Where do these questions come from?????

Yesterday the boys and I were running errands in a prodominantly black part of town. While we were driving around Grant (10 years old) posed the following question "mom, can a black person be president". I didn't really stop to think about what made him pose the question (most likely something about seeing election signs and numerous black people on the street) and simply answered "Grant, anyone who is born in the United States and is at least 35 years old can run for president" so then he decides to pose another question "then why hasn't a black person ever been president" which led me to describe how a canidate has to secure his party's nomination and although 10 or 15 people might want the nomination, only one preson is put forth from each party. I then added that since statistically blacks make up a smaller portion of the population that securing a majority of the votes might be more difficult. He then asked if it was because people are "racists" that they wouldn't elect a black president. I told him that I really wasn't sure, but that mamy people tend to vote for people they identify with the most, whether that be gender, race, political party or another factor. Still probing he asks me "would you vote for a black person" to which I answered that I had voted for a black man that morning (Ken Blackwell who was running for govenor of Ohio) and further added that I decide who I will vote for based on what a that canidate stands for.

So we reach our destination and go about our business. When we get back in the van the new question is "Mom, do you think a mexican could get elected president?" Again, I answer, "yes, if they were born in the United States and are at least 35 year old, I think they could get elected president. Why do you ask?" (I am looking around to see if he sees a Hispanic person). He answers "Because I heard on the radio that the mexicans have larger families than other people and that they will be the majority in the US within 30 years". This all from a kid who has never taken a social studies class!

What: Second Annual Biography Fair
When: Sunday November 5, 2006 3:00 PM
Who: ALL HOMESCHOOLERS (preschool to teen and anyone in between)
Cost: None
Organizer: Laura
Where: St. Bernard (directioned will be emailed when you RSVP)
What to bring: Your project and a dish to share*


















Each child picks anyone, living or dead, and does a presentation about their life. The child chooses how to present the infomation. They can write a report, make a display board, a photo montage, a video. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination. The great thing about this opportunity is that any age child can participate and present their research to the best of their abilities. No competing!

There is a great article online that explains the biography fair in detail. http://www.home-ed-magazine.com/HEM/HEM155.98/155.98_art_bio.html

Contact Laura if interested in participating. If you don't feel like doing a project but would like to come and check out the work of our aspiring biographers, feel free to join us for the fun. Remember to bring a snack to share.

*Please bring a nut-free snack to share. No popcorn please! It night be fun to try to tie your treat to the subject of yoru biography fair project, for example, if you did your project on George Washington, maybe a cherry pie or if you chose Johnny Appleseed, some baked apples. Plates, drinks, napkins, silverware and cups provided!

What a wonderful event and a great turn out! The kids were so proud of the projects. Two of the girls made dolls to represent the subject of the projects, they were just absolutely adorable....Johnny Appleseed, complete with a metal pot on his head and Pocahantas, complete with baby Pomp on her back! Two of the other participants decided to do a presenation about their subjects in front of the group. The one even made an elaborate costume to represent Queen Elizabeth. Another child made a book that illustrated the birth of her baby brother (her subject). In another family, the children portraited their subject and then were interviewed by another family member. The videotaped the interviews, very, very cool!

Sophie even did a project! On Thursday most of the kids were working hard to put together their projects for Sunday's biography fair. I was busy printing off pictures for one of the boys when Sophie (4...she wouldn't be going to kindergarten for another year and a half if we "did" school) asked me when I was going to help her with her project. I quickly answered "honey, you don't have to do a project, you are only 4" to which she answered "but I want to do a project. I am doing Nick Lachey". I chuckled and told her that I would help her in a bit and she ran off, I figured she would probably forget about it. About 20 minutes later she comes back in the living room with a HUGE stack of pictures she had ripped for magazines, all of Nick Lachey (remember she has teenage sisters). She then asked for the scissors and some glue and a poster board. She glued her WHOLE project together herself (which is more than I can say for her 6 and 8 year old brothers). She so proudly stood with her display at the fair and told everyone about "Nick A- SHAY" as she callls him.

So from my family you had Ashley Parker Angel (Hannah), Vincent Van Gogh (Em), George Washington (Grant), Willie Stargell (Jacob), Stanley Burrell (Cade) and Nick Lachey (Sophie).

Clue to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/129/117319.htm

I am not typically one that watches the evening news, usually far too busy with life to spend those hours in the evening watching tv...but for some reason I caught the news tonight, not all of it but just enough to catch this little tidbit.

SIDS cast a huge shadow over much of my childhood. We lost my brother to SIDS in 1976 and life was never the same. It haunted me as a parent, the paranoia that kept me from ever allowing my babies to sleep in their own rooms, I had to be able to touch them, to hear them breath. After all the years of research, it is comforting to hear that they now have a clue to at least one possible cause. I pray, by the day I am graced with grandchildren that today's discovery may lead to a cure.

