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September 26, 2011

He really does LOVE her!

My kids being 10 and 9 now! Wow 10 and 9 (Looking back at this blog it's hard to believe seeing when I started this blog and homeschooling they were 7 and 6.)

Anyway Superstar, 10, doesn't always want to admit that he does LOVE and care about his sister.  He's never really mean to her, but doesn't want to hug or kiss her when she ask. Web-princess still like to give her brother hugs and kisses, but he hasn gotten to the point where he doesn't want to give back that type of affection, but his LOVE for her does come out. --like today--

Web-princess is sick. She has been complaining about a sore throat for a few days now and this morning starting vomiting. We attempt to make it to Mass seeing Superstar was schedule to serve, but when we arrived Web-princess ask to go to the bathroom and started vomiting (thankfully in the toilet). So I had to get Superstar tell him we are leaving; we can't stay because of Web-princess vomiting. (I also explain the situation to Father.)

We got home and Web-princess was vomiting some more. I'm helping Web-princess out and Superstar comes down to the bathroom and said here Sis. He hands her a small garbage can with a fresh, clean, garbage bag in it. As he handed it to her he said you can use this in the living room so you can watch cartoons and don't have to worry about getting to the bathroom.

See he really does care and loves her. I wish he would be willing to give her a hug every once in while so Web-princess will realize that he does, because that's how she shows love (and how she would like love given back).

September 24, 2011

Worms For Dinner!

Yuck!!! I know, but it's true we have been having worms for dinner guest for the last 2 nights! They also have been our breakfast and lunch guests as well. You know you're a homeschooler when the jar that hold the worms has been sitting on your kitchen table for the last few days, even during meal times and it doesn't wig you out! (In part because if we put them somewhere else we may just 'forget' about them!)

The kids just finished up chapter 1 of their science book, Behold and See 5. The topic of this chapter? Do you want to take a guess? (I'll give you a glue it has to do with our guests).  The topic was the earthworm. We dug up earthworms from our yard Thursday afternoon and place them in a jar so we can observe them.

newspaper covering jar of worms

We decided to keep the jar covered in newspaper to help keep the jar dark and hopefully encourage the worms to tunnel at the edge of the jar were we could observe them. The book suggested this lab experiment. It said to feed the worms lettuce or apple peels and sprinkles of water.  The book also suggested the filter on top to allow air in but keep flies and other pest out. The food would atract flies.

Jar without newspaper.  The green stuff is lettuce.

We put all the dirt in first and then put the worms on top. We put in about 5-8 worms and had to remove 3 of them this morning because it was clear they didn't make it.  We had a few we thought would be iffy on survival, but thought we would give them a shot. We for sure we have 2 left in the jar. Out of the two we have left (maybe more) we only have been able to observe one.

The one we have been able to observe has been hanging out at the edge of the jar.  We have been able to see it eat and move along. I tried to get a close up of this worm, but it's a little hard to make out. I did my best to show you by circling where the worm is.

Thing inside the circle is the worm.

You can also see where this worm has been. The moisture trail that follows behind this worm shows you where he has been. In an attempt to show you this I have put red arrows in the picture below to point out the moisture and a purple line to show you the trail.

September 12, 2011

Archaeological Dig

Last Friday we had the opportunity to go to Shabbona Grove, IL for an archaeological dig. The dig is apart of the Shabbona Grove Archaeological Project.  The kids along with other kids from I-HOPE were able to dig, clean artifacts, sift through the dirt, and later catalog items all under the watchful eye of Ms. Croyl.

SS digging on site.

When digging they were told to take small thin layers at a time. This was so they could tell what layer things came from. Also by digging small layers at a time if something clearly unusual pops up then we would see it. Like this red rubbery/plastic thing that we dug out.

unusual red rubbery/plastic thing
When we found something unusual like the red rubbery-plastic thing pictured above then we took measurements of where in the square it was and how deep it was from the surface. We also record it's orination: was it standing up? laying on it's side, etc.  All of that data is recorded into a computer that will give a detail picture of the area.



The above are up-close pictures of that mysterious red thing we found. If you, dear reader, have any idea what it could be PLEASE let me know.  Sometimes archaeologists find things they aren't exactly sure what it is, and it is the case with this red thing.  So if you know please share! This could really help them date other artifacts that were found on the same level, such as a nails and Lincoln log. Lincoln logs go back to the 1916 closer to the time period they were hoping to find. So you never know....

