Outdoor Hour - Fall Weather

We have been spending a lot of time outside recently. Everyday we go out to the cul-de-sac and ride bikes. Since Ian is now a two wheeler and looked a little big for his old bike, we got him a new one that is a better fit for him. So every day we have to go out and practice riding. Henry is happily riding around on the old one with the training wheels back on. While the kids ride around I get to enjoy the lovely Fall weather.

Here in California we have been having some really Fall like weather. It is actually cold enough to want or need a sweatshirt or light jacket. My kids still seem to think they can get away with shorts but for the most part it is feeling like Autumn. The trees are loosing their leaves and the kids love to ride through them. The wind has picked up and whips around chilling us, making us think we need a thicker jacket or maybe even gloves. But the most fun part of the weather we have had recently is the clouds.

We have had skies full of clouds lately.

Big billowy ones that, we sometimes think, may be full of rain. At other times they are just whispy stratus clouds decorating the sky. Which ever we are given that day, we seem to take a few moments to really watch and enjoy.

While the kids ride their bikes around, I sit with the baby and watch the wind dance around through the trees. Often one of the kids will take a break from their ride and sit down with me for a few moments. We will both watch the clouds roll across the view, or we listen to the birds that still flutter about. They will often give Molly a little eskimo kiss with a cold red nose before heading back out for another race around the circle.

Fall weather really is a beautiful thing.

Two experiments in one day!

Even though we are studying chemistry, which should be full of experiments, I haven't done nearly as many as my kids would like me to. We come across experiments in the books we read and they ask to do them but I always look at the list of supplies needed and there is usually something we are missing. Well today I finally got around to doing some hands on science. We read a book about Oxygen and then needed to have some fun with it.

The first experiment involved matches and a flame. Fire is always exciting for kids. I lit the candle that was placed in a pan of water. We watched the flame flicker and dance for a bit and tried to keep Henry from blowing it out. Then I placed a glass jar over the flame and we watched the flame slowly go out as it used up all the oxygen in the jar.

We did the experiment a few times and the kids watched what happened to the condensation inside the glass and also the water lever raise inside the jar and take the place of the Oxygen that had been used up.

Sophie and Ian did some great drawings to document the experiment.


Then we tried another experiment which was supposed to go along with our study last week on Hydrogen. I didn't have the 9 volt battery that I needed to do this one until now. For some reason I just kept forgetting to get it. But today all the supplies were on hand and we were able to separate the Oxygen from the Hydrogen.

We couldn't see the Oxygen but we could see the Hydrogen bubbling around the copper wire coming from the negative side of the battery. We could tell that Oxygen was attracted to the copper wire coming from the positive side because not long after taking the wire out of the water it turned green. We then go to talk about what oxygen does to copper. The negative wire which had been surrounded by the Hydrogen looked a bit brownish. Very interesting since they were both sitting in the same water.

They happily did a notebook page for this experiment as well.I love it when the like doing their work.

I sure hope I come up with some more fun things to do. The kids really liked these and even had to do them again for their Dad when he got home from work. They even plan to show these to Grandma and Grandpa when we see them in a dew days.

Another one of those Moments

There are so many moments and events that make me feel like the worst parent ever. There are countless times I have wondered why Heavenly Father entrusted these children to me. I have shed many tears as I have rethought about things that have happened and analyze my actions or lack of them. I am aware of my responsibility to teach my children how to behave, show respect, and get along with others. And there are so many times I feel so inadequate for this challenge of being a parent and feel like I am failing miserably.

I don't tell this event to ask for sympathy or a pat on the back with a "we've all been there" or "It's ok". I know I failed today and deserved to be criticized for my parenting. It was another of those moments where I was weak and wasn't consistent and was caught in my folly.

My children and I attended a Veteran's concert this evening. My husband had something else he was doing so it was me with the four kids. The concert was performed by the band I had been a part of the last few years. It was held in a building with a lovely park nearby. I promised my kids we could play at the park for a bit after the concert. I spent much of the concert telling my kids to not kick the seat in front of them and to stay in their seats but more or less they behaved alright. So we went to the park.

<After playing at the playground for awhile my kids asked to go and see the memorial. There is a Veteran's memorial at this park with a statue of two men in military dress carrying guns. We have been to this park many times and have visited this memorial and read about each of the branches of the military and the other things that are described there. It, along with the ducks and geese are what my children remember this park for.

