Salt maps, and paint, and color wheels oh my!

So having a few free moments when the little guy was sleeping I decided to pull the art stuff out onto the deck and get some messy things out of the way.

First, the girls have been making a salt map of Central and South America to depict where the Mayan, Incan, and Aztec empires were. We haven't done much with geography so I am trying to get it into gear for our light summer work.(Yes they will be working through the summer on a light schedule)

The Andes mountains were part of the labeling so those are actually molded in their map to make them more evident. I thought they came out pretty good for our first attempt!Tomorrow we will add labels for cities and some other things.

Then Chickie needed to explore tertiary colors as part of art. This was done on a wheel copied onto cardstock. That worked well and she was pleased with the results.

That of course led to a bit of "free art" aka mess!

What am I????

I have struggled with my religious beliefs, or lack there of, for many years. As a kid I remember doubting even the best "miracles" in the bible. I remember memorizing the church service to the point that I could recite it along with the priest. Did I feel anymore than boredom? No, never. As an adult there have been many times that I stand in the church thinking, "Seriously? All this pomp and circumstance is so unneeded. Why go through all of this?"
I don't believe the bible is anymore than a novel. I don't believe in miracles. I think organized religion is a control device and political machine originally designed to gain power back in early times. I don't believe in judgment day or the second coming. I don't believe prayer works in terms of a godly intervention.
Here is what I do believe:
We should live our lives honestly and truthfully and as good people.
There was some sort of higher something that put the universe into action but does not take any role in the day to day living of beings throughout the universe.
Organized church is a crock and the catholic church is the most hypocritical of all.
Dead is dead.
I believe prayer may have worked because of the positive vibes it brings the people being prayed for(power of positive thinking).

Please take some time out of your day to let me know just what you think I am.

Spelling Woes

Some people are natural spellers. I am one of those people so I really have trouble relating to those who can't spell. I actually cringe when I see obvious spelling errors in adult writing/typing. My sweet girls are opposites. Big Mac really has a hard time while Chickie spells everything I throw at her so well that she is currently spelling on a 4th grade level at age 7. What do you do for an older student who has these issues?
First I got the eyes checked. Fine. So I started to look at overall academic work. Seems to be all about par except for reading and spelling. The former is a result of simply being a reluctant reader, but I did notice that she often guesses at words prematurely. Now what?
Off to consult with a real authority, Susan Wise Bauer. One of her audio lectures discusses this problem of reading and spelling that shows up at about 4th grade. Voila! I think this may be it.
Here is the solution I came up with using her suggestions. I took Phonics Pathways, which is a reading program, and looked through the rules that it taught. Wasn't I shocked to find that it actually had a section in the back called, "Spelling Strategies". The instructions are straight forward and easy to follow. This week she copied the rules for C, K, and -ck usage in words, copied several words and wrote them 3 times, had a few small tests with words from these categories and did well. It outlines how to set up your notebook and what to do each step of the way. I can't comment on how well it works as of yet, but will be more opinionated in about 2 months or so I'm sure. You can find the book on Amazon and it retails for $29.99, but they often have discounts on books.

Spring Break 2011

Well last week consisted of a lot of this! Sand, sun, surf, pool!
Easy living on Hilton Head Island at our Marriott timeshare, Surf Watch. We fell in love with it years ago and are sure to get there at least once per year. I tried really hard to bring educational books with me that pertained to the beach but I found that I was enjoying some downtime and didn't get in all I wanted. We did do a nature walk and wrote down trees, flowers, and bushes that were marked. We had a lovely family of ducks in the resort pond that entertained us as well. An Earth Day trash pick-up proved to be a great morning of finding ocean wonders, although this excellent find happened completely by accident when the tide was waaaaaay out. We have another fall beach trip planned that I will be more prepared for so I hope some of the books I got will be of use then. All in all it was a great week and I brought home some tan and happy kids! Now back to work-ugh!

Life rolls on.....

It seems that finding time to blog is nearly impossible! I have started TOG (Tapestry of Grace) and will blog on my results later. As for today......Wildman turns 5!!! We did his birthday on Sunday and Soccer Star designed him an Angry Birds cake! I have to say that it really did look amazing. While he spent the day at Grandma and Grandpa's the girls took to decorating and organizing games for him. He was very surprised to be the celebrity when he got home that night. He is such a unique and crazy little guy. I have discovered that he is an auditory learner which makes the alphabet a bit of a challenge for him but we are about 3 letters away. He has most of the sounds though, which is great. I am waiting for all of the signs to start active teaching but he is still just a little boy who would rather throw balls and play with dirt. Sigh. Like I said....life rolls on!

Science abounds!

We are studying Earth science and have recently talked about earthquakes and volcanoes. No by no means did I need the Pacific Plate to cooperate for demonstration!
The girls made a homemade salt dough volcano.
We shaped it around a water bottle on a cookie sheet, then let it dry and painted it.



When it came time for it to explode we made sure that all the kids were home to enjoy. Red food coloring added a great touch and the salt dough, which had dried for 3 days, really held up against the liquid. On a second attempt we had a worm-like thing erupt which created more laughing than science!

Next we will be ordering some ladybug eggs to hatch in our habitat for a spring activity. Right now we continue with rocks and fossils as our study.

The time has come America!

As I sit and read Little House in the Big Woods to my girls I can't help but wonder if we will be returning to the time where simplicity and hard work are the standard? We Americans are disgustingly spoiled. Some of our biggest choices are whether to get a latte or a manicure! How did we get so shallow and lazy?
As the girls and I study history I keep thinking of the latin phrase they memorized. Historia Magistra Vitae. History is the teacher of life. Why have we not yielded to what history has taught us? Hasn't every strong and unbeatable empire in history fallen at some point? Do we REALLY think that our very young country is immune to invasion, civil war, and total upheaval? It is not ladies and gentlemen. It isn't. The direction we are headed is scary to say the least. Our history of excess and greed has set us up to fall in a VERY big way. The question is, "Are you prepared?" I am not but I am planning.
What does planning for imminent disaster require? Well simply we need to stop depending on meeting our needs from outside sources. We need to start, even in the smallest way, to begin to reclaim independence. I just read an article that stated simply that 3% self-sustainable is a far cry from 0%. We all know what needs to be done and here is the short list:
1. Garden and can. That simple. If grocery trucks stop running for 1 week the effect will be devastating. With gas prices soaring and no rest in sight it is a real probability that groceries could go up by as much as 300%. What will you do? I have a plan for deck boxes and more garden space that I will add to each year.
2. If possible have chickens. They aren't allowed in my neighborhood but if the shit hits the fan I will be getting some regardless.
3. Have an alternative source of energy. Not a generator but solar power. If a major grid goes down, which it has already done, we could be without electric for weeks. I would love to get 2 or 3 panels on the roof to compensate.
4. Water source. Do you have a backup source if you live off town water? I don't actually have a back up source but I do have 30K gallons of water in my back yard that could be cleaned and used to drinking.
5. Stock up. Slowly I will be stocking the essentials that last awhile. Batteries, canned goods, sanitizer, bleach, meds....you get the picture. There are many people who are collecting silver coin and gold because they may be the go-to barter item in the event that banks go down.

Does this sound nuts? Maybe. Is Glenn Beck nuts? He may be but he has also been very right many times. Will I need to supplement my family's food? Maybe. Will walking to the grocery store be an essential? Maybe. Tough times are ahead my friends and we are kidding ourselves if we think that this country is going to fix itself. Just think and make a few changes. That's all I ask. Some day soon lattes will not be the luxury, but toilet paper and milk will be. Review history and you will see.