Wordless Wednesday

A taste of things to come...SPRING!

I think the end is near...the end of winter that is. It has been one crippling, bone chilling, stir crazy season here. This winter has won the distinguished honor of being the snowiest winter EVER recorded. The natives have become restless and I fear mutiny may soon be at hand. My body is physically craving the sun's warmth....can anyone say Seasonal Affective Disorder. It seems old man winter may finally be loosening his grip. Today, in the Mid-Atlantic it was a balmy 60 degrees. We celebrated this small victory with a trip to the zoo, the park and ice cream! A smile was plastered on the faces of everyone we met today...it seems we all missed the sunshine. I'm sure the cold will return with one last slap, but for now I'm dusting off my flip flops:)

 

Starting our day off right

We are definitely in the minority when it comes to television consumption. We do not have a cable subscription, and due to our rural location do not receive a clear digital transmission. This translates into no network television for our household. The children do watch DVDs but their total screen time each day is limited to 2 hours which includes the use of the computer and video games. Recently, the children had fallen into the bad habit of watching a DVD while waiting for and eating breakfast (I am not a morning person). Inevitably the kids would not want to turn off their program when breakfast was over, and tensions would rise for everyone. It is hard to segue into the school day with pouty children. After weeks of dealing with grumpy resistant children in the morning I have finally reached a compromise. Each morning, while I am preparing breakfast, the children sit at the kitchen table and listen to a book on CD. We continue to listen to the story while we eat and then discuss the book after the meal has ended. I'm happy to report that everyone is pleased with the solution:) It's a definite win-win for me, I now have happy entertained kids and part of our read aloud schedule complete! How do you and your children start the day? I'm always looking for new ideas to make the mornings a little more bearable for this night owl of a mother.

Crystals...

The Outdoor Hour Challenge-Winter series # 6 Salt Study

This week the children and I did a salt study. We were able to grow our own crystal by evaporating a saturated solution of salt water in a sunny windowsill. The children were fascinated by the results, which I must say were very beautiful.  The kids learned that a crystal is an organized grouping of atoms, or molecules. Each crystal has different properties and shapes. For example, sugar crystals are oblong and slanted at the ends; salt crystals are cubic. With the use of a hand lens the cubical salt crystal formations were clearly visible.

Next week we will be doing a winter bird study. We have filled up the feeders and are eagerly anticipating our winged visitors!

Breaking through to the otherside

Wow....February was a rough one for us here. We all came down with a serious case of the February funk! I must say last week I nearly threw in the homeschool towel and the dreaded P word was uttered...Public School...(shudder). I was turning into the type of mother I despise...I began to understand why animals eat their young. It seemed no matter what I tried T would not stay focused and do his schoolwork. I was screaming constantly and if I believed in corporal punishment it would have happened! I was overcome with frustration and guilt...who was this raving lunatic I was becoming...homeschooling was not worth ruining my relationship with my child over. Instead of giving up I took an giant step backwards and a deep breath inward. T and I sat down and had a very serious and loving conversation about continuing this journey together. In the end we both decided that homeschooling is the best path for our family. I explained to T we were partners in this adventure....ultimately he must take responsibility for his own education. I am merely his guide. The balance of our homeschool had become seriously skewed, I had become the domineering teacher and T the cowering student. I believe real education can only happen when your desire for knowledge is self driven not imposed. I was single handedly destroying my sons love of learning. Thankfully I was able to see the error of my ways and understand that this thing called homeschooling is a marathon not a sprint. This week we were grateful to see the return of March and merriment to our home. I hear spring may be not very far behind!

Wordless Wednesday

Block Party

Well the quilt quest is going swimmingly. I have decided to forgo the traditional block type quilt and instead sew a baby sized coin stack quilt. There is a wonderful tutorial at the Moda bakeshop for this darling little coin stack quilt. I do not want to bite off more than I can chew so I am keeping my first quilt simple. To make my life even easier I'm using already cut charm packs of the Moda fabrics Swanky line. I LOVE this fabric it is modern, feminine and just a bit ritzy. I have completed 1/3 of the quilt top and am very pleased with the results. Alas, I left my camera cord at my Pops and am unable to post any work in progress pics. Teaching yourself to sew at 31 is quite an adventure, thankfully I'm armed with my seam ripper and plenty of wine......

I'd rather be quilting.....

