KIA[2]

 "Put the camera down, Grab onto the end there and pull really hard...... "
Ki needed help getting the 't' connector off of the PVC pipe.

He has some weapon planned.  Something that requires the use of the band saw, of course. I always cringe inside when they use that. I'm glad we are close to the ER.

Yes, one of our house rules is:
"Don't use the band saw before mom is awake and out of her bedroom in the morning"

There is nothing quite like be awaken at 6:30 AM but the sound of the band saw in the garage....


Ki and I Adventures: Day 2

 A quite morning nourished with fruit smoothies that have been infused with protein powder. I just added to the left over protein/fruit smoothie from yesterday.

Ki & I then spent 3.5 hours volunteering at the animal shelter. I answered the phone and made sure people signed in and used hand sanitizer. Ki folded and stuffed envelopes. He also got bags of food from out back to people coming in that feed strays. I had to stop 4 barefoot little boys from bringing a dog into the building. The oldest was carrying the youngest boy and the next to oldest was struggling to carry a black dog. 3 boys were barefoot, and 1 was walking around outside in socks. I doubt they spoke English. It was kinda sad- we had to turn down taking their puppy; which means those little boys have to tak their puppy to County Animal Services. CAS euthanizes. Hopefully those boys don't know that.

Ki & I drove through a HUGE puddle, splashing both sides of the van and coating the windshield in muddy puddle spray. This aways makes me laugh hysterically.

Then it was on to Home Depot and the Baby Bottle Clinic to drop of a bottle of coins.

I am glad it was a less busy day so I could take a nap.

Ki is at church youth group right now. I really should go clean the kitchen. I started to straighten the couch and found my lost knitting needle and that was the end of cleaning. I'm finally back to knitting the chroma scarf.

(Yes, we are still holding strong on our No Chewing Challenge... and we are planning a wonderful food-filled Sunday!!!- but no exercise today)

DASH4? or is it DASH5?

PREVIOUS DASHNYAM POSTS:
DASH1
DASH2
DASH3

Because I did not do a DASH entry yesterday (Thursday) on Day 4, do I call this entry DASH5, because it is Day 5 with Dash OR do I call it DASH4 because it is the 4th entry in the Dashnyam Chronicles?

Did that sentence really need to have the word 'because' three times??

Last back-track a bit to yesterday for a short overview of Day 4 with Dash. Yesterday I drove him to school, spent an hour talking to attendance officers and parent support people. They were all very kind and helpful. I was armed with phone numbers and a calendar with all the odd days that school starts/ends at different times that normal or there is no school. And there are LOTS of those days!!

I finally got my google calendar loaded up with all the new info and deleted all my old times and plans for our school. They will be re-planned this weekend.

Paul stopped by our house waiting for time to take the bus home (A friend from Grover Beach that takes classes down here and rides the bus). Gavin walked Dashnyam home. The boys relaxed, D did a little homework, we went to church, came home, Dash forgot to finish his homework until 10PM, so he was up kinda late.


NOW for DAY 5....
I guess I should call this entry DASH4&5. or DASH 4/5.

I woke, very unwillingly, at 7:14 and got to Dashnyam's room around 7:17. He was still sleep. I thought he didn't understand how to turn on his alarm clock, but Gavin to old me he did have it on, but when it went off at 7AM, Dashnyam turned it off and went back to bed. He was tired from staying up late to finish his homework. I'll have to give him more notice of when we have things planned in the evenings so he can get his homework done around our schedule..

I sent all 3 of my boys out to walk Dashnyam to school with giving Gavin specific instructions of timing how long it takes. They left the house at 8:10 and said it took 13 minutes to get Dashnyam to the corner. It's about a 3-4 minute walk for Dashnyam to get all the way to his class. So we'll plan on a 20 minute walk,to account for waiting on the light and cars to cross streets. Ki said they lucked out with the street crossing today and didn;t have to wait to cross any streets.