When cleaning artifacts we found coal and bullet shell.
WP in red and friend cleaning artifacts

circled thing is a piece of coal

circled thing is a bullet shell

Side Notes: Yes I know WP (Web-princess)'s hair is SHORT! She had me cut it like that over the summer. It's longer now then it was, but still very short! Also please, if you have facebook, share I-HOPE's fan page with everyone. I'm trying to reach as many homeschoolers I can, especially local homeschoolers! I realize you may not be a local homeschooler, but given how paths can cross, because of social networks,  you may know someone locally to me via the internet or your friends may know someone locally to me.

The co-op is new I started it last summer and I'm trying to grow it! Thanks a million for sharing the facebook fan page.  Also all of the pictures belong to I-HOPE and were used with permission.

September 6, 2011

Green Eggs & Ham

Little Man, my nephew, is going to be here for a few more days then he goes back to my mom's for her 2 months with him. Note For Newer Readers: My sister is serving in Iraq so her son, whose 3, has been living with us for some of the time and living with my mom for some of the time. It's on a 2 months rotation. She's been gone since Christmas 2010 and we hope she'll be home by this coming Christmas.

Seeing he's going back soon one of the many things the kids wanted us to do before he went back was to have green eggs and ham for dinner. So that's what I made tonight! To make the eggs green I added food coloring and spinach. Don't they look YUMMY?

Our Green Egg and Ham dinner!

It's okay if you say NO they don't look yummy, because honestly I didn't even want to eat them at first! However, I sucked it up and ate. Really they didn't taste bad it was just getting pass the visual.  Little Man had a hard time getting pass the visual too. He begged me to make them and now that I had he didn't want to eat!  So what did we do? Well we played the story for him. I found a clip on Youtube and played it!


Boy did that make a difference! Playing this clip 4 times in a row sure changed my little nephews tune about eating the green eggs and ham! Now that dinner is over he's chanting the story. I would not eat them here or there, not in car, not anywhere....


Not only did Little Man ate his meal but he covered his eyes just like the guy in the movie!! LOL


First Day Of 'School'

Well our first day went fairly well. We got up this morning, went to Mass (church), then out to breakfast. Well the breakfast part was because the store I wanted to go to wasn't open yet and I needed 10 minutes to kill, so we went to the McD right next door.

After breakfast we went to the grocery store, came home put groceries away.  Now putting groceries away at our house is a GAME!!! We shop at Aldi and I don't spend the extra money on bags (nor do I bring bags) everything has to be brought in a few items at a time by hand. The kids generally bring them in the front door, put it on the table, and then run out through the back door...the cycle goes on and on.

Here is a video I made back on April 2011.  I made the video for my sister, who is STILL in Iraq, that is why at the end of the video WP said "I love you!"  Also seeing the video was for Auntie they hammed it up bit for the camera.



After the grocery game the kids asked if they could go outside for a bit and play blind tiger. I agreed and off they went. Blind tiger is a game they play on the yard trampoline. I'm not sure of all the rules, because I think it was a game they made up, but one person is blind tiger (pulls their hat over their eyes so they can't see) and the others try to stay away from the blind tiger. The blind tiger CRAWLS while the others are free to walk, hop, crawl around. I think they play this on the trampoline, because it keeps the area the blind tiger has to hunt in "small". Especially seeing we have an 1/2 acre yard.

When that was done they came in and did the 3 subjects I had plan today. Math, World History, and Science. Would you believe it if I told you all of this took place BEFORE noon! Mass this morning was at 8 am, the store didn't open up till 9 am. It was 10:30 by the time we got home this morning and I think quarter to 11 when they decided to go out and play blind tiger. I'm not sure but I think they were back in the house by 11 to do the school work. So it took just about an hour to do those 3 subjects.  Yes a light day, but we are just starting out this year. It will get longer and 'harder' as the year moves on.

September 5, 2011

Summer IS Over!!

Today is labor day, thus summer is over!! Well for many summer may have been over for while with the dawn of back to school time. I was going to start school here 2 weeks ago. I was set to go and everything, but hubby told the kids they didn't have to start school till after labor day and well that just trumped mommy's plans! The kids even told me so "Daddy's the principal and the principal is the teacher's boss, so you have to listen to daddy: No school until after labor day!"

We'll be starting off small this week the focus will be math, science, and world history. Next week I'll add in some spelling and grammar, and then a few more weeks after that I'll add some US history, writing, and reading.  I'm really looking forward to this school year more so then in years pass. I think it's because I've found my groove in some ways.

I can't believe that summer is over! It went bad pretty fast. Between the 3 kids, weekly gathering with the homeschool group I started and talking to my sister via the computer all the time I just got burned out on blogging itself.

I'm looking forward to this Friday! I've made arrangement for the kids to work at a Real archaeological dig! So exciting! I'm ll be posting pictures and blogging about that for sure!