Wordless Wednesday - Leaf Man

Hannah's Leaf Woman

Snapper Goes Home

We decided that our little snapping turtle needed to be returned to a more suitable environment and today was the day! We had enjoyed our observations of him and Josiah was particularly sad to see him go, but we know he will be much happier with space to roam. We put him in a bucket and drove a very short distance to the school behind our house. If there were no fence, we could just walk straight back to it. Behind the school, almost hidden, is a Wildlife Habitat. We walked down to the banks of the little creek leading into the wetlands area. This is where we stop and release our rescued friend. Theron gets to let him go, while I try to record the event. To me, it was exciting - giving him his freedom! But for Josiah it was a tearful occassion - saying goodbye.

Hannah's with us, too, but she hardly makes a sound. She understands.

At the end of the video, Josiah raises up and bumps into my hand that is holding the camera. It's kinda funny.

Fun Friday Dog Tricks

Hannah took this video showing Little Lady doing "paw, high five, turn around, roll over, dance, and leave it".

Have you taught your dog any tricks? Let us see them.

Wordless Wednesday - Snapping Turtle

Common Snapping Turtle

size - 5 inches (shell 2 1/4 in.)

found in pool skimmer

"It sounds like an eraser"

Today while the children were happily doing their schoolwork, I was putting away dishes and loading the dishwasher.
Josiah starts sniffing as if he has a runny nose, and says, "What does this sound like?"
I said, "It sounds like you have the sniffles."
To this, he replies, "It sounds like an eraser to me."
I think, Oh okey, I guess it could sound like an eraser rubbing against paper. What a creative mind!
Then the reality, "Mom, it IS an eraser . . . in my nose."
"What? You are kidding. You didn't put an eraser in your nose!"
Well the eraser on the pencil WAS loose and he HAD put it in his nose. I looked, but could not see it. He said he could feel it in there. I walked around the kitchen thinking I might have to go for yet another doctor visit . . . we've already been to the doctor on Monday to make sure Hannah did not have bronchitis or pneumonia.
I finally got a tissue and asked him to cover the other nostril and blow into the tissue . . . and out it came. I am so THANKFUL!

Rainy Days and Mondays

With this weather,

I'm thinking I should have planted rice!

Saturday's Sweets

We didn't have time to do this during the week,

so we did it today.

We made a World cookie!

Hannah loved doing the decorating.

Fun project for a rainy day.

(We just used store-bought dough,
because I didn't want to ruin good cookies with all
that icing!) Hannah did a great job! But let me tell you,
it's SWEET!

If You Homeschool . . .

. . . you will probably study plants,

and if you study plants,

you will have to grow some things.

And if you grow some things,

you will have to watch for the sprouts to come up.

And when the sprouts come up,

you will have to take one inside to examine it closer.

While you are in the garden,

you will probably find an insect.

When you find an insect,

you will have to catch it and take it inside, too . . .

to examine it closer.

And then you might see an insect in a picture that you took,

that you didn't know was there when you took the picture.

(Do you see it?)

And if you homeschool,

your younger brother will get to do stuff that looks more fun to you. . .

and other stuff that doesn't,

(like folding clothes)

but if you ask,

Mom will probably let you use the fun-looking blocks, too.

Well, we finished another week.

Be Careful What You Say . . .

The same day we did our shopping and mini-date, Theron and I were joking about being tired from being sick and wondering who could take care of us. Hannah volunteered! By the end of the day, she had created a list of things that she and Josiah would do to take care of her feeble parents including making a stack of "breakfast in bed card" for us to use. Ha! Ha! It may actually happen some day.
Then later while we were out and talking about where we would go for a snack, Theron said "Well, if we go there, Josiah will want a Sprite." It made me think of the book, IF YOU GIVE A MOOSE A MUFFIN, so I said, "And if you give him a Sprite, he'll have to go to the bathroom, and after he goes to the bathroom, etc., etc,." When we arrived at the kids favorite place and asked Josiah what he wanted to drink, he adamently stated, "I don't want anything to drink."
"Why?" "Because I'll have to go to the bathroom!" Obviously he was listening, . . . this time.

