Archive

Archive for the ‘Homeschool’ Category

Crazy Campers

March 30th, 2011 3 comments

The first crazy camper is me, the mom. Who in their right mind would take a 7 year old and a 22 month old camping without their spouse? Through one of my homeschool groups they set up a camping trip and Kalani LOVES to go camping with friends. I took the kids last year with Mason as an 11 month old and figured that this year would be a little easier since he was older.

The other crazy campers enjoying nature

The weather didn’t cooperate completely since it was wet most of our second day there and then was really cold trying to pack up on the third day. Nature is also a little loud at times. Like at 3 am when a coyote and cubs decide to make their presence known near our camp site. Or the owl that was above our tent. And then there are the man-made noises like trains that want to blow their horn in the middle of the night.

Most of the group going on a "hike"

But, I know that “I Can Do Hard Things” (sister’s favorite saying). Like going on a hike…we only walked a mile and then turned around, but I walked that mile holding Mason at 30 pounds for the majority of the hike. On the way back we decided to take the road since we wouldn’t have to worry about rocks and going up and down hills. A friend brought her wagon since she has 3 small children and Mason got to ride in the wagon while I pulled it. Mason started taking off his hat, then shoes and socks and throwing them out the wagon. I guess he was done riding in the wagon and stood up while I was pulling. I looked back just in time to see him stand and then fall backwards and hit his head on the asphalt! Blood appeared, water was poured, pressured applied and baby was crying. I wasn’t completely sure what I should do since it looked like he needed stitches, but I also needed to take care of Kalani and I didn’t know where the hospital was since we were over 2 hours away from home.

2 cuts

Luckily I have great friends who took care of Kalani for me, a dad ran back to camp to get his car so I could get Mason to the hospital quicker and then all the kids were looking for my keys that I couldn’t find (they were under my pillow). I asked the park ranger where the nearest hospital was and it was only 2 miles away. I was doing a great job of staying in control and not freaking out.

I got into the ER quickly and Mason was acting like himself, playing in the water at the sink, giving the nurse high 5’s, saying hi to people, etc. There was a lot of waiting around…2 hours later Mason leaves the hospital asleep (it was his nap time) with 2 staples in his head.

2 staples

I asked to cover the staples since there was still blood and I knew we were going back to camp where Mason would be playing in the dirt. I really didn’t want to deal with an infection on top of everything else…AND with Matt in California and not being able to talk to him because of poor reception, I felt totally on my own.

100% boy

The staples aren’t keeping Mason down. He only knows they are there when I change his diaper since he doesn’t lay down very often. But in 10-14 days he gets them removed. I feel like a real mom now after going to the ER with one of my children. I think that Mason is going to change me and how I parent! And I am crazy enough to take our kids camping again, even by myself if Matt can’t be with us.

Alice in Wonderland Book Club

January 29th, 2011 2 comments

They may have gotten rid of my calling at church as the activities leader, but I still have an outlet for my creativity!  This month I took over hosting Kalani’s homeschool book club at our home.  We have 2 weeks to read a book and then the family that chose the book moderates the meeting.  We chose Lewis Carroll’s book, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Disney did a pretty good job with their movie, “Alice in Wonderland,” but of course they left some things out and added others.  As a homeschool group of friends, we had a good time discussing the book and playing games.

I found some great decoration ideas at one pretty thing.  And since we got a couple of packages from amazon I had cardboard and brown paper on hand.  So, this door decoration was created.

Doorway into Wonderland

I made some big playing cards out of cardboard and taped questions to the back for the kids to answer.  For games, the kids made up some silly nonsense advice and then their own version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  One of Kalani’s nonsense advice, “If you are a  leopard, don’t eat a leprechaun.” And someone’s Twinkle Twinkle poem:  “Twinkle Twinkle little squirrel, Wear a tutu and you twirl.  Up abouve the tree so high, like a chipmunk in the sky.  Twinkle Twinkle little squirrel, wear a tutu and you twirl.”

I had the kids color roses that were printed on white paper red.  And then a mom stood up and acted like the Queen saying, “who’s been painting my roses red…OFF WITH YOUR HEADS!”  Our last two games were trying to hit a tennis ball with an umbrella through a homemade croquet hole.  And then all the kids stood in a circle and I sprayed them with a water bottle and they had to run around until they were dry.  When asked who won…they all won, so they got to get a water bottle that said “DRINK ME” and a cookie that said “EAT ME.”  I may have had more fun planning book club than the kids!


