Back to School!!

After a 4 day weekend, we are headed back to school tomorrow!

We are continuing on in science in our study of animals and tomorrow we are moving to the Arctic Circle. 

In order to understand the Arctic, we have to understand that the animals there depend on microscopic forms of life called phytoplankton.  We talked about food chains way back in the beginning of the school year, so hopefully the girls will remember how they work!

http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/phyto.html

http://www.thefreeresource.com/plankton-facts-information-and-resources

We are also going to talk about walruses and polar bears.  I found a Magic School Bus book at the library last week about the artic, so we are going to read that too!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Magic-School-Bus-Arctic/dp/0590187244


The last animal we are going to look at are the hooded seals.  I found a video that shows about them, hopefully it will help us understand these seals better.

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/southern-sea-lion-predation?source=relatedvideo

 

Thomas is whistling!

I wanted to write this story down before I forgot. It made me laugh. :)

I was in the kitchen making some muffins and Christian came in and he was looking for Thomas.  He thought that he was in the garage, so he ran out there, but then came back and spotted the bag that he knew he was in.  He got really excited said, "Peep, peep... don't you hear him mom? He's whistling!"

Sure enough, he went into that bag and pulled out the whistling Thomas.

Didn't you hear him too??

Latest book favorites at our house. :)

We go through phases in our house when it comes to books.

Megan's favorite books right now are Nancy Drew and Geronimo Stilton.

Courtney's favorite books are Dr. Seuss books. She can read the entire books by herself. She still loves the Rainbow Fairies (I wish she would start to unlike these books real soon!)

And Christian, well, his are Dora the Explorer! (And of course Thomas and Cars!)  But has been bringing me a lot of Dora books lately- good thing we have quite a few of them!  There really needs to be more Diego books out there!

Redstone?

Today I was talking to the girls about how Matt and I were thinking about going to Yellowstone this year.  Christian piped up and said, "I don't want to go there, I want to go to Redstone!"

I  love it that Megan doesn't call it "Neapolitan" ice cream, but rather "Napoleon" ice cream!

I also love Courtney thinks that consonants are "continents."

These things just make me laugh every time. :)

science class

Tomorrow we are going to be talking about the flightless birds of New Zealand.

Why don't birds in New Zealand fly?
Check it out: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/land-birds-overview/page-3

http://www.liveanimalslist.com/birds/kiwis.php

http://kidworldcitizen.org/2012/11/24/the-flightless-birds-of-new-zealand-and-australia/

Along with flightless birds, we are going to learn about the tuataras.

http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/tuatara

http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/native-animals/reptiles-and-frogs/tuatara/

Last, the gentle wetas, which are the heaviest insects in the world.

http://www.geekosystem.com/record-breaking-giant-weta/
http://www.firstlighttravel.com/blog/new-zealand-giant-weta-contender-for-worlds-biggest-bug-status/

Funeral Articles to Look at during Bible Class

So does anyone think it is weird that I am going to talk about funerals tomorrow in Bible class? I kind of this so, BUT we are just coming to the end of a section in our Bible curriculum on Christ and the resurrection.  One of the final activities is to discuss the funerals of a Christian and a non-Christian. 

http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-funeral.html

http://ask.churchleaders.com/220584/have-you-ever-conducted-a-funeral-for-a-non-christian/

I also found a website that discusses the meaning behind a wake, funeral, and burial service and the and the customs that go along with those services. Aren't these all good things to know??? Isn't this "life?" I feel bad talking about funerals tomorrow, but I am also glad I get to talk about these topics with my kids!!

Laundry thoughts. :)

1. My new day to do laundry is Saturday. I don't even think about doing it during the week anymore. It's just not going to happen...

2.  Why are there so many piles of dirty clothes around the house?  Christian's dirty clothes are in about every room (I admit, I usually bring his new clothes to where he is in the morning and I do pick them. The problem is that I bring his pajamas to where he is in the evening, but then I am just lazy and don't pick them up!)  I found Christian's dirty clothes in the living room, dining room, and one big pile outside his door to his room because that is where I will throw them. :)

Courtney has socks in every room of the house PLUS her floor to her bedroom is covered with dirty clothes! She fills as entire basket up every week. Ugh! (Yes, I do go and make her pick them ALL up!)

Matt has a pile of dirty t-shirts beside the bed.

As for Megan and I, I don't think we had any piles anywhere!

I should have counted how many different "piles" of dirty clothes I had around my house this week!

3.  Megan has been complaining that did not have any clean jeans the last couple days and has been wearing skirts around the house from last summer.  When I went into the laundry room today, I noticed there were two small piles of clean clothes from last Sunday! In one of those piles was a pair of her jeans!

Note to self: I should put away all the clean clothes from LAST week before starting on laundry for this week! There is also a basket of clean clothes in the hallway plus a basket in Christian's bedroom!

The laundry fairy is hard at work today!!!