Dudley Farms Field Trip

Dudley Farms is an old real working farm from the 1800's. It is a Florida State park, donated by the Dudley family. It is run mostly by volunteers, and your kids can volunteer there as well. I am going to look into the volunteering, but I am not sure we will have the time. I was under the impression that on every Wed there are classes offered to the public. Well, that technically is not true, at least not to the extent that I thought. DJ was the only boy that could go, so he didn't have much interest in learning how to make rugs, but our little group is going to start collecting old sheets and curtains to give it a try. It really was not that hard once you got the hang of it. The ladies that did the demonstration were so kind and knowledgeable. Then we went on a self tour of the old farm, and walked the nature trail. It was warm but not hot, so a perfect day. Next month, on the fourth Wed, they are doing something with palm frans and I really hope we can make that one. They said to look up Morning Side, in Gainesville, as they do offer a lot of classes. So, I will be checking that out for sure. Check out the Dudley Farm website, to learn about all the events they have for March. Some of them are pretty cool. I have tons more pictures, and I will share them a little bit at a time.

Learn to Draw, A in Science, Cool Parks

Science class this Tuesday, is about rocks. So tomorrow for Art class, Dj and Caitlin will be learning to draw rocks, using the short tutorial below.

I have blogged about our attempts to grow a garden, for a Science project. I am proud to say, that this year we got an A. We have been enjoying big fat tomatoes for some time now. I must say though, we bought tomato plants this year, rather than from seeds. It was easier, and worked much better. We have peppers, and cukes coming on right now, as I write this. Container planting, has been the miracle for the cukes. I have one pepper plant in the ground, in the other in a Topsy Turvy, that I purchased as an experiment. At first the Topsy Turvy appeared to be quite useless, but now is growing at a speed much faster than the one in the ground. I may buy another to put in tomatoes. My lettuce, and onions, while still growing, I think will not produce any veggies. I think I waited too long, and will have to try them again, come winter. Not bad, don't you think?

Yesterday, my husband had to take the kids, and the car back to the dealership to sign more paper work. Since I worked the night before, I was going to sleep. He told me he had found a cool park in Gainesville, he was going to take the kids to. Come to find out it was a park, with a huge swimming pool. In this huge swimming pool, was a huge two story water slide. Of course my kids wanted to go down it. Thank goodness the lifeguards have a test kids must take before they are allowed to do this. Caitlin was unable, but DJ had to be able to swim 50 yards, half a football field, without stopping or touching the ropes. My husband said he thought he was going to fizzle out at the end, but he did it, and he got to go down the slide. He said the first time it was kind of scarey because the steps were very steep, but after the first try it was ok. He said he had to get out of the way fast, because they do not make people wait to come down, until you are out of the way. That was probably the only negative thing I could say about this park. If you are going to implement safety rules, why not go all the way? At any rate, they had a great day, and then got to swim in our pool too.




Lesson Plans for 06/01/09:

Math: Graphs, multiplying two digits, division
Reading: Read pages 221-261 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone
Art: Learn to draw rocks
Music: I can play piano

Michelle Obama To Speak In Gainesville Florida

Michelle Obama will be speaking, at the Hippodrome State Theater, in downtown Gainesville, on Wednesday Oct 22nd, at 2:30 PM. Whether you agree with her husband Barack Obama, on policy issues, this would be a great oppurtunity for homeschoolers to provide a free and interesting field trip. I am sure it would be great for public schools, as well, but they might not have enough time to get a field trip together. I see so much potential, for young learners to learn about being a candidates wife, what if she becomes first lady, what does she think about the campaigns, etc. My children are only 4 and 8, so this is not something, they would have an interest in, but for older children, it would be great. It is free to the public, and guests can start arriving at 1 PM. The Hippodrome is located at the point where SE 1st Street, dead ends into 2nd Place.

Lesson Plans for 10/21/08:

Writing: Use your 5 senses to wriet about Autumn
Reading: Read chapter 6 of Mummies in the Morning
Vocabulary: Lesson 8- look up the definition to each word
Spelling: Lesson 8- Write each spelling word two times each, and circle the vowels
Math: Division, multiplication, addition, and subtraction
PE: 30 minutes
Language Arts: Phonics Review, Comparing
Science: Weather, oceans field trip at
Word Search: Author trivia
Spanish: Parts of the body

Gilchrist County Friends, Art Classes, Obama and McCain Views On Homeschooling

I have a lot to blog about today. I could post all of these as individual posts, but I always have more to say lol.

First, I would like to just mention a yahoo group I just started. It is called Gilchrist County Friends, and it is not just a homeschool group. If you live in the Gilchrist County area, and have children under the age of 12, that need some extra friends, then come on and join. I am new to this, and it has just started, to sign up go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gilchristcountyfriends/ I am hoping to get at least 5 or 6 children, interested in the group. I will be making a button to put on this blog, to advertise it.


Second I would like to share with everyone, a great Art class, that is offered for a minimal fee to Homeschool children. Here are the details for the class

Title:

Art Classes for Homeschool Families

Date:

Monday October 6, 2008
Time:

10:00 am - 12:30 pm
Repeats:

This event repeats every week until Tuesday June 2, 2009.
Next reminder:

The next reminder for this event will be sent in 2 days, 1 minute.
Location:

Gainesville, Florida
Notes:

Discover and Create With the Visual Language of Art” Come discover the wonder of art and artists throughout time. Explore where artists get ideas and how they make them personally meaningful. Create artwork from your own imagination using the visual language of art: line, shape, color, balance, symmetry, etc. Learn to investigate artworks; looking carefully, describing and relating them to what you already know so that you can make informed judgments about the works. Projects include drawing, painting, collage, printmaking, sculpture, hand building with clay, and more! New this year is a reflective writing component for each lesson recorded in a personal sketchbook/journal.Mondays beginning August 25th Ages 4-7 (10-11am) and Ages 7-older (11:30-12:30) All classes are $10/student or $15/2 students and include sketchbook, supplies and an informational handout about the media, process, and artist studied. Email or call for location, class descriptions, and to answer any questions!Jane Gravoisflcreate@yahoo.com 352-595-3071

Third, is a topic that should concern all Homeschoolers. Where does each Presidential candidate, stand on Homeschooling. This information, was shared at one of the Homeschool groups I belong to. One Homeschooling mom, called Obamas local campaign offices to try to get his specific views on Homeschooling. Not only did they not know, but they told her to buy his book, to see if the information, was in the book. They gave lots of indicators for what he wants to do for Public education, but could not give a view on Homeschooling. A second Homeschooling parent, provided this information from Obamas book: On page 344 of The Audacity of Hope, he writes: “none of these policies need
discourage families from deciding to keep a parent at home…For some
families, that may mean doing without certain material comforts. For others it may
mean home schooling….Whatever the case may be, such decisions should be honored

Now I am not certain what he was referencing there, but it was not Homeschooling directly. So there is still no clear, and concise point of view from Obama as to how he feels about Homeschooling. I find this very disturbing, his ambivalence, and vagueness, when getting to the point of any questions.

McCains views on Homeschooling are very clear, he supports Homeschooling, as does Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin, has a daughter that has been doing virtual schooling, for some time. This is an exerpt from a fellow Homeschoolers email sent to me, stating information about McCain's view on Homeschooling: McCain has said in several speeches, forums and interviews he believes homeschooling works. He believes it's a family's decision.

Of course as a Mom, who Homeschools her children, I find this to be of much importance, when choosing who I will vote for. I will have to hear more definitive responses from Obama, to even consider that he is for Homeschooling.