Vacation - Day #3

LaVerkin Overlook

 Grafton - Utah Ghost Town

 We saw (and tried to catch) tons of blue-tailed skinks, but they were too fast for us. When we got back to our house, Nyah went outside determined to catch a lizard and she did - a yellow-backed spiny lizard.

 Hail, the conquerors!

Vacation - Day #2

Jacob Hamblin Home - even though we were on vacation, we still needed to count things for school for our weekly learning logs so we visited several historical places. 

My parents' old neighborhood in Santa Clara - I was able to talk with one of our neighbors there - Sister Sappington (I can't remember her first name!). It was fun to catch up a little on the neighborhood and what her kids are up to these days. 

 St. George Temple

Driving through our old neighborhood in Hurricane, we stopped at an overlook & monument

Monument

Back to the house to play & swim

Interesting Thinks

How to Get Flat Abs, Have Amazing Sex and Rule the World in 8 Easy Steps @ Huffington Post - not what you may think!

School is no Place for a Reader @ Canadian Notes & Queries - I remember reading Watership Down - a 400+ page book - in 5th grade and having to "prove" to my teacher I had read it. I doubt he really wanted to know what happened, but I talked on and on and on. 

In the Art Room: Tree Weaving with Third Grade @ Cassie Stephens - a great looking project!

This physics grad student made a mind-blowing Bohemian Rhapsody cover @ io9 - this is just FUN!

Morning Board and Calendar Time @ See Jamie Blog - I think I want to make one for our mornings!

Dear parents, you need to control your kids. sincerely, non-parents @ The Matt Walsh Blog - a new-to-me favorite blog. I also enjoyed Christianity has done more for science that atheism ever could.

35 years later, woman searches for teacher who changed her life @ KSL

21 Everyday choices that will lead to success @ Business Insider

21 Habits of Supremely Happy People @ Huffington Post

Calvin & Hobbes piece - Bill Watterson advice @ Zen Pencils

I'm thinking of signing Austin up for the National Mythology Exam @ Excellence Through Classics

Teaching Your Children Enough @ Mama Bean's World

And my Dad shared this awesome article with me - Q&A: Ungifted and Talented @ Psychology Today

Vacation - Day #1

Waiting for Dad to get back from his work trip so we can get on the road to Southern Utah!

Driving driving driving

Stopping at Cove Fort

More driving driving driving

View from the house we rented - we stayed in the Hurricane area.

Playing in the pool

Sparkly

One of my missing rings turned up this week - in a corner of a kitchen cupboard. 

Shakespeare

Austin did a presentation in his Shakespeare class on the Four Humours, which he signed up for because he thought it would be about something funny. I was impressed by how hard he worked preparing and how he wanted to practice his presentation for me and how confident and at ease he was doing it. Sigh, growing up so fast!

Big Cottonwood Half

Time around 2 hrs. 5 min. 

Darn it, I'm going to break that 2 hour time. 

Leonardo

We went to the Leonardo for the 101 Inventions that Changed the World exhibit. The two inventions that stuck in Austin & Nyah's minds? Birth control and Legos.

Then we went upstairs to play.

Interesting Thinks

Why Don't People Train Their Children Better? @Preschoolers & Peace

What about ME: On taking care of yourself as a homeschooling mom @ Simple Homeschool

Berks Woman Publishes Book About Educating Son with Autism @ Reading Eagle

We Only Get Stronger When It's Difficult @ Byrdseed

Why Education Needs More Radioactive Spiders @ Beautiful Minds blog at Scientific American

No Regret Parenting @ The Brave Ski Mom

The meal planning system that saved my sanity @ Conversion Diary

Morning Board and Calendar Time @ See Jamie Blog

Books:
The Spark! A Mother's Story of Nurturing, Genius and Autism
Bird by Bird: Some Instruction on Writing and Life

Random things in random places

Roly-poly in the fridge

Sir Austin

Austin attended his Mastering Knighthood Summit this past weekend. There were 150+ boys learning to work as a team, train in knightly virtues, sword fighting, going on quests, preparing for the final battle, and learning how to be a hero.  Austin had a fabulous {and exhausting} time. 

Saturday afternoon there were fun activities for the younger kids

And then it started to rain. TONS and TONS of rain, which we were not prepared for as you can see :) 

At the end, all the boys had an epic battle in torrential rain against a host of villains to rescue the Queen with all their families watching and cheering them on. 

King & Queen addressing the boys after the final battle.

{Terra Libre is the name of the fictional country where everything took place}

Knights Song

For the King, for the King, for the King and the Queen

For our God, for our homes, for our Terra Libre.

We will fight, we will fight, we will fight for the right.

We will strive to uphold the standards of old

(chant 7 standards)

7 Standards of Terra Libre 

Work Hard

Serve Others

Seek Knowledge

Protect the Weak

Promote Peace

Respect Women

Live By Faith

Charlotte is back!

We haven't seen Charlotte or a web for some time, but she reappeared this week. 

We've had another house guest this week too - an orb weaving spider the kids found and I used for science lesson at our commonwealth.

Interesting Thinks 9/9/2013

How Children Learn: Portraits of Classrooms Around the World @Brain Pickings

50 Old-Fashioned Games Kids Can Play @ NannyJobs 

The True Story of a Seven Year Marriage @ Fly Softly My Love

Boston College Psychology Professor Thinks School Stinks @ Deseret News

I Don't Remember Chemistry and I'm Not Homeless @ The Blazing Center

Sex, Porn, and Mastur . . . What? : What I Learned From Mentoring My Sons @ The Homeschool Post

Going to sleep

Anywhere anytime :)

Rain Adventure

What do you do when your playing at the park and it starts to storm? RUN!