A Little Update

Not a whole lot is going on around here.

The biggest event was that Tom got his school package for 1st grade yesterday. He is so excited about it. We opened all the boxes and he found a slide whistle. You'd thought he had died and gone to heaven. He said "Oh I was hoping something like this would be in here!" and then walked around all afternoon blowing on it. I had to put a stop to it about 2 hours later though! HA! He doesn't start school until September 5th, but we should be able to get into the website and school event schedule soon. That is my favorite part. I am hoping there will be some sort of regular event nearby that Tom can meet some more friends.

Jake is stuck on XBox right now. He is the gaming master. Really he is so good at them all. And it is so hot, it is hard not to let him sit there and play as much as he wants to.

Dan is working on the backyard shed. It looks almost done. He also mowed the lawn this morning. That is another thing that gets neglected when it is hot like this. And it has been hot a lot lately!

Me? I'm doing laundry. But I quit because the dryer is making me hot! And I have a headache. I have also been "helping" Jake when he is playing Lego Star Wars because that is my favorite game!

That is about it around here. Pretty boring huh? I can't wait until summer is over and it starts to cool off. Yuck!

Craziness on the Southern California Coast!

Yesterday, it was so hot, I thought maybe the planet was getting closer to the sun and it was some kind of huge secret because there was no stopping it and we were all going to die a slow agonizing death. No, really, I mean it! It is one thing to be this hot in other parts of the country, but Anaheim does not get like this. Ok, maybe for a few days or a week in late summer early fall, but not like this. It has been hot, **** hot, since late May. 

Yesterday I drove to the book store at 3:30, looked at the thermometer on my truck, 103. I thought, well, it is 3:30 in the afternoon, so I doubt it will get any hotter than that. I came out of the book store at 4:30, jumped in the truck, 109! Then on the way to the grocery store it climbed to 111! Where are we, Arizona, for cryin’ out loud? When I got home, it was back down to 105. Hi! It was almost 6pm! We don’t have central air, just a wall air conditioner, which works pretty well to cool off the downstairs area. But how were we going to go to bed upstairs when it was still 90 at 10 o’clock at night!? So we camped out on the living room floor in front of the fan and air conditioner.

This morning we woke up to the sound of thunder. I’m thinking, sure, a little thunder, no big deal. The boys go out on the porch and watch for lighting. So do I, with my coffee. It is cool, not hot and not cold, but kinda sweaty like. HUGE LIGHTING AND THUNDER STORM! Then it starts to rain. Once again, I am pessimistic. Don’t go get dressed! You don't have time. Go play in the rain in your jammies. An hour later, it began pouring! The wind kicked up and I thought the house was coming down. I get all excited, run around opening windows and doors to let the cooler wind through the house. I say "cooler" because it is still 85 degrees. I took some pictures of it! I mean, seriously, how often does it do THAT around here?

But then it is over. I come inside and start writing this, then BANG! More lightning! So loud, Jake and I jumped out of our seats! I screamed. Jake looked at me like I was nuts. It sounded like a car was picked up and dropped outside our front door!

The excitement is over now, though. The sky is brighter, the thunder is farther away. The wind it still blowing cooler, but you can feel the heat coming up. Yuck! I can’t wait until this summer is over.

Sea World!

Yes, we went to Sea World again! I can't believe it. We haven't been in over 5 years and then we go twice in a month. My Grandma had tickets and wanted to meet us there for the day. She used to take me there when I was little and it was fun to do it again.

Here they are being silly with their Great-Grandma! It was her birthday and they did their best to show her a good time, including taking her on Journey to Atlantis for a good soaking wet roller coaster ride!

This was my favorite part. Sea World has a place where you can feed the sea lions little fishes (4 for $5 Ahhh!). But it was SO worth it. This one kept standing there with is face right next to the boys with his mouth open as if to say "Throw those fishes right here kid!".

