Summer's Bounty

A Little Gooey Fun

Tonight we had a little fun making our own slime. If you want to be fancy, you can call it Non-newtonian Fluid. I think this is not the end of this little experiment around here. After all, you get to use cool words like fluid and vicosity, and ewhhhh! And laugh a good bit. We used Borax, distilled water, school glue, and a little food coloring.

Get it off!




Keona explains it....



Bad slime!

Escape Artists

Keona and his friend Rush discovered how to open the windows the other day; they also thought it be a cool way to exit. Of course, NOW they're telling me about it. Will I always be so lucky?

Swimming Lessons

Keona has been taking swim lessons and making some good progress. Here he is "racing" his classmates.

The Voice of the Lobster

Lewis Carroll

"'TIS the voice of the Lobster: I heard him declare
'You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair.'
As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose
Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.
When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark,
And will talk in contemptuous tones of the Shark:
But, when the tide rises and sharks are around,
His voice has a timid and tremulous sound."

Welcome to Camp Twister

We are here and fun is being had by all. Hello to Nana and Papa!!!!

We LOVE our Hippie Patchwork Shorts!!!!

My friend brought these over the other day for my boys to try on. All I can say is cute, cute, cute! The boys really love them. Keona says, " I want to wear them all day," which is a high compliment. I want a pair! Want some? I can hook you up!

The Graduate

Where am I going?I don't quite know.

Down to the stream where the king-cups grow.

Up on the hill where the pine-trees blow--

Anywhere, anywhere. I don't know.

Where am I going? The clouds sail by,

Little one, baby ones, over the sky.

Where am I going? The shadows pass,

Little ones, baby ones, over the grass.

If you were a cloud and sailed up there,

You'd sail on water as blue as air.

And you'd see me here in the fields and say:

"Doesn't the sky look green today?"

Where am I going, the high rooks call:

"It's awful fun to be born at all."

The ring doves coo:

"We do have beautiful things to do.'

If you were a bird and lived on high,

You'd lean on the wind, when the wind came by,

You'd say to the wind when it took you away:

"That's where I wanted to go today!"

Where am I going? I don't quite know.

What does it matter where people go?

Down to the wood where the blue-bells grow--

Anywhere, anywhere. I don't know.

A.A. Milne

Keona finished preschool on Friday and he is quite excited that he is in kindergarten now. It was a wonderful year at Emmanuel. We are now all looking forward to beginning studies at Aloha Academy. We don't know exactly what road we are going down, but we will begin and see where it takes us!

Mummy bag

We got kid-sized sleeping bags today for our upcoming camping trip. Keona could not wait to try it out. He was thrilled to be a mummy!

Magical memories for child

Let me always remember the momentthat wonderful, magical moment you were born

let me remember the tears of joy, the sheer relief, the awesome miracle

let me always remember the momentthat one perfect memory that will live forever in my heartthe wonderful, magical moment that you were born. ~Unknown

The Homeschool Science Fair...read all about it!

The G.U.E.S.S. Homeschool Science Fair took place on May 5th in Norfolk VA, where smart young scientists shared their research and conclusions with their peers, their families, and the judges. Fun was had, friends were made, hypotheses were proven, and prizes were awarded! Thank you to all the sponsors of the G.U.E.S.S. Homeschool Science Fair!

If you would like to help thank these generous sponsors by boosting their links on key search words, please steal this post, links and all, and republish it to your blog. When you've done this, email guess@littleblueschool.com and let us know, so that we can add you to our "Science Fair Bloggers" and give you some links and traffic too! You'll get a link on Little Blue School, Homeschooled Twins, and on the homeschool science fair web site. Need the code? Click here to get the .txt file with all the links in place.

Moore Expressions is a homeschool bookstore in Virginia Beach, VA. They sell used and new homeschooling curriculum, host a support group, and publish a newsletter called the Bayith Educator. They are the premier source for homeschooling books in the Hampton Roads area.

Art of Dance Academy is a dance and theater school on the border of Norfolk and Virginia Beach. They offer "Tiny Tots" toddler dance classes, youth classes for ballet, tap, jazz, and hip-hop, and adult classes too. Most importantly, the host the famous summer princess dance camp.

Norfolk Karate Academy offers classes in Tang Soo Do (Korean karate) and Gracie Jiu Jitsu (Brazilian grappling and self-defense). With classes for children, teens, and adults, it's a great way for anyone to get in shape and kick things in a socially acceptable way!

Nauticus is Norfolk's maritime museum and home of the USS Wisconsin battleship. The hot new exhibit is Seabots: Pilots of the Deep! Have you seen it? Nauticus is in the process of setting up a Homeschool Advisory Group to talk about homeschool science programs at the museum.

Mariner's Museum has amazing programs for homeschoolers learning about maritime science, history, and even pirates! Their next homeschool open house is on May 15th and features a class in pirate lore. Visit Mariner's Museum for historical exhibits and educational programming.

Homeschoolingbooks.com offers homeschool curriculum packages to take the guesswork out of selecting materials that compliment each other to create a whole year of learning for your homeschooler. Three collections are available for each level, and individual books are for sale too.

Brooks Systems offers standalone software and web applications that check legal compliance in all municipalities in all fifty states, and create truth-in-lending documents for residential lenders. Using Brooks for your automated mortgage compliance, you can be sure your loans are safe.

Dr. Bernard Nebel has written two books to help homeschool teachers integrate learning in different areas of the curricula into one living breathing learning experience. His new book, Building the Foundations for Scientific Understanding, is a science curriculum for K-2.

