task. I told her to give me 4 sentences and I would type them up, print them off, and quickly cut the strips down to individual words. She liked the idea of creating her own sentences. For example, one of her sentences today was "Can I have some more tropical leaves please?" Go figure??? This also was a breeze for me and took a fifth of the time to prepare.

Operation Slip n' Slide

Dads can be so much fun. With internal intelligence confirming that Mom would be away at a Women's after church luncheon, it was evident that kid duty rested firmly on Dad's shoulders. Offensive tactical measures were necessary to carry out this duty safely.

Operation Slip n' Slide was launched. This was not an easy mission. Supplies were low and difficult to obtain. And it became necessary to call upon oil reserves. KH Forces moved into two Walmarts and one Big K seeking to secure and purchase the last Slip n' Slide in the city. The target was located and obtained without incident or injury. However, some friendly fire and collateral damage was incurred following implementation.

Montessori Tray: Foam Work

In an effort to get the kids outside, I coaxed them with the idea of shaving cream play. Neither one of them had ever "felt" shaving cream before, and the experience was first met with giggly "eeeee-ooos!!". Before I knew it, they were up to their elbows and knees in it, making shaving cream hand puppets.

We loaded up each tray with shaving cream, added food coloring drops to the corners of each tray, and I greased each of their hands with Vaseline in order to try and keep the food coloring from staining their hands.

This is an activity that will keep them busy for a good hour outside. And the clean up with the water hose is just as much fun as the shaving cream.

Handicraft Idea: Embossing

This afternoon while Jack was still asleep, I decided to let Grace take a stab at learning how to emboss with embossing powder, rubber stamps, and a small dryer.

The powders and stamps were left over from 4 years back when I had the crazy idea of making 200+ homemade Christmas cards for our clients (never again).

It turns out, this is a process that can be very fun for young ones. Grace immediately took to the three step process of stamping with embossing ink, sprinkling on the powder, and then using the heating element to melt the powder and emboss. When Jack woke up, Grace gave the full tour, gently explaining how the process of embossing worked.

After 1 1/2 hours, Grace had built a frame out of strips of paper with embossed art along it (all her idea) and a hand drawn picture in the middle. Jack was a hoot as I could hear him turn on the dryer and shout to Grace after 3 seconds "Is this long enough!?". Their faces were both covered in shimmer when they came to dinner.

Creating A School Schedule

The last few days I have spent all of my free time hammering away in Excel on a schedule for this term. Ambleside Online, Year 1 predominantly for Grace, and Montessori heavy activities with number recognition, handwriting mastery and read-a-louds for Jack. I had a teacher's record book I had been using for a few weeks, but there weren't enough slots to add all of the Montessori and AO items, and I wasn't happy with the results.

My hope was that once the schedule layout was complete, it could be cleared and used for every term to keep track of where we are, and what we have done. Now that it is complete, I can say that it was well worth the work! After two days, it has been very helpful, especially since I wanted to revise some of Grace's Year 1 reading.

If anyone is looking for a homeschool schedule layout in Excel, I'm happy to provide a copy for you to use.

The Rock Samples Arrived

The last of our homeschooling materials arrived today: 50 samples (2 of each) of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. I also ordered white streak plates. Grace was asleep at the time I opened the package and sorted out all of the packets. When she awoke she came down to the office and immediately inquired about the rocks on my desk, asking if she could have a closer look in the bags.

Grace and Jack are two kids that will go under the deck and "collect" freezer bags full of smooth white stones that we laid down for landscaping. So, I knew multicolored and shaped rocks would peak Grace's interest. You got to love the ease of homeschooling when it is the children that ask you for a lesson.

Grace and I sat down together and I showed her the names of the rocks on the bags, and also demonstrated that some rocks made a streak on the streak plate, while others didn't. This instantly became and invitation to go through half of the rocks and discover which rocks made streaks. She noticed that Gypsum and Talc where "soft" and streaked the plate. She also picked up on the name of the rock "Magnetite" (no cues from me) asking if she could see if would stick on the fridge.

