Wood, paint, boys and creativity!!

Well, my guys were very busy this weekend creating all sorts of things.  The big teen did his latest art project based on Jackson Pollock.  Here he is creating the work of art outside.  When you are doing splatter art, it is a must to be outside.  



Here is the finished project.



The boys also got into woodworking.  The big teen loved working with the jigsaw, circular saw and scrap wood.  He made a medieval sword for himself and a small axe for Tom Sawyer.  Here is a pic of the big sword.  It is really heavy.



Tom Sawyer (5) loved making his very own wood deer.  He had a little bit of help from Dad but he did a lot of the nailing and all of the painting himself.



I just love how kids are always learning!  The girls did a lot of cooking with me and spent a great deal of time playing with the newest dollhouse furniture I found at a yard sale this weekend.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics!

Blessings,
Dawn

Check out this giveaway!

Wow, what a great event going on over at homeschoolboutique .  She is offering a t shirt from her shop to those who will post about her store.  How cool is that!  I love all of her t-shirts.  One of the coolest is the Homeschool Social butterfly one.  Go on over and check it out. Blessings, Dawn

Our first fall crafts.....

We had so much fun doing two of the crafts and one of the activities out of the Family Fun magazine. My Tom Sawyer can't wait for this season to arrive and had almost worn out the magazine looking at all of the activities.  We will do some more once I collect the supplies.   My kids absolutely loved making the pumkins and they turned out great.  I didn't have all the supplies but was able to find everything around the house to adapt the project.  You know whats under the fabric on those pumkins?  TOLIET PAPER!!! I think they came out great.

Next we made oragami bats.  My little Tom Sawyer will probably want me to help him make a whole bunch of these before Halloween.

Then we did a trick.  Did you know that you can stand on Balloons without them popping.  YOU CAN! If you manage to get on them perfectly balanced.  THis is about our 3rd attempt.  THe balloons held the weight of each of my kids.  Pretty cool trick.  (Do excuse my messy floor).

Lessons in loss and grief ...

Well, Friday was a really sad day around here.  We were awoken by the screams of our outdoor pet rabbits.  My husband and I discovered a raccoon killing them.  He had managed to unlatch the cage and was in full attack mode. We fought him off but he had already killed Duchess.  The other rabbit Duke was shaking like crazy.  To make a long story short, Animal Control felt that the raccoon likely had rabies so we had to put Duke down.  The entire day was spent talking with Animal Control and vets, bleaching the cage and enclosure, and helping the children understand what had happened to their beloved bunnies.  The rabbits were actually our big teen's pets and he was crushed.  For those of you who follow this blog, you know how important animals are to our big teen and that he is planning a career in wildlife rehabilitation.  He got up close and personal to the realization that sometimes an animal can't be saved and must be euthanized.  Obviously, we didn't get any formal lessons done, but it is amazing all that you learn every day if you are aware. We learned so much from this tragedy.

• The little kids didn't know what a raccoon looked like, so we looked at pics on the Internet.
• We all learned more about rabies than we ever wanted to know.
• We learned up close and personal about stewardship.  That was the hardest part of the day when my big teen realized that we may have been responsible in part for the rabbits' deaths because we hadn't secured the cage well enough.  Such a hard lesson in being good stewards.
• This was another opportunity to process grief as a family, and I learned that teenage boys really do like hard physical labor more than talking to help them process their anger.  My son weed whacked, painted the playhouse and moved several heavy things for me.  He said it helped a lot.
• There is nothing wrong with wrapping up a rotten day with ice cream sundaes for dinner at our favorite ice cream parlor.

My dd (6) thinks we should replace the rabbits with a unicorn or horse, and the big teen thinks we should get a really large snake.  I don't do snakes.  We have a fur policy in this house ~ No fur, not living here.

Blessings,

Dawn

First "official" piano lesson with Mom ...