5th grade TIGERS wins Second Consecutive CYFL Championship!

From the team blog: The battle hardened Tigers won their second CYFL Championship in an incredible game against Loveland Team #1. Team #2 struggled the entire game on offense and with 2:37 left in the game, Team #1 scored to go up 6-0. Team #2 roared back with an incredible drive that put them on Team #1's three yard line with five seconds left in the game. The Tiger 'O' line held like a stone wall as Dean Meyer dropped back and hit Reid Waddell in the endzone to tie the game at 6-6, with no time left on the clock. The Tigers missed on their PAT and headed in to their first ever overtime game. Team #2 lost the toss and started on offense. On the third play of OT, Brian McElveen, behind great blocking, exploded for 15 yards and put the ball on the two yard line. A QB sneak put the Tigers in the endzone, but a false start call cancelled the TD and put the Tigers back at the six yard line. On the next play, the 'O' line blew everyone off the ball as Brian exploded through the three hole, untouched for a touchdown. The Tigers missed the PAT and the score stood at 12-6.Team #2 put the game in the hands of their defense, which has been the backbone of this team all year long. The defense pushed Team #1 backwards forcing a fourth and 16 from the 26 yard line. Team #1's desperation pass fell incomplete under an awesome defensive rush to end the game. Congratulations Tigers on winning your THIRD straight Division Championship and your SECOND straight CYFL Championship!

2006Undefeated Season
Division Champions
CYFL Champions
11-0

3rd grade TIGERS finish season with a tie!

Jacob's team didn't fair nearly as well as the teams that Grant and Cade played with, but Jacob loves the game and was eager to attend each and every practice and game!

Jacob wore #38. Here are a couple pictures of him deep in battle in the midst of the game!

1st Grade TIGERS CAP A PERFECT SEASON WITH 27-6 ROMP OVER TOMAHAWKS!

From the Team's Blog: An outstanding finish to an outstanding season. Loveland's offense rolled up another 320 yards of offense with twelve different ball carriers, including 138 yards rushing and two touchdowns by Adam Clark on only three carries (46 yards-per-carry average). Trevor also had an outstanding day, rushing 83 yards on 4 carries, including two extra points. Cal Conley added 94 yards and a score. Tyler and Joey also ran the ball well, with Joey picking up our last PAT of the season. Also running the ball were Scheeler, Brannen, Newbanks, Flanagan, Webster, Garafalo, and Fredj, who finished the game on an excellent 20 yard run to the right. All of this was possible behind the outstanding blocking by our offensive line, including Niehaus, Wichmann, Riesenberg, Newbanks, Scheeler, McCluskey, Garafalo, Siekman, Little, Cloud, Flanagan, Smolenski, Glasby, and Sloane.On defense the Tigers were outstanding. Black defense held the Tomahawks to negative yards, and White Defense held off their starters in the second half, which gave our White Offense a chance to get in some plays. Sixteen different players were in on tackles, including Hankins (7), Conley (7), Little (5), Flanagan (5), Wichmann (4), Dombroski, Clark, Scheeler, Brannen, Garafalo, Riesenberg, Nate Webster, Natron Webster, Smolenski, McCluskey, and Sloane.Way to go Tigers!Thanks to all for a wonderful season. These little Tigers out-scored our opponents by a total score of 247-115. Wow!

Here is our record:
Loveland Tigers 1st Grade Team2006 Record
Date Opponent Win/Loss Score
PRESEASON:
Aug. 19 Kings Knights W 14-7
Aug. 26 Lakota Tomahawks Team #7 W 14-7
Sept. 2 Kings Knights W 20-6

REGULAR SEASON:
Sept. 9 Lakota Tomahawks Team #23 W 31-12
Sept. 16 Milford Eagles Team #1 W 20-6
Sept. 23 Anderson Wildcats W 18-7
Sept. 30 Little Miami Panthers W 33-18
Oct. 7 Kings Knights W 25-13
Oct. 14 Fayetteville Rockets W 13-6
Oct. 21 Milford Eagles Team #2 W 32-19
Oct. 28 Lakota Tomahawks Team #22 W 27-6

4-H Halloween Party
Who: ALIVE 4-Hers and their families
Where: Melodie's place
What to bring: Bag of candy per child (see list below for allergies and suggestions), bucket/bag for trick or treating, snack to share (chips, cookies, etc), drinks for your family
Questions: email Laura

Come join the fun! Children are welcome to wear costumes! We will begin the party by decorating cardboard houses (which we will later use for trick or treating) and then continue with games, crafts and fun!

We will be having hotdogs for dinner. Hotdogs, buns, condiments, plates, silverware and napkins provided. Please bring chips, pretzles or a child friendly sidedish to share (no popcorn or peanuts please!).

