Bases Loaded with One on Deck

Lots and Lots of Dots

I must confess (and I know I'm not alone here) that I probably own way too many books.  I also know that I'm not alone in the fact that there are certain types of books/authors that I tend to buy more often than others.  Arts and Crafts fits in that area for me.  I'm neither artsy nor crafty by nature, so I suppose I justify purchases by convincing myself that I need all the help I can get. 

Ever hear of MaryAnn F. Kohl?  I'm slightly addicted to her right now, have been for years actually. It all started with Discovering Great Artists.  Haven't used it as much as I hoped, and with all the projects I still had left to do, I really had no business buying Great American Artists, but it was in color (the other was not) and I just had to have it.  Haven't really used that one as much as I had hoped either, so it was with a bit hesitation that I decided to purchase Storybook Art.  I really wanted something I could do especially with James. I actually checked this one out from the library first just to make sure, and believe it or not his first project is almost complete.  

We chose the book Ten Black Dots. It seemed like a simple enough project that James could easily come up with ideas for.  Here are some sample pages from his book:

  

  

James used Draw Write Now to make the train and the guy kneeling in front of the snow balls. And I know I'm a bit biased here, but I think they came out pretty darn swell. 

Fresh Food by the Foot

When I made our plans for science this year, one of the things I wanted to do was botany.  To study botany we were going to plant a garden and various types of plants, including some carnivorous ones, and we were going to start in the spring.  This was before the drought took full effect and we were banned from outdoor watering.  Our county has eased up on restrictions a bit, and we are now allowed 25 minutes of hand watering, on certain days of the week, at ridiculous hours in the morning, so I'm not sure how great our garden will be this year, but we are giving it a whirl anyways.  (I'm sure there's lots of good lessons to be learned about growing a garden in less than stellar conditions, right!?)

One book that has given me hope for success is Mel Bartholomew's "All New Square Foot Gardening".  There was a write up in the paper on it a few weeks ago, and I was able to quickly secure a copy at the library.  Kent, the boys and I all fell in love with it, so it is now sitting in my Amazon.com cart waiting to be purchased in the next day or two, along with a whittling book for Michael and a resource book for me.  (Gotta meet that $25 for free shipping!) 

Kent has made a list of the wood we need to build our first box, along with some smaller square foot boxes to adorn the steps of our deck.  We also have a list a mile long of everything we want to plant, so I guess we'll have to narrow that down a bit.  According to the book, 12 square feet can grow quite a bit of food, but not 40 different kinds of plants, vegetables, herbs, and berries. 

As for the carnivorous plants, I bought a seed packet when I ordered my school books last year, and the library actually has a book on how to grow them, so we'll see how far we get with that. If we do not have success on our own, I've been assured by our local nursery that they carry a variety of carvinorous plants there.  I've promised the boys bug eating plants, and they shall have them! 

I'll keep you posted as we go along.  Hopefully over the next few months all of our thumbs will be turning a lovely shade of green!

Hours of Fun!

The Book:

The Builders:

The Hanger:

The Pilots:

The Testing Field:

The Crash Site:

Catching up on the classics

I don't know when I stopped reading novel type books.  I know it had nothing to do with having kids, but that certainly didn't help the situation.   I love to read, and I read a lot as a kid.  Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary come to mind when I think of my elementary years.  In junior high I remember having to read "To Kill a Mocking Bird" and "Of Mice and Men", but in high school I can't remember what I read, or even being required to read.  There was one book in my English Lit. class my senior year that I was assigned over spring break, but I was going to California with some friends and didn't have time to read it.  My junior year I remember doing Shakespeare.  Didn't understand a bit of it, probably because at the time I didn't want to, it wasn't a passion of mine by any stretch of the imagination.  His work now scares me to death, mostly because I know at some point very soon I will have to expose Michael to this literary virtuoso. 

After high school there were a few John Grisham books, "Jurassic Park" and some flesh eating bacteria book entitled "The Hot Zone".  I also got into the Sue Grafton, Mary Higgins Clark type books too. But, I have never really drank from the well of classical literature.  If it's been made into a "Wishbone" episode, I have certainly never read it, at least not up until now.

It started a few years back with the release of the "Lord of the Rings" movies.  Someone suggested that they would be easier to understand if I read the books first.  I started with "The Hobbit" and finished with "Return of the King".  I would like to re-read these at some point.  I enjoyed them, but I also rushed through them because Kent was anxious to rent the movies, and was waiting for me to finish the books.  I definitely didn't savor them like I should have.

Next came "Anna Karenina", at the suggestion of my sister.  Oh what a tangled web we weave!  I actually couldn't believe what she did at the end and remembered reading a certain page over and over again, to make sure I had gotten it right.

After Anna came "David Copperfield", which I enjoyed, although Uriah Heep gave me the creeps.  The name just resonate evil.

