Photography Challenge: Flowers

This is a new series I have gotten Caitlin and myself doing.  It is not meant to make either of us a master photographer, but rather to get her interested in the outdoors.  So, on our walks, we both get a new thing to try to photograph.  This week was pretty easy, flowers, and next week is clouds.  The challenge does get a bit more challenging after that. 

We have finished up our 3rd semester of the 9th grade, and she is doing really well.  Aleks is working wonders for her Math.  I have started testing her on Language Arts, and I am pleased and satisfied at how well she is doing.  French is a work in progress, but I found a cool podcast for French next year.  I am already listening, and learning.  Science, and History, well I don't think she will ever love those.  Right now we are watching the Hatfields and McCoys on Netflix.  I know I went backwards but it is such a great series, and so much conversation can come out of it.  We will start WW2 after, and yes there is a ton of discussion topics for that as well. 

Using OpenEd for Math Lessons and Turning Some of Our Favorite Nature Photos Into Awesome Gifts

Well, it has only been a week since my last post, lol.  I just don't have as much time, it seems, to blog.  I have been using OpenEd, the Math lessons, with my 6th grader, and right now it is going well.  She does the lesson, then plays a game, and watches videos.  Then we do Math flash cards, on an app, and she is finally getting division down.  I would still like her to be a little faster with her multiplication facts, but I wont quibble that.  With more practice she will get it. 

Since it was a little bit warmer today, I went out and got a lot of gardening done.  We are putting up a privacy fence, in the back yard, long story, so I had to dig up several plants.  They were successfully relocated, and I got to pick a spot for Caitlin and me to plant our 3 Sisters garden, in the Spring.  I got it dug, and added some good soil to it, and I will start composting it as well.  If you ever decide you want a privacy fence, do one panel a paycheck.  We didn't do it that way, but I wish we had.  Buying it all at once is extremely expensive. 

If you have been reading this blog, for any length of time, then you know we love to be outside.  We love nature, animals, visiting all our local parks and zoos.  Though, we have by no means visited them all, it takes a while, lol.  We also love to take pictures of all the beautiful, and fun things we see, and find.  Some of you might even recognize this picture.  The male lion, who let us take his picture several times.  Now, you can purchase some of our favorite, and best photographs, by shopping at my new Society6 Art store.  You will also find my paintings.  You can buy prints, canvas, or lovely gifts.  So far, along with this lion, I have uploaded flowers, manatees, deer, dolphins, springs, and other beautiful pictures from our travels around Florida.  I do not have all of them loaded, yet.  It takes quite a long time to edit and load them.  Plus, I have to find them in all my storage places.  We have been doing this for 9 years after all.  These make great, quality gifts.  You can also just click the Society6 banner, at the top corner of this blog.

Wisteria and Allergies

A few weeks back, we did a lot of yard work. I like to trim back the shrubs, and prune the over hang of the trees. If I don't do this, it grows all out of control and looks awful, plus it pushes on the fence so that it knocks it over. This is the side of the yard, we don't frequent often. This is where the beautiful Wisteria hangs into my yard, from the neighbor's yard. This means it is not mine to cut down, but I can cut the overhang. As beautiful as it is, I am severely allergic. As you can see we could not get all the overhang, and some remains. Actually I am not sure that even if it did not hang into my yard, if it would still trigger my allergies or not. It probably would. All the usual remedies do not seem to be working either, which is only making it worse.

Still, I plan on getting a whole week of schooling in. I thought Biofuels was done for DJ, but he has one last experiment this week, and then possibly next week. We still have Run Club, if I can, and DJ sprained his ankle on Sat, what a weekend. The flashcards are working amazing for Caitlin, and the money game too. We only played it twice, and I can already see improvement.