sailed around the world

Home schooled teenager sailed around the world. He’s back.

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what’s happening in our garden

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football season is over

Here (USA) they call it soccer…great teams, great coaches, great games, not so great weather, great friends…Kevin came back after two years off  (he talked more then played then) and Sophie just started (she managed to understand which way to run and kick the ball).

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New Orleans

on the back porch

New Roads, Louisiana

apples in our yard

Great Falls – Potomac River

We slept and slept, then decided to have a walk… actually a hike… it was hot, but it was worthed.

Located just 15 miles from the Nation’s capital, the Great Falls of the Potomac (so named by the first European colonists) is considered the most spectacular natural landmark in the DC metropolitan area. Here, the Potomac River builds up speed and force as it falls over a series of steep, jagged rocks and flows through a narrow gorge. We were told that the water level was very low, but still, it was a nice view.

Great Falls - Potomac River

Great Falls Park stretches along almost 2 miles of the Virginia side of the Potomac providing a series of trails and overlooks from which to view the falls and the gorge. Administered by the National Park Service, Great Falls Park also preserves the remains of the Potowmack Canal. The canal was initiated by George Washington as a way to link the upper Potomac and the Ohio River Valley to Washington and the Chesapeake. Great Falls Park offers numerous recreational activities: bird watching, climbing, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, kayaking, nature walks, and whitewater rafting.

on the way...

Kevin and Sophie in Indiana Jones poses

museum day

We visited Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art today to get some “culture” into the kids system. We’ve seen variety of art pieces (paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, you know… like in the museum) from different regions and times.

The kids were making fun of all of the “nakedness” exposed as something to be valued, cherished, looked upon and studied for the generations to come. Actually, Teah was disgusted, Kevin was laughing like crazy, Sophie was observing from every possible angle and then whispering something to Kevin. They’ve got educated, for sure.

Teah was amazed at some modern pieces ( the ones with huge black square on the dark brown background, or one small apple floating on the green background), and decided that to become a modern artist, you don’t need that much talent, and even less creativity.

Even I was amazed at the European Photography exhibition. I see better photography art on flickr, for sure… ( just joking…. or maybe not???)

It was interesting to see that they can recognize the characteristic art pieces representing different centuries, cultures and forms. Teah was liking Impressionists again and when my American husband ( her dad) asked if she knew what abstract art was, she looked at him with a dismay and answered:

Daddy, I knew what abstract art was when I was 6!

We ventured around the Museum’s grounds, finally having a spontanious picnic with crackers and chips, and observing the little chipmunk.

Then we spent about 2h in the Barnes and Nobles, just relaxing and having a good family time.

weekend

Friday: friends from St. Louis with their kids arrived for 3 nights: 3 adults, 5 kids. The kids played, loud. The adults talked, long. Someone spotted 2 snap turtles in our ditch. My American husband was trying to catch one for all to admire, but the turtle was smarter.

Saturday: More play, more talking. No hot water, and 5 adults+8 kids trying to get ready for the wedding. Some bravely took cold showers, some splashed in a tub filled with 3 in of warmed up water. We were not even late for the wedding. Panke was getting married to Rachel. Miracles happen. For Nate, that is.

Sunday: church ( Lou Engle on fasting ), grill with more friends (2+2), worship set at IHOP, packing kids bags for the camp. Couldn’t find flashlight and Kevin’s Bible. Evening visit with more friends (1+2). Kids go nuts.

Monday: Sophie off to another VBS. Lunch. Teah and Kevin and the other kids off to the camp. They tell me one million times to take care of the bunnies, while they are gone. Took Sophie to the library, came home at about 2pm and took a nap. American husband took Sophie to Chucky Cheese. Then I finished “Escape”. It’s so quite. Amazing.

hot and humid

Today was the day when we turned our AC on. 85 F and soooo humid. Usually, it would be at least 2-3 weeks earlier, but the spring came later. No complains. I would rather have spring/fall all year long. I can’t stay humidity.

To inaugurate the summer season, my American husband took the 2 older kids for a bike riding. Little did they know, it would be a 20 mile stroll… They made it, had a blast and a sunburn to prove it.

