Playing hookie and eclipses

We were supposed to be at music lessons and chorus today, but we woke up and all looked at each other and decided to stay home. We have been so busy lately and been out of the house so much I think we were all exhausted. We just needed a day to stay home and kick back. So we played hookie from class and stayed in our jamies ALL DAY!

We finished up Halloween decorations and just sat around and read books. Loretta made flying bats out of egg cartoons. We brushed up on our eclipse knowledge as tonight at about 10 pm our time the eclipse was supposed to happen.

About 930p Carla called and told Butch the moon was orange and to go out and look. . We went out and it was still white at our house. It didn't eclipse until about 10:10p. It was great that Carla called because that turned into a whole lesson about why the eclipse happened sooner for her in New York.

Loretta was much more interested in her own shadow, and the flashlight, spooky faces she was making. As the moon was almost through it's eclipse, you could see a rainbow of colors in the center of it....it was beautiful, and she really enjoyed that. Musa went in and got his science book and wanted to see how big the moon was in relation to the Earth. He has seen that comparison many times in books, but something about the eclipse made it all real tonight. Score!

Thanks Aunt Carla, for the tip.  

Halloween Party

The kids had their Halloween party with a bunch of their friends yesterday. A great time was had by all. Loretta is the kittycat standing with her back turned in the group picture. Musa is hiding somewhere behind Darth Vader in the group picture.

They did arts and crafts, ate lots and lots of sugar and played some great ole' games like pin the tail on the Halloween cat and musical chairs. Krisin did a fabulous job with great decorations and entertainment for all. We are hosting the Christmas party for the group and now the pressure is on...hard to top this one.

Halloween Studies

We abandoned the usual curriculum for ...HALLOWEEN STUDIES..YAY.

Musa choose "werewolves" for his independent study project this month and he had dug up some pretty cool stories and legends.  It has been a lot of fun.  He is putting it all together in a Powerpoint presentation.  He drew a awesome picture of a werewolf today.  He is also working on a world map that will indicate all the different countries that the more famous werewolf legends originated.

Retta has been busy cutting out Halloween decorations for the house.

Tomorrow they have a Halloween party with all there friends.

Anna took the little kitty into her life. She seemed very happy and instantly bonded to Anna. We are so happy she found a good home. We are anxiously awaiting the final decision on her name.

Field Trip and Kitty

We started the day with a field trip to Safeway. The kids got a general tour and got to see the behind the scenes action. It was pretty generic and not real exciting for Musa but I think Retta liked it. She got to hold hands with her best friend Mary, so that made it all worthwhile. It was good to see friends.

So I don't know a think about cats.......I spent 76.00 dollars at the vet today to find out the kitty is not pregnant. Not anymore at least. The Vet says she has already had kittens and probably weaned them. The "lumps" we were feeling were her mammary glands swollen as she tries to dry up. She could tell by the size of her uterus that she probably had the kittens 8 weeks ago and just walked away from them..if they survived. She estimates her at approximately 1 year old. She looks so much younger than that to me. So...I will talk to Anna and see if she still wants to take her. If not..I don't know. I already have 2 cats and two HUGE puppies, don't think I can take one more animal to clean up after. Oh well...the learning continues.  

Professor Retta

So much for thinking Retta didn't grasp the water study. When Butch came home last night she said very excitedly, and I quote," Daddy did you know that water has three forms, when it is ice it is a solid, and if you put it on the stove in a pan it melts and then it is a liquid, and then it starts to bubble and it is a gas. called steam."

And so it is..

:-):-):-)

Water, Donations and pregnant cats

We finished collecting all the donations for the wounded soldiers. A total of ten families participated and we received 4 large boxes of donations.  Below is an accounting of our success in an email I put out to the group earlier today: 

A total of 10 families participated.

A rough total of items:

75 comfort food bags.
13 health bags, containing lozenges, lip balm, hard candies and  mints.
6 personal care bags containing socks and such
30 large personal care bags containing full size personal care  items
15 disposable cameras
25 bars of soap
1 game boy game
4 packs of socks
4 sports bras
20 decks of cards
5 decks of various card games
35 DVD's
10 music CD
10 large bottles of shampoo
18 new magazines
10 pairs of sweat shorts
10 pairs of sports pants
4 light jackets
large collection of note cards for letter writing
4 large baggies of extra combs and brushes
2 boxes of envelopes and writing paper
40 nice books
8 blank journals
8 phone cards
3 personal checks totaling 220.00 to the red cross
10 books of stamps

27 handmade cards by children these were all so special.

 My husband dropped them off on the wards at Walter Reed today and he 
received a warm and overwhelming appreciation. The nurses and doctors just  kept
thanking everyone over and over. They adored the cards from the kids and  promised they would be displayed in the hallways. All of the personal care and 
comfort food bags were decorated with labels of various sentiments of thank-you  and appreciation or cards tucked inside that added a nice touch to the  donations.

