Happy Valentine's Day, Minecraft Style!

Today my son planted a Minecraft garden for me. He told me it's a special indoor garden with a stain glass roof to let in light and fountain walls to water it. This is a screenshot from his computer. It's a lot more awesome than this photo!
The plaque at the back says "For the mother I love". I admit, I got kind of weepy. Hope you all enjoy your day :)

Halloween Costume 2014

Halloween 2014... This is it! My son already selected his costume this year and it's not even October yet!

No last minute costume changes this time, scary Jack-o-Lantern it is. So he say's now anyway...

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Incognito

As you may have noticed, the frequency of my posting has declined. The truth is, my life has had some extra stress the last few months and I've been unable to come up with anything much to blog about other than the "less than fun stuff" that we have been going through.

In fact "BlogHer" actually pulled my ad account, due to the infrequency of my posts. Not that I blame them, they are running a business. It may end up being a good thing because now without their restrictions, I'm open to take other opportunities and reviews, that I have had to refuse in the past. So you may see some changes here in the future, in order to makeup for the lost income.

As for my life, my son is now nine years old ( 9yrs old! I can hardly breath when I say that) and I have hit some road blocks with him that I am working on. Educating a highly gifted child has many challenges and I am learning that he also has some social behaviors that make working with others challenging. It's appears that he may be what they call "2e" or twice exceptional. Meaning he is gifted but with learning and/or behavioral difficulties as well. I'm in the process of figuring it out and will hopefully share what we are doing on the blog.

At the same time, my younger sister has been very ill with end stage Lymphoma and has spent much of the last six months in the hospital. She is stable at the moment and looking into clinical trials to maybe give her a little more time on this earth.

My pet sitting has been hit and miss, hence the need to bring in more income. I have spent what time I have in-between other things, working on my Etsy shops and trying to boost the sales there.

So that's about it. Just thought I should let you all know what's up and why I've been absent, without dwelling on it. I plan to continue to post about our home education and about my world, as soon as I get a handle on a few things. Thanks for listening, DJ :)

His Favorite Thing

 

Semi-Wordless Wednesday

We had a wonderful Christmas and this was his favorite gift,

 a Furby Boom.

        I admit, I didn't really know why he wanted one or what it did, but it's kind of cute.

Hope everyone is having a Happy New Year's day!

Halloween 2013

This year my son decided he wanted to be something scary, sort of.  Of course I didn't get the memo until the last minute and had to scramble to come up with a costume.  I ended up with a combination grim reaper and street urchin. He even let me put some makeup on his face.  He loved it and had a ball walking the street in disguise! This is his best scary face for the camera.

What We Are Working On

 

From time to time, folks ask my son what he's learning about this year. So in the interest of sharing great resources, here's our list:

1. Life of Fred, Decimals and Percents:  Math was never so much fun! My son has read almost all the books just for the story, then we go back and do the math problems

2. Balance Benders Level 1:  Logic and algebraic reasoning puzzles from The Critical Thinking Co.

3. Word Roots A2:  Teaches students the meanings of Latin and Greek prefixes, roots, and suffixes commonly used in English. Also from The Critical Thinking Co.

4. Developing Critical Thinking Through Science, Book 2:  Hands-on, minds-on activities that help students learn basic physical science principles and the scientific method of investigation. From The Critical Thinking Co. as well (can you see a pattern here?).

5. Jacob's Ladder Reading Comprehension Program,Level 2 :  By the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary

6. The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: The Middle Ages: From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of the Renaissance :  This text is a very fast read for my son, but it then provides a foundation for further research when an event or historical figure catches his interest.

My son will turn 9 this year and he still loves to read just for his own entertainment (yeah!). He reads both fiction and non-fiction as he pleases. At the moment he is reading a very old volume of Aesop's Fables that was mine as a child.

Those are the only texts or workbooks we will use, but of course video and online learning is mixed in. He has learned a great deal about computer language and skills just from his online game creations and Minecraft play.

In between helping me care for my pet sitting clients, we just follow his interests the rest of the time.

He also has decided he wants to document things more (thoughts, ideas, findings etc.), so he is getting writing time in on his own as well. This is much better than me asking him to write something specific, which never worked!

A River Walk and A Barn

 

 

Last week we took a road trip down historic Indian River Drive to the St Lucie County History Center. The ride alone was an event. Indian River Drive runs directly along the Indian River, 19 miles to Ft Pierce, Fl.  On your right is the river and on your left are some of the areas most historic homes and newer fabulous ones! It's hard to know which way to to look, as there are no bad views. My son was full of oohs and aahs at every turn!

