SL Core G Week 30 July 4-9, 2016

SL Core G 

Week 30 

July 4-9, 2016

Agnes being sweet.  She ate a hair rubber band and has been a little in-active this week.  Hoping she feels better soon.  Glad she threw up most of it. 

Hello Friends!  
We had another parade this week--Richland, MI on July 4th.  Giz and Grampy got to watch Dd in her marching band for the first time. Giz cried so was so emotional seeing Dd's band.  I'm so glad that once or twice a year Dd has family that will come support her, I sure didn't have that, and I know how much it means to Dd.  Giz and Grampy left on July 5th (Tuesday) and we got back to our normal schedule, though we have all been really tired this week.

Chicken news:

I think it was Monday we put 1/2 the chickens in the coop---10 chickens from one chicken tractor.  They did just fine.  Then Tuesday we put the other half in with them.  There was a little arguing, but not too bad.  Then, in the evening, Dd heard a big fight---only to find out the two minor roosters had got in a big fight.  Alpha and Beta were separated and poor Beta got a big puncture wound on the back of his head/neck.  I've been taking care of his wound, and trying to figure it out.  So, I have been keeping the two roosters separated--one in each of the two chicken tractors we have while all the other chickens in the coop.  



I have been letting those free chickens enjoy a bit of free ranging this week.  Alpha is going to be going to my friend, Michele's farm, as their new stud.  Their other rooster had gotten really aggressive and attacked her; which led to his "downfall" (replacement).  I'm not sure what we will do with Beta, once he recovers, *if* he recovers...his wound is pretty deep.

This is the week our chickens started laying!

I cooked up our first egg for Dd

The chickens are laying in the straw, we haven't built the nest boxes yet!  I guess the chickens don't really "need" those boxes after all!

This is four days worth of eggs---so far only one egg each day.

Dd is using the computer/internet program, Smart Music, to help her with her violin practices.  She is sounding better!

Music:

This week Dd had the Richland parade (on Monday).  Wednesday she had her 1:1 piano lessons with Mrs. March, then marching band practice, and then in the late afternoon she had her violin lesson.  Dd has decided she won't be ready for the violin try-outs this July, and to stop taking private lessons every week, and switch to every two weeks and try out for the orchestra perhaps in January or next July.  She is really loving the violin, but wants to go slower.  I think she only has about a month left of marching band---three more parades.

Our lessons this week:

Bible:

Veritas Press: Gospels

card 117: completed

Death of John the Baptist

The following sections read with Bible and Believers Bible Commentary:

Matt 14: 1-12 

Mark 6:14-29

Luke 9: 7-9

and Dd finished the VP worksheets associated with card

Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris

pg. 188-198

Taking it slow and enjoying this book again.

Journey Through the Bible: 

pg 260-261

Giz and Grampy *thought* they were buying a Star Wars poster, as a joke, for the chicken coop---but, once they opened it they saw it had been misplaced in the wrong tube.  Now we have some weird poster up in our coop.

Math:

Teaching Textbooks: Algebra I

(Monday off) four lessons this week, 40-43

Sonlight (SL) History & Assignments for "Week 30:

Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

Favorite Poems Old and New




Story of the World: Middle Ages
Ch. 28-31

SL Reader:

Shadow of a Bull: in process

Can you see the gray door on the right side of this picture?  That is the new door the guys got put up to finish up the coop.  The door handle still has to be put in, but this is good enough for the chickens to be moved in.

SL Read Aloud:

I, Juan de Pareja

I, Juan de Pareja: in process

We read this book back in 2010, but Dd doesn't remember it.  It is really good!  But, not a fast reading kind of book.

Giz gathered a bouquet of flowers as a house warming gift to the girls!

Foreign Language 1:

Sign Language: passed lesson 5, reviewed 5 & 7

Foreign Language 2:

Rosetta Stone: French: 55 minutes:

earned another prize!

We treated Giz and Grampy to ice cream before they headed back home.

Science:

Apologia General Science: Module 11

pg. 265-277

We are putting off the experiments to do them next week.

Music:

piano, alto sax, baritone sax, violin

Dh and Grampy made a roost for the inside of the coop.

Busy Hands:

Dd made these soaps herself...without me, sniff!

Soap Making Kit:
pictures to be added later!

Helped Pappa change the tires on the Subaru


Drawing:
Did a really nice drawing of a Mockingjay; I'll post pix of it later this week.

Friendship Bracelet:
One of those knotted cotton colored embroidery thread thing-y's.

Haircuts:
Dd gave me a haircut, and then I cut her and Dh's hair.

