martinzoo

Blogging has been really sporadic for me lately. Mostly, because I’ve been having MAJOR issues with my computer. It crashes on me all the time. One of these days, I’m gonna have to fork over some money to Jabem so he can build me a new one. But with all the travel we are planning, I honestly don’t have the dough. Meanwhile, I’ve been fastidiously trying to back up my pictures, music, videos, and documents that have been stored on this computer for the last four years. Yeah, I know, I should have done it all along. But really, truly, WHO does that?

Anyway, one of the other reasons I’ve been sporadic is that Aquagirl and Jabem have been home for Spring Break and I’ve been trying to spend lots of time with them, WHILE doing our homeschooling too.

Friday we went rock wall climbing as a family…. except for Jabem, who didn’t think it sounded like his kind of gig…. But we still had fun. Dh had taken the day off so we could get passports, so we brought him along too.

I’ve also been trying to get all our travel plans finalized. At the end of this month, GB and I are going to Florida to visit my two best friends. We’re going to make it as educational as possible, while still enjoying our visit. And in May, Dh and I are going to Santa Fe. He is going to be attending to some work stuff, and I will be there just to have some quality time with him and do a bit of exploring on my own. I’ve never been to that part of the country, so that will be really fun. And, our big trip will be later this Summer. We are taking a family cruise to Mexico and the Caribbean. We are SO excited about that. We’ll be going with many of the extended members of my family. So it’ll be a great experience for many reasons.

Meanwhile, through all the field trips, travel plans, visiting siblings and hair obligations (I’m chief hair stylist for the entire clan), GB has been systematically working his way through his Switched on Schoolhouse curriculum. Right now, he is six weeks ahead of schedule for completion. He’s also finished his fourth grade online math class.

Plus, we’ve been diligently following our mushers in the Iditarod race in Alaska. GB chose Jeff King, and Jabem chose Lance Mackey. And they have been battling back and forth for the last couple of days. Who knows how this will end. Aquagirl made a good choice. Kjetil Backen has been consistently in the top ten for the whole race. And I’m very proud of my choice, Anne Capistrant. She has been doing a great job, even though she’s down near the bottom. We homeschool moms need to stick together and support each other, right? Dh’s musher, Bruce Linton, is solidly in the middle of the pack. And even Grampa decided to join in on the fun and chose Martin Buser, who always ranks high.

Well, I guess I better not push this computer any longer. I could just see it crashing at the exact moment that I push the ‘publish’ button. Cross your fingers now………… here I go!

Check this out! Click here.

Rick Holt’s kids are playing with my Iditadeck! I’m so excited by that!

I haven’t really heard whether people have tried the deck yet. So this visual confirmation of usage just made my day!

And I think it’s even cooler that he’s one of the mushers in the race.

Here is GB playing the game with me. ……….. I am losing the game, but I’m also winning since he’s learning his multiplication facts at the same time.

The Iditarod began yesterday. And GB and I have been more into the race this year than we even were last year. Probably because we know more about it than we used to.

This morning I needed some time to myself to get some household stuff done. I had to cut and wash the dog’s hair (HUGE chore) and do bunches of laundry and floor stuff. So I made today be a “Grab bag Monday.” GB always enjoys this concept. I just put a bunch of activities on pieces of paper and he pulls one out and does it. I had different colors to signify ‘before lunch’ and ‘after lunch.’

Before lunch, this is what he was able to do:

• Gather his laundry for me to wash
• Play Ghost Blasters for 20 minutes, working on multiples of 6
• Feed the skink, the toads, and the hamster, and make sure everybody has water
• Give the dog a hug and a biscuit
• Do one History lesson
• fill up the bird feeders
• Play spelling bee with this week’s words
• Nature ~ Go out in the yard and look for:
  1. new buds on tree branches
  2. evidence of new grass growth
  3. three different birds that you can identify yourself

After lunch he:

• Worked on Journey North worksheets (it’s time to start noticing the patterns of the mystery classes.
• Take quiz in History
• Do one Language Arts lesson
• For the Iditarod, play the Kid’s Polar Challenge
• Research Alaskan Malamutes
• Find out the weather at the next checkpoint (Rainy Pass) and post to Jeff King to warn him. (GB took this to heart and also researched the geography of the checkpoint, finding out that it is one of the most dangerous passages on the whole route. So he warned about that, too. )
• Check musher standings for everybody’s musher in our family. Mark the musher tracking sheet, and mark the map. So far, everybody’s musher is doing great except mine. I picked Anne Capistrant, because she’s a homeschooling mom. But if I was a homeschooling mom- Hey! I am a homeschooling mom! - I’d go at my own pace and just be happy to finish, and then glow in the accomplishment. But that’s me………
• Make a marshmallow igloo

And because he’s a little boy, and it was too irresistible, he had to get some teeny, tiny figures for the igloo………. And THEN they had to be eaten by the terrible T-Rex!

He thought this was TERRIBLY funny, and wanted to know, “Is it gonna be on the blog?”

Um, ……. of course!