New Learning Plans & New Nature Discoveries (August 2015)

At the very beginning of August, we were still visiting family after having attended the family reunion. I got a sweet picture of Elizabeth with her Papaw.  He and cousin Layla are the main ones she always requests seeing. 

I visited the Montessori school in Bentonville to do the required tour, because we were thinking of enrolling Olivia, since she persistently requested to go to school.  We do not want to send any child of ours to the public school in our district, but there's a public school across the state line that ranks toward the very top of the state for all schools (number 4 or 6).  There is a way to legally get her enrolled there, but it would be a hassle.  Also I discovered that I would have had to apply for transfer back in February!  We decided against the Montessori, even though I absolutely love the Montessori way of learning, because it would take vacation money.  We are hoping to go to Mexico before the winter is up.  It's not for certain in either case, but it sure wouldn't have happened if we'd have enrolled her. 

Then she changed her mind.  She is adamant about homeschooling now.  That was after I'd bought her a lunch box and backpack (neither of which she'd been allowed to use at the Montessori, it turns out). 

I picked up some notebooks, sketch pads, poster boards, glue, and more.  Now for some brief updates on what the kids are doing "school" wise, then I'll post some wonderful nature pictures and such. Several new things.  ;-)

William

William and I discussed what Minecraft courses he wanted to take this semester.  Minecraft Homeschool is now GamEd Academy, which I think is a poor choice in name change.  The founders chose to start allowing school-goers to also enroll in courses, but why not rename it to Minecraft School?  Anyway, William chose 7 Wonders of the Ancient World and Revolutionary Ride this semester.  The former is self-explanatory regarding the material, and the latter covers the American Revolution, which might have also been self-explanatory. 

William also enrolled in a high school paragraphs (and later in high school essay) course on Time4Writing.com.  He's also got his own laptop now.  We put some money toward it for his birthday, though he paid for two-thirds of it on his own. 

He's finishing up world history for 9th grade credit, is going to do decimals, fractions, and percentages in Life of Fred math before moving on to Pre-Algebra.  His science is pretty self-directed, though he's involved with Supercharged Science.  He is always reading or watching videos on science of his own interest, too.

He will finish sketching through a drawing book to finish his high school art credit.  He's also continuing his Spanish language education via Duolingo.  

He's reached that age where he wants to spend a lot of time talking to friends, and he does a lot of that via Skype.  He's got Minecraft friends, predominately.  

Trusten

I also enrolled Trusten in a course on Time4Writing.com, except on an elementary level.  I will continue using Life of Fred math with him.  I read Supercharged Science lessons to him and Olivia together, and we do select experiments, after they watch the video.  He finished geography of U.S. and the world and is now working through a fourth grade level social studies workbook and is doing well.

I wish I could talk him into theater or music lessons or even gymnastics, since he's always bounding and flipping and pretzeling himself, but he is super introverted and declares he's not going to do any of that.  He's very different than William (who is extroverted, like Nathan) in that respect.

I realize this picture is extremely blurry.  I took this one with my iPhone, and it started acting up on me.  A lot of the pictures have been blurry.  :-(  At least I've got my nice digital camera.

Olivia

Olivia has finally started showing an interest in really learning how to read (probably as of around late September or early October), but she wasn't really paying attention before.  She surprised us that she didn't teach herself by the age of four, at the rate she was going, but she doesn't do anything unless she sees benefit to herself, and she apparently didn't see the benefit of reading any sooner than this.  This October is her sixth birthday.  Both of the boys were well into their learning-to-read before this time.

