The Power of the Beach

Those of you that know me know I'm a total beach nut. There is something special about where a continent ends and meets the vastness of the water, in this case the Gulf. Some people like to sit on the beach, some people prefer to be in the water. I like both.

I have been blessed to visit some great beaches around this country. That's a feat considering until now we lived 900 miles to the closet coastal beach. I watched porpoise swimming off the beach in San Diego, walked out from Waikiki and enjoyed the solitude of Costa Rica where seven people on the beach was a crowd.

I'm a people watcher and it's amazing what some people will take to the beach with them. When Z was young we took him to Miami Beach. He fell asleep in his floatie in the ocean, his floppy sun hat faded by the time our vacation was over. I'm sure on that trip we brought every beach device known to man. In San Diego Z was young as well. We walked on the beach, diaper bag, breakfast food, and who knows what else in our hands. I'm sure the amount of things we carried screamed "tourist". We would have missed the porpoise had not a local stopped to point them out. He was jogging with a towel and water bottle in his hand, thats it.

Last week when we visited Holly Beach we didn't have anything with us. We took off our shoes, soaked our pants and walked up and down the beach. We were unemcumbered by stuff. It was a beautiful time. We planned to go back last weekend, however storms kept us away.

There is power in the beach, in the water that slams into the continent. Each wave pulls at the sand as it deposits more of it upon the shore. I stand in awe of that power and am reminded every time I take it for granted. I've been slapped by jellyfish, stung by the waves slamming me into the bottom and snorkeled where just beyond us sharks were known to make their habitat. While we were in Costa Rica and I was pondering the beauty from the deck of my room, a man lost his life at the beach. It was a reminder that life is precious and even in paradise there is death.

Holly Beach was wiped away in Hurricane Rita and yet people are rebuilding. The satellite photos of the before and after are a keen reminder that we are not fully in charge.

Yet I can stand on the beach and all seems right in the world. To quote Louie Giglio "We are small". I feel small when I stand on the beach. I feel balanced knowing that I am truly not in charge of everything. I feel renewed, refreshed, and re energized, ready to face life.

I don't even mind the sand that seems to follow us home in my shoes. It reminds me that at those times I am overwhelmed I can go stand on the beach. I can know that I truly have power over very little and I am only riding the waves.

Wordless Wednesday

Scroll down to Holly Beach entry for more details.

If you were a food what would you be?

This question was posed on the WTM boards today. Very interesting discussion. Here was my response.

I would be a cashew.Cashews are not for everyone (I can't please everyone)

Cashews come in bits and pieces but are best enjoyed whole (kind of like me)

Cashews are nutty (no comment needed there)

Cashews are crunchy on the outside but soft and sweet on the inside (my hard exterior only hides my sensitive interior)

Cashews are natural plus a little salt (what you see if what you get, I'm a little salty as well)

I might also add the cashews like to hang around other nuts as well.

Holly Beach

We finally went to visit the beach yesterday. My beach withdrawl has now subsided. I was one happy camper. We didn't know where we'd up when we started our journey (kind of like life), so we didn't even have swimsuits. Z and I ended up with soaked pants, but that was okay.

We visited Holly Beach, Louisiana. If you followed any coverage of Hurricane Rita you know that this town was essentially wiped away during the storm. I had not been there before the storm, but rebuilding is happening.

It reminds me of what a beach should be. You park right on the beach. There are no asphalt parking lots, no hotels, and no rows of fancy white beach chairs. It is simple, a little rough and exactly the spot where land meets the Gulf. Waves happen, there is sand, and all is right in the world.

For the first time in weeks my sinuses cleared up, I got a nice sea salt scrub on my feet, I held hands with Tigger and Z played in the sand. Here are a few pictures.

Look we found Wakefield Road! Since our school is Wakefield Academy, I had to take this picture.

The boys waiting for the ferry. The boys on Holly Beach. Despite the lack of smile, Z had a great time.

Okay, I smiled enough for both of us.

Looking back from the beach.

Nature Study: Welcome to my Front Yard

This week we planned to return to Barb's Nature Study. We normally do ours on Wednesday morning. We totally skipped the lesson this week, nature again came to us.

Last weekend I opened my mailbox and found two surprises. One my Rainbow Resource Catalog, Yeah! I'll bet you didn't the special bonus with your catalog, I got a frog.

I let the critter go near the woody area of our yard and ran inside to enjoy the RR catalog. Tigger immediately mistook it for another phone book. Our town is not huge and we receive no less than four phone books, why I don't know.

