Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls, Provo Canyon, Utah

 

As an alternative to endless Davy and Goliath shows (our Sunday-morning go-to fare), we left this morning for the canyon and some nature study...or not.

 

I've included links to Wild Utah Plants which helped in identification and give additional information.

 

Mule deer scat

 

 

 

 

 

Wild Blue Flax
Linacea (Flax)
 

 

Choke Cherry Blossoms
Prunus virginiana L.

Mule's Ears
Wyetia amplexicaulis

 

 

Hound's Tongue
Boraginaceae

Sagebrush in foreground

Water droplets by Bowery Bird

According to Mockingbird, this is a volcano about to erupt (our latest science study). Kingfisher wasn't falling for it, but still needed my confirmation.

What the kids were really up to--building a bridge across the huge mud puddle.

And finally, evidence of earthquakes...

Park Life can cover many subjects

 

 

Spring is not to be missed- we've been to the park twice this week to enjoy the weather.

 

GEOGRAPHY:

Bowery Bird and I made drew a huge USA map with sidewalk chalk. To work on the Webelos Forestry badge she marked the forest regions ( you can see a bit in Utah & Arkansas.)

She did great on the western half, I got a little sloppy on all the little eastern states- but they're so far away they don't matter anyway- jk!

 

 

NATURE STUDY:

Kingfisher found perfect deer tracks all over the sand.

 

 



 HISTORY:
Mocking Bird made sandcastles "Medieval ones so it still counts as school"

.

MORE NATURE STUDY & SCIENCE:

We saw the local muskrat-a busy and brave big guy.

And the slow bullfrog he disturbed.

 

HANDICRAFTS:

Made some bark boats with Maple leaf sails that were led by thread (see above).

 

 

POETRY:

I think that I shall never see,

a poem as lovely as a tree.

-Joyce Kilmer

 

 

And stared at ourselves in the water, working out the questions of the universe, why pigtails are so cute, and trying to gage whether or not we could beat the melt down bubbling up from the 7 kids I had in tow today...(we did.) Made it home in time to peacefully watch Disney's Mathemagic and the Composer's Series Rosissini.

Nancy Drew to the Rescue

"I want to go find a librarian and tell her my mom won't let me read a book!"- Bowery Bird

I'm a bad mom.
Today in between 5 dentist appointments Bowery Bird and I were across the street at the library. Holed up in a corner we were turning decimals into fractions and then marching them into ascending order (it sounds like magic was involved...and there must have been, to hold her back from stocking  up on Nancy Drews a mere 3 shelves away.)

Speaking of Nancy Drew, we just watched this killer of a film from 1939. I would recommend this any day over the modern version--and I haven't even seen that one yet.

This movie had action, adventure, and lots of humor. Even my initially bored Kingfisher was laughing with us as our heroine and her friends sang Nursery Rhymes for their supper in a Chinese Restaurant, and turned off the hotel sign lights to read "Bedbug Hotel." Then all three children visibly held their breath as the bad guy approached Nancy and Ted with their recording device in full view; 1939 recording device.

Not only a fun show for all ages with an upbeat attitude and lots of adventure, it was a peak at how life once was and made a great Saturday afternoon treat.

Our Muddy Mississip.

We don't get dirty enough. It's May, and I wanted to take advantage of having the outside to ourselves before school gets out for the summer and do a combined project.

So today for Geography we went to the vacant lot near our home (don't worry, I edited out the graffiti fence for our viewers) and made our own Mississippi.

First Mocking Bird Y2 and Bowery Bird Y4 did a plan, complete with smiley and sad faces, by looking at the maps in Minn of the Mississippi, a beautiful tale of a snapping turtle's journey along the Mississippi and life in general.

Then we took a bucket of water and some spades and dug in!

Canary is sitting about in Lake Itsaca, and Mocking Bird is stealing water from the "Hungry Gulf of Mexico." That's the Missouri River on the right, and Ohio River on the left of course. A gentle slope mimics the melting Minnesota snows...

She and Kingfisher scooped the water from the south and replenished the Northern Lakes to start it all over again. An impromptu water cycle application fit in here, then it started raining as if to drive the point home. After this we cleaned up and watched one of my favorite guys; Bill Nye's Water Cycle episode, where we all learned we are drinking in fact, dinosaur spit.

Here's a better view. We're going for the basics here. I think it was effective, eventually when, quizzed enoughMocking Bird what she was working she started saying "The Hungry Gulf of Mexico" with a look, instead of "...a big lake..."

And our other goal- to get dirty. But we could have gotten more...city kids...

We Need Happy Mothers every Day

I am realizing the significance of taking care of ourselves as women.

Two weeks ago I was asked to teach in my church in a way others might be scared of, but for me was a breath of fresh air after 3 years of filling out secretary worksheets (definitely not my thing). Afterward, I felt I did well, and to get just a little praise from others gave me a new energy and a  confident calm to go about my week with a relaxed efficiency I had not experienced in a long time.

I was happier, and that was nice, but the thing that surprised me was that my children seemed happier. For the first time ever Bowery Bird cuddled with Canary in the morning in the room they share instead of ignoring her cries for mom. I heard her play with her more during the day and actually say "I love you." Mockingbird is usually very affectionate, but recently it has been constant instead of sporadic bursts with moody thunderclouds in between. The usual squabbles were there, but so was more affectionate interaction and just a more loving atmosphere.

I think the children in a real way picked up on mom's relaxed peace with herself. I wasn't as flustered or frantic as I felt confident in where I was--and my children felt it spill over to them. This really hit me. I am looking at how to make our homeschool and life in general less "speedy" and more "meaty" and truthfully- our lifestyle is NOT fast to begin with.

This little realization helped me to see how backing off a little can bring big dividends and my own self sets the thermometer for everyone else--more than I realized.

So, in searching for how to keep this feeling for myself, I found some good articles, which will make good fodder for our next Mother Daughter Project Group too.

Tips on finding time for yourself from CNN on How Moms Can Make Time for Themselves.

Essentially, it comes down to finding what rejuvenates and doesn't leave you feeling guilty, scheduling it in, and then not freaking out if life interrupts that-or if your plan interrupts life.

An article on a women's mental health called The Emotional Crisis between Mothers and  Daughters by Rosjke Hasseldine from The Silent Female Scream. (great web address)

Hasseldine concludes that Mothers who inherit a circumstance or belief of not emotionally taking care of themselves will develop unhealthy ways of releasing this frustration, often projecting it on or ignoring their daughters, who then perpetuate the same cycle.
This article is a wake up call to take care of ourselves. We're adults here. No one else is going to do it for us, or set the example of how to do it for our children.

Finding More Me Time on how to streamline what you have to do. I read somewhere that women spend 12 hours less a week cleaning than our 1960's predecessors. But because the expectation for parenting has taken off in a helicopter, so to speak, we don't necessarily get to enjoy that time and yet feel the stress from the same standard of cleanliness expected.

I would love it if I was the last person on earth to figure this stuff out, but I doubt it. We all want to do our best at taking care of the people in our lives we've been blessed with, but need to remember that taking care of ourselves is also taking care of them. Then we all can truly have a Happy Mother's Day--everyday.

Maybe even better since today I've been in bed with a fever...