The kids' grandpa has come for a visit, and they are having a grand time. Amelia and Grandpa have been having many in-depth conversations about photography; it is a serious hobby of Grandpa's and something Amelia wants to learn about. It's so pleasant and lovely to see them engaged in serious conversation about a topic of mutual interest. I think they mostly discussed photography using digital cameras; I don't think they've gotten as far as discussing Photoshop and such yet, nor the benefits (whatever they may be) of using old fashioned film and dark room technology. We do have a dark room in the basement, so if it's something Amelia decides she wants to use, that would be nice!
Amelia also read and wrote a lot of poetry today.
Samantha and Grandpa played a geography game. Samantha knows that Grandpa lives in Florida and that he drove up to New York to see us. So she guessed which states he passed through to get here. She was doing so well--she likes playing geography games online--that Grandpa asked if she could name the capital of each state. Of course she could!
I can't do that. I can do it the other way 'round; if you give me a state capital, I can tell you which state it is the capital of, but mostly, unless I have lived in a state, I can't remember what the capital is, just given the name of the state.
Caleb spent the morning learning the rules to "War Hammer 40K" and the afternoon explaining them to Amelia, with a short break in between to have one last tutoring session before his Bar Mitzvah weekend, and to go to Hebrew school after that.
Mark has been watching TV and movies and playing computer games; his focus right now is to rest and to heal from his surgery.
Today I read through the book that accompanied the fetal pig. I'm still not sure I'm ready for the dissection, but I'm *more* ready than I was before reading the book.
Yu Yu was offered a summer job! He will be working for the same employer in the same kitchen he now works in. He's really excited; most employees are layed off for the summer, but his boss is impressed with his work, so he's being offered the summer position. We are absolutely thrilled for him; he is a *very* conscientious employee, a really hard worker, and it's great to see that being rewarded. This is not the best economy to be job-hunting, so this a big relief, all around.
Overall, it was a quiet day.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Careers
Lately, Amelia has been really interested in careers. She's been doing a lot of research into what people do to make a living; she really wants to start a business of her own. And yesterday she came to me to tell me that she might like to be a photographer of animals. Well, it just so happens that a friend of a friend of mine owns and operates a pet photography business. So now I am trying to set up an opportunity for Amelia to speak with the owner about this particular business. Amelia has a long list of questions she'd like answered!
Amelia then asked if she could use the family camera to snap some pictures of our pets. The results are a little blurry, but, hey, this was her very first effort at photography!
Amelia then asked if she could use the family camera to snap some pictures of our pets. The results are a little blurry, but, hey, this was her very first effort at photography!
Shannon
Brooke
Garth (with Shannon in the background)
Jolene
Jupiter
Saturday, May 8, 2010
How Cool Is *This*?
A few days ago, when it was spring, (because, Dear Reader, it is now winter again), I was mowing the lawn, when suddenly, a little living something wriggled his (her?) way out of the path of the lawn mower.
I turned the mower off and shouted at the top of my lungs: "A snake! A snake!"
No, I wasn't frightened. I wasn't waiting for Mike, my Knight in Shining Armor, to come and save me from the serpent. I was excited. I knew the kids would want to see this!
So, I hollered, and they came running, all except for Yu Yu, who does not like snakes. I ran inside to grab our field guide to reptiles and amphibians, and also a camera, and a net, and a laptop, in case google images might be more useful than the field guide.
The snake looked something like this:
In no time at all, we had the juvenile netted and identified: it was a juvenile Northern Ringneck. Supposedly, their defensive strategies are: 1) freeze, and hope the predator goes away; 2) show the orange underbelly; maybe the bright color will warn off a predator; 3) emit a strong musky odor; 4) bite. Our little Northern Ringneck didn't try any of these strategies, though. He (or she?) just kept trying to wriggle out of the net.
We wanted to hold it, but we didn't know, at the time, that the snake's bite would be unable to penetrate our skin. So we just watched it for awhile, in our net, and then we set it free in the woods behind our house.
