Spring where I am

I saw this challenge on Lisa in Maine's blog and definitely wanted to post what spring looks like where I live. Spring has started to arrive just in the last few days. A week ago we were skiing, a week ago we were fundraising for the cub scouts when a heavy snowfall began. Then suddenly a few days ago it warmed up, it rained instead of snowed and LOTS of snow is melting!

A week ago we still have big snow drifts here in west/central New Hampshire.


Now the only drifts left are right by the road where it was built up by the snow plows through the winter. That is always the last place to melt. Just a couple days ago Colin and Tristan were pouring hot water on remaining snow in an attempt to speed up melting! We all want spring now!


The flowers and bushes are not quite ready to bloom but soon......


Life, there is life still after the winter. This spider was spotted about 5 days ago, the first sign of life outdoors this spring.

Flower is ready to get out and explore! Is there anything in the pond?

Or around the strawberry garden?

The wood pile is getting low but we shouldn't need to heat very many more days. Usually just in the morning to take the chill off.

This patch of ground is quite representative of the land around our house today March 31'st.

Half- we are about halfway to having all the snow gone from the ground.

It could still snow, I suppose it is likely that it will and some chilly nights are still here. This ice is still on the lake and it's a little colder down there. Winter will end though it will soon lose the battle to spring, as it does every year about this time.

cub scouts, selling flower bulbs

In order to earn money towards a trip to Battleship Cove the cub scouts need to sell Dutch Mill Flower Bulbs. We all went out on Saturday for a couple hours then we took just Tristan out on Sunday. Colin has a lot more in his cub scout account so doesn't need to earn extra above the trip. We had Tristan earn extra in case it can be used towards camp too. Colin has paid for his camp with sales but Tristan still needs to earn more towards camp. So anyway, off we went.

Still plenty of snow mountains around here, they are starting to look decidedly muddy now though.


Tristan strikes a few selling bulbs poses.

The best part of going door to door is meeting new friends. here is Tristan with his new friend Lola the Saint Bernard Puppy! The person was kind enough to let us take a picture with Lola. We also met a Rudy, a Winston both Bernese Mountain Dogs and a fair few labs, small yippy yappy dogs and of course some mutts.

Fundraising is not the best thing in the world to do but it's not all bad.

a trophy for Tristan!

Tristan's 4th place Pinewood derby trophy arrived today. He was very surprised and happy. It's like a dream come true to him...oh to be 9 years old with simple dreams. The look on his face when he opened the box was priceless.

We had Girl Scouts for Hayley this morning and I had done the unthinkable. We were to bake something for a bake sale.... and...I....FORGOT! We had to bake cookies at 8:00 this morning and then will them to come out well and cool down fast! They did and we made it to girl scouts in time with cookies. Phew. Must make sure not to forget next time we have to bake something for a kid activity. It made for a stressful morning.

I didn't go in to girl scouts but ran some errands nearby instead while Hayley attended the meeting. I guess the girls made some candy to sell and also worked on a troop song. When we got home Hayley presented me with two new patches to iron onto her scout vest. She loves earning patches and it's nice that the leaders this year encourage them to work on any they want to at home. There was a different leader last year and although she was a lovely lady she didn't give a lot of feedback to parents and I was never quite sure if we were supposed to be working on anything at home. The current leadership is very good about keeping everyone informed. At home right now we're working on a space patch since we just went to the planetarium and also math wiz (my pick) and Humans and habitats which Hayley has chosen as part of working towards another sign(special patch).

Not much else today. I had been researching online to try and find more teaching company videos/DVD's at good prices and found two that we need at excellent prices. Algebra 1, I got the video tapes for $14! This will be good extra viewing for Trevor next year as he does MUS Algebra 1. Also I finally found the high school level US history for a good price. Great timing too as we have only a few weeks left with the world history tapes, we'll then go straight into the US history dvd's. We did have one splurge and actually bought "London- a short history" from TC themselves (on sale) and that arrived today. We can't wait to get into that. I hope to find their British Literature course next it seems as though if I check the various sale boards every week I eventually come across what I need at a price I can afford. I'm looking for sciences from TC too for the coming years. I need to find reviews on some of the sciences such as Astronomy and geology such as is evolution and the big bang an ever present theme or just one lecture that can be skipped. I wouldn't want to confuse the kids.

