PISMO

some pictures from today.

sorry I am being so boring right now. I'll do a real entry later...

mechanics/physics games online

here are some of the online games my boys play that are good for physics/mechanic/math, etc.

http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/incredibots bot building

http://www.miniclip.com/games/magic-pen/en/ magic pen

http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/free_rider_2 free rider 2

http://scarymonkey.net/Flash/newlinerider2.php line rider 2 beta

Sneak Peek

Tuesday Connor has his ENT appointment for his ear. He still has hearing loss and says his ear feels wet and gooey inside, but it doesn't hurt anymore.

Did I tell you all about my plans Wednesday? I don’t think I did. We are attending a small church out here called Element (www.ourelement.org) . My pastor reminds me of a pachycephalosaur.

Sometimes the lead guitarist plays barefoot. Not sure what he reminds me of yet. He's really tall with bushy red, curly hair.

Anyway, the pastor needed some people to volunteer their homes for the Annual Thanksgiving Dinner Event. The church just started up in January/February, but I guess they all did something like this last Thanksgiving as a group.

The members sign up to attend and are split among 3 different houses. They church provides the main dish (Carne Asada Tacos) and the people that come all bring drinks and sides. All I have t do clean my house and make cookies. I might have 30 people here. As I can not get away with TACOS for Thanksgiving, I’ll be cooking a small turkey for us to eat on Thursday. Brian invited a couple from work. They have a 14 yr old daughter that stayed with us for a week while her parents were out of state. (don't know if they are coming or not)

Friday we are going to a Monarch Butterfly Cove.

The next Monday Connor has an appointment for teeth Xrays to determine if he needs oral surgery.

Dec 1-2 Brian will be out of state on TDY.

Dec 3-10 his parents and grandpa are staying here. So we have a few outings planned to do with them.

Then Dec 13 I am running a Gaming Table at a small, local gaming convention. My boys will be running a table, too. I think that might count as an extra-curricular something for their school transcript.

Then my birthday… then Christmas.. then Dec 28-Jan 4 we will have 2 Japanese exchange students at our house.

'LETTUCE' OUT!!!

once a month (often less frequently because I forget) we have PAYING JOBS. I list 9 or 12 jobs with their descriptions and prices and the boys can take turn choosing jobs to earn money. They jobs have to be done in a certain time window and they have to finish what they start (can't start cleaning the cabinets fronts today, do a little more tomorrow and finish them Sunday)

Here are the jobs this months:

"ICE to meet you!"
*Clean and organize the inside of the freezer and make a tray of ICE

"A Good Frontal Attack"
*Clean Fronts of appliances
- fridge/freezer, dishwasher, both ovens, microwave

"STEPPIN' UP!"
Sweep Front Porch and sweep both sets of steps (Ki asked if he got more money if he scraped the moss of the side steps and I said Yes)

"PET BUFFET"
Wash pet food bowls, shake mat, vacuum floor area, vacuum mat, replace mat and filled bowls

"We've been NUKED!"
Thoroughly clean the inside of the microwave

"MMmmm... TOASTY!"
Clean Toaster Oven. empty crumbs, clean rack, clean glass front, replace foil liner

"LETTUCE OUT OF HERE!"
Clean and organize the inside of the fridge

"VRRRMMMMMM"
Vacuum couch and chair in front room, vacuum under cushions, wipe wood on front

SHWOOP d' SHWEEP
Sweep and Mop Kitchen

I wonder if we afford to do this every other week. Maybe limit it to 2 jobs each time and only do the More Expensive jobs once a month....
the kinda funny thing is, sometimes they have these jobs to do just because they are told (like vacuuming the couch, sweeping, mopping kitchen....)

~~~ Falling ~~~

I am falling behind in recording my days as boring as they probably are for you all to read daily.....

and I am falling behind on reading all of your blogs. I think I'll take some time to catch up on reading torrow.

Brian took off work today and we all went to MORRO BAY (check the link for a map and pics of the area). We played at the beach, ate lunch and met some other homechoolers for a Guided Tour of the Estuary. (more info)

Read Your Bible & Pray Everyday

(random thoughts)
Read Your Bible & Pray Everyday……

… And you’ll grow….Grow…GROW!!! That was one of my favorite Sunday School Songs as a child. Any song where I got to get out of my chair and move was a favorite. Like “I’m in the Lord’s Army” YES SIR!. Of course I like Trust and Obey, too. Songs that told you what to do to ‘be a good Christian’ were also favorites. I have always been told by Spiritual Gifts are Prophecy and Discernment. BACK the subject at hand….. Reading the Bible Everyday. (in case you forgot the subject at hand as I was taking random tangent trails)


What does it mean to Read Your Bible everyday. I guess it may not be as Black and white as I’d like. There is not real formula that the right and proper way to go about it daily. I was taught to Read and Pray first thing in the morning. “Get up early and do it before the rest of the house is awake.” I need 9 hours of sleep (or 10). Connor used to wake for the day at 5; Bright eyed and bushy tailed. NO WAY is my brain working at that hour to get anything out of reading the Bible. Now he gets up between 6:30 and 7:30. Sometimes earlier. But I sleep till 7:30. Sorry Sunday school teacher; I can’t do it that early. My brain needs an hour or two to overcome my dyslexia before I can read in order to comprehend. So my Bible Reading isn’t at 6AM. I used to feel guilty about that.


Then there is the topic of ‘what constitutes proper Bible reading for personal daily growth.” Is it one hour of studious pouring over the same passage and take fervent notes? Does it have to be consecutive? Genesis 1 today, Gen 2 tomorrow, Gen 3, the next and so on?. Again, something I could never do. I can read in order for a few days, but by then my mind is ready for a new topic. (If not daily). I have tried a couple devotional books. They never work. I don’t have the patience. The smallest thought had me researching a different topic or different passage. It’s like ADD Bible Reading. Reading one passage brings up questions to research something else, when I get there I read a bit and soon find a different question that needs answered….. Another thing I always would feel guilty about.

Ki is very good about going in order. He has a Bible Picture Book. Basically the whole Bible is a Comic Book format. He started at the beginning of creation and is not all the way through the Old Testament and into the New; reading about the Ministry of Christ.

And does reading the Bible to my kids count as my ‘Daily Reading’? I have been reading to Ki out of Genesis (mostly) to go with his School Workbook. I decided that counts, but not for every day. But occasionally it counts.


Some days I read the verses from Last weeks sermon. ( I copy each one down in my color-coded Church Notebook). Sometimes I read for next weeks topics. Sometimes I get a butterfly and have to chase it. This week it was reading more in-depth about Communion. Some days I just listen to Worship Music and hymns and sing ‘Bible Verse Songs” with my kids. I love the one from Psalms “The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple… more to be desired are they than Gold, yea than much fine go—old..Sweeter also than the ho-oney in the honey comb” and love the round “Humble Thyself in the Sight of the Lord…”


I start my day with prayer and often songs, but my bible reading comes later in the day. And sometimes I forget to read. Then I feel all guilty again. I feel guilty about a lot sometimes.

PS- I don't feel guilty about 'not doing it right anymore. Haven't for a while.

THANKS MOM

I think I have the flu or a cad cold. I'm not super congested, but super achey and weak. So probably a flu virus.

Got a package in the mail today. My mom sent some goodies for all of us. She sent us a little care package a couple months ago, too.

I got Fairy Dust and a TShirt with a sparkly spider on it.

Gavin got a squooshed grape tomato (or cherry?). He said "Mimi tried to mail me a tomato, but it got smashed." I told him she was mailing he seeds from Papa's tomato plant.

Ki got seeds but wasn't sure if they were to eat or to plant. So, mom, you might want to give him a call.

Connor got Keys. I haven't seen them. He quickly horded them away.

And there were some other goodies. Which reminded me I had bought something for my mom last month and need to mail it. I have a few oyher things to mail and places to call tomorrow, too.

UP & COMING!

Ki Terrill, our Up & Coming chef, made yummy Caribbean French Toast for us and another homeschool family on Friday. MUEY SABROSO! the recipe is posted below~

Sunday or Monday he is fixing his complete Caribbean Dinner. Recipes will be posted after the event.

CARIBBEAN FRENCH TOAST
We used a loaf of french bread sliced and for the 'batter' we used:
6 eggs (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 Cup O.J.
1/2 Cup Mango-Pineapple Nectar
1/3 Cup whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2-1 teaspoon cinnamon

Up&Coming School Week:

Another great day of school planning. I love sitting with a Latte and planning out the week's scholastics. Here is what I came up for next week:

Ki (12) is still using Index cards for his daily assignments. I think we'll stick with it. It seems to work well. He also asked to get some of his stuff emailed to him. I also wrote approx how much time it should take each day on each card. So here is what I have:

Index Card for Monday Nov 17, 2008
__ Morning Chores
__ Bible * read 10 minutes or 1 story
__ Writing * Check your Email
__ Math * 10 Dice Problems D12 X D12 (oral and w/ mom) B.G., H2O, 10 Ch.Cv.Rsns
20 mins Choose a workbook.
__ P.A.C.E. correct pg 13. Do pgs 17& 18
__ Read * 20 minutes Magic Treehouse
__ Science with mom at 10:00 AM
* Approx 3 hours

Tues. November 18, 2008
__ Morning Chores
__ Bible 10 min/1 story
__ VAFB Homeschool ASL/PE/Lunch
__ Read Magic Treehouse 25 minutes
__Math 2 pages Your Choice, B.G., H2O
__Writing: Fingerspell words from Mondays assignment with mom

Wednesday 11-19-08 (yes I write the date slightly different on the cards)
__ Morning Chores
__ Bible * 10 min/1 story
__ Writing Check Email
__Math: B.G. H2O, 10 problems orally Dice D12xD12 (w/mom)
20 Minutes Workbook
__ P.A.C.E. pgs 19/20/21
__ Science with mom 10:00 AM
__ Read 20 mins Magic Treehouse
Approx 3 hours

Thurs NOV 20, 2008

__ Morning Chores
__ Bible * 10 min/1 story
__ Writing Check Email
__ Math: 30 minutes Your Choice
__ P.A.C.E. 2pgs 22-23
__Read 25 mins Magic Treehouse
__ Online Science: Check Email
Approx 3 hours

FRIDAY
__ Morning Chores
__ Bible * 10 min/1 story
__Math 20 mins Your Choice
__Magic Treehouse 20 Mins
__Finish any incomplete schoolwork from Mon-Thur
__HOUSEWORK DAY $$$
__ Homework: Check Email [writing]

Here are the emails I sent Ki:
WRITING-
MONDAY- correct your sentences from last week. Then using the same 10 words, write a short story. It can be a 1 paragraph story. (3-5 sentences) as long as you use all 10 words. Email the corrected sentences an the new writing to me. Respond to last weeks WRITING email for his assignment.

TUESDAY- we'll have school on Base after PE/Lunch. You will finger spell your 10 words with me.

WEDNESDAY- here is a list of 6 words: SLOW HUNGER CARIBBEAN CREATE BELIEVE TEACH . I want you to change the tense or write different words with the same root. You need to have 20 words total. email your 20 words to me.

THURSDAY- Use the 20 words from WEDNESDAY. Write a phrase for each word. (does not need to be full sentences) ex: if your words were [love, yellow, mango] your phrases might be [ I love you ] [a yellow yo-yo] [three mango muffins]

HOMEWORK: Due Monday [Nov 24] Morning: Choose 6 of your phrases and make them full sentences. draw pictures for 3 of your sentences.

**Email for Science:
MONDAY W/ MOM: science experiment and make 2nd whale for Ocean Box
WEDNESDAY W/ MOM: science notebook for whales chapter
THURSDAY: Netflix Documentary. watch and be able to discuss it with a parent

Connor's work was all emailed to him:
DAILY-
READ 45 MINUTES (and read 1 chapter in your Bible. It can count towards your 45 minutes)
15 MINUTES typing practice. mom's new laptop. Mavis Beacon typing program. I'll show you how to access it on Monday

DUE FRIDAY by 4PM:
3.5 hours math

ROCK COLLECTION- use your collection box (in the chest in front of the couch), place 1 specimen in each compartment. Number the compartments. Cut index cards into pieces that fit in each compartment. Date/location of the find. (use rocks from our latest trip to Shell Beach). On a sheet of paper that fits in the lid- number the paper for each specimen. Look at each specimen with a magnifying glass and by touch. Write 3 things(descriptive words) about each rock on the numbered paper. (words like 'opaque, translucent, smooth, rough, splotches, veins, monochromatic, etc)

WATCH NETFLIX: Nature: Extreme Lands

PACE: Read pages 9-11.(starting with section V. Church Government) Read ONE PAGE at a time and answer all questions you can with that ONE PAGE. Page 11. stop when you get to VI. European Gov't
ACTIVITY PAC: Complete pages J and K.

Gavin's was emailed as well. HIs stuff is pretty independent.
Read Daily. (45 minutes)
Read 1 chapter daily in your Bible. Stick in the same book and read in order.

Spend time daily doing what's needed in Physics and/or Economics

Spend 3 hours in Algebra. [either ALEKS or High School Advantage] ask dad for help if you get stuck

WATCH the Hadron You Tube TAKE this online QUIZ: http://www.physics.org/featuredetail.asp?NewsId=24 don't look at the answers before hand! no peeking! and let me know how you did.

BROWSE this website: http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/ once this week

VIDEOS/GAMES: http://www.physics.org/interact.asp watch some videos/ Play some Games. explore this website 2 days this week. 30 minutes each time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And I still doing individual classes with each boy. Ki needs it, Connor half needs the 1-on-1 and half just likes it. Gavin just needs a little help with understanding his boring, dry PACE book. We are doing note taking right now and not bothering with the question packet. We'll use it later.

I'm still doing Geo Mind Builders and reading God's WORLD News a couple times a week.

and we are still working on memory verses each morning. I bought a small Dry Erase board to hang on the wall to list Prayer Requests for our Morning Prayer time.

FIRE

they are about 1.5 hours south and won;t make it up to us. But we have an air quality advisary and were told to conserve water.
from a website: ( http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=amOI4QXAA24E&refer=us )

Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- About 4,500 residents of the celebrity enclave of Montecito, California, are fleeing a fire whipped by high winds that has burned more than 1,500 acres and destroyed or damaged at least 60 homes.

The blaze began at 5:50 p.m. Los Angeles time yesterday in the Los Padres National Forest, and more than 1,100 firefighters have been deployed, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire. About 1,500 homes are threatened.

``This continues to be a dangerous fire and residents should remain aware of local conditions and be prepared to respond to any warnings,'' the Santa Barbara County Fire Department said in a statement.

Montecito is southeast of Santa Barbara and about 73 miles (118 kilometers) up the coast from Los Angeles. Actors including Michael Douglas own property there. In addition to those who fled the area, officials have urged another 4,500 to consider leaving, Cal Fire said in a statement.
The area is under a red-flag warning until tomorrow from the National Weather Service in Oxnard, meaning conditions exist that will ``create explosive fire-weather conditions.''
Last night, 70 mph wind gusts were recorded for five hours, said Dave Samuhel, a meteorologist at private forecaster AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania. The area is also experiencing near-record heat and dryness, he said.
Desert Air Mass

``It is basically a desert air mass with wind added on top of it,'' Samuhel said. ``You can't say enough how high the fire danger is.''

Samuhel said the region won't get any relief from the high temperatures, wind gusts and low humidity for several days.

``This is a full weekend event,'' Samuhel said. ``This will be an extreme weekend.''
While winds won't be as severe in the next few days, they will still be high, and the hot weather will continue, Samuhel said.

``There is no big cool-down coming,'' Samuhel said.

Efforts to battle the blaze have also put a strain on the region's water supply, and residents are urged to curb their usage, the Montecito Fire Department said in a statement.

``Water reservoirs have dropped to critically low levels,'' the statement said.
Early Start

California had an unprecedented early start to its fire season in June, when lightning touched off 1,700 fires in one day that went on to consume more than 1 million acres (404,686 hectares), a record for destruction.

The number of homes damaged and destroyed in the new blaze, dubbed the Tea Fire, may rise when teams can inspect the area in the daylight, said Doug Lannon, a spokesman for Cal Fire.
Firefighters will receive help from 10 air tankers and nine helicopters later today, he said.
As of Nov. 7, 73,704 wildfires were reported in the U.S., burning about 5.1 million acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. The 10-year, January-to- November average is 73,070 fires burning 6.8 million acres.
The agency reports there have been 9,589 wildfires in California so far this year. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has said the state now has a year-round fire season. --

can your 12 yr old do this?

It seems odd and very unimportant as far as skills go. Something we probably never even think about. Ki is 12. He's never really been good at scooting a chair.

We go to sit at a table or desk and scoot the chair under the table as we sit down on the chair.

We scoot the chair back out when we stand up to leave.

Ki can't do this. He places the chair and then squirms to get into it. Or just sits on the very edge of the chair and doesn't have it scooted up at all.

when he gets out, he has to slide off and wiggle out (or often he is doing the 'barely on the edge of the chair with the chair not really scooted under the table)

He had trouble with our earthquake drill today because he couldn't scoot his chair out of the way of the desk and instead he ran across the room to the door frame. door frames are good and under a sturdy desk is good-- but you need too do whatever is CLOSEST. so if your at the desk you shouldn't run across the entire room to get to the door frame and vise-versa.

so I guess now I have t teach my 12 yr old how to scoot his chair. I started to, but Ki was very defensive and about to have a meltdown over it and I decided to do it later and maybe avoid a meltdown and subsequent bad day.

CONNOR ALEKS

Nov 10 starting with 29.1 hours.
(I just needed a parking spot for this info until I decide what to do with it)

Gavin - 40.4

PLANS for the WEEK and bit of a Week-Ending report

I seem to be doing this Week-End School thing backwards. Right now it is easier to list what I plan for next week, then write much about what wew did this week. It was a fast and busy week. I feel like not much was done, but I'm sure my kids learned a lot. With caring for a snake, having a public schooled- 14 yr old with us, ASL class, P.E., going on walks and all the imagining they do.

We have a couple changes to our school plans this week. Last week I used Index Cards for Ki b/c he lost his notebook. He loses it often. We talked and decided to use Index Cards again. He can take the card for the day out and carry it with him and if he loses it her still has all the other cards. Not like how he often carries his notebook around and sets it down and can’t find it the next day.

Connor asked to not use his assignment book but for me to write his assignments in an email.

Gavin has some new CD-Roms I purchased. They are all part of a College Prep/High School Advantage package. I will have him load 2 of them onto his laptop this week and we’ll go over them.

We only will have’school’ on M-W-F. Tuesday Brian has the day off and I want to go to Shell Beach and have Connor collect some rock samples. Thursday we are having EarthQuake Awareness Day and will play games when we are done with the Earthquake stuff. (like Fluxx and Zendo and Thin Ice)

On M/W/F I will start the school day with Bible Verses and prayer. I have enjoyed our memory verse work and want to continue it. I will do reading from God’s World News and do Geo Mind Buliders. I also plan on doing some Mad Libs. We have a Mad Libs for President version. I will continue to have scheduled class time with the boys. That is still working well. 10:00 with Ki, 11:00 with Connor and Gavin will either be 9AM or 1PM. Not sure this week. I may leave it open and see how it works out for us.

I usually don’t give Gavin weekly assignments. He has some things due in January and I usually just remind him to work on those. I had a book list for his this school year. It was a somewhat open list. Like “Read a book by Mark Twain, a book by Rudyard Kipling, a Christian Biography, a fiction, and a historical fiction, .” Gavin said he’d rather have me pick the books and just tell him what to read. So I picked Treasure Island. He’s almost done. Next will be The Prince and the Pauper. This week I have a few things for him to work on for school Here is the email I sent him:

MONDAY-
--Load the High School Advantage CD-Rom onto your laptop and show me. We'll go over a few things in it and see how it works.
--Same with the SAT*PSAT disk

THIS WEEK-
-do 3.5 hours of ALEKS
-Work on your Physics. Module 3 (or lesson or chapter or whatever they call it). Read items need for your next experiment and make sure we have them. Make sure you are taking good notes. Dad will look over your notes. If you need physics help from dad let him know (maybe send him an email brian.xxxxxl@*******.com
-Finish the book you are reading. Let me know when you are finished. I want you to give an oral report to us, maybe after dinner. You can pick a dessert and we can eat dessert while you tell us about the story.
-I may assign you some work on the CD-Roms you loaded Monday
-We will do some things in your Economics Workbook. I will have scheduled class times for this (check the dry erase board). You can even add the times to your google calendar if you want.
-do 2 entries on your Blog. Don't forget to spellcheck and read it out loud before you post.

Here is Connor’s email:
DUE FRIDAY at 4PM
1. Social Studies PACE BOOK pages G,H,I they are a review (check-up). Let me know if you get stuck. Try to spread it out and do a little each day, so you aren’t stuck with a bunch on Thursday and need lots of help last minute.
2. 3 hours on ALEKS
3. Finish reading Journey to the Center of the Earth. Let me know when you finish. Read 30 minutes a day.
4. write about 3 current events. (4 sentences each). Draw a picture to go with one of the current events. http://geology.com/news/
5. Writing this week: do on the computer as a Word Document and Save As "ConnorsWritingNovXX" put the date you write in where the Xs are. You can choose from to following [a],[b], or [c] : [a] write 5 limericks [b] write a 3 paragraph description of an event (like feeding Tie or having Micah and Josiah over) [c] write 3 paragraphs as the start of a story
DAILY- read your Bible daily. 15 minutes or 1 chapter. Start in any Book Of the Bible and read in order. Let me know which BOB you are reading.

Here is a sample of Ki’s cards. We are just doing ‘schooly-school’ on M-W-F, so he only has 3 cards this week:
Wed. November 12, 2008
⌂ Morning Cores
⌂ Read Bible 10 minutes or 1 story (he has a ‘picture Bible, it’s written like a comic book)
⌂ Q.T. 15 mins, B.G., H2o, Math Y.C. – 20 mins
⌂ Caribbean 30 minutes (I have a separate card with a list activities for his Caribbean Study)
⌂ P.A.C.E. pg 13&14
⌂ Magic Treehouse 20 minutes.
⌂ Writing: check your email (he had a writing assignment on the computer Monday. I will have written/highlighted parts for him to correct for Wednesday)

CATE CONES!

SOKSEY HAS AN EYE INFECTION AND HAS TO WEAR A CONE SO HE DOESN'T SCRATCH AT IT OR RUB OFF THE OINTMENT.

Poor Kitty. he looks quite pathetic and sad. He has trouble with steps. and ends up just laying down on the steps becuase he thinks he's stuck.

I have to fold his cone back so he can eat and drink.

There Once Was.....

We did Limericks on Monday. Here are some of Connor's:

There once was a cat named Soks
Who loved to sleep in a box.
His fur was all gray
and he liked to play
and his head was not full of rocks

I once knew a boy named Jake
who liked to make chocolate cake
with ice cream on top
and balloons to pop
So a Chocolate cake he did make

Soksey the cat loves to pur
that gray you see is his fur
when he says "Meow"
he really means "OW!"
now that the cat has a burr

Tie is a little king snake
his eyes are very opaque
he ate a pinkie
he is not stinky
and he doesn't like in a lake

You know of soks the cat
you know he is not fat
nor is he mad
