Stuff

Summertime and school getting out is not too far away.  So, heads up.  My sister Andrea homeschools her 4 kids (her fifth kid is a little young to be schooled, at just 2 months old).  She’s got some SWELL ideas and curriculum and stuff.  Just hark back to this, which I wrote four years ago (awww, cute little Jethro and Hazel):

This is Hazel and Jethro with their river that they made. My sister Andrea has been writing a little preschool curriculum and mailing it to me along with all the little worksheets and things. So, we learned about rivers and went on a walk by the river to gather all kinds of stuff like shells and grass and sticks and rocks. Then we made salt dough and made our river bed, and sprayed it with glue spray and put sand on it, then put all the stuff we gathered on top. It was fun. I should have taken pictures of our sugar cube pyramid from last month when we learned about Ancient Egypt. We spray painted it gold and everything. I could totally homeschool. That is, if my sister did too, and just sent me all of her plans. :)

Well guess what folks- we are IN LUCK because she has made such a thing possible.  All HER cool plans and ideas along with book recommendations and other resources are available for US to just grab up.  Now, I do not homeschool.  And I never will.  However (I am finally getting back to what I mentioned in the very beginning), this would be ideal for summertime learning.  Because they’re fun and interactive and pretty darn cool- and the thing is- she’s already done all the prep putting everything together.  Currently she has these units:  Reptiles, Mountain Men,  Native Americans, Fish and Birds, Insects, and Slavery.  They are $5 each.

Okay, so to find these, hop over to her blog (also a great resource—honestly you could follow it just for the awesome book recommendations if nothing else):  http://homeschoolfrolic.blogspot.com/ 

Here’s the specific link that talks about purchasing the units: http://homeschoolfrolic.blogspot.com/2011/04/units-for-sale.html

And, I have insider information that she will be having a giveaway for some of her units/lesson plans on a really neat blog, so stay tuned in to her blog and watch for the info so you can go enter!

So.  Anyhoo.  In other news my mom and dad will be here TOMORRRRRRRRRRROW!!!!

And I’m almost got everything all ready (wursts bought, plans made, house cleaned etc.).  It pretty much goes without saying that I am SOOOOOOOO excited!!!!!! 

Funny story:  So Jethro is a bit like my sister Kami in that the number of words he reads and understands far exceeds the number of words he has heard and therefore knows the correct pronunication of.  And throw German as a second language in there and it gets even more mixed up.  So yesterday I printed out this Harry Potter spells crossword puzzle and gave it to him to see how well he would do (he got 9 of the 18 I believe, which I thought was amazing, I think I would have gotten 2 or 3, and I have in the last few weeks read the 1st-5th books), and anyway right after that I was tickling him or harassing him or something, and we started yelling some of the spells at each other (he kept saying ‘Accio!’ and I was like, ‘Dude, I don’t have a wand for you to disarm me of!’) it was quite fun and funny, but then he yelled ‘Stupefy!’ except instead of saying it the correct way he said ‘Stoo-PEFF-ee!’ and I almost died laughing, it was so hilarious.  Oh, good times.  Made me miss Kami.  :) 

Speaking of Jethro, he’s pretty funny lately.  He randomly does these dances where, well, I just tried to find a way to describe them but I really can’t.  You’ll just have to take my word that they’re funny.  Maybe I’ll have to catch one on camera sometime.

Also, Talmage is crazy.  Suddenly the only thing he ever wants to do is FIGHT.  He’ll grab the couch pillows and come at you all the time.  And whenever Jethro’s around and willing, they’ll wrestle, wrestle, wrestle.  On the one hand, I think it’s awesome that they’re old enough to do some good brotherly fighting, and on the other, Talmage always ends up bonking his head or getting hurt and that’s annoying.  But, apparently he thinks it’s worth it.  Boys. 

So, another funny story: This week Brett has been at an Expo in the French part of Switzerland for work, showing off his robot (yes, he was gone for our anniversary, the tragedy) but he came home tonight and he ate dinner and did a few things, and then he was unpacking his bag and he came and gave me a little box with 4 elegant chocolates in it and said “Happy Anniversary.”  And I was like, “Mmm!  Thank you!”  And then I said, “Did you get these for me?”  and he said, “Yes.”  And then a minute later he’s like, “Well, actually we were given them at the Expo.  But I saved them for you.”  And I was like, “That’s what I thought.”  Ha ha.  (And then I ate all  the chocolates in about twenty seconds and they were DELIIIIIIIICIOUS.)

And, I’ll leave you with this awesome song:

  It’s a good ‘un.