The "plan" was to just do sedimentary rocks, of which there are about 8 samples. This would tie in well with our freshwater fish study. However, Grace has been so interested in volcanos and magma over the last couple of weeks that it may end up we do an overview of all the rocks.

Gymnastics Class Was A Good Choice

The kids had their first gymnastics class today. After an hour of trampoline jumping, tumbling, bars, running, etc., the kids were the most exhausted I have seen them in a very long time. They were dragging and begging for drinks afterwards!

Jack's class has three other boys and 2 girls. I was thrilled to see a majority of boys, as this is the type of camaraderie was that I was looking for with Jack. Grace's class combines boys and girls for 15 minutes of stretching which totals about 15+ kids, and then the girls and boys divide up. Grace was in a divided group of 4 girls. Today she had her first experience with cartwheels.

Even mom had a good time, as I got to observe both kids and talk with other homeschooling moms to boot. :)

Microscope 101: Ponds, Webs & Microbes

Grace found the new microscope and prepared slides a week ago, so I promised her that since we didn't have any "school" on the weekend, we could break out the microscope. Today, Grace and I sat down and reviewed some prepared slides to start: insect legs, earthworm cross-section, etc. And then we sought out our fish pond water and some other items to prepare a few slides. This was a blast!

Our first pond water sample was a little weak on life, with only a few paramecium and suckers whizzing by way too fast to identify. Our second sample of pond water had a water mite swimming around that we were able to catch and place on a slide. Here he is:


Next we took a sample of a spider web over the pond, and we discovered that there is much more to a web than first meets the eye. It looks like a strand of pearls with sticky globules that help the prey stick to the web. We also discovered that our web sample had a tiny leg still stuck to it from a previous meal (not pictured):


Our last water pond sample was the ultimate find. There was life and activity everywhere, of which mom is scrambling to identify. I'm still not positive on the identification of the larvae, but my best guess after some research is this is a mosquito larvae. Below are two pictures: the head and a portion of the body. The body was teaming with paramecium and other microbes. We were also able to record video. (I love this scope!) Below are two pictures:

Renoir Puzzle Addiction

The 'On The Terrace' puzzle is becoming a dining table hog as no one in the family wants to roll it back up for later. Its tackled with coffee in the morning and after dinner. The outside edge pieces are complete, and the two faces - (the easy stuff in other words). Now the pace is starting to slow and get meticulous. But the puzzle addiction remains.

Gymnastics Classes - Here We Come

The ballet shoes have been shelved this fall, as the family thought we would try doing something both Jack and Grace could enjoy participating in.

Starting next Tuesday, Grace and Jack will be attending a local Gymnastics Academy. Grace is enrolled in a Girls K-1 class formed for homeschooled girls, and Jack will also be attending that same hour in a Tumble Tykes class (complete with mini rings and mini bars).

We took a personal tour of the gym. It was really phenomenal! I felt like saying, "Kids, this is not your mother's gymnastics gym!"

They both were already calculating the number of days until Tuesday once they returned to the car.

Why Did He Lose His Earring?

Today, I read Grace and Jack our first book on the life of Beethoven. This was basically, my own crash course in Beethoven as well. The book went indepth into the gradual loss of Beethoven's hearing. Jack, who had been bouncing around the green room, was then suddenly interested, and asked "Why did he lose his earring?".

The kids were amused and confused with the thought of losing one's hearing. We all plugged our ears as good as we could and listened to how muffled everything sounded. I'm not sure the message got through to Jack, as he was still concerned about Beethoven's lost earring.

Salt & Cornmeal Pies

After our Renoir puzzle sorting this morning, we continued our various cre-pas and pastel coloring projects. After lunch, the kids pulled the tuning forks and scale off of the shelves again.

The scale and weights have been a wonderful math teaching tool. For example, today Grace filled up one side of the scale with a jar full of buttons. She then used the weights, labeled in grams, on the other side of the scale, until both sides were equal. Adding up the numbers on the 4 weights (40g, 30g, 2g, 1g), she was able to figure out the total weight of the buttons.

