I know it has been forever since I blogged. *sigh* I'm guilty of blog neglect.
Two weeks ago, David and I came home and found a beautiful (& huge) red-tailed hawk sitting on our back deck.
It was between us and the door so we couldn't get inside. (Front door was dead bolted and neither of us had the key.) David
got our next door neighbor (an amateur bird watcher) to see if he had any ideas on how to help the hawk. Its wing was obviously
injured. We called the zoo to get the local wildlife rehabilitator's number. It took nearly an hour to get in touch with the
rehabilitator so the three of us just sat at our picnic table and talked about how beautiful the hawk was. The rehab. lady
needed for us to transport the hawk to the animal shelter where her husband would meet us and take the hawk on to their home.
Meanwhile, the hawk had moved far enough from the door that I was able to get inside to get a quilt and my camera. I really hoped
to get a decent picture of the bird, but our neighbor and David had it pinned with a length of PVC and got it wrapped in the
quilt before I could get a picture. They put it inside an animal carrier and it rode quietly to the shelter. When I called
the next day to see if the hawk had lived, she said that its wing was broken where it attached to the shoulder. Normally,
she would have just euthanized the hawk, but she said it was a juvenile and the most beautiful hawk she had ever seen so she
wanted to give it a chance. She put the bones of the wing back in place and bound the wing to its body. She said
that after two weeks, she would check and see how it was healing. If it wasn't doing well, she would then go ahead and euthanize
the bird. I just called, but she wasn't home, but I'll let you know what happens to the hawk. The above picture is the only
one I was able to get.
The week before last, KJ was at
SeaWorld camp. He had the time of his life! It was his first time away from home for more than a night without family, but he did
fine. I think he loved the whole "camp experience" as much as the SeaWorld aspect. My original concerns about safety were
completely unwarranted. Even though the campers ranged in age from 11 to 13, the camp staff were even more paranoid that I
am. For example, even though all 13 campers passed the swim assessment, they all still had to wear life jackets in the water
park and when they went to the beach at Port Aransas. When anywhere away from the bunkhouse, they had to always take a buddy
with them to the restroom. When anywhere away from a counselor (like at the water park), they had to have a buddy and check
in with the counselor every 30 minutes. The counselors also made sure everyone drank plenty of water and wore sunscreen. Since
KJ went so late in the summer, almost all the Texas schools had started so he met campers from all over the country. Next
year, KJ is going back for
career camp. It was pricey, but in my opinion, well worth the money.
Except for co-op classes which don't start until next week, we have started our fall homeschooling schedule. The first
day was horrible and full of smart-aleck attitude from KJ. Ever so often, he has to push the boundaries... After being grounded
and having a stern "talking too" from both me and David, KJ became a different child and everything has been hunky dory since.
If anyone cares, here are his subjects and resources:
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Algebra I - Algebra The Easy Way (We reviewed the first 7 chapters over the summer since he had covered all that
in Prealgebra last year.)
Spanish - 15-Minute Latin-American Spanish
Sign Language - Signing for Dummies
History - Story of the World IV, Kingfisher History Encyclopedia, and lots of library books He will
most likely take "American History from 1877" at McLennan Community College in the spring and I'll just supplement the
rest of the world's history.
Literature - books and poems from The Well-Trained Mind reading list
- Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
- "The Man without a Country" by Edward E. Hale
- Old Yeller by Fred Gipson
- a Sherlock Homes mystery by Arthur Conan Doyle
- Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith
- The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
- The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
- The Call of the Wild by Jack London
- a Father Brown story by G.K. Chesterton
- The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
- a short story by O. Henry
- Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
- Stong Poison by Dorothy Sayers
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
- Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
- "The Song of Hiawatha" by HenryWadsworth Longfellow
- "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost
- poems by e.e. cummings
- poems by Walter de la Mare
- "The Dream Keeper" by Langston Hughes
- "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde
- "Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw
- "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller
- "A Man For All Seasons" by Robert Bolt
Read aloud by me:
- Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
- Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
- Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
- Sing Down The Moon by Scott O'Dell
- The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
Listen to on CD in the car:
- Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
- The Swiss Family Robinson by J.D. Wyss
Latin and Grammar - Henle Latin I - this is taught by his Latin tutor at Baylor University
Writing - high school writing at co-op. They do a research paper the first semester and essays the second semester
Drafting - at co-op
Biology - 3 families are getting together once a week to do this. We're still working out the curriculum details
Logic - the same 3 families are using Traditional Logic and a DVD
Music - drumming with Fast Track Drums I
P.E. - fencing club and working out at the Y
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Lastly, KJ dyed his hair again. He wanted purple, but it came out teal at first so I bought a different shade and tried
again. The end result is above.
