The birds!

a few pinecone feeders and a recycled peanuts container bird feeder out our (foggy) window

We are doing Project Feeder Watch. We just started -- with hardly a month left in the season. Kind of lame, I know, but we're trying.

I had heard about Project Feeder Watch (PFW), but didn't think too much about doing it as part of our science curriculum this year. In the fall, however, someone from the homeschool group shared a pdf workbook that PFW makes available to homeschoolers. There were a lot of great ideas in it. I thought it would be a cool addition to our schoolwork.

We'd only just moved into our new house, and we were so new at homeschooling, and there was Thanksgiving, then Christmas... I didn't get around to signing us up until January. (There is always something getting in the way of my good plans!) The online information said there might be a delay in getting our materials to us. There was, about a month, maybe a little more.

It's okay, though, the nice PFW people are applying our fee to next year's program. (It was only 15 bucks, anyway.) We are getting a feel for the whole thing in this last month. It's great. Like a practice run. We'll be pros come November when it starts all over again.

Gabby, Fielding and I made some feeders and hung them on a few trees outside. We've got binoculars by the window and our bird chart on the wall. Gabby and I get so excited when we identify a bird.

Gabby has an additional project, along with watching, counting and reporting birds. I had her read about John James Audubon and begin a bird journal. I bought her a sketchbook and water colors. This week she painted a black-capped chickadee. We've done very little art this year so I hope this makes up for it a little bit. She seemed to enjoy herself and I was so impressed with the result. Maybe this will be a life-long hobby for her!

The History of the World!

We finished off our evolution unit with Gabby creating a picture book, illustrating the different periods of time in earth's history. It was a fun little project for her. She had to imagine what different early creatures looked like. Once her pages were complete, she asked me everyday, "Can we bind my book today?"

We laminated it at U.S. Toy and bound it at Staples. Here's the final result:



































I know some Christian families find the concept of evolution offensive to their faith. I have never been offended by it, though. I love learning about the world and how it works and came to be. I found the sections in our textbook fascinating that told about the changes in earth's atmosphere and oceans and the early photosynthetic organisms. Such tiny animals, making such huge changes in the environment! To me, I find the richness of life and its intricacies evidence of God's hand in it all. I wonder at His power, His intelligence, His creativity in setting all these things in motion. As Gabby and I read her chapter on Darwin, we talked about the controversy of The Origin of Species in his day and in ours. I hope to support her learning, in the sciences and in the Gospel. Some day she'll have to make her own decisions about what she believes. And I hope she'll be well-prepared.

reading The Giver

Last week Gabby finished up her final diarama for The Giver series. During the month of January she read all three books by Lois Lowry: The Giver, Gathering Blue, and The Messenger. For each book she had to create a diarama of an important scene and create a key, noting symbolic elements.

If you have never read The Giver, it is a story of a boy, Jonas, growing up in a futuristic community in which most diversity has been genetically engineered-out and many of life's most important choices are made for you. There, life is peaceful and easy. True feelings - anger, love, passion - have all but disappeared. The novel is about Jonas' discovery that there might be more to life than what he's lived. It won the Newbery medal in 1994.

It is not a series in that one must read the books sequentially or even that the stories depend on one another in any way. Each is its own story. However, the major characters in the third book, The Messenger, come from the other two -- The Giver and Gathering Blue. A final installment, Son, will be released in October. I can't wait.

I loved reading The Giver with Gabby. We discussed things we liked about the community and things that made us sad. When we read about the community's "climate control", Gabby said, "My favorite season is winter!" We tried to imagine what it would be like to never know snow or cold or Christmas. We talked about how we felt when we learned what it meant to be "released."

We didn't discuss as much about Gathering Blue or The Messenger, although both books have worthy themes. I just let her discover them on her own. The Messenger has a beautiful Christian message buried within it. Gabby's diarama shows the scene of Matt's atonement within the forest.

Here are her completed works:
The final scene in The Giver

Jonas and Gabriel

from Gathering Blue

Khira appearing before the council

Matt in the forest, The Messenger

Home sick

It's tough to school when sickness hits the home.

In the wee hours Sunday morning Gabby started puking. She had gone to bed not feeling well. It started with a bad stomach ache at her swim meet. She almost went home early, but persevered. It was around 4 in the morning when Max and I heard her in the bathroom. (Yay! She made it to the bathroom!) I cleaned her up and sent her back to bed with towels and a bowl. She threw up one more time maybe an hour later. I stayed home from church to take care of her.

All day her tummy hurt but she managed to keep water down until just before bedtime. Then one more vomit. Poor kid, she always cried "No!" when she throws up. As though some evil person is torturing her.

That was it, except for a lingering stomach ache.

Yesterday, we didn't do much for school. I read a couple sections aloud from the biology text. I encouraged her to read more in House of the Scorpion but she said reading made her feel worse.
Now it is Tuesday. Gabby's stomach still hurts on and off and I would say her mood is fairly sour. Again I read a couple biology sections to her. She will finish the pages I've assigned in House of the Scorpion, but I'm afraid I won't get her to do more.

If she was in public school I would have kept her home yesterday and today. Bri would have brought her school work. I'd have expected her to be caught up after 3-4 days.
It feels harder to "catch up" with homeschool, though. Each day we do the maximum that we can do. (Or that I can get her to do, depending on how you look at it). She's not a particularly fast worker. She's actually pretty slow -- smart, definitely, not at all lazy, just needing more time. I guess you could call her thorough and careful, a perfectionist.

