HOW TO: Make 5 Year Old Science for an unschooler

So we decided to make our yearly terrarium today. The container is from a foam abc kit. But you can use anything. Last year we made a "We-are-not-weeds" Garden on a plate so it doesn't even have to be a terrarium to succeed. The same basic plants were in our WANW Garden from last year. This just needs to be watered more often. So the bottom is a thick layer of rocks. This is where the water drains to. Next is a thicker layer of dirt from our REAL garden.

We only have a sidewalk and patio around our house. No grass. So my dirt in my pot garden (otherwise known as a container garden) is a combination of leaf mold, compost, and some dirt from the gardening department of any store.

Then we went for a walk. We always have moss collecting on our sidewalk because our gutters leak. So that is a bonus to leaky gutters for us. :-) We lined the container with moss and picked up a few "not"-weeds from a walk around the block. Planted them and wah-lah. (This of course is voila but I saw someone type wah-lah and thought it was really funny!)

On our way around the block, we came across a vacant house with a few peaches on the driveway. I looked up and there was a PEACH TREE! I didn't know PEACH TREES GROW AROUND HERE!!! So we came up with the brillian idea to plant some of the seeds and try to have a couple peach trees in our KY property. I googled HOW TO make a peach tree from pit, got a couple different ideas, shared the peaches I collected with all three girls while sharing my planting seed ideas.

And that is how my 5 year old unschooler got her science in for the day.

Brenda's 12

Brenda's birthday present was expended in May so she could have a Nintendo DSIex for our trip to the Kalahari Unschooler's Waterpark Gathering. So this year she had 3 girls spend the night and we sang happy birthday to her with hoho's and nutter butters. However she celebrated three weeks early this year. The weekend before her birthday she and a good friend from Sandusky, OH made plans to be together over here in Cinti for the weekend. They left together to spend the week in Sandusky with her family. Then we meet up at the Unschoolers Campout Gathering where I would bring her back.

This was the photo the girls sent me from the mall. Brenda wanted to know if I would purchase this for her if she would let me put spaghetti straps onto it. Is she turning 12 or 21? It is a hard life to feel grown up and still be young.

So back to our KY roots (or at least Bret's)

"Do we work for and pay for all this convenience in order to live our lives, or do we live our lives in order to work for and pay for all this convenience..." Colin Beavin

Bret has said for years that he wants to retire at 50. Because he has plans of dying early. Well maybe not plans, but definitely expectations. So we are getting older, by the day obviously. And each day we wondered when we would get there. I homeschool the girls, I take them to their dance classes, and their swim team practices, and their Girl Scouts. We eat dinner together a few times a week like a "good family should". We try to keep a small garden in the back "yard" which if you have been to my house you know is just a patio of cement big enough for a small table, a few chairs and a pot belly grill, we recycle, we try to reuse as often as possible. Freecycle has always been my friend.

But really we want more than waking up, working, and going to sleep each day.

We finally saved enough money. We looked at many properties, but Bret kept coming back to this one. Here is the two of us looking like a Van Gogh painting in what will soon be our new yard. Our cabin will overlook the valley. Bret's goal? Have an amazing place to hunt. My goal, learn how to live with as little as possible help from the outside world.

Here is one of the food plots that the past owner provided us with. We have many deer and turkey that visit the food plots. Bret suggested that this 65 acres is better than any 100 acres he saw anywhere for his hunting purposes.

Already made watering hole for the deer, a must if you want to get them coming your way.

Our dug-out pond. (Tehehe I am calling it a lake.) It is in a valley where water drains naturally, so we expect it to be a full pond by spring's first melt.

My husband is a man of many toys. The bass boat that he was so sure would be worth tons more than the amazing deal he got it for. The tons of music equipment his band days (which was just last year still) the hunting equipment (which is the newest and most expensive so far. I used to laugh that the first deer he killed was THE MOST EXPENSIVE piece of meat we have ever eaten.) The deal stands that all those other toys must go.

We will downsize from our 7,000+ sq ft building to a 1,500 sq ft cabin that we will build. Personally I think that is too much room. I was hoping for 1,000 sq ft. After all, by the time we build and move in, Gaige will be long gone, Brenda will have one foot out the door, and Little Bret will be right behind her. This is my 5 year plan. It will take time to save up to build the house. Absolutely no credit! Off the grid? I don't know if that is possible. How to live off the land with as little help from outside as possible. Can we survive without Pizza Hut and frozen meals, garbage pick-up twice a week, shopping trips 3 times a week, $500.00 gas&electric bills, etc. Can I provide enough food for us to can for the year, will I be able to can that much food, will a garden that big be more work than I can handle, will I be able to talk Bret into an alpaca and/or sheep so I can have yarn? And if so how will I feed THEM? How to wisely use the rainwater? How to everything?? Who will want to read my facebook updates when the only thing to update is the quality of my veggie garden and the lovely time I spent watching the sun go down? Maybe I won't care about facebook by then...

