Gardens, Hawks, and Baby Birds

Yesterday I put in my garden. Did I take pictures to show you? No. I forgot my camera, so no pictures. I will try to get some on Sunday though. The garden is just a small plot, about 12X16. It was supposed to be 8X10, but Mr. Nutt bought more plants than I needed and I underestimated the room I needed initially. Mr. Nutt was in rototiller heaven yesterday, enlarging my plot. I’ve got roma tomatoes, blue lake green bush beans, carrots, onions, cucumbers, a couple of red pear tomatoes, broccoli, green pepper, and mint. Yep, mint. I know it takes over wherever you put it, and I’m really hoping I don’t regret putting it in, but it is supposed to fend off aphids and flea beetles, so I thought I’d give it a try. I interspersed it with my tomatoes. I’m also going to plant some sunflowers next to the cukes. so the cukes can vine up them. I tried to keep the garden small, since the Fruit and I are still at the old house. Weeding won’t happen everyday,and I will have to plan my harvest well, so I can get everything put up. It won’t be enough to supply all our veggie needs, but it will help some, I hope.

As Mr. Nutt and I were putting in the garden, we looked up in the sky and saw six hawks circling the fields. I didn’t know that hawks hunted in groups like that. I thought they were territorial. It was so awesome to watch them floating on the air currents, swirling, and at time coming to a complete stop and just hovering in one spot. I never saw any of them move their wings even once. It was quite a majestic sight.

We had a nest under the deck at the back of the house, and I was looking forward to seeing some baby birds this spring. Unfortunately, the wind rattled the nest right of its anchor. I stepped outside shortly after arriving at the house yesterday, and discovered five little babies dead on the cement sidewalk next to their nest. I almost cried. One of them was really tiny, the rest were about three inches long, head and body included. They weren’t very old…just had the beginnings of feathers. I think they were goldfinches, but I’m not positive of that fact. It made me sad for those little babies. F1 told the other kids, “Just think how their Mom feels. That would be like Mom leaving us here to go to the grocery store, and us all standing on the deck and it collapsing. She would come home and find us all smashed on the cement.” They were all pretty sober after that thought!

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Why I homeschool

I usually don’t post these, mostly because there are so many of them, and I try to concentrate on the positive aspects of life. But this, well, I just had to. Fox News Article: Autistic boy voted out of class

And people say that my children would be better off in school?!? That they are not being properly socialized?!? Riiiiiiggghhht…

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Colors of Voices

Did I ever tell you this? I think it is really neat. F1 believes that all voices have colors. Mine seems to be a scarlet purple, lightly stippled black with a brown undertone. Yeah, really! That’s what he says. When he hears a voice (or actually, many different sounds), he not only hears it, but his brain assigns a color to it. I discovered this a couple of years ago, during a conversation about Sonic X characters. Of course, we all wanted to know what color our voices were, and he was amazed to find out that not everyone does this. You know that song by Chris Rice, Smell the Color 9? That’s what I think of whenever seeing voices comes up. When he first told me my color, at about age 11, my voice was simply purple. Now that he has gotten older, there are finer distinctions to his descriptions. Too cool, eh?

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So Sad

This Fox News article is so sad. Steven Curtis Chapman’s five year old daughter, whom he and his wife adopted from China, was hit and killed by an SUV driven by her older brother in the driveway of their home.

Am I the only one who is afraid of this happening? I have seen enough articles about this happening that it really scares me. When I am pulling out of the driveway, and any kids are outside, I am always on the sharp lookout to make sure that no one is anywhere near my vehicle.

The guilt that this boy must be experiencing, and the grief of the entire family, is just heartbreaking. I’ll be praying for them.

Shaohannah’s Hope: Mobilizing the Body of Christ to Care for Orphans is the Chapmans’ website and adoption ministry. I have heard great things about the work they do.