My kids ran ahead of me to get to the memorial. I had the baby in the sling so wasn't able to keep up with them. As I was walking into the memorial I noticed a new plaque that described some action in Afghanistan and I stopped and started to read it. Out of the corner of my eye I could see my kids running around the small enclosed area of this memorial. They were examining the statue up close which required them to climb up onto the platform. They were all there and accounted for so kept reading. I was going through the names and ranks of the men on the walls when a lady came up and asked me if these were my children. I looked up and saw my children, as well as a few others, and said "some of them". She then went on to tell me how disrespectful it was for me to let them climb on the statue and show such disrespect for our military. She went on to, rather loudly, tell me that in her day parents taught their children how to behave. She then proceeded to tell me how my generation doesn't know anything about respect.

I admit I was on the defensive. I don't like to be yelled at. How dare she speak to me like this. I wanted to defend myself but instead just told my kids to get down and we left. On the drive home I had tears in my eyes as I tried to justify my lack of parenting and thinking how rude she was for saying such things to me, but realizing I had failed to curb my children. The woman was right to scold me. I had allowed my children to run wild through a memorial and show no respect for what it was honoring.

So to the lady at the park.... I am truly sorry. I will remember your reprimand each time we go to that park and most likely anytime we ever go to another Memorial.

Being a parent is really hard. The difficulty often is in the consistency. I know I am far from doing things right, all the time. I hope I get some things right at least some of the time and that my kids turn out decent, honorable people despite my failings. I am trying, but often stumble in my attempt. I guess it is good to have these experiences to make me work that much harder.

Look Mom! Two Wheels

Yesterday while at the park one of Henry's friends brought his bike that he can now ride without the training wheels. He was in tears because he can't ride on two wheels. I tried to tell him that it is something he is going to have to work on and that we can take the training wheels off the bike tomorrow and see if he can learn to ride it. He just kept up the tears and whimpering for a long time. But I convinced him that it would be better to learn on his own bike at home tomorrow rather then right that moment at the park.

Henry's desire to ride a two wheeler worried me a bit since Ian hasn't even wanted to try to ride without the training wheels yet. I was afraid Henry would catch onto riding easier than it would for Ian. Henry had learned to pump himself on the swings before Ian and it was a bit of an issue for a bit because Ian is older and should do things earlier than Henry. But Henry just tends to catch onto physical things quickly and Ian is a much more methodical child who takes his time doing things.

Well today Henry reminded me of my promise to take him out to ride the two wheeler. He was so excited when I told him to go get the bike and the tools. We took off the wheels and he got on while I was holding the bike up. He got a little frustrated that he tipped over and couldn't just ride. He let me walk behind him and hold him up but he was very wobbly. Much like I remember Sophie being just a year or so ago when she finally wanted to learn to ride on two wheels. He started crying and telling me he just couldn't do it. I had him sit down on the stoop while I ran inside to get my camera. I figured I would need to document his first attempt at his bike.

When I got back outside with the camera, this is what I saw.
Yes that is Ian riding around on the bike. He decided to give it a try while I was inside and he could just... do it. I was in shock! I didn't have to run behind him and hold him up. I didn't have do anything. He just picked up the bike and started going. Sure he has been riding this bike for two years now with training wheels but has always preferred his scooter when we go on our rides or walks around the block.

He was so excited and wanted to ride further than just the driveway, so we walked down to the cul-de-sac.

Henry was happy for Ian but sad for himself. He really wanted to be able to ride a two wheeler. I had Henry give it another try but he just couldn't balance the bike. I think the seat needs to be a bit lower for him. He can barely reach the petals at the bottom of the revolution. So Henry had to content himself with the scooter.

He still had a good time racing Ian back and forth. I was so astonished at how easily Ian was whipping around and through the bushes and up and down from the sidewalk to the roads. It took Sophie a long time before she was doing these things. Sophie was giving him all sorts of coaching.

He was having the time of his life and wanted to ride and ride. When the others got tired and wanted to go in he asked for just 10 more minutes. He was just so excited and loved the attention he was getting for his accomplishment.



I guess I didn't need to worry about Ian. He has always been a kid that didn't do something until he could do it well.
He sure is a bike rider now.

Our Studies

I haven't done a school report in awhile. So just for my own records here is our rundown of the last little while.

Math - Sophie is still plugging away at Singapore Math 3B and came to another review this week so we also read through another of our Mathematicians are People too book. This time it was Pythagoras. I used some of the ideas from this lens on Squidoo to enhance our reading. The kids really loved making the 3D Shapes. I can't say I ever could get the mobile to balance out just right but the kids still wanted to hang it from the ceiling so now we have a little mobile in the corner.



