Even the Cat is Coughing Up Science Lessons

Since I've been on my current science theme, I am seeing science lessons everywhere on our little farm. Just this afternoon, we had a gross little piece of science shoot out all over my daughter's favorite blanket. It was one of those fascinating in a disgusting way kind of things, and I guess it was technically more of a chunky pile than a piece. Our dear CatCat was lounging in her usual foot of the bed spot when she began out of the blue gagging. Well, my daughter picked up the cat to put it out, since it seemed on the verge of vomiting and all. The cat stopped retching, and daughter put her back on the bed. Immediately, Miss Meow Purr hacked up a smelly mess. Of course these things never hit just one blanket- it skimmed several. As I'm sure you can imagine, even a splash of cat vomit goes a long way, so everything has to be washed. On the way to the washer, we accidentally dropped some of the mess, and spread the joy even further. This was when we saw the interesting part. CatCat apparently swallowed a baby lizard- whole! The poor thing was only a few inches long, and was perfectly intact, except the missing tail. Well, we scooped it up and took it outside to check it out. After we poked around to get the cat hairball off of it, we discovered the little lizard had a beautiful blue patch on it's throat, a lovely pattern in its' scales, and tiny, perfect little fingers and toes. I considered bringing back in and looking at it under the microscope, but the whole mess smelled too bad for that.

So, we got online to see if lizard eating could be hazardous for a cat, and it looks like it's possible. I went back outside to see if I could get another look at the lizard, in order to identify it, but I can't find it now. I am thinking that my #1 chicken, Miss Puffy Cheeks, may have cleaned it up for me. Well, Google gave me about 12 million sites on cats vomiting lizards, most of which had no connection to anything remotely official, so I'm not exactly sure of the credibility of the information. Heck, any goofball blogger, like me, can post things on the internet. In any case, the cat seems fine now though, and is recuperating outside, so we won't be rushing to the vet to check for lizard toxicology. I am just hoping chickens are immune to lizard toxins.

More Challenging Science Fun

My science pick for this week is the Kids Science Challenge. We are so glad it is back for it's second year! It's a fun and inspiring contest to get kids in grades 2-6 thinking about science. It breaks down into a few chosen areas of science where kids can submit an idea or experiment to real scientists in that field, and possibly meet the scientists and win cool prizes. This years chosen areas are sports on mars, bio inspired design and detective science. The website has games and projects to get you in the mood; but be warned, there is a loud and rather overstimulating musical lizard intro that comes blaring at you on the home page. You might want to reduce the volume there, but once you get past that, there is lots more to enjoy.

Last year, both of my kids enjoyed brainstorming ideas and experimenting with outcomes. My son entered an idea in skateboard technology, and my daughter submitted her idea on water quality and conservation. She was a finalist and won a really cool digital microscope, along with some science kits and activity books. The microscope has given us hours of marveling at the beauty of ordinary objects magnified. We've been looking at just about everything under this thing- bugs, leaves, flowers, rocks, our skin (warning- magnifying wrinkles is not good for parental self esteem) and there's a constant "wow" or "eeeeew" going with it. We had read that butterflies have spiral tube tongues, but to see one in real life was just amazing. In many cases though, magnification leaves us repelling in disgust- a scab on a child's knee for example is really gross at 40 times it's normal size. Either way, we are continually fascinated by the natural world.

Of course winning fabulous prizes is always a bonus, but we enjoyed this fun contest in and of itself. We'll definitely be spending some time on it again this year. Enjoy!

Science Fun

I am a firm believer that education should not be boring. Kids start off life wanting to learn, and in an effort to keep that spark alive rather than smothering it with formalities, I spend a lot of time researching (goofing off on the internet, browsing library shelves, crafty catalogs etc.) finding cool things to enhance our homeschooling journey. It keeps it fun and interesting for both my kids and me, which is, after all, why we are doing this.