I'm mainly focusing on the basics of reading, writing, and basic math with Olivia for now.  She does participate in science.  Beyond that, she pursues what interests her, which is imaginary play, drawing pictures, and watching things like My Little Pony.  She still loves horses.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth is going to soon start speech therapy.  She's improving more.  She will now at least try to say anything.  She is very echolalic, and the amount varies.  At least she's talking.  A lot of her speech, though, is quite unclear, and she doesn't make complete sentences with clear speech.  Until she starts professional therapy, I'm just taking time here and there to work with her myself.  She still absolutely loves dinosaurs, so that obsession is around a year old now.  She correctly names several dinosaurs, and I've been learning things about dinosaurs I didn't know in the process of providing her plenty of dinosaur-themed learning stimulation.  When the older three kids were gone for about a week this month, we got back from a walk one day, and I asked her whether she wanted to watch a television show on Amazon.  I said that she could watch, "My little pony or something.  Whatever you want."  The reason I named MLP is because that is the most-watched cartoon, because that's Olivia's favorite, and Trusten and Elizabeth like it, too. 

Elizabeth promptly erupted with a noise of disagreement and shouted, "Dinosaur Train!"  I was surprised that she even remembered or knew about Dinosaur Train.  It was a show I'd heard Trust and Liv play only a few times, and it had been months since it had played.  Apparently they didn't really like it.  My sweet baby Elizabeth had sat and endured MLP and others, when secretly she wanted to watch Dinosaur Train.  I had never known!  She watched Dinosaur Train every day then, until her siblings got back.  Then I made sure she got her fair share of choice in viewing afterward. 

She has learned quite a few things now that she can communicate much better.  She knows almost all the colors (she still calls gray "white" as of Dec. 2), and she knows many letters.  She loves magnet letters!  She's the only one of my children who have really taken an interest in our magnet letters. :-)  She understands counting up to three.  She counts backward, usually, though.  3, 2, 1.

She still likes birds quite a bit, though not as much as dinosaurs.  She still loves flying machines, too.  She really loves animals, including insects and other invertebrates, in general.  She loves being outside.  She reminds me so much of myself, with the exception of her love for dinosaurs. 

I experienced one of the most frightening experiences of my entire life on the 11th of this month of August.  William and Olivia stayed home from our walk.  Trusten and Elizabeth went with me.  On our way back, Trusten and I were engaged pretty deeply in conversation, and Elizabeth had gotten ahead of us by several yards.  I looked to see how she was doing, and I can't properly describe the horror I felt then.  She was stopped in the middle of the road leaning very slightly over, looking down at a timber rattlesnake.  I don't remember the seconds from when I started toward her, shouting, to when I took her hand to lead her away.  It never even filed as memory.  I remember pulling her away, putting myself between her and the snake and my eyes swiftly moving from the head to the tail of the snake.  I think it was missing its rattle, but that's not uncommon.  I took her right back the way from which we came, and when we were a good distance away, I broke down crying.  The strange heat searing through my body was overwhelming, and the height of thankfulness I felt was off the charts.  The snake's middle was bulged, so I believe it had recently eaten.  It had been stretched across the road, and it had not coiled up or engaged in any other defense.  It moved very slowly, when it finally did start moving, and when it was finally off the road we quickly passed, making sure to stay to the far side.  I had considered going to attempt to kill it with rocks, but I was too shaken.  I was scared to take the kids out for several days afterward.  I'd suffered trauma.  I normally didn't take the kids walking as late in the day as I had that day.  In the middle of an August day, it's not typical to see such snakes.  But we'd gone late in the afternoon. 

Elizabeth saw my reaction and heard my telling her that it was a "bad snake."  I also immediately opened one of the the animal sounds apps that I've got for her on my phone, and we reviewed the one of the rattlesnake.  It's not a picture of a timber rattlesnake (looks like a Western diamondback), but it's close enough.  I'd told her before, every time she played the rattlesnake ones, that it was a "bad snake" that could hurt her.  I just kept telling her after that incident that she's got to always ask me about animals before she checks them out.  It's possible that she suspected the snake was dangerous, because she normally tries to touch animals, and she wasn't making any moves to touch that one.  She likes snakes just fine, too.  It could be that she just didn't understand that she couldn't even safely be near one of those. 

Ok, now for some pictures of the kids while they were away and of Elizabeth during the same time.

The oldest three took a trip with their aunt, uncle, and cousins.

