Parenting 101

At dinner CBird was watching me read the Parenting book I've recently pulled off my shelf.  I've been telling the kids it is in their best interest to let me read this book, that it will help me be a better mommy.
So tonight at dinner CBird says, " mommy, let me see the front of that, the front of the book.'

So I turned it to her to see.  She points to it and in her adorable pre-reading way "reads" the title to Mark, "When mommy forget their manners."

Planning a trip to Emerald Isle

We are planning to go see the children's Grandpa Bob in the nursing home. He has been recovering from a severe stroke and will be returning home to his wife in about two weeks. I found a decent resource to help explain somethings to the kids.

Online Book about a Grandpa recovering from a Stroke.

Rebirth Sunday

I call it our Secular Easter.... "Hey Kids put on fancy clothes, here are some plastic eggs... and by the way lets talk about the Christian reason for Easter and all the ways rebirth exists in Spring and all the time.

Lunch Sometimes Happens

A crackers, cheese, nuts and fruit tray make good lunch around here.  All the other efforts seem to fail miserably. Corn Beef Sliders didn't go over very well (I liked 'em).
CBird has been learning her electronics handling   She is now wanting to work on her XBox controller... since she pretty much has the mouse thing down.

 C with her one of her Big Brothers! Squeeeeze.

GMan and Cbird went to Legare Farms Civil War reenactment day and got to hear "cannons" and dip candles and listen to a homemade Cookie-tin Banjo. Also the G has begun taking twice weekly Taekwondo classes, all his classmates are fellow homeschoolers.




CBird bobbed her hair (in case you did not know)

Spring in Our Front Yard

Grady has a new playmate from the neighborhood.  A very typical, sweet boy, I'll call him Larry.  Check this out he is about 2 months older than G Man! I think he has about 6+ inches on my boy.

I snapped a nice little shot of our N. Chuck Town home..

See C Bird on the swing hanging from our "little" live oak.

Serious and Silly

C Bird is learning how to operate the mouse! It's not just about baby "steps" anymore.

Then G Man has a bit of fun with an oral quiz I sprung on him.

The Swing of Things

 Texture lesson turned into Tooth fairy Pillow Making, and G sewing up a little pillow all by him self. C did her color choices and stuffing, and a wee bit of sewing herself.

 Sumoku is a challenging Quirkle type game with numbers and multipliers. Then add color limitations on each row.  Wee!

The Straws and Connectors Game has been a big hit with the kids and all their guests.  The kids and I have also done a soil nutrient test and learned our vegetable garden is alkaline and has NO nitrogen in it.  Crazy!

Also G and C have had a bit too much fun playing in a Sensory Rice set up I was given.  They subsequently discovered the power of a Kirby.

Lastly, I finally hung a swing in the Live Oak in our front yard.  Tyler was visiting when I got it up and the three of them had an absolutely ball.  I had to tweak the knots a bit but the online instructions were invaluable. The kids schooled me on the many uses of swings including dodging games and getting crazy dizzy.  Love it!

 How to hang a tree Swing

Budding Conservationist

My son, and likely my daughter are budding conservationists.  Of course they hear the tone in my voice when I talk about our world, our environment. I can't deny my Wildlife Biology degree is part of who I am.  I always took those classes and information seriously.

G-man kids watches videos about the environment with rapt attention and gasps when he sees a picture of the Aurora Borealis.  He gets so mad when he sees garbage and waste.  He saw a story about eating sea turtle eggs and commented how "stupid" it was... in a conservationist sort of way.  I love his disgust and awareness.  I look forward to many more conversations with him about polar ice caps and solar power and endangered species and stewardship.

I'm just saying, he really is starting to get it... maybe I say that because I felt him begin to feel overwhelmed when global warming started to sink in while watching a public television special about conservation and human driven change.  Maybe his passion will take us some where amazing.

Don't Forget to Pack an Axe

Our Homeschool is 100 days plus in and I see so much to do at Gabriel Independent School.  I have full lesson plans but I want to keep our flexibility. Maybe the "Schedule" is too full.  Things haven't been so scheduled until recently. We'd lost some oomph during my recovery time and all our winter colds and such.
I see some real beauty in the relaxed way of doing things and yet I want to keep Him and Her marching forward at a nice clip.  We have made progress despite fluctuating schedules and illnesses.

G-man is reading a Magic Tree House novel to me, one page at a time.  Six chapters now, SIX.  He gets so into what he reads, he comments, comprehends and will even go back and reread after he has sorted the words out so that the characters have feeling and sentences flow like well thought out revelations.

 He is doing well in math too.  I keep thinking, drilldrilldrill.  The other day I told him we would move to multiplication and other difficult stuff after I felt like his foundation was as sure asthe base of an Egyptian pyramid.

 We have a wonderful tile game that works like Quirkle that is called Sumoku.  Rows and columns are no more than six colors long and you can only place tiles based on a multiplier, like 2, 3, 4 or 5.  Each row has to add up in multiples of the given number... points based on tiles placed plus those used.  He wants to get it and really pushes thorough to play a wonderful game, and we have only played it twice so far. It sure does tire out his mind.

