August and September Pond Study and other School Projects

Fall is my favorite season, and with only a day left in September the season is officially under way.  We are waiting for news from my sister that her apples are ready to pick and I am scoping out the different pumpkin places, so stay tuned for lots of reddish-orangish projects around here.  Until then, you can check out how the pond has changed over the past two months.  We'll start way back in August (which seems ages ago) and move forward in time until last week.

Week 32

 Week 35 (weeks 33 and 34 missed due to our vacation)

We found grapes growing into our yard from the neighbor's yard!  That will definitely go down as a "POND STUDY HIGHLIGHT".

 Week 36 - pond study in the rain

Week 37

Week 38

Week 39 - the kids pointed out that prior to the leaves changing color during this week, the pond hasn't really changed in appearance in the last two months.  In between slapping mosquitoes they made the claim that the pond was just a little bit boring right now.

If science isn't your thing, how about a few social studies projects?  For those of you who are interested in such things, I am not a "Project-based Homeschooler", an Unschooler, or a "Unit 

Study-er".  If, however, I encounter a project that the kids can do mostly on their own that would enrich their textbook studies, then I am all for it.  For example, Ian's history book (The Story of the World, vol. 1) suggested having the student try to build a shelter like a nomadic person would have built to live in.  That was right up Ian's alley, so I sent him outside with a tarp (I live in the city - there aren't many tanned animal hides available for authenticity) and a reminder not to touch my garden stake collection.  He came back inside a long time later with the realization that being a "cave man" wasn't all it was cracked up to be.  I'm thinking that next I should send him out to hunt and gather his own meals - it might create an appreciation for the food we have so readily available to us (and that I put on the table for him.....).

Not to be outdone, Brynnie was interested by a project suggestion in her study of the State of Maryland.  It seems that Maryland has a historically unique fishing fleet called the "Skipjacks" that are involved in harvesting oysters from the Chesapeake Bay.

Brynn decided she wanted total independence on this project and collected her supplies and solved her problems without any help from me.  It was a big girl moment for her!

I was rather relieved when the boat did float - she would have been devastated if it hadn't.

Happy "doing educational stuff" everyone!

Fall Planting

Welcome to Autumn - or as we like to call it here in the Midwest: the last few nice days before winter.  I can feel the Polar Vortex looming, so I decided I better get outside and transplant a few plants and plant a few Daffodil bulbs before the soil freezes six feet deep.  My little buddy Cam decided he was big enough to garden this year, which was fun until he also decided he was big enough to handle the shovel un-aided.

 At that point it became less fun and more a calisthenic workout, but the bulbs got planted and my skill didn't get bashed in so we'll call it a success.

With the outdoor gardening done, it was time to turn my attention to the indoor plants, namely my husband's childhood companion Ricky Henderson.  Yep, the plant has a name.  No, there are no other plants with personal names in our house.  Ricky is special.

Anyway, Ricky had experiences a growth spurt over the summer and desperately needed a new home, so I painted one more terracotta pot.  (For other painted pots, see here.)  Aaron laughed at me because I painted an already orange pot a different shade of orange, but I ignored him because he just doesn't understand.  Then I used chalk to draw a loopy line all over the pot and after mixing together varying amounts of white and yellow paint I used a pencil erasure to make dots on the line.  Despite his mocking of my color choice, Ricky's owner approved of the final product.  We shall see if Ricky does.....

Happy fall chores everyone! 

Master Bathroom Reveal

At one time (roughly 2.5 years ago), this eye sore was counted as one of two bathrooms in our house.  It had no shower, there were three layers of spider-infested shower curtain "window" treatments, the plastic tiles were stuck on over another layer of older tiles neither of which were waterproofed, there was no heat and both the toilet and sink leaked into the basement.  This list only begins to describe the disgusting-ness of the room so I suspect it is needless for me to say that we never used it as a bathroom.  It gives me hives just to remember it.