In the spirit of creativity and learning fun, I'm going be posting links to some of the many wonderful resources and awesome goodies that our family enjoys. I'm starting off with science, since there are so very many free and cool tools available online. Science is an experiment waiting to happen just as much as it is a series of formulas. My first pick is "The Happy Scientist."

I think everybody should be familiar with this guy- he is great! He's like a semi mad, but happy scientist who is really good at explaining things. The guy can even make boiling water interesting. He regularly sends out really fun and facinating science experiments, photos and videos, many of them FREE! If you love the free stuff, you can join for a very small fee, and have access to lots more science goodies. You can also follow him on Facebook!

We've tried a number of his experiments with mostly successful results. He has a great way of explaining concepts and making them understandable, without sounding like he is dumbing them down. (We really appreciate this) The kids love the videos, especially the bloopers- seeing professional adults mess up on camera is endlessly amusing for them. Although we don't check them every day, we check out several of his Science Photos each week. They always capture some amazing part of our natural world, and he poses a question about each one. After exhausting our ideas, we can check his explanations, which almost always lead us to some interesting new bit of knowledge.

This is so much more fun than a textbook.

Understanding Human Behavior

As part of my life long learning campaign I have been enjoying taking classes online through the local community college off and on for a couple of years now. I'm not sure when or how they will all add up to a degree but I am enjoying learning new things in the mean time. This semesters picks include a psychology class called “Understanding Human Behavior.” Since humans behave in all sorts of odd ways that are quite a puzzle to me, this ought to be interesting. I thought I'd be analyzing everyone around me, but we seem to be starting out by looking at ourselves. While it might not be nearly as fun as thinking about other peoples bizarre issues, I suppose it will be more useful in the end to understand my own.
Besides analyzing my own behavior, my dear family members are getting a big dose of my newfound knowledge and analytical skills. I am finding plenty of entertaining opportunities to throw out phrases like "Hmmm, it sounds like you might be displacing your anger and projecting it onto inanimate objects." Although people who are yelling at a printer that won't work or cursing at a shopping cart with a bad wheel don't seem very appreciative of my psychological assessments, it is still very amusing for me to make them. I should probably try analyze why I find so much humor in messing with already frustrated people, but that sounds like a little more deep thinking than I'm into tonight. I could probably come up with some way to rationalize it, but in the mean time I think I'll just keep having fun with it.

Not Back to School

Now that fall is here, and most kids have gone back to school, we are getting plenty of curious questions about our homeschooling adventure. Learning happens year round for us, but that's a hard concept to explain to folks with a standard view of education. It's equally hard to explain the concept that education should not be forced or boring, nor does it need to take place in a classroom or make your head hurt. While most of the questioners are friendly, I can often see a look in their eye that says despite the smile, they just can't help but think that what we are doing is a little weird. I doubt many of them will come around to my way of thinking and suddenly let their children be free during the course of a 5 minute conversation at the dentists office, but at least we are a presence, hopefully normalizing the face of homeschooling. I don't wear denim jumpers, and while I am a Christian, I am far from a religious extremist. My kids are not dressed like they are on Little House on the Prairie, and although they are smart and mostly well behaved, they are not timid, or ill adjusted and neither is a prodigy. The idea of homeschooling really isn't that strange, and neither are most of the people doing it. We're a mixed bag of all kinds of people who chose this path for different reasons and go about it different ways. So, I try to be glad to answer the questions, and to show the side of homeschooling that is out having fun, learning and enjoying life. I certainly choose my moments to mention homeschooling. If my children are running through the store being exceptionally loud and crashing the shopping cart into each other, or worse, the wine shelf, I am not about to tout what a great educational alternative we have going on. I can't convincingly pretend I don't know who they belong with, since one of them looks like a miniature version of me. Fortunately, most of the time, I think (or at least hope) we are pretty good at containing obnoxious behavior in public. So when a stranger takes the time to ask us why the kids aren't in school, or what grade they are in, we probably seem approachable and normal. And hopefully, if the strangers have never met a homeschooling family before, they will at the very least see that we are real people, and not just stereotypes. Maybe they will consider the idea of home education or life learning a little less odd, and maybe they won't. Either way, we'll still be out in the world, doing our thing, and answering questions as they come along.

