Speaking of Flintknapping...

...yeah,
we've been doing some...


When we got the stuff in the mail last year, we were all laughing at the warning labels all over the box and the inner wrappings. In all fairness, though, they were right. It really is sharp stuff... just ask Drew. I thought he was going to need some stitches the other day when he sliced his thumb on a shard of flint. Lots of blood. He's fine, though. Lesson Learned!

South Shore Science Center 11/18/09

As always, the kids loved looking at all the arrowheads. What was really cool to me was hearing them identifying the different kinds of stone and comparing them to the stones we have at home for when we do flintknapping. Like the obsidian..."you know, the one that comes from lava."

Declan thought this guy was pretty cool...

Drue and Maeve really didn't ~ which is why I will never understand why Drue asked me to take this...

His paws were enormous.

I thought the skeletons were so cool.

Oh... the fossils, too.

They had a great exhibit with 10 different birds and 10 different nests to match up. The Hummingbird nest was so tiny compared to the others. It is the one labeled G in the next photo...

On the way home we saw a Hawk in what we thought to be a very unusual place...



Of course I stopped to take pictures! The man who worked there said the Hawk hangs out there. Very cool.

Homemade kites...

This was, by far, our most successful kite making endeavor yet. Drue and Drew made a box kite together last night. This morning Drue helped Declan make one, too. Maeve went with the more traditional diamond shaped kite. All three flew awesome.

We're thinking a homemade kite party sometime next spring sounds good!

Brick by Brick

Last year the kids got an awesome brick building set ~ which was never used!
Until today, that is...



It's a great kit with reusable bricks and lots of extra cement. I can see hours of fun on the horizon.

The doings report

After identifying and removing this bug for me, Declan declared that he would like to be an exterminator. I believe he would be a humane one... merely relocating the bugs to their natural habitat!
Perhaps inspired by her brother's nature loving, Maeve decided to spend some good quality time with Spots. He is such a gentle creature. A great pet, indeed.

Washing dishes proved so fun for her that Maeve asked Drew to get her some clean ones to wash, too ;-)

Some of my favorite times are the ones when the three kids are all doing something on their own. Dish washing, computer play, and craziness, for example...

(I really wish I knew what Drue was so excited about)!

At some point, Drue decided to make scrolls with secret codes on them for the three kids. Very cool stuff, that.

There has been Wii.

(Would you look at her form...)

In keeping with All Things Yugioh, Declan made a dueling arena out of legos...

(Please ignore the thoroughly disgusting green base)

Today, upon arriving home from an errand, I was met by three extremely excited kids. They had made me something special while I was gone...

How did I ever get so lucky?

VOTE!!!

Three of my favorite blogs have been nominated for the 2009 Homeschool Blog Awards.

Idzie's blog is up for the Best Teen Girl Blog,
Eli's blog is up for Best Current Events, Opinions or Politics,
and Stephanie is up for Best Unschooling Blog.

These three blogs are always on my blog roll. I read them every day.
Wanna vote? Go here...

I have met Idzie and Eli irl... and someday I hope to hang with Stephanie, too ;-)

Good Luck, friends! You deserve some blog love!

Old Sturbridge Village :: Part 2

On Wednesday, we joined some of our favorite people at OSV's homeschool day. The kids had never been before, and I cannot remember the last time I had been. Drew really wanted to join us, but just couldn't make it work this time.

Declan loved the tavern. He was taken with the fact that they had games in the tables. After playing checkers with Maeve, he showed Kaya how to play. (Although it seemed to be his own version that he showed him.)


The maps were a huge hit! There were just enough turns and buildings to make getting from one side of the village to the other an adventure!



Drue was really looking forward to meeting the calf at the farm...


And I was looking forward to seeing the pigs! A nice villager brought a basket of apples over and asked the kids if they would like to feed them to the pigs. I love the faces as they throw the apples over the fence!


We met the village cooper...

and the farmers wife...


And we met the village blacksmith. He was my favorite!
He was very interactive with the crowd. He even had one of the teens come in and help him hammer a Mulling Iron.

Let take a minute to talk Mulling Irons. How cool are they?
An iron rod that the wife would put in the fire in the morning and then use to heat drinks later in the day. Genious?
Could we get a demonstration, perhaps?

SO COOL!

Moving along...
there was candle dipping,

and making candle holders out of tin...

Declan thought he would like to live like this. He wants to make a lot of the things he saw there.
I think he and Drew would have enjoyed a life like this.

I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't set up like an actual day in the village. I was expecting farming, villagers, shoppers in the store, etc. There were very few villagers around, and only one in the various buildings. It was still an amazing day... just a little bit different than what I was expecting.

Next time we want to see the potter, the cobbler, the school...
everything we missed!