UGH pt. 2

So the stomach bug continued its run through our home. Scott caught it Thursday and stayed home from work. You know he's sick when that happens -- he almost never calls in sick.

He was better Friday and I got it Friday afternoon. So that makes all of us except Brenna and Conner. I'm really hoping they can avoid it!

Wildlife Sanctuary

Another homeschool field trip today -- who says homeschoolers aren't socialized? LOL

This time we visited The Wildlife Sanctuary. I've lived in Colorado all of my life and had never heard of this place. I read about it in a kids magazine. They rescue large exotic animals from bad situations. Oftentimes, they end up with large cats that people had as pets when they were young and then obviously couldn't take care of as they grew. They had a booklet of information about each of the animals. Some of the stories could break your heart. Two tigers that had been kept as pets lived in a car with the owner. One of the grizzly bears was rescued from a Russian circus, where he had been addicted to nicotine. That was how his owner got him to do tricks. Another bear came from such a bad situation that she used to bang her head against the bars until she bled.

This sanctuary takes these animals in and nurses them back to health. They have 75 tigers, 30 bears, 10 wolves, a few lions and servals. They have an observation walkway above the animals, so you can walk along and see them without disturbing their habitat.

These are looking down on the roundhouse, where the tigers live.

They have a pool area where the tigers can play with other tigers.

These two acted just like my cats who are brothers. Only with much larger teeth.

They are such magnificent animals. God is so amazing, isn't he?

These are a couple of the wolves:

One of the grizzlies:

I guess this place has been featured on Animal Planet, I'll have to keep an eye out for it. We all learned a lot here.

UGH

Our house seems to have been hit with a stomach bug. Zane came down with it first early Monday morning. He was miserable all day, continually throwing up. By bedtime, he seemed a bit better.

On Tuesday, he was much more himself. He's still not eating much food but at least he's nursing well. Overnight, Chase came down with it and had a very miserable night. He's weak today but hasn't gotten sick again since early morning.

Now Aiden is complaining his stomach hurts. Guess this one is making the rounds! Prayers for quick recoveries are very much appreciated.

First day of fall

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. ~Stanley Horowitz

It's now officially my favorite time of the year! I love fall. Here in Colorado, it can bring any weather you can imagine. I always have to have two wardrobes in the kids' drawers. We may wake up one day to hot, summery weather made for shorts and swimming. The next day we may need to don our long pants and a cozy sweater as the skies are gray and angry-looking. We've had snow as early as the first week in September, although that's rare.

Fall to me is milder weather, beginning a new homeschool year, the calendar filling up more and more and more. It's going through each child's clothing, determining what to pass on, what to give away, how much to buy. It's digging out coats, boots, hats, gloves. Putting away bathing suits swim shoes and sandals.

It's also snuggling with my toddler on the couch on a gray, cool morning. Visiting a corn maze or pumpkin patch. Making hot cocoa after the kids have gone out into the first snowfall of the year. Checking out this year's sweaters in stores. Looking ahead to the joyous Christmas season.

We also try to take at least one mountain drive this time of year to see the colorful show the aspens put on. We hope to do that next weekend. In the meantime, I'll post some pictures from past autumns.

And my favorite:

Cub Scout Camp Pt. 2

Last weekend, Scott took Chase camping with his scout pack again. This time, the Boy Scout troop ran the whole thing. They cooked all the meals and were also in charge of the activities. Chase is in Cub Scouts until February, when he'll move up to Boy Scouts.

Chase and Brian playing chess in the tent

Rope-tying

They also went on a 3 mile hike.

So far scouts has been a great thing for Chase to be involved in. He plays baseball in the summer, but when that ended last fall we looked around for something for him to join. He didn't want to play any other sports so I tried to contact a scout troop in our area. Nobody ever got back to me.

We moved on with our school year, and then later in September a friend from church mentioned her son was in scouts. It turned out it was a homeschool troop and they also offered Girl Scouts on the same day, at the same location. Score!

