Perfectly Browned: September 2009

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Cedar Point

LittleE made a trip to Cedar Point with a friend last weekend. She had never been before and wasn't sure if she would like roller coasters or not.

Well, this ended up being her favorite- the Iron Dragon. Lots of speed and turns, but not a lot of big drops.

She did tackle the Gemini though and really liked it as well. Gotta love the Gemini, it was definitely one of my favorites as well, but I haven't been to Cedar Point in about 20+ years to try any of the new, really huge ones.

The gondolas are fun. She cruised on those too.

Overall, they had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back again!!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Co-op Shop

At Homeschool Co-op the 3rd-6th grade boys have "shop" class. Or as BigJ says, "Tool Class". Last Friday they made these great pirate ships. As you can see, the kits were donated by Lowes! Gotta love a good pirate ship-- and it floats too.

See you Friday!!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Fair Time In Our Neck of the Woods

I love the county fair!! I guess it goes back to my 4-H days as a youth. Seeing (and smelling) all the animals, looking at projects and displays, eating the food, hearing the tractor pulls in the background, enjoying the rides and lights at night. We love to take our kids to the local fairs, and most of them around us happen in late summer and early fall. Here are a few pictures from two recent county fairs.

LittleJ loves to look at the animals.

Gotta love the look on that cow's face!!

And the french fries---Mmmm, good.

Our fair had a little circus show this year with a boxing kangaroo. Well... it didn't box much, but it did do a lot of grabbing.

Cute show, but once was enough. We have one more fair to possibly go to next week if we can fit it in our busy schedules.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Homeschool Co-op Fun

We've been involved with the Legacy Homeschool Co-op for, I think, 4 years now. We enjoy the friendships that have been made through this group. All the kids can attend classes from pre-schoolers through high school. Here is a group of pre-schoolers listening in on storytime.

One of the favorites is gym class. This is the K-2 class.

The K-2 group also has art class.

Here is the 3rd-6th grade group in music class. They've definitely got rhythm.

The 7th-12th grade group played a little volleyball.

They were also given a thinking challenge today. Try this one at home: Using only pennies, build a structure (like a bridge) at least an inch tall supported by as few pennies as possible touching the table. Here are the boys beginning their plan.

Here are some examples of what they came up with.

The weight of the coins provides the only support. For more inspiration, check out these photos.

We had a fun day and it was great to have so many new families involved. See you all next Friday--same time, same place!!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Wilderness Center Nature Studies

The Wilderness Center has some wonderful education programs that we enjoy taking part in with our homeschool group. Today was a pond study. Here we are following our guide down the trail to the pond.

You gotta love those pond critter catchers. They are old broom handles with kitchen strainers duct-taped to them. The kids love 'em and they work much better than nets because the critters are easier to see and get out.

You might think the pond has lots of pond scum on it, but actually it is a floating plant that covers the pond. Many of the creatures feed on this plant.

Once the kids find some creatures, the guide tells them what they are. We found lots of rams horn snails and dragonfly nymphs, plus many other things.