The other part of nature that came to us is described in the post below this one. Lightning struck two of our trees. While scary it is an awesome site to behold (said with the most respect for the power of lightning). Here are a few additional photos. The first one is a close up of the destructive power of lightning. The second was a charred piece of bark that was on the ground. Bark flew off the trees in at least a ten foot radius.

The third wonder of the week happened last night. I took the dog out in the front yard after dark. She about ripped my shoulder out wanting to go after a creature in the yard. I thought it was a rabbit. No! It was an Armadillo. I knew they lived around here, usually because you see them squished on the road, but had never encountered a live one. I called the boys to come out and they missed it. He scurried quite quickly.

This also answered another nagging question we had. We had found a burrow hole in the yard several weeks ago. We were unsure what animal had made it, now I am certain it was our little armored friend.

So if you want to view some nature, just come sit on my porch, you won't have to wait long, it'll come to you.

Not so Wordless Wednesday

This is what happens when lightning strikes a tree. This happened last night. It was so loud, Z and I screamed. This is actually two trees that have grown together.

MEP mathematics

This is my disclaimer: We are only starting to use this program and I am beginning to learn about it. I am excited about it because of its similarity to Singapore Math. Therefore I do not claim to be an expert on this curriculum, but would refer you to their website for any additional questions.


What is it?

MEP is a mathematics program available from the Centre for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching.

"Mathematics Enhancement Programme (MEP)This has been the Centre's main focus over the past few years. The Mathematics Enhancement Programme set out to implement in UK schools the findings of international research. As well as detail of the philosophy and style of teaching advocated, there is also a full set of curriculum resources for Primary and Secondary schools, including pupil texts, lesson plans, classroom resources, assessment materials and on-line interactive resources"

http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm

I have reviewed this programs scope and sequence along side that of Singapore and find it similar, but different. Clear as mud eh?

Z is very math minded and with Singapore he is able to do most of the work on his own. MEP is supposed to be more teacher intensive.

MEP is downloadable for free. That makes it an attractive option, but the cost will not be a deciding factor in our use of this program.

There is also a yahoo group to join for further support in this program.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mep-homeschoolers/

So we will be giving MEP a trial run over the summer. I'll reserve all opinions until we have gotten through several lessons. I am crossing my fingers, it looks very promising.

5th Grade, How did that happen?

It's hard to believe that we just finished our 4th year of homeschooling, and 4th grade. I recommend all homeschooling parents start in first grade, it makes is so much easier to see how long you've been homeschooling. (insert tongue in cheek)

We've been off totally for the last two weeks. We've been reading "The Hobbit" in the morning and trying to not get this song stuck in our heads. Who knew Mr. Nimoy was so diversified in his talents (raising one eyebrow here). After we finish "The Hobbit" I have promised Z that we will have a LOTR (Lord of the Rings) movie marathon. He's been wanting to watch them for ages, but we have not allowed it as of yet. As I have the extended versions we will spread the marathon out over three days. Otherwise we might be as bug-eyed as Gollum.

Monday we are starting on our summer session. We hope to accomplish a few things.

1. Finish our Easy Grammar book
2. Complete one level of Singapore Math or MEP math (I'll post another entry on MEP)
3. Continue our nature study
4. Continue reading
5. Do a copywork book on the Declaration of Independence

I have a good majority of items I will need for 5th grade. I still need to do a few orders and that should be happening soon.

The Outdoor Hour Challenge #4

This is a little late in posting as these are the activities we explored last week. We are on a two week break for summer and will resume our nature study next week. This first picture is of a lovely beetle that we found in the house. Ironically we had just listened to a CD about ancient Egypt the day before. I believe this to a type of scarab beetle. We ushered said beetle onto the front porch where he disappeared into the foliage.

This photo is of Z checking out the holes that show up on our sandy area, which is a carport next to the shed. We are unsure what makes these holes. There is an abudance of wildlife in that area including lizards, wasps, bees, and snakes.

This photo is of a young tree attempting to grow in our yard. We pulled a leaf and drew it as part of our journaling this week. Our yard is a glimpse of untamed nature and this is part of its new growth.

These two photos are of bushes and berries growing in our yard. I have noticed in our studies that if we wait, nature will come to us. We generally do our nature walk on Wednesday and by Friday we have something unexpected happen. One week it was an owl feather, the next a snake in the garage, and this week a beetle in the house. I even encountered a spider in the yard the other day. He was crawling up a large blade of grass. I let him be, he was in his element.