First for our house (building?) Plans to have it sold in a year. We are on our way.

The Challenger Mission

In Dayton OH there is a Challenger Mission Center. Remember the Callenger Mission? When the teacher went up into space with the astronauts? And no one came back down alive? Well at the Challenger Mission Center the kids get a chance to learn about the mission. Then they are all given jobs in the shuttle or ground control and they are in a simulation center to do their jobs. Brenda was a doctor. A sign of things to come? Probably not, but it is a great experience.

I took Marley and Bret to Boonshoft Discovery Center since we were already in the area. Last school activity of the year.

Circling With Friends

It has been so long since I have been to Circle. Summer Solstice just seemed right. And so much new good news from everyone. We lit flying lanterns and set our blessings free. Let us all remember how to dance like children.

In Cold Water again

Yes it is that time again. Our first swim meet. I think we won by some crazy numbers against Norwood on Tuesday. 130something to 475 or something crazy like that. Hurry up and... wait. THat is the mantra of swim team. Gotta love it anyway.

Daisies in the Garden

Such sweet Daisies. They had their investiture ceremony last week. (HOW DO YOU EVEN PRONOUNCE THIS WORD??) We made 4th of July hats as our craft, ate some cookies and snacks, and they all got pinned. So sweet.

Summer fun

THESE ARE NOT FROGS! lol. This is Gir. Gir is the dog on Invaders Zim. Look it up. It's him all right. Constant sleepovers, hanging out toasting by the pool, riding bikes to the dollar store and Wendy's for their dollar menu burgers, texting late into the night, and never ending fun. THat is what summer is all about.

Field Day

I know, no pics of Field Day, right? Well we did the same thing basically as usually only after all the rain we got it was a little muddier. Then the kids all threw water balloons afterward. That is the big hit of course.

But this is by far my fav part. Check out last year's field day to show how this is NOT brand new. We started with puddles in the sand box so that made things worse perhaps, but every year Marley gets down and muddy while the other kids participate in Field Day. This year however, after the fun she was embarressed about her appearance and refused to go in the grocery store with me. I so wanted to walk through the aisles as the proud mom of this amazing child!!

We watched parent after parent walk through the park telling their kids don't you even think of it, as they saw our kids swimming in this muck. Not us. We always come prepared with towels for the ride home. lol.

Memorial Day Parade

The Annual Memorial Day Parade. Here are our Girl SCouts. Memaw loaned us her husband driver and truck so we could ride, rather than walk. Memaw is so wonderful. Everyone loves her!!

Some of our older girls participated in the flag ceremonies for the program after the parade. Here is Brenda putting flags in their spots in memory of our local veterans who died in service.

Kalahari Here We Come

How can I put in words all the excitement, friendships, adventures, that come out of our UWG (Unschoolers Waterpark Gathering) each year. This is our third year in a row. It exhausts me to put this trip together for the girls. But it is some of their best memories of the year.

Some things we did this year: Nerf Wars, Nintendo DS meetup, Talent show, high ropes course, zip line, Fairy Godparent gifting, Balloon animal making, juggling, the Unschoolers carnival, of course there is the waterpark. They meet up with friends they only see once a year, and feel like they didn't even skip a beat. There is a week of speakers for me, of course I never get to any of that with all my running I do with the girls.

Oh to be young and free again.

Gaige in Chicago

Finally the boy gets to the Sears Tower. He has wanted to do this for a while. Only now it is Willis Tower??? What the heck? How can they just change the name of a land mark like that? Anyway, he comes home with an idea to skip college and just move to Chicago. He really wants to move to a big city. I am suggesting moving to a big city WHILE going to college. Of course that is the more expensive way to do it. But it might be for the best. He has his sights on big free city life. Who can blame him? I had too once.

So this is the Hat.

Brenda's first Etsy online purchase. I helped her learn how to make the transaction. I guess I should have taught her how to read the item description also I suppose, because it was a purchase for a pattern not a hat. So having no experience reading a crochet pattern, I sat down with the pattern and youtube and figured out the new initials. Two days later I emerged with the hat. And Luckily I had enough black and white worsted weight yarn it didn't cost us another penny. And it everyone loves it. Her friends are always wearing it. I think a frog hat next.

