Fall is almost gone

I can't believe how quickly this fall has sped away. I knew I felt like I was on a hamster wheel that I couldn't stop or get off, and I guess that made the time go very quickly.

We had a full schedule of dance, Parkour, co-op classes, field trips, volunteer projects, homeschool group gatherings and now that we have a full-fledged teenager... we've added in homeschool teen group activities too! Whew! Just reading that makes me tired!

In late September, Ellie and I went to KS Pioneer Girl Day at Ernie Miller Nature Sanctuary. She made a rag doll, played pioneer games, wrote with a quill pen and helped make butter. We listened to a story teller and she got to participate in some pioneer dances. It was really fun.

September also brought The Nutcracker into our lives in a BIG way. Rylie's dance school has two performances of The Nutcracker - actually a tea party along with the performance. This year, Rylie will be a mouse and a "party girl". Rehearsals began in Sept and continue to be a major factor in our lives through December 7th - the date of the performances.

October brought a major project of Darren's - Christmas In October. He was the head of a team working on a house and had to see to all the details from touring applicant houses to choosing the house to working out a plan to attend to all that needed work. He did a fabulous job, even taking several weekends before with a "skilled team" of guys to do more in depth projects such as installing a new stove, changing out a door so it opened the other way, installing a hand held shower nozzle, etc. Josh went to help for all of these events and was a big help to his dad.

Besides that project, we had Boo at the Zoo with Youth Volunteer Corps. Josh and Rylie both participated in this event. They were zombie scarecrows positioned strategically near the zoo railroad tracks so they could be seen by the train passengers. Darren and I took Ellie through the Boo at the Zoo event and enjoyed the train ride and being "scared" by the zombies. It was hard not to say "That's my zombie!" when we spotted "our" zombies!

Rylie took a 6 week drama class at The Coterie - a theatre for young people at Crown Center in Kansas City. This was a really neat scene study class with an absolutely fabulous instructor - Nathan Norcross. He can connect with the kids and really bring out some great acting!

We ended October with a really fun, but really windy, hayride at Shawnee Mission Park. Our Unschooling group filled two wagons and enjoyed a blanket covered hour long ride followed by a campfire with s'more's and apple cider.

November continues with all our regular activities plus we saw "Seussical" at the Coterie Theatre. Rylie was excited to see some familiar faces as she got to see behind the stage during rehearsals while at her drama class. She also knew one of the kids in the play from a prior drama class at Coterie last spring.

We're hoping things settle down a little bit during the holidays. I want to be able to enjoy this season and not rush and rush to find it "here already?"

Today is Thanksgiving - we spent a wonderful afternoon with Nana and Papa Mohr, talked with Nana and Papa Beck on the phone and are planning on going to see the Plaza lights being turned on tonight!

Cars and more

Darren and Josh changed the spark plugs and wires on Darren's Saturn the other day. Josh did most of the work with Darren just telling him how to do it. Josh was so excited. Darren even let him drive the Saturn down the street and back (while sitting beside him of course!). Josh is now back to wanting to be an auto mechanic. Who knows... I could have my car issues all taken care of me for the rest of my life ;-)

The kids are enjoying their classes. Ellie added in an art class and Rylie joined the Odyessy of the Mind class. Wednesdays are busy but fun!

Josh has been loving his parkour class. He's not as sore now as when he first started - and it's amazing to see the progress that's been made in a month!

We had some sad news today. My uncle, Bill Mohr, passed away during heart surgery. He would have been 83 in January. He was much loved and will be missed by many all across the U.S. It was another life lesson, but one we don't want to experience too often. The kids are handling it ok.

Ah, fall at last!

After a busy busy summer, it's nice to settle back into some "normal" routine. This past week our Wednesday Co-op classes began. Rylie and I are taking sign language, Ellie is taking drama and explorations in astronomy, and Josh is doing drama and Odyessy of the Mind.

This is Ellie's first experience with "homework." She was sent home with a notebook she was supposed to decorate, and also a page about "her" planet (Jupiter). She immediately went to the computer when we got home and looked up facts about Jupiter. We learned alot! She "loves!" this class - funny how it is one she said she didn't want to do when it was time to go to class. I asked her to just give it a try and now it's her favorite!


Josh and Rylie are also doing math this year through Teaching Textbooks. It's all done on the computer and they are moving right along. I expect them to be finished with this grade level by the end of the year (Josh) and probably by Feb or so for Rylie.

Our schedule seems to be set in our minds now... so we can just relax and follow along - at least for awhile!

Car Talk

No, not the NPR show (although we love it!).... just the conversation in the van on the way home this afternoon. Rylie is having a sleepover with 4 other homeschooled friends, all in the *almost* 11 to 12 year old age range. We did alot of driving around today, dropping off her siblings and picking up her friends. We've also spent all the evenings this week watching and/or listening to the DNC...at least the keynote speakers each evening, if not more.