 Liv with a crayfish/crawdad (Cambaridae family)

They also got to catch bullfrog tadpoles.  We had only first-ever seen bullfrog tadpoles in a nearby creek a week before.  Shortly after the kids got back, we took them to swim again, and they caught the bullfrog tadpoles there, too (seen below).

 This happy baby loved chasing bubbles!

She wanted to go outside to jump in puddles. 

After swimming, she wanted to play in the sandbox.  She brought me something to eat.

"Rock!" She found a rock she really wanted to show me.

Freedom!  She's bursting with joy, and it fuels her on.

She's found something else she wants to talk about.  

There are some nature pictures in this collection from the walk Elizabeth and I took the day I took pictures (above), and then there are some random other nature pictures from other walks or miscellaneous sightings.  Enjoy!

I've got a nice video of this bird eating and singing or talking (I can't remember). I can't be certain of the species, due to the lack of light and the fact that numerous females look similar.

 

Beggar's lice (Desmodium canescens)

I don't know what plant this is, but I really wish I knew.  Do any of my readers know??  I'm curious whether the leaves naturally hug the stem, too, or whether this is the result of a mutation in this single plant.  

 Beefsteak plant/rattlesnake weed (Perilla frutescens), an edible plant we grow that is very similar to spearmint.  It's in the Lamiaceae mint family.  I personally call it perilla, because I don't like the other common names.  It's also known as Shiso, and it's popular in Japanese cuisine. 

Green metallic sweat bee (Augochlora pura)
and
Nodding wild onion (Allium cernuum)
 

Luna moth (Actias luna)

 Mayfly (order Ephemeroptera)

 Wasps from end of June in June post, here in early August.  See how they grew in number?

Purslane is an edible, rich in nutrients.  It's got a slight waxy feel, it's leaves are broader than hairy spurge, and the stems aren't hairy.   Hairy spurge is toxic.  Both can be widespread.  These were both in my yard.

If in doubt, when you break the stem of the spurge, a milky-white sticky substance oozes from the stem.  Purslane does not contain such a substance.

This plant was plentiful in an area by which we walked nearly every day, and I don't remember ever seeing it before.  It looked like a member of the mint family.  Indeed it is.  I discovered that it's dittany (Cunila origanoides) in the Lamiaceae family.  

I think these are so very lovely.  I read that they form frost flowers, too!  Who remembers when I shared the beautiful frost formation that William found (and that we've since seen several times) nearly six years ago?  I think that "frost flower" was from frostweed (Verbesina virginica).  

Long story short, our entire household have hypermobile joints.  Of course, this was nothing new, but I didn't realize the kids (Liv on left, William on right) could bend their fingers this way.  It turns out that on some days I can put my thumb to my wrist, too, but I can't always do it. I surprised myself that it went there fairly easily the day I went to my rheumatologist appointment (for a later post).  The ironic thing is that a week before the kids demonstrated this, I was checking to see whether Elizabeth could do the thing with her thumb, because I was considering getting her tested for Fragile X.  Even though she's got a few of the features, I'm not fully convinced she's got it.  If so, then I'm extremely lucky that neither of the boys expressed the gene, because it's much more severe for boys, since males only have one x sex chromosome.  I think it's more likely that she's slightly autistic with no Fragile X.  The other kids didn't know I had tried to see whether Elizabeth could bend her joints that way.  Interestingly enough, though, these incidents led me to do more research, and it soon coincided with a period of time that my joint pain became much more extreme than usual, but I'll get to that in a later post.

My two beautiful girls and their baby dolls.  Olivia fixed their play silks into baby carriers.

Bullfrog tadpole (Lithobates catesbeianus).  The kids had so much fun swimming and playing.  

 

Elizabeth likes to fill this sink and let her "dinosaurs swim in [the] pool."

I'm going to try to get the next posts hammered out rather quickly now.  I was never able to catch up, as I'd wanted, because this semester's college course I took drained a lot of time from me.  

Until next time...

