Unit Study

For the past few days, we've been working on a unit study on kitchen renovation. It's chock full of hands-on lessons. The outline looks something like this:

• disconnect plumbing to sink
• remove cabinets/counter
• remove wallpaper
• remove wallpaper
• remove wallpaper
• patch holes
• sand, sand, sand
• rent truck
• drive to Ohio to pick up cabinets
• drive to Lowe's for paint
• paint whole room
• gasp
• drive to Lowe's for another color
• paint whole room again
• scrub floors (including laundry room)
• lay tile (including laundry room
• install new cabinets
• replace old nasty counters b/c new counters will not be ready for FOUR weeks
• install new light fixtures

Only four steps to go... though I suspect they'll be the hardest ones yet.

Hi Ho Hi Ho

We have been working so-o-o hard lately, just not on actual school work. We're redoing our kitchen! The new cabinets are on order and the old cabinets are in the driveway. The ugly wallpaper we intended to strip when we bought the house eight years ago is finally gone. Adam, Ryan, and I spent the day with wallpaper remover dripping down our upstretched arms and putty knives scraping. But it's done! That's a skill that will serve them way better than memorizing maps of the Middle East (though they're doing that too). Jeff spent the night spackling holes and cracks and tomorrow's lesson plan says something about priming.

Pictures to come!

R.I.P.

My Dearest Playstation,

I know I haven't always been complimentary towards you. But, on the occasion of your death, I must admit you added a lot to our family. You were always willing to fill a rainy afternoon with excitement. You never yelled or hit when accused of cheating. You were entertaining when I didn't want to be. You taught my kids patience, perseverance, coordination, critical thinking, and cooperation. You will be missed - by some more than others.

Though it wasn't my fault, I feel the need to apologize for the clumsiness that led to your demise. Jeff shouldn't have had your controller cords stretched across the floor. Adam shouldn't have tried to jumped over them. Believe me when I say that poor Adam felt horrible about what happened and he's taken a lot of grief since the accident.

There were valiant efforts to save you. We opened your casing and examined your insides. Hours were spent trying to piece you back together. But alas, it was not to be. There was more than one person crying for you. People in this house still talk fondly of you every single day. You will not soon be forgotten... though there is some hopeful talk of replacement.

For the Love of Brothers and Ring Pops

Knowing Matthew's love of ring pops, Aunt Char bought ring pops for the boys yesterday. Unfortunately she didn't give them the ring pops until they'd eaten WAY too much candy from Grandma's candy dishes. Mean ole Mommy told them they'd have to save the ring pops for the next day.

Fast forward to this morning....

Matthew woke up asking for that ring pop. Again, mean ole Mommy told him he couldn't have candy until after lunch and then proceeded to use that ring pop as bribe to get him to eat some real food for breakfast and lunch.

Finally, it was ring pop time. Matthew was so excited. He opened his candy and got in one lick before he dropped it on the kitchen floor. The ring pop shattered. I think I let out an audible gasp and Matthew let out a wail. It was a true catastrophe in Matthew's mind. He'd waited so long and worked so hard to get that candy and now it was g-o-n-e. And Mommy didn't have anymore to replace it.

I was lost until the good son piped in, "He can have mine." Wow- thank you, Adam! I was so proud of him to make that sacrifice without even being asked. It's what we've been working towards, a true servant's heart and love for his brother.

Dissection!

Who says dissection has to be smelly and yucky? Well, this one was a bit smelly, but in a good way. A Beka Science starts with a plant unit. I'm not sure why they thought it would be a good idea to study plants in the fall (the typical start of a new school year) since most of the plants around here are dropping leaves and getting ready for winter.

We've been working on naming the parts of flowers. Yesterday the boys drew and labeled flower pictures and today they were supposed to dissect flowers. I checked the hibiscus bush and found several blooms that were covered enough to escape the frost. I pulled those off, passed out the knives, and we set to work.

First, they carefully cut the flowers apart and studied their parts.

Then they pieced the flowers back together, glued them on paper, and labeled their parts.

Here's yesterday's drawing and the finished dissection. This isn't one we can save though. The petals quickly wilted so it only looked this good for about an hour. Hopefully, the experience was enough to help them remember what they need to know --- you know, for when they get on Jeopardy and have to come up with, "What is a sepal?"

Late Look at Trick-or-Treat

Is it a turtle? a dinosaur? or a frog? People couldn't figure this one out but they loved his little bag. I loved it too until it got full. We tried to convince him to pour his candy in the bigger bag so he could have more room in his bag but he was adament that he keep his own candy. When it started overflowing, we had to make him. He did not take it well. He just sat down in the middle of the street and cried. Ah, Vader. An old favorite. This one came out of the attic though we did have to invest in a new light saber. You can't go wrong with Darth Vader. Well, unless your mask starts hurting your face about halfway down the street. Then you refuse to trick-or-treat without it. Yet you whine that it hurts. Then you want to go home. But at least you didn't sit down in the middle of the street and cry!

This one didn't decide on a costume until the very last minute. I thought he was going to pick something from the attic but he finally decided he wanted to be Venom (from Spider-Man). Does he look like Venom? No, there weren't any Venom costumes in his size the week of trick-or-treat! But everything that was left was on major sale! He agreed to dress as Bat Man... as did half the trick-or-treating population! Again with movie characters.... not much to say about this one. He didn't cry.

Firefighters

I used to think a cute firefighter was a big, muscley man with a sweet smile and hunky uniform. But I've got to admit I now find these firefighters to be the cutest I've ever seen. Don't you agree?