Where oh Where can the Woodpeckers be?

They are in hiding because we haven't seen or heard not one woodpecker in a long while.  There was one on our pecan tree a long while back.  Actually it was last winter.  Our winters anyway.  We were outdoors long enough to snap a picture though.   

It was a Yellow Bellied Sapsucker.  We looked it up and read up on it.  We also listened to it online.  Of course, we heard it live and in person but it's always interesting to listen to them online.  This one was a female because we learned while reading the Handbook of Nature Study book that the male is the one with red on it's forehead and neck and the female only had red on the forehead.  


We will be watching this winter and hopefully we will get another visit. 

Lots of Mushrooms to Pick From

Finally after a whole summer of drought it has rained these past couple of months.  This is when we have seen lots of mushrooms.  We see them peeking out through the grass especially early in the mornings.  Then as the days go by they get bigger and bigger.

The boys laugh at me when I see something and I slow down to take pictures.  This one was at my brothers yard so that wasn't that bad. 

 

This next one was huge and not at my brothers house.  hehehe  Those people from that house must have wondered why I was taking pictures towards their house.  If I would have seen them outside I would have stopped and asked for a close up look.  We were driving home and the huge size caught my attention.   

 

We thought this one was neat because unlike the first picture this one was curling its edges up so it sort of looked like a cup.  The top was neat too because it had a different design on the top than that of the first picture. 

 

This last mushroom that we saw was on a tree as we were walking down to see Niagara Falls.  I just had to stop and take this picture.  My little one ran back to where I had stopped and asked what I was taking a picture of and I showed him.  This was the first time he had seen a mushroom up on a tree.   

Mushrooms we decided were a little hard to identify.  We looked through books but never found the exact one.  There is so much yet to learn and so little time.  

Learning about Goldenrod

We were on vacation and everywhere we saw this yellow flower, the goldenrod.  This was right along the Canadian/US border.  Yep, right at Niagara Falls.  We observed this yellow flower as we drove along our route on vacation.  By the time we got home we had one growing by our pool outside so I just couldn't cut it down.  

We've gone outside and looked at the plant as time goes by.  The yellow flower is dying but still interesting.  

Although we didn't do a notebooking page we have our pictures that will be added to our nature journal and enjoyed because we will remember our wonderful vacation.  We will also remember the hunting for this particular plant.  My boys now can identify this plant whenever we see it on the side of the road.  All from searching from it and taking a close up look at it.  

Pecan Tree Study

So is it Pe-can or Pu-con?  Whatever you call it it has very tasty nuts that I can't seem to get them indoors to make anything.  We did a quick run outside to look at our pecan tree and see if we could find anymore pecans out there.  I found two and I ate them. hehe  Couldn't help it.  Pecans are my favorite nut.    

We did a bark rubbing and worked on a notebooking page I made and they drew their own rendition of the pecan tree.  I love having their drawings in their binders and looking at them years down the road.  I'd love to have a few more pecan trees out there.  One day we will. 

Schooling and Health Issues

I don't usually talk much about the health issues that I am living with.  I try my best to leave it out and just talk about schooling and what the kids do but I figured there are some out there dealing with health issues.  

Learning from others that are having the same issues has helped me in learning what is normal for my body.  There are a few local friends that I have learned have RA although all are at least 10 years older than myself.  Having rheumatoid arthritis has changed my life in many ways.  

I am the primary teacher at home.  So how does this mother/teacher do it all?  I have no idea. hehehe  Did you think I was going to say something inspiring?  Not coming out of my mouth.   Those of you who know me personally know that I love to laugh.  I think that has helped.  I'm not constantly crying over what I can't do or what I would love to do.  Ok, I do say I would like to do this or that.  I am happy and content to watch others enjoy their experiences and travels.  Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be hiking or just go out for long walks every day.  I know my limits and I know that is not happening.  So what do I do?  

We take short walks.  I try to do one thing a day.  I take my medication which is not the right cocktail yet.  We have more relaxed days.  Mornings are hard for me.  Getting out of bed takes at least an hour.  So we take advantage of the that time that I spend flexing my feet and hands and enjoy reading a book or two.  I have started taking naps in the afternoons.  I have to now and I do it.  Really!  I have to. It's not just me being lazy.  I do more naps on the days I take most of my medication.  By the way, have you ever had a pill get lodged in your throat and water will not push it down.  OUCH!  I call those my horse pills.  

One more thing that has helped me is my friendships to those few that have never left my side.  It helps to tell someone what is going on and how I'm feeling.  I love to keep up with some blogs which I figure out how to do what they do but my way.  I enjoy seeing you do and where you go.    

