What We Did For Thanksgiving

We had a fairly uneventful holiday.  The Historians family didn't meet at all due to work schedules, family obligations, and a minor surgery.  My family put off Thanksgiving until Saturday because that was the only day when everyone could get together. 

So Thursday and Friday passed quietly.  Saturday morning I awoke to Sweetie coughing and then crying.  I went to get her.  Wild Thing met me and said "I threw up in my bed."  I sent him to stand in the bathtub.  I went into Sweetie's room.  Guess what?  She threw up in her bed too.  I woke the Historian.  He tended to the baths.  I worked on cleaning up the messes (by the way, my dryer hasn't worked since October) and spraying all surfaces with disinfectant.  The Crafter stayed in her room with the door closed.  She has a hair trigger gag reflex and the smell would have sent her over the edge.  I called my Mom and told her that we wouldn't be taking our germs to her house.

Sweetie and Wild Thing recovered quickly.  By early afternoon the only sign of the event was a mountain of clean, wet clothes.  My Mom called to check on the kids.  We decided to go to her house on Sunday for leftovers.  We skipped church and went for a nice, simple meal.  We had a good visit with my parents, my grandmother, my uncle, and one of my cousins.  The only thing I really missed was seeing my sister. 

Exploring Creation with Astronomy

There is no feeling like the feeling of finishing the last lesson in a school book.    We have officially completed Apologia's  Exploring Creation with Astronomy.  All that we have left to do is put together the notebook after I print the pictures.  The Crafter is not pleased with being finished, but the Historian promised that he would still take her outside for star gazing.  I would post some pictures, but I haven't figured out how.  We started lesson 1 back in June and took lots of breaks along the way.  I confess that science often gets pushed aside for reading, writing, and arithmatic.

The highlights

• Using a round watermelon with a circle of red construction paper taped on to represent Jupiter.
• I was explaining that the reason why we don't eat tuna as much as we used to is because of  mercury (the metal).  Then Wild Thing replies "And the Venus"
• The baking soda/vinegar volcano (with red food coloring)
• The hurricane tube
• The Crafter insisting that she will always think of Pluto as a planet no matter what the astronomers say.

I usually have trouble choosing a science curriculum.  That may seem strange since I have a science background and I taught high school science and I teach college chemistry labs.  I guess I am hard to please.  I want to use Christian materials when possible.  I find that the "good stuff" is dry with black and white pictures and tends to be too difficult for elementary level and that the "fun stuff" is colorful  but generally lacks substance. 

So far I have been pleased with Apologia's materials.  They are Christian, colorful, factual, internet linked, and have fun, doable activities.  I plan to use more of them with Wild Thing and Sweetie when they get old enough.  Unfortunately, the Crafter has had to endure my experiments with other curricula.  For more information go to http://www.apologia.com.

Next we will start our study of weather and oceans using Our Weather and Water by God's Design.  It is published by Answers in Genesis.  http://www.AnswersInGenesis.org/curricula  It definitely falls into my "good but dull" category.  I'll have to spend more time searching for library books and internet sites to supplement this one.

Introduction

     We are a homeschool family of 5.  Our homeschool name is Bradford Academy named for William Bradford.  Our "style" is more or less Classical following The Well-Trained Mind as a guide. 

     Let me introduce my family.  My husband is The Historian.  He loves to study American history, theology, and maps.  He is a deep thinker who seeks to devote himself to God and family.  The Crafter is my 8 year old daughter.  She is in third grade and the only official student in Bradford Academy.  She loves animals, books, and making all kinds of crafts.   Wild Thing is my 3 1/2 year old son.  He is all boy all the time with abundant energy and an amazing vocabulary.  Sweetie is 2.  She likes to play dress-up and talks nonstop. 

     I am the Chemist, or at least that's what I went to college to be.  I am a Christian, a wife, a mother, and a part-time instructor at the local college.  This blog is my place to work out my ideas about faith, family, homeschooling, and life in general.