Wordless Wednesday: Texture

Wakefield Walks: Bringing the outdoors inside

Here is the Professor sampling water from an Elephants Ear plant. It was amazing to see the crystal clear water in the leaf.

We opted to bring some of our nature inside. We were inspired by our friends at Cuppa Dangie. Ours is not quite as decorative and we decided to forgo the table and use the hall bathroom counter. As you can see the natural elements really set off the vintage harvest gold countertop. Besides, a table Z would walk by and never look at. At least in the bathroom it will be seen on a daily basis. We added a pine scented candle, some more rustic candlesticks and made a fall theme for this season.
These pods came off of Magnolia trees, you can see one still has the red seed in place.

Tigger does most of the yardwork. We picked up branches for at least a week after hurricane Ike so we are truly a little sick and tired of pine tree debris at this point. I was not surprised when he saw our display and asked, "Why are there pine cones and dead pine needles in my bathroom?"

"It's for school, sweetie."

"Oh, okay." then I got the look.

Why we don't do Lapbooks

I have downloaded some of the freebie ones. I quickly looked through them and realized it would be a waste of our time. This is how part of the conversation would play should we be forced into completing one.

MOM: We are going to do a lapbook.
Z: Why? Do I have to do it on my lap?
MOM: No, it's just a name. It's like a scrapbook for what we are studying.
Z: What are we studying?
MOM: ___________ (fill in the blank)
Z: Can we do one on Pokemon instead?
MOM: No!
Z: Why?
MOM: Would you please cut out these things?
Z: Can you do it, I can't cut the straight lines very well.
MOM: Now we are going to fold the paper
Z: (folds paper) Look, I made a paper airplane.
MOM: We are not studying aviation today. (smiling through gritted teeth)
Z: Can we? Why don't we fly anywhere anymore?
MOM: It's easier to drive most places now. Would you please glue these pictures now.
Z: Should I use the regular glue or the glue stick?
MOM: Either will be fine. (watches as Z now spreads a gallon of glue on each picture)
Z: Can I color his face? (he grins pointing to a picture of some historical figure)
MOM: No.
Z: Is this supposed to go this way?
MOM: Let me look at the instructions.
Z: (zooming sounds are heard as he is now flying his paper airplane around the room)
MOM: Would you focus please.
Z: What? I'm just trying to have some fun?
MOM: This is supposed to be fun! (again through gritted teeth)
Z: I'd rather play with my airplane. Look I accidentally glued my fingers together?
MOM: Would you sit down and finish please.
Z: How much longer until break?
MOM: Once we are finished here.
Z: (now glues one final picture) there done.
MOM: Can you tell me about what we've just studied? (trying to be serious now)
Z: (spouts a few brief sentences about lapbook) Are we done now?
MOM: Yes, after you help me clean up.
Z: Ah, can't you do that, I want to play with my plane.
MOM: (slams head on table, hair landing in the scraps of paper covered in glue. Lifts head now has paper hanging from hair)
Z: Nice hairdo, Mom.

That is why we don't do lapbooks.

Elvis is Alive and Well!

He comes out during our math class. The pained expression of thinking that Z makes while trying to figure each and every step to our problems looks very much like an Elvis sneer. Of course telling him that only brought out more impressions. (rolling eyes)

He kept saying "Take a picture of me." sneer. He quit asking when I threatened to post it here.

I am happy to report that Z has now crossed the first bridge in "Life of Fred: Fractions. " Elvis impressions and all.

Thank you, thank you very much. :)

My Professor, the Language Expert

After discovering that Latin is the root for the romance languages, Z has now stated he wants to learn them all. We've had some Spanish, a tiny bit of French, but none of the others that Latin for Children lists as romance language, Italian, Romanian, and Portugese.

He wants to continue Greek as well, it still at the "fun" stage in the decoding.