Later, it was another match of Renoir Memory, but I had to take over half way as Jack seemed to run out of steam setting up the game, and had no concentration left to play the game.

With the rain delaying our park expedition, and needing a few moments to myself, the kids each got a tray full of pouring and measuring utensils and set to work on their trays with salt and cornmeal. Later, they felt compelled to use cookie cutters, and red and green cookie sprinkles. This is always a sure promise of two things: mess and extended peace. By 3:00pm, the rain had let up, and we were able to head to the library and park.

In the evening, Jack resumed making cornmeal pies, and Grace moved out with her Renoir puzzle to the red room dining table in order to be with the parents and listen to mysteriously important adult conversation. Even Dad got in on the puzzle action, teasing Grace with idea that the puzzle might be finished when she woke up in the morning. :)

The Discovery Of Mosquito Larvae

Yesterday evening, while the children and I were outside, we noticed that a tarp we have had sitting outside in a ruffled heap had movement in some water puddles that had settled. Upon closer examination, it was clear that the small pools of water had "wrigglers" and other water bugs present. The wrigglers were clearly mosquito larvae, so hopefully, Saturday, can be another "Microscope Day".

Thinking Outside Of The Box

The puzzle box - that is. In preparation for this term, I was trying to think of another activity we could do besides our Memory and I Spy games that we create. It just happens, that there are a number of challenging Renoir puzzles out there. What better way to study color, brush strokes, and get down and dirty with a painting then to work on a 500 piece puzzle??

So that is what we are doing. It will take a while, but since I'm a puzzle lover myself, it is something we can all do and relax. And it doesn't "feel" like learning.

500 Small pieces is a big jump from our 100 piece puzzles, so I'm trying to take it one step at a time with the kids (mostly Grace is the participant). We purchased one of those large plastic craft sorting boxes, and spent this morning over breakfast, sorting out the obvious colors into compartments, as well as sorting out the edge pieces. This has made things much more manageable - and it is also nicely contained.

Below are links to the two puzzles we purchased for $6.95 each this term:

On The Terrace
Young Girls at The Piano

Bathed in Art Media

The excitement over new tools in the playroom has not subsided. I woke up to the 500 piece Renoir puzzle already in action, a trail of water leading to the children's new volume and weight scale, and tuning forks. After an hour of sitting with the kids, I sought refuge and headed to get my coffee and breakfast. No refuge to be found. The children promptly followed me with their 24 pieced clock puzzles in hand, and cheerfully parked on either side of me. Trying to tell time, over and over again, before the morning coffee is not easy!

For some reason today, the kids declared war on experimenting for the first time with Cre-pas and Pastels. No matter how many washings they received, they'd come back an hour later needing another. Both of them were covered from head to toe with bright smudges of pastels up the arms and elbows, smears across the face, and hand prints all over their clothes. But, truth be known, when an experienced artist gets into their work, they can end up looking quite similar. So what is the difference?

They did take a break from the Cre-pas and Pastels to sit in sidewalk chalk and color rocks. Our front porch is chalk at its saturation point. Literally. The kids soaked their chalk in water since they discovered that it gives the chalk an even heavier appearance on the concrete.

Our Dad The Deacon

A couple of months ago, Ken was nominated by the leadership in our church to be considered for the position of Deacon. After prayer and consideration, Ken decided to go through with the interview process. It was actually a lot of fun anticipating the questions Ken might be asked in the interview. Ken can be hysterical with some of his voices, and he had me laughing harder than I have in a long time, over his purposefully goofy answers.

All funniness set aside, Ken was approved and elected to be a deacon for our church. He will be inducted in a couple of weeks, and the service welcomes friends and family. I am really proud of Ken, and I wanted you to still be able share this experience with him, even though the miles between our family will keep you from being present.

Congratulations Dad.

Finally School! Yippee!

Visit our Fish, Renoir & Beethoven blogs for more details about today.

Today was the day. I knew I would be awakened early:

"Mom. The playroom door is still locked."
"Eat your breakfast kids, it is laid out for you. We'll do school in a couple of hours."