Life brings interesting opportunities to encounter something new and unexpected in every moment! The key is to be paying attention.
I turned the mower off and shouted at the top of my lungs: "A snake! A snake!"
No, I wasn't frightened. I wasn't waiting for Mike, my Knight in Shining Armor, to come and save me from the serpent. I was excited. I knew the kids would want to see this!
So, I hollered, and they came running, all except for Yu Yu, who does not like snakes. I ran inside to grab our field guide to reptiles and amphibians, and also a camera, and a net, and a laptop, in case google images might be more useful than the field guide.
The snake looked something like this:
In no time at all, we had the juvenile netted and identified: it was a juvenile Northern Ringneck. Supposedly, their defensive strategies are: 1) freeze, and hope the predator goes away; 2) show the orange underbelly; maybe the bright color will warn off a predator; 3) emit a strong musky odor; 4) bite. Our little Northern Ringneck didn't try any of these strategies, though. He (or she?) just kept trying to wriggle out of the net.
We wanted to hold it, but we didn't know, at the time, that the snake's bite would be unable to penetrate our skin. So we just watched it for awhile, in our net, and then we set it free in the woods behind our house.
Life brings interesting opportunities to encounter something new and unexpected in every moment! The key is to be paying attention.
May 8, 2010
Miscellaneous:
Last night, at dinner, Mark mentioned to me, "When I use my straw to stir my drink, I can make the water look like a tornado." Samantha added, "That's called a whirlpool," and "When you let water out of a bathtub, and see a whirlpool by the drain, that's happening because the earth is turning." And Mark noted, "It is night here but already tomorrow morning in China because the earth is turning."
Today, Samantha made this connection, "When bright light shines in your eyes, your pupils get smaller, and when clothes get washed in water that is too hot, the clothes can shrink. Hot water is like light, in a way, and pupils are like the clothes that shrink."
Samantha told me all about a book she is reading, Mustang in the Mist. For quite a while, she was happy reading and re-reading Magic Tree House books and Pippi Longstocking, along with memorizing "Pokeman" evolutions and statistics. Now she feels ready for new stories, and is taken with the Bailey School Kids books, and other books that she finds, like Mustang in the Mist.
Amelia has developed an interest in photographing animals. I am going to put her in touch with a woman I know whose business is pet photography. Amelia wrote up a list of questions she'd like answered, and is hoping that she may even be able to shadow this professional on the job. In the meantime, Amelia used the family camera to practice, and got some really good pictures of our dogs.
Caleb continues to be engrossed with Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. We are going to play some D&D this afternoon, in fact. He is also very keen on mythology, and has read my old college textbook on the subject from cover to cover. I need to get him Joseph Campbell's "The Power of Myth." I think he'll really enjoy it.
Amelia's insect collecting is growing rapidly. While Mark and Samantha are enjoying watching the Painted Lady caterpillars grow and prepare to pupate, and observe the Luna moth cocoon carefully for any signs that the moth might be preparing to emerge, Amelia is looking forward to adding one Painted Lady butterfly and the Luna moth to her insect collection. The children thus have mixed feelings about the impending emergence of the butterflies and the moth. Three kids want to photograph and release them all, while Amelia wants to add variety to her insect collection. Her point of view is that these are common insects that only live for a few days anyhow, so it won't do any harm to the ecosystem for her to add one Painted Lady and one Luna moth to her collection. Meanwhile, I had planned on buying some Bessbugs for the kids to observe and then release into the woods behind our home, but now I am hesitant, knowing that if I do order them, one of them will end up in Amelia's killing jar.
Of the six tadpoles we have been observing, four have died, although we have been carefully following instructions about conditioning and changing the water, and feeding the tadpoles. We are wondering if these last two will live for us to see them metamorphose into bullfrogs.
More later!