I made chai. I discovered that those bulk, Mexican, inexpensive cinnamon sticks are CHEAP for a reason.. they are cheap cinnamon! The whole entire bag has no cinnamon smell, the sticks broken have no yummy cinnamon scent and I licked one and it didn't taste like cinnamon at all. So I added extra clove and anise to my chai. but it's not as good as with the cinnamon. That'll teach me to buy cheap spices!

10:00 - Gavin is learning Japanese, Ki is doing laundry, and Connor is cooking a PVC pipe in the oven. The leather hardening didn't work well yesterday. They will try again after gathering more information.
They are working on weapons for Feast of Mars (Amtgard camp). Connor seems to have finished and socked his weapon today. i has something planned. I need to sew some sashes.


One of Dash's teachers emailed me today, in response to one I sent her, just checking on how he is understanding and going in the class, since he had told me he was a little confused. Sounds like things are going well. He took a reading placement test today to make sure he is in the class he needs to be or if he needs to be moved.

I wonder if I can get Brian to take the 4 boys to church tonight and leave me at home.

Monday

WHEN did the sun start getting up so early! Mr Golden Sun was shining full force by 6:45 this lovely AM. This AM that I had planned to sleep in- to prepare myself for a week full of Driving Stresses.

I feel gypped somehow. I was so sure someone changed my clock. And I just now learned that GYPPED come from gypsies. (I thought it was JIPPED until I looked it up on Wikipedia. You can learn SO much on Wikipedia!!) The point being- I feel I am missing 2 hours of sleep.

I herded the male offspring into the van to get a few things checked off my To Do list. (things like (take boys to Starbucks for Breakfast and Pick up Brian;s Suit from the Dry Cleaners)- but could not find my keys. I had to call Brian while the herd waited in the van. But I found them on Brian's dresser under a black sock behind the camera battery charger. So, it was all good in the end. I got my Chai.

and Gavin got a chai.
and Connor got Hot Chocolate.
and Ki got a Vanilla Steamer.

We had our PSYCHE quiz. The boys love that show. After we sat down with out breakfast (oh, yeah- they all got pastries & I got a yogurt cup) I quizzed them.
How many shelves in the pastry display?
How many people wearing hats?
What did the cashier look like?
The Street Number for the store?
What was on the Today's Special Sign?
Describe the Barrista......

they did not do so well.

We then played a game of FLUXX. Ki won.


I picked up Brian's dry cleaning and make a quick stop at the Thrift Store for $2.74

The BEST part of gardening?? The CHOPPERS! Or clippers, but CHOPPERS sounds better.

I hacked down a large bush. Then whacked off limbs to some roses and other green growing things. Then poured a bag of dirt into the contained plant area in the front and planted about 25 sunflower seeds.

I have plans to hack and whack more stuff. but I needed a break. So I rode my bike to the pharmacy to get my $30 allergy nose spray.

And when did that go up to $29.50?? Oh, the high prices I pay just to breath at night.

BTW- when I went to add a picture to my last blog, I was notified I had reached my available limit for pictures. Talk about sad. I was mortified! How can they LIMIT pictures? so wrong. I went and deleted 100 pictured from my Blogger Album- so I should be fine fine for a couple more weeks.
AND, if you want to see me in my Renaissance Garb- check the previous entry at the bottom!

Did I mention this was a NO SCHOOL WEEK?

They only have to read and get some physical activity daily.
Morning Computer is over at 8:30 (they often wake up at 6 or 7 to play longer) and no more computer games until dad gets home.

They have been making an arsenol of amtgard armaments today.As soon as my sewing machine returns from it's medical check-up, they will be sewing covers for them and maybe a new tunic.

It is now 1PM and I need to shower, pack snacks, and offer money to Gavin for cleaning my mess in the front yard.

COME BACK tomorrow to see my FIRST "How To Tuesday" Post!! You will be AMAZED and ASTONISHED at my Aptitude!





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been meanin' to....

The List Is Short this month. Not so much because I do not have a much I need to do, just because I do not have a lot that "I have been meaning to do."

• Take the sewing machine to have some yearly maintenance done. Brian decided he needed the sewing machine to work on some stuff for Darkshore so he took it in to the shop.
• Wash the sink- scrub the sink and the backwash area. with Bleach Cleanser.
• Have the boys clean the front room. VERY well. dust. windows, everything.
• Go to Starbucks by myself.
• Take Connor to lunch at a cute little hamburger/sandwich place I saw on my bike ride
• Exercise DAILY. That means EVERY DAY (except Sunday- God said I have to rest.)
• Finish my Bible Study chapter for Tuesday.
• Bring the boys to Starbucks.
• Buy a New Card reader so I can easily post Pictures. right now I have to do pics from my husbands computer and it's a bit of a hassle, as my accounts/passwords are on my laptop. So I use his built in reader, email the pics to myself, then find where they were downloaded, so I can post them.

Things I have done... because that list makes me feel happier:

1. Planted 25 Sunflower Seeds
2. 12 Sugar Snap Peas Seeds
3. 12 Strawberries.
4. 6 Jalapeños
5. 3 Bell Pepper seeds
6. Helped at a garage sale.
7. Took pictures at Amtgard
8. washed a couple dishes
9. sucked the gunk from the bottom of the tadpole tank
10. emailed the boys with their school list for this week.
11. ate too many dark M&Ms.
    
    
    
    I am joining Stacey's Blog Hop: Things I've Meaning to Do.."- You can join too! click the above button, read , and then write your list. Then at the end of the week- see what you have done from your list! Why are you waiting?? I know you have been meaning to make that list!

1. 

And there I am in my fancy dress... with Eleanor (a friend;s daughter) and Dasher (Gavin)

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ABC's of homeschooling

But I saw this at Homeschooling for His Glory- so I have to say I am taking it from Joelle, not from 5kidsandadog. Credit where Credit is due- and that is in 2 places this time.
I will be doing a couple of letters at a time, because I am not consistent enough to do them on schedule.
A is for Autodidact- That is why I homeschool- to help my boys become autodidacts; someone who is self-taught. For us that means allow them the freedom to follow their passions and interests, to not let 'school' get in the way of learning. I may not have taught my boys everything from the long list of 'Facts taught to kids all throughout school'- but I taught them something more important. How to learn on their own. How do decide what they need to know and then teach themselves. Elementary Years are easy. They boys are little sponges learning everything and asking about everything. The Junior High years are the ones that make you doubt as they chill out and just... exist.... but now that they are in the High School years, I am seeing it all come together. Well, Ki is still in the Junior High phase, but he has always been the more 'self-directed' of the three.
I bought them these T-Shirts a few years ago....."I can't go to school.... I'm autodidactic."
Things brings me to thought of discussing unschooling- but I'll leave that for "Q"OTHER A's: Amtgard. Animals. Art. Advice (we all seem to get a lot of that as homeschoolers, LOL)

B is for BOYS- because I am homeschooling 3 boys, it seemed like a good choice for this 2nd letter in the alphabet. I am surrounded by boys. I am teaching boys. I assume this is a different ball game them homeschooling all girls. Our days are filled with Making their own Ninja Throwing Stars and a target board- in the back yard. Dissecting Cow Hearts.... in the back yard. ParKour practice...in the back yard... Making & Wielding Renaissance Weapons.. in the back yard... Hmmm this is why I often have the gardener skip doing the backyard.....
Maybe "B" should have stood for "BACKYARD"
We also have less violent things happen in the backyard. Gavin grows strawberries. Ki collects Mosquito Larvae for his tiny froglets. Connor lays in the sun and pets his cat. I lead Nijna Training Exercises.

I love having boys! I'm more of a Hiking in a creek, catching newts, and dissecting cow heart- kinda girl than a ruffles, bows, and pink kinda girl. But I guess if I had a girl she'd not be too into pink and ruffles anyway.
My boys have been good at insisting they learn when they are ready- regardless of it it lines up with my timing or a schoolbook's timing.
some were doing basic algebra at 6 and some didn't read till 5th grade.... or at 4 yrs, but refused to read around me until much much later- when they were ready for me to have confirmation they could read. Some refused to count to 6 until they were 6 years old.
That makes it sound like I have 5 or 6 boys.....no. Just the 3 of them.
and I can't imagine them having nearly the success in public school that they do here and now. I am thankful we get to let them learn their own way.
OTHER B's: Backyard, Biology, Bible, Bored, Books, Blog, Blessed


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"I don't like to read."

"I don't like to read."

Today, after Bible Study, I took Connor and Ki to the library. We had about 40 minutes until it was time to pick up Gavin from class. He normally bikes, but in this heat, I didn't think it the wisest of ideas.

So we get to the library and drop off a very overdue book. It was one of the 3 very overdue books we have right now. But the only one that could be founds.

Connor (15) and Ki (14) find a comfy seat. I suggest they find a book to read. Ki tells me;
"I don't like to read."

He doesn't.

Connor wanted to be squirrelly and spend the time reading all the signs backwards.

We were sitting next to the shelf that houses books in DISEASES. I was scanning the titles excitedly deducing which of these wonderful selections I wanted to devour first!

"PLAGUES"

It just doesn't get much better than a good plague!
So I sit down and start reading the book about PLAGUES.

Page 2 starts with something like...
"Within a few short days hundreds had fallen ill. Early signs were fever, hoarseness, and coughing. Soon the ill had swollen tissue, severe headaches, vomiting and diarrhea."

I take the book to Ki and tell him what an awesome book! How many books start out like this!..... and read it to him. I read onto the next paragraph.
Next thing I know h is holding the book and has decided he wants to read it.

There he is. My self-professed "I don't like to read" child... reading away.

Connor sees a book on the paperback display. He comments on how funny the cover is. It is all white with a picture of a baby chicken...... upside down.
that's it. With the title across the bottom....
"flipped". Connor thought that was VERY interesting!

We talked about marketing techniques as Ki goes over and gets the book with the Flipped Over Chick and starts reading it.

Connor is still having fun reading the different signs backwards and counting dots on his chair.

Ki has now read parts of 2 different books. Not bad for a kid who hates to read.

Then we got Gavin and went to the mall for lunch. (100 is too hot to eat at home)

After lunch we go to the $1 Bookstore where Gavin finds 5 different books on computer programming and programming languages. (I found 3 murder mysteries). I pay for the 8 books and G wants to go explore the other side of the Computer Texts Shelf and spend is $20. I told him to get through these 5 books first.

No "real school" today. or yesterday. Or last Friday. or last Thursday.
Just lots of Life Learning. We'll get to some planned lessons tomorrow.

we spent a 4 day weekend at Feast of Mars.

M*T Day 7. Creme & Contour

The Dining Table here is strangely quiet. Quiet, in and of itself, is very rare and strange in a house of 3 boys and a crazy mom. The silence is quickly broken as on of my male offspring asks if he can include that he smelled farts in his paper. I told him to use the word “flatulence” as this is Creative Writing class. This question is quickly followed by another from the same male child, this time asking for a fancy word for “hugging”. His will be an interesting paper of flatulence and embracing.

The activity on C.W. class today is to make 3 lists of descriptive words to go with a scene from Darkshore. The Scene Choices were; “In a Battle”, “At a Courtly Feast”, or “Camping in tents”. The 3 lists were; sights, smells, and sounds. We talked about taking Creative Liberties in writing. I told then I wants to do so. This would be things like listing pine trees under smell even though they may not have smelled them. There were pine trees there and they have smelled Pine Trees in the past so they can say they smelled the pine trees on the Battlefield. Their creative Liberties are to be reasonable, not crazily far-fetched. Ki had a tendency towards the Crazily Far-Fetched side of things. They added their Point Of View to the top of their page then were told to use their lists to write a descriptive sotry from their chosen point of view about their chosen scene.

Guess that scenes they chose.

Yep. In the Battle. All 3 of them.

That was the second class of the day. The first class time of the day was after lunch. Homeschooling is awesome. We can just do school a little later in the day when I have errands in the morning. I biked to the Beauty Supply Store because my Hairdresser, Margie of the Magical blades and Royal Shears, told me that my hair was kinda awful and I needed to buy lots of expensive goopy stuff to fix it, along with a ceramic flat iron. She said the flat iron I use to iron Brian’s shirts doesn’t count. So I have gome from spending about 5 minutes on my hair to brush it & pull it back in a pony tail to having to use Deep Conditioner Treatments , combing it out nice and smoothly, and using the flat iron. I now have less time and less money than I did before. BUT I have a Popular Girl Haircut. My hair is still going through shock and adjustments. It has not looked popular for many years, maybe 30. This may take some getting used to. After looking through a bazillion shampoo choices & half a billion flat iron choices I had to call Magical Bladed Margie to calm me down and help me focus. Then I went to the THRIFT STORE!! YAY! I bought a leopard print stretchy knit dress and 2 belts for my Amtgard garb.

MYYTHOLOGY class – Ki wrote, colored, drew, and looked up Bible verses. Later he’ll read through is recipes and make rose water.

Sketchers 101 was Continuous Contour Drawing. Drawing simple objects and shapes without lifting up the pencils. Ki did not enjoy this so much. He likes drawing, but HIS way. Same with his lapbook. Part of his assignment is to use colors and pictures/drawings/designs. he like just pencil and no details or drawings so he is having to do things he doesn't really enjoy. When he talks and makes up games he is very very imaginative and creative, but when it comes to drawing and writing he has a lot of trouble going beyond the bare minimal basics. Times like MayTerm, when he chooses fun classes he likes is a good time to get him to practice the stuff he doesn't like, like writing and drawing more details and more creatively.

May term Day 5

May Term Day 5.

We did “afternoon school” today because I needed a few hours to get mentally prepared and I wanted to get my picture sorting finished. While I was doing that the boys were outside ‘amtgarding’ and making new boffer weapons. Connor made a flail and is working on sewing the fabric covers for it.

After lunch we did school. G&C worked on their Astronomy Independent Study while I did Mythology with Ki.

Mythology Class was fun and full of variety, like always. We started by researching Ancient Roman and Ancient Greek Recipes. We read about methods and ingredients, Ki took some notes, then he read through the different recipes and found a few he wanted to make.

http://www.greek-recipe.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article149

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art46291.asp

After that we read about the Capitoline Triad (The 3 main gods of Ancient Rome) and had some discussion. (how it compares/contrasts to what we know from the Bible, different ways we see the influence of the Capitoline Triad today ( like June being a popular month for weddings, the Owl being a symbol of wisdom, etc)). After that we learned some word roots that we can find in Graeco-Roman Mythology.

PANTHEON- the temple of ‘all gods’. PAN meaning all and THEO meaning god.

From that we understand some words we use today: pandemic, panorama, theology, atheist.

PANOPTES- a graeco-rooman god with 100 eyes. PANOPTES means “all seeing”. /OP/ or /OPT/ has to do with seeing, sight, eyes.

Where we see this in words today: Optics, “panoptes’ is a term/type of Video Sensor.

CYCLOPS- a mythological creature with one big, round eye. Cyclops means “round eye”. Cycl meaning ROUND or WHEEL and where we get Bicycle, and cycle as iin Life cycle, rinse cycle, to cycle through ….

We also talked about Jupiter being called Jupiter Optimus Maximus. I asked Ki were he had heard OPTIMUS before. Optimus Prime- Transformers. Optimus means THE BEST.

SKETCHERS 101- We learned Ebossing & Texture Rubbing. Then we did a little exercise in CUBISM. After that they spend their time sketching and drawing on their own, incorporating some of today’s techniques.

OTHER STUFF: Most of my plants look happy. My carrots in the potato bin are looking nice and I have lots of tomato blossoms turning into fruit.

DarkShore Update

We went camping up in King City for an Amtgard event. DarkShore 2010. The boys had a BLAST and I enjoyed watching them fight, beat-up,defeat, and defend all in the name of LARPing.

Gavin is improving, but I still overheard a player yell at him to "MOVE- Like you have a Purpose in life!!" which is similar to what I say to him sometimes.

Connor did awesome during the Jugging Tournament. Which is like Hockey and Foootball combines with Boffer Sword Fighting.

Ki enjoyed being a goblin, ogre, and pixie guard. Sometimes I think he likes watching more than playing.

I have a few pictures to post here and after them are links to the LOTS OF PICTURES from the Camping.

I have all the pictures from Darkshore 2010 up and ready. here are the links to DarkShore 2010 pictures.

Thursday Pictures- Ditch & Iron Man http://picasaweb.google.com/106449052945894282766/Darkshore2010Thursday?feat=directlink

Friday Pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/106449052945894282766/DarkShore2010Friday?feat=directlink

Jugging http://picasaweb.google.com/106449052945894282766/JUGGING?feat=directlink

Saturday http://picasaweb.google.com/106449052945894282766/Darkshore2010SATURDAY?feat=directlink

Misc Pictures of Amtgard-ness (People, Meals, Kids) http://picasaweb.google.com/106449052945894282766/DarkShore2010Misc?feat=directlink

May Term Day 4 (cudgel)

I took some pictures in my backyard this morning; mainly so I'd have a picture for today's blog. My thoughts today are on on EASY FAST recipes. They always seem to have Cream of Mushroom soup, or canned peas, or sour cream. Which makes them sound yucky. How about a peanut butter & jam sandwich with an apple. That is fast, easy, has protein, fruit, fiber, etc... throw in a glass of milk and a carrot and you're good to go and quickly (and with pretty much all the food groups).)PLUS no need for lots of dishes and it's a portable meal!

My pictures today don't really go with my thoughts, I guess. The new Other Posts You May Like thing at the end of each of my blog posts uses pictures to show other blog entry suggestions. So I decided it's be a good thing to have pictures for my blogs.

Besides Fast, Fattening, Full of Creamed-ness meals, my other thoughts of the day are on School. Or the shortness thereof. It's another Short School Day as we are leaving for camp after lunch.

Ki is working on his gods of Mythology VS God (in our Bible) cards. He needed a symbol for Hercules so we wiki-ed Hercules. Those Romans sure do like their nude statues! At least he wore a teeny grape leaf in one of them. Anyway, most statues and paintings include his "cudgel", or club. So that is what Ki went with for the symbol.

G&C researched more astronomical facts and figures. They turned in their 2 Constellation Reports today.

After their morning class, I'll hand out Sketch Journals. Their assignment during Amtgard Camp will be to sketch daily, with a written description. Amtgard Camp is called DARKSHORE this time and it's the annual Battle Games Camping. They are doing Monster Battles. Ki will be on the MONSTER team as either an ORC or an OGRE. Ki is also a Pixie Guard to the PRINCE. Pictures should be entertaining.

We lost one of our tents. When I say 'we', I do not include myself. I packed it properly. The menfolk got it out to air it after the last camping trip and some how the poles and stakes didn't make it back into the bag with the tent.

There will be no more blog entries until Sunday or Monday- when we get back from camping.

I like how the morning sun (low angle) was on this flower (succulent plant) but the grass in the background was still in the darkness from the long shadows of the back wall. Making the flower in LIGHT and the background in SHADE

On Ki's sunflower was a little red beetle with block spots.

I have a lot of roses in bloom right now.

my Boys & their Toys

My boys organized a Demonstration of their favorite Sport at a local park. The demo was yesterday (Sunday). They made fliers, advertised word of mouth, printed forms and waivers, etc. It was a decent turn out. They did a great job teaching others the game and leading small games. They have another demo planned for next month, too.

Some school kids play on the soccer team; some are on the golf team; mine play on an Amtgard Team. It's their organized school sport. It is a national sport. A few months ago they attended a training camp that had some of the best of the best in the Amtgard sport fly in from all over the country (even Canada and as far as the New England states).