So I enrolled Chase in Cub Scouts and Brenna in Brownies. He has loved it ever since. He is very creative and inventive, and he really gets to put those qualities to use within the troop. It's been a great match for him.

Overheard at my house today...(part 2)

My 4yr old, Aiden, has been growing out of giving kisses to his brothers and sister. Now it's usually a peck on the arm or he blows a kiss. Today, I was talking with Conner, my 12yr old son, and Aiden came up and gave me a kiss. He leaned over and pretended like he was going to kiss his brother. Then he looked at me and said, "Conner doesn't like me to kiss him anymore."

There was a pause.

Then he questioned, "So what does he need lips for anyway?"

LOL. Yes, son. They serve no other purpose. =)

Overheard at my house today...

The older kids used cardboard to cut out and make writing tablets to go along with our study of Roman times. There was a box left over, so an un-named brother stuffed the baby into it. As you can see, he really minded. =)






Then I heard a different brother state, "Hey! All we need is 2 more boxes and we can play a game where you guess which box the baby's in." The other brother laughed and decided, "Nah. They'd just guess the box that's moving." LOL

river ecosystems

We attended a great homeschool field trip today at the Carson Nature Center in Littleton.




They separated us into groups, with the older kids going on a 1.5 mile hike with a guide. Conner and Chase did that hike while I stayed with the younger group.

The nature center is along the South Platte River so the class was geared toward learning about the river and what lives in and around it. Our guide, Danell, had the kids act out various animals. This is Aiden slithering like a snake:



This water table is the neatest thing. It's filled with the sand that is in the river, and has water running through it.




The guide carved out a mini-river to let the kids observe erosion.







Then they each got a miniature house to place along the river, wherever they thought it might be safest. Then they were given rocks and trees to try to protect their house.



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The guide then "flooded" the river. Most the houses and trees were washed away or flipped over. A few on the highest ground survived.





The kids just loved playing on this table. I need one at home! =)

Then we went on a small hike down to the river. The kids used nets to scoop up whatever they could find. They found a small toad, a dead crayfish and many smaller bugs and worms.

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This was the best kind of field trip -- the kids learned something, but also got to be hands-on. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get pictures of the older kids on their hike, but we do plan to go back. This was just one of several different classes they offer.

Silly quiz

Take the 100 Acre Personality Quiz!


I saw this quiz on Kristine's blog. I guess this fits pretty well, except I try not to send my friends to time out. =)

Who are you most like?

Please take the time to click on Noah's picture and go read about him at his family's blog. Such a precious, precious boy and his life has been so difficult. It's an amazing story and his parents are so faithful. You can see God moving throughout all the updates.

If you feel led to, please add Noah to your prayers.

First week of school

Well, we survived the first week. =) Here's a quick recap:



Day One (Tuesday): I gave the kids the option of going out for breakfast or lunch. They chose breakfast so we headed off to Denny's. Back at home, I gave them their new supplies and we talked about what period we're studying this year -- Rome to the Reformation.



We did Bible, history, math and vocabulary. We also discussed Roman numerals and learned a couple Latin words -- unus and duo. We finished by lunch. It went well, with good attitudes all around.



Day Two (Wednesday): This day didn't start out as well and the blame falls squarely on my shoulders. I was up a little late the night before so when Zane woke up to nurse at 4 (what's that about?? LOL), I then went back to bed and didn't get up until the kids did. I have been trying to be up before them to pray, have my coffee and check email.

So I felt behind from the beginning of the day. We did get through the subjects I'd planned but not as joyfully. =) Plus Zane had a runny nose and thought that entitled him to be held constantly. (And he's right *grin*).



Day 3 (Thursday) I learned my lesson from the day before and was up early. We got everything accomplished that I'd planned. In the afternoon, we attended a homeschool bowling party.

Day 4 (Friday) This day is Friday School. Chase took a chess class and a Presidential Fitness class, and Cub Scouts. Brenna took Beginning Sewing, Learn to Watercolor and Girl Scouts. Aiden took a class geared toward 4yr olds that is based on themes. The first day's them was animals. He came home with a snack and Bible verse to memorize. We also attended a picnic for our homeschool support group.