Snake in our yard

It’s warm finally. The kids are staying outside a lot, running, playing and exploring. The other day my American husband was clearing some bushes on the back of our yard, and behind the piece of wood, he found a lined snake. Kevin and Sophie immediately grabbed it and played with it for a while. Sophie had an idea to keep it as a pet and put it in the bucket INSIDE THE HOUSE. I insisted that the bucket would stay outside (wise decision). The snake disappeared 1 h later, thankfully not into our bedrooms, but into his natural habitat, our own yard that is.

tornado watch

Tornado season started. Last night we had a tornado watch for few hours and eventually a tornado alert for about 30 minutes. The kids got scared, I did not pay to much attention at the beginning, writing another blog post, but when we heard a siren go on, I looked outside.

10 minutes earlier there was a terrible storm hauling, lightning, thunders etc. But after the siren, everything kind of stopped, became very calm, just slightly raining. It felt like the air pressure was changing slightly. The kids got the flashlight, kerosene lamp, their money, bunnies and 3 bandages with them to the basement.

I looked on the alert weather on the computer. It was flashing red ward ALERT. I started to think, maybe there is something going on, really. I told my American husband to get out of the bathroom and get to the basement. Teah cried, Kevin prayed, Sophie asked if we gonna die. American husband finally came to the basement. Teah was upset that she left her violin, Kevin was upset about his Lego. I’ve heard the strange sound like thumping on the ground, Keith though it was just a train (but we never hear the trains).

My friend told me today that this is exactly how you hear a tornado. I’ve read some comments posted in KC news, and few people said that that was not only a severe storm, that the sounds of whistling and hauling were heard.

Click on the picture above to read more news and watch a video.

We are alive. 20 minutes in a basement gave my kids an idea, what is really important in life.

Guess what we will study today?

4-H nature walk on a sunny day

This was a typical Charlotte Mason nature walk, I guess.

The children are to be “let alone, left to themselves a great deal to take in what they can of the beauty of earth and heavens.”

Give them time and space to wonder, grow, watch, see, hear, and touch. During the nature walk, they may sketch and record their observations. In addition they may want to collect small natural treasures in a bag to take home for further study.

Miss Mason recommended two activities during a nature walk

1. Sight-seeing or exploring expeditions
In this activity, you send the children off to a specified area with a task: “Go explore over there and come back when you can tell me all about it.” When the children return, let them share verbal descriptions of everything they experienced.

2. Picture-painting or mental photographs
Picture painting is more stationary. You choose a scene to study and then sit and look at it for several minutes, taking in as much detail as possible. Then ask the children to close their eyes and recreate the scene with words. If they are not sure of something, they can open their eyes and look. This activity will develop both observation skills and narration (telling back) skills.

On this 4-H trip we ventured around the Shiloh gardens, which is a land situated close by IHOP-KC. Everyone had to find something unique. We observed and found many interesting things. Afterwords we met in a group and shared about our findings.

Kevin’s find was a frog and a dead fish.

Dead fish became the object of various poking and squeezing experiments.

Teah’s find was bunch of flowers. Sophie found an access to the pond, with a shore full of mud. Long stick became a fishing pole and she was getting all kinds of slimy things from the water. She was enjoying it for some time.

My American husband joined us and found some shots to be captured.

I found peace for a while.

All citations taken from this wonderful site about Nature study.

baseball

-Kevin, how was the game?

-It was so much fun! There was a race between the hot-dog, ketchup and mustard! We’ve got free blankets! They were shooting the T-shirts and the hot-dogs from a gun! We had chips! People were kissing on a huge screen! One man proposed to a girl and everybody saw that on a screen too!

-Did they play baseball?

-Oh, yes, they played.

KC Royals played Toronto Blue Jays. Our friend, Luke took the boys for a “men day out”.

picnic

We went to the picnic. Bone fire, horses, cats, peacocks. Worship circle, glory of the sunset, laughter. One of the fasting teams at IHOP celebrated the end of their 21 day fast.

Here are all the pictures on black, or below the selection (you can click on each of them to expand).

At the end the kids were riding the horses, but the battery in the camera died…