Flowers for a Fall Garden

After a restful morning, the family went to Walmart and Home Depot to pick up some things. I had been wanting to plant a fall garden, so we got some seeds at the Depot- lupines, peas, poppies, daisies, wildflowers, purple coneflowers, and lettuce.

It was after 4:00 and we thought we might get some fries and a drink at the kids favorite place. What started out as a snack, turned out to be a snupper (combine snack and supper), as we were all so humgry we got enough to last us til bedtime. And what started out as a quick stop for a snack, turned into a mini-date for Theron and me as the kids enjoyed the indoor playground and we had coffee in the indoor "quiet area".

We were home in time to pull up old plants and put in new ones. And Theron was able to replace our A/C filter and our water filter.

ABC verses - S to Z

These are the last of the verses we learned this summer. It seemed the latter ones were harder to remember, except for Z. It always reminds the kids of a familiar song.

We will be learning a verse a week in MFW. This week it was an easy one, John 3:16, which they already knew. We've been talking about maps and globes, learning the names and location of the seven continents, and making our own maps. In Science, we are learning about how God designed each animal to live in it's environment, habitats, food chains, and seasonal changes (that's this week). We tried a nature walk at the park, but didn't find much. We find more in our own backyard. Just today, the kids found two more frogs. Hannah is good at catching them. She also found some wildflowers/weeds that she gathered and said she was going to research.

Josiah focuses on a letter a week and a number each day. This week was Ss. S is for sun, and we talk about how Jesus is the Light of the World. I also do speech with him using Straight Talk, published by NATHHAN. We are currently working on the "K" sound at the beginning and middle of words. He does fine when it's at the end of a word. He's learning math with popsicle sticks and Cuisenaire Rods.

Hannah is using Singapore Math book 2B. She will start using Spelling Power in a week or two. For English, she is using Primary Language Lessons.

Yay, the first week of school is done!

Two more SHORT videos

I forgot to add these from our day at the Newport Aquarium.

We started school on Labor Day. In spite of the fact that we've had to make two doctor trips this week (Theron has pneumonia and a kidney stone among other things, and I have bronchitis), the kids are well and our school week has been pretty good. We've actually stayed on track. I guess this first week is light.

Erin at www.fullheart.blogspot.com - this is for you. My house has definitely not been clean this week. My mountain is not usually the laundry, but the kitchen. When I don't feel well, the dishes pile up and just in general, my kitchen counters "collect" things. It seems that everything wants to make it's home in the kitchen, whether it's a plastic dinosaur or a FCFE homeschool binder (WHAT! Oops). Actually those things are easy to put away. It's all those little things like receipts and medicines and "recyclable?' items that take more thinking. Hannah has been helping me by washing dishes that we don't put in the dishwasher. This has become a new chore for her this year, because she can do it without supervision now.

I should be picking up speed now that I'm taking the antibiotic and STEROIDS for the bronchitis. Theron is doing much better, too. He had been laid out on the couch in pain the first part of the week, but now is up and around more, although still at home, which is nice.

Knoxville Zoo

This was the last day of our vacation trip, with the exception of driving home on Friday. This week we have been resting up, going to doctor's appointments, reviewing our ABC Bible verses, and finishing our Summer Vacation notebooks. Next week we will start My Father's World - Kindergarten for Josiah and Exploring Countries and Cultures for Hannah.

Sunday's storm effects

Not only did Sunday's storm do something to my nervous system (we were in the car on the way home from church when it hit), but it did something to our old tree out front.

Whether it was the weight of all the rain on the leaves or the wind or both, this limb could not hold on any longer.

Hannah was happy to help cleanup and Theron got to "play" with his big boy toys (power tools!).

What you've been waiting for

The planetarium show really allowed you to get an idea of the vastness of the universe. Amazing that God created things so huge and things so small. Some other things that I did not get pictures of, were the 4D show, The Last Adam video, Dragons video, and a storybook time that Josiah went to with Dad while Hannah and I were in our fossil class. We also browsed the bookstore. We had a great two days. It was a blessing.