Our Many Beautiful Blessings: October 2010

For most home school families, every week is a busy week. Some weeks are more crazy and hectic than others. This past week was one of those for us.

First, I would like to introduce our newest pupil to our classroom. Her name is Blake and she just began her homeschooling journey. To be honest, Blake was not sure if she was going to like home education or not. She was either going to have to change school districts or home school. When Blake was asked this week if she would rather homeschool or go to public school she said she likes home schooling!

Now, let all just hope and pray this sweet little one continues to enjoy the journey!

Now let's get to our crazy week in review!

First off I would like to introduce to you Annabelle. Annabelle is a Woolly Bear Caterpillar. She will turn into a Annabelle Tiger Moth. These moths rival the Monarch Butterfly in beauty. Annabelle is safely tucked into her winter habitat, waiting for winter to come. She will hibernate until spring, then wake up for a couple weeks and eat. After that she will spin her cocoon and eventually emerge as a beautiful Tiger.

She is all curled up into a ball

We are measuring how long her brown spots are and how long the black spots.

By measuring the bands you are supposed to be able to tell if it is going to be a mild winter or a harsh winter.

Next comes our attempt to make light up bouncy balls. This was supposed to be a messy lesson in polymers. It was.

Abby filling and tapping her mold

Blake cleaning up the many spills we made while trying to close the molds.

Hali making a mess

Abby fixing Blakes mold.

And in they go for a 3 minute soak! We then let them dry.

They don't bounce very well. But they had fun creating them.

Next we went to the Little Blue Bluff's. This is the place that I broke my leg mountain biking. Since we were on foot this time, there were no accidents.

Here we stopped at some old house ruins for lunch

Aaron always diligently carries the supplies. And wears camouflage . Gatta love that kid!

Time to get our hands dirty. Here Hali and Blake are making a casting of a print we found. This is a messy job for sure. We use plaster paris and mix it as needed.

The girls were laughing so much during this experience I didn't think we were going to see any more of the bluff's. We eventually finished here, and came back for our casting later once it dried.

This was mom's casting. See how nice and neat it is?

My wise son enjoy's wearing his "Gatta Have" $100 shoes into the woods to stomp around. This is why I will only pay for half.

Along the way we found Marty. I am not sure who was scared more when we came across him, Abby or Marty. We also came across a snake so the girls were all a little trail shy.

I had to include these pictures as well. Suzie learned how to rock climb a couple years ago while out in Colorado. She is checking out this Bluff and feeling around for hand and foot holds.

She was like a kid in a candy store... wishing she would have brought her other shoes.

And here was my lesson. Grab here.... and here... and... No thank you Suzie. I have NO upper body strength and would fall right back down!

Here is Blake and Hali checking out the turtle. I am not sure which of the 3 is cuter!

Now one of the next things we did was a field trip to a place called Shawnee Town. This is a living museum that has been reconstructed just down the road from where it originally stood. One of the ladies in our home school group volunteers here weekly with her son.

We participated in what they call "Red Letter Day's"... These were the days on the calendar that were considered family days. All Sundays and special holidays were in red. The began about 1500 years ago by monks. The purpose was to show us what life was like on red letter days in the community.

This was the school teacher. She really IS a school teacher. Wonderful amounts of information she shared with us.

Here is Aaron, Antwon and the other Aaron getting their lessons.

Hali and Blake paying attention to what all of their chores would have been in the one room school.

And here is our group (we split into 3 groups while there) making the banner for the parade.

Three very beautiful young ladies.... don't you think?

Now, I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what this conversation was about... But just look at that expression on Aaron's face. PRICELESS!

Now here we are in the post office and got the opportunity to see a ton of old stamps! Did you know it used to cost a 1/2 cent to mail a letter? It also cost up to $5.00 during certain years.

We were discussing the new Disney stamps.

Next stop... The bank....

We tried to get "Bob the Banker" to loan us a little cash. The only thing he gave us was an education on bank robberies and old time equipment.

Lastly this is our friend Sharon. She runs the dry goods store. She is our other home school mom who made this trip possible. She was a wealth of information and really interacted with the kids at their level.

I am in love with this cash register. I think it is absolutely beautiful!

Here Sharon is showing us different clothes. These are bloomers and a dress for a girl about Abby's size. Abby didn't want to try them on but Hali would have!

Bloomer. What more can I say?

Now this was a place of interest.... Until you got inside. I sure am glad I didn't have Amos' job.

Go ahead and just pick one that fits. And instead of using the kitchen table for viewing, you can use one of these tables.

Very old....... It has a window.

We did not get to meet Franke

Nor did we get our hair cut. Although Aaron really needs one!

Here is our group of kids with their parade banner.

Abby's going to church.

This was Abby's passion while there. I was so shocked that making butter would captivate her. She literally spent over an hour doing this activity and talking the little ladies ears off. She told me that I MUST go to the store and get some cream and we can shake our own. The lady said so.

Never in my life have I seen someone so happy about doing laundry. Blake is having a good "clean" time!

And Abby enjoyed it as well.

I think Hali would have made a great pioneer!

Time for a rinse!

Abby is missing from my class picture! Why? She is STILL churning butter! You know, I have my own little school. Isn't that a riot? Get rid of one and gain 3.