Monday Memory: Gardening

I'm not sure if "gardening" is really the right term for this post. I really mean "flower gardening" as opposed to "vegetable gardening." But anyway. The past several days I've been working in our flower beds, clearing out leaves, snipping stems, and planting a little. And as always, I've been doing a lot of dreaming about what our flowerbeds could look like if we had lots of extra money.

My love for flower gardening is no doubt genetic and was well nurtured in my childhood. The love of soil runs deep in my genes, from six generations of fruit orchards on my father's side (and continuing still to my brothers) to my mother's careful and prolific cuttings. There have always been abundant flowers in my life. It was only natural that, when Dr. H. and I married, that I would plant a patch wherever we were. The picture above is of our apartment on Poplar Street in Johnson City, Tennessee. I'm pretty sure that the first thing I did when we moved there was to plant flowers there in the front. We lived there two years, and I remember the thrill of planting my little strip of impatiens and begonias each year.

Later we moved to Oxford, Ohio, where we had but a pot of impatiens outside our tiny apartment. And then to Ames, Iowa, where we turned a patch of weeds around our house into the most luscious flowerbeds I've had yet. That Iowa soil is truly amazing.

And then back to Tennessee. One of the things that I fell in love with when we saw this house where we live now was the flowerbeds. The former owners had some nice landscaping done, including two huge but practically empty flowerbeds. One had several gorgeous azaleas, and the other contained all kinds of lilies. I saw tremendous potential. In the nine years we've lived here, I've added a little every year. It's hard work, but I love it most days. My kids are fantastic sidekicks, and I hope I am giving the gift of flower gardening to them as my parents did for me.

So, I'm thinking of doing a Mr. Linky on my Monday Memories. Would any of my readers participate if I did so, or would I look like a big loser with one participant if I did this? Do you have memories that you might be inclined to share with more of a motivation?

Earth Round Up

What a fantastic day we had for our county's annual Earth Round-up. Our American Heritage Girls (and my one little Cub Scout) were assigned a 2.5 mile stretch of the bike trail in Townsend, from the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountain Nat'l Park to the Townsend Visitors' Center. We divided up, and some older girls started from the other end while we started at the other end. We only had about 10 people come out to help, but that was plenty to clean up this section of the trail.

The worst section of the trail was by a church. The trail and grassy area on both sides of the trail were littered with refuse from the church's little cemetery: plastic flowers and greenery galore and a couple of entire plastic floral arrangements. How embarrassing that the church can't clean up after itself.

As I pondered this, I thought about all the snarky comments this week on Facebook and on blogs concerning Earth Day. Apparently, Earth Day is looked down upon by many Christians. Sneered at, even. That puzzles me. Why would we not want to keep our world beautiful? Why would we not participate in a nation-wide event that promotes a cleaner world? I can't help but blush, begging the unbelievers to realize that not all Christians are so sanctimonious. Praying that a soul close to the Truth isn't turned away because he met a Christian who is more concerned with defending a 6-day creation than keeping God's creation beautiful.

So anyway, after we picked up a few bags of litter along our trail, we had a picnic on the Little River. We were all hot and sweaty, and the river was blissfully freezing.

Duncan, of course, had to get in anyway. He really wanted to take the plunge, but he could only get the courage up to go up to his waist.


A perfect way to spend a warm Saturday: blue skies, big smiles, surrounded by mountains, and a cold river to refresh.

Friday Rambling

* We seem to be coming into a new season here in SmallWorld: Friday nights out. Not us; we're at home with our youngest. But more and more lately, our high-schooler and our middle-schooler are away on Friday nights. He's off to concerts and movies, and she's having more and more sleepovers to go to. It's an odd feeling to be home with just one, but I'm glad for our youngest. He's finally getting a bit of one-on-one attention. Of course like any third or subsequent child, he's asking about his siblings, wondering if he should save some ice cream for them, etc. He just can't quite revel in being the only.

If I think about it too much, I could get awfully melancholy about this season seemingly coming so soon. I could think about how quiet the house is with just one and ponder what it will be like to have a big house and no little people running about. But I think I'll just enjoy the sounds of Dr. H. reading to Duncan, and send a few prayers of protection around my others.

* Big news around here today: Jesse got the official word that his Eagle Scout project has been approved, and he can begin work on it! He and his fellow scouts will be tearing down an old fence at a local state historic site, the Sam Houston Schoolhouse, and replacing it with a new fence. Ten years of Scouting is close to coming to an end for our oldest, and if everything goes well, he'll be the first Eagle Scout in our family since my Dad achieved the rank over 65 years ago. I'm looking forward to my father being part of the ceremony next fall.