We are doing well with Latin. I am really enjoying learning this language. We have been learning how to use direct objects and a few more nouns and verbs. I like the way the lessons in our bookbuild on each other. And they introduce the different concepts in English before moving on to Latin. I feel like I am learning English grammar along with Latin. Sophie still chooses to do Latin to postpone doing her math. And it is funny to hear Henry and Ian spout out Latin phrases once in awhile. They especially loved it when we pointed out Yoda speaks as Latin would be spoken. I have heard "Jedi ego sum" a number of times recently.

Reading is getting easier for Ian. Explode the Code is getting easier for him and he is about half way through the 1 1/2 book. He is finally getting some of the words by sight and not having to sound out each word. He is doing well reading his McGuffey primer. Sophie is working through her Reader as well and has no problems reading each lesson. I am tempted to move her up to the next book but don't want to miss all the fun little stories and such so instead we are reading and discussing two a day so we can move through the book more quickly.
Henry is all of the sudden getting interested in reading and writing so I may get him the Ready, Set, and Go for the Code primers and get him started on those.

We have been learning all about he Periodic Table this week. We have read a few books on the subject and still have one more we are going to make our way through next week. We started making a Periodic Table Lapbook with ideas from this Lens on Squidoo and some from this page on Homeschool share.
The kids have really gotten to know the elements through a few games we have played as well.

History has sort of been light the last few weeks. We still read our chapter of Story of the World and maybe read a few go- alongs but that is about it. I can't say this has been that exciting. It may be just the subjects or the time period or something but we have a bunch of other things to study and this hasn't been our first choice.

Sophie has chosen a new animal to study so we have been reading all about tigers the last few weeks. We are making another lapbook to go along with this. Ian is doing some of the work on the lapbook. I don't know if I should let him do his own animal report/lapbook or just have the kids do one together. At the moment one is all I can handle so I guess that question is answered.

There is all sorts of other things we have been doing and reading. But the baby is crying and I need to go... so maybe they are for another post.

He is Writing his Name

For a long time Henry has been signing his name as just an H. I have actually found this infamous signature drawn on the wall, in books and just about anywhere this little guy goes. We even have a nice red pencil H drawn onto the ceiling of his room above the door. He must have climbed the door frame with a pencil in hand and somehow drew his H while still holding on with the other hand.

Recently he is showing interest in doing the other letters of his name. Today I found him with a sheet of paper doing H and then E over and over. I wrote the rest of his name on the paper for him to use as a guide. He then proceeded to write those letters over and over again.

He wasn't concerned with putting them next to each other. He was just practicing the letters.

He is catching on to writing pretty well. I am not surprised. He is a very agile little guy and had lots of examples to follow around him. I just hope I don't see the E-N-R-Y on the ceiling to go along with the H that is already there.

Outdoor Hour - Stop at the Oak

We take a lot of "walks" around the block. My kids don't usually like to actually walk. They always want to take their scooters or ride their bikes. They still stop along the way to look at, watch, pick, or examine different things. Lately I have been pushing the baby in a stroller and I find myself saying things like "don't go too far ahead" or "stay where I can see you". I realized today I can give much more specific instructions and my kids know exactly what I mean. Today I used phrases like "Stop at the skipper butterfly garden" , "don't go past the Morning Glories" or "stop at the big oak tree". We have become so acquainted with our neighborhood that the kids know exactly where these phrases are describing.

So today while the kids waited for me to catch up to them at the oak tree. I snapped this photo.

The boys were looking at a tree stump that is being pulled out while Sophie is gathering acorns which are all over the ground around this tree. When I finally reached them the boys were excited to tell me about the stump with all the roots showing. Sophie told me about the squirrels that must have munched some of these acorns.

We took a moment to look at the leaves of the oak tree which were very spikey. These should help us identify which kind of oak tree this is. (When I got home I looked it up and it is a Coastal Live Oak, I think).

As we continued on our walk the kids also pointed out a few other things they found of interest. They noticed the citrus trees and the changing color of the fruit. The lemons, grapefruit and oranges all turning from green to their usual looking colors. They are headed toward ripeness.

Henry pointed these mushrooms out to me. They are quite large and he wanted to kick them and break them up. But I kept him from doing this so we could touch them and examine them a little closer. Sophie didn't want anything to do with them. I guess I have somehow instilled a real fear of touching mushrooms into her. She thinks any wild mushroom we see is poison.
I tried to tell her as long as we wash our hands after touching them we should be alright.

So we had a nice walk and I now have a better way to keep my kids from riding too far ahead of me as we go around the block. I just need to use the "landmarks" that they know and have learned on our many trips around the block. Why didn't I think of this sooner!