C-bird is counting accurately to twelve and singing the alphabet. She loves eye spy, bed time book memorization, and the Spot-It game.  She is all about her scissors and crayons. She loves to carry around any number of baby dolls in bags, baskets and carts.  A few days ago she sat down and drew me a person, super cute, really good drawing I thought, with arms legs, nose mouth  and eyes.  She titled it something like "Man flying through a door".

I want to push us harder since my head has been clearing and I feel like I'm back.  Now all I need to do is breathe and let the plants I water soak it up in the sun a bit.  All the stuff I have heard about homeschool and unschool can be a bit conflicting, but I can say this.  They really want to learn... they really do. They put thoughts together in beautiful ways.  Sometimes the pencil and paper part is all about me hounding Him.  I still make G do it cause I think the "drilldrilldrill" is kind of important to reading/writing and math foundations.

G posted an interesting question at bed time tonight.  Why didn't Columbus just take a northerly route and pack a bunch of axes...(to sail over Russia) to chop up the ice along the way?

While there is some Minecraft-esque thinking it is thoughtful.  I told him the ships weren't big enough to carry all the food they would need to eat to fuel all the men it would take to chop up the ice.  Kinda like "how big is Santa's sleigh?"  Anyone know a website or radio show that would try and tackle this question?

If you give a kid a camera...

If you give a kid a sapling...

Grady in the Backyard climbing a wild Cherry sapling.  I heard "Mom!" and went outside to find this scene.

Sling Life

Good old "Dump and Pour" every childs favorite kitchen game.


 C being ill this week has been exhausting.  She wants to sleep "on" me so I pulled out an old sling... for old times sake.

Playing at Grandmother

Given our unique family tree I have the opportunity on occasion to play Grandma.  Of course all the Grand kids just call me Amanda, but I get to roast marshmallows and play video games until late at night with them. I get to say good night prayers and tuck in our little believers. Chester the dog gets to bed hog from all the boys


Maybe we have a special dinner, like a MINECRAFT dinner. That would be, before the XBox updates a dinner of Pork chops and Bread followed by Cookies and Milk.

  Now the possibilities include zombie flesh, spider eyes and steak! This last time we played we talked  all about fermented spider eyes and growing cane sugar and mooshroom soup... for Five hours. You might think this is a terrible indulgence and you would be both correct and wrong.  We talk a lot during game play, about a lot of things.  We set goals together, we conquer together, we scream together, we cooperate and we yell at each other together.  I call that Bonding, unique and very important bonding.

 Of course it depends on the grandson. With Tyler it is Lego Indiana Jones Marathon all the way.

  Maybe I get to watch my Son read bed time stories to his Nephew. Or my "Grandson" read to his Uncle.  All of these experiences are very cool.  Very very cool.

We have a drawer with extra big boy clothes deodorant and a tooth brush. We have extra younger boy underwear and t-shirts lying around.  All of these are signs that life here is as we had hoped.

Boxing Day Reflections

Yesterday we had such a blast with ALL the kids together, it was a total blast for them and all of us.  So blessed to be so near to each other.

I would like to thanks Bernie Botts Everyflavor Beans for the best entertainment of all:

C: these are yummy...

10 minutes Later

G: (looking extremely unsure, tries his first...) Uggh! (runs and spits half out, hands me the other half) You try it. (Shoves it in my face.)

Me:Uh... you found ear wax...(wrong turns out it was rotten egg.)
(split second later.)

C: IT Tastes Like BUGS!!! (runs for trash can, starts spitting).

Me: (reading back of the box) You found Earthworm! (great big, maybe wicked laugh.)

Say it Loud, we are having a great time!

Wrestling with "GrandPa"

They all squeezed up there, having a blast.

HomeSChool Group and Family Field Trips

All of these pictures are from my cell phone over the last 4 months.

HomeSChool Group photo at Legare Farm

Learning about Pumpkins.

The Observation Tower at Palmetto Islands County Park.

Leaving Legare, Cute pose.

Chillin' by the fire on Hunting Island

Drying off again! Hunting Island clothing crisis.

"First" ponytail.

Mount Pleasant Memorial Park and Pier.

Learning to get our heads under water.

Childrens Museum of the Lowcountry.  Cashier time.

South Carolina Aquarium.

Best view of the Bridge is from SCA.

SCA by the Big Fish Tank.

Kowabunga, mom cut my hair!

DIscovering really big Fish!

Lots of Family beach time in September.

Blackbeards Cove, Go Go Go Karts.

Crabbing on Daniel Island at the children's Park.  One crab caught.

Fabric Store during Halloween season.

The Frog at the Aquarium.

Yard Mushrooms, so perfect.

Loggerhead turtle in rehab like to hide his head from G and Friend.

G and C measuring up at the cool sign outside the Turtle Hospital..