Last night, at dinner, Mark mentioned to me, "When I use my straw to stir my drink, I can make the water look like a tornado." Samantha added, "That's called a whirlpool," and "When you let water out of a bathtub, and see a whirlpool by the drain, that's happening because the earth is turning." And Mark noted, "It is night here but already tomorrow morning in China because the earth is turning."
Today, Samantha made this connection, "When bright light shines in your eyes, your pupils get smaller, and when clothes get washed in water that is too hot, the clothes can shrink. Hot water is like light, in a way, and pupils are like the clothes that shrink."
Samantha told me all about a book she is reading, Mustang in the Mist. For quite a while, she was happy reading and re-reading Magic Tree House books and Pippi Longstocking, along with memorizing "Pokeman" evolutions and statistics. Now she feels ready for new stories, and is taken with the Bailey School Kids books, and other books that she finds, like Mustang in the Mist.
Amelia has developed an interest in photographing animals. I am going to put her in touch with a woman I know whose business is pet photography. Amelia wrote up a list of questions she'd like answered, and is hoping that she may even be able to shadow this professional on the job. In the meantime, Amelia used the family camera to practice, and got some really good pictures of our dogs.
Caleb continues to be engrossed with Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. We are going to play some D&D this afternoon, in fact. He is also very keen on mythology, and has read my old college textbook on the subject from cover to cover. I need to get him Joseph Campbell's "The Power of Myth." I think he'll really enjoy it.
Amelia's insect collecting is growing rapidly. While Mark and Samantha are enjoying watching the Painted Lady caterpillars grow and prepare to pupate, and observe the Luna moth cocoon carefully for any signs that the moth might be preparing to emerge, Amelia is looking forward to adding one Painted Lady butterfly and the Luna moth to her insect collection. The children thus have mixed feelings about the impending emergence of the butterflies and the moth. Three kids want to photograph and release them all, while Amelia wants to add variety to her insect collection. Her point of view is that these are common insects that only live for a few days anyhow, so it won't do any harm to the ecosystem for her to add one Painted Lady and one Luna moth to her collection. Meanwhile, I had planned on buying some Bessbugs for the kids to observe and then release into the woods behind our home, but now I am hesitant, knowing that if I do order them, one of them will end up in Amelia's killing jar.
Of the six tadpoles we have been observing, four have died, although we have been carefully following instructions about conditioning and changing the water, and feeding the tadpoles. We are wondering if these last two will live for us to see them metamorphose into bullfrogs.
More later!
Slope Day 2010
For the second year in a row, Caleb and Amelia took the lemonade stand concept and kicked it up a notch, turning Slope Day into a money-making opportunity.
Last year, they set up a table at the end of our driveway, with the popcorn popper directly behind them, a cooler next to them, and a large sign advertising freshly popped popcorn, and various drinks for sale (including lemonade, iced tea, Arnold Palmers, bottled water, and a variety of soda pops), each item for a dollar. They paid for the supplies (popcorn kernels, oil, plastic cups, containers to hold the popcorn, napkins, etc.) with money saved from their weekly allowance, and at the end of the day, they had made a net profit of $50. At least $10 of that came from Mark and Samantha, who spent money from their allowances to purchase popcorn and drinks, repeatedly, even though I offered to give them the very same snacks for free. There was just something about purchasing from the snack stand that our "wonder twins" couldn't resist.
This year, they decided to make some changes. They moved the stand from the end of the driveway out to the corner of our lane and the intersecting avenue. They decided to offer a variety of baked goods (brownies, chocolate chip cookies, an assortment of cupcakes) in addition to the popcorn and drinks. This significantly increased their overhead, which meant they had to work longer to get out of the red ink and start making a profit. But they did make more money this year that last. This year, revenue was $144 and profit was $100.
They also raised $35 for Loose Change to Loosen Chains, as well as raising awareness about the problem of modern day slavery. Half the college students with whom Caleb and Amelia spoke were shocked to hear that slavery is still a problem, a very large problem, in our world.