* Laurel and I have breezed through 22 math lessons in 4 days while Duncan has been at Montessori day camp. I'm thinking maybe I should send each of the kids to their grandparent's for 2 weeks at a time, and I could get 3-months' worth of school done with each of them in 14 days!

* Our last regular American Heritage Girls meeting of the year was yesterday. April comes in with such a flurry of activity as we finish our final badges, get service hours turned in, do our Boards of Review, place our gigantic badge and pin order to the national office, and then…it's all over so quietly. We still have our awards ceremony coming up, a Memorial Day service, our 3-day summer camp, and a Flag Day parade, but we can take a few deep breaths now anyway.

* And now I'm off to enjoy this quiet evening, watching the white petals of the dogwoods glow softly and smelling honeysuckle drift in the open windows. Life is good.

Three Beautiful Things: Check Mark, Exercise, Color

Beauty is not in the face;
beauty is a light in the heart.
~Kahlil Gibran

1. Big Check Mark: Last night one of those big events happened: our support group's annual Homeschooling 101. Preparing for such an event is both physically and mentally exhausting, and I'm always so happy to check something so big off my to-do list! I love Homeschooling 101, though. I love looking out at the hopeful faces, seeing people laugh and become enthusiastic about homeschooling as they realize that they really can do it.

2. Exercise: My daughter has become my new exercise companion. This morning we had a fantastic walk/run (me) and bike ride (her). I will miss her little girl ways, but it sure is fun having an almost-12-year-old girl.

3. Color: My yard is the most beautiful palette of color right now. Purple columbines; white and pink dogwoods; white lilies-of-the-valley; purple irises; orange marigolds; and red, purple, white, and pink azaleas, all set against the greenest grass we've had in years.

What beautiful things are in your world today?

SmallWorld's WordSmithery Week 6: Alliteration and Spring Flowers (or Fall Leaves)

Welcome back to the WordSmithery! If you are brand new here, I recommend that you go back and start at the beginning. My goal with the WordSmithery is to make creative writing exciting for writers of all ages. Here's what we've covered so far:
Lesson #1: Introduction and Journals
Lesson #2: Introduction to Creative Writing, Featuring Good Words
Lesson #3: Using Powerful Words to Create More Interesting Writing
Lesson #4: Similes
Lesson #5: Metaphors and Strong Verbs

I have a new feature since our last lesson: Share Your Writing! This is a place for you to share your kids' writing and to read other kids' writing to your own children. I encourage you to share there or link back to your own blog. My kids love to read what your kids have written!

And now for Lesson #6: Alliteration and Spring Flowers (or Fall Leaves) Poetry. As always, this lesson is loosely scripted. You might eliminate some things or add others as you go.

As you know if you are a regular here, I try to put the "speaking" parts in regular type and the answers in italics. And remember: parents/teacher: you should be doing the assignments, too! Here we go!

Alliteration and Spring Flowers (or Fall Leaves) Poetry

(Note: if you don't go through your journal assignments from the previous lesson on a regular basis, this is the time to share your journals! Remember: we only use encouraging words!)

I. Alliteration
We’ve talked about a lot of different tools that writers use in the past few lessons: adjectives, synonyms, similes, metaphors, strong verbs. Here’s a new one for you today:
A. Alliteration: What is alliteration? (Answer: When words start with the same sound in a sentence.)
1. Example: The shining sun shone on the silent seashore.
2. Tongue twisters are usually alliteration. What are some examples of tongue twisters? (Here are some examples. Take plenty of time to let the kids say these; this is fun stuff!)

• Six sick slick slim sycamore saplings.
• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
• A big black bug bit a big black bear,
made the big black bear bleed blood.
• Friendly Frank flips fine flapjacks.

B. Now let's practice our own alliteration. I’ll start and you'll add on, and we'll see how far we can go building on a sentence. (Example: start with the word "very" and have each child add on a word. Keep going until you have at least 4-5 words. Very victoriously, Valerie vaulted.)
1. Fat 2. sneaky 3. Wanda 4. tornado

C. Individual activity: Let’s practice some alliterative sentences. I will give each of you one word, and you must add on to it. You should start each word with the same sound but you can add words likes to, on, in, a, the, etc. (You can choose your own words or here are some good ones: banana giraffe muddy concrete ship thistle neighbor) Share after they've had a chance to do this.

D. Remember, alliteration is just another tool that writers use—another way to make your writing interesting. That doesn't mean you always have to use alliteration, but making careful choices with words turns mediocre writing into exciting writing!

