Posted by Cindy on October 17, 2007
Our Keepers group has started up again. At the first meeting, the girls made potholders that turned out SO cute! Thanks, Edith, for such a fun, easy and cute sewing project.
Our second meeting was a tour of a 1700′s house that’s in the process of renovation. The owner of the house gave us a complete history of the house, as well as a history of the little town that used to be. I was amazed to find out that the little town consisted of four mills of various types, a doctor’s office and a general store in the late 1700′s! Because this one was made of stone, it was considered a fancy house. The wooden addition on the right most likely came from a “houseboat” that was recycled once it reached its destination. History is very cool!
Our field trip today was a weather class with the local tv weather man. What a great class it was!! He used the children to demonstrate the water cycle, hail, lightning, thunder, tornadoes and hurricanes. I think I learned more than the kids! Our group made it on the news this evening, too. 
(Sorry for the blurry picture. We really need a new camera.)
Now, this has nothing at all to do with Keepers or field trips, but I had to share this for my own memory’s sake! Caleb was doing his own experiment with various spices and water. Every time he added pepper to his concoction, he would sneeze. The next thing I know, he’s standing at the table with this snow mask on. I ask what in the world he’s doing and he answers very matter-of-factly, “I’m keeping the pepper out of my nose!” Ah, if only I were that smart!
Posted by Cindy on
We celebrated my 36th birthday this week. Mahayla had such big plans for a homemade cake with homemade chocolate icing. The cake was wonderful, but to her dismay, we didn’t have enough powdered sugar in the pantry to make icing. So, we simply sprinkled the little bit of powdered sugar over the fresh cake and it was scrumptious anyway! Caleb lit a few candles, then my wish was made.
Everyone gave me sweet cards and Mahayla even crocheted two cute little pot holders. She said they’re for the salt and pepper shakers – and they do fit perfectly! How she kept that project a secret, I’ll never know.
I want to send a special thank you out to my family, church and co-op friends who remembered my birthday. I’m not even sure how some of them knew it was my birthday?? 
) Thirty-six isn’t so bad when you are loved by so many. I love you all, too!
Posted by Cindy on October 15, 2007
Talk about a fun week of math learning! Here are a couple of the activities my children did during our week of m&m math fun. Overall, we covered estimation, sorting, counting, adding, word problems, pictographs, bar graphs, comparison graphs, pie graphs, graphs made in a spreadsheet program, fractions, fair shares (division), mean/median/mode, decimals and percentages. I’d say that was enough math to rival any textbook curriculum for a week!
http://www.col-ed.org/cur/math/math26.txt
graphing and probability
http://score.kings.k12.ca.us/lessons/mandm.html
estimating, sorting, counting, graphing, plotting, fractions, percentage, and calculating mean, median, mode
http://faculty.roosevelt.edu/donovan/documents/M%20&%20M%20Math%20Intermediate_files/M%20&%20M%20Math%20Intermediate.htm
predicting, classifying, graphing, percentages
http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/math/cecmath/cecmath013.html
averages with m&m cookies
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/MathEstimationClassification.htm
easy estimation and classification
http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/pdf.htm?m&mschart.pdf
printable m&m graph
http://www.create.cett.msstate.edu/create/classroom/lplan_view.asp?articleID=98
collect, graph, record and interpret data to create a bar graph on the computer
http://www.learnnc.org/lessons/KarenWalker5232002614
estimate, sort, graph and add with printable charts near the bottom
http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/Lessons/2622.htm
fractions, decimals and percentage
http://www.mms.com/us/fungames/
official m&m website
http://www.ciese.org/math/activities/candycircles/index.html
mean, median and mode
http://42explore.com/choclat.htm
many, many chocolate related activities and links
Posted by Cindy on October 11, 2007
A good friend emailed me awhile back with a question about staying focused and getting it all done during times when life has to be hectic. I’m finding myself in one of those times right now. I thought I might remind myself of the answer I gave and share with you at the same time.
Her question:
What do you do personally to renew yourself when the schedule outside of school gets hectic? You know – when things are beyond your control like funerals, sickness in the family, elderly people needing help — situations you find yourself involved in at a time when the personal bank of energy and patience are low.
My answer:
I’ve been thinking on your question today and chuckled out loud a few times as I thought, “Who in the world am I to answer such a question??!!” I’m totally overwhelmed and feel like my life is spinning out of control right now. I’m chalking up my craziness as a “season” of life and trying to remember that life will become normal again. Anyway, I’ll give my best answer….
You know what I’m gonna say – - when outside things start pressing, we have to be able to say “no”. Easier said than done, I know. Your family won’t appreciate a “no”. Your church won’t like hearing “no”. Your friends might not even care to hear the word.
I used to try to be at every funeral, fix a dish for every funeral dinner, work to help serve the funeral meal, send a card to the grieving family….You get the point. Multiply that by sick people, the elderly, church ministries, friends, family, birthday parties, church parties, co-op classes, co-op food……I was getting to the point where my own family was getting pushed into the background. Then I read a book called Having a Mary in a Martha World and it really opened my eyes. I have two responsibilities that I know are God-given – my husband and my children. God may call me to other things as well, but He hasn’t called me to everything.
Long story short, I quit everything I could at church. I stopped offering to be the person to “ask if you need anything.” And I learned to say no to just about anyone who asked.
Now, if I choose to fix a meal for someone, I usually go in with one or two others to take the load off. I very rarely agree to any long term ministry “opportunities” at church. I try to send cards to people, but don’t get around to visit much. I bring chips to co-op rather than a five course meal. I help at the funeral meal only if everything else is in order.
I’m far from having all this figured out. I feel guilty about how much more service I should be doing. I feel guilty for not meeting everyone’s needs. But like I mentioned earlier about the season of life I’m in right now, I know there will come other seasons when serving people outside my family will be easier.
When I do have to do certain things, though, I always try to involve the kids. Serving others is a wonderful addition to the curriculum! At least those times when other need us can be shared with our kids!!
Well, that’s my two cents. I’m an utter failure at meeting anyone’s needs (except Eli’s) right now, so take my words with a grain of salt. As for the idea of renewal….hmmm….I don’t think I know what that word means. Maybe if I had one single solitary minute to myself, I might be able to breathe. That could be renewing. Or exercise. Or send my kids away for a weekend. Or send myself away for a weekend. Or get a massage. Okay, back to reality. I ain’t goin’ anywhere until this kid stops nursing! Do you think he’ll ween himself by sixteen??
Posted by Cindy on October 10, 2007
We LOVE autumn! Nature study just seems to flow so easily in autumn. Maybe it’s because the air is fresh and crisp, or the changes in nature are happening almost before our eyes. Either way, we have always soaked up every bit of God’s nature around us when fall arrives. Here are just a few pictures from recent nature studies.
Tell me, what public school kid could do nature study and fight crime at the same time? (See his gun and holster?)
Even Eli loves nature study! He was very proud of the leaf in his hand.