They always enjoy being "homeschool ambassadors" and Slope Day was a great opportunity for that. Although very few people ever question why they aren't in school, the fact that they don't go to school does come up, often because people, just to make conversation, ask them, "What school do you go to?"
These Ivy League university students were impressed with the kids' enterprising attitude, with their hard work, and with their understanding of what running a business really means. When a young woman asked "How much have you made today?" and Caleb responded, "$144 gross; $100 net..." while Amelia simultaneously answered, "We've made $144 revenue, so that's $100 profit after overhead expenses..." the college student shook her head in surprise, laughed, and said, "I *know* I didn't understand those concepts when I was your age."
Lessons learned:
•Better location and better variety of items for sale leads to increased sales, but scaling up means a lot more prep work and more hours of working just to break even before starting to make a profit.
•Having the popcorn popper located half a block away from the sales booth means that customers can't see (and smell) that the popcorn truly is freshly-popped. This is a drawback to the new location. Question: Next year, can we get permission from the next door neighbor to run an extension cord across his lawn, in order to be able to have the popcorn popper close the the sales table?
•Another problem with the new location: somebody has to run back and forth between the house and the sales booth to replenish supplies of popcorn, lemonade, and iced tea. This is tiring. Question: Do the benefits of the new location outweigh the disadvantages?
•Free advertising and word-of-mouth really bring in the customers. (The young men belonging to the fraternity across the street were cheering the kids on, chanting: "Brownies, cookies, cupcakes, YUM!" and calling out to any pedestrians who did NOT stop at the stand, "Hey, you! You've got to buy something from those lemonade stand kids! The food is awesome; we love those kids!" It *worked*; of the people who initially seemed uninterested in making a purchase, many of them did make a purchase in response the the "suggestions" from the young men across the street.
•Brownies and cupcakes are more popular than chocolate chip cookies.
•All four varieties of cupcakes (chocolate with chocolate frosting, chocolate with vanilla frosting, vanilla with chocolate frosting, vanilla with vanilla frosting) sold equally well, and customers seem to like having choices.
•Working an eight hour shift in food service is exhilarating, but exhausting.
•Don't accept Canadian quarters; they're worthless here.
•Mark and Samantha learned that a free cupcake offered by Mom at home tastes every bit as good as one purchased at the snack stand. Ditto popcorn and soda pop.
•In addition to selling food and beverages, Caleb and Amelia also advertised and collected donations for the charity Loose Change to Loosen Chains. They learned that many people do not know that slavery exists in the modern day. They were happy to raise awareness and money to fund modern day abolitionists' efforts.
Last year, they set up a table at the end of our driveway, with the popcorn popper directly behind them, a cooler next to them, and a large sign advertising freshly popped popcorn, and various drinks for sale (including lemonade, iced tea, Arnold Palmers, bottled water, and a variety of soda pops), each item for a dollar. They paid for the supplies (popcorn kernels, oil, plastic cups, containers to hold the popcorn, napkins, etc.) with money saved from their weekly allowance, and at the end of the day, they had made a net profit of $50. At least $10 of that came from Mark and Samantha, who spent money from their allowances to purchase popcorn and drinks, repeatedly, even though I offered to give them the very same snacks for free. There was just something about purchasing from the snack stand that our "wonder twins" couldn't resist.
Slope Day Snack Stand 2009
This year, they decided to make some changes. They moved the stand from the end of the driveway out to the corner of our lane and the intersecting avenue. They decided to offer a variety of baked goods (brownies, chocolate chip cookies, an assortment of cupcakes) in addition to the popcorn and drinks. This significantly increased their overhead, which meant they had to work longer to get out of the red ink and start making a profit. But they did make more money this year that last. This year, revenue was $144 and profit was $100.
They also raised $35 for Loose Change to Loosen Chains, as well as raising awareness about the problem of modern day slavery. Half the college students with whom Caleb and Amelia spoke were shocked to hear that slavery is still a problem, a very large problem, in our world.
