Wednesday, February 6, 2013

February 6, 2013

I didn't get out to the store today and will have to wait for my belly supporter for 2 more weeks due to other priorities. I've heard of using a child's ring sling. I might go ahead and make one, since I already have everything I need to do that. Then after the baby is born it can go in the toy bin for my kids to play with.

Got a late start to our school day. I think it was about 10:30 when we sat down. We try to start with devotions. Today's devotion was about God's creativity. It talked about the bolas spider and had us check out a video of the spider catching its prey. The bolas spider doesn't use a web like many other spiders do. Instead it makes a string of web with a ball on the end. It secretes a pheromone that draws moths to it and then it flings this string at the moth! This is the video we watched.

After that we watched a quick video about bees, because my 2 year old is very interested in them. Then it was time to open our science books. Might as well since we were already on the subject. Today's topic was feathers. We are studying birds. To the joy of my oldest, we examined bird feathers with a magnifying glass to see the different parts that made the feather up. She has a collection of a variety of feathers she has gathered. In fact, one of her feathers looked just like one they showed in the book, which only thrilled her more. She hopes to be a zoologist and a marine biologist when she grows up. She was disappointed to find out that she is too young to become a licensed bird bander. I'm trying to convince my husband to do that, since Project Feeder watch is his idea and has really sparked her interest in ornithology.
While I read their science lesson to them, they work on their handwriting.

With 2 subjects completed, we broke for lunch. As I sat and ate mine at the table, the kids already done with theirs and off playing, I looked out our back window and saw something moving around. It was a grey fox! Our chickens are free range and were wandering around the backyard.  The fox was prowling around, obviously hoping to catch an easy meal. I started shouted, because I was so excited and wanted the kids to see the fox too. We all stood at the back door looking at it as it stood and stared back. Then my husband and our dog went outside to chase it off. It started to run, when my husband went out, but then paused. Until my dog went out. Then it started running. My dog found it's scent and bolted after it. All I could think of was the Turtle Man shouting "That's live action, there!" They ran off through our field. Just as our dog was gaining on the fox, my husband called him back to the house. The fox ran to the top of a small hill near our field and watched and waited. My husband and my oldest daughter stayed out there, getting fresh water for the chickens and bringing them back, closer to the coop. Thirty minutes later, the fox headed off a different direction and my husband and oldest came back in the house.

I took the opportunity to get the girls going on their math lessons for the day. That was the last subject they actually completed, from *my* plan. By the time they were done it was time to head out for lego time at the library with some friends. The kids were all excited about it. I know we home school, but we haven't been to the library in a while and my kids missed it!  They picked out a book to check out and then sat down at the lego table. I continued browsing the books a little, but had to remind myself to stick to just a few to make sure we got them read. I'll admit, we have a habit of not always reading everything. In our excitement over books and certain topics, we often check out more books than we actually getting around to reading. This time, I picked up one about the lives of birds, since we are studying them. I also got one about Valentine's day since it is right around the corner. One about Aquariums, because my little animal scientist got one for Christmas and is wanting to know everything she can about them. I also picked up one for myself about gardening in our state. I want to be better prepared and on top of things this year. Maybe we'll actually have a crop to harvest, if I do! I did great with our garden in KY, so I know I can grow a good garden. It'll help a lot to know what to do up here though since it is different than down there.

Tonight we have church. I work in the nursery tonight, which I love, because my boys are in there with me.

I was looking into making a more personal header for my blogs and was trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to do. I scrolled through some of our pictures and of course got all sentimental. Even with all the ups and downs in our lives, we are so richly blessed and homeschooling has just magnified that blessing for me. I have a great family and we have some really great memories we've made and more to be made, God willing. Too often I take it all for granted, just like everyone else, and get caught up in the moment of chaos and negativity. I don't always see how beautiful our story really is. Today was a good reminder for me, that it isn't about what we plan, but how we deal with things when plans go awry.

PS. I totally just used "Grammar Girl Presents: The Ultimate Writing Guide for Students" to remember if I should use it's or its when talking about the spider. So thankful I bought it to teach my girls grammar!

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