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Bird Notebook

I spent some time last night while nursing F7 making notebook pages to go with our current unit on birds. I had planned to use Apologia’s elementary science curriculum: Zoology 1, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, but Mr. Nutt’s unemployment put a screeching halt to buying any new curriculum. So, I just made up my own stuff, and we’re doing a fairly quick (as in, not a whole year’s worth) of bird stuff. I couldn’t find free bird studies online that I liked, so I thought I’d post my pages here for those of you who like things pretty simple, without tons of activities. These are just the notebook pages and a book list.

thebird
songbirds
peafowl
lifecycle
homes
food
flight
feet
feathers
books-used
birdinglist
beaks
waterbirds

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F3’s Paragraph on the Maoi of Easter Island

Why do the Moai of Easter Island wear pukao? Moai were believed to have powers, but no one believed them to be gods. Sometimes Moai were known as “Aringa Ora”, meaning “Living Faces”. Pukao were cylindrical red stone that the Moai wore on their heads. Many experts believe that pukao were meant to look like hair. By F3

After reading about Stonehenge in Mystery of History, Volume 1, I assigned F1 and F3 to write a paragraph for me about a different megalith. I showed them how to key word outline and use an interesting opener, as well as tie their conclusion to their opening.

F3 chose the Maoi of Easter Island, those giant stone faces that eternally gaze at the sea. She chose her three facts, organized them, and wrote her paragraph this afternoon. I was pretty impressed with it. What do you think?

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Happenings of Late and Lost

We went to “Field Day” yesterday with a new homeschool group. The activities will be closer to us at the new house than our old homeschool group. Although, in all truthfulness, I’m not sure yet whether it will really be the “old” homeschool group. We may utilize both groups in planning our activities.

Anyway, back to Field Day. I was rather concerned. I’m not the most comfortable person in crowds, especially in a park full of people who I would like to make a good impression with, and my seven children present, ready to either make or break that impression for me. Praise the Lord, though. They simply could not have been better behaved. And I started to relax a little. The other ladies were very friendly and I think I made some new future friends. I discovered that a local church that several of the homeschoolers go to has a Royal Rangers program for boys up through age 14, as well as a Bright Stars program for girls, ages 8 through 12. I’m so excited because our old church had a RR program, along with a Missionettes (I think they’ve switched to Bright Stars now), but it was really quite disappointing. Very unorganized, and much like babysitting, rather than a program to help boys and girls grow into men and women. In the late summer, I’m going to look into getting the kids into those programs, if it is okay with the hosting church. We’ll continue going to our new church – I really feel that it is where God wants us right now. Perhaps in the future, we’ll be able to start such programs there, when more kids are there. Right now, though, that would be unfeasible, as my children are the only ones who are consistently there.

Lost. I watch it. I don’t miss it, if I can at all help it. I’m really upset with Grey’s for supplanting Lost this coming week for their two hour eppy. But the next week, the house will be silent for those Lost finale two hours. That’s just the way it’ll have to be. Some theories of mine…if you’re interested. Keep in mind that I haven’t watched the first two seasons, so I’m only informed on them with what I’ve learned on message boards. So, here we go:
Jack and why he is so determined to get back to the island. He promised that he would get everyone off the island. We’ve heard a variation of that promise in plenty of episodes this season, and again this week. He dumped that promise for some reason (to be revealed in two weeks, I hope), and only got himself and five others off. And that is why he has to get back. He, in his desperate hero mentality, needs to keep his promise to get everyone off the island. Just that simple.
Claire: is she dead or alive? I think she is still alive. I think she survived the explosion because the island wanted her too. But it gave her a kind of seeing, similar to Desmond’s future-seeing powers after his explosion experience. That is why she said that she kept seeing things and hearing things. She was seeing not only the physical, but also the spiritual around the island. She said Charlie’s name when she first woke up – my guess, she really saw him. Because of this new knowledge, she willingly left Aaron for Sawyer to keep with him, while she kept Daddy Christian company in the cottage. I don’t think she is dead, just in the know.

That’s all I can think of right now. I know another one was floating around in my brain, but mommyhood has stolen it. It being both the idea and my brain.

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Feet

I love baby feet. They are just so soft and chubby. As the years go by, those cute little baby feet turn into kid feet, thin and spindly. Then they turn into grow-up feet, thin, dry,and spindly. For some reason, even my older fruit (F1 will be thirteen on Monday!), still have cute feet, even though they are thin and spindly. Would you like to see?

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