It's definitely warming up around here and we are seeing some melting with the snow. Soon it will be mud season!

I'm at the launderette where is Dot?

Something is wrong with our washing machine and has been for quite some time. For awhile it seemed easier to hand wash the laundry living fairly far from town as we do and not knowing what to expect in a launderette and hopeful that laundry fairies would fix my washer. Hand washing eventually got old and older and a dreaded task so today I ventured out to the Launderette or Laundrymat or whatever we call it here.

Upon arrival it looked somehow wrong to me.


After all when I think laundrette I think of this.


and expect her to be there... hullo Dot!


Why isn't Dot from Eastenders at the Launderette, she's always at the launderette unless of course Heather or Bianca or whatever part time person is there.

Clearly the laundrymat in my NH town in no way resembles the one in the fictional UK town of Walford where Eastenders is set.


If it was Walford then Dot would be just in the back there through that door- in the picture above- in the back. Sadly that door led to nothing but electrical stuff.

So I got no sage advice or bible verses from motherly Dot.

"Oh I say, it'll be alright, let me get ya a nice cuppa tea and you can tell me all about it".


All there was to do was to sit on this hard bench alone with nothing nearby but the post office which I had no need for this day.


If I had been in Walford I could have wandered out in the square whilst my washing was getting done. I could walk through the park...


or visit the Minute Mart for a snack...


Or wander through the market stalls.....


Or head into the cafe and hope not to get on Ian's bad side....


Maybe one of these people would also be doing their laundry, no one in Eastenders seems to actually own a washing machine. They all go to the launderette.

I could have headed over to the Queen Vic for the latest gossip...

and hoped that no fights would break out in there...

But I was not in Walford so I sat and watched the clothes spin....


and tumble.....

and got more quarters when mine ran out (pricey place these laundromats!)...

all the while thinking how fun it would be to have seen Dot (or Pauline even though she's dead now sadly in real life now too, sniff...) there and say:

I'd like a service wash if you've got time Dot.

Pinewood Derby 2009

Tristan's car is white and Colin's is orange. Tristan's weight was on the bottom but it was a tiny bit too low so they made him change it at check in. He was a little upset that his car no longer looked like his vision for it.


Hayley's car (when it was in progress) is a black cat. She couldn't run it though since there was no parents and siblings race this year.


Waiting, waiting, waiting. The Tigers race first and there was a computer error so the Tiger race had to be run all over again before the older cub scouts race could start.


Silly face time


Are we having fun yet? YES!

I have no race shots! My camera was up to it's old tricks again and refused to work. I will get some pictures later from a friend. It was a long day, lots of boys racing. Tristan came in 4th overall! Colin was 7th! So both made it to the final ten and Tristan to the top 4!! Tristan was so happy until it turned out that he came in 4th and only the top 3 get trophies. They always have 4 in the finals since there are 4 tracks but only 3 can place and move on to the regionals. It's very hard to be 4th as we found out today. Colin at 7th was not so upset. When you are so close to winning it's harder. The races with the final 4 were all very, very close with fractions of a second separating the boys. Tristan cried, but not 'till he was in the car. He has wanted a trophy for years (no idea why he just likes the thought of it I guess!) and he kept saying "my dream will never come true".

What is a Mom to do, I found a place to order derby trophy's online and was able to order a "4th place" one and have his name engraved on. That is about all this Mom could do with such a sad boy. I hope he will like it and be happy and surprised when it arrives. I know it won't be quite the same as getting a trophy at the derby but 4th place is very good and should be rewarded!

