The greatest thing just happened!

I found an old friend of mine, someone I've thought about for years but had no idea how to locate. We met in 5th grade and were friends until she moved away during our freshman year. I was absolutely lost without her! Those years are so hard anyway, and going through them without my best friend was rough.

I'm soooo glad to find out that she's doing well and I can't wait to catch up! The internet is a wonderful thing!

Just another abandoned blog

My computer is still messed up. I'm hoping to get a new one by the end of next month. Until then, I post whenever I can, which isn't often. Even if I had my computer, we have been so busy...

Busy doing what? Swimming, Slip-and-Sliding, water balloon fights, going to the park with the muddy sand pit (I'm still soaking their clothes), seeing Monsters vs. Aliens and Up, playdates with friends, cooking hot dogs and s'mores outside, a road trip to Oklahoma to visit relatives, another trip to Texas to see more relatives. (My family knows how to have fun: the kids played with their cousins and the grownups sat around drinking Shiner Bock and watching the kids play.) Dad claims I went in every antique store between Oklahoma City and Jefferson, TX but he's wrong: two of them were closed.

When we got back home, the kids were really excited to find lots of baby strawberries on their plants. I've picked a few cherry tomatoes and one early girl. Dad got a new lawnmower and edger for an early Father's Day present (I swear, that's what he asked for!)

So...it's not exactly the lazy, relaxing summer I had imagined, but we are having a great time. Hope you are, too.

Art Class for Homeschoolers

Dudeman had a great time at his art class! He learned about Matisse and Picasso, then did some paintings of his own. Check out his green alien face, which he later cut apart and added weird eyes and noses, Picasso style.

In case you're wondering...

I haven't been updating my blog because I spilled a glass of water on my computer a week ago. Had to wait a few days to see if it would work, and it did--briefly. Took it in for diagnostics and found out that water damage repair costs about half what a new computer would cost, so I'm weighing the pros and cons of repairing it or just replacing it.

After warning the kids a thousand times about keeping drinks away from the computer, I'm the one who spilled water on it!

This Week at School

The Super Awesome School of Super Awesomeness just gets more super awesome each week!

We started the week by baking a cake. Why not? Dudeman was hoping to make a cheesecake, but we didn't have 18 oz. of cream cheese on hand (go figure), so we made a vanilla layer cake instead. The cake recipe called for 3/4 cup of butter. Two sticks of butter are a whole cup, so how do we measure 3/4 cup? Next we measured the sugar and talked about all the different ways we could measure the same amount. Two eggs. Vanilla. Uh-oh, the teaspoon is dirty in the dishwasher. Can we use the half teaspoon to measure 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla? Flour. Baking soda. One and 1/4 cups of milk. It was fun to cook together and a great excuse to discuss basic fractions. (You might notice that there are no pictures of the cake. It didn't last long.)

We read tons of books, especially the day that Dude was miserable with spring allergies (his mother's child.) Running a low fever and zonked out with Benadryl, he curled up with me on the couch and we worked our way through: Penny the Forgotten Coin by Denise Brennan-Nelson, Bad Boys and Mary Had a Little Ham by Margie Palatini, Dear Deer by Gene Barretta, Black Bear Cub by Jacqueline Moody-Luther, How Long or How Wide? by Brian Cleary, a couple more chapters of Toys! Amazing Stories Behind Some Great Inventions by Don Wulffson, Inventor McGregor, by Kathleen T. Pelley, You Wouldn't Want to Be on Apollo 13 by Ian Graham, There's A Frog In My Throat! by Loreen Leedy and Pat Street and Yes We Can, based on President Obama's victory speech. Oh, how I love the luxury of dropping our plans and just reading together when we're not feeling up to an active school day.

The day of reading added lots of titles to our reading challenge list. I had picked up some sticky stars so Dude could rate his reading selections. It was interesting to see what his favorites and least favorites were. A visit to the library added even more selections to the list. By the end of the week, he had gone from 14 to 28 books.

We worked on our ancient Egypt History Pockets projects, and had a great time writing things with hieroglyphs. We located the Nile on the globe and talked about the red land and black land, and why the Nile was so important for the Egyptians. We read some good books about ancient Egypt (way better than the basic dry facts provided by History Pockets.) Mummies, Pyramids and Pharaohs by Gail Gibbons, You Wouldn't Want to Be a Pyramid Builder by Jacqueline Morley and Hieroglyphs by Joyce Milton provided us with plenty of fascinating information about daily life, Egyptian religion, and the power of the Pharaohs. Dude really liked the History Pockets cat activity and ended up doing two: cut out and decorate a sacred cat, then fold it and write a poem about cats inside. This inspired him to compose a great story called The Two Cats of the Pharaoh.

Oh, I almost forgot the other books, the Star Wars Clone Wars comic series. Dude goes through those pretty quick, but I still let him count them on the book challenge list. Reading them always inspires lots of clone and droid battle sketches.