Those qualities always made bricks and mortar school hard. Gabby felt frustrated with how much time she needed to complete assignments and afraid to bring in anything less than perfect. What child can do 3 hours of homework a night?

Homeschooling has changed things. I feel like a weight has lifted from us. The homework/school project/this things is due when? weight. Now I allow her as much time as she wants to complete assignments. I think we do less of some kinds of work than the children over at the middle school. We never do busy-work, for example. But we do more projects, reading, and discussing.

If I get get Gabby to do a math chapter assessment and take a few notes for her biology project, I'd consider the day a success. Even with no geography or any language arts besides reading. But I'm not sure I can make it happen, though. And should it really matter? I don't know.

But I'm looking around the house and I can tell you the situation is not good. I haven't done laundry, dishes, or cleaned at all today. Apparently Gabby is not the only one who doesn't feel up to working.

And it's all downhill from here

Today we went on a snow-tubing trip to Bear Creek, organized by someone from our homeschool group. Gabby and I had never been before. She was quite nervous -- not being a thrill-ride type of person. I was sure it would be fun, though. I even pulled William out of school to join us. The slope was open for 4 hours and the time flew by. We had a great time. Can't wait until the next trip!

Harrison Bergeron, jr.

This week Gabby and I read the story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut. It is a short piece of science fiction that takes place in a world where absolute equality is enforced. Ballerinas wear weights to make them less graceful and people hear disrupting noises whenever their thoughts wander dangerously. Everyone has to be handicapped in some way.

For Gabby's assignment I asked her to rewrite Harrison Bergeron so that the story took place in a school. She had to come up with her own characters, some new handicaps, and a similar and yet unique storyline. Below is what she came up with. Minus the spelling mistakes, I think it is fabulous!

It's cooperate time!

Today, being Monday, had the potential of being a rather lousy schooling day. So to head off exhaustion, frustration, pig-headedness, and collapsing in a heap on the floor (could be Gabby, could be me, you never know), I decided to move our classroom to someplace more conducive to peaceful learning.

We went to McDonalds.

That was not our first plan. I had originally told William and Fielding we were going to Mr. B's -- a fabulous indoor playground and cafe inside a local church. However, as we were putting our shoes on, I remembered that it is closed on Mondays. Ugh. Still, I was grateful that I hadn't driven all the way there before remembering (since I have done that before).

The boys were very excited, so I had to come up with something. The only alternative I could find was McDonalds and while Gabby and I were not excited about the change in menu, William and Fielding did not mind the change in venue a bit.

As it turns out studying at McDonalds is heavenly. Gabby did almost all her math, and -- I think it was because we were out in public -- she didn't give me any attitude about the problems she struggled with. I got to read over the week's biology chapter. Then, this is the best part, I read -- for pleasure! And no one interrupted me.

Not for awhile anyway. But I ended up putting my reading and studying materials aside when I sensed some contention in the air. Hard not to sense it. A lot of angry noises were coming from the giant slide-climbing thing. I listened. I could hear William pretty patiently explaining that he didn't want to play that, Fielding is shy and likes to stay with him... The explanations, though well-meant were not well-received. A child, about William's age, was very certain they should play what he wanted, how he wanted. He was very loud and certain.

I hesitated to interfere because William was doing such a good job standing up for himself and his brother. After some yelling, none of which came from William, I'm proud to say, my boys came down, William helping Fielding, and sat at the bottom. The child's parent stepped in with some well-meaning, but again, not so well-received advice for his son. As tempers began to flare, I sensed that 7 was a crowd, so the 4 of us decided to make our exit.

Despite the scene, William and Fielding very much enjoyed their french fries and their play time. And they had a really cool toy to bring home as well. They each had their own "Thing" courtesy their kids meal. This "Thing" is a Marvel action figure I really don't know anything about except that when you shake it, the toy grumbles "It's clobbering time!"

Yes, "clobbering time."

It is one of several comic book characters featured in the kids meals. Not everyone is pleased with this current selection of preschool toys from McDonalds. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is asking people to write to Jim Skinner, the CEO and demand the removal of the toys.

I don't like violent toys. There are no play swords or guns in our home. However, despite the prohibition we have a fair amount of "violence." William and Fielding love to wrestle with their dad. Sometimes, they rob my kitchen of potlids and spoons for a noisy afternoon of swordplay. They also build guns out of legos, although I don't think Fielding even knows the word "gun" and certainly not "clobbering."

They enjoy quieter activities as well. William loves nature. He's gentle with insects and animals. Once, he even caught an injured bird and brought it to me. Fielding is more rambunctious and strong-willed, but the most cuddly of all my kids. When he is stubborn and doesn't want to do something I've told him to, he will sometimes ask if I'll hold his hand while he does it. As if the horror of bending his will to mine is somewhat less horrible if he can at least feel loved at the same time.

As unique and special as William and Fielding are to me, I think they are probably very typical little boys. Wriggly, warm and friendly.

Is that was they took home from McDonalds today? Warmth and friendship? Or anger? Meanness? I hope it was sympathy and understanding, and being strong without being mean, as that is what we talked about on the way home.

However I don't think "The Things" have been hugging tonight when Fielding slams one onto the other. He has both now, because William mostly lost interest and is happy to share.

Fielding growls, and over and over again copies the angry refrain, as he hears it.

"Rrrr, It's cooperate time! Rrrrr!" he says.

Yes "cooperate time."