Children's Museum of La Habra

This place is great! The temporary exhibit is a theater. They have a small stage set up. Backstage is a costume and makeup room, a scene shop, prop shop, ticket booth. Out in the house there is a sound booth with working buttons and a light booth with working switches for the stage lights. We spent a good hour in here!

The picture above makes me proud! While their friends were off getting their costumes on, here come my boys. This was completely not prompted. I was sitting in the audience and they went straight for the scene shop stuff. For those that don't know me, that is what I did in high school and college. Theater was my pre-mom career.

This is one of their permanent exhibits. There a whole bunch of real animals there that they are perfectly welcome to touch. This lion was a favorite!

LA Maritime Museum

I'd have to say this was $6 and gas well spent! It is a very small museum. There were lots of model ships, few "artifacts", but the kids liked it. They spent about an hour inside. Most impressive to them was this gun off a battleship that you could really sit on and turn around to aim at things.

 Right next door is an Acapulco's restaurant not to mention Ports of Call. If I had more money today I would have spent more time in San Pedro.

More about "A Thomas Jefferson Education"

So part of learning from the classics is to write about it and discuss. I can't really discuss right now because I'm still searching for a "mentor" myself, but I can write about what I am learning.
 

The part that struck me most today was this, "The stories we associate ourselves with, whether they be the Bible or Moby Dick, become powerful in our lives and when the time comes to make tough decisions we fall back on them in order to decide."

This made so much sense to me. Learning from the classics seemed so vague to me before this. I mean, what can you learn and apply to your life from a fictional novel? Are we only to read non-fiction and essays? But with this I have learned that when we read and discuss what we have read, write about it, and re-read it, we take into ourselves what has happened to people in the books we have read and use their decisions to help us make our decsions. It makes so much sense to me now.

Also, even if I don't like a book (or my sons don't like a book) discussing why I didn't like it and how I might make things different is part of education itself.

Whew, just writing that little bit was mentally exhausting! I really need to have more practice. I really wish there was a way for me to learn to write better. I need to research that out.

I'm Reading Another Book

This is one that I have been planning on reading since last years California Homeschool Network Expo! "A Thomas Jefferson Education for the Twenty-First Century" by Oliver Van DeMille

I heard him speak last year and loved his lecture so much. I bought the CD version of his book and I'm thinking I should have just bought the book. It is hard to listen and take notes for me. I'm constantly rewinding! But I got through the first of four CD's this afternoon.

Here is my favorite quote so far. What we have in the US is "widespread specialization complemented by arrogance, pride, and general ignorance. This is the legacy of Germany in the 1930's, a highly trained but under educated people easily swayed by Hitler."

The piece of information that I feel that will help me with educating myself and my children? "Structure time to study not learning." An example, set aside an hour each day to study math in general, not what math will be learned and mastered in that hour. There is no time table for learning. We all do not have to have learned how to add by the time we are 5 years and 6 months old. But we should be studying math at least 15 minutes a day by that age and more as we get older and our minds can concentrate for longer periods of time.

Knott's Berry Farm!

Our cousins are here from Arizona! Of course, where do we take them? Knott's Berry Farm! For those that may know me that may come as a shock. I'm a big Disneyland fan and living so close, we have passes. Besides Dan and I both worked there. It is where we met! But we also worked at Knott's way back. But that isn't why we went. The kids love the roller coasters and the cousins are older like our big sis, so we went.

 

I braved it. Five kids, by myself, and it was 100 degrees today! Typical! But we had a blast. Tom and Jake are too little for just about everything, so they were pretty mad. They took it well though. They went on the train, the log ride, the stage coach, and the dragon swing. I finally got to ride the silver bullet. Loved it!

These kids were awesome! It was so fun to drag them around to all my favorite rides and they were so nice about it. The park was not busy at all and when it did start to pick up (crowds and heat) we came home. They were so nice about it that Uncle Kirk took them back for another round after dinner. My two littlest stayed home though. Honestly, they understood that there was really nothing else for them to ride. They don't know about Camp Snoopy. I'll save that for another time!