An hour more of sleep, and I joined them with my coffee and glazed Krispy Kreme. I peeked out at the group of children and parents waiting a few doors down for the bus to take them to their first day of school. Almost 8:00, all of us still in our PJs enjoying the slow pace of the morning (dad still snoozing). Zero stress. That golden bit alone, is reason enough to homeschool.

I glanced at Grace kicked back on the floor watching the end of Swiss Family Robinson on video. She showed no interest in the school buses passing by. Jack and I, watched as the kids shuffled onto the bus, and drove past the house. They looked so young!

After coffee and a doughnut, it was off to the treadmill for the two mile walk and Bible Study on my iPod. Dad joined us down in the office, and kids played puzzles quietly. Still no rush. I'm sure the ease of our mornings will disappear again with the arrival of baby #3, but I've learned to enjoy it when you have it.

By 11:00am, we were all ready for school, and Dad joined us, as the kids finally got to break out the tuning forks and the scale/weight set.



The rest of the next couple of hours was filled with paper cutting and gluing, time puzzles, flower arranging, shoe lace tying, and shell identification, Renoir's memory game, and the completion of Holling's Seabird...(of which I had to choke back my own tears).

As I write, the kids are up from their weekly nap, and back at it with the activities. That's the other nice thing about homeschooling: while the kids never have homework, they have the option to return to their work whenever they please. Now if I could just locate me a janitor for after school.

The School Room

About once every term, the school/playroom is this clean. I had to take a couple of pictures. So, here's your personal orientation of our school room.

Off to your left you'll find our nature, artist and composer studies, along with our AO books for Year 1 (Grace). The room to spare is often filled with Montessori type activities.

On your right, you'll find all the shelves lined with numerous handicrafts. In the back are the children's math and sight word flashcards, measurement tools, time puzzles, etc.

A New School Year!

Grace officially started Kindergarten today, and I don't know if you can tell from their photos (they're being shy about it), both kids couldn't wait to dig into the new projects set out in the room. You can read all about our first day in our Homeschooling 2005 blogs.

Here's the whole family:

Bring Out The Tuning Forks

Not ever being a band student myself, I have just a few outstanding memories from music classes in elementary school. One of these, centered around the fascination of tuning forks. So, in looking for a hands on activity to go with Beethoven, I purchased a set.

The children have had their eyes and ears on these tuning forks ever since they came in the mail 10 days ago. I wet Grace's appetite a few days ago during room preparations by opening the box and letting her hear the sound, but not allowing her to experience feeling the sound of the forks. Needless to say, this was what she made a bee line for when we opened the Kindergarten doors today.

Jack also enjoyed trying these out. His face was hysterical when you'd place the fork by his ears. The vibrations from the fork would make him do a little shudder.
After the children become accustom to using the forks properly, we'll move forward with additional activities, like sound matching with a fork and glass of water.

An Educational Manifesto - Part II

Excerpted from Charlotte Mason's Vol. 3 "School Education: Developing A Curriculum"
Originally published in 1925

Children can be most fitly educated on Things and Books.

Things, e.g.: -

i. Natural obstacles for physical contention, climbing, swimming, walking, etc.
ii. Material to work in -- wood, leather, clay, etc.
iii. Natural objects in situ -- birds, plants, streams, stones, etc.
iv. Objects of art.
v. Scientific apparatus, etc.

The value of this education by Things is receiving wide recognition, but intellectual education to be derived from Books is still for the most part to seek.

Every scholar of six years old and upwards should study with 'delight' his own, living, books on every subject in a pretty wide curriculum. Children between six and eight must for the most part have their books read to them.

This plan has been tried with happy results for the last twelve years in many home schoolrooms, and some other schools.

By means of the free use of books the mechanical difficulties of education -- reading, spelling, composition, etc -- disappear, and studies prove themselves to be 'for delight, for ornament, and for ability.'

There is reason to believe that these principles are workable in all schools, Elementary and Secondary; that they tend in the working to simpflication, economy, and discipline.