So today we discussed his level of interest. I told him that if he were still interested we would start with Spanish toward the end of the school year and continue with it over the summer. I had four years of it in school so it would be fun for me to revive my skills as well.

Besides it is fun to learn a language that Tigger doesn't know, we can talk "code" around him.

Wakefield Walks: The Mystery of the Mailbox

This week as we walked we worked to discover THE MYSTERY OF THE MAILBOX. For months we have periodically discovered a little tree frog in our mailbox. We don't know if there are few or many who enjoy the habitat over our mailbox. There are at least two we can tell from the markings. He is in there at least two to three times per week. A metal mailbox in the heat of Louisiana is dangerous to anything living. It can turn into more of an oven, ugh what a thought. So each time Mr. Frog is in the mailbox we remove him, carry him across our street and place him on some foliage by our ditch. Our ditch is overgrown with all sorts of foliage.

Yesterday we discovered how Mr. Frog is getting in the mailbox. Z thought it was a conspiracy from the postal service, free frog with every delivery. Not so mysterious, there is a gap under the bottom on the door. When it is closed a frog could easily creep inside. I wonder if he will be in there today?

We also discovered some vine type flowers in our forest overgrowth. Part of our yard is so thick with undergrowth you can not venture inside. It's a work in progress to remove it all, and progress has been s-l-o-w. We believe these to be some type of Clematis, but can not pinpoint the correct type.


The soft puffy part of the blow feels like birds feathers. It also helped to realize what I have seen blowing around the yard this week. Riding on the wind they look like tiny clouds floating along. My first thought was I wonder if my dog is allergic to these too? She has more allergies than us, poor dog.

Our walk was a nice break in the day. We plan on keeping an eye on the flowers to see how they bloom.

Redecorating for Fall

I have updated for fall. Thanks to Angie for the idea to use the pine cone photo for a fall theme.

I have also updated our photos. You only get half of me for now (grin). It's amazing to see how much Z is starting to look like Tigger. They walk the same and have the same mannerisms, it's creepy sometimes. Gives a whole new meaning to them walking in your footsteps.

I was also a little sad looking at our beach photos every time I logged on. We still aren't sure how our little beach fared during hurricane Ike. I know there are plenty of people who have more important things to concern themselves with than if their favorite "happy spot" survived the storm.

May fall bring colors into your life that make you cheerful and happy.

The Science Saga Continues

I thought I had chemistry figured out, well that is what I get for thinking! I looked through the physical science book referenced in the below post and realized it was quite boring. It's a textbook, duh, which makes it very textbook like.

Z loves science, would do it every day, wants experiments every week, and looked at me strangely when I told him we were going to switch books again.

I'm in research mode again. I found one book to try, the first chapter is available free online. I printed it off and we are going to go through it today. I'll not list the name yet, until I've determined that is going to be "The One".

Tigger gave me the look when I told him I needed some more money to order more curriculum. He has not seen my amazon shopping cart. Unfortunately amazon does not carry this book or I could order it without a credit card. Coinstar does amazon gift certificates, did you know that? It's awesome!

So I'm hoping that after this go round with chemistry I'll have everything settled for the year. Because you know six weeks into the school year is the perfect time to start planning for the next one, two, or seven in our case.

Week Six and a Few Modifications

We had an amazing eleven days off of school due to hurricanes. Hopefully they are over for the season. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who were deeply affected by the storms.

So due to the interruption of nature we only on week six of school. We have modified a two subjects already and I feel that is all we shall need to do. Our core subjects of Latin, composition, and math are working splendidly. I posted a review of LFC below. We are using Classical Writing Aesop B for composition and Singapore's Primary Math 4 for math. I shall give my reviews for those products in upcoming posts.

The two subjects we have tweaked are religion and science. For religion we had been doing an Old Testament study that is recommended by LCC for 6th grade. One reason we chose to do that was we plan on utilizing the 5th grade recommendations next year to align with our history studies. We started using MOH (Mystery of History) 1 this year for history and it is full of biblical history as well. It created too much redundancy between religion and history. I also feel Z was not fully engaged in the subject. It may be that he has heard these stories so many times, and is not yet at a level to study them in depth. In layman's terms, he was bored.

