Partial Book Work, Swimming Lessons

Will has mostly been doing Explode the Code, as far as book work goes. We did finish Our Christian Heritage. I am going to look on Ebay to see whether I can find a good bargain on a bulk number of children's dvds on history and historical figures such as the ones we've gone over. I'll do a quick review with him before this year is up, and we'll work on geography again at some point before the end of the year. Will has good cloth maps hanging on his bedroom wall, but I'd also like to get a new globe to put in the living room.

Will started swimming lessons this week, and he'll finish next week on level one. At that time, I'll decide whether he needs to take the level 2 lessons or whether we can just work with him from then on. And then, I'll only be able to enroll him in the advanced lessons if the 4th and last session this year still has openings. He's really enjoying the lessons. Trusten and I sit and watch.

We read a book on roots that I'd bought for Will's 6th birthday. It didn't really teach us anything we didn't already know, but the illustrations were awesome. What a beautiful book! I believe it's called What Do Roots Do? I can't remember the author's name.

Will got to watch some glass blowing when we took him to Silver Dollar City. He got to see a lot of neat things and got to ride some rides. I'm hoping Nathan will take a day off during the week again sometime soon so that we can all go to the George Washington Carver museum soon. I think that would be awesome.

Nathan has been doing a little extracurricular wood-carving. He loves building things, and he builds strong structures. He wants to do more carving and stuff, too. I think I'd like to surprise him with a wood tools set (hand tools). He started on two pipes (smoking pipes), and he set them both aside. I forget what was wrong with the one, and the other had a flaw at the bottom, a crack or something, and so it wasn't going to work. Will has one of them and screwed two sticks in the top to make a cool-looking helicopter. I think it will be great if William can be a fine wood-worker one day. He loves such things. The building Nathan had bought for our chickens (we don't have any left, anymore, but we'll get more when we're ready) wasn't going to be easily transportable, so he had to get his money back. He's very ready to build another one, smaller than the last one he built before we moved here. He is just wanting to build something badly. There was something I wanted or needed, but I can't remember what it is right now. Nathan said he'd like to make me one. I can't think of what in the world it was. Well, I'll post it here if I can ever remember. I must not need or want it too badly! In other news, Nathan has been super busy with HVAC work. But, he's been trying to get home at a decent hour to spend more time with us and not get to bed too late. :-) He would like to start bidding large contractor's jobs (now that he has a contractor's license), and he has an electrician friend whom he would use for the electric work, and he knows a plumber whom he would like to use for the plumbing work. It's hard for him to have extra time enough to make these steps. He also still wants to get into solar and wind stuff, but wow, where's the time?

I have been doing some more research on sulfur and hydrogen sulfide. We have high levels of hydrogen sulfide in our well water. As dangerous as it is, it apparently also has benefits. Apparently our cells make small amounts of it on their own to be used in crisis situations. It can help the heart and prevent heart attacks. Very interesting, I thought. Apparently it slows down the metabolism, much like when someone cools an injured person until he can make it to the hospital. It buys time. By replacing the oxygen in cells with hydrogen sulfide, instead of dying from oxygen deficiency, the person goes into slow-down mode. The body conserves energy. One fellow said that technically by injecting hydrogen sulfide into someone, it artificially kills them so that they can be successfully brought back. They claim to have had mice in that state for 4-6 hours before "bringing them back" to normal. Strange. Anyway, it's sure been interesting research. Scientists claim that all mass extinctions, except for the dinosaur extinction (which they say was caused by an asteroid), has been caused by hydrogen sulfide. They sound so sure, but I'm not fully convinced. Anyway, they say the way we're currently doing the planet, that we could all die out from hydrogen sulfide. It would heat the earth's atmosphere, stop ocean currents, thereby stopping oxygenation of the water, thus killing all ocean life, and then it would eventually kill all life on land. This is the gas that is released from our well water, the same gas that is released when eggs are rotting.

I'm also researching the plant family Solanacae, which includes belladonna (deadly nightshade), tobacco, tomatoes, and potatoes. I'll talk more about this in a future post.

We're going to soon finish up the plant science book and what he has left of Explode the Code, and we'll be taking a good break. I need to order him more Explode the Code books, too. Oh, and I ordered Prepare and Pray curriculum, a biblically-based curriculum that teaches survival skills. I have not yet received it.

Trusten is just not a very good sit-down learner. He is definitely smart but learns in a different way. As Nathan said, if I can just be able to teach him to read and write when the time comes, he'll learn pretty much everything else in the way he needs to do so. So, I'm not going to worry about it. I will continue to teach him what I can by sitting down with him, but he mostly just learns his own way and by observing everything around him. That's fine with me. I can accept that. He sure talks a lot better at this age than William did. Will didn't really talk in sentences until he was three! Trusten talks a lot. They're both great and unique. Each has his strong and weak points.

Well, that's it for now.