Educational Inspiration

I was in need of some inspiration to push me forward.
I found in here, in these two videos.
I can breathe again now and continue to educate my son, in whatever unconventional way that also inspires him. Even if it kills me.
Take a minute to watch and maybe you will breathe a little easier too.

Black Swallowtail Butterfly

Our timing was perfect! We were outside on the front porch early last evening and this is what we saw emerging from one of the cocoons that had attached to a patio plant.

This is the same caterpillar that I wrote about on our parsley plant. He climbed over to the pot next to the parsley to make his cocoon. His cocoon was green and he is an Eastern Black Swallowtail.

We still have an other cocoon that is on the same plant, that is brown. I know it's another swallowtail butterfly, but I don't know what color it will be.

According to my research, the cocoon colors can be different for the same butterflies, so we will have to wait and see. I wonder if we will as lucky with our timing to catch a photo before the next one flies away?

Interactive Art For Children

Looking for an interactive art site for children? I found a great one! The National Gallery of Art for kids is full of fantastic artistic journeys. They can create their own portraits or landscapes with folk art images.

If your children like to take photos, they can also explore using and editing photos with a digital camera. Plus design their own abstract images or furnish a 17th century virtual dutch dollhouse.

Of course they can also learn about all the great works of art as well and the history of the artists who painted them. This site has many layers to explore!

My son's own art work has become much more detailed and yet original still, since I added this website to his favorites!

Teaching Your Children About Banking

If your looking for ways to help teach your children about money and the banking system, check out the Federal Reserve site online. They have publications on many areas of economics and banking, plus work books you can order for free.

I ordered a dozen different ones to use over the years to come and they were shipped and arrived within a week. Some are comic book style and some are workbooks with teachers ideas as well.

I love when I can find educational materials for free from public institutions. They help so much to round out a home school education!

Hello World, We're Back!

For the last four days, we have lived in a cave. Not literally, but it sure felt that way. I recently switched phone/TV and Internet providers and have had a lot of service interruption since the very first night of installation. The whole system finally went down Tuesday and would not come back.

A small army of technicians have been marching through my house since, looking for the problem. Turns out after many failed attempts, they discovered that squirrels or maybe rats had been chewing at the ends of the buried cables outside and across the street, that have been unused for years.

It seems to be fixed now (fingers crossed) but what a nightmare. I would love to say that this time away from technology and information was relaxing and refreshing, but I can't. We still had to be here during the time they were trying to fix it, so they could keep testing the lines from house.

My son has now watched every holiday DVD (Halloween and Christmas) we own, twice. I've had enough Charlie Brown for the coming holiday season, thank you very much and it's only August!
I do have a cell phone (not a smart phone), so I could check on my mother, but my clients don't have that number and I don't want them too. I could not get any business calls or even their emails.

It's so brutally hot and dry here, that spending time outside was limited. Not to mention difficult, as I had to keep an eye on the animals with the technicians going in and out of the doors endlessly. I'm exhausted from doing nothing. Nothing but waiting and listening to one explanation for the problems after another, and another.

So we are back now, yea! The phone is ringing again, Discovery Kids is back on and I have back my reason for living...the Internet. May it live long and prosper!