It Starts Again

So a bit of a catch up. No computer yet. But Gaige is a dear! Isn't he?? Swim Team is in full swing again. MWF practice. TTH meets. And we are off... Last year Marley was the youngest swimmer. This year she has lots of friends.

BeBack SOON

Yes Technically we are HERE. All three of our computers are down. Gaige has graciously allowed me to get on his laptop a couple times a day to check emails and such. I just found out I am not a laptop kinda person. But I am thankful.

Kalahari Unschoolers Waterpark Gathering
May Girl Scout CampOut Weekend Fiasco
My new knitted monsters
Lily's GS trip to the animal shelter
Easter Pics
Big Bret and Brenda's New Archery Range in our Basement
Memorial Day Parade
Field Day homeschool style
And so much more to follow!!

As soon as my computers are fixed... See ya soon!

Water Recycling and Sanitation

So what are some ways we use water? Less than 1% of the water on Earth is fresh water that people can use for these purposes. Where does that water go? How does it come back to us clean? How can we conserve water at home?

Most water treatments have a substance added to the water to make certain kinds of particles in the water sink to the bottom. Then filtering systems are used to clean out the remaining purities. Here was the experiment.

I shaved a bar of soap with a cheese grater. We poured soap into two glasses of water and mixed it up. To one glass we added table salt. To the other we added Epsom Salt. Again we mixed them up. Then we used two new glasses with filters to filter the water. The Epsom Salted soap water came out looking clear. The Table Salt Soap Water was cloudy. Same glasses same filters same soapy water, different substance added.

Wetlands and the Water Cycle

So to go along with a trip to the sanitation district, we did a couple experiments that have to do with water. Here is the first one.

Here we see a wetlands. The sponges represent the waterlogged soil. Here is what we did. First we put a puddle of water at the bottom of the paint pan. We gave the upper land some animals and put the spongy soil inbetween the land and water. Then we poured on some pollution (hole punches and powdered cocoa). Then we let it rain. (Water falling from a watering can). The sponges held a lot of the powdered cocoa from reaching the water. AND only one hole punch got in.

Here we let half the land be wetland and half be non-wetlands. The cocoa powder all got in, along with the hole punches. You can see that the wetlands area is "less poluted" than the non wetlands however it is infiltrating into the wetlands.

What WE did...

So while the girls were off investigating "scat" Marley and I decided to do Easter decorating crafts.
We started at the dollar store. We found these great little hangable sparkle foam eggs, two little baskets, and some green plant foam. So each craft was about 3 dollars. We had hunted out some branches yesterday in the rain and set them out to dry.

Here is Marley painting the branches white.

Here she is putting the branches into their green plant foam. We set the foam in there with a couple inches short of the basket so there was room for the rocks. Also I stuffed some paper bag pieces in the sides to keep the foam and branches from moving.

And the final product. We made two. One for the dining room table and one for the family room. We put rocks over the foam and paper (found outside) and hung eggs from the branches. And wah laa. (I saw someone spell voila that way the other day and have loved the spelling ever since. lol.)

A Flutter With Activity

So spring has officially sprung. We are getting out far more. Being part of the world again.

So I set the girls up to do a park program called Nature CSI for today. We had no idea what it would be ahead of time. I guess a rabbit was killed and it was their job to find out who killed it and who ate it based on foot prints, scat, hair, etc.

Brenda's only complaint... It was cold and rainy today. She wished they didn't have so far to hike to get to the taped off crime scene. lol.

Accessorizing

News just in. Marley is an A+ accessorizor. She has THE style.

Gettin Into Everything

It is that time again. Callie is at that age where every door, drawer, space, and crevice is just a place to explore. :-)

A Day With Old Friends

We decided to make plans with an old friend we hadn't seen since the move. By old I mean that we have been friends for years, not that she is old. So we headed back to the ol' KY to enjoy a lunch, bike riding and just good olfashioned hanging out. Paula said her grandkids were getting too old for the My Little Pony castle so of course now it belongs to us!!! Marley has played with it since. She even put her tooth in there for the tooth fairy last night. I am sure the tooth fairy loved hanging out in the castle before heading out to the next house.

