Just One Of Those Moments

Every once in awhile the boys say or do something that just reaffirms my love of homeschooling. We had one of those moments yesterday. It wasn't ground breaking or anything but it touched my heart. I am a firm believer in kids having the chance to just be kids. Far too many public schools are cutting out recess time and P.E. and replacing it with more seat work. And then everyone wonders why so many boys (and girls) are diagnosed with "ADHD". Now don't get me wrong, ADHD is a very real problem for some children but my personal belief is that MANY of those diagnosed with it are actually just very active children who need more time to be active. We place our children in classrooms and tell them to be quiet, sit still and listen for long periods of time. Many of them just can't do it! And to be honest, neither can I! I remember my college days. Although I was listening I was also usually doodling, jiggling my foot or knee, making lists of things I needed to get done, etc. Yet we do not allow that behavior from our children in the public school classroom. I know this because I was a public school teacher. I do not for one moment blame the teachers. They are in an impossible situation. They have a large number of children in their class, many of which are at different learning levels. They are mandated by the state to cover a certain set of grade specific standards. On top of that, they need to make special provisions for those children who are above or below those standards. They also have to teach in a way that meets the learning style of each student in the room. Beyond this, they must play the roll of mother, nurse, counselor, judge, secretary, etc., etc., etc,. And when they leave the classroom at the end of the day, many of them go home to grade papers, prepare for the next day's lessons, make phone calls to parents, etc. If you think a teacher's day ends at 3 pm you are sadly mistaken. But I digress.

During our school day, I give my boys ample opportunity to take breaks and play. Sometimes they just need to take a 5 minute break. My 5 year old has pretty much done a year's worth of Kindergarten curriculum 5 minutes at a time. But that is OK! He is reading, adding numbers, writing sentences. He knows a number of phonetic rules and how to apply them. He knows what a period and question mark is and when to use them. I am happy with his progress. But I have no doubt that had I enrolled him in a kindergarten class he would have driven his teacher batty!

Yesterday, during one of our "recess" breaks, the kids went outside to play and run. They pulled the baseball bag out with plans to play catch with each other. The last baseball game of the season was about a week ago and the temperature was in the triple digits. I brought my umbrella with me to shade me from the sun. At the end of the game, I closed my umbrella and slipped it into the ball bag along with the bats and gloves. It was still in there when the boys pulled out the bag and they discovered it. There is something magical about an umbrella when you live in the desert. I suppose it is because they so seldom see or use one that when they do get their hands on one they are excited. They pulled the umbrella out and took turns using it to shade themselves. Within moments Little Man discovered that if he ran while holding the umbrella it caught the wind and slowed him down. He shared his discovery with Muffin Man and they proceeded to have races across the lawn with and without the umbrella. They also tried running with the umbrella open in front of them and found that that did not slow them down. They came in to get my timer and they clocked each other while running with and without the umbrella. I was aware of what they were doing and allowed the play to continue. After a bit I went out and asked them what they were up to. Little Man promptly explained what they had discovered. Wind resistance! A discussion of wind resistance, the design of cars and such to reduce wind resistance, and how it feels when you put your hand out the window of a moving car followed. This was true science in action. And the best part is that they discovered it all by themselves. Had they been in public school, they would have never had the chance to discover this the way they did and they most certainly would have NEVER been allowed to run with an umbrella. LOL!

I love giving my boys the chance to explore things on their own. I love being able to go to the computer multiple times per day to look up the answers to complex questions that they ask, or to show them photos of something that sparks their interest. I love being able to include in our curriculum things that genuinely interest them! In a nutshell, I love home schooling my children. I love every minute of time spent with them, even the rough ones. I wouldn't trade the opportunity to do this for anything and I am ever thankful for the choice that I have and my husband who works so hard to make it possible.

I have included two pictures that I snapped of the boys discovering wind resistance.
Enjoy!

 

 

Toothless Grins

Muffin Man is loosing teeth left and right. He lost his first two center bottom teeth last summer before he was even 5 years old. On the 1st of this month he lost #3 and a few days later he lost #4. He also has at least 2 more that are very loose. I just love big toothless grins. So here they are. Hope they make you smile!

 

 

Grasshopper Season

Grasshopper season hit with a vengeance about 6 weeks ago. They were just EVERYWHERE! Everytime we went to Little Man's baseball games, Muffin Man brought along his bug boxes to collect more of the little critters and bring them home. At one point we had at least 20 or so living in bug boxes on my kitchen counter. We would have had well over 100 but I put a stop to him bringing them home. After a point, I told he had to catch and release. LOL! The ones we kept were fed leafy greens and they seemed to do well.

At the beginning of the season they were so tiny! I had actually never seen grasshoppers so small! A few of them were the size of lady bugs! They are quite cute at that stage. But they GROW! And they get BIG! And they get UGLY! But I must admit they were quite fascinating to watch. When they get really big you can see their mouths working when they eat, and really differentiate between their body parts. Muffin Man really needs to pursue entomology. He just LOVES bugs!