New Year

Record keeping and very initial planning for 2009-2010 I think a theme and plan is emerging. I'm a little further along in my thinking since my other post on this topic.

Social Studies
World Geography and Cultures my own plan
British History- still aquiring resources, London a short history- teaching company DVD's, books

Science
Chemistry,
Earth and Space science

math
MUS Algebra- Trevor
continue Cle math-younger three

LA
Galore Park for basics
British Literature

fine arts
Shakespeare study

Old Year

A little planning and record keeping for my own purposes. This post and the next will change as I add/remember more. I find it interesting how people define their homeschool years or the seasons of their life. For me spring seems to signal the new year. We are wrapping up homeschooling and some of the topics start to seem old and drawn out so it's fun to think of the topics to come.

This year we learned more about the following topics:
Ancient and World History.
Teaching Company High School Level World History tapes, Usborne and Kingfisher World history books, Evan-Moor Ancient Times history pockets. Many read alouds from our own shelves and the library's, Drive thru History DVD's.

US history and Government
Getting Ahead US History
DK US history encyclopedia
Heart of Dakota-Bigger Hearts
variety of read alouds from home and library
Presidents lapbook
keeping up with election and current events
Dear America videos
American Tall Tales and legends-videos
quite a few historical fiction videos

Science
Biology, health, zoology
Rainbow Science biology
animals co-op class, planning for, implimenting, attending (depending on the child)
Getting Ahead life science elementary
Getting Ahead life science and human body ages 10-14
A beka health reader
many animals, habitats, and ecosystems books a couple lapbooks
assorted experiments from Stratton house science kits
American Girl books for health-dd
Working on badges related to health- scouts
using our microscope
Standard Deviants High School Biology
a few units from CLE science related to animals

Math
Teaching company basic math will finish in about 4 weeks
math U See pre algebra (will continue through summer)
Getting Ahead mathematics DVD's
Standard Deviants Math DVD's
Math readers, many assorted
CLE math (younger three children)

Language Arts
English 9 (Trevor designed from things we own, grammar, usage, literature, research...)
IEW writing
Standard deviants English-DVD
getting ahead reading and writing DVD
Evan-Moor LA middle grades Hayley
Explode the code #'s4-8, Beyond the code, CLE LA Colin
multi sensory phonics, CLE phonics, reading and LA- Tristan
Brian Cleary and Scholastic language arts readers

Music Appreciation
Listening to many types of music and discussing
videos about famous musicians and composers
learning guitar- younger three
music class- Hayley and Tristan

Art appreciation
Discovering great artists
looking up artists online
a couple DVD's about art and artists through the year

Other
365 days of celebration and praise
some co-op classes
skiing
planetarium visit
scouts
hikes and outdoor exploration
raised bullfrog tadpoles to frogs for the first time
puppy training
chess
swim lessons
camp-Colin
computers ins and outs and learned more about their workings

Tristan's head

Hayley has been working on computer art a lot lately. Today she did this one titled Tristan's Head.

wordle

I saw this on Dorothy's blog, fun!

a good day to ski

Snow Monday=Ski Tuesday!

March skiing is really not so bad! It was in the 40's and sunny today.

I didn't find the chair lift at this mountain as scary as the one on Friday, which is a good thing since this one is the mountain we'll be using most of the time. I'm not ready for black trails but I can almost keep up with the boys already.

Snow...again

I don't seem to see the gerbils very often. Hamsters and gerbils live in the kids rooms and the kids care for them completely. Last weekend a couple of the cages were in need of changing so the kids brought them downstairs. I got to visit with the gerbils.


and Flower the cat did too!


In the calm before yet another snowstorm we took Freeze for a walk to the lake.


Still too much snow to swing!

Monday morning the snow arrived, a ferret watches the snow.

Poppy the dog has come in from the snow and has some flakes on her!

Boys play in the snow.

It was a heavy, wet snow as is typical of this time of year when the weather is a little warmer.