Father-Son Camping Day

Here is the report we received back from Dad regarding their overnight father-son camping trip near the mountains:

Unfortunately, the hike from the car to the campsite was about 1/4-1/3 of a mile, which means that all gear and supplies had to be hauled over very rocky terrain. Ken and Jack were 2 hours late getting to the grounds, and sweaty Dads were still hauling in firewood and tubs of supplies. Ken, Eagle Scout that he is, packed light and brought his hiking pack which called for only one trip across the rugged terrain.

After all tents were set up, daylight started to disappear, and an exhausted Jack was begging to head to bed. With pjs on and lights out, the classic "Dad? I have to go potty." phrases began. The pitch blackness of night had Jack asking for a nightlight to sleep by, which kept Dad awake. The crickets were apparently wearing woofers around their necks and, confirmed by other Dads the next morning, practiced in disturbingly perfect unison. And lastly, Jack subconsciously felt it necessary to be touching or on Daddy in some way at all times throughout the night. Long story short, Jack had about 5 hours of sleep and Dad 2 hours.


The next morning, the men and boys played mini golf and then headed out to the paddle boats to be chauffered by their Daddies around the entire lake. This was no small feat according to the Dads, calling for about 45 minutes of difficult paddling...many of them comparing notes on their leg soreness the next day.

All in all, it was a great time had by Dad and Jack - just a little light in the sleep department.

An Educational Manifesto - Part I

Excerpted from Charlotte Mason's Vol. 3 "School Education: Developing A Curriculum"
Originally published in 1925

"Studies serve for Delight, for Ornament, and for Ability"

Every child has a right of entry to several fields of knowledge.
Every normal child has an appetite for such knowledge.
This appetite or desire for knowledge is a sufficient stimulus for all school work, if the knowledge be fitly given.

There are four means of destroying the desire for knowledge:

(a) Too many oral lesons, which offer knowledge in a diluted form, and do not leave the child free to deal with it.
(b) Lectures, for which the teacher collects, arranges and illustrates matter from varous sources; these often offer knowledge in too condensed and ready prepared a form.
(c) Text-books compressed and re-compressed from the big book of the big man.
(d) The use of emulation and ambition as incentives to learning in place of the adequate desire for, and delight in knowledge.

The Sleeping Artist In Me - Strikes Back

Grace and I hit Hobby Lobby this evening to prepare for the new term with new art supplies. I could feel it coming as soon as I started walking down the aisles lined with sketch pads and art mediums. It has been so long since I have pulled out my own pencils, pens, and a sketchbook, but I found myself longing to show Grace what beautiful mediums lie beyond coloring crayons, tempera paints, crayola watercolors, and colored pencils.

Before I knew it, I had filled the cart with "REAL" watercolors, the brilliant colors of oil pastels, soft pastels, charcoal pencils, kneaded erasers, sketch books and watercolor paper. I can still recall how oil pastels in 6th grade opened a whole new world for me, and sent me on a long journey up through part of college continuing toward an art profession.

When we got home, Grace tried out her new sidewalk chalk for a few minutes, and then came over to my chair to watching intently as I explored through the various mediums. The rule over the last two weeks has been that they are not allowed to open anything for next term until Monday...but I let her have just a taste on a junkmail envelope with oil and soft pastels. It was worth it.

There are few things more fulfilling then watching one of your children have the same "Oh MY!" moment over something you had 20 years ago. It is going to take all my willpower to not allow her to try the different mediums out more tomorrow. I know she'll ask 10 times.

Who Can Wait?

Ok...we cheated. I don't know what it is with composers, none of us can leave a CD wrapped in its cellophane with a week more to go. So the house has been booming with the sounds of Beethoven over the last few days.

The boxed set is really overwhelming to a novice. I recognize many of the symphonies, but not the numbers or the names. There is just so much to choose from. Only two CDs have been brought out, and it is enough to last an entire term.

Beethoven and Gershwin are clearly the top two out of the three composers we've had this year. And we've discovered, that while Grace has an appreciation and erie sensitivity to the tone of music, Jack is our born music fanatic...it is almost mathematical to him.