We opted to switch to Memoria Press Christian Studies 3. I was biting my nails over asking Tigger for more money for school when I found it used for less than half price. Divine Intervention?? We started today and I already feel it is a better fit. We have previously spent a lot of time in the Old Testament but not so much on the life of Christ.

The other subject we tweaked was science. We had started on God's Design for Chemistry this year. I felt the material was too basic and short for my science-oriented Z. He's not called the Professor for nothing. I opted to change to Prentice Hall Physical Science. This is technically a middle school book, one I found at a great deal too. We plan on utilizing the chemistry only portion of the book. I may keep the God's Design to add in some experiments. We also have Van Cleave's chemistry experiment book. We will take it slowly and tweak as necessary but he totally understands the concepts we have covered in the last two weeks.

I am pleased to say that our LCC schedule is the greatest thing this year. I don't feel the stress about jumping from subject to subject. I only wish I had discovered this way sooner. But I guess it is never too late.

Wordless Wednesday

Latin For Children "A" : Our Review

We are in week 5 of using Latin for Children, also know as LFC. Click on the picture to go to the publisher's website. Z and I are enjoying this program a lot. I have had no Latin training so I ordered an extra workbook to complete on my own. I think Z likes that we are doing something together.

I had four years of Spanish in high school and amazed at how similar many of Spanish words are to Latin. I also find myself speaking Latin with a Spanish accent, quite by accident.

This curriculum clicks with Z, who is very wiggly. Perhaps it is the DVD's which we watch on Mondays. On Tuesdays we work on our chant and march through the house military style while doing so. We also carry toy rifles and I pretend to be a Latin drill sargeant. It makes Z laugh, but it also helps with memorization. The format for each week also helps.

Week five is a review week and he has retained the information quite well. I agonized for weeks over which Latin program to choose. I am pleased to feel I made the right choice.

We liked it so well we ordered the "Greek Alphabet Code Cracker" also published by the same company. We have only completed one lesson, but it too is a hit. Well that's for another review.
Have a blessed and happy day.

What is Friendships?

You will notice I have Friendships listed as a place where you can donate to help with Hurricane Relief. You may not have heard of them, but I can attest that these are special people who are right now helping the people of this and other communities. The volunteers at Port Mercy are a part of this community and have set aside their needs to help others.

Here's a link to Who they are.

Here's a link to what they are doing after Hurricane Ike.

Professor Z and I had the privilege of touring the ship that they use as housing last spring. I have seen their facilities, talked to their volunteers, and watched their dogged determination to help those in need. These are people with true compassion.

While you are prayerfully considering how to help, please consider a donation to Friendships.

Here's Professor Z steering the docked ship.

Wordless Wednesday

One of the many pine cones that fell during the storm.

Happy Birthday to two of my favorite people!

My son, Professor Z who is now 11, and my mother, aka Mama share the same birthday. Here they are just over a week ago as we visited after evacuating for Hurricane Gustav.

Thinking of those affected by the storm

Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the storm. We personally lost power for 12 hours, endured high winds and now have a yard full of branches. We missed the worst of it. Here's a few photos of our yard after Ike. While you can see the big branches, there are hundreds of little one and plenty of pinecones to pick up.

Nature Study with Hurricane Ike

While we are hunkered down and waiting for Hurricane Ike I thought I would share some recent photos. We have recently visited Galveston and Cameron Parish, LA. These areas are currently experiencing storm surge. Please pray for families and property in these affected areas.





Here's the view of a home from Cameron Parish, LA. This area is under mandatory evacuation.

This photo was taken from Cameron, LA. We were on the roadway and you can see how close the water is.

This is from Galveston along the seawall.