May you all be rewarded for your generosity and giving spirits. Please 
express my extreme gratitude to all of the children that participated in this 
effort. They truly eased the pain and suffering of some deserving folks today. 
May the spirit continue in all.

We continued our studies of water today. Musa learned more about the elements of water and how the water and hydrogen elements look like Mickey Mouse. He learned about surface tension and how this helps things float on water. We did an experiment by trying to blow bubbles with plain water, equal parts of water and dishsoap and water, dishsoap, sugar and salt. The #3 solution proved to work best. It seemed to make sense to Musa that the soap, salt and sugar make a slimy substance that works its way inbetween the tightly fitting elements of water(the Mickey Mouse ears) reducing it's tension.

Loretta experimented with different liquids and different solids. She figured out that water is a liquid, ice is a solid. She didn't get the water as a gas concept. "No, mama gas is a liquid you pour into the truck to make it go." And so it is.

A small kitty, appears to be about 4-5 months old, appeared on our doorstep the end of last week. Very malnourished and very sweet. Very loving and personable. I picked her up and it was quite clear she was pregnant. Her nipples were bulging and her tummy felt a little lumpy. We started feeding her and made a place in the garage and she has already fattened up a lot. The babies are as big as golf balls now. I am sure she is ready to deliver real soon. She is so little and so malnourished I am not even sure if the babies are alive. Anna had wanted to take her, then the whole realization she was pregnant put a damper on things. Soo...as usual....I am taking her to the vet tomorrow to see what we can do. She is so loving and sweet we just can't turn our backs on her. We'll see....

Columbus Day?

This is a late entry for October 11th, 2004.

Musa asked many questions today about why it was a holiday. We spoke at length about the supposed discovery of America. Musa wanted to write a poem about his feelings:

 

 

 

 

 

On this October day

Columbus found his way.

He said he was the first to find

A beautiful land of this kind

He was wrong, I have to say

The Native Americans were here that day.

by Musa Coleman 10/11/04

Park Day

Today was our monthly Park Day with one of the local groups. The weather is finally down to tolerable temperatures so we can be outside more. The kids had fun seeing their friends and getting a good dose of fresh air.

We just did some basics when we got home. We have a full week out of the house so are just doing some easy work to fill in some gaps.

Music tomorrow.

Wounded soldiers

Tyrus brought to our attention that the military hospitals were seeking donations for the wounded soldiers because they are without some of the basic neccesities needed for their recovery. It just makes me nuts that after the sacrifice they paid they have to go without basic things. The list of needs were things like: deodorant, razors, sweats, break away sports pants for the amputee's, stamps, international phone cards, movies, playing cards, disposable camera's (to keep in touch with their buddies in Iraq and families that can't afford to come and see them) and on and on. So sad these things are not provided.

We made a plea to the homeschooling community and have been gathering donations to take to Walter Reed and Bethesda next week. We should have a truckload when done. We all went shopping yesterday and bought cases of stuff to donate. It felt good. Musa and Retta and I are going to sit and make little treat bags today to give them. They are also going to make handmade thank you cards's. One woman who has an art class had her students make thank you pictures. Bethesda has a wall in the hallway they place all the cards so the recovering can see them when the walk (or roll) by.

Anna has contacted her Regional Manager at Starbucks and they are contacting the marketing dept to get them behind the donation drive. For anyone across the country reading this you may want to contact your local military hospitals and see if you can help. Trust me, the rewards are high.  

Catch up and Glue

My goodness, I almost forgot about this journal. The kids were sick for so long and then we played catch up. We had a lot of out of the house activities last week which always leaves me exhausted.

We spent the week just reviewing materials, doing a lot of reading, and finishing up some projects. Musa is required to do 1 independent study each month. He chooses the subject and then decides what he wants to learn about that subject and then chooses the way in which he wants to present his material. For September he chose glue, and he finished it up last week. He choose an experiment on how to make glue with different amounts of ingredients and had to decide which amount worked best.

His hypothesis was that the 3rd attempt would work best which was:  mostly milk, some gelatin and just a dash of flour.  Musa the scientist was right, the 3rd recipe held much better than the first two.

Loretta now knows all the words to We Three Kings and is singing happily in the chorus. I am glad she warmed up. The mom's all met last week to divide up the sewing for the costumes. GUESS WHAT? I told them I didn't know how to sew!! It was hard, my hand kept wanting to go up and volunteer, but I didn't and I felt so good when I left. No projects hanging over my head. It is the young mothers time to volunteer and time for this mama to relax. I sew for pleasure now...not for deadlines.