We have since released all the grasshoppers back into the wild but here are a few pictures for you to enjoy.
This first one is of Muffin Man with a smallish grasshopper. Not the smallest we found but still in the cute stage.

 

Here is Little Man with one that is all grown up. Blech.

 

And one last close up of that Giant Critter before he was set free.

 

How can they be so Different!?

Yesterday afternoon there was quite a bit of police activity on our street. We were on our way out to a t-ball game when I first became aware of it and I knew by what I was seeing that something was terribly wrong. When we arrived back home an hour later my concerns were confirmed. We were told that our neighbor had been found deceased in her home. The police asked me a few questions about what I may have seen or heard and let me know that the coroner was on the way. I decided to leave with the kids and go out to dinner. They were just a little too interested in the goings on and I felt that it would be better if we were just not home for a bit. We headed down to Schlotsky's (Kids eat free on Tuesdays!) and settled into a booth. The conversation that followed was mostly about death and about how the family would feel, etc. It was all very serious and somber. Little Man, my sensitive child, began telling me about what he would wish for if he had fairy god parents who could grant him any wish he chose. He mentioned things like "No one would get sick or die anymore", "No one would be sad", "There would be no starving children", "No one would commit any crimes"........You get the picture. At this point in the conversation Muffin Man piped up and said "If I had fairy god parents I would wish for a house made out of chicken and french fries with a swimming pool full of ketchup and a roof made of pizza!" THUD! What more can I say? Again, how can they be so different?

Snake in the Park

About a week ago, the boys and I went to the park for our weekly homeschool play day. We met up with a number of other homeschool families. There were about 7 moms and about 15 kids. All the kids ran off to play as usual and we moms sat down on the grass near the play area to chat. We had been there for about 1 1/2 hours when suddenly something caught my eye. I took a second look and then said to the group "Is that a snake?" Of course everyone yelled "Where!" all at once and I pointed out what I was seeing. There, right in the middle of the play area, underneath the play structure, was a snake with its head up, just gazing around. We quickly got all the kids out of the play area and then got a better look at the critter. Thankfully, it was not a rattle snake which are common to our area, but just a rat snake. Still, it was about 4 feet long and in the play area of the park!! We called animal control and then waited around to keep an eye on the thing. Apparently, once all the kids were out of the play area it decided it should make a dash for freedom. I can only imagine what it must have been thinking while they were all in there playing. It was kind of hidden under the base of the main play structure and it blended in nicely with the bark ground cover. I am sure it felt trapped with 15 pairs of feet stampeeding around it in a game of tag. Once all the racket had ceased it headed out for greener pastures. We did our best to keep it in the general area until animal control arrived. Once they did, the chase was on. I never knew how fast a snake could move! It kind of freaked me out. I am NOT a snake person!!!! Thankfully, the animal control guy was wearing nice thick boots because that snake did NOT want to be caught. The snake struck and bit at his boots a number of times. EEK! He finally caught the thing and once he had it under control, he let all the kids touch it. Of course, they thought this was the coolest thing ever. YUCK!

I can honestly say that I do not need to see another snake in the wild for a LONG time!!! We have lived here for nearly 9 years and although I know a number of people who have seen snakes and scorpions in their yards or around town, and even know of two who have been bitten by a rattler, I never had seen any. I had developed a false sense of security and I liked it that way. I know it is important to be ever vigilant and aware, for safety's sake, and this experience has renewed my awareness. Since that day, I find myself doing a cursory check around any area where my kids will be playing prior to letting them run. I know I cannot protect them from EVERYTHING, but I will do my best.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the snake. One of the other moms happened to have a camera with her. Enjoy.

 

 

Comments!!!!!

Just an FYI. I would love to have comments from any and all who read my blog. I have it set so that you should not have to join Blogspot in order to comment. But do leave your name so that I know you were here. I have it set in such a way that I must ok each comment and it took me a while to figure out how to do that. Today I discovered that I actually had a number of comments that I didn't know were here! Thank you to all who left them!! Now that I know how to find them, I will make sure and check daily so that they get posted. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy reading.

General Happening's In The Chaos Household

It has been over a week since my last update. Things have just been crazy around here. We are all finally over our coughs and colds (Thank You Lord!) and My Honey is finally back in town. Well, actually he was back in town but had to leave again due to a family emergency. But we did have him home for about a week and that was nice. He had been away for over 2 weeks. We always miss him when he is gone.

The boys are both doing GREAT in baseball. Little Man is really starting to shine! I recently bought him a new glove and that made a huge difference in his catching ability. Apparently the teeball glove that he has had for three years was cutting the circulation off in his hand!! :0 I swear I didn't know! He never told me!! One of his coaches approached me and told me that his glove was way too small for him. It was only after this that Little Man mentioned the "tingles" he got when he wore it at games. What a BAD Mommy I am!! We made a beeline for Big 5 and I had one of their more knowledgeable associates help us pick out the correct size glove. What a difference it made!! At the next game he caught every ball that came his way and managed to get a number of players out! Yippee! Muffin Man is doing pretty well too. His team, overall, is a Joke! We have 14 four and five year old's on the team! Talk about CHAOS! Most of them are catching ladybugs for the entire game. I will admit that Muffin Man has done his fair share of bug catching, but he finally seems to be catching on to the game. In the last few games he has managed to get hold of a number of balls and tag a runner or base a few times. He gets SO proud of himself when he does it. It is just too cute!