This is one of the piers along the Galveston seawall. The weather channel is currently showing some footage of the waves and rising waters along these piers.

Wordless Wednesday

Sorry these aren't very clear. This is a dog that is very happy to be home and back to her chair.

Tracking Gustav

Here's a TV stations website where you can track Gustav as he heads to the Gulf.

http://www.kplctv.com/global/Category.asp?c=137827

If you click on more maps you can see the different projected paths. A wonderful way to learn about hurricanes and if you live on the Gulf a good way to teach emergency preparedness.

Maybe it will simply go away. Happy Labor Day Weekend, everyone.

Wordless Wednesday

Welcome to our new template

I broke down and added a 3-column template yesterday. I tried a variety of free options from this wonderful template site.

http://www.simplyfabulousbloggertemplates.com/

While I enjoyed the look of the ones I chose, they just didn't say this is Wakefield Academy. I settled on this retro orange. We are studying complementary colors in art and I like how it highlighted the blue in our beach photos. Orange is also one of Z's favorite colors.

The photo in the title was taken at the Gulf of Mexico near Holly Beach, Louisiana. The beach is a little untamed and very natural, somewhat like our school.

Enjoy the new colors and have a great day.

Science is Such a Gas!

This year we are exploring Chemistry with God's Design for Chemistry. Our first experiment dealt with gas, so fitting for a 10-year-old. We placed yeast and hot water in 3 bottles. Bottle 1, on the left, was our control, bottle 2 we added white sugar, bottle 3 we added molasses. We needed to see how much gas each bottle produced over the period of one hour.

This is the beginning (zero hour) for our experiment.
At approximately 6 minutes the balloon with the sugar started to inflate.
At about 15 minutes both balloons were inflated.
At 30 minutes you can see molasses has more gas than sugar. The sugar was at 6.25" around and the molasses was at 9.5".
At the end of the hour the sugar was still at 6.25" and the molasses was at 13".
Professor Z had hypothesized that the molasses would produce more gas, his theory was correct.

When asked why someone would choose to use a sweetener that does not produce the most gas he simply replied, "So there would be no exploding bread." Makes sense to me. :)

Science is going to be fun this year!

When in Doubt Leave the Cat in Charge

This is Speedy, he is all cat, my shadow. He loves me unconditionally and therefore will protect any and all things. Here is he protecting my planner. Goodness knows my mundane to do list is in constant peril of being overrun by savages. This is the look he gives to those who dare approach. Looks harmless doesn't it?
Here he is protecting the all important Pro-Click binding machine and items which have been spiral bound. Apparently he understood the excitement I had in receiving said binding machine (aka hole punch). No harm shall come to my goods while Sir Speedy is in control.
This is perhaps his most important job. One he has done so many times, he can actually sleep and perform said task at the same time. Notice the positioning of the body so could pounce should anyone try to remove this binder. This is my almost completed very rough draft of my first novel.
He has been with me since its inception early this year. Perhaps he feels a kinship with my characters as well. I've discussed them with Sir Speedy quite a bit, he listens very well. You can see the comfortable stance he takes from this photo. It only looks like his eyes are closed. I know better. You can see the packing tape and amazon box in the background. These are his weapons lying in wait should be need them.
Who needs a guard dog, when you have a guard cat!

Wordless Wednesday (with a few words)

Got to love a man with priorities. Playing with the latest gadget, waiting on crab legs.

Day 2 Down

Day two of 5th grade is now behind us. There has been no blood, no time-outs, not even homework. There have been no weeping and gnashing of teeth and only one verbal threat to make him sit on a real stationary chair instead of the exercise ball. Otherwise the two days have been wonderful. Yeah! Yesterday I asked how he thought the day went. Good thing I was sitting down as he said, "I liked it." Victory!