Something I have learned is no matter what, my children learn.  They learn to do everything from their school to cleaning house.  Their chores are always done.  They've learned to keep quiet when my headaches are bad.  They've learned that some days are good and some are bad.

So in all, we try out best in all we can do.  I enjoy my kids and enjoy our quiet times.  Thank you to all of you for reading and posting comments.  

Now on to our regularly scheduled programming......        

My Links for Workboxes

What's in the Box?  This is where I got my inspiration.  She has lots of printables to share and she also has lots of other links to blogs and places you can go.  

After reading that blog I joined a yahoo group for workboxes.  There is so much info on there.  If you decide to join be prepared for a high volume of posts.  It's a very busy group but you will find just about every idea on there.  

Those are the two links I will post.  I'm sure you will find more by going to those two links.   

It's Up!

The Hands On Homeschool carnival is up.   

Learning a New Language

We have finally made the plunge and are learning a new language.  We of course, know English.  I'm fluent in Spanish and the boys can understand Spanish and speak it a little.  So what are we learning now?  Russian! 

I looked at book stores and all I see is books for learning Spanish, French, Latin and German.  Very few books are out there for Russian.  Hubby took it during high school and can read very well although he might not understand everything he is reading so this is why we decided to learn it.   

So how are we learning?  At the moment we are diving into the language and learning different ways.  I made the alphabet cards with Russian letters in front and the sound in the back.  Did you know that some letters in Russian are printed one way but look totally different when written in cursive?  We have got lots of learning to do.  

We have dictionaries.  We even have the bible and some other books in Russian.  Oldest son can already read Russian some and so can I but that doesn't mean we know what we are reading.  We compare the Russian Bible to the English Bible and we do the same with the other books we have.  We have also attended a bible study meeting in the Russian language.  Total immersion is the way to go.  We have the written page and audio and then Russian speaking friends to help us along.  

We are also using Mango language program through our library.  Since Rosetta Stone left the library they now have Mango.  It's a pretty good program and we can do it from home and best of all it's free.  We don't have to be at the library to use it although we do need our library card number.  No problem there.  

So hands on and total immersion is the way we do it to learn a new language.    

Another New Thing for ME

I had to get it, really, I did!  I love my sharpie writing pens but I hate the caps.  I knew they would have to come up with the click kind and do away with those caps and they did.  The only thing that I find different is that they are a bit fatter.  I'm not used to a pen this fat but I will get used to it.  I'm loving it so far.....

Trying Out Some Organization

I know everyone and their mothers have heard about workboxes by now.  If you haven't, where have you been hiding?  I've tried different things from having a separate shelf on the bookcase for each child to having a basket with their work in it for the day.  So now I am going to try the workbox thing with the whole set up. 

Why do we need organization or more than before?  Well, having an autoimmune disease makes one see the need for more organization so that things get done around the house.  This year I have kept things simple.  Only working on a few subjects at a time.  I would love to keep up the same schedule as before but my body is not letting me do much.  

Let's just say that I've heard the good things about this system and then those comments from those who think this is worthless.  I appreciate what I've read about this system from everyone but I'm still going to try it. hehehe  I'm just a rebel, I guess.  I guess I've had some influence from a rebel friend.  So I've got our boxes and now I will be getting them ready.  Hey, this will clear a shelf on my book case which if all you who read this are homeschoolers then you all know how precious a shelf on a book case can be.  Yipppeee! 

So here is our boxes.  I still am in the process of getting them organized and putting things in them.  I'm not one to follow things exactly as others are doing them so I will have to figure out my way.  Hope it works for us.  I'll post more on how and what we do as time goes on and I figure out how we will do this.   

What a Cutie Patootie

While we were on vacation we had some wonderful experiences indoors and outdoors.  We were at Niagara Falls and had just parked when I noticed something fall from the tree that we parked next to.  The little hard thing hit the car next to ours.  Then we saw what had happened.  It was Mr. Squirrel.  We stood there and watched him eat a nut then go for another.  My little one laughed at his cuteness.  We all looked at each other and put our hands to our faces and did little squirrel faces.  He had fun with that.  I even had one come up to me and as I stood still it came up to me and ran under my legs.  I guess they are used to people giving them treats.    

We had fun looking at them hunting for something to eat but we also read some interesting books to go along with our study.  We read The Burgess Animal Book for Children.  I love that book.  We also took a trip to the library and found a neat book, it's called Earl The Squirrel.  Not much color in the pages but a cute story of a little squirrel learning now to find his own acorns.  Of course, we also did a notebooking page I made up.  It will go into our nature binder.