July 2015: Creek Flood and Play, Tadpoles and Other Creatures, Family Reunion

I sure wish I would have finished my late winter through late spring mushroom identification for this year already and posted about it here, but alas it's not completed.  But I know that's ok.  It's perfectly ok. :-)  It will get done when it gets done, just like everything else.  So if it's out of my planned order of "perfection," it's no big deal.  In the meantime...

Here are my hand-selected pictures from our fantastic month of July 2015.

Creek's Flood and Subsequent Water Play

 Girls watching floodwater from their bedroom window (July 7)

Oldest three posing in front of creek, later the same day.  I'm holding Elizabeth's hand.

The next day (July 8) was a day full of adventurous play in the creek.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and the creek was so beautiful.  The sky was beautiful. The air felt pleasant. The kids were delighted.  I was very content and filled with joy.  :-)

Nature's Finds

Common whitetail skimmer dragonfly, male (Plathemis lydia)

Do you see the hummingbird?  One day I'll get a stunning shot of a hummingbird.  Just wait.

Wild turkey (Meleagris gallipavo), in the Galliformes family

Three-toed box turtle, female (Terrapene carolina triunguis) 

I rescued these tadpoles.  They were found in water that was super-heating in the sun.  Many had already died. I believe I saved most of the living ones.  Two died after rescue.  I later counted nineteen.  Those nineteen all lived until release.  I wanted to keep two back for the whole metamorphosis to adulthood, so the kids could see again.  They loved when they learned about the frog's life cycle and got to see the metamorphosis from tadpole to adult frog.  I kept these and cared for them and fed them for over two weeks, and then I had to dump them in our neighbor's pond at the edge of our property lines, right as we were leaving out to go to a family reunion.  I was afraid they might not live while we were gone for two nights and three days.  I only regret not taking another picture at the end.  They had grow quite a bit larger and were already sprouting their hind legs!

Polistes carolina (one of two types of red paper wasps)

This was neat.  Nathan and I have a bedroom window screen with a hole, so some red paper wasps made a nest between our screen and pane.  The girls and I enjoyed watching them each day.  It was a fascinating way to learn how the wasps operate.  When we first noticed them, they started with two or three adult wasps, and there were maybe two to four holes that were sealed.  We watched over time as developing pupae finished their transformation, emerged as an adult and joined the others in the work of building the nest bigger and bigger.  The fun ended when Nathan was doing something around the outside of the house (I don't remember) and decided to exterminate them.  :-(

Miscellaneous Fun 

Look who it is, looking out my bedroom window! It's Dinosaur!  I was so tickled to go into my bedroom at one point and find Dinosaur sitting in the sill, looking outside.  I suppose Elizabeth figured that since she loves to look outside, Dinosaur must want the privilege as well.  :-)  This made me smile so big.

Here's the beautiful girl who loves dinosaurs.  Nathan and I still had visits left at the tanning salon, and we always took turns staying with the kids and going in to tan, and on this occasion, Elizabeth and I were having a little fun while waiting.  This is a small sample of all the pictures I took.  LOL

My chillins! :-)

I can't rightly remember what Elizabeth was upset about.  I think maybe she'd forgotten her toys or was wishing she could play with one of Trusten's and Liv's?  I'm not sure, but usually when I shoot pictures of them crying or whining or whatever, and then show them what they look like, they usually laugh and cheer up.

See the transformation occuring?  There's a bit of a smile.

 Family Reunion

A lawn mower train!  LOL The little kids loved this.  Even William took a ride, though.

Liv with cousin Layla, Elizabeth with my sister and cousin Laney, and the boys in the front

 Such a content and happy baby girl

The family reunion was nice.  I didn't take a lot of pictures, though.  I was too busy either talking or keeping up with kids, both mine and my sister's.  We took turns taking little girls to the bathroom, hunting a child down, and such.  :-)  She had her sweet Laney to nurse.

Well, there you have it.  Those were the highlights of July, besides cool mushrooms we saw.  I'm keeping all those back for my last of four collective mushrooms post.  After that I will include any mushroom pictures in the other posts, aside from any special posts I may decide to make in the future.  

Until next time...