A Common Shepherdess

Recently our library was giving away a huge box of old National Geographic magazines. Every time we visited we would take a few home. I think we were the only ones who ever took any. We ended up with a big stack. Whenever I read a book to my daughter, we talk about the different animals we see in the book. Then we look through the magazines and cut out pictures of animals we saw. My daughter glues each of these pictures onto an index card and I write the name of the animal on the card. She loves getting these cards out and looking through them. Sometimes I ask her to sort them according to color or size, or whether or not the animal can fly, anything to get her thinking about their differences.

My daughter loves all the Disney princesses. The local dollar store has workbooks with the Disney princesses on them. These workbooks are geared for 1st or 2nd grade but she loves coloring in them all the same. She has a workbook for practicing her letters. (So she can only make an O and an I. Who cares?!) She also has her own math book. (She can draw a 0 and a 1--eerily similar to her O and I!) It makes her feel included and she likes to work in her math book while the boys work in theirs.

My kids have rediscovered the joy of books on CD. Not just preschoolers love these. My oldest boy loves the Hank the Cowdog series. The audio CDs are wonderful. The author does the reading and uses all kinds of different voices and makes the story come alive. All the kids have enjoyed Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle . My three-year-old's current favorites are We're Going On A Bear Hunt and a storybook version of the movie Lilo and Stitch . The We're Going On A Bear Hunt CD is so engaging. It contains music with the telling of the story. It also has an echo game and encourages play by asking the children to move with the music and act out the story. My daughter likes to retell the story as the music plays. All of my kids have enjoyed this CD. Lilo and Stitch isn't great literature but the reason my daughter likes the CD is because it comes with a picture book to follow along with the reading. She loves listening for the chime to tell her when to turn the page. We found ...

I found a 100 ounce bottle of Miracle Bubbles bubble solution at WalMart for $2.50. I also bought a package of different bubble blowing toys for less than $2.50. I like how the toys come with a wide, low-sided tray for holding bubble solution. That reduces the amount of spillage! This has entertained my three-year-old for hours. The boys take their books outside and I work with them while my daughter plays with bubbles. My 12-month-old loves watching the bubbles flying.

Currently our kids are 8, 5, 3 and 12 months. One of the biggest challenges I have faced in our adventure in homeschooling is how to occupy preschoolers while working with an older child. An occasional video or TV show is fine but I don't like my kids to sit in front of the television for hours. Besides, I have found that TV gets boring for my preschoolers. My kids like to be involved in whatever is happening. As I find something that works to entertain and educate my preschoolers, I will post it here.

We went back to the White Tank Mountains today. Our oldest son kept asking me what the name White Tank means. I did a little research on the internet and came up with this explanation. A tank, here in the Southwest, means a depression in rock that contains collected rain water. Some of the tanks in this small mountain range are made from granite that has been weathered and bleached. Thus the name White Tank Mountains. Today we hiked the Waterfall Trail. (There is a waterfall at the end of the trail only after a heavy rain.) The trail is about 1 mile long. The first half of the trail is smooth and easy, stroller and wheelchair accessible. Here our second son is standing near a creosote bush (in the front with small yellow flowers) and what I think is a palo verde tree (right behind him). The smooth trail ends near several rocks covered with petroglyphs. Supposedly some of these carvings are 10,000 years old. (Click the pictures to see it enlarged.) The next section of trail is...

Come on a walk with us! Today we went to the White Tank Mountains, about 4 miles west of Surprise, Arizona. What a difference 4 miles makes! We saw how this area must have looked before all the houses, roads and strip malls were built. We went with a woman who lives in the RV park and her grandson. When we first arrived at the White Tank park we stopped at the visitor center. The woman there cautioned us to be careful on our hike. "The rattlesnakes are active today," she said. The boys were a little nervous about meeting a scorpion or rattlesnake so they carried sticks in order to beat on the ground in front of us. They figured this would scare anything away. It may have worked. The only animals we saw were a couple of fast moving, tiny lizards. Saguaro cacti are huge. They can grow as tall as 50 feet. If a saguaro has 5 or more arms, it is 200+ years old. Saguaros were a source of wood for Native American tribes. This is a skeleton of a saguaro cactus. Somethin...

Eeewww, eeewww, EEEWWW!!! I had a very yucky conversation this afternoon with the manager of our RV park. Here are two disturbing things I learned: The dead birds we have occasionally seen around the park were killed by scorpions. Apparently, birds think scorpions are a tasty treat but sometimes the scorpion will sting the bird before it can kill the creepy little thing. The sting is fatal to birds. What is the remedy for scorpions? Cats. And chickens. Now I know why I hear roosters every morning even though we are in town. I think I want my chickens back! There used to be a big banana tree in the park. The owner had it cut down because they had a hard time controlling the tarantula population. Tarantulas love banana trees. And pigeons love tarantulas. There are quite a few pigeons in the park. Makes me think twice about what they are eating. It's time for bed. Please excuse me while I shake out all the bedsheets, round up some stray cats and catch some pigeons. When are w...

I'm gluten-free. I have been gluten-free for about 12 years. (It sounds like a confession!) I've collected information over the years and have learned a few things. The most important thing I have learned is to appreciate what I can eat instead of focusing on what I can't have. Over my college years I put on quite a bit of weight. During my senior year of college, I started having digestive problems, mainly chronic diarrhea and terrible cramping. That first year after symptoms started I lost 60 lbs. During this time I was eating mostly carbs and protein and fat. Anything to keep the weight on. At first it was fun to lose weight without trying but after awhile it was unnerving. One evening at a church function, I visited with a man who was an old friend of the family. He asked how I was doing and mentioned how he had learned of some of my stomach troubles from my mother. He suggested that I stop eating wheat. He had stopped eating wheat and his recurring headaches...

My husband is a hard worker. He was a union carpenter for about 20 years. A person's body can only take so much physical labor and so many falls from scaffolding before slowing down. About five years ago my husband started selling RVs. Much easier on the body. Of course, those great union benefits disappeared (like medical insurance) but the pay increased a little. Selling RVs during the rainy winter in Oregon isn't a great job. Many days not a single customer comes through the doors. During these lulls, salesmen tell stories of a far away place where it rarely rains and money flows freely...Arizona. After much consideration, my husband decided he wanted to work in Arizona for a winter and see if there was any truth to these tall tales he had heard. So we were faced with a decision. We could all go with my husband or stay home. Actually the decision wasn't very hard. The kids and I are adventurous and we didn't like the thought of missing Daddy for three or ...

Saturday is Donut Day. Every Saturday the managers at our RV park buy donuts for everyone. Friday night before going to bed the kids say, "Donuts tomorrow!" As soon as they wake up they ask, "Are the donuts out there yet?" Even the littlest one can't be left out of the action.