What Would Jesus Do About Health Care Reform?

It's a question I have been thinking about for weeks, and one I would like to pose to other people of the Christian faith. What do you think Jesus would do about healthcare reform? I am not trying to start an argument, although based on how heated the recent debates over this subject have become, I will probably offend someone. But, that really isn't my intention. What I'm hoping for is some serious thought about the question. I don't quite understand the anger and fierce resistance to the idea of making sure every citizen of our country had access to healthcare, particularly from those who are followers of Jesus. Along with feeding the hungry, and caring for the poor, I am pretty sure we are supposed to be taking care of the sick too. Is leaving it to private companies who are clear about their primary mission being monetary gain and who regularly cancel or refuse coverage to the sick the right way to show we actually care for each other? While there are arguments about the exact number, by all accounts there are tens of millions of Americans who have no health insurance. So tens of millions of people in one of the richest countries in the world can't necessarily get the treatment they need if they are sick or injured, or to keep well for that matter. The reason most people I know don't have insurance is cost- unless you have an employer who pays a portion, it is just too expensive. There is a huge gap of people who are not poor enough for Medi-Cal, but don't make enough to pay insurance premiums, especially if they are unlucky enough to have a pre-existing condition. The private companies don't seem to have a big interest in making it affordable, so that leaves many of us with nothing.

In the same newsletter in which Congressman Wally Herger shoots down the idea healthcare reform that includes any public option because it would cost taxpayer money, he touts the reasons we should use our taxpayers money to build a fence along the Mexican border. My Representative's attitude does not represent me in the case, nor my family, and certainly not the Christian faith in my opinion. My primary concerns in life are not illegal immigration or homeland security. Sure, they are problems too, but the possibility of losing everything if one of our family members was to have a serious illness is much more of a concern for me. I think the lack of access to healthcare is something that actually does affect many more American's on a daily basis than those other priorities. How can a country with the wealth and resources we have not consider the health of it's people as a priority?

The fear of a public healthcare option is something else I am not understanding, particularly from people who have no issue whatsoever sending their children off on a daily basis to be educated in a publicly funded school. The government has access to most of our children's minds every day, but people are terrified at the thought of government involvement in healthcare. Most people drive every day on public roads and I don't hear anyone yelling about the evils of socialist highways either. I think the key word is option, we want an option for people who have none. Will lots of people take the government up on the option? Probably so if they like it better than what they have now. But if what they have now was so great, why would they switch? Many people still choose private schools, charter schools or homeschooling for their children, but every child has access to education because we have publicly funded schools. I privately homeschool my children, but I definitely want the best possible public programs out there for the millions of kids who use that option.

Back to my original question; What would Jesus do about healthcare reform? While I am far from a Biblical scholar, I do know that he unequivocally told us to love one another- in fact to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. I don't think he would spend his resources building a fence to lock out the poor rather than using that money to make sure the sick were taken care of and trying to keep people healthy. I think he would support working together for change (even with your enemies, which some people seem to consider anyone they did not vote for) I think he would want us to find ways to show we care about each other, not just ourselves. I think he might just be sick over the hostility and anger as well. While I firmly do believe in the separation of church and state, if a person is of faith, then they should be considering that in their choices, their words and their actions. Sometimes the loudest voices representing Christians don't seem to follow in his footsteps. I hope I am not completely off base with this long winded rant, but as I said, it's been on my mind for a while now. I am just really hoping that people who believe will prayerfully consider the path that Jesus would take here. I hope that soon we can figure out a way to stop yelling, and start figuring out ways to make things better.