 

 

The History Center had outdoor and indoor exhibits. My son loved the old barn and farming equipment. He's been reading novels about early pioneer life, so this trip was great for bringing images to life for him.

They even had an old (and still working, I was told ) pioneers moonshine still. Wonder how often they test it?

 

Inside the Historic Center was really amazing! Full of exhibits of early Florida Indian and pioneer life. It really was too much for one visit and we will be going back to take more pictures and maybe eat lunch by the river.

An Evening with Dr. Jim Delisle

I loved this video! It gave me so many insights about my own son, that I thought I would share. Enjoy!

Coupon Code for A+ Math Curriculum

It's not often I enter contests let alone win anything, however back in December I signed up for chance to win an online math curriculum for my son.  Low and behold, I was one of the winners!

As a result, my son now has a great year of math ahead of him compliments of A+ Multi-Sensory Interactive MATH Curriculum.

While this is not a review of their product  (we haven't started yet, I'll let you know later what I thought), I do want to pass along a 50% off coupon code they have at the moment.
The coupon code is  SPOFFER50. The coupon code expires March 31st 2013.

Here's a little info from their site:

The goal of the A+ TutorSoft is to help students of all ability and grade levels reach their educational potential by offering expert instruction that is engaging, easy to follow and easily accessible. Using a proprietary learning platform that combines voice, visual and text-based instructions, we make learning MATH easy. Centered on the proven methodology of a test-grade-review cycle, A+ TutorSoft's instructional platform delivers personal, highly-effective, and expert instructions.

So if your looking for a math curriculum, check them out.

New Tires Come With Pygmy Goats

Taking our car into the shop for anything even a routine service, is always a nightmare for us. Not only do they always find more things to be fixed but since I have no way to drop off and come back for the car, we always end up waiting an eternity for it to be ready to go.

Last Wednesday was no different. The car needed new rear tires, brakes and an oil change. We arrived just before noon and as soon as we got out of the car, we hear these pitiful cries coming from the parking lot. There across the lot, on the grass, in a large kennel was a baby pygmy goat.

Now we have been going to this same mechanic for years and they know us there. The owner sometimes has his dogs with him, and they stay in the kennel. He knows that I work with animals and we talk about his sometimes. He brought the baby goat there that day, so his daughter could work with it after school. She was in a 4-H club this year.

The goats name was Sophie and she was just bleating her little heart out trying to get my son to come over to her.  The little girl that raised her was about my son's age and the goat was lonely in the kennel for attention, so he went and sat with her.

Four hours of goat sitting goes by and my son has been entertaining this little goat the best he can. Every time he tries to leave, she starts crying and jumping and kicking at the kennel fence. It also had been raining some and the goat was digging up the mud and getting her white coat all dirty.

Finally the little girl arrives after school. My son helped her get the goat's harness on and practice walking her. Apparently she was also supposed to show the goat for the first time that night at a 4-H meeting. Since Sophie was now all muddy, they decide that she must have a bath.

Sophie had never had a bath yet and the girl did not know what to do. Her dad suggests that she tie her to an empty car lift and get started with the hose. My son decided I needed to help and tells her "My mom can take care of any animal!"  Dogs, cats, yes and even a bird or two, but never have I bathed a goat.

So I tried to instruct them both from safe distance on what to do. However after a few minutes it was obvious that they were getting a bath and not the goat. As expected, I stepped in to help. Now I'm  somewhat tall and this is a very small goat. Without a table to put it up on, I had no option but to get down on the ground and hold on.

It was only a matter of time before the children were watching me and I was doing the work. The goat got a bath, mom got very wet and the entire staff at the auto garage got a good laugh watching the crazy lady wash a goat, in the auto shop, tied to a car lift.

The little girl was thrilled her goat was white again and was suddenly filled with questions about raising her. I'm very patience when in comes to children and questions. I homeschool my son after all, questions are my life, but now I'm getting tired. We had been at the garage for five hours, the car was ready to go and so was I.

As politely as a could I suggested she ask her father to get her a book about goats or to go Google some information. She was happy with that answer, whipped out her Kindle and went searching.
We then quickly said goodbye and hit the road!

In all my years owning a car, that was the first time a trip to the mechanic also involved livestock husbandry! I should have asked for a discount. At least my son enjoyed himself, and he still thinks his mom can take care of everything :)

Some Old With Some New Fish

 

For his recent 8th birthday, all my son wanted was to set up his aquarium again with some new fish.
Great I thought, easy peasy! The fish tank was in the garage and with any luck, everything still worked. It did, saved a few dollars there for sure.