II. Spring Flower Poems (note: you can change this to fall leaf poems or even snowflake poems depending on the season)
[Note: This project could require some preparation on your part, depending on how you do this. You could use construction paper for each child as a background and then cut out flower petals (or leaves or snowflakes) and glue onto a flower stalk, or you could just draw or have your kids draw a simple flower—with room for writing—on paper. I like the look of the construction paper flowers the best, but see below for an example of one done on regular paper. The flower centers were done in a Word doc and the petals were added by hand.]
A. Now we are going to have a chance to make some beautiful spring (fall/winter) poems. I’m giving you each a sheet of paper with two flowers (leaves/snowflakes) on it. On one flower (leaf/snowflake), write something with alliteration about spring or flowers. Let’s work on some examples, and you can put these words together. (Brainstorm together about flowers and spring, spring colors, types of flowers, etc. (or leaves and fall, autumn, red, orange).

B. With the other flower (leaf), I’d like you to write a simile about spring (fall) or about a flower in each petal and then do another poem in the middle. Let’s brainstorm. Here are some examples you might finish: The flower is pink _________ ( as bubblegum.) The flower flutters like a butterfly. Spring smells like_________ (candy) and tastes like (cheesecake)

(At this point, let the kids take off with their own creativity. They can even write adjectives or snippets of poetry on the stems and leaves, or make clouds in the sky and use alliteration, etc. The possibilities are endless!)



That's it for this week's lesson! See below for the weekly journal writings!

Weekly Journal Writings

Day 1
Practice alliteration (same starting sounds) with these words:
• flowers
• candy
• dinosaur

[For example: Phillip gave fifteen floppy flowers to Felicia.]

Day 2
Pick one friend or family member and describe him/her using only the first letter of his/her name.

[For example, Tracy: titillating, tough, terrific, teasing, etc.]

Day 3
Draw and describe an imaginary pet that you would like (or not like) to have.


Day 4
Write about where you would go in a time machine.

Day 5
Describe today’s weather using strong, exciting verbs and adjectives.

**********

Missed the previous weeks? Click on the links below for the whole WordSmithery experience!
Lesson #1: Introduction and Journals
Lesson #2: Introduction to Creative Writing, Featuring Good Words
Lesson #3: Using Powerful Words to Create More Interesting Writing
Lesson #4: Similes
Lesson #5: Metaphors and Strong Verbs

And don't forget to Share Your Writing! Also, I like link love. If you are using WordSmithery and have a blog, please take a minute copy the WordSmithery logo on my sidebar and point your readers to my blog!


All material on the page copyright 2009-10, Sarah Small.

Heading out to the Prom

Our Daily Wildlife

If you follow me on Facebook, you know that we've been having some odd wildlife encounters lately. To set the scene a bit, I need to say that we live on a rather busy street, across from a golf course and just 2 minutes from the closest Super Walmart. We're not exactly in the country. But I've been feeling lately like a country wife with a barn full of mice and a field full of critters.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when the cat found a little skink in our bedroom. You know, skinks are pretty cute outside hanging out on rocks, but frankly the thought of a skink scurrying around under my bed just disturbs me greatly.

A couple of days later, we looked out the back door and saw a headless squirrel: the first hunting trophy of our half-grown cat. That thing was nearly as big as the kitten himself! And about that same time, my friend Donna, while waiting for me in our driveway one afternoon, watched a 'possum climb a tree outside our kitchen window.

I have a thing about 'possums. I understand that I'm supposed to think they are cute. I've gone to all kinds of wildlife programs that include rescued 'possums and "aren't they just the cutest things?"

No. I cannot find even one thing that is cute about a 'possum. They look like big fat rats.

So a few days ago, as Laurel and I were finishing math, we looked out the door and saw our Mighty Hunter with a very large mouse in his mouth. Once he had our attention, he tossed it up in the air and caught it a few times, did a few victory somersaults with it, and then deposited it on the welcome mat. "That sure is a big mouse," said Laurel. I was thinking, "Gosh, that almost looks like rat, but not quite." Then it dawned on us: it was a baby 'possum!

We both screamed. I don't know why. I am the kind of person who screams at mice. I've even been known to stand on a chair and scream. I wish I could claim to be a snake-loving, rodent-loving woman, but I just can't help myself. I scream at dead baby 'possums. And then I wait for my husband to come home and take it off the welcome mat.

But we're not done with 'possums yet. Perhaps they aren't very bright critters, but this evening the dog began barking hysterically. Sure enough, out the back door was another baby 'possum, this one heading straight for the house. And then, of all things, the dang 'possum perches itself right at the dining room window, in the exact place that our cats sit when they want to come in the house. Can it not smell danger? Can it not smell all kinds of hungry non-woodland creatures just looking for sport?

It just sat there at the screen, looking at it with its beady black eyes. Looking almost cute. Until it started climbing up the screen. Do you see that tail and that twitchy nose? I'm quickly thinking: "Do we have any holes in the screen? Could this 'possum GET IN THE HOUSE?" I didn't scream screamed just a little. My daughter calmly grabbed the camera. She knows a blog-worthy moment.