This nature challenge is part of Barb's Outdoor Challenges.

What a Spider of a Day

I know what this spider is preparing for lunch.  What I don't know is what kind of spider this is.  I've searched and searched.  Hhhhhmmmm, anyone know?  

Here is another view.  Amazing isn't it?  This was outside our window and this spider had a huge back end. 

This spider was right under the bigger one but I know what this one is.  This is the underside of the crablike spiny orb weaver.  Now take a look at the top side of it.  

 

It was a bright yellow color.  Isn't it beautiful?  We loved the web this spider was weaving.  The kids and I love it when we go outside and find different things and we can identify some without looking them up.  Can't wait to see what else we come across.  

Pumpkin Fun

We are way behind in our nature challenges but we will catch up eventually.  Vacation and the flu were the culprits.  So we will start with pumpkins and work our way back then forth but we plan on getting all 10 challenges done.  We have done some of the other challenges as we were on vacation but didn't get done with them so between this week and next week we will light a fire under our nature studies and get it done.

This is our first time in buying a pumpkin and mutilating it.  That is what you call it right?  After all I've heard the word "innards" being used to describe what you will take out of that poor thing.    All in the name of nature study and of course to fill our tummy's.

We set the table up with newspaper which  made clean up very easy.  Then I handled the knife and cutting the pumpkins open.  The boys were in charge of taking all those seeds out.  

Each one had their own pumpkin.  I had gotten one pumpkin first.  Then we were reading online about them and learned that the pie pumpkins are sweeter than the ones you normally see.  Although I have talked to some friends who use them to cook and make some sweets with them.  Of course since I had already gotten one I had to get two of the smaller ones.  

So we cleaned them up and steamed them.  We taste tested them after cooking and the pie pumpkins are sweeter.  Anyway, now we had a huge, huge bowl to of this stuff to make all sorts of yummy desserts.  We got the seeds roasted.  The boys love those.  We also made some pumpkin bread.  Not just pumpkin bread but pumpkin gingerbread.  It smells good.  Oh, the recipe was for two loaves.  I guess I will have to find some friends to share with.  Here's a picture of the loaves and seeds.     

 I also found a recipe for some pumpkin pancakes.  I remember an old friend always making them and I never tried them so now that we have a ton of the pumpkin all ready in the fridge I guess we will just have to try them out.  I am going to also make a mexican pastry with the pumpkin filling called empanadas.  Has anyone tried those?  Oh, so yummy! 

We have decided to try to grow some pumpkins next year in our garden.  We also filled out another notebooking page I made for this lesson and will add it to our nature studies binder.  

These challenges are on Handbook of Nature Study blog.   

Week In Review

Our first week after vacation was very slow.  One sick boy with lots of attention needed was what slowed our week.  Middle son slept in a lot but still did a few math lessons.  He thought he was getting off with no school at all.  HA!


The little one did his regular math lessons but also had a great math lesson on fractions helping me make an apple pie.  He enjoyed that and looks forward to the next yummy lesson.  


Our days were mostly filled with disinfecting and giving meds this week.  Math was done but that is about all.  Well except for a little nature and PE time for the little one. 

We saw a butterfly and what looks like an huge red ant with wings.  It was walking very fast and was carrying what looked like dinner underneath it.  That will take some investigating to see what that is.  Any ideas?  The butterfly is called the Gulf Fritillary.  We hadn't seen one around here in a while so we stayed looking at it for a while then identified it.  

Now these flying guys we always see.  My little once can identify them now by the wings and the red head.  A turkey vulture.  Those are some ugly birds.  

We are hoping that next week will be a better week as far as school goes.  We have planned a few nature lessons that we started on before the flu set in and we need to finish those up now.  

That is our week in review for this week.  Doesn't sound like much but if you would have seen how much cleaning and disinfecting went on you would know why. 

The Chef-a-nator Working on Fractions

We have been busy this week with one sick boy.  He tested positive for that dreaded flu so school has been a little slow but I found a fun way for the little one to do fractions today.  

Here is my little Chef-a-nator as he named himself today.  I bought some wonderful smelling apples yesterday and suggested making an apple pie today and my baby was up for the task.  He dressed the part with his chef hat that a friend bought him.  

Here he is mixing. 

Here he is adding the yummyness to the apples.  We put it all in a pie plate and stuck it in the oven.  I set the timer and my little one would keep coming to check on it.  He jumped up and down when the timer went off. 

This was a good way to learn about math today.  We measured.  Talked about different size cups and teaspoons.  Today we had this extra math lesson on fractions and it is a yummy lesson.  

Off to go do a taste test......