Then it was off to the pet store to find some 10 cent fish. Maybe even a 50 cent fish or two. Ha!
Thirty minutes and $53 later we had eleven new fish.  Eleven tiny fish, a bottle of water conditioner and a tiny container of fish food...$53!

All I can say is that I'm sure glad the tank and pump worked and that $6 for a 1/2 inch fish is ridiculous! My son is very happy and determined to make sure they all live a long a healthy life.
They better, because any replacements will be minnows from the canal down the road :)

Halloween 2012

My red ninja and a few frightful friends we met along the way on Halloween night!

Wizard or Ninja?

 

It's that time again, the great Halloween costume debate. Every year like most children, my son goes back a forth trying to decide on a costume. This year he thinks he's got it down to a Red Ninja (as above) or to go as Harry Potter again this year.

 

I told him either costume is bound to be very hot walking around. No doubt it will be eighty degrees outside here, as usual Halloween night. At least with the Harry Potter costume, he can take off the cape. It's up to him though, I figure if he gets too hot we can always come home early ;) That would be fine with me, less time means less candy, win,win!

All About Weather Felt Board Set

 

I've added a few new felt board sets to my Etsy shop. This one is all about the weather and includes fifteen laminated images backed with Velcro dots that will stick to any felt or flannel board.

I also created new, all cats and all dogs sets. You can find these and many others in my Etsy shop. Thanks for looking!

Games for Writing

It's brilliant, really it is! Thanks to a great book I ordered, I found a fun way to challenge my reluctant writer. The book Games for Writing by Peggy Kaye, has given me dozens of way to engage and encourage my son to write.

Like many boys, he loves a good game and loves to try and bend the rules if he can get away with it. In this book, the author describes a game she calls "Word by Word".  You write a story with your child by taking turns adding the next words. The trick is you have to roll dice before each turn to see how many words you can use to continue the story.  So you start with a topic and then each take turns expanding the story.

At first my very controlling son refused to play because he didn't want me to change the direction of the story if he didn't have enough words to finish his thought. After a few tries as predicted, he was begging me to let him throw the dice again and use "more" words.

That's all it took (rules meant to be broken) for him to insist on writing. Brilliant I tell you, brilliant!
Half way through the story, we changed to me writing a full sentence and then him. He still threw the dice because he thought it was fun, but in no time we had completed a full page story.

I will be using this game again and again. There are many more examples in this book that will work for all types of children. However, if you have an intense, obsessive boy who likes to win games, give this a try!

*This is not a paid review. I purchased this book on my own and have never been contacted by the author

Fibonacci ala Lego

 Classic Fibonacci spiral

My son's Lego Fibonacci spiral. He's having fun with math!

Bullseye (well, almost)!

It was an Olympic inspired afternoon. Archery caught his eye so a bow and arrow was needed.


I had to do some quick crafting and turned a couple of bamboo garden stakes and some string into a very improvised bow and arrow set.

Up went a target and an archer was born! Best shot of the afternoon was this 9 that actually pierced the paper. He was thrilled and is hooked. Looks like an archery set may be on this year's birthday list.

Summer Fun

I have a client (Joey the Boxer) that we walk everyday. His generous owner lets us use their pool.

My son wanted a face mask to keep water out of his nose and eyes.

He thought he looked like a giant water bug. I tend to agree :)

So he gave up on the face mask. He is still learning to swim, hates to get water in his face though so it's been hard to teach him. 

He tried his hand at crawling around the edge of the pool and made it all the way, without getting his head wet (which was his goal).

At least this summer he gets in the water up to his shoulders, which is better than last year!

Pet Portrait

After a long break from any kind of art or drawing, my son drew this picture of our new cat "Mishka" today. I was so thrilled to see this side of him again, I just had to post it for you!

I worried that his creative side was fading away. As you can see, I had nothing to worry about. Mommy is so very happy!

Summer Science Projects

image: USDA

This summer we are planning some science projects involving local resources. First up will be collecting water samples and viewing their microscopic contents.

My good friend, the local veterinarian, loaned us her extra microscope for our studies. We are so grateful for her assistance with extra supplies and learning materials, I would not have access to otherwise (not free anyway)!

I found some great links online for identification and experiment ideas:

Protist Park : Contains an introduction to Protists (pond life) and video gallery of mini movies and a cool short story with the movie links included in order.

Nikon MicroscopyU : This site contains many great live video and image galleries for many subjects including pond life. Ton's of educational material here!

The Freshwater Life: Has everything you new to know about collecting samples, growing specimens and identifying them. Lots to learn!

So we are going hunting for pond scum is Florida's swamps and ponds (well, around the neighborhood anyway). Hope we make it back alive!