Blues

Friday, I checked the bluebird eggs expecting them to have hatched. The kids and I got excited when we could see the protrusions on the egg shells that indicated the birds were working on hatching. Saturday, I checked again before we left for a day full of baseball games and errands. At 7:00 am, two of the babes had hatched.

I checked the box when we got home around 4:00pm, and was thrilled to see five squirmy naked birdies cuddling. When I showed the kids the picture, they cheered excitedly that all the eggs hatched and the babies were finally ready to watch.

That afternoon, Allen was inspired to work on the other bluebird house. We had a new pole and predator guard, but the hardest part was getting the video camera installed and properly focused. Allen threaded all the cords through some PVC that we may bury when we decide the birdhouse will stay put. Now the new house is posted and ready for a new nest.

This morning, I peeked out the kitchen window toward the birdhouse to see if I could see Sialia or Silas. I may have I screamed when I noticed the nest hanging out the hole. Dressed for church with three-inch heeled sandals, I rushed through the damp, freshly-watered grass, hiked up my skirt, and climbed into a nearby chair to peek into the birdhouse. Just as I suspected -- the five little peeps were all gone. Several sets of parallel scratches on the wood reminded me of the few places our cats have scratched our furniture, so I suspect that darn black cat (not ours) that I think got the house finch nest a few weeks ago. I cried for that half-a-handful of baby birds and for the sorrow I imagine the parents must feel. Then guilt settled on my heart as I realized that was the third time that birdhouse was invaded. Allen took the birdhouse down and cleaned it out. It will sit in our garage until I get a pole and predator guard so we can find a new place for it. I'm definitely bummed. The kids were sad to learn another bit about food chains and life's cycles, and this lesson hit our hearts a lot harder than the owl pellets.

Bird Lessons

We have spent the last two weeks following the lessons in our curriculum and learning about birds. Some lessons were history-related, as we read about John James Audubon, gazed at his pictures in a huge book, and watched a documentary about him and his art. Those lessons tied into our art classes as we did some color blending with Audubon-style color pages. 

We drew our own birds nature-study-style. (Will's, Maddie's Eastern bluebird, and my drawings -- Ben and Jon decided not to draw birds.)

We took the food chain learning a bit further than the books did when we dissected owl pellets and found lots of little mammal bones.

We studied bird muscles and skin when we closely investigated a roasting chicken -- the kids were fascinated with a piece of feather still stuck in, and they loved the way the heart felt. Will learned some home skills by preparing, seasoning, and roasting that same chicken. He also cleaned all the green beans, steamed them, and made a tasty salad from our produce co-op bucket.

We took turns watching the bluebird nest.

We were saddened that three of the five house finch eggs disappeared... then the other two did, too. The evening before, I chased a cat away from the tree. I guess I was a little bit late.

We refilled the bird feeders and birdbaths and watched the birds through the windows. We read an award-winning novel about children in Holland who were trying to bring storks to their town, The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong. Overall, it was a really fun unit, and I even learned to lighten up a bit when we didn't accomplish all that I planned on some days. In the end, I know my kids learn more about birds in our everyday-life than they will from being immersed in lessons for two weeks. As I'm sitting writing this, Maddie is begging to go see if the bluebirds have hatched (not yet), Jon ran to the window when he heard the blue jay squawk, the titmice are chattering away as they gather seeds, I am wondering if the oriole that came to the garden yesterday will soon return.

Stuart Little - Another Great Lesson!

The first three weeks of home-schooling, we were covering the senses and communication -- particularly with the eyes and ears. Several of our lessons talked about what life is like without those senses, and we learned a bunch by reading biographies of Helen Keller and Louis Braille. Last night, we had a chance to learn more about how deaf people communicate, and we had a great time doing so. Several weeks ago (before we decided to home school) I bought tickets for all of us to see Stuart Little. Will needed to see a live performance for a Cub Scout requirement, and when I saw that it was for children, and also signed, I was excited.