Meanwhile, the Mighty Hunter waits.

Living Lovely with Family

Today's Living Lovely with Family at Mt. Hope Chronicles asked for ways we celebrate milestones: "achievements, graduations, birthdays…how do you mark milestones with your children?"

Achievements: We don't do much except verbally congratulate our kids. We've never been much into rewarding them with "things" for jobs well done. Most of the time, it seems that the achievement itself is enough for our kids. For example, our daughter will be moving from one level in American Heritage Girls to the next level in a few weeks. Her celebration will be walking under the archway, having her vest taken off by us, and having the next level girls put on her sash. Then again, our oldest son will be getting his Eagle Scout next fall. That will be an achievement we mark with a ceremony and reception completely focused on him. But we haven't reached that milestone quite yet...

Graduations: Here in the South, we have kindergarten graduations. I'd never heard of such a thing until I moved here and I did roll my eyes secretly when I heard of such a thing, but I have to admit it's really sweet. Our homeschooling support group has a fantastic graduation ceremony each year. The picture above is from Duncan's two years ago. And next year we'll graduate our first high schooler! I have no idea how we'll celebrate that milestone. Where I grew up in upstate New York, graduation parties were the thing. It was unbelievable. Pretty much every weekend of the summer, someone was having a graduation party. These were huge parties with the big white tent and huge amounts of food—and were basically open to anyone who even remotely knew the graduate. (Of course at a small school, everone knows everyone anyway.) Those were awesome parties. I believe it's customary here to do something on a much smaller scale. I'll be looking into that.

Birthdays: First of all, we do not do school on birthdays. That's a big celebration. And we have one very important tradition. On the night before the birthday, Randy and I print out about a dozen of the birthday child's new age (16 was the most recent) in big, colorful numbers and tape them all over the house. This started sometime when our oldest was little, and we can't seem to stop. Even right now there are a few "16s" left around from Jesse's birthday 3 weeks ago. It's a common in March, August, and December for visitors to ask: "Why are there numbers all over your house?" Another birthday tradition is to take the birthday person out to dinner at his/her favorite restaurant. Since we rarely eat out, this is a huge treat for everyone. And of course I make a cake and the kids usually have a friend party.

And that's seriously about it. I lack a certain amount of sentimentality about milestones, I suppose. I don't get all teary-eyed at "significant" birthdays, and we're just not into rewarding our kids materially for every achievement. We think they're great; we tell them we think they're great; and most importantly, they know we think they're great.

Easter Sunday: A Green Day, Filled with Flowers and Frolicking

A little madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King,
But God be with the Clown,
Who ponders this tremendous scene
This whole experiment of green,
As if it were his own!
~Emily Dickinson

Rainforest Lapbooks

We've been thoroughly immersed in slavery and Civil War these past few months, so the kids requested that we add in a unit study for a little levity. We settled on a rainforest theme, and we've had a blast these past several weeks.

I used two primary sources for ideas and templates for the lapbooks, and some the kids created on their own. Jimmie's Rainforest Lapbook, like all of Jimmie's lapbooks, is phenomenal. She has loads of fantastic resources and photos on this site. Homeschool Share has a fantastic literature-based study of The Kapok Tree, including lots of great templates. Our lapbooks were not as detailed nor as complex as the two above, but we had all had enough of the rainforest and were satisfied with the study.

Our resources included:
Videos:
Zoo Life with Jack Hanna: Wonders of the Rainforest
National Geographic: Wacky Rainforest
Animals of the Amazon (Coyote Creek Animal Safari with Karla Majewski)—kids loved this
Magic School Bus: In the Rainforest

Story Books
The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry*****
The Umbrella by Jan Brett
"Slowly, Slowly, Slowly," said the Sloth by Eric Carle

Non-fiction
The Giant Book of the Jungle*****
A Walk Through a Rain Forest by David and Mark Jenike
Jungles (Usborne)
Usborne Discovery Snakes (internet linked)
Usborne Rainforest Wildlife

*****There are bazillions of books out there about the jungle. We just used the guidebooks we had at home and the few story books from the library. If I could only use two books, however, these two would suffice!

Since we couldn't go to Papua New Guinea, we settled for taking a field trip to the nearby Rainforest Adventure in Sevierville.

We rarely do a lapbook as our "main" course. Lapbooking for us is usually a way to get in a little extra science or to make a complicated subject come to life. Lapbooking is a fantastic way to make a unit study more memorable. If you have no idea how to start, check out my Lapbooking Resources post. I am by no means a lapbooking expert, but I can point you in the direction of a few!