Up and Coming

I'm very excited to share that my article "Hands on History" is slated to run in the November / December issue of Home Education Magazine. Click here for a preview. Look for it in print later this fall.

Another Neat Person in the NorthState

It was my privilege to interview Kim Berry of Red Bluff recently for NorthState Parent Magazine's "Be the Change" column. Although as homeschoolers, my family doesn't experience the importance of new clothing for a new school year, I do remember being a kid, and can imagine how good her efforts and the Back to School Project are making kids feel. It's always a pleasure to get to meet the wonderful people who truly make our communities come together and be the kind of place you are happy to live in.
I hope you'll check out the article, and maybe be inspired to take the first step in a project you know in your heart would make the world a better place.

More Etsy inspiration

I am just loving the inspirational artwork of all kinds that I find on Etsy. Toys, photos, clothing, jewelery, you name it, someone is doing amazing things with it.

Like this artist and her fun, adorable dolls;

It is great to know the world still has so much creativity in it.

So far, my eclectic Etsy shop- MelaMarie is still tiny, but I am taking baby steps and having fun with it. It's been a family project- my kids have been scouting thrift stores and crafting with me, my husband has been commenting that if the kids and I could ust get an assembly line going and sell enough clay fruit, he could spend his days sailing. Well, a guy can dream anyway, but I hadn't exactly imagined supporting the family with this little venture anytime soon.

For me, finding and making stuff is the easiest part; actually getting it photographed and listed is more of a challenge, but like most things in life, the more I do it, the quicker and easier it gets. I considered setting a goal just now of having a certain number of items in my shop by the holidays, but that sounds like a good way to stress myself out. For now, I'll keep my goals to myself, and keep having fun with my shop.

Slacker Home Improvement

In my home decorating, like in many other areas of my life, I guess I am a bit of a slacker. Since two of my good friends have recently been going through the process of building big, beautiful new homes, I have been taking a look at mine, and seeing lots of room for improvement. I was getting a bit of a case of nice, big, fancy, new home envy, but in reality I know that I would be truly stressed with a huge mortgage and expensive white cabinets that my dirty fingered family members would ruin before I had paid for.

So, the best I can do at the moment is make do with what I have, and try to spruce up this old place. I favor painting as an easy place to start. It's low cost- especially since I just mixed up a bunch of new colors out of old paint we had laying around the garage. You'd probably be surprised at the fun and interesting colors I came up with. And, I am keeping all of that old paint out of the toxic waste pile.

I love that painting is quick- especially since I tend to skip much of the prep work. Yeah, yeah, I know the prep work is the most important part of a good paint job- or so I've heard from people who have really nice paint jobs, but I just don't have the patience for that at this point in my life. I'm not a detail oriented kinda gal, and I really have no desire to sand, tape and whatever else I'm supposed to do for weeks before I can even get get started on painting. I want to see some change now. I figure if I get off the big flakes of old paint and the largest cobwebs, and paint over the rest of the stuff- it can just be part of my artsy texturing effect. Although several spiders homes were painted over as a part of eminent domain, they were all relocated to a nearby oak tree, and to my knowledge none were hurt or killed during this project.

I do like to do different colors on each wall, and unfortunately if you look closely at all, this shows that corners are not my specialty. But, it doesn't really matter if it's a perfect job. Who's going to be staring at my corners anyway? And who cares if it doesn't last for 10 years? I'll be ready for new colors at some point and paint again, or maybe by that time, this home will be being demolished for parts and we will be building our new house.

For right now, it's really nice to see progress in an afternoon- a purple back door, some red, orange and yellow cabinets in the kitchen, and a teal wall in the laundry room. I may look at my paint job in a week and wonder what I was thinking, but at the moment, I am really liking the effect of adding instant color to my life.

I have also taken to matting and framing kids' artwork, and hanging it all over. They are so proud when guests comment, and I think the art gallery effect really jazzes the place up.