They always enjoy being "homeschool ambassadors" and Slope Day was a great opportunity for that. Although very few people ever question why they aren't in school, the fact that they don't go to school does come up, often because people, just to make conversation, ask them, "What school do you go to?"
These Ivy League university students were impressed with the kids' enterprising attitude, with their hard work, and with their understanding of what running a business really means. When a young woman asked "How much have you made today?" and Caleb responded, "$144 gross; $100 net..." while Amelia simultaneously answered, "We've made $144 revenue, so that's $100 profit after overhead expenses..." the college student shook her head in surprise, laughed, and said, "I *know* I didn't understand those concepts when I was your age."
Slope Day Snack Stand 2010
Lessons learned:
•Better location and better variety of items for sale leads to increased sales, but scaling up means a lot more prep work and more hours of working just to break even before starting to make a profit.
•Having the popcorn popper located half a block away from the sales booth means that customers can't see (and smell) that the popcorn truly is freshly-popped. This is a drawback to the new location. Question: Next year, can we get permission from the next door neighbor to run an extension cord across his lawn, in order to be able to have the popcorn popper close the the sales table?
•Another problem with the new location: somebody has to run back and forth between the house and the sales booth to replenish supplies of popcorn, lemonade, and iced tea. This is tiring. Question: Do the benefits of the new location outweigh the disadvantages?
•Free advertising and word-of-mouth really bring in the customers. (The young men belonging to the fraternity across the street were cheering the kids on, chanting: "Brownies, cookies, cupcakes, YUM!" and calling out to any pedestrians who did NOT stop at the stand, "Hey, you! You've got to buy something from those lemonade stand kids! The food is awesome; we love those kids!" It *worked*; of the people who initially seemed uninterested in making a purchase, many of them did make a purchase in response the the "suggestions" from the young men across the street.
•Brownies and cupcakes are more popular than chocolate chip cookies.
•All four varieties of cupcakes (chocolate with chocolate frosting, chocolate with vanilla frosting, vanilla with chocolate frosting, vanilla with vanilla frosting) sold equally well, and customers seem to like having choices.
•Working an eight hour shift in food service is exhilarating, but exhausting.
•Don't accept Canadian quarters; they're worthless here.
•Mark and Samantha learned that a free cupcake offered by Mom at home tastes every bit as good as one purchased at the snack stand. Ditto popcorn and soda pop.
•In addition to selling food and beverages, Caleb and Amelia also advertised and collected donations for the charity Loose Change to Loosen Chains. They learned that many people do not know that slavery exists in the modern day. They were happy to raise awareness and money to fund modern day abolitionists' efforts.
A Day in the Life, April 30, 2010
It's been a perfectly wonderful day! We were headed out the door to go to the library and then the playground, when the UPS truck arrived with our bullfrog tadpoles. That meant delaying our outing, to get the tadpoles settled, but that was fine... We did all sort of fun experiments with the starch-based packing peanuts that the bag o' tadpoles had been nestled in, and then another UPS truck arrived with all sorts of goodies from the online science store: the fetal pig, a book describing how to dissect the fetal pig, and a dissecting kit to do the deed; a flower press; all manner of items to collect, identify, pin, and display insects; a soil testing kit; several blood testing kits; various instruments to measure various aspects of the weather; owl pellets and a guide to what we might find therein... and on and on. We are all so excited; we don't know what to do first! We did end up going to the library: Caleb is heavy into mythology right now and found a great deal to bring home; Amelia loaded up on poetry anthologies, Samantha filled her bag up with all the Bailey School Kids books; Mark was happy as a clam to find a bunch of X-Men videos to bring home. THEN we went to the playground, where the kids played happily with a bunch of other kids of various ages, genders, and backgrounds. Now, challah and dinner, then "Capitalism: A Love Story" and finally, as our bedtime read-aloud, at Michael's request: _Johnny Tremain_. He heard the beginning of it, read aloud by a teacher, in middle school, but the teacher never finished it, so we are all going to enjoy it together. THIS IS THE LIFE!
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