We watched the movie "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" the other day. As magical as that toy store was, our yard is just as magical. I sometimes walk through our yard with the same wonder and awe as was apparent in the store. Albeit, I know where the magic in our yard comes from. We enjoy studying as said in the movie "Evan Almighty"....in it's original design.

This one is for my Daddy

As an early Father's Day gift for my Daddy, who saved me from spiders for over twenty years.

For more information on this creature click here and here.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Memorial Day Weekend: Family Exploration & Nature Comes to Call

Tigger was actually off work Sunday and Monday. It was great to spend some time as a family. he finished painting and decorating his home office. He was finally able to put up his beloved racing photos and even stole a chair and ottoman from our bedroom. It's very cozy looking. Best of all he can shut the door and keep the cat out.

Monday we were supposed to go to a local water park and then Z was going to play with his friends. I felt so bad for Z, as the water park was closed! They don't start their full summer schedule until this weekend. Luckily we found that out before we drove all the way over there. So Z was bummed, but decided playing with his friends would be okay. We went next door and a few minutes later returned. They were in school! On Memorial Day. Very odd. Now we've only lived here a few years but I don't remember them being in school on Memorial Day before, maybe because it fell later in the month. Anyway, now Z had two disappointments. I felt sorry for him.

So we opted to go to the park and then the driving range. Tigger and Z have their own clubs. We had to dust them off, that's how often they get used. So I hit a bucket of balls as well. Since I had never done that before I think I did fairly well. When I hit the ball correctly it would go at least 50 yards. I even got a few to 60 or 70. The heat and humidity made it a sweaty experience, but it was fun. Now I'm on the hunt for some clubs. It was an inexpensive family event. We paid 10.00 for three buckets of balls and Z did great.

The boys grilled later in the day while the washed the car. Then we settled in to watch "Andromeda Strain" on TV. Nothing like an alien virus to keep a family together.

On a commerical Tigger went out to the garage. He opens and door and screams "snake in the garage, snake in the garage." Well, he'd been in a mood all day and we thought he was kidding. NOT!! Some little snake, maybe three feet long, was trying to take up residence among the shelving. Tigger was prodding him out with the handle of the broom. That snake was mad! he was hissing and spitting and snapping, he kept trying to wiggle back into the garage. It was quite the show. He finally got him positioned on the handle and placed him back into the woods. It was too dark to see what kind, but angry would be a good description.

It was a fun family day and we've decided the driving range would be a good family outing at least a couple of times a month.

Impromptu Character Lessons

I love it when God points out character lessons. Today he opened an opportunity for us, it was perfect for this morning. Tigger is painting his home office this weekend. He had custom mixed some paint and I was helping him strain it. As a professional he doesn't like chunks in his paint, so he pours it through a mesh filter to remove all the impurities.

While I was holding the filter Z came out to the shed to watch. The conversation went something like this...

Z: That's cool. (he said about the paint dripping through the filter into a 5 gallon bucket)

Me: Do you know why we do this?

Z: Why?

Me: That unfiltered paint doesn't look dirty does it?

Z: No.

Me: Well look at all the stuff that was in there (motioning toward the mesh filter). God sometimes filters us to remove the impurities that we don't even know are there.

Z: Cool.

The Outdoor Hour Challenge #3

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." Troilus & Cressida (Shakespeare)

That was our theme for this week. We dissected that phrase to our liking. This is our version of the above, "A glimpse of what God created makes everyone family." In other words, when we view the wonders of nature it creates a commonality among us.

This week we did a lot of observation. The dragonflies are coming out, the lizards are pregnant, the flowers are blooming. Here is a tree stump next to our house. This tree actually fell on the house in a hurricane, we didn't live here then. Ants and mushrooms have claimed it as their own.



These flowers are growing in our side yard. They are very tall as you will see in the next photo.

Here is Z, wearing his school uniform :) He is about 52" tall. Lots dragonflies and bees were buzzing around them.
Here is a deceased dragonfly that was by our garage. Z didn't want to look at it, but I found their wings to be quite fascinating. They have a shimmering quality to them. It reminds me of fairies.
Here are some berries randomly growing in our yard.

