Category: Fun finds

My Secret Garden

Daniel brought me flowers he collected during a hike on the mountain. This kid is so thoughtful.

These made me so happy. I held them in the van during our drive back to Provo. Everyone sneezed and I was covered in pollen. We decided that the flowers I wasn’t able to press would decorate Lady’s grave. So that’s where we left them.

Have you ever opened a book only to discover there are pressed flowers inside? That is one of the happy discoveries in life.

I pressed the flowers in a book I have been carrying around in the car: The Secret Garden. How fitting!

Window set

It’s good to have a friend with whom you can laugh and tell secrets on the window seat.

This is where they prefer to sit when it’s not over 100 degrees.

Tomatoes! and other items of note

If anything can cure summertime blues, it’s a fresh garden tomato. The boys love picking them but they won’t eat ’em. (That’s not a real snake beside Mark.)

Daniel is off having “experiences and adventures” with the Sanchez grandparents this week. Lucky!

Paige returned from Girls Camp Spiritual Retreat in New Mexico just as sunburned as when she camps in the mountains.

I’m reading Democracy in America by de Tocqueville  since I have always wanted to do that.

I’m trying to gather enough courage to open the box of animals I ordered for Paige to dissect. Strange, given the fact I have dissected just about every animal you can think of. I’ve even dissected a shark… and worked with cadavers. You have a new disgusting respect for me now, don’t you? Back to my box dilemma: the specimens showed up in a package on the doorstep from a hot truck. I have a serious case of the willies. WHERE are we going to dissect these? This sort of dilemma keeps my mind busy.

I’m going to make this cake, sans the green frosting and trap.

I’m watching Bride and Prejudice while I ride the exercise bike. The music is so weird, it’s wonderful. I guess I’m on an India kick. Last weekend we watched Gandhi. It was very quotable…and an essential classroom tool I will incorporate next time we talk about Indian independence. I also bought a book of henna tattoos from a local gift shop. It’ll be a couple of years before we study this, but I’m always planning ahead.

I discovered this source for science supplies. The products appear to be high quality and the prices are good. There are chemistry supplies, too, which I have had trouble finding. I’m excited to order a bunch of prepared microscope slides.

I finished our family scrapbook for 2010. Hooray for the unscheduled month of June!

 

 

We gave out balloons

I got this idea from a charter school in Tucson. Each semester they hand out a balloon to each honor student and the kids just love it. Last Friday at our homeschool club activity we handed out balloons to the children. Each parent came forward and gave an introduction for each child, explaining what the child had accomplished during the school year. Each child was presented a certificate and a helium balloon. It was a special day and met a need for public recognition that home educated children rarely receive.

I gave Mark a certificate for being an early reader. His balloon (not pictured) is red, of course.

Wouldn’t it be nice…

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could spend the day making sure that people know that you love them? Mark spends his days composing notes for people. Here I caught him putting *another* note on Dad’s bedside table… with duct tape… which he cut himself with his new scissor skills.

Wouldn’t it be nice if all science experiments matched my blender from the 1960’s? Maybe not.

Paige extracted the DNA from split peas this afternoon. I may be the only one who was moved by the sight, but I’m o.k. with that.

This one’s for the boys

We decided that Grandpa needed to see the Air and Space Museum where he could see hundreds of planes and drink up some history.

The boys spent most of their time with this big guy (Blackbird). Its allure was power, speed, spy capabilities, and history.

Richard asked for a picture alone with the plane to remember the special moment in his life. (Richard, are you reading this?)

I enjoyed the museum, not for the planes but for the walking history inside its hangers. There were veterans and historians everywhere just ready to tell you their stories. I loved the displays about individual pilots with their uniforms, photos, and mementos. As much as I enjoyed the day, I did not experience the museum on the same level as the boys. Oh, boys in paradise…

Here are a bunch of shots of kids. This picture above shows a real plane.

This was very educational… for me. I saw my boys like I have never seen them before.

When Mark gets angry he threatens that he will not come and visit me someday in his airplane.

Daniel helped with transportation.

And since most readers of this blog are girls, here’s one for you:

Tomorrow I’ll share our gingerbread house masterpieces.

Math implements

This was Richard’s dad’s slide rule. We keep it on display because it’s magnificent, but we don’t know how to use it.

This is not to say we’re very modern here. This is the calculator that Paige uses. This was my calculator in high school and college. It is 18-20 years old:

The screen is pock-marked but it still works.

Yesterday we had to find the missing cover plate with the secret codes on it.

This is not all that Paige uses from the catacombs of our educational gadgets. She is still working through Richard’s supply of engineering paper and sets up his old bookstand every morning during Algebra.

I just thought this was all very interesting.