I guess I expected that there would be translators signing the script of the play so deaf people could understand the show. What was an awesome surprise was that the actors signed it all. In fact, two of the five actors were themselves deaf. The speaking actors did the speaking for all of them, but all five signed everything that was said. It was beautiful! It was also a perfect performance for the kids since it was only an hour long, several chase-scenes took the show through the audience, and there were other opportunies for the kids to be a little bit involved -- like cheering on Stuart during the regatta.

All four kids had a great time, and, afterwards, they got to talk or sign with the actors in the lobby. I let them each ask their questions to Jessica (Margalo the bird below) and JW (the gray cat) who were the two deaf actors.

Will proudly signed, "my name is Will," to each of them. Thankfully, one of the hearing actors was with each of them to help translate both ways, but I was glad to be able to follow a lot of their signs. I love it when these fun events can be such a rich learning experience for all of us!

Quick Trip to Indy

Last weekend, the little kids, my mom, and I went to Independence, Kansas. My friend's father passed away and I wanted to go be with Jennie as she cried. I am the only one in our family who has returned to Kansas since we moved to Texas almost five years ago. Since the little ones were so young, they don't remember any of it, and I thought it might be fun to show them where they used to live. I was excited for them to meet some of my friends, too. This is what our old house looks like now:

I loved that house -- trouble and all. It was my hundred-year-old doll house that had many of the original oak floors, lots of beautiful leaded glass, and many carved details that brought it such warmth and personality. I miss that home, but the modern one we are in now is easier to take care of with lots of kids.
Will and Allen were at Cub Scout camp, so they didn't join us. The only thing Will remembers about Kansas is a sweet man he always calls "White Haired John." He pleaded with me to go tell John he said hi, but it didn't take much begging since Norma and John are always fun to visit with. Though the Hamilton's lived across the street from us, I got to know them when he would bring her to shop at the scrapbook store. John would visit and play with Will while I helped Norma. As we were visiting with them, John shared a story.

"When I was young and working for the gas company, I worked with a fella who like to call everyone by their name, even when he didn't know it. If he didn't know their name, he just called them George. ... when I would come to the scrapbook store, I always called Will 'George,' just to be silly. He always called me 'George,' too. It was our little joke."

My mom and I burst out laughing because that story explained SO much about my family! When I can't spit out my children's correct name (ask any mom with more than one child what I mean...) I call them all "George." In fact, I told the triplets' baseball coach that if he couldn't remember who he was talking to, he could call "George" and all three would come see what he wanted to say. Really... all my kids answer to "George" and I never really knew why I called them that. Now I know... It's all because of John's friend, then John and Will, and now all of us do that.

Will was glad that we went to see his friend. I think John was surprised that he made such an impact on our sweet little guy -- well, he WAS little when we moved when he was only three years old.

Before we visited with Norma and John, we had gone to church -- at our old church. It was interesting to see how things have changed. The pastor was surprised to be shaking hands with the little people he visited at the hospital when they were a day old. I forgot to factor in that services there are long (especially for five-year olds), and that Ben, Maddie, and Jon sat still for the twelve hours of driving the day before. Ben had a major melt-down at the visitation at the funeral home. We took the kids back to the hotel for naps. Mom stayed with them and I went back to visit Jennie at the funeral home. It was a tough couple of hours -- no fun seeing a good friend hurt so much, but I am so glad we went.

After naps, we made a somewhat surprise-visit to Cheryl and Dave Haley. Dave used to work with Allen, and I think that's how Cheryl and I met. We got to talking about gardening, and Bible studies, and reading great books, and our friendship grew from there. Cheryl helped me a lot when the triplets were born. She brought dinner and she rocked and fed babies. I loved it when she would come play with Will and read with him and take him on walks. The Haley's place out in the country was a perfect spot to visit -- Ben and Jon splashed or collected bugs, Maddie picked flowers. It was just as beautiful and comfortable as I remembered, and I'm glad we stopped.

