Posted by Cindy on September 22, 2008
For those of you who know Melissa from blogging, consider yourselves blessed. But, if you’re lucky enough to know her in person, how much more blessed you are! It was such a treat to spend time with her last week. Not only that, she took on all three of my children while I spoke at the THINK meeting AND hosted us overnight so we didn’t have to drive home late. Thank you, Melissa. I know I owe you one for sure! (Toddlers who know how to escape out of the house are so much fun, aren’t they??)
On our way home from Melissa’s Wednesday morning, I spied a sign for Big Bone Lick State Park. It had been so long since we’d been there, I decided to take an impromtu field trip. This is a place where bison, mastadons, wooly mammoths and the like came for salt many years ago. Of course, that means Native Americans and explorers found their way to the area as well. We even found (and smelled) a sulphur water spring that became a supposed “healing water” hot spot in the early 1800′s. If you can’t tell, the water is almost a creamy white coming out of the spring.
Answers in Genesis has really helped me to be prepared to speak to my children about ”millions of years” when we’re at a place like Big Bone. Nearly everything we read talked about the animals roaming the land 300 million years ago, when SO MUCH proof was right in front of our eyes that pointed to a world-wide flood. Imagine, they found fossils of sea-like creatures smack-dab in the middle of Kentucky?? Imagine, large deposits of salt were found in Kentucky?? I’m so proud that my children can point out the obvious. They do listen to me!
Notice the tape measure in the two pictures above. Caleb just happened to bring along a tape measure and binoculars on our trip. When I asked him why in the world he would have packed those things (not having a clue we were going to do any sort of nature study), he said, “Well, you never know when they might come in handy.” Indeed they did! 
(I wonder what else he had packed!!)
We were again blessed later in the week when my parents took care of the kiddos and hosted us overnight so I could talk at the CACH meeting. On Friday, we were able to talk my Dad into a tour of the lab in the hospital where he works. We’re studying chemistry this year and seeing all the lab equipment, chemists and live “experiments” in person turned out to be a great visual for the kids. (My dad used to be the lab manager and I remember spending many a day watching all the lab techs do their work. I only wish the lab were as safe now as it was then. I was probably over-protective, but I didn’t want to take any chances with all the lovely things hospitals deal with now-a-days.)
The coolest part by far was the pathology area. The pathologist was in and gave the kids an awesome look into his world. We watched him dissect gall bladders, tonsils, colon polyps, knee shavings and more. He even offered the kids a chance to open up a gall bladder. I think the picture below shows their answer best.
Okay, so I might not have a pathologist in the family, or a med tech, or anyone who goes remotely near a hospital on purpose. God knows what He has in store for them and I’m excited to see what awaits!
We had a busy week, but it was a good one! And by the way, Happy Birthday, Daddy!!
And thank you VERY much THINK and CACH for allowing me to come visit with your groups. You are both full of very friendly and encouraging ladies (and gentlemen.) It was a complete joy for me to share my heart with you. 
)
Posted by Cindy on September 21, 2008
Last week’s fine art Tuesday was so much fun for the kids - while short and simple for me! I asked them to collect items from nature that could be used to create animals or people. When they got home, I simply gave them a hot glue gun, turned on some Beethoven (our current composer) and left them to use their imaginations. Take a look at some of their creations.
Posted by Cindy on September 16, 2008
In preparing to speak to the THINK and CACH homeschool support goups this week, I haven’t had (and probably won’t have) much time to blog. I’m very excited about both of these meetings because I get to see a few long lost homeschooling friends AND meet a few blogging friends! Not to mention, I get to visit with Melissa since one of the meetings is in her neck of the woods! )
Before I sign off for a few days, though, I thought I’d leave you with another Eli post. Toddlers make for great writing material! He’s just 20 months old. You might think that’s too young to be a coniving little stinker, but I’m here to prove you wrong…..
He and I walked into the office where he had overturned a chair.
Him: (Pointing ) Oh! (means: uh-oh)
Me: Oh, no! Who did that?
Him: (without hesitation or batting an eye) Bubby.
Me: No, Caleb didn’t do it. Who did it?
Him: (again, without hesitation) Thithee. (sissy)
Me: No, Mahayla didn’t do it. Who did it?
Him: Daddy.
Me: No, Daddy didn’t do it. Mommy thinks Eli did it. Did Eli do it?
Him: (covering his eyes thinking I can’t see him)
Me: Eli, did you knock over the chair?
Him: (smiling a devilish little grin with his head tilted and eyelashes batting) Uh-huh. (in a joyful sing-song voice)
Boy, am I in trouble.
Posted by Cindy on September 10, 2008
The walnut trees are beginning to change colors and drop leaves in Kentucky already. While they’re still full of nuts, I wanted our nature study time this week to focus on these trees. (Side note: Have you visited Homeschool Launch? I recently set up an account to share my homeschool files and found that it’s a treasure chest of printables and activities created by homeschool moms willing to share their “stuff”! I found this notebooking page on Sheri’s page at Homeschool Launch. Thanks, Sheri!)
Mahayla made some Apple Cinnamon Muffins that we took on the road for a modified tea time. After notebooking pages were filled out using info from the Trees Fandex Field Guide, I read a book about our current artisit – Monet – and a book about our current composer – Beethoven.
Back at home, the kids tried their hands at Monet’s Impressionist-style outdoor art. They both found interesting places to sit and paint.
Beethoven’s Symphony #3 is our listening piece of the week. Something about classical music playing during work time really keeps them focused and peaceful. Hmmm….I may pipe classical music through the house at all hours of the day!
Posted by Cindy on September 9, 2008
I suppose this is what I get for going back on a promise to myself. After canning well over 200 quarts of veggies and freezing over 30 gallon bags of fruits and veggies, I decided I was done. Finished. No More. I made a promise to myself and let everyone in the house know that I WAS NOT canning or freezing anything else this year.
Then came a great big bag of free apples. I certainly couldn’t turn away a great big free bag of apples. And, hey, why not add one more staple to the pantry shelf while trying my hand at a new canning skill – applesauce??
According to the canning recipe, I had just the 21 pounds of apples needed to make a canner load of seven quarts. That big ol’ bag didn’t seem like it would be too hard to cut, core and slice, UNTIL an hour and a half later when I was finishing the last few. Cooking the slices until soft didn’t seem like it would take a long time, UNTIL 45 minutes later when I was still stirring the 12 quart cooking pot full of sliced apples. And sending the apples through the food mill didn’t seem like a daunting task, UNTIL I nearly pulled a muscle trying to get a teaspoon of sauce to come out.
After pulling out the blender (plan B) and finally having a sauce resembling what I buy in the store, I was excited to know that I was almost there. Applesauce, here we come. Only 2 hours and 45 had passed! (insert eyes rolling)
Would you like to see the fruit of all my afternoon labors?
Yep, four quarts. Only FOUR quarts! In all, including the canning process, I spent almost FOUR hours canning FOUR quarts of applesauce! I’m considering this a lesson learned. I imagine I’ll appreciate the 99 cent cans of applesauce I buy from Save-A-Lot a lot more, too. 