Galveston: The Calm Before the Storm part 2

Well, this is the view from the parking lot of our hotel. We got to hang out in a place called Palm Beach, which is a small sand beach area made around a small pool. It was fun. Z loves the water. Thi is a storm, not the tropical storm, that blew through Sunday night. It cooled things off a good bit.
We ate at Rainforest Cafe Sunday night. Well, sort of. It was already late and the wait was long, so we hung out and got the food to go. We've eaten at several Rainforest Cafes all over the country, so we didn't miss the show, but it was fun to stop.
This is the view from our hotel window. The lazy river is Schliterbahn. We had planned to spend all day there on Monday. However, grr, due to the Tropical Storm we opted to skip the water park. Z was greatly disappointed but we felt it was the prudent decision. We didn't want to spend 100.00 to get in and then not be able to fully enjoy it.

We had lost a few trees in our yard during a Saturday night storm and since they didn't know exactly where the storm was headed, we thought we should head home and protect our own property. One of the trees that had fallen covered the driveway. Since the chainsaw was broken, Tigger had simply driven around the tree. They are outside right now dealing with the remnants of the two fallen trees.

We opted to head down to the beach and walk around. Z had a blast.

We decided to head to Target and stock up on some dry goods before heading home. Z was just as excited about stopping at Target as he was about going to the beach. We stopped and had lunch at Joe's Crab Shack before heading home. Tigger got to get his hands on some crab legs and he was a happy camper.

We stopped a few places on the way home and people were preparing for the storm. Most of what we saw was people filling up gas tanks and buying bottled water.

We finally made it home late Monday evening. We got rain from the storm but no high winds. So while it was a quick vacation, it was fun. Now that we know what to expect we are ready to return.

Galveston: The Calm Before the Storm part 1

We planned and finally executed a short trip to Galveston last weekend. This is Tigger and I attempting to enjoy this whirlwind vacation. Yes, you maybe remember Galveston, Texas, target of the lastest Tropical Storm. Did we know anything about the tropical storm as we headed out? No. But we were only there for two days anyway, we planned to be gone before the storm.

We had a new passenger with us for this trip. Tigger's new phone (look, don't touch) has GPS. It was great to have another woman doing the navigation so I could relax and say, "didn't you ask her?" Z decided she needed a name, LOLA. So fitting, it's the GPS from the movie RV and I think it stands for Logging Out of Louisiana. So LOLA showed us the way to go.

Her first upset was neglecting to mention that trains sometimes stop on the tracks we were crossing. A few tense minutes and finally we were on our way.



LOLA also failed to take into account my fear of heights and bridges. Thankfully Tigger was able to keep me distracted by making me take pictures. Beautiful bridge. He didn't have to mention, "Oh, I feel it moving." That part didn't help.


This is about the point a curse word flew out of my mouth. How did that get in there?

Finally, we found our hotel. Moody Gardens. We've stayed a resort hotels many places. It felt odd to not be exhausted when we arrived. Before we moved a beach involved a day long plane ride and taxi to the hotel. I almost felt like a local.
I knew we had not stayed a hotel in a while when Z mentioned he needed a washcloth. "But we didn't pack any Mom." I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "Check the bathroom sweetie"

Z immediately became the keeper of the room key. Tigger couldn't get it to work, so we gave the electronic card to the 10-year-old. He figured it out fine. I was pleasantly surprised, the room was great and there was enough to do that we didn't need to leave our little area of the island.

We did, however. I will continue with the saga tomorrow, so stay tuned and I'll have the rest of the story...

Sometimes Life Throws us a Curveball

There are times in our lives when we don't know what the next step is going to be. I have often looked back at those times in hindsight and been thankful I didn't know. I needed to build my strength day-by-day in order to handle the curves.

I have been blessed to have friends and a loving family to be with me through those times.

One of my friends was handed a curveball today. I can't physically go right now to hold her hand or to hug her. But I wanted to let her know that I am thinking of her. As the answers and more questions come, I pray strength for her in the day-to-day.