It was a long drive and a quick trip, but I am so glad to have gotten to go. Thanks for riding with me, Mom -- you made the trip so much easier for me! 

Taking After Mama

The kids favorite weekly activity is going to the library. Though it has been an almost-weekly summer event, we had not been regulars at the library during the school year. Our local library hours are just odd and inconvenient for us, and the big library in the larger city charges us to check out books because we are residents of the smaller city. Now that we are homeschooling, I NEEDED the big library and its resources, so we paid the six-month fee to be able to check out as many books as we want. I love having the large selection to supplement our lessons, and at five-weeks in, I think we know our way around at least the children's section. My favorite part is the hours and hours of (mostly) silence that follows our library time. Will prefers the graphic novels, comic books, and stories about super-heroes.

Jon also likes those super-hero stories, but the long chapter books are a bit much for him. Ben gets quite an assortment. This past week, he had a book about dinosaurs, another about Bat Man, another about a make-believe monster, and another about two strange-named friends. Ben usually heads for the non-fiction science section first, then finishes his pile with something colorful from the picture books.

Maddie loves to get Fancy Nancy and pink books -- anything that has a pink cover is what she wants to read. 

Jon and Maddie are now both reading quite well. They can read quickly enough to understand the story, and are not sounding too many words out anymore. Ben prefers to gaze into the picture pages or convince any of the other three to read to him (it reminds me of the way Jon convinced everyone to help him out before he was ready to walk.) Ben IS able to sound out words, and he even surprises everyone every once in a while by shouting out a word that Maddie or Jon may be struggling to read. Nonetheless, ALL four kids are just like their mama -- THRILLED with a big pile of "new" books!

Easter Treasures

It was Nana’s idea to do the Easter treasure hunt. I ran with the idea and worked with Allen to come up with some landmarks for the treasure map. Then I tried writing clues, but got frustrated. Then I got really frustrated that we were working so hard on a pirate-style treasure map instead of celebrating the real reason for Easter. Then Allen came to the rescue and wrote all the clues while I took a nap. He did all the clues on his own, and I was as amazed as the kids were when we started working through the hints. The first egg hunt (earlier in the day) had a few treasure map pieces that all the kids had to work together to assemble. I enjoyed watching them all work together to read the hints, diciper the clues, then scurry to the next spot.

The map led them to a nest of four plastic eggs with one clue for each of the kids:

Jesus was innocent as a lamb. He never did anything wrong. He died for the things that we do wrong. Find the lamb on the porch.


Jesus was nailed to a cross made of wood. He could not get down, and He died. Find the tree in the garden near the birdbath on the south side of the house.

Jesus wore a crown of thorns on the cross. The sadness and hurt we feel every day He felt wearing that crown. Find the thorns on the west side of the house in the forest.

Jesus was buried in a tomb of rocks. After three days He came back to life. Find the tomb of rocks in the garden on the south side of the house.

A map puzzle piece at each of those stops sent the kids to the seventh tree.

The rock seventy paces – no more, no less – is your next step.

 

Jesus is the rock of our lives – and he brings new life. Find the three trees starting new life (leaves) and the rock they are near.

There is a bell that rings when people come to this house to let us know company is here and to invite them in. When Jesus comes to our hearts, we should invite Him in. Find the beam that rings the bell in the house.

Go eighty paces down the drive toward your final clue. Stop between Hill and City, and your treasure is in a tree closer to You.

Jesus is Alive! He came back to life so that everyone can live forever in God. He is the real treasure we have all year long.

Afternoon Egg Hunt

We spent Easter weekend at Nana and Papa Kaiser's. Will, Maddie, Ben, Jon, and little cousin Beckham spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon hunting for the eggs. We parents were nervous that Easter Sunday would be stormy and too busy to include a fun hunt, so we started a day early.

All the kids seemed to have a good time. The big cousins made sure that little cousin got his fair share of treats, too. Several of the eggs had puzzle pieces inside that were used for a treasure hunt later in the day. But, that is a post for tomorrow.