Would your kids know...

not to be afraid of this?

The boys and I toured a fire station with some other homeschool families and learned a lot! The firemen showed us around the station and explained the different equipment that they can use to do their jobs. My favorite part was when one fireman went from his regular uniform to his full-gear fire suit. He put one piece on at a time, explaining the need for each one and reminding the kids that he is still the same person. It was interesting to see the younger kids' responses. Even though they could see that this was still the same man, they were clearly more apprehensive seeing him in full gear. The firemen stressed the importance of kids knowing that this is a "Good Guy" and that they should go to him if they are ever in a rescue situation. I guess I never realized how frightening a fireman would look when going into a fire. I definitely plan to talk more to the boys about it!



Another homeschooling mom was kind enough to send these photos. I had forgotten to bring my camera.

Rainy Days and Mondays...

aren't getting us down! After a long drought, we all welcome the wet weather! We spent the day at a local museum, where the boys had a great time with all of the hands-on exhibits.


In this photo, the boys experiment with a machine designed to demonstrate the forces needed for flying.




A has fun with the green screen technology used by meteorologists.




Little O plays music on an interesting variation of a pipe organ.




A finds out what it is like to work for the electric company.




Little O uses his muscles to learn about the power of air pressure.




Astro A uses pulleys and muscle power to lift his body weight.

Book Club

We love books and book stores, and we love our book club! We meet at a local Barnes & Noble each Thursday to discuss the book selection for the week. This is a picture of the boys waiting for the other book club members to arrive.

little o turns 4

Little o celebrated the big 4 with friends, parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. We had a great time at the Children's Museum finding rocks, flying a plane, driving a front-loader, building a house, making play dough and eating pizza and cake. We were so happy that Owen's friends and family could share in the fun.

For more pictures of the party click here.

Second Generation Friends

I am so lucky to have had a few very good friends for nearly 30 years. It is so cool, now, to watch our kids play and grow together. I hope that they will be life-long friends as well!

Tennis

My apologies up front for these photos, because they were not taken under the best of circumstances. They were taken from my car (through my front windshield) and through the fencing of the tennis court. Bad photography aside, they give a good idea of what goes on at a Wednesday tennis practice. :-)

Birds of Prey at the Audubon Club

The boys had a terrific time learning about birds of prey in their Audubon Club this week. They played games which helped them to understand how pesticides and other chemicals have an effect at every level of the food chain. Oh yeah, they got to eat M & Ms, too!

The boys listen carefully...



The "eagles" eating "fish"...


Little O waits his turn...


"Enough pictures, Mom!"

Bugs, Dirt, Leaves, Happy Boys!

It is Spring time in the Hill Country! That means plenty of bugs to find while digging in the back yard.


fresh air + sunshine = happy Astro A

Little O runs to meet Daddy!

So THIS is Homeschooling

When asked about homeschooling, I usually make a joke about us "car schooling" instead. Anyone concerned that homeschooled kids are socially isolated needs to take one look at our weekly schedule. Science/Audubon Club on Monday, Tuesday park day with lots of cool homeschooling families, private tennis lesson on Wednesday, homeschool book club on Thursday, and homeschool group tennis on Friday. This doesn't even include the various trips to museums, the zoo, concerts and plays, and random field trip opportunities that are planned by homeschool groups. We are fortunate to live in an area which has an abundance of opportunities available to homeschool kids. In fact, we don't have enough time or energy to attend all of the classes, field trips, park days, lessons, etc. which are out there!

Knowing this, you can understand why Tuesday was no ordinary day for us. A and I woke up feeling "yucky," so we knew that we would not be able to attend the Mardi Gras Party that our homeschooling group was throwing. We were pretty sad to miss it, because we had been planning and preparing for a week. Instead of heading out like we usually do, we stayed home...all day.

So THIS is homeschooling! Here is a partial list of the things we did:
updated our blogs, used beads we were going to take to the party to make many necklaces, did math and spelling lessons, played in the sand, read aloud from Robin Hood, made a small house out of cardboard boxes, little o cut and pasted to make a collage, astro a worked on a sewing project, both shopped on Lego.com for little o's birthday present, and made mashed potatoes as a family.