Let's see...Hey, Dude, did we play any games this week? Oh, yeah, someone beat me at Scrabble, even though he had the worst strategy ever. "You see, Dude, the way to win at Scrabble is to make the best word you can at the time. Don't save your letters hoping for a chance to use them a certain way, because..." "Yeah, OK, Mom. But I'm going to save these three in case a G opens up." "No, that's not the best strategy..." I explain, as I lose by 20 points to a kid less than one-fifth my age.

We played a game called Tax Collector, from Family Math. The object of the game is to get more money than the tax collector. For every paycheck you choose, you get to keep the money, but the tax collector gets the factors of your paycheck. For example, if you took a paycheck for $10, you would get $10, and the tax collector would get $2 and $5 (because 2 x 5 = 10.) Dude caught on pretty quickly that some paychecks seem like a good idea at first, but really aren't. For example, $24 seems like a good paycheck. But the tax collector would get $2, $12, $6, $4, $8, and $3. Yikes! Even the Finns don't pay that much tax!

We didn't spend much time outside, due to allergies, but we did go out long enough to catch Buddy (see below.) Dude worked on a new piano song, played with the dogs, did some Gamequarium math games, ran errands with me, including a quick trip to the bank to trade in some quarters for $2 bills.

Just for fun the kids made some stuff out of Sculpey, and we spent an evening painting stuff at the local ceramics place. We had playdates with good friends. (Thank you, Friend's Mom for having a pet rabbit so I don't have to!) Supersim's friend was so adorable--she came to me and said, "Can we turn this into a party?" "Sure, I guess." (What does that mean, exactly? I wondered...) "Yay!" she says! "We're having a party! This is the best party ever!" Then she runs away to play... Apparently just calling it a party made it a party. Kids are wonderful, aren't they?

I almost don't even care what we study--I'm just enjoying this time together.

Meet Buddy

Yesterday, snow.  Today, bugs.

These are great bug jars by the way.  Super cheap from Rainbow Resources, and they have a little magnifier built in.

After we got a good look at Buddy, we let him go, of course.

Guess I'm Not Planting Tomatoes Today

Look how pretty it is!  

Yesterday, it was in the 60's, we had the back door open and a hummingbird flew into the house!  Dad Sparklee had to catch it before it knocked itself silly on our kitchen window.

  

And today--snow!

The best part is...I did my grocery shopping yesterday, so I don't have to drive anywhere in this mess!  

The kids and I will clean out the feeders and make up a batch of sugar water for Hummie.  They need their calories in weather like this...

This Week at School

This week at the Super Awesome School of Super Awesomeness we...

Continued working on our Animal Kingdom notebook. We visited the local pet store to choose fish for our lab. We noted the price of the fish, food, and habitat (aquarium.) Supersim chose a pretty redcap goldfish; Dudeman chose a larger moor with a fancy tail. We also got a cute little yellow snail and a live plant.

After we set up the aquarium for "Chewey" and "Rocky," we talked about how fish need oxygen just like mammals, but they get it in a different way. We observed how they pulled water through their gills, and talked about why the live plant is beneficial. We talked about the difference between ectothermic and endothermic animals. We took the temperature of the water and hypothesized about the fish's body temperature. We also noted the room temperature and took our own temperatures to calculate the difference.

We did some research online and found some interesting pictures of different types of fish scales. Did you know that on some fish, you can guess their age by the patterns on their scales? We also found photos of really strange fish, including the Pacific Barrelhead, which has a transparent head! We found pictures of our favorite fish (not our favorites to eat, but the ones we find the most interesting!) This included lionfish, sharks, and fugu. Wikipedia has a long, informative entry on fugu with lots of pictures. As Dudeman wisely said, "What flavor is worth that risk?"

I had planned a 30-minute piano lesson for Dudeman early in the week, because he has expressed interest in playing. I hadn't counted on his enthusiasm--he ended up playing all morning that day and learned two beginner songs. I'm pretty sure we are going to need a real piano teacher (way better than me) and a real piano, too, because he is very excited about learning to play. The rest of the week, he went back to the keyboard several times a day to practice his songs, and he couldn't wait to show off when he went to a friend's house.

We made up a very silly story problem about cats. A girl cat named Goldie, nicknamed "Goo," met a boy cat named Pudgy, nicknamed "Poo." Goo and Poo had four kittens: Bloo, Choo, Koo, and Twoo. If Goo went to the store and got 3 cheese-flavored kitty treats for each kitten, how many did she buy? If Poo went to the store and got 4 sardines for each kitten, how many did he buy? And so on. This is where Dudeman takes over the storyline, in case you can't tell...

Then, Bloo went on a game show and won $5000. He generously decides to share with his family. Which leads to all sorts of purchases, including toys, groceries, cell phones, and scented pine cones (where did THAT come from?). When Goo decides to make her world famous cheesecake, the ingredients cost $50, but she already has milk at home so she doesn't need to buy a $5 carton of milk. To complicate matters even more, some of the kittens decide to pool their money so they can make bigger purchases. Also, the scented pine cones were on clearance, 10 for $5. Can Bloo divide them evenly between his family members?

All I can say is...Why NOT make math silly? And what the heck is in a $50 cheesecake?