So...back to this afternoon. I have 5 girls in the almost 11 to 12 year old age range in my van. We're driving 30 minutes home from the last pickup spot (all our friends are all over the metro area so sometimes it's a haul to get back home!). I'm listening to NPR, but vaguely hearing the conversation in the back of the van... and then I hear "Amber was THERE?" REALLY?" "She's SO LUCKY!" "She got to see Obama LIVE and in person, not just on the tv!" and then they all proceed to figure out exactly how many more election cycles before they can vote! :-)

I don't have many "typical" pre-teen girls to gauge things on, but I do know a few...I'm guessing that the DNC and how long til they can vote isn't top on the conversation list for most kids in this age range! But... all these girls have families who are very on top of things politically. They hear conversation around them, they are encouraged to question. They are engaged in conversation as equals, not as kids who need a quick "pat" answer for things.

You can't convince me that kids don't have any interests besides watching Nickelodeon and Disney channel (or MTv and the like) and that they won't learn if they aren't "forced" to do it.

This is the greatest gift I think Darren and I are giving our children. They are actively engaged in their world. They are encouraged to question, to find things out and make up their own minds. I truly believe that they are going to be more than ready to enter this world as productive members of society- and for this gift I'm eternally grateful.

Summer camps

Rylie finished a week of drama camp through Legacy School of the Arts (where she takes dance and voice). The production was Honk!, Jr. The kids amaze me every year how much they can accomplish in just one week. This year's production was marvelous, as usual! Rylie played the part of "Barnacles" - a goose - and also played a toad in one scene. She had a full week of singing and dancing!

Josh has spent two weeks in July volunteering through YVC (Youth Volunteer Corps). The first week was at S.E.A.T - where they do equine therapy. The volunteers mulched trails, built fences and helped out around the barn. It was hot and stinky. He came home every day smelling like sweaty teenager and horse! But they worked hard and it was much appreciated. The final day, SEAT bought all the volunteers pizza for lunch.

The second week he volunteered at Kansas City Community Kitchen where 500 meals are served daily to those in need. The volunteers fix the meals, wash dishes, serve meals and help clean up afterward. It's been a good experience learning that not all life is like ours in Johnson County, KS.

After a summer full of sleep away camp, day camp at the nature center, art classes, and dance, voice and drama - we're all ready for a bit of a slowdown to the end of our summer. Fortunately, our fall activities don't begin til late September (except for dance/voice classes that start back up at the end of August) so we'll have a bit of a break from it all for awhile!

Colorado Gold

Darren, Josh and Ellie got up super early on July 3 to head to CO for a family reunion. Their plane left at 6:30 AM so they left home about 4:30 AM for the airport! They had a wonderful time seeing family and doing fun things. On Saturday, after everyone else left, they took a side trip to Idaho Springs, CO about 30 min outside Denver. They went to the Argo Gold Mine. It was really interesting and they all had a great time. They saw a movie about the mine, saw the cars the miners rode in on, held a gold nugget that was worth $2500 (and Ellie said she held a "dinosaur turd" - no one's sure how they knew it was a dinosaur turd, but that's what the guide said it was...) Ellie could tell me how the mine came to be and about an accident with water filling the mine which shut down the mine for several years.

Oh, and they got to "pan" for gold. It was definitely something that was created so everyone would find something, but they got the idea of how panning for gold worked, and had a great day in the process. Josh sent me a video of the river right by the mine... turns out they had more business with white water rafters that day, than people visiting the actual mine. Fortunately, our crew stayed on dry land!

Circle of Life

We had an encounter with the circle of life today. Josh had spent the night with a friend and we went to pick him up. On the way home we stopped to take care of a library issue (we forgot to return some books and had a $58 fine! But that's another blog... all's well now ;-)). As we were heading back to the main road, we had to cut through a large parking lot. Out of the corner of his eye, Josh saw a mother duck and her ducklings go under a parked car. The car looked as if it had been parked there a long time...it was dented and looked undriveable. We watched them for a little bit to see if they were going to move on, and if so, we would try to keep them safe.

Actually, we called both Operation Wildlife and animal rescue to see if there was anything they could do - but both said leaving them alone was the right thing to do. If they started moving we could keep them safe by stopping traffic, but otherwise, the mother duck knew what she was doing.

Turns out, she definitely did. As we watched, a hawk came down and swooped something up with him. It wasn't a live duckling, but one that had probably been attacked just prior to us driving up and the mother shuttling her babies to safety. He flew off with the meal and perched on a nearby telephone pole. We kept watch, but the mother stayed safely under the car.

I did get out of the van and tried to locate a nest. I didn't ever find one, but there were some bushes next to the car that looked very dense, and could have had a nest down in there. Actually, that's right next to where the hawk got the duckling, and there were two others who didn't make it either right by the bush. We're guessing perhaps the nest was either in the bushes or nearby and she scooted the rest of the brood to safety.

It was a hard lesson on the circle of life, but as I pointed out, the hawk's baby needed to eat too... and that could be one of the reasons ducks have so many ducklings...not all will survive to adulthood. We ended up spending about an hour watching the ducks before I convinced the kids that they would be ok, that the mother knew what she was doing and wouldn't come out til it was safe.

When we got home, the girls looked out their bedroom window to check on the dove that is nesting on the branch right outside. There are two babies there that are providing hours of entertainment. Turns out, they seem to enjoy Rylie's singing. She's been practicing the music for her upcoming week of drama camp - they are doing Honk! Jr. (a version of the ugly duckling story). Whenever she sings they perk up and look her way ;-)