Invention Convention Day

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Toward the end of the "school" year the girls start staying up later, sleeping in. So today they ended up sleeping past the time to go to today's invention convention. But we headed up there around noon to drop Bret off to spend the night with her friend. When we got there it turned out we were still in time to help set off some rockets. Pressure, air, water, vinegar, baking soda, plastic bottles, and away they went. And Marley did what she does best. She got good and muddy in the sand box. It looked to be a stormy day, but turned out to be great!

Cinnamon Bubble Rolls

Again! It took two times to download this before I got it to stick! Oh well. So is life. In our new edition of Family Fun there was a fun-looking recipe for this bubble bread (that incidentally tastes like cinnamon rolls). So I got some yeast and asked Marley if she wanted to help which of course she did.

Lately I have heard all about how the older girls get to do whatever they want and she NEVER gets to do ANYTHING she wants to do. So I have been working on just finding ways to attract her attention to other fun things.

This bubble bread was so fun! There was the issue of my yeast not leavening properly. That has been happening to me since I moved to this house. I blame the house. Anyway so we were making these balls of dough and then we were to roll them in butter and next into our sugar cinnamon mix. Finally 5 go in each cupcake tin and they rise (except mine don't) and then they cook (this is where ours finally rise lol.)

The rule was to pat your hands in flour before you role the dough pieces so they don't stick. She rolled a bunch herself then offered me to help. I started rolling them at a faster speed. Marley corrected me. "You don't need more flour, Mom. Slow and easy, Mom. Slow and easy. Then they don't stick to your hands." And when I forgot and sped up she would remind me. lol.

Little Josh

So we usually keep this sweet little kitten overnight on weekends now a days. Last Sunday, after she woke up and dressed we headed over to Papa Jim's house for a short visit on our way to pick the girls up from the cousin's sleepover birthday party. I call her Little Josh. Ignore the ponytail and dress and I would swear she is Josh. No mistaking whose baby this is.

COOKIES BE GONE

Oh when oh when will we be done??? In just a week. YAY!!

On a side note, I don't know why I am having so many problems downloading pics on blogger lately. But it is getting annoying to download pictures two and three times sometimes to get them to stick. Google, are you out there???

When Two Troops Collide

So my older girls are growing up AGAIN. They will be bridging over to Cadettes at the campout this spring. We met with a Cadette troop to learn how they run their troop. What is different, what is the same. We worked on the fashion badge together. Shared a snack. Played some Girl Scout games. I got to press the leaders for ideas on how to solve some of life's little Girl Scout problems that show up from time to time.

I came home exhasted so it must have been a successful activity.

Crafty Kids Day

Crafty Kids Day is where a bunch of home schoolers get together with their shared crafting stuff to make whatever they want. There are beads and ribbon, yarn, cardboard, paper, crayons, glue, markers, egg cartons, eyeballs, pompoms, popsicle sticks, and anything else you can think of.

Here are some puppets Brenda made.

The end of the Simple Machines Unit Study

Simple Machines day at Green Acres. So this is how we ended our study on Simple Machines. We headed over to the fabulous Green Acres to learn about the simple machines, the Green Acres way (hands on). We used screws, wheels, levers, wedges, saws. We learned about FLE 123 (Fulcrum, Leverage, and Energy. The kids lifted a horse pulled wagon. A blast of a hands on time for everyone.

Girl Scout Cookies

So you know far too many cookies have passed through my house when we are using them to cook. lol.

People have been telling us... I remember when they were $.50. And I remember when this and that. And I was a leader 35 years ago for my girls. I got a hold of an original 1920's cookie recipe from when the Girl Scouts actually baked the cookies they sold.

Time has changed since then. I remember loving Thin Mints when I was little. I don't know how much they costed at the time. They just showed up in the house I guess. Right? Anyway here is a recipe we used to make Thin Mint Chocolate Cheesecake.

Instant Cheesecake mix. I followed directions for making the crust. Instead of pressing the crust into a pie pan, I pressed it into cupcake cups. Then I made the cheesecake as directed except I used chocolate milk (since I had no white milk) and turned it into chocolate cheesecake. I topped it with crushed thin mint cookies. We all love it. Next time I will mix the cookies into the cheesecake instead of putting them on top. It will make it easier to eat.

Girl Scout day at the City Building

Every year they ask if my Girl Scouts will do Scout day, and every year I think they are too young. But finally I give it a try. Brenda's troop is 5th and 6th grade. They can read well enough to pull it off I think. And they do. They love it. Each girl gets a City Council member to be for the meeting. The city council members sit behind them and tell them what to say and when. One of our girls were missing so even Marley got to sit in as a city council member. She will tell you she got a patch for saying I (aye) twice. lol.