Ok, I have a story to tell...........Last week Muffin Man announced to me that he wanted his daily vitamin. I told him I was busy and that I would get it for him in a few minutes. At that he announced that he would just go get it himself. I told him to go ahead and try. Knowing that it has a child proof cap I was not all that concerned. I could hear him in the kitchen trying to get the bottle open and complaining that there was something wrong with the lid. At this, Little Man proceeded into the kitchen to give him a hand. Little Man has never opened a child proof cap either and for a moment was stumped. At that point I walked into the kitchen and saw that Little Man was reading the cap. He started to speak and I interrupted him and told him that he did not need to read what it said out loud and that neither he nor Muffin Man needed to know how to open the bottle. Muffin Man grabbed the bottle back and started looking at the top. He carefully sounded out "Push down and turn" and then promptly did just that. As the top came off the bottle he looked over at me and exclaimed "Watch the Master at work!" The good news is he is learning to read quite well. The bad news is he may be a bit too smart for his own good! Smarty Pants!

Another story...............The other evening the boys and My Honey were preparing to go to the park and then on to a game. I had a prior commitment and was unable to accompany them. I was giving the usual goodbye hugs and kisses when Muffin Man told me he needed 100 kisses! I slathered him with kisses and then kissed his palm, folded over his fingers, and told him to put the kiss into his pocket for later. (This is from a really cute book titled The Kissing Hand) I then kissed and hugged Little Man goodbye and they headed out into the garage to get into the car. A few seconds later, Little Man slipped back inside alone and said "Can I have a kiss for my pocket too?" Talk about melting my heart! When you think they are getting too old for all that mooshy stuff, just think again. I have to remind myself daily that although he seems to be growing up into a "Little Man" right before my eyes, he is really still just my little boy. I am So thankful for the gift God gave me when He gave me my sons.

Onto the critter updates..........
We are now down to about 7 mantis'. They continue to eat each other even though I keep their cage well stocked with crickets and fruit flies. The largest is now about an inch and a half long. They are growing like weeds. They molt often and it is really awesome to watch. Below is a picture of one that was in the process of molting and we pulled it out of the cage so we could watch the action up close. If you look closely, you can see the old skin near the top of the photo. I was actually holding on to some of the skin it had already shed. They hang upside down while they molt and the other mantis' have no shame and will attack and eat them while they are vulnerable. Here is the gruesome part.......Do not read if you are squeamish...........I warned you! Whenever I notice two of the Mantis' facing off I will tap on the mesh and get them apart in order to keep them from eating each other. Obviously, as shown by the numbers, I am not catching them often enough! The other day I noticed that one was clutching another and they appeared to be fighting. I flicked at the mesh and tried to get them separated and then noticed that the one that was caught no longer had it's head. But is was still MOVING and FIGHTING! Little Man came in and started trying to get them apart as well. I told him it was too late and that it no longer was "alive" but he wouldn't believe me. He kept saying "But it is still moving!" I explained that this can sometimes happen but that since it's head was gone there really was nothing we could do to save it. The sickest part of this whole experience was that the thing KEPT FIGHTING until the very end!! Even when it was down to the last 1/6 of the body and only two little legs, it was STILL KICKING! GROSS!!!!! So the moral of the story is this..........Although this has been an awesome science experiment, it is not for the faint of heart or those with children who may be traumatized by constant death.

 

This first photo is of our tadpoles. I actually do not think I have posted any pictures of them until now. When we got them they were newly hatched from eggs and were the size of the tip of pencil lead. All of them fit in a medicine dose cup with room to spare. In fact, that is what I brought them home in. Since then they have been growing by leaps and bounds. As you can see in this picture some of them are sporting froggy back legs. A few days after this photo was taken, they began to pop out front legs. The back legs grow over a period of a few weeks but the front legs literally pop out of holes in their sides fully formed. It seems that over the last few weeks, there has been a new leg or two every time I look! Just today, two more went from two legs to four. Once they have four legs, it is only a matter of a few days till their tails are absorbed and they climb out of the water. The second photo shows a few of the frogs after they have completed their transformation. One still has a bit of tail left, but not for long. They are too cute but they are escape artists!! One got out last night and it was by sheer luck that I found it before the cats did. YUCK!

 

 

This last picture is of one of our resident lizards. There are a number of them that have lived in the lower part of our yard since we moved here. This is actually one of the smaller ones. Two of them are really big! We don't see much of them through the winter months but as soon as the weather warms up they start coming up the hill to eat the grass and drink from the sprinklers daily. Anyway, just thought I'd share.