Muellangs Part 1.5

Boys showing their "bumps" at Domenic's Pizza inside Mobius Coffeehouse in Brenham, Texas, July 16...a hot, hot sweaty day.

NASA field trip

An old friend who introduced M and I to one another called up from Dallas and suggested we meet at NASA for her Spring Break with her kids. It was fun to see them and fun to see the history of the space program. Most of which has happened in my lifetime. The museum really gives a full but digestible history of it all. I suppose it really will be a relic soon.



It will be a memory preserved here since it is currently being dismantled and we are 'selling' off our status to be pioneers in an effort to save money. Instead, we will be sidelined in the great research that engineers and mathematicians in this country have pursued with passion for years. It is a shame in my general opinion.

I will never forget the day that Challenger exploded. My Political Science teacher and his friend/teacher next door combined our classes into one that day to view the launch. We just stared when the shuttle seemed to silently split in two. This orange suit is the new one following that disaster..the blue is the previous one. The new one has more survival features as well as a heavier material. (gross over generalization of the differences) Anyway, it still just bothers me in general that this exploration is being stopped. My boys will read about this as history instead...again, what a shame.

Butterfly week

Well, last week I said we would work with the book A Pair of Red Clogs but instead, I was preparing that lesson for this week and whipping up learning ideas on Butterflies on the fly, took up the rest of the week..plus cleaning house including dusting, vacuuming and mopping, not including the usual pickup, put-away part...all by 8:30am last Wednesday! Whew!

Thoughts on my school......Homeschooling is an evolution of the teacher as well as educating the child. This thought cannot be overstated. I have fully realized that my philosophy of education is developed pretty well I think but putting it into action...I need help! I am currently reading For The Children's Sake, Mommy, Teach Me! (thank you friend, Mandi), perusing The Handbook of Nature Study (thank you friend, Kelley) and When Children Love to Learn. I am pulling ideas from these while using Five In A Row curriculum. It is so interesting, and can be very frustrating, when I am presenting something, to find where my child IS. A friend called it, getting to know him. I thought I already did know him! But knowing in a new way...being more observant of him and how he learns, what motivates him, what encourages him, what are his weaknesses in an age appropriate sense and his own capability. This is very challenging and I am learning along the way. I am also realizing that creating things/activities that are purposeful for W2 (will be three years old in November) is very important. And of course, if it is true that girls develop six months ahead of boys, T1 is not far behind. She will be one year old in January. So..about last week....

Daddy took Friday for therapy day and tagged along with us to the Cockrell Butterfly Center. M brings his tools for physical therapy, parsing them in here and there while tending to curious little people and their bazillion questions at the center. For preparation, we studied things like the life cycle of the butterfly. I have included a photo of our lap book not yet assembled (will assemble while babies are sleeping this week, with G5) here. Two interesting things to me...In the upper right is a cut out of a butterfly from finger painting paper G5 had done weeks ago...it lent perfectly to imitating The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle which was a book we read whiled studying butterflies. We have read it dozens of times..dozens of times...but never imitated the artwork..fun! Not only imitated it but named the anatomy parts and, G5 freehand cut them out..very abstract activity which is challenging. And secondly, the yellow butterfly shapes...we put tempera paint on one side then smashed together to make a symmetrical pattern as in nature. The boys loved this one. Mine is on the left, G5 in the middle and W2 on the right. We also found gobs of video online of the butterfly life cycle and here is one that we enjoyed especially. Now for some highlights of our field trip Friday...the two babies are up for the day so I have to be quick here....

In the entrance to the center, is a huge, 5,000 lbs. to be exact, globe made of marble and it hovers on a large horsepower motorized fountain of water. It rotates and you can make it rotate with your hands. We look for land masses and countries that we can name and of course, play in the water.



On the interior of the center, the heart of the glass domed butterfly area, there are artificial flowers of plastic red bowls and plastic yellow sponges with sugar water inside..voila! ..a flower for the butterflies to drink. If you look closely, to the upper left of the bowl is a butterfly fleeing the premises. They can see the big people coming you know!


Nearby, there is also a beekeeping hive that is fed by a tube to the outside. G5 always likes to check this one out. He likes to tell me what they are doing...collecting pollen, making honey, describing their bodies, etc.


T1 has seen a butterfly before but as you can see, not this many at a time. What a wonder. And...
...a little startling when one flies up into your face. ;-) Wish she could see her face..guess she will one day!....she recovered immediately and was looking for more soon after this photo.

For this week....we are studying A Pair of Red Clogs which takes place in Japan (FIAR loves the Asian culture so far...) and mommy joined a fitness club last week so we are also going to Kid's Club there while she exercises her body. I thought long and hard and prayed a lot about doing this. I never want my kids in a daycare type situation but with three little ones..step aerobics in my living room is just ...well, dangerous and exercise is...well, very necessary for my mental and physical health. So, we tentatively begin this new chapter and hope not to get sick.

Next week...well, stay tuned...(that is because I think I am changing the book from the plan...) thank you for reading!