Please be aware that we have children attending with the following food allgeries/adversions: nuts, red dye #40 and popcorn. We ask that you not bring any items with nuts or popcorn to the party. Since red dye #40 is hard to avoid, please just be certain before handing anything to Will that you check with me or one of his big sisters!

The following items are nut-free and would make great choices for sharing: individual bags of pretzles (avoid bags of chips as many are fried in peanut oil!), tootsie rolls, tootsie pops, dots, charm suckers, jr mint, charleston chews, andies mints, sugar babies, sugar daddy's,nerds, laffy taffy, airheads, bottle caps, sweettarts, smarties, crunch bars, plain m&m's, fruit snacks, individual bags of animal cookies, individual bags of oreos, individual bags of goldfish, bubble gum, Werther's carmels, regular carmels.

Will is able to eat: blue, vanilla, yellow and green laffy taffy, white, blue and green airheads, tootsie rolls (the chocolate ones), green and yellow suckers (as long as they have no gum in the middle!) and any chocolates (although the m&ms must be seperated to remove the brown, orange and red ones).

The kids had such a great time! Cade only wished that we had played more games than bobbing for apples and pass the pumpkin. Everyone got along so well and really seemed to enjoy themselves! The kids LOVE having their own 4-H group even if they were a little bummed that only kids from Ohio could participate. 4-H is very much a state controlled, even county controlled group which makes it a bit hard for homeschoolers that are so used to mingling with people from all over the place!

The UC Curriculum Resource Center Opens its Doors to Homeschoolers!

Apparently this happened about a year ago (I vaguely remember hearing something about it) but I stumbled onto the details today! What a great resource to have right at our hands thanks to the University of Cincinnati!

The Curriculum Resources Center, also known as the CRC, is home to the collections and services that support the University of Cincinnati K-12 undergraduate and graduate teacher education programs. The CRC has now opened its doors to meet the educational needs of local in-service teachers and local homeschoolers. The myriad of books, DVD’s, puppets, games, software, kits and other great resources will expand the minds of young and old alike.
Below are answers to many of the commonly asked questions about how local in-service teachers and homeschoolers can utilize CRC resources. (If you have any further questions, please call the CRC at 556 - 1430.)

What kinds of pre K-12 curriculum materials resources can I check out?
Pre K – 12 Audiovisual Media/Instructional MaterialsThe CRC has over 8300 audiovisual media titles covering most curriculum topics, particularly for language arts and reading, mathematics, science and social studies for all grade levels. These materials consist of audiobooks, bulletin board kits, activity card sets, CD-ROMs, charts, audio compact discs, DVDs, games, kits, maps, models, puppets, pictures, posters, transparencies, and videocassettes.
K – 12 Textbooks There are over 12,600 K – 12 textbooks including student books, teacher’s editions and other ancillary materials from major textbook publishers. (These are available to in-service and homeschool teachers for in-house use only.)

Pre K – 12 Teacher Handbooks (teaching activities books)The CRC has over 3700 books filled with teaching/learning activities and lesson plans covering all curriculum areas for preschool through twelfth grade.
Children’s and Young Adult books/videos/audiobooks/kitsYou will find over16,000 children’s and young adult books. These include many nonfiction or information books on all curriculum topics as well as children’s novels, fairy tales, folklore, biographies, poetry, and a large picture/easy reading book section. There are many young adult fiction books also. In addition, you will find many videotapes, DVDs, and audiobooks based on children’s and young adult books. There are also a number of “read-along” children’s books accompanied by a CD or audiocassette packaged in kits as well.

What kinds of Professional Education materials can I check out?
Books The CRC houses a large collection of circulating professional education books that assist in-service teachers and homeschool teachers in the areas of assessment, classroom management, behavioral issues and much more. In addition, the CRC reference collection is available for in-house use.
JournalsYou will find a large selection of education related print journals. Digital copies for some of these titles, along with other educational journals, are available from four CRC public terminals.
Databases For research purposes, the following education related databases are available: ERIC, Education Abstracts, Professional Development Collection, PsycINFO and Dissertation Abstracts. These can be accessed in-house only via the four CRC public workstations.

How do I check out materials?
Go to the CRC circulation desk
Identify yourself as an in-service teacher or homeschooler
Present current public library card (must be in good standing)
Present photo ID
Fill out a “CRC Courtesy Borrowers Form” (up to 3 items can be checked out initially)
A UC borrowers’ card will be sent to you in the mail.
What is the loan period for materials?
Books“Prof Ed” Books (3 week loan; 2 renewals)Children’s & Young Adult Books (2 week loan; 2 renewals)Teacher Handbooks (2 week loan; 2 renewals)Curriculum Guides (2 week loan; 2 renewals)K-12 Textbooks (in-house use only)
Audiovisual Media (1 week loan; 2 renewals)
Note: 10 concurrent item check out limit (this means only 10 items can be checked out at any given time.)