HTPC – Home Theater PC

January 20th, 2011 3 comments

I recently replaced our livingroom HTPC with this Jetway-Minitop from Newegg.com.  It amazes me that this new machine is a quarter of the size of the one it’s replacing, yet it’s 4-8x more powerful.

Using software such as XBMC and MythTV, we take full advantage of computers hooked up to our TV’s:

  • Check email/read webpages, while watching TV in another window
  • Watch online content such as Netflix, ABC.com, Hulu, ESPN.com, YouTube, etc
  • Play games on “the big screen”
  • Family scripture study @ scriptures.lds.org
  • Play music/audio books from our library (stored on the file server)
  • An “extra PC” handy in case Mom and Dad are using both desktops
  • Instant viewing access of our home video archive
  • Instant viewing access of our recorded TV shows

Last two are the bread and butter — we record and archive TV shows using MythTV, and have amassed a collection of 600+ kids shows/movies/cartoons, and 200+ educational documentaries.  Even more, MythTV strips the commercials and compresses the archived video.

This enables scenarios such as automating MythTV to record all Disney movies as they air, strip the commercials, then put them in the Kids/Movies folder for later viewing.  According to eHow.com, it would even be legal to share these recordings with our friends and family!  The large amount of educational content we’re archiving from PBS, Animal Planet, History, Discovery will serve our kids for years to come.

(Side note: using SubSonic, we can access and watch all of our TV recordings and video archives remotely via web browser or Android phone)

The Jetway Mini-top (right) is a fraction of the size of the HTPC it's replacing.

Videos are usually viewed fullscreen, but Transformers was minimized for the photo.

A direct screenshot of our HTPC in the living room

Instant access to a growing library of 200+ documentaries and 600+ kid shows/movies

BAYOU WILDLIFE PARK

November 7th, 2010 1 comment

A lady from a homeschool group I belong to arranged a field trip to the BAYOU WILDLIFE PARK in Alvin, Texas.  It was a good 90 minute drive from our house, but Kalani and Mason had a GREAT time.  Our first encounter with the wildlife was with an ostrich as we were driving to the parking lot.  This bird came right at me and then to Mason…I had to quickly roll up the windows!  And then an emu also tried to get into our car…you can hear Mason crying in the background of this very short video.

VID_20101020_094851

We saw alligators, cattle, goats, giraffes, antelopes, camels, bison, lemurs, deer, peacocks, pigs, etc.  They even had 2 ZONKEYS … donkey and zebra offspring.  Most of the animals came right to the tram that we were riding and the kids had a fabulous time feeding them.  Mason had a great time petting the deer that roamed free.  The weather was great, the company was wonderful and it wore my children out.  The only bad thing about this field trip was that Matt couldn’t be there with us.

ZONKEY

Kalani and Mason making friends with the wildlife

This deer became Mason's best friend

One of the many animals Kalani fed during our tram ride

1st Year of Homeschooling

June 29th, 2010 4 comments

As some may know Matt and I decided to homeschool Kalani this past year…and we/I survived!  It wasn’t that bad or that big of a transition.  Well, I guess the biggest transition was throwing a baby (Mason) in the picture.

I joined a local homeschool group (Cypress Homeschool Association) and LOVED meeting new people through that.  These ladies are on top of things.  We participated in a Halloween Trunk or Treat, Thanksgiving Friendship dinner, Christmas party and a Co-op every Monday.  There were other activities, but we didn’t or couldn’t attend.  I also had Kalani involved in a homeschool singing choir (Super Singers) where she got to perform for friends and families and also sing to the elderly in assisted living locations.  And she also was in an Art Club and Book Club.   Let me tell you that this homeschool child is NOT socially awkward!

Halloween Trunk-or-Treat

Santa visited the kids at the Christmas Party

Kalani's mask from Art Club

Book Club Activity

Super Singer Homeschool Choir

I think that Kalani enjoys staying home with me…I know she likes to sleep until 8-9am.  Then we are done with school before noon.  If she went to the local elementary school she would board a bus around 8am and wouldn’t get home until after 4pm.  I just think that is too long of a day for a child.  Besides, she gets all (or at least most) of my attention during our “school hours, ” and we can take field trips all the time.  We have also met some fabulous friends through CHA and church members who homeschool.  If you want to homeschool, Texas is the place and I found the perfect niche.

Categories: Homeschool Tags: ,