Fun Books:

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

A Whole New World, A Twisted Tale of Aladdin by Liz Braswell

Rec Room:

Giz, Grampy, and Dd went out and bought a new green paint for the Rec Room.  Giz finished painting the last wall with Kilz so we could finish the walls.  

G&G brought some "mosquito plants" for us from Indiana,  I planted them behind my lavender and in front of the fence.  Hoping they adapt quickly.

Chelle---wondering how our snails are doing?

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Sonlight Core G Week 29 June 27-July 3, 2016

Sonlight Core G 

Week 29 

June 27-July 3, 2016

89th week on this core

Hello Friends!

This was as close to a vacation as we will probably see this summer.  Dd plays the alto sax in the Northern Lights Homeschool Marching Band and this weeks parade was in the Canada Day parade in Ontario, Canada!! We traveled seven hours from Michigan to Ontario.   

We fit in some lessons early in the week while trying to tidy up the house for Giz and Grampy's arrival on Wednesday.  I had Dd take a nap on Wednesday since we had to wake up at 2 AM to get to the bus by 3 AM.  Dd rode on the "girl's bus" that the band had hired, while Dh and I drove in our own vehicle.  We *thought* we could just follow them up to our hotel, not foreseeing the delay our car would have going through customs; while the bus packed with so many kids would sail right through without any delay!  But, that pretty must foreshadowed how our trip was going to go!!

Chickens enjoying the traveling tractor!

Monday started off very well as we had been invited by my friend, Michele, to go on another hike with her and her 6 year old son.  She took Dd and I to the Ada Park for a lovely walk through their paths.  I really enjoyed how this park had placed markers below many of the trees to identify each species and what year that had been planted.  The unfortunate part of this hike was it coincided with a daycare bus of children!!!  They loved seeing what Dd and the 6 year old boy were finding and putting into their collection buckets.  Little 6 year old didn't see a bloom that he wanted to leave behind! He loved them all! Here are a few pictures of the park we visited ADA PARK:

Not a very woody/wild park; more of a city type park, but nice.

Giz and Grampy

We had another great visit with Dh's parents.  Grampy is over 80 now, but you'd never guess.  He comes and works so hard trying to help us get things fixed up and repaired while he is here.  He had Dh buy another part for the broken dishwasher to try to mend while he was here, and the new part ($80) did not fix the problem!  Oy!  That broken dishwasher has won the battle this time and Grampy has finally thrown in the towel.  

Grampy put up two towel racks, one bowed shower curtain rod, and one toilet paper holder in our master bath.  I guess it took him all day to get those put up the right way.  The towel rack that was here when we bought it couldn't hold up a wet towel without coming out of the wall; so Grampy used fancy wing-nut whatchamajingies that hold the bars in place permanently---so thankful for all the work he did in fixing up my bathroom!!!!  It was a pitiful sight to be honest!  It still needs to be painted, but it has been on the bottom rung of our priority list.  Grampy also weed-wack'd the fence around our yard/garden.  They had brought up a old lawn mower that our nephew had upgraded from, and we now have their old mower.  Giz decided to mow a little section of our yard to make sure it was running good---it was!  It is nice to have a back-up mower!

Giz painted our Rec Room with Kilz, and finished the last of that job--sealing those walls, so we could paint the room a comfy green color.  After we returned home, Giz and Grampy took Dd to the paint store and bought us two gallons of the green that Dd liked.  Then they started painting!  I was very happy to join in!

The Rec Room has two doors that go out to the pool--these wood doors and the 'jam' are beyond decaying and need replacing.  Grampy told Dh that we need to replace those two doors BEFORE we put in the flooring...ugh!  We were hoping to put in the floor soon!  We will do our best to start working on the Rec Room now that the chicken coop is winding down.   

Dh and Grampy made the roost and two ramps together.

After we returned from our trip, Grampy and Dh got right to work on the finishing touches of the chicken coop.  They build a ROOST and ramps for going up and out of the inside and another one to go from the outside back inside.  They did a lot of little steps like that---putting the door frame and door up that allows me to walk in to collect eggs (once they start laying!).  This door is inside the barn, to go inside the coop "room."  They worked hard for a few days getting all the little things done.

I'll put in the bits of lessons we accomplished this week here:

Bible:

Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris

(we are purposefully reading this slowly--highly recommend)

Sonlight Read Aloud:

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin: COMPLETED

We listened to this on audio a few years ago, Dd didn't remember, but I did.  I enjoyed reading it much better than the audio, on this one book, since I could reread the clues and gleen more from it this way.  Such a fun book!!!