This September I read "Wuthering Heights".  I found it to be so very depressing, like a book version of the movie "Legends of the Fall".  It's not the same story, it just gave me the same feeling only for a longer amount of time since it was a book.  I almost didn't finish it. 

Thank goodness the next book I picked was a good one.  So good in fact I had a hard time putting it down.  "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen.  I wasn't expecting to like this and maybe that's why I ended up loving it so much.  I've actually got another book of hers on hold at the library, and will be picking it up tonight.  But first I must finish "Lust for Life", which was recommended by a good friend.  So far I like it.

I know I'm just scratching the surface of things here, and if you have any suggestions on great books I should add to my list, please let me know.  I suppose after "Mansfield Park" I should get my hands on some of William's work, so suggestions on the best easiest pieces to start with would be very helpful as well.

 

Mr. Holmes would be proud

It took a bit of time on our part.  We gave our thinking caps quite the workout, maybe even wore out one or two.  There was some trial and error involved, and a bit of cheating, but not much, from the back of the book on my part when we all were just absolutely stumped.  And even though we know who the culprit is, they boys are still pouring over the pages in the books, reliving the excitement of the whole experience.  Talk about a book that's worth it's weight in gold! 

Make Sure You Visit the Water hole

School was wonderful on this, the second day of fall.  After getting the daily grind (Math, English, Spelling) out of the way, we focused on the season at hand.

Matthew chose our fall book today.  It was "Leaf Man" , by Lois Ehlert.  All the pictures in this book were made with leaves, just like the picture on the cover, so it was a perfect one to go with our new art study as well.

This book also helped us to identify something we found on our nature walk yesterday.  Apparently what we have here is a sweet gum fruit.

   

After we read, I introduced the boys to their poetry memorization for the month.  I thought "Autumn Fires" by Robert Louis Stevenson, was more than appropriate.

In the other gardens
And all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over
And all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes,
The grey smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!
Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer,
Fires in the fall!

This next book and author I just can't say enough about.  I discovered him at "Lapaz Home Learning".  His books just sounded like something the boys would like, and let me just say we hit a home run with this guy!

I recently checked out a bunch of his books at the library, and it just so happens that we can use "The Water Hole" by Graeme Base for our art study.  Had I known we were going to read "Leaf Man", I might not have picked this for today, but I couldn't take it away once the boys knew we were going to look at it, and no one really complained that we had 2 books for art study today!  It's an animal counting book, but it's also a work of art, a tour of the world, a lesson on animals, and an absolute treasure to behold.  We actually did our geography and science using this book today.  So even if you know how to count to ten, you MUST read this AMAZING book!  And all his other books too! 

We were going to go out and collect leaves today for an art project later on this week, but Michael is hobbling around the house due to a badly jammed toe, so we'll wait and see how he is tomorrow.

"Left to Tell"

On Tuesday, September 11th, I was blessed with the opportunity to go and hear Immaculee Ilibagiza speak.  I had read her book this past winter, and I can honestly say it was one of the most powerful stories of faith and forgiveness that I have ever read.  Although I do know of one person who had a hard time with how graphically she described the events that took place in Rwanda, everyone else I have talked to is like me, and just can not put in to words how much her story has touched them.  I can't think of any other place I would have rather been, than listening to her as we remembered the horrible events of 9-11.  God spared her for a reason, her message is important, and if you have not yet read "Left to Tell", you should. 

Please, Mom! Not While We're Eating!

Our current read aloud has an interesting chapter 12.  It goes into great detail about how a certain Scottish delight is made.   

I always read aloud to the boys during lunch, and they have always enjoyed it until today!

And apparently my roast beef with gravy must be really bad, because that, along with raw bacon is what Michael would rather eat than haggis! 

Hmmm....haggis might be a handy thing to have around the house. 

"Well son, you have two choices.  You can eat what's on your plate, or have haggis.  It's up to you."

Assuming they regain their appetites, we will finish our travels in Scotland tomorrow, and then we are off to the wonderful world of Redwall!

As a side note, we have really enjoyed our current read aloud.  It was written by Melissa Wiley, who is a homeschooling mother to five beautiful children, as well as an amazing writer.  If you have kids who enjoyed the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, they will adore Mrs. Wiley's books as well. 

A Classic Novel on Audio CD

Is a wonderful thing........Unless it's a particularly touching story, and you happen to be driving down a major interstate on your way back from The Fernbank Museum of Natural History when Beth dies, and you start to tear up while trying to navigate traffic in Atlanta.  Then I suppose it becomes a dangerous thing. 

And just so you know, I'm not the only softy in the family.  The rear view mirror revealed that my tender hearted Matthew had some of those watery saline pools welling up in the corners of his eyes as well.

Now, I realize what some of you might be thinking, so I'll just go ahead and inform you right now.  Yes, I went without Kent.  No, I didn't get completely lost.  I actually made it there and back without any major detours; missing only 2 turns, and catching each mistake right away!