My Education Junction

Filed under: Summer Break on June 27th, 2007 | 12 Comments »

I week or two ago I wrote a post called “How do you beat summertime boredom?” I was hoping someone would comment with some tios. But what I have found is that quite a few people are coming to that post, and I assume it is because they too are looking for an answer.This past weekend we made a trip into the big city. We always stop at Barnes & Noble to pick up magazines and coffee. My husband has picked up The Dangerous Book for Boys but has stopped from doing anything further, because I am always quick to give him the evil eye. Honestly I didn’t know much about the book, but I do know my husband loves to do things that will result in getting himself and his son in trouble. So, if he is giving the book a second glance I assume it must a good inch of naughty tucked into a hardcover.

Needless we walked out of the store with 2 lattes and The Dangerous Book for Boys, and he and Nick have not been able to put it down.

This book has all kinds of need-to-know boy stuff like 5 knots every boy should know, how to make paper hats and water bombs, how to make a bow and arrow, how to play marbles or how to create codes and ciphers. And if that doesn’t keep them busy there are sections on topics such as cloud formation, the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and understanding grammer or the Seven Wonders of the World.

Don’t let the title fool you. This book isn’t just for boys. For the last three evenings we have been tying knots and making paper airplanes. I can’t wait to make secret ink.

By the way, you probably want to use a cotton rope to make your knots, but at this house we work with what we’ve got

Filed under: Summer Break on June 26th, 2007 | 4 Comments »

It was a horrible 95 degrees here yesterday. I’m sure the sun goddesses of the world love sweltering, stinky, thick, muggy, hot weather, but I am a redhead with an intense aversion to the heat. So when it kicks in I want to stay indoors, but staying indoors makes for rambunctious kids, and my rambunctious daughter likes to draw on walls. Play at Home Mom has provided a great solution. In her post Free Movies for Kids she provides links to all of the movie theaters that offer free movies for kids during the summertime. To think you can entertain the kids for two hours in air conditioning to boot-you can’t beat that. Thank You Play at Home Mom!

Filed under: Summer Break on June 19th, 2007 | No Comments »

Even if your not having a pirate birthday party, the Pirate Gazette is full of summertime pirate fun and recipes. What will you find in the Pirate Gazette?

• How to make a Message in a Bottle Birthday Invitation
• A fun Pirate Poem that is great for Pirate Party Invitations
• Recipe of Sand Buckets & Sea Slush
• How to play Jump the Shark and more!

The Pirate Gazette -Easy printable PDF

Don’t forget to visit my Pirate Page!

Filed under: Rainy Day Recipes, Summer Break, Pirate Pages on June 17th, 2007 | 2 Comments »

Nick loves being in the kitchen and recently I have been working on creating Squidoo pages, one of which is a pirate page. Nick keeps asking what can he do? So I decided we would make some fun things and video tape it. I am slowly working through my technology fears. That is one thing blogging has done for me. Often I have absolutely no idea what I am doing. In the past, that has been reason enough for me to give up. It’s taken me months not to be afraid of plugins- I know that sounds silly but it’s the God’s honest truth.

Our first video can be seen below. It’s called Kraken Salad. I had loaded it on YouTube but the resolution is pretty bad so I am going to try to put it on this page using Photobucket. With any luck it will work. Please don’t let the blue fingers turn you off- that is the first thing my Mom brought to my attention. We had made several other things before making the salad, and we had blue food coloring ALL over the place.

Hope you have fun watching our little show. We had fun making it:)
Oh by the way, don’t forget to visit my Pirate Page.

Previous Pirate: Post Ahoy, Me Hearties

Filed under: Rainy Day Recipes, Summer Break, Pirate Pages on June 12th, 2007 | No Comments »

It’s too soon to even ask this question-assuming you live in a normal household. Do your children suffer from summertime boredom? Mine do, and honestly I have no idea what to do about it. All winter long we wait desperately for summer to come. The kids are bouncing off the ceiling and walls wanting to go outside and play. Slowly the weather gets nicer and the temperature gets warmer, and we spend more and more time outdoors. But June hits, school is, out and suddenly I begin to hear all kinds of excuses as to why no one wants to go outside. It’s too hot. The pool is too cold. There are too many bugs outside. On and on and on.

When I was a kid I spent all day everyday outside. Both of my parents worked, and my grandmother watched me all summer long. Growing up, I was fortunate to have a pool in my backyard. I would swim from 9am until around noon. I would get out of the pool briefly to eat, and I would be back in until 4. I didn’t have any siblings until I was 11 so I had to find ways to entertain and amuse myself. 6 or 7 hours in a pool everyday is a long time but I did things like diving for pennies or pretend to be in the Olympics. On the very off chance I did not want to swim I would find other things to do like catch bugs and butterflies. Sometimes I would catch field mice- which is something my mom absolutely hated.

Nick and I have made a few videos I will be posting later this week- if YouTube ever gets them on their server. He likes to make things and cook. I have no problem doing that but those things fill minutes not hours of the day. So I am sitting here trying to figure out what we are going to do to fill our day- something local, something that doesn’t involve farm animals, and something that does not involve cartoon network. We live is a small farm town so our weekday trips involve feeding goats, fish at the trout farm and petting cows. My kids are all farmed out. I am all farmed out.

What in the world are we going to do all summer long? I better go figure it out…..

Update 6/26/07 - I was really hoping someone would pony up some ideas here. Alas, no takers. Lucky for you I bought a book that should keep us busy the rest of the summer. 

Filed under: Uncategorized, Summer Break on June 12th, 2007 | No Comments »

Sure it’s cold outside, but that doesn’t mean it’s too cold to find butterflies. You just need to know where to look. Below is a list of Ohio Butterfly exhibits.

Butterflies & Blooms
March 17^th thru September 3^rd
Franklin Park Conservatory
Columbus, OH

Butterfly Festival
July 21^st and 22^nd
Cox Arboretum
Dayton, OH

Butterfly House
Opens April 1st
Whitehouse, OH

Butterflies in Flight
May 11^th thru October 7^th
Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens
Akron, OH

Butterflies out of Africa
May 12^th thru June 24^th
Krohn Conservatory
Cincinnati, OH

You don’t have to leave your home to see butterflies. In fact, you can raise your own. It is incredibly simple to do. There are many places on the internet that sell butterfly kits. Last year we bought a kit from Insect Lore. After waiting approximately 3 weeks we had 8 beautiful butterflies. I allowed my son to keep them for 3 days before releasing them. It was a bitter sweet experience that gave him a small taste of parenthood.

If your children are interested in learning more about native Ohio butterflies check out this guide by the Ohio Lepidopterists: Ohio Butterfly Species

Filed under: Science, Summer Break on April 14th, 2007 | No Comments »