Sonlight (SL) History:

The Kingfisher History Encylopedia

(last week I wrote down the wrong pages for Dd to read, so this week I had to give her twice the work...oops!)

SL History:

Story of the World: Middle Ages:

Ch. 28 & 29

SL History Reader:

Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska: In Process

The tripod set up Dd has been using to cook outside.

Music:

Violin Lesson with Mrs. Reed: 45 minutes

Violin practice: 2:05 hours this week

Alto & Baritone Sax: 4:15 hours this week

Piano Lesson with Mrs. March: 30 min.

Piano practice: 3:15 hours this week

Fun Reading:

All's Quiet on the Western Front: in process

A Whole New World, A Twisted Tale of Aladin by Liz Braswell

: in process

Niagara Falls Highlights for Dd:

• Performed in the Canada Day parade on July 1st, 2016
• Rode the "Great Lakes Tour Bus" to Ontario and back
• Watched The War Room movie on bus (third viewing!)
• Stayed at the Fallsview Hilton hotel for 2 days, one night
• "Hornblower" Niagara Cruise  https://www.niagaracruises.com/tour-options  
• "Journey Behind the Falls" Tour
• Skylon Tower Dinner--observation deck
• Ferris Wheel (think mini London Eye) ride over the city
• Aero Whirlpool Car / Cable Car ride/tour
• Whirlpool Boardwalk
• Swam in the pool at Fallsview Hilton
• Rode the "WeGo" bus around town
• and got to eat out a lot!

Dh and I didn't do most of those things, though we did do the Hornblower Cruise, Journey Behind the Falls, and WeGo bus.  It was very stressful trying to meet them places or missing them at other locations...  If we could do it over, I would have gone on the bus with them and not tried to follow behind.  There was not enough communication to know where they were going, when they were going....etc. It was frustrating, and our cell phones were very spotty there, usually not working.  Dd had a blast--so that was good, but Dh and I had to drive through the night the first night, and so decided to leave early the last day so we wouldn't have to drive through the night again.  She made lots of video's of her trip and enjoyed getting to know more of the girls in the band and color guard that she hadn't met before.  The parade was very interesting to see.  The town/city was extremely "tourist-y" and super, super expensive.  We had brought her to the New York / American side of Niagara Falls when she was a baby, so now, I think, we can check that attraction off our lists! I have a post behind this one, that I did a few days ago, that are some of the pictures that I took.  Dd took a lot more pictures than I did, but I just put up a few to share.

Garden Pictures:

Raised Bed #1:


Raised Bed #2:


Raised Bed #3:


Raised Bed #4:



Raised Bed #5:


Side Garden (asparagus, lettuce, blackberries, strawberries, various herbs, Lambs Ear, Coneflowers...)

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Marching Band CANADA DAY Parade July 1, 2016

 Marching Band 

CANADA DAY Parade 

July 1, 2016

The NLHMB was invited to perform in the Canada Day parade in Niagara Falls, Ontario on July 1st.  It was very interesting to see how Canada's parade's were very much like how we do them too.  They didn't have any patriotic songs in the beginning, anthems or the like, they didn't have any horses, tractors, or animals.  I don't think there were any old cars either...but, very similar!

This was a very musical parade, they had two different bag-pipe bands, and numerous other adult musical/band groups.  Our band was the only band of younger students.

Here is our band coming through---the first line of our band, our banner that says they are the Northern Lights Homeschool Marching Band.

Then came the color guard.  Since this trip was about seven hours away, we had quite a few missing people.

You can see our Drum Majors leading the band with their cool white feathered hats, at the very left of the photo.

It was so packed that I struggled to get a few good pictures.  It has been raining on us all the time up to the parade starting.  I think they waited for the rain to stop before they started the parade.  Many of our instruments can't get wet, so we were very fortunate to have the weather come around for us in time.

After the color guard they have about ten rows of brass, woodwinds, etc. then the percussion, then another ten rows of brass, woodwinds, etc. then the rear flag bearers.  Last week, Dd was in the front section with her sax, in front of the loud percussion section.  This week we was behind the percussion in the second group of sax's.  She said it was so much quieter in the back!  I'd imagine so!

All the light green t-shirts are people supporting our band--family members most likely.  We forgot our band t-shirts and blended into the crowd.

They are a really big band--over 200 kids, of ALL ages!  Playing side by side, learning together like a big family.  I really like how they all co-mingle and get along.

These are the two buses that the band, and some parents, rode on.  They had one bus for 'girls' and one bus for 'boys,' though parents were mixed in both.  I thought that was a pretty smart idea!

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