POW WOW

What fun we had today at the Native American Pow Wow in Prescott. Kayla had just finished reading one of her "Magic Tree House" books about the first Thanksgiving and Squanto. I guess us "adults" don't always think of these things but she asked me ................ "Are Indians still around?" As if they were dinosaurs and extinct. So, how perfect that the pow wow was this weekend and the girls got to see "real indians" in their traditional clothing. They blessed the ground and did sacred dances.

Most important to them was the HUGE Tee Pee. Inside was where the children learned about native american culture. They got a taste of the sweet and yummy fire roasted corn on the cob and it was a first for them to have indian fried bread.

Here is a short video clip of the gourd dancers drumming/honoring the Native American Military Veterans.

We ended the day with a verification that "yes, indians are still around".

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day is always a tough one to figure out for us. The kids love their dad and want to do something for him .......... but what?


This year I found a great idea in a magazine that the kids can do and get a laugh out of it as well. What child doesn't like to bake and especially a "SURPRISE" for dad?

What is a dads most prized possession? Our dads is the T.V. remote control.

So, he got a T.V. remote cake to match his very own.
The girls laughed while making it and were so excited to give it to dad in the end.

Learning a little about HISTORY

This past weekend Tom and I took the girls to the 35th annual Folk Arts Fair at the historical Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott.

What fun we had! We first learned a little about candle making and the girls made their very own candle through the dipping process.

Then they stopped at the Arizona Rough Riders "A" Troop Encampment. Here they learned about the tents and camp set up that the toops spent the night in. And in fact the night prior a couple of the troop volunteers stayed the night in the tentts and were busy chasing off some Raccoons for most of their night.

The Fremont House was a nice tour as John C. Fremont who was Arizona's first territorial governor. He lived in this house while he was Governor. The interesting thing about the house was that there was a exit door in every room. People belived he was afraid of fire and wanted to make sure he could get out. The girls were grossed out about the "Chamber Pots" in each room. As those were used at night to go potty in since there was no bathroom in the house. The following morning they were emptied in the out house.

They got to try out a little "tin punching" as tin was used as decoration in the doors of furniture but the purpose was for better air circulation.

The children didn't have Toys R Us to go get their dolls. So they were creative and soaked corn husks for hours and used them along with string to create "corn husk dolls". So, Kayla and Shae got to experience that process as well with our help. They had to dry overnight to harden to stay in their positions and they are now ready to put a face and clothes on.

On the way to the Governor's Mansion Shae did a little gold panning and could of stay there all afternoon. She

managed to find a few flecks of gold. Unfortuantely, not enough for college tuition. In the mansion was a museum of old safes, guns, clothes, a piano and much more. The girls really enjoyed the "hang crank" movie.

Then on to the rug making. The girls first got to see the sheep being sheered and then teeh ladies were at their spinning wheels spinning the wool into yard. The girls got to weave their very own tiny run with yarn. That took quite a while and they could not imagine making a large one.

We enjoyed a nice Bar B Q lunch and then headed over to the wood carving and walked thru the rose garden to the Ranch House and learned a little Living History. Here we learned about the kitchens and how having a stove was precious and it was considered a luxury to have one. The kids tended to the gardens and the more children the better as they were very much needed and a huge help within the family dynamics. They also learned about the fancy hats that the ladies worn for all different occasions and the process of how they made them is still used today.

We listened to some great music from live folk bands and headed over to the butter churning and watched ladies make Biscuits in the Dutch-Oven. The old Print Shop was neat to see as well as a "real" Blacksmith working making a hook and horse shoe.

It is just amazing how they did things in the past and how technology has changed our world. Some for the good and some for the bad. But what we learned most was that things always go back to the "way things used to be".

Prescott is pronounced by most locals as "PRESS-cut" or "PRESS-kit" instead of "press-COT") .

The City is named after author William H. Prescott, whose writings were popular during the Civil War. Here in this picture as he "William H. Prescott" is sitting in the chair in the center.

The end of a long day but well worth the history we learned.

Bottle Cap Snake

This is a super cool project to do with the kids!
Okay, we had seen this wonderful "bottle cap snake" at a reptile class at our local library. It was enough to inspire the girls to make one of their own. They saved lots of bottle caps! They found them in parking lots, parks and pretty much where ever we went. They even got some family and friends and our local mexican burrito shop to save them for us. Finally, we had enough. Infact, we had a total of a little over 400 bottle caps.


First, we took all the bottle caps and punched a hole with a nail and hammer in the center of each one. Then we strung about 140 caps on a wire for each snake (we ended up making 3 snakes).

We then added buttons from larger to smaller at the end for the "rattle" tail.

For the head we took Model Magic Clay that air dries and molded a snake head.

With a piece of the wire we created the facial features and even inserted eyes. The snake took about 3 days to dry but well worth the wait.




Here is our snakes that bend into all shapes and ride on the girls shoudlers as if they were their "real" pet snakes.

REFLECTIONS

This photo says it all! Do we take enough time to reflect? How nice is it to have someone to just talk with about your feelings or just stuff.
It seems that life is so busy with "stuff" that we don't even have a minute to relax and take it all in.
When my nephew came up for a visit he and my 2 daughters played their hearts out and then it was just about time for him to head back home. As the adults were catching up we look outside and notice that the 2 cousins were off on their own and found a spot to sit on the edge of our slope and reflect. How sweet is that! And the perfect place to be sitting ..... looking out at the lightly snow dusted mountains in the distance.
Relfection is important! A huge part of our lives. I look back into my life and it is hard for me to think about. But I have learned from that child hood and how I want to raise my children differently. I reflect back to sadness and loneliness. I am so happy to see my children being just "them" ~ free, happy, creative, relaxed, thoughful, thankful, adventurous, smart, artistic, funny and who enjoy life and love living.

