pictures!!!

Witte Museum Leonardo DaVinci Exhibit

Today we drove on down to San Antonio and checked out the Leonardo exhibit since we love all things DaVinci AND we are studying mechanical science. The museum is very nice, situated on the river in Brakenridge park and boasting Umlauf statues out front, it was easy to find and had safe and shaded parking.

The kids science area was really fun! After a school group cleared out we had the place to ourselves! They rode a bicycle across a cable, uncomfortably close to the river's edge and two stories high. The first floor was dedicated to simple machines--perfect!--then there was the energy basement, weather floor and the sound rooftop. Also, outside was cool river exhibit and a treehouse.

We had fun. We got snacks on the way at an HEB Plus, just to check it out being grocer-heads. Cisco helped me learn how to use the Tom-Tom and we finished listening to the second Lemony Snickets book. Then we listened to some Django Rheinhardt and talked about our geography studies of France. Pretty good day!

This is it....

For some reason, people like to ask those "what does it look like" questions. And when my children are asked why they aren't in school or if they are glad that they are not in school they are always willing to volunteer the fact that they are homeschooled and well, those questions don't really apply to their thoughts of happiness.

Today, the boys were checking out a website about simple machines, it had some cool interactive games, and Santiago joined in. It was just a perfect moment. It was simple and, for me, beautiful. i started snappin' the camera...Cisco got a little cheeky...that is what homeschooling looks like for us.

Not Back to School

Today we started to officially sit down and do schoolwork for the fall semester. Homeschoolers were wishing each other a Happy Not Back to School Day across the area and the web. I prefer the school work that is not workbook or sitting down related, so I really wasn't looking forward to that part. But like Scottish dancing, it was more fun than I had anticipated! Leo even looked at me and said this is fun at one time. I must be doing something right.

It's scary how much you can forget over the course of the summer. I had to back up a few times trying to go forward in math. Decimals! Oh well, it comes back. Knowledge, information, seems to come into the brain in waves, coming and going, until the tide comes in and its all there! But...well, the tide also goes back out again, into the nothingness, unless you've made some fortifications. But that's why we write things down--that's why I write things down! Age seems to be weakening my minds fortifications or maybe it's the Texan sun.

Tomorrow will be day two and after that hopefully we will stop counting and just enjoy our new schedule. Thursday we are heading down to the Witte Museum in San Antonio to see an exhibit about Leonardo da Vinci's machines. We are doing mechanical science this year and we thought this would be a perfect field trip--"perfect" was Cisco's descriptive word and Leo and I agreed.

Scottish Dance Class

Well the boys and I braved going to a dance class with our geography club.

Each month we study a country, have a day of presentations and food, and also try to find an appropriate outing. This month's outing was a Scottish dance class! It was actually really fun. Santiago even had a really good time; running in and out of our formations. It was a lot like square dancing in that it is a social type of dancing that they do in the country. Our dance instructor, Sarah was really good working with a group as diverse in size and age as ours.

I wasn't sure how we were going to do, however, when it was over we all had had a great time.

Highland Games

Thanks to a fellow mom at Geography Club we have pictures of our kid friendly Highland Games from our Scotland day. We had caber toss, stone put and weight throw.

The boys and I had a very good time looking up the rules and methods of playing these different heavy events. You Tube provided us with many good laughs while watching people whirl themselves into hysteria doing the hammer throw or casually hurling a bag of straw into the air---sheaf toss.

The fact that it's an Olympic year is interesting too. The Olympians preform many of the events differently than they would at the Scottish events. So it took a bit of research on our part (being the point of the whole ordeal anyway). And the Highland Games attract these athletes on non-Olympic years.

Crawford Clan

Yesterday we had geography club at our house. The country of choice was Scotland and I decided we should learn a bit about our Scottish roots as well. My Great Grandfather came over to America from Scotland and I always thought it was very cool that my grandmother was a first generation American.

Learning about the fierce pride and attention to detail regarding these family clans was as interesting as the family history itself. Especially when recalling a conversation with a kilt maker in South Carolina and information I read online regarding the Lindsay/Crawford controversy. And our relationship to William Wallace.

We decided to keep our presentation regarding our family strictly informative. Thorlongus the Merse was given barony from King Malcolm over a beautiful area near Lanarkshire; Thor took the name of the region and the name Crawford was born. This was before 1100. The family motto translates to "I will give you safety through strength". Our family tartan is crimson, green and light grey and our plant is the boxwood.

We also talked about golf. Leo did a flawless presentation with clubs in hand. The days before our meeting I would ask, repeatedly, if he was ready. He would say, "Yes. Believe me." ever so calmly. We was so prepared and I had no reason to worry.

Are we starting school?

So we seem to be starting school.

That's not a good thing! I am not quite ready but we, that is the daddy and I , seem to be gearing up and giving assignments!