Ugh!  I am still sick and had almost no voice this morning.  I am going to bed very early tonight!!  It was a great day anyway.  We had our first official piano lesson today.  Tom Sawyer loved his first lesson.  Having cerebral palsy, it was really hard for him to separate a few of his fingers, but he was determined.  His occupational therapist says this will be great for strengthening the muscles in his fingers, and he does seem to love it.  Little Red Ridinghood also gave it a try.  Separating her fingers was much easier than it had been for Tom Sawyer, but she lost interest quickly.  No big surprise there, since she is only 3.  I like the books we are using.  The series is called Piano Adventures by Nancy and Randall Faber.  For each level there are three books: theory, performance, and lessons.  I like how the child is learning to read music, play a fun performance song and get lessons in finger control all at the same time.







In the afternoon my big teen started his out of the home Ancient World History class with four other homeschooled teens.  It is being taught by a college professor who is semi-retired.  He loves it.  To quote him, "The class totally rocks, Mom!"  He talked about it all the way home.  This is only a six week course, and then the teacher will decide with all of us if we want to continue with the next period of time.  It was nice to see how tickled the teacher was, too.  She really enjoyed working with a small group of homeschoolers.  We are her first and she says these teens are more interested than her college students!

While the big teen was in class, I took the little ones to a nearby bird sanctuary.  We didn't see any birds but we did see a bunny, caterpillar, butterfly, ducks (oh! I guess that is a bird), and lots of frolicking squirrels.  We also saw cattails, and the kids really loved those.  Unfortunately, I forgot the camera and the nature books, but we had fun anyway.

Blessings,

Dawn

Great day despite Mother/teacher being sick ...

Well, the mean old cold that has been going around got me! My throat is so sore and after a full day of teaching my voice is about gone.  I knew I would lose my voice, but I had to keep teaching.  This is one of the only days that we are home for the entire day this week, and I couldn't let those teachable moments go.  Besides the kids had to be entertained one way or the other.  So my big teen finished up U.S. History II today.  This course had just a few hours left over from last year, and I had told him that the last two hours of the course were reserved for a final exam/project.  So his final exam today was to prove to me through oral questions and some kind of project that he remembered a lot.  He decided to cut up magazines and paste them down with explanations and a model of the island Iwo Jima, where the six marines raised the American flag during WWII.  Considering his learning difficulties and the lack of warning he was given, he did great. 








The big teen and little kids also got into studying camouflage today.  We decided to do an experiment and see how camouflage works.  The big teen boiled 12 eggs.  He left 6 of them white and colored 6 of them to match the grass and leaves. Then he hid them outside and we let the little ones go out and find them.  They found the white eggs easily and 5 of the camouflaged eggs with more difficulty.  However, we never found one of the eggs! That camouflage really worked well.  It was a fun hands-on activity that really got the point across.  Here you can see how the white egg stands out next to the camouflaged egg.








We also had fun with the Amazing Dinosaur plant www.dinosaurplant.com.  We talked about how plants, such as a tulip bulb, can become dormant.  The neat thing about this dinosaur plant is that it can go to "sleep" for years and then "wake up" in only an hour.  Perfect for kids that like things to be instant!  We have had this same plant for two years and have done this twice with the big teen, but this was the first time with the little ones.  They were amazed.  I love watching their faces as they discover God's world.











Well, I wish I was done for today, but I promised to discuss my big teen's layout of his International Night project so that he can stay on schedule.  So off I go and then I'm going to cozy up on the sofa for the rest of the evening.

Blast from the past! My babies!

I thought it would be fun to post all my babies when they were about the same age.  I was able to easily find photos of three of them when they were between 4 and 5 months.  Of course, I do not have a photo of Goldilocks because we didn't get her until she was 20 months.  So her baby picture documents one of her first real smiles.

The big teen at 21 weeks.  He loved to suck on his fingers so this pic is perfect!

Goldilocks (2years old) showing off her winning smile.

Tom Sawyer at 4 months of age.  Look at that serious look on his face.  He still is my serious child.

Little Red Ridinghood 17 weeks.  At this point we were more likely to call her the Hungry Caterpillar or pudge.  Check out those rolls.  My first and only truly chunky baby.