Human beings have a natural need to reflect on past experiences, to work through the feelings associated with those experiences. Without an outlet, our thoughts tend to become distorted by frustration, emotional overload and burnout. Reflection allows us to turn inward to evaluate, challenge, ponder, and question ourselves and the world around us. Reflection is the critical element that will help individuals to learn from their experiences, on both an emotional and intellectual level.

The Love of Irish Dancing

We have recently started to learn Irish dancing and love it. We have been so lucky to come across Sister Anne at Sacred Heart. She was born in Ireland and is the ripe age of 71. Sister Anne has been Irish dancing since she was 6 years of age. She now volunteers her time along with a friend and teaches children Irish dancing each week. Even though there are dance studios in our small town ... you won't find Irish dancing in one.

Each week the children and most of them are schooled at home arrive at 4pm ready to learn this interesting dancing method of dances that are characterized by quick, intricate movements of the feet.

We have had so much fun learning the "Reel" and "Jig". We were also fortunate to be able to do community service and perform at several nursing homes around town and at the Knights of Columbus dinner at Sacred Heart for St. Patricks Day. March is Irish dancing's busiet time of year.

Since we are not a formal dance studio and dance for recreation not competition we do not wear the beautiful fancy Irish costumes. We still try to represent the Irish culture by wearing traditional plaid pleated skirts and white shirts with knee high socks.

My girls are 5 and 7 years old and have fallen in love with Irishing dancing. All day long they hop around the house practicing their footwork. My 7 year old wants to catch up with the "big girls " who are in the intermediate and masters class. These girls wear the hard soled shoes and are taught by a gentleman who also volunteers his time. He was a competitive Irish dancer and is sharing his expertise and talent with the dancers who have mastered the 1,2,3's and hops.

This is a short video clips I took of the girls dancing the "Walls of Limerick".

This is a fascinating story of kids being taught Irish dancing in the Bronx.

Don't miss this New York Times article on the Keltic Dreams troupe of Irish Dancers - mostly of Hispanic or African American cultures themselves - being taught in the Bronx by Irish native Caroline Duggan. The accompanying video will nearly bring you to tears, and the stories of what these kids have had to go through to participate in the program and ultimately their journey to Ireland are something to remember.
For more about the group, shown in the photo above, go their Web site.

At Last a Homeschooling Room

Do we all need a homeschooling room? No, we don't but it sure is nice to have.

I have been wanting to create one but have never gotten around to it and finally I did. Since I have 2 girls it was easy to leave it the color it presently was (light pink with girls accents).
Ikea has some inexpensive products for projects like this. I put their Ikea desk along one wall that they share since it is rather large with each of them on either side. Each child has their own craft supply container full of glue, scissors, stickers and more. On the wall above them is a shelf with a magnet strip from Ikea along the bottom for them to hang whatever they want on it. The bookshelf next to the closet in this photo has books organized by level 1, level 2 , level 3 readers along with chapter books and board books on the bottom shelf. This bookshelf is also the home of their 5 baby snails.

Also from Ikea is a 3 drawer table that each child has as a storage for their pencil boxes, note book paper pads and special items. On top of this is all the informational learning books for reference including art/drawing books, animals encyclopedias, weather, pioneers and more. At the end of the desk is a night stand for the "library only" books.


Since converting this room took away a guest sleeping area I took an extra twin futon that I had and folded it up in the corner as a reading lounge. It will act as both a reading comfy lounge and a twin bed when rarely needed for company. I covered it in a pretty purple throw to go along with the room theme (girly).
Next to the reading corner is the music instruments that the girls are learning to play along with a microphone that is real and hooks up to the electric guitar amp. They hang out on the lounge and practice guitar and make up songs weekly.



I too wanted a space for me to work on some of my projects such as sewing and scrap booking so I bought a 78"x 23" desk top at Ikea and it fits nicely along the one wall. Love it! I can work on things while the girls are working quietly on school work. Above my desk I hung a white shelf that I have a large dry erase calendar on and the girls like to use that shelf to display the monthly holidays and theme.


Luckily my mother in law had given me a large chalk board from Pottery Barn so finally it is up on the wall and being put to use. The girls like to write out their math problems on it. I myself like using a dry erase board so I picked one up at Staples and love that as well! It too has a magnet strip along the bottom and we hang art work that needs drying on it.



I utilized the silding closets doors as a display of their artwork and they proudly like to see them up on display. I use various art projects from "All Things I Can Do" art book and since I am a crafty person I have my own crafts as well.

My biggest problem was a place to keep their board games, play dough, moon sand, science kits, craft supplies and puzzles. There was wasted corner space in the closet that goes beyond the sliding doors. I went to Home Depot and had them pre cut wire shelves for me and I hung them up and everything is now in order. I use the already present clothes shelves for their school books.
At this point in time I am using Calvert curriculum thru Connections Academy and love it. Having internet access to Brainpopjr.com and Headsprouts.com has been a wonderful supplement to our curriculum. I am currently trying out Professor B's Power Mathematics which is a very interesting power point presentation which makes me an excellent teacher in knowing different ways to show the children how to get an answer to a problem. I was brought up in the public school system only knowing one way to get the answer to a problem but there is definately more than one way and each child learns differently so I look at other options of presenting to them as well.

So, there you have it. My homeschool room completed! I hope this gives you ideas and inspires you to create a space of your own if you can.