Nature is an abundant thing in our yard. The previous owners allowed it to grow quite untamed. We have certainly discovered some treasures as we slowly work to tame it. Our yard will never be manicured and pristine, I like its somewhat rustic natural look. We are in a constant battle to keep and find additional square footage in our acerage. Along with all the beautiful thing we also have some not so beautiful. Snakes, which don't bother me. I prefer to see them every once in a while, that way I know where they are. Poison Ivy. I was badly infected last year and this year have it on my leg just from walking around the yard. So observation in what I do best.

We drew in our nature notebooks this week as well. Z drew the giant flowers and I drew the dragonfly. We are enjoying this study and look forward to the weeks to come.

Wordless Wednesday

The outdoor hour challenge #2

Our Nature Study has been quite eventful this week. I have already blogged about our run in with the formosan termites. The plague has passed through thankfully. We started our journals this week and notated what we 1. heard, 2. saw, and 3. felt.

Z's discovery this week was.

1. I heard birds
2. I saw dragonflies and grasshoppers. If you look closely in the photo below you will see grasshoppers. After some googling we believe they are Eastern Lubber grasshoppers. They were all over a specific part of the yard. We have seen them before, but have never captured them on film.


3. I felt the sun, popsicle juice, and grass. Okay the popsicle juice dripping on his sandals was brought into the environment, but it is what he felt. (BOYS!)

Our greatest nature discovery of the week, however, took place just this morning. Z found a feather just off the driveway. A measurement shows it is almost twelve inches long.

We assumed it was an owl feather, as I know we have an owl that lives in our woods. I have conversed with it before, which was a real hoot (No pun intended). A couple of weeks ago I took the dog out at dark and I saw the owl briefly. It must have been sitting in a branch right above it as it swooped down and glided away in the dark. The wingspan was huge!
So, again, after more googling we determined it is a feather from a Great Horned Owl.
Click on the name for more information. It was quite the find this morning, even still has some dirt on the feather. We plan on cleaning up the feather and making it a part of our nature collection. I can't wait to see what else nature may deposit at our door. We have done minimal follow-up for our studies of last week. We did discover a crawfish hole is called a burrow and that our magnolia trees are finally blooming.

HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy Wisdom

Last night Z and I watched "HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy". We had never seen it before and we laughed starting with the opening song, "So long and thanks for all the fish."

So while viewing a you tube presentation of that lovely tune that is now stuck in my head I remind Z that the answer is "42".

He says: "That's probably why 42 is the Travel Channel."

I couldn't stop laughing. "Why would you think that, Z?"

"Because you can go anywhere with the Travel Channel."

Childhood wisdom, makes sense to me.

Nature Study: the Exodus Version

Yesterday morning Z and I did our nature walk. I'll post further on that today. But last night they came. I had been expecting them, had thought perhaps we had even missed them this year. NO! The swarming Formosan termites have returned!

Now I grew up in the mid-west we are quite familiar with termites. They sit in the ground, or your house, and just munch away. Not Formosan termites. They swarm and fly and infest your house like a plague brought down by God!

The first year we moved here we didn't understand how those winged ants were getting in the house. One free visit and mini-educational seminar given by the local exterminator we knew we would be okay. (Big sigh).

The conversation went something like this:

Exterminator guy: "How many did you see?"

Us: "There were about a hundred crawling on my son's bedroom wall." panic in our voices.

Exterminator guy: "Would you say it was more or less than five hundred?" his demeanor still calm.

Us: "You mean there can be more than five hundred?" dramatic music in the background, small child now refusing to ever sleep in his room again.

Exterminator guy: "Oh yeah, if you see less than five hundred you don't have a problem. They swarm through every spring for a couple of weeks. Just close the curtains and keep the lights low and they'll pass on through."

Fast forward two years later. I knew they were coming. Last night I was all settled in the bedroom watching LOST and Z comes into the bedroom. "Dad just found two formosan termites

in the living room."

Then in panic he points at the window behind me, "LOOK!" I turned around and there they were, marching like an army, going up the window by the hundreds. Insert Wilhelm scream.

"Close the curtains." I told Z and proceeded to wait until a commercial to run through the house and make sure it was done. Hey, it's the two part season finale of LOST. I wasn't going to miss a minute. Tigger had to run and shut the garage door. YUCK!

Later that night some had found a way through the cracks in the bedroom window. To a human they are harmless, unless you have a heart attack while one crawls on you in the middle of the night. So I smashed them with my shoe, turned off all the lights and hid under the covers. They also just die overnight after they shed their wings.

Today, in the light, they are gone. Tonight we'll be ready. Bring it on!

For more information on formosan termites click here.

Wordless Wednesday