Can I produce instructional materials in the CRC?
Yes, many kinds of instructional materials can be produced in the CRC "do it yourself" Media Production Lab. This facility shares space with the CRC Info Commons and provides equipment for producing the following:
Scanning Images
Producing overhead transparencies (black on clear and color)
Dry mounting and laminating materials
Making cutouts of objects for bulletin boards and learning activities with an assorted collection of Die-Cut Blocks
Spiral Binding
Making two color posters with a poster maker
Dubbing audiocassettes with a high-speed audiocassette recorder
An opaque projector is available in 600C for projecting an enlarged image for tracing for bulletin boards and posters. In addition, clip art books, software and transparency masters are provided in the Production Lab for making handouts and to use in transparency production and enlargement with the opaque projector.

Does the CRC sell supplies?
Supplies can be purchased in the Production Lab for making the above materials as well as other materials. In addition to cash and checks, the Bearcat card can be used to purchase supplies such as:
Dry mount tissue and laminating film
Clear acetate (for write-on transparencies) as well as thermal transparency film (for black on clear transparencies).
Film for producing color transparencies via a color laser printer
Construction paper, poster board and bulletin board paper
Hook n' Loop tape (like Velcro) and magnetic tape for making visual board materials
Spiral binding combs
Blank audio and video cassettes
Floppy disks, zip disks, and CD-RWs

How do I know what is available to be checked out?
To find CRC materials on a given curriculum topic, do the following:
Access UCLID, the UC online catalog via http://www.libraries.uc.edu/
Click on “Library Catalog” (far left, first “QuickLinks” option)
Click on “Keywords”
In the “View Entire Collection” box, click on the black arrow and select “Curriculum Resources Center”
To the left of the “View Entire Collection” box, enter your keyword(s), such as weather.

Does the CRC have any other special resources?
Yes, and many are free for you to take without returning. They may be found inThe NASA Educators Resource Center (ERC), Room 604B. The NASA ERCserves as a preview and distribution center for NASA produced educational materials. It provides elementary, secondary, and university educators easy access to a wide variety of teaching resources for teaching earth science, physical science, life science, space science, mathematics, geography, and the environment. Many of these materials are free of charge and new materials are constantly coming in so it is a good idea to return to the ERC on a regular basis.
Available materials:
Videos (in-house use only but free copying is available)Videos cover careers, earth science, history of flight, life science, living in space, physics, science and technology, mathematics, human space flight, and space science. These videos do not get checked out but if you provide a blank videotape, we will duplicate your requested videos free of charge. Video viewing equipment is available in the ERC.

Teaching Guides (free)You will find teaching guide packets with hands-on teaching activities for some of the topics listed above. All of these guides are graded to early childhood, middle school, or high school and based on national curriculum standards. They are free for you to take.

Posters (free)Posters are available on various topics. These can be viewed in the ERC poster display unit. Once you find a poster you would like to use in your classroom, simply locate it by the referenced letter in the poster supply unit. It is free to take.

Pictures (free)We regularly receive new pictures (lithographs) of various aspects of the space program such as pictures of shuttles, crews, international space station, various planets, earth from space, moon, etc. These are free for the taking.

Publications (free)A variety of additional NASA publications, including fact sheets, are regularly received on a variety of subjects and are free to take.
CD-ROMs (in-house use only)NASA produced CD-ROMs are available for viewing. These, however, are for in-house use only. They may be purchased for a minimal price from NASA.

Reference Materials (in-house use only)Many reference materials are available in the ERC. These too are for in-house use only.

Is there a CRC website?
Yes, at the CRC Web site you will find a number of guides to help you locate various kinds of curriculum materials, such as teaching activities, K – 12 textbooks, children’s and young adult books, and audiovisual media. You will also find bibliographies of CRC instructional materials grouped by curriculum area and grade range. In addition, easy access is provided to teaching activities and lesson plans, curriculum resources, and kids’ sites on the Web.
To access the CRC website:
Go to http://www.libraries.uc.edu/Click on “UC Libraries” (bottom left hand side)Locate CRC on the list and click on “website”Click on “Curriculum Materials Guides” (middle of the page)

What are the CRC hours?
Check the webpage below to find the most current hours of operation. http://www.libraries.uc.edu/information/hours_maps/hours_main.html

Who can I contact for additional information?
For circulation questions, call Al Early at 556-1307.For information about the collection call Dr. Gary Lare at 556-1313.For information about producing instructional materials call Diana Manuel at 556-1308.For help with reference questions, call Cheryl Ghosh, 556-1758.

What are the directions to the CRC?
From the north or south via I-75
From I-75, take the Hopple Street exit (exit 3). (If you are traveling north, Hopple Street exits from the left lane)
Turn left off the exