State of Florida Marine Ecology Event and Competition

Yesterday, we took a trip to Kissimmee, for our first time at the Florida Marine Ecology Event. We are in Gilchrist County, and I believe this is the third year our county has attended. It was our first year on the team. Since DJ, always, and still says he is going to be a Marine Biologist, this was perfect for him. Our team won 3 photography awards, but none of the other awards. However, I got a ton of information, and what a wonderful learning experience. It was a very long day, because the event is almost 3 hours away from where we live. But, so worth it. After the kids had finished the contest, we went to lunch, and then you could come back and see the specimens with the answers. You could take pictures of the ones you got wrong, to study for next year. These are a few of the ones DJ missed. He figures he missed about 8 all together, out of he thinks 75 specimens. We won't know for sure until they return the answer sheets to the leaders. Even with that few missed, there were those who got less incorrect. These kids are serious, lol. We look forward to doing this again next year. Below are some links I want to save for future reference. Please feel free to browse through them, and use as you wish. If you live in Gilchrist County, and would love to join the Marine Ecology team, you can message me and I will hook you up with the leader.

https://skml.clas.ufl.edu/

http://holmes.ifas.ufl.edu/4hy/4-h-seaperch-robotics/

http://www.flseagrant.org/

http://www.guyharvey.com/ocean-conservation/

http://www.4-h.org/resource-library/grants-awards/




 

Mystic Jungle Education Facility at the Fizz Boom Read Library Program in Trenton

Today, was the first day of the Summer program at the Trenton Public Library, which is part of the Three Rivers Regional Library System. The educational facility, Mystic Jungle was the first of four weeks of fun. I did not see this last year, but some of the people I went with did. I thought they did an amazing job, and yes that is a snake on his hat. They had a Bobcat, lots of snakes, tarantula, lemur, and a lot of other really cool animals to share. They have a website, and their facility is located in Live Oak, FL. I was told they offer tours for free, for homeschoolers, so I might just have to check that out. DJ did not go, he thought he was too old, but he wishes he did now, lol. The library program runs for four weeks, on Thursday, and like I said today was week one. I intended to go next week, but forgot we have a prior commitment on that day, so we will have to miss that one.

Otter Springs Camp Ground in Florida

Both my sisters, and their families, are here visiting us in FL. They are both camping but at two different places. This makes for interesting times seeing everyone. Today, we spent the day at Otter Springs and Campground, with Norma and George. There were thunderstorms on and off all day, but there is an inground pool, that is in a large screen house type building. That is nice, because even if it didn't thunder all day, the springs are not able to be swam in at this time. You probably have seen me blog about Otter Springs before. We did a clean up day there with our 4H group, two years ago, and every year our 4H county award dinner is held at Otter Springs. They have a beautiful banquet hall where a lot of families come, camp and hold their reunion there. I had never actually been down by the springs. The spring itself is nice and clean, but due to Spring flooding there is still a lot of ponding and icky water sitting around. DJ said he saw a snake in the water by the scummy side, but I didn't see it. This spring is rather deep, the marker set in the water had the water at 7.40 feet of water, and that was a very quick drop off. So, you would have to be very careful if swimming with small children there. It is a beautiful place to camp and see the more natural side of Florida. Check it out sometime if in the area. Tomorrow we are off to Shired Island to see my other sister and her family, and then Tues we are hoping to get out to the Atlantic Ocean, one of my husband's favorite things to do.

Angler Fish Upcycled Bird Feeder and Sandwiches

So, we made the bird feeders using recycled milk jugs. We were supposed to do four but one jug got forgotten at home. If you don't know what an Angler Fish looks like, they are a hideous scary fish that live in the deepest darkest depths of the ocean. They have a lure on the top of their head that glows to attract prey. So we took milk jugs, cleaned and dried them of course, and cut a really big mouth opening. Angler Fish have large appearing mouths with long sharp teeth. Since we wanted birds, or squirrels to come and eat from the feeder we opted to leave off the long spiky teeth. We did cut the top of the mouth with scissors in strips and colored them in black to appear to be sharp teeth. They spray painted the jugs with yellow or green spray paint. Then after they dried, they added googly eyes, the lure which is just a pipe cleaner and a puff ball glued to the end of it. The lure is held in place by cutting a small slit in the back of the jug sticking in the pipe cleaner and then bending it over to hold it in place. DJ added a goatee to his, but since he was in the shade you can't really see his very well. I forgot the worksheets I had printed out, but thankfully DJ is well aware of the Angler Fish and was able to lead the class without them. Due to the holiday in November, our next meeting is in two weeks, and we will be going on a fossil hunt. There are very specific rules for this, and I will share them in a future post.  Oh I almost forgot the sandwiches.  I used a biscuit cutter to make them round, added the chicken salad, then made the lure with a pepper and olive.  An olive makes the eye.  I tried to use shredded cheese to make teeth but it was the fine shredded rather than the thicker shredded cheese so it wouldn't work.

Animal Control Frustrations Grrr!!!

For those of you who have read my blog for any length of time, know I have been fighting with Animal Control for years to get these ferell cats under control. To make a very long story short, we found a home for one female kitten the last time the mother had a litter. We are still tending, and feeding to the two males that no one wants. The mother appears to have had another litter, though not in my bushes this time. However a very tiny kitten was found wandering around my yard this morning, looking very haggard and hungry. This kitten weighs no more than one pound. Of course my kids make me feel like a cad, so I can not just ignore it, but I am not the town pound either. I put it in the pet carrier, with a blanket, fed it, and gave it some milk, and tried to figure out what to do. Animal control has never been helpful, if you remember when I called the county humane society I was told no kittens, but if I wanted to pay for some very expensive tests, and have them spade, all out of my own pocket they would send them to another shelter. Outrageous I know, so I figured calling them would be no good. So I called the next county over, and they told me they would not take them from another county, to call the county administrator. Which I did, he referred me to someone else, who referred me back to animal control, who told me they no longer have a contract with the town. Grr I am not happy at all. So then she told me if I wanted to pay 25 dollars, and transport said kitten to her, she would take it to the animal shelter on my behalf. So now I am either stuck with this very tiny, needy kitten, or I have to pay 25 dollars out of my own pocket. What I would really like to know is if the City of Trenton decided to sever their ties with the Gilchrist County Animal Control, then why are they not providing the service themselves. Well I was told because tax payers already pay for the service, and the county should be providing said service. Seems tax payers were actually being charged twice. I really do not care about any of this, but I do care that I can not afford to feed, and take care of every stray that wanders onto my property. I can not kill it either, or just drop it off in the woods, as many have suggested. No one wants to deal with these ferrell animals, and it is getting out of control. There is a meeting Monday evening, and if I can make it I will. If not I will call the city manager back on Tuesday to see what happened. If anyone has ever dealt with this sort of stuff in your neighborhoods, I would love some good advice.

Lesson Plans For 10/15/09:

DJ:
Health: Healthy food choices, label reading
Language Arts: Quotation marks, prefixes, homographs
Spelling/Vocab: Write each word two times each
Math: Division, greater than and less than, subtraction
Cursive Writing
Reading Comprehension: Worksheet

Caitlin:
Health: Healthy food choices
Alphabet Book: Letter U
Math: Telling Time
Reading: HOP Tag
Site words
Printing Practice
Address and phone number learn to write them

Whew That Was Rough!

After 6 hours of, scan, scan again, again, again, and how many more times again, disk cleanup, spyware remover, reboot about 100 times the nasty hijacker virus is gone. I wish I knew which website gave it to me. I am almost certain it was on Entrecard, because that was the only thing I was doing when I got it. Oh well, at least it is gone, for good I hope.

Last week I found a totally free website. Now years ago, I tried these free sites, and never got anything, except a bunch of junk. Free education stuff is the link for you to find some awesome cool free educational stuff. So far the only thing that has come was a Character Action plan for young kids, from the one and only Tiger Woods. I could not believe what a nice curriculum this was. It comes with a book to read, along with worksheets that cover the material. I was stunned at how nice it was, and free too. There are other free subjects in the left hand column, but I was pretty much only interested in the educational stuff. Check it out. I will let you know when other cool things come in. I also was asked by Sylvan to do another give away of their products. This year they sent me a first grade Language Arts workbook, to give away to one of my readers. Be sure to watch for it. I probably will not do it until after Nov 1st when my feed the needy promotion ends. Be sure to check that out in the left hand column of this blog.

Tomorrow is our playgroup playdate. We are hoping to be able to swim, but the weather has not been great. Our group is small, and we try to meet every two weeks, for fun, and socialization. If you live in the Gilchrist County Florida, or surrounding area, homeschool, or have a preschooler looking for some fun playdates, come join us. If you are interested in joining our group please contact me at melissaruede@yahoo.com and I will send you the sign up link. Because tomorrow is our playgroup, DJ worked extra hard, to get a day ahead, and left just a few things to finish up.

Lesson Plans for 09/17/09:

Playdate 10Am-1PM with lunch, and swimming

Caitlin: Reading- HOP Dad and Sam, site words, sharing, follow directions.

DJ:
Reading Comprehension: WS
Review plate tectonics from 09/18/09
Health: Food pyramid
Math: Addition, place value
Language Arts: Capitalization, prefixes, synonyms, antonyms
Spelling/Vocab: Use each word in a sentence



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H1N1 Still Alive and Kicking

I don't know about the rest of you, but this makes me just a bit nervous. Here in the US the flu season does not start until cool weather comes back. That is because the flu virus can not thrive in hot, and humid conditions. Ha, but not H1N1 also known as a form of Swine Flu. Here in Gilchrist County, we have had our first reported cases of Swine Flu, it is July. The Public Health Dept has issued a statement, you can read it here. The three confirmed cases, there are over 30 with symptoms, are in the local prison. Normally this would not alarm me, other than the time of year, but my husband works at this prison. So now I have to watch for symptoms, and probably isolate ourselves from others to be safe, as we have been exposed for sure. You can read about symptoms here at the CDC website. If you look around the website you will see that the virus is still very prevalent in the states, and some 362 people have died from it. I wonder to myself, how many of these deaths ocurred with people who are uninsured, or under insured. Hmm makes me wonder. After all Tamiflu which does not cure the flu, but just helps reduce symptoms by about a day and a half, only costs 10 dollars per pill, and you need a ten day course. Plus you might want to treat your family, because they might have caught some of your germs. If you don't like to read you can watch the short video below, about symptoms for H1N1 virus. Be sure to wash your hands, cover your nose and mouth, throw away tissues, and try to stay away from others if you have symptoms.

Energy For Kids

My third grade books, that I purchased for my son, did not cover Gravity and Electricity. Gravity and Electricity, were a part of our curriculum, so I have been scouring the internet to find free programs on Gravity and Electricity. About.com had several, and then I also found this website, http://www.scribd.com/doc/1115/Energy-for-Kids/

It covers electricity, gravity, atoms, heat and sound. It is nothing fancy, easy to read and use, with questions for your child to answer. The answers are provided in the reading, and then you can make a post test after.

Tomorrow is test day, so there are no lesson plans to post.

Friday December 5th, is the first tree lighting ceremony here in Gilchrist County. They will be having cookies with santa, horse carriage rides, christmas caroling, and other great family activities. It goes from 6pm-8pm with downtown businesses staying open late. It is hopefully going to draw the community together, and promote the downtown businesses. If anyone from the Gilchrist County area, reads my blog, please be sure and try to attend.

Have a great Thursday, everyone.

My Evaluation Saga Continues

So I thought I had found someone to do DJ's evaluation. It isnt due until September, but I am not the kind to dilly dally. Well good thing, because my original evaluator, is much busier than she originally anticipated. She is quite a ways away too. So I started my search all over again. I was starting to think there were absolutely no other homeschoolers here in this very rural part of Florida. But after many hours of searching I found a website called Titus 2 Homeschoolers. There listed they had some listings for teachers that were able to do homeschool evaluators. I contacted them all. I got one response from a woman who lives in Bronson. I called her, and DJ's evaluation has been arranged, for August 22nd. This is such a relief. I think this aspect, has been the most difficult part, of our first homeschooling year. If anyone else lives in the Levy, Dixie, Gilchrist country areas, and is in need of an evaluator she has given me permission to post her name and email address. Her name is Sherri, and her email address is brice4christ@bellsouth.net I also learned they have a small homeschool group, which I hope to have the information for soon. Titus 2 Homeschoolers is a homeschool group, serving mostly Alachua county, their website can be found at http://members.cox.net/mandjstewart/t2/