Graduation Day

It's Graduation Day at Shore's End Academy. Ashley, 17, officially graduated high school today. I am so proud of her! We're planning a little ceremony and get together for a few weeks from now, but today is her official Graduation date that will go on her diploma. We've also been taking some senior portraits. We have a few more sessions to do, but these are my favorites so far.

Are You Prepared?

In the event of an emergency, how prepared are you? What if you or your spouse (or both of you) lost a job or became disabled? What if you had no power for a week? What if you had to evacuate your home quickly? Really ask yourself, Are You Prepared?
For me the answer is not at all. Or at least that was the answer until very recently. Being prepared for an emergency like the ones I mentioned or any host of others is our family's most recent new project, one we're taking very seriously.

Sunday Scrappin: June 13

It's Sunday again and that means it's time for Sunday Scrappin'. This is a GREAT way to get inspired, meet other crafters and share your creations, so please drop over and join today!

I haven't done much scrapping since we started doing school because most of my computer time has been spent planning and printing materials for Aspen. So, this week I was determined to get a little scrap-therapy in. This week we took Abby to the pool for the first time and we got some great shots of Aspen who has become quite the swimmer. I showcased her ability on this page:



I used papers and elements from the following kits:

Splash
A Pinch of This & A Dash of That
Painted Summer
Fish Are Friends

In The Red

As night falls, I lie on the floor, in a room doubling for play and learning. Small child, not yet a year, climbs on me. Her near 18 pounds does not weigh as heavily on me as the heavy weight in my heart. Red numbers on a bank statement, a simple mistake. It hovers over me like a dark cloud and a grey storm of ugly hangs in the house.

I thought we were past this. I thought I was past foolish mistakes leading to negative bank balances. So long has it been since an impulse buy or a forgotten transaction or a math mistake has cost us so dearly. But that's not really what weighs on me.

I thought we were past this. Past flaring anger, ugly words and childish meaness. Past fruitless conflicts in times when we need to work as a team. Evidently not.

Instead of serious solutions, only childish remarks that smack of martyristic tendnacies are presented.

I could sell my video games.

Yes, actually you could and not a tear would I shed. Hundreds (perhaps thousands) of dollars have been squandered over the years in the name of this hobby. 90% of these games only serve in bringing violence and immorality into our home. I would not be sad to see them go.

I do not say what I am thinking, and just allow the video game comment to clatter uselessly to the floor. We both know it will never happen. It's followed up quickly by another, equally empty psuedo-threat.

Fine then, I'll just sell off all my Legos.

Yes, well they would probably bring a good price, those 100+ pounds that are there, in three huge tubs taking up a corner of our bedroom. I might feel a teensy bit more reluctant about those, since they are creative and non-violent. I might feel that if they'd been used at all in the last three months. But since they haven't and since this idea is just one more move in a foolish head game, I remain silent again.

So many things dear to me have I parted with over the years in the name of making ends meet. I have nothing of monetary value left to sacrifice to the angry god of bank fees. And right or wrong, I'm unsympathetic to his reluctance.

I've already beaten myself up about this. If, as I suspect, these remarks are only meant to make me feel guilty, they fail miserably. Just as foolish statements that scream lord-of-the-manor-syndrome fail even more miserably.

I am expected to snap my fingers and fix it, to which I can only say, I tried. I spoke with the bank, solicited some help from family and inventoried items I could possibly sell. All before I even included not-so-lovable-just-this-minute man-child in on the knowledge that there was a problem. I'm way past guilt.

This is such an old path, worn in well over the years. Fix it, now before Daddy finds out. Cover it up, hide it, manage it. Even lie about it. An ugly truth but often better than a childish tantrum unleashed on us all. I'm weary of this. A long time back I gave up that way of doing things, opting rather to make him face the issues head on in hopes he might man-up and deal with them like he should, like I have to. And for a while it seemed that was happening.

And, I thought we were past all this.

I roll over and the baby climber and I come face to drooly face. Toothy grin hidden behind a Pooh Bear pacifier. She loves her Daddy so much, aware only that he loves her and will comfort her when she is in need and be with her when she is lonely. To her he is a big, cuddly teddy bear.

I wish I were so lucky.

Baby Meets Pool: A Photo Essay

We took Abby to our community pool for the very first time today. She loved it, as you can see from the pictures below. Enjoy!

Learning Adventures

We're into our second week of Kindergarten with Aspen, and still working in our Ocean Unit. I find myself wondering how on Earth moms of multiple kids and varying ages/grades do this. I can barely stay on top of the planning, printing, laminating and organizing involved just for Aspen! One thing is for sure though, I am loving every minute of it! To see my little girl so eager to do and learn, and to spend such quality time with her, is such an amazing blessing! Hopefully I'll get better at the aforementioned parts as time goes on.

I think I may also be in danger of becoming addicted to some of the super cool ideas and resources that are out there! Just a few days ago I learned about something called File Folder Games. These are basically learning activities made into simple, fun games that are self-contained in a file folder. I first discovered the idea here. I was intrigued, since Aspen tends to be a hands-on learner and gets bored easily. These handy little games offer me a way to repeat the same lessons without always repeating the same activities.

I've made a few file folder games so far and she tried the first one today. I got the idea from this game Hiding Hermits which teaches even/odd numbers. Since that's a little advanced for Aspen just yet I used the free blank templates of those adorable hermits and shells and made a game of adding called "Crabby Addition". The crabs have simple +1 math problems on their shells and seashells with the answers on them are the playing pieces. Aspen does the addition, finds the right shell and places it on the crab. This helps reinforce counting and number identification. She loved it!

I've also just discovered Lapbooking, similar to file folder games but more in depth. I can see many of these in our future! I'm off to learn more, so I can teach more! Stay tuned...

Why Study Home Economics?

I've been feeling really nostalgic for simpler times recently. I don't mean just times within my own life, but simpler times in the life of America. While browsing old videos I came across this vintage film on why students should take a Home Economics course. It's from 1955, and many will consider it antiquated, but if you really pay attention, you'll see that so many of the points are still valid. Enjoy?

What's In The Box - Kindergarten

This is my first time participating in What's In The Box Wednesday. Here we share what work and projects we have for our kids in their workboxes. Since Aspen is my only one using the workbox system, I'll always be doing kindergarten, but all grade levels are welcome.


1. Reading/Phonics - Cap and lowercase letter matching using magnetic letters.


2. Math - Adding Puzzle Game


3. Science - Whale Blubber Experiment


4. Art - Origami Whale


5. Bible - Jonah hidden pictures worksheet and discussion of how we can't hide from God.

You can click here to learn more about the Workbox System. It's working great for us so far!

How Big Is A Blue Whale?

Today's sunshine allowed us to complete the math/science lab we didn't get to do yesterday because of the rain.

We had learned that the blue whale is the largest animal ever to inhabit the earth. The largest, ever. That's pretty cool. But just how large is that? 100 feet, that's how. To a five-year-old, that's kinda vague. So we went here to compare the size of a blue whale to other things. Fun, but still a little vague.

So today we went outside with her Dad's 100-ft tape measure and measured out 100 feet so we could actually see it for ourselves. It turns out the row of garages directly in front of our building was just about the perfect length. 100 feet is a lot bigger than it sounds.

We learned a lot about blue whales from this excerpt from the amazing video The Blue Planet.