Ever since we introduced music for naps and bedtime (he was still quite young) he has fallen asleep to many of the classics. Now his appreciation for the music he is so familiar with, is beginning to show. Jack will play the first 10 seconds of a song, over and over again until he decides to allow the music to move on. Every measure is analyzed, and seems to fill him up. He will sometimes run the 10 second byte and watch for your reaction, all the while trying to hide the smile and satisfaction that is filling him up as he hears the sound byte again. It is a sight that makes you laugh every time.

Going Our Separate Ways

Today was a lazy wait for the late afternoon as Jack anticipated "really" going camping with Daddy, while Grace and I conversed about what we were going to do while the men of the house were out for two days.

Poor Jack, in much need of a nap, was a tearful mess by the time Daddy pulled in the drive and was ready to head out on their camping trip. Once again, Jack confessed he had been "going commando" all day, and the thought of dealing with underwear while wearing shoes and socks was too much. Leaving Jack-O alone and strapped in his car seat with the car running for 5 minutes, was not a good idea either (long story). By then we had full blown sobs and hysterics.

I have a feeling that Jack is showing the beginning signs that he has caught his mother's head cold. He's like clock work before getting sick - the day before, he's moody, grumpy, and emotional. Just for good measure, the nebulizer was packed. A little alone time with Dad will be good medicine for him though.

Grace and I headed for a pre-school spending spree at Hobby Lobby, and then went over to Ryan's buffet for dinner and dessert. Our thoughts and prayers are with Jack and Daddy. We want pictures!!!

Renoir Memory Tournament Begins

As we have done in the past two terms with our other artists, we created a memory game out of Renoir stickers and wood chips (see link for more detailed how-to info).

Jack has reached an age this term that has made him a worthy competitor against his older sister. Today he proved himself by beating her fairly - 9 matches to 6 matches. Grace had difficulty hiding her disappointment in her brother's new cognitive improvements.

In My Own World

Fly! Be Free!

Today marked the official release date of our two praying mantis and the grasshopper. The mantis were happy to be released on a large patch of Black-eyed Susans. Later, we went back to check on them and counted three...so it must have been a popular location. The grasshopper was released into a patch of Lamb's Ear. Below is a picture of Grace freeing the grasshopper.


The release date did include a bit of drama. I originally had placed the first mantis on the daylily leaves seen in the picture. He just had this look...like he wanted to jump. (Note to self: listen to your intuition). I told Grace to watch the first mantis, while I went back into the house for the second. As I was catching the second in the house, I was interrupted by blood curdling screams, sobs, and feet pounding up on the deck. The mantis had decided to jump on her leg while I was away, and the feeling was a bit too unfamiliar for her. Ken had been brought out to the deck as well by the screams, and the looks exchanged between the two of us were almost too much to hide the laughter. (BTW, the mantis was located and found unharmed).

The Season Must Be Ripe For Skippers

Today was a day to just sit by the verbena and watch what came passing by for a drink. We grabbed our butterfly identification book and thumbed through, as this and that butterfly stopped by. Everything we saw was a skipper...but we saw such a large variety. Everything from the large Silver Streaked Skipper to the little Fiery Skipper.

The Skippers are interesting in that they seem pretty fast in flight, but at the same time they'll let you practically touch them when they are on a flower.

Identify This Seashell

The children kicked off their aquatic studies this term with a shell identification tray. The goal being that they find a shell and then try to locate a shell similar in the Peterson guide. Below is Grace deep in thought (not really).

We marked pages in the guide with a small sticky that we felt best represented the shell. Later, as the kids become more familiar with the names of shell families will move on to more difficult games. But for at least the first month, they really seem to be enjoying the individualities of the shells themselves.

Bubbles! Bubbles! Bubbles!

After a morning bike ride, we tried to beat the heat under the porch with bubbles. It's been a long time since we've had bubbles in the house (usually accidentally dumped in one sitting). So the mention of bubbles brought squeals of delight, and hard questions: Why do bubbles have rainbows?

Jack shows pride in his refined ability to blow a mean bubble.


Meet our future professional glass blower.