I have always dreamt of being a quilter...telling my story with vibrant patches of fabric. Alas, I always fail. Every quilt I have attempted has turned into a disastrous pile of scraps. I covet the beautiful quilts that inhabit the blogosphere.. their creators live on in a mythical realm to me...they are Quilters. I am going to lay out a challenge to myself, by the end of 2010 I will join these fabled creatures and become a quilter. I will complete at least one quilt this year, and I will document this project here in my little corner. I believe I found an ally in my journey today. I unexpectedly discovered a gem of a quilt shop. Upon entering the shop I was greeted by 12 smiling faces. Thursdays it seems is open sew day, the shop was alive with the sounds of art in motion. It was crammed full of humming sewing machines and fellow fiber enthusiasts. I think my heart nearly exploded with excitement...I had found an honest to goodness sewing circle. I was asked to join with open arms and look forward to doing so next week. These women house decades of experience, and I'm sure that my quilt will come to fruition with their assistance. The fun is just getting started here so please check back often to see who wins in "The Battle of the Quilts".

Wordless Wednesday

Memory Monday on Tuesday

Today's memory is of the first Valentine's Day I celebrated with my now husband. It's hard to believe it's been thirteen years...we were freshmen in college and newly dating. Our college did not allow on campus freshmen to have vehicles. This roadblock left our dinner pickings slim....the dining hall or pizza delivery. But then we had an epiphany...taxi cabs. We made the call and were romantically whisked away. I remember sitting in the cab holding his hand feeling like such an adult (Ha Ha). The dinner was wonderful and one of our most memorable dates (obviously). Who would guessed what the future held for us. Thank you dear for being a better husband than I deserve most days and treating me like your Valentine all year through. Thirteen years later I still feel like that young girl in the car, dizzy with love and drunk with possibilities.

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope you all have a day full of love and sticky kisses.  Here are few of my vintage Valentine's cards just for you:)


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Valentine's Day Craft Roundup

Here is a small sampling of the V-Day crafts we made this year.  With back to back blizzards you can only imagine the quantity of heart related crafts I have been subjected to these past 10 days.....Construction paper and glitter need to be in any emergency survival kit if you have children:)

First up is this Valentine's Day inspired tic-tac-toe game.  Roots and wings has an awesome tutorial for making these super cute gifts.

Next, is this super simple and fast headband....felt is the best fabric ever.  Modeled by lovely mother...the diva would not cooperate.

Here is the Valentine's card the children and I crafted together.  We melted broken crayon into these decorative tart molds and attached them to our cards (Note to readers...glue guns do not work with wax crayons).  We had to use industrial strength packing tape to get a good fix.

Finally, I made these felt rose wrist corsages for the little ladies in my life.  Here is an easy tutorial for how to make the roses.  Once the roses were constructed I cut a band of  felt slightly bigger than O wrist, attached a button and stitched it all together. Viola, she is ready for the ball :)

Snow Day Quandary?

As the second blizzard in 5 days howled outside I was faced with a dilemma. As a homeschooler could I institute a weather closure? The public schools here have not been open since last Friday, we however have persevered...until yesterday. Yesterday we hit the proverbial snow wall....cabin fever was in full throttle and the whole family had come down with a case of the grumps! So, I threw in the towel and submitted to the lure of the snow day. I remember as a child praying for snow days, fitfully sleeping at night while periodically peering out the window searching for that elusive flake. Ah...the joy of a snow day. As homeschoolers my children will miss out on many of the rites of passage that accompany public school enrollment (thank goodness); but what about snow days. I have decided to keep this age honored tradition and to bow down to Old Man Winter. We shall embrace these small breaks and use them as an opportunity to play together as a family. These years together at home are much like that elusive snow flake....gone before you now it. What about my fellow homeschoolers...do you have snow days? Also if anyone has any snow day traditions or activities to share I'd love to hear them!

Snowmaggedon, Snowpocalypse...SNOW!!!!

Well, we survived the blizzard of 2010. I have never in my life seen snow like this; we have just about 32 inches in the backyard! The drifts are upwards of 4.5 feet in places, needless to say the children are in heaven. Here are a few pics....My husband is 6'4" and he is being nearly dwarfed by the pile of shoveled snow.

Mother nature is such a beautiful, awe inspiring, and powerful force.

Nature Study: Snow

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Winter Series #4 Winter Weather

This week we studied winter weather; particularly SNOW!  We had an unprecedented snow fall last week which enabled us to do a fantastic snow study.  We were able to perform 3 great experiments.  First we used colored construction paper to determine how the color of an object affects its reflection and absorption of solar energy.   We placed different colored pieces of paper on the snow for three hours and then checked to see which color had left the deepest depression.  Of course the darker colors caused the snow to melt quicker resulting in deeper depressions.  The kids were amazed by the difference between the black and white papers.

 

Next we studied how the volume of water changes based on it's state of matter.  T carefully measured 6 cups of snow and then measured the resulting output of water.  Once melted we had 1 cup of water, he was able to determine that there was a 6:1 ratio between the two. 

Final we filtered the water and studied the resulting particles with a hand lens. 

This is a great reason why you don't eat snow.  The children had a wonderful time learning about winter precipitation.  They should be able to study even more snow later this week; we are due to get a HUGE storm.  I'm so excited!