Then, about 2,5 years ago as I mentioned, we gutted the interior of the house (see some photos here) and the bathroom was temporarily gone.  I think the house actually breathed a sigh of relief.  

Fast forward to today.  That pink petri-dish is only a distant memory and a brand new master bathroom has been installed in place of it.  The new bathroom is clean, appropriately grouted, not spider infested, opens to the east instead of the south, does not leak at all, currently has no window treatments (I do intend to change that, but not with three layers of ruffles) and is heated.  I think the house is happy and I know I certainly am!

One more thing, before I wrap up here.  I would like to point out that along with doing all the building and installation work himself, Aaron built the vanity too.  He probably won't like it that I mentioned it, but I felt like bragging just a bit.  Nobody had a vanity that I liked in our price range, so he learned cabinet-making just to get me what I wanted.  He is kind of a nice guy to keep around the house.

Happy remodeling, everyone!

She May Have Caught the Bug

I've heard there is a **NEW AND TERRIBLE SUPER VIRUS THAT WILL KILL US ALL** floating around out there right now, and I just want to reassure you that it is not the bug I am referring to in the title.  I am instead referring to the projecting bug, which it seems that my oldest daughter Brynn has caught.  Several years ago she was infected with the germ when a friend of mine gave me a cute white dresser (thanks Becky).  The germ lay dormant for several years until I voiced a thought: "Brynn, don't you think it might be fun if we painted those lines in the dresser a different color?"  The little germ began to grow and spread and every so often would manifest a symptom - "Mom, remember when you said we could paint my dresser.....?  Remember? When can we do it?"  I applied remedies and fever suppressors: "Oh, we will....sometime.....soon."  Still the disease took hold and started to become serious, so I decided it just needed to run its course.  We would do the project. 

 Initially my plan was to paint the carved lines pink and leave the rest of the dresser white, but then my little pink princess decided to become a little blue tomboy and the plan changed a bit.  We decided to paint inside the lines blue, starting with dark blue at the bottom and ending with a light blue at the top.

 We used plain old acrylic craft paint, 100% blue for the bottom drawer, 3 squirts of blue plus 1 squirt of white for the second drawer, 2 squirts of each for the third drawer, and 1 squirt of blue plus 3 squirts of white for the top drawer (a very precise and scientific method of paint measurement, I assure you).

 We worked on the dresser through the whole week, doing one drawer at a time.  I did the lines, Brynn filled in the spaces, and when she wasn't looking I went back and smoothed out the glops.  It was a perfect system.

 We put the finishing touches on yesterday afternoon, and this morning she is thrilled to have a whole new dresser.  CURED!  (Or maybe the virus has just gone dormant again, waiting to be reactivated by some project inspiring remark.)

 Happy painting, everyone, and remember to wash your hands if you don't want to catch germs!

Success in the End

 Last week I posted about my aborted attempt to do the "Annual Stepping Stone Project".  I'm still not certain how I so terribly under-estimated my supply purchase, but I think I'll blame the kids: they distracted me at a critical mathematical moment.  It is at least a good working theory, since it takes the blame away from me.  Anyway, last week the two boys and I made their stepping stones while the girls watched.  Smallest son absolutely refused to stretch out his fingers and squash them into the mud, so before he had time to think about it I grabbed his foot and stomped that into the cement.  He will never trust his mother again.

 Still, I got a good print and eventually Cam recovered enough to push in the decorative stones (without getting his fingers dirty).

After 8 times, Ian could probably do this project on his own now.  He waited patiently for the mold to be filled, made a perfect hand print, carefully wrote in his name and age, and then neatly added his decorative pieces.  It is a sign that there is hope for his future.

 After a week of waiting (and hoping, and asking about trips to Hobby Lobby, and reminding) the girls finally got their turn.  They had fun - except for when Cam tried to "help".

Everything went smoothly this time around, and a new set of stones has been added to my garden border - just in time for the end of the gardening season.

Happy Labor Day (and stepping stone making), everyone!