Uncle Ken & Aunt Julie

Uncle Ken and Aunt Julie arrived on Sunday for a week long visit from Belleville, Illinois! The kids are all so excited. The boys have never met them in person, but they hear lots about them and their cousin Natalie has come to stay with us in summers passed.

 
They all broke out the guitars on Sunday night for a small concert. Ken plays the Mandolin and Dad plays the guitar. Nikki has been taking self lessons and Tom and Jake play their pretend guitars. Jake got a Ukelele for his birthday last March and he loves to play with it. They sit there and play along with their Dad and Uncle.

 

Jake looks like he is sleeping, but really he is giving a serious solo concert for us. He doesn't play the guitar really but strums that broken electric guitar like he really knows what he is doing. He sang several songs for us including the theme from Star Wars, "In Heaven there is no beer", and the deer camp song, and ending with the National Anthem.

On Monday, Grandpa Larry and Grandma Rita came for a visit as well. That's Dad's Dad and Step-Mom.

Uncle Ken helped Dan out by fixing his Mom's toilet. He is a plumber and Ann loved to get him to help while he is out here. Tom stuck to him like glue and made sure he learned everything he could about plumbing during the project. It is really funny watching Tom right now. He is fascinated by just about everything his uncle does or says and is really soaking it all in. Ken is so patient with him too. Tom has found another hero!

Dad's On Vacation

What kind of fun do you think is going on in our backyard?

Well, today is Dad's first day of vacation and last night he bought a new high powered air rifle. I call it a bb gun! And they are all in the backyard doing target practice. The rifle is really for Dad because he wants to shoot rats when he sees them in the back yard. I told him he may want to be sure that he can kill it when he shoots it. Last time a trap didn't kill one completely, it was a twenty minute fiasco about how to kill it and who was going to do the killing. It was crazy!

I'm getting ready for his brothers to come and visit next week. It is the first time Ken has been here since we got married, so it should be an adventure. Also, his other brother Kirk is coming out later in the week with his two kids. That should be fun. We plan on having an "open house" on that Friday so that anyone that wants to come by and hang out with us can come any time. We are going to BBQ some burgers and dogs. 

 

Hopefully this week I can get upstairs with the paint and finish painting our bedroom! It has only been three or four months since I painted the walls. I would love to finish the ceiling and borders sometime before the color on the walls fades. HA! Painting is one of those things I just can't do with the kids hanging around by themselves. I can get started and then they are fighting or getting into something they shouldn't or they are hungry and want something to eat NOW! Kids. They always need something.

Anyway, I'm sure today will live on in infamy since the boys are having so much fun watch Dad shoot cans and avocados on the side of the house!

Some teachers! ...A Rant...

Nikki goes to public school because her mother wants her there. Every school year since she started Kindergarten, I keep everything the school sends home all year. I put it in my file cabinet and keep it until June. Then I sort through it all and keep the things I think express her at this age. I put it all in a book with her picture and signature and all that. I just got through doing this for her 6th grade year.

We always had a problem with her "core class" teacher. Otherwise known as home room. She is a real pain to us all. I tried emailing her to get specific instructions from her because I thought Nikki wasn't re-telling it right, or wasn't asking the right questions. And guess what? I can't figure out what it is that woman wants either! There was a time when she wouldn't grade her work because she hadn't brought in and used the right three-ring binder that was requested. We had already had a system of keeping work organized and neat and it was working perfectly, except that she couldn't get a good grade because she didn't have the binder. I know you are thinking that it is understandable. Maybe she had a special way of using these notebooks or something but that wasn't the case. I looked into it.

The other thing is that as I was going through the years work, all her papers from that teacher had either nothing at all on them or some nasty note like, "needs work!", "neater writing please!", or "use all the same color ink!". Never a "nice subject" or "creative idea" at all! You have to know Nikki's work to understand this. She may not be the cleanest writer, or the best at organizing or getting things in on time, but she IS brilliant. She is creative, intelligent, and mature in her writing. It is the one thing that I would say she excells in. Her essays and reports are researched and a lot of love and time has gone into them. They are interesting to read, too. Not your every day, "The battle of Gettysburg was in...." blah blah blah. Now I'm going to have to post some of her work here just so you understand what I am talking about.