Young Chef's Academy is a marvelous kitchen classroom with amazing cooking classes for kids. Go ahead - cover yourself in flour! Most amazing of all: their summer camp offerings are themed around the Olympic Games. Cook for the Gold with Camp Can-I-Cook in Norfolk this summer.

Mad Science is Hampton Roads' premier provider of science enrichment classes for children. Summer classes include "Crazy Chemistry" and a space camp developed with NASA! New homeschool science classes are being offered in Norfolk and VA Beach, with more planned for fall.

eScienceLabs creates boxes of joy for science loving homeschoolers. In each kit is a complete science experience -- from individual lessons to full years of high school labs. Hands-on science kits are the answer to your laboratory woes. Everything is in there: test tubes, goggles, and fun.

Folkmanis Puppets makes the most delightful animal puppets available outside Santa's workshop. Meet their most unusual creations like llamas, Chinese dragons, ostriches, flying squirrels. Unusual materials create realistic textures, and they all move in very realistic ways. Irresistible.

Book Exchange is the largest used bookstore in Eastern Virginia. Unlike most musty and confusing used stores, this one is clean, bright, inviting, and has a huge selection of used homeschool books.

Thank you for your help in promoting these homeschool-friendly sites. They took a risk on sponsoring us in the first year of our science fair, and we appreciate their support.

Our Other Obsession

So it is fair to say that Keona is "a little" taken with tornadoes, also called twisters. To say he has drawn hundreds of them is probably an understatement. We've checked out all the books from the library...and have watched two movies a "few" times: Twister and Night of the Twisters. Though I have yet to catch it on film, Keona does a lovely little "dance" of the twisters. I intend to catch it on film, soon, because it shouldn't be missed. He has a large cardboard tube that serves as the twister which he spins around the room with in pretty graceful motions, picking up the occassional car to spin and drop. It's becoming a quite well choreographed "show" that I love to witness. We recently went to see Great Bridge High School's production of The Wizard of Oz and he was particularly anxious to see the tornado. It was really a lovely dance, and just may rival Keona's production-- but not in my eyes! It was a great choice for his first night at the theater.

You wanna know what's BUGGING me?

The boys involved with the thrill of the hunt.

The word of the day is WORMS!!! We have spent many hours this spring rooting around the yard for as many worms as we can find. Every one we find is just as exciting as the first. Another object of desire is the roly poly-- also known as the pill bug. And why not throw in some caterpillars?

We've also found a great video that fits right in: Popular Mechanics for Kids, Slither and Slime and other Creepy, Crawly Stuff . The boys

watch these episodes over and over again. And of course it is easy to slip in The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Did you ever sing this song? We have a short trip tomorrow and I think its time to teach the boys one of the great classics.

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out,

They crawl in thin and they crawl out stout.

They bury you deep in a deep dark hole,

They leave you there to decay and mold.

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out,

They eat your guts and they spit them out.

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out,

The worms play pinochole on your snout.

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out,

The worms play pinochle in your snout,

They eat your guts, and spit them out,

And then they use them for sauerkraut.

Did you ever see a hearse go by,

And think that someday you'll prob'ly die?

They put you in a little box,

And cover you up with dirt and rocks.

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out,

The worms play pinochle on your snout.

Your guts they turn a slimy green,

And then they come out like whipping cream...

Oh the Complete JOY

on the day they turn the fountains back on in the WOW garden!

Mourning Doves

It has been fascinating to watch a pair of doves that have created a roost in our screened-in porch. These are the babies from the first batch. They never move, nor make a peep. Neither the mother or the babies. The mother covers them so thoroughly with her body that it is impossible to see them until they grow too big to be covered by her body.

What's more exciting is that they actually hatched. This is the first time that birds have laid eggs in our view that have not become someones dinner. I was worried that Keona would not believe that eggs hatch! This dove pair actually laid and hatched a second clutch. Apparently Mourning Doves can raise up to six broods in one season. At the rate this pair is going, I think they'll easily be able to do that.

Well, I did it. I let go of "those" thoughts. The ones that say boys can't play with doll houses. I went up in the dusty, dusty attic and pulled out my old doll house. It's not anything special, but I couldn't bare the thought of giving it away, and I had a hankering to play with it! The family seemed pretty irate to have been languishing in boxes for 25 years (yikes!). I wonder how they'll feel after a few weeks with the Ks. They might be begging to return. I mean, I never thought to have a tornado sweep through the house or to run a train through it when I was running their lives-- but the boys did, in a matter of nanoseconds. I can only imagine the terrors that await them now.

Keona's Pride

Keona hasn't been in to building trains or playing with them, only destroying the tracks when its time to put them away. However this day he suddenly decided he wanted to build a track clear to his bedroom, and he did, all by himself. And he was quite proud!

New Designs; more towers....

The boys are working hard at building and their designs are way different than even a couple weeks ago.

Kalani continues to use nontraditional materials. Anything can be a tower; today I came in the kitchen to find him stacking teacups! I was happy to give him sippies and juice bottles instead.

The Early Bird Gets the....

giant blocks, the trains, the hockey game, the bubbles, the fire engines.... when you arrive early at the Virginia Children's Museum as we did last Tuesday. The boys had a blast as we literally had the place to ourselves for a good 45 minutes. Kalani doesn't know the word, but I'm pretty sure he reached his own Nirvana. We started in the model train room and spent quite a bit of time watching them make their rounds. then we went to the Thomas room. Two tables set up and two huge boxes of extra track and many many trains. Even brothers could play happily together here!