Ki has recently passed his Reeve Test (he can now referee events).

I love the extras my boys learn with this sport, too. They have had to make their own garb; they've learned to read patterns, sew, applique, and do simple sewing machine maintenance. They make their own weapons, but ban saws at 8AM aren't my favorite thing. They learn some history and cooking. And it is great exercise!

the first picture is me.

I tried a bit of knitting. I found I am not good enough to knit in public. It distracts me from my counting out loud to make sure I am getting the correct number of knits and purls in the right order.
I have 2 WIPs (Works In Progress).

work. Work, WORK!

:: AHCHOO ::

Sounds like someone is allergic to work. Hopefully not my kids, because there is another Darkshore Dollars Day approaching.

Since the boys get no allowance and don't have 'real jobs' yet, they earn money when they ask for it, or if I offer some 'extra paying jobs'. Sometimes I offer these jobs just to give them an opportunity to earn money, sometimes because there are too many jobs I don't want to do at the moment so I pay them to do a couple of mine for me, or sometimes because I know there is a function coming up they want to attend and I don;t want to ' just fork out the money' so they get to work it off. I decided to add a few different things I don't normally put on Paying Job List. I'm thinking of letting them earn money by writing reviews to shows they watch. Right now they are watching Farscape and they like to watch Doctor Who. We'll see if it works out well. I'm considering adding 'make a breakfast and dinner menu and cook 2 days of the week'; like a paid personal chef.

So Far I have:

mop kitchen

pull weeds

clean shoe closet

wash windows

sweep/scrape front porch

scrape back steps

clean toaster oven

clean silverware drawer

25CENT worksheets (need to print off a few)

write 1 page reports on Farscape, Doctor Who, etc

water plants for a week

Darkshore Dollars Day will be Monday and Thursday next week.

BEACH DAY!!

I decided we needed a BEACH DAY!! I told the boys last night that'd were going to the beach today and they can boffer sword there most the day.

it's the first thing Ki was talking about when he woke up!

No morning school (I told them Math & science when we got back- that's all)

Amtgard-Boffersword on the dunes and in the water!

The were so happy and had a great time.

we found live Sand Dollars. it was fun to watch their little purple hairs wave and wiggle.

Tonight is Get Your Own dinner- which is just about their favorite. Top Contenders are CornDogs, Toast, Baked Beans, Bacon Sandwhich.. we'll see..

and then they'll watch a DVD. They think maybe Battle Star Galactica.

the missing month

I never really wrote much during February; just a recap of January.
Apperently I still have some readers, so some of you may still be wondering what has been going over the last month.
So this is for some of you. Or all of you, some of the time. You can please some people all the time and all people some of the time, but you can't please all the people all the time. Or something like that.
FEBRUARY:
well, I can't find my Story of the World book and am not happy about it.
Been riding my bike; when it's not raining, which means I haven't been riding often.

The boys just did what I call the 3 Rs in February. Reading, Research, and 'Rithmatic. We did some Bible reading; mostly Proverbs and James.

I had the older 2 chose research topics and get books from the library. They read and took notes on index cards. They also have been doing their daily, online S.A.T. questions.

Ki read a comic book style story about Robin Hood and started to read the actual Robin Hood Book. He also read the 1st in the Series of Unfortunate Events.

Towards the end of the month their reading turned to Amtgard and they spent some time upgrading their foam weapons. At the very end of the month we drove up to King City for Sword Knight Boot Camp. The boys took classes to work on different skills and techniques for Amtgard.

We did a couple garden classes. The first one was simple greenhouses. The 2nd was simple hydroponics. The 3rd will be online due to rain and difficulty of transporting. I'll be discussing container gardens that save space and sharing instructions for vertical vegitable gardens and an upside-down tomato planter.

Ki & Connor shaved their heads. Ki left a clump of hair in the back. He keeps his hair shaved. Connor's is growing and he had it bleached so when it grows in more he'll have bleached tips.