I just don't think it is fair or a good thing, to have to suffer through a year of school and just "get through it" because a teacher has decided to ride their time out until they retire and bring down as many children as possible until they do!

Independence Day!

Our 4th of July begins with the annual lighting of snakes in the backyard.

They usually sacrifice one or two of their plastic army men that have been broken. Tan ones are bad guys, so if there are any of those around they get that first. Mind you, this is all directed and overseen by Dad, who is the only one with a lighter. One year we had a small tan army tank that was loaded up with snakes and lit. This was the same year that my small apple tree died. I say it was because they did it right underneath it and it was filled with smoke. He says the box say non-toxic, so it couldn't have been that. Anyway, moving on!

The stash of fireworks that Dad and the kids had bought earlier that afternoon. They were so excited to light them, they just couldn't stand it once the sun started to go down.

 

Tom still hates the sound of fireworks. Really, the idea that the next one might be loud bothers him, so he just keeps his hands over his ears just in case. 

 

He did take them off to get in on lighting a couple fireworks with Dad though.

Jake lights his first fireworks!

There was this one that looked pretty lame, like it was a dud, and then it exploded really loud. We all jumped. It was great!
 

This was the scene you would have seen if you drove by.

All in all, it was a great 4th. We didn't have anyone over this year. Dan and I spent the first half of the day cleaning the yard and garage. Then I went to the grocery store and bought provisions while the others went pyro shopping. When we all got home, we started the snakes and cap guns for awhile. We BBQ'd burgers and corn, of course. Then sat down to a great dinner. The kids got coke with their dinner! OOOh! And then we were off to light our fireworks. We have to travel to another city because they are illegal in ours. On the way there and back we got to see lots of the cool illegal ones from Mexico all over. I had long discussions with Tom about legal and illegal fireworks. He was very concerned that we were doing something wrong and that we would all be arrested. Not true, but it is hard for a 5 year old to understand laws are different for different cities. Then we came home and watched the 25 minute Disneyland display from our front yard while singing the National Anthem over and over again.

Just a quick run down of the day, for memories sake!

This morning, after doing a couple loads of laundry and cleaning up the kitchen, I made breakfast. Ann took Nikki to Boys and Girls Club by her mother's house. Nikki is with us Sunday morning until Wednesday morning. She is now at her mother's house. We headed to Target to shop. The boys love to sit in the cart and eat a bag of popcorn and an icee while I shop. Fun stuff! Next stop: Out to Great-Grandpa's house. We brought him a sleeping bag to use on his fishing trip this weekend. And we all went to McDonald's for lunch. We left there at 2pm so that we could be at the library by our house by 3pm for Teddy Bear Picnic Day. The boys had a great time playing games, picking books, and making a few crafts. The Anaheim Public Library does a magnificent job of entertaining the kids and getting them interested in reading. Lots of prizes and fun stuff to do. We came home at 5pm and had a snack. Dan got home and 6 all fired up about getting a air rifle from WalMart to shoot rats in our backyard. I'm married to a nut, seriously! So we were off and while we were out we had dinner at Chili's. At home at 8pm, baths and stories and all that bedtime stuff. They were asleep at 9:30 when the fireworks started. I continued to read a bit though because I'm reading the Chronicles of Narnia (the whole big huge book) and I love it!

A Peek Into Our Mornings

Good Morning, Everyone!

This is how our day begins. Three kids in their jammies watching each other play video games. This morning Jake was playing Indiana Jones. That kid really knows what he is doing! We have a cheat code that makes it so he can't die, but he knows how all the machines work, where to go and when. It is so crazy watching him. It looks, at first, like he is just running around aimlessly. But when you watch for awhile you will see that he is the master. Whenever anyone else is stuck they just ask Jake and he will tell you exactly what to do next.