Most weeks we will do school at home M-Th and then attend Friday school. This week went well overall, we're learning which subjects take longer than others and how to keep the 4yr old occupied. Next week I hope to add in 1-2 more subjects.

More updates to come. =)

the "constraption"

I let Aiden watch an episode of "Blues Clues" this morning while I worked with the older kids on writing. He ran out to us, excited and said "They are talking about contraptions (see the above 4yr old pronunciation) and I want to make one. So when Chase finished his work, they headed outside to see what they could come up with. This is it:

The idea is to push the truck down the ramp, which pulls on the string attached to the cup of bird seed:

The cup is lifted up to the branch, where I guess the birdies are supposed to come along and find their feast. LOL Aiden was very excited about the whole project.

And hey -- this counts as schooling, right? =)

School planning

Okay...this year's curriculum ordered and received -- CHECK. Pencils sharpened, markers and erasers and scissors and glue all corralled into one central location (destined to be scattered throughout the house within a week) -- CHECK. A positive attitude on mommy's part, and prayers said for God's wisdom in training His precious children -- CHECK.

I think I'm ready to start school tomorrow. This year we have an 8th grader, a 5th grader, and a 3rd grader. Aiden is 4 so technically preschool, but I bought a Kindergarten curriculum to work with him on over the next 2 years.

We are using My Father's World curriculum for Bible and History. I checked it out at the homeschool convention and was impressed with how easy it seems to implement for different age groups. I'll let ya know in a few weeks it I find that to be true or not. ;)

This is the rest of what we're using:

Science is Apologia. For language arts, we're using Primary Language Lessons , Intermediate Language Lessons and Writing Strands. For handwriting, we use A Reason for Handwriting, and spelling is Spelling Power.

Math is Math-U-See. Art is God and the History of Art, music is Classical Music for Children for Aiden, and Introduction to Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven for the older kids. We are doing Latin for foreign language (wish me luck!).

We joined a co-op so the kids will be taking classes on Friday. So far, Chase is taking chess and a fitness class, Brenna is taking sewing and watercolor and Aiden is taking a preschool class. This is our first time in this kind of group so we'll see how it goes.

Extra-curricular activities include:

Conner -- baseball and swim lessons
Chase -- Cub Scouts and swim lessons
Brenna -- Brownies, swim lessons, dance and His Kids(choir at church)
Aiden -- swim lessons and Cherub Choir (church)

They are all also in AWANA. So it's shaping up to be a busy year!

I'll try to post after our first day and periodically throughout the year.

a promise fulfilled

Every week, we drive by an outdoor pool that features a couple slides. And every week, Aiden asks to go there. For most of the year I can happily reply that it's closed until summer. But there are those pesky 3 months between Memorial Day and Labor Day when it is indeed open.

Last summer we had the best of intentions to take him there at least once, but it never happened. He did get to go to other pools. With even better slides. And we went on a super road trip to Florida where he got to play in the biggest pool of all -- the ocean.

But still he had this desire -- need, he insisted -- to go to that particular pool. So I said we would go this summer for sure as I endured the can-we-please-go-there question week after week.

This last week I realized in shock -- it will be closed Monday for the season. This coming Monday. As in, no more time for excuses. Scott was out of town for work all week and I wasn't looking forward to taking all 5 alone, but I was determined.

Then I got a pleasant surprise. Scott got back early on Friday. So we threw on the bathing suits and headed out. It turned out to be the perfect time to go. The weather wasn't too hot, and most kids were still in school. We had the place mostly to ourselves.

The cost for 5 non-residents: $21. The time spent searching for all the suits, towels, sunscreens, etc.: at least 30 minutes. Seeing the above smile on my son's face: priceless.

fun in the sun

More pictures from the pool:

Brenna

This bucket would fill up with water and then dump every 10 minutes

Conner on the slide

Chase on the slide

Zane checks out the fountains

He decides he likes them =)

Swimming with Daddy

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