80 Miles Round Trip

Yes the round trip from our home to our home school group meeting and then back home is 80 miles. I know it seems like a lot and some days it feels like double that. I had thought about not going to the meetings anymore then I get reminded of how important they are. I also get to thinking about what we learn on that drive.

We learn things like this:
Time, distance, careers, patient, money, laws, reading, direction, manners, spelling, history, geography, language arts, math, science and my goodness, so much more.
On one of our little trips we watched men working on clearing under the power line. They were using heavy equipment and putting limbs into a chipper. We talked about why they were doing it, how they were doing it and how dangerous it could be.
On another of our trips we talked about the train that we saw. The cars on the train were full of coal. That started a conversation about electricity, coal miners, our planet and more.
Yesterday - oh yeah - yesterday!

Yesterday on the way home I saw smoke. I mentioned it to the boys and tried to point it out, but with the trees in the way it was kind of hard to see. We came to an area that is farmed and I could see it really well and pointed it out to the boys. As we drove we kept looking for it. We were getting closer and closer. Excitement was building. Oh my - it's in our neighborhood. What's really cool about is that MJ is studying about neighborhoods, helping and sharing (such as neighbors, fire departments and such). Oh the boys were all paying attention now and the excitement was getting more intense.

"MOM!!!" Yeah I know. It's getting fun now. I pick up my cell phone and dial 911. The fire was huge! It was running across the tops of the trees. It was burning on the ground. It was growing and growing. I'm on the phone with 911 and the boys are excited. The dispatcher was asking me question after question. I was giving answer after answer. Something you may need to know about cell phones - when I dialed 911, my cell phone was still on the tower that dials into another county 911 center. I was giving the address and the dispatcher was telling me that it didn't exist. I know I wasn't going crazy.

Finally - transferred to the right 911 center. I knew I wasn't crazy! LOL I've been a 911 dispatcher and I know how all this works. I should have known before the dispatcher ask me what county I was in. I was amazed that no one had called in this fire yet. It was pretty darn close to a house too. And get this - the house that it was close to had cleared some land, piled up the brush that they had cleared (right next to the woods). Now I don't know and I am just assuming, but who ever lives their had to have set that fire. They were actually inside the house, we found that out once the fire department arrived on scene.

Less than 5 minutes after my call to 911 the Forestry Department and the local Fire Department were there. I was very impressed. A total of 5 brush trucks, 1 Forestry truck and dozer, and one tanker truck showed up. One of the brush trucks was from an adjoining county and the tanker truck was from the adjoining county. The tanker truck was there to refill the brush trucks. The boys were able to see all of this happening. They thought it was the coolest thing and they could hardly wait until their dad got home from work.

What an exciting 80 mile round trip!

Behavior at our House

Behavior can be such an issue at our house. It ranges from the behavior of a Saint to the Devil himself. Not only with the kids but with our critters too. If you have read some of my other ramblings, you would know exactly what I am referring to. For example: Biscuit (our black cat) walks around the house picking on Mindy (our Schnauzer). Biscuit will even chase Mindy. Really, she does. JD, he can be the sweetest little guy, but there are times when (I believe) that his head spins around.

Today JD just happened to be a Saint. We even had a couple of interruptions during class today. Yesterday I was certainly hoping for the best. I wasn't let down. I know that I will have to deal with the Devil himself, but not today in class. I am breathing a sigh of relief because I have been blessed with a nice day. Even on the bad days, I know that I am blessed, but sometimes it is just hard to see the blessings.

Today I tried something a little different. In the morning I did class with WW and JD. MJ and I worked together on his books in the afternoon. I know it makes for a long day but it really worked. Well, today it worked. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

I am really enjoying the Lifepac. At this point we haven't bought the Bible curriculum, but I will buy it. The Language Arts, Math, History and Geography and the Science curriculum have enough reference to the Bible that makes it really interesting. The boys keep telling me that we need to get the Bible curriculum. Superman wants us all to do the Bible curriculum together. I think this would be a wonderful thing for us to do as a family.

Right now WW and JD are playing outside in the pool. They are sword fighting. I look out the window and see their faces smiling and their teeth shining from laughing. A second look and I see CoCo standing by the pool watching the boys play. What a glorious sight! Sitting beside me is MJ reading from his Science book. He has some trouble reading some of the words but I have to give him credit, because he sure does try really hard.

I keep thinking about a reward system, but the more I think about it the more I get confused. Well, not really confused but...it's hard to put into just one word. I remember my parents had a reward system - it went something like this. Behave and you won't get a spanking. Behave and you won't get restriction. I bet some of you remember your parents reward system. I know I certainly do! Nowadays all of the child experts (whoever they are) tell us that our children need rewards. A hug isn't good enough. In today's society we are supposed to take them somewhere and spend money on them. Buy them a toy, an ice cream or some other thing that says you did a good job. Manners are behavior. If you scream in class, you have bad manners. If you sneeze all over the table while eating supper, you have bad manners. Bad manners = bad behavior. Good manners = good behavior. It's pretty darn simple to me. But I know, I have to have a little compassion and a little empathy. Give me a little credit, at least I am trying! LOL