We played Scrambled States of America, Domination, Apples to Apples, and Stack. We spent an awesome day at the creek, and had another great playdate with good friends.

We read LOTS of good books, and I'm going to post about them soon. It was a good week, and we're taking tomorrow off to clean the house!

Whine

Forgive me for being whiny, but it seems unfair to me that we went seamlessly from cold season to allergy season this year.

We also went from snow on the lawn to needing to mow our lawn in about two days.

Sorry I'm cranky.  It's probably just my allergies...

It's So True

Supersim: "You can make all kinds of pizza alternatives, but they're never as good as pizza."

A Poem By Supersim

All species

Have feces

Which is poo.

Ostriches do it.

Bugs do, too.

This Week at School

This week at the Super Awesome School of Super Awesomeness we...

...looked at a bank statement and paid bills. We talked about how you keep track of money in a checking account, and what happens when you write a check.

...practiced multiplication facts and did a couple of math sheets.

...researched mammals for our Animal Kingdom Notebook; added lots of mammal facts and some great art.

...read Polar Bear Cub by Jacqueline Moody-Luther.

...did a science experiment about polar bear blubber; we used two thermometers; one was bare and one was insulated with shortening. The bare thermometer registered much lower temperatures than the thermometer covered with "blubber."

...bought four hermit crabs and set up their "crabitat."

...had an awesome playdate at Dude's best bud's house.

...borrowed lizard skin and bird feathers from best bud's pets and looked at them under the microscope.

...read The Mushroom Man by Ethel Pochocki.

...played Domination (a great game!!!)

...read Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O'Neill.

...made Ancestral Puebloan water jugs out of Sculpey. Also snakes, rats, and bulldogs.

...constructed a Lego gears set. The fan was neat, but the Clone Carousel was the best!

...read It's Disgusting and We Ate It! by James Solheim.

...read You Wouldn't Want to Be a Mammoth Hunter and You Wouldn't Want to Be a Roman Gladiator by John Malam.

...traced the path from Gallia to Rome on the globe.

...read Show Me How Fast It Is! by Jerry Pallotta.

...played Professor Noggin's Outer Space game.

...planted our "sensitive plant" mini-terrariums.

...read Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne.

...started building the battery-powered motor for our motorboat.

...played Higher/Lower/Odd/Even.

...reviewed addition strategies: Plus 10, Plus 9, and Doubles.

...read How Much, How Many, How Far, How Heavy, How Long, How Tall is 1000? by Helen Nolan.

...read Wackiest White House Pets by Gibbs Davis.

...made up a long, goofy story problem involving a dad who brings home a paycheck and is immediately attacked by his greedy family, asking for more and more money for Wii games, hermit crabs, and dinners out (I don't know anyone like that!)

I know, I know. We are the cliche new homeschoolers, trying to cram way too much into our days. But the kids helped me unpack the Rainbow Resources box and they were so excited, they wanted to get started on everything NOW! As long as they are enthusiastic, I'll let them run with it.

Um, I'm not sure if this qualifies for "home education" but the kids also took the huge Rainbow Resources box, drew a cow face on it, put it over their heads and walked around the living room scaring the dogs out of their minds...

Overheard

There is a kids' cereal commercial (Cocoa Puffs, maybe?) that features a crazy cartoon opera, complete with a blond Viking lady. So my kids were watching TV tonight and this is what I happened to hear...

Dude: That is one bad soap opera.
Super: That's not a soap opera. That's just an opera.
Dude: Oh. Then what's a soap opera?
Super: A soap opera is when you have deep, dark secrets.
Dude. Oh. I thought that was Oprah.

I swear, my kids have never seen an opera, a soap opera, or Oprah! But they got it just about right, didn't they?

Colored Eggs

The kids ran out of eggs, but they didn't want to waste all those great colors, so they dropped in some rocks to see what would happen. The eggs and the rocks turned out great, don't you think? They had a great time, as always. One of their friends came over to join the fun, and she brought one of those sparkly tie-dye egg kits.

These photos brought back memories of playing Colored Eggs. Do you remember that game? Someone was the Mother Hen, and she named all her little chickies different colors. Then her chickies stood behind her while the Big Bad Wolf knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"Big Bad Wolf."

"Whaddya want?"

"Colored eggs."

"What color?"

Tricky Mother Hens wouldn't name anyone just "Pink" or "Yellow." Tricky Mother Hens used the 64-box names like "Burnt Sienna" and "Periwinkle."

So, when the Big Bad Wolf called for "Chartreuse" or whatever, that little chickie had to run to base without getting tagged. In my neighborhood, base was always the big tree in the Campbell's front yard. There were a bunch of kids on our street, and in the summer we played Colored Eggs and other forms of tag until the streetlights came on. If we were lucky, our parents would come outside to call us and get involved in conversations with other parents, and we could play a little longer while the grownups talked. In my childhood memories, it's always summer, the grass is always green and cool on my bare feet, and it's always dusk and the kids are trying to squeeze in a few more minutes of tag before bedtime.

Mesa Verde!!!!!!!!