and not very bad
and he prefers a box not a mat

Pumpkin the Cat is old
and doesn't like to get cold.
She doesn't like Soks
or even his box.
She wishes he would get SOLD!

Conversation with Gavin

GAVIN: (taking his physics test) "cool. I just have one more problem."

ME: "No way! I'm only half way done with my Chai!" (we're testing at the coffee shop)



**************************



GAVIN: "So, can I round up my answer?"

ME: "Why? does it have a bazillion decimal places out?"

GAVIN: "No. I got 30.6. But I wasn;t sure if it's the right formula."

ME:"Why, did you use your notes? Did you take good notes so you have the formulas in your notebook?"

GAVIN: "The formula's in my notebook, I just didn't know which formula it was. So I just made one up in my head to use."



Who does that?? Who just makes up physics formulas in their head??And he got it correct.

Mathmatically, he got a 91%. but he forgot to write his units on one wrote too sloppy for my to determine exactly what he wrote on one. Those were the last two problems. I guess the pumpkin pie wore off by then.

I gave him an 89%.

GAVIN: " Know what I don't get? You kow how scientist say if you drop 2 different sized objects from the exact same height, they will reach the ground at the exact same time......?"
ME: "Yes, what about it"
GAVIN: "Well, that's not exactly true. All objects exert their own gravity. So a larger object will will have a greater gravitational pull and pull it to the ground faster. Of course, the difference is so minute, you'd only notice is you were dropping, say, a marble and the moon. The moon would hit the grounds about 2 times faster."

Cook Out

I'm enjoying having Dynasty here with us.

Tonight we cooked hotdogs and S'mores on the the fire thing (like a metal firepit). Dynasty had never cooked out before, apparently! I think she enjoyed it. She was unsure about it at first. We told her she didn't have to, of course, and could just mocrowave hers. But all 5 of us were out there with our hotdogs on roaster sticks over the flames and she finally decided to join us. Brian took hers off the stick for her. She did a couple marshmallows, too.

Almost every night she asks us of we play games. We played the first night and tried the 3rd night, but didn't have time to finish. But she always asks if we're going to play games 'tonight'. She said her family used to, but they don't much anymore. She said her dad was planning on playing games more often. We'll have to invite them over for game nights- they live close. Tonight we played "10 Days in Asia" and "Treehouse". We need to play Apples to Apples next time. She had mentioned a couple times but we always end up playing something different. It's nice to play a lot of games. We play from time to time, but I always wish we'd find the time to play more.

We were going to go tot he beach but it's a bit chilly and ready to rain any minute, so we skipped the beach and just hung out here.She kinda enjoyed watching the snake eat. She was more curious to see the lump in it's body then the actual eating.Connor really likes his little snake!

I have most of the school plans for the up coming week. Some of our lessons include: Snake Research, collecting rock samples at the beach (with a pick), writing limmericks, planning a Caribbean Menu, learning Braile and a trip to the library. It should be a fun week. asside from Gavin's physics test.

SNAKES!!

Connor caught a California king snake on Halloween. It's young, only about 12 inches long (very slender). We named it and asked to keep it. So we now have a 10 gallon 'critter terrarium' with a heating pad under it and spend $11 on 6 frozen mice pinkies (now I know why my dad raised them. that's a rip-off!)

I was getting ready to see if we could find a place that sells live pinkies as I didn't know if it would eat a frozen one, being wild and uses to live prey. But it started eating it right away. I'll check it in a bit. It seemed to maybe be having problems getting it in it's mouth well. it has such a small head.

We're headed to shell beach today with Dynasty. It's a bit chill today. it's been very cloudt the past couple days and rained at night. Maybe we're at the beginning of the Rainy Season here! I loved looking at the clouds today and all their bubbly, swirliness. I like clouds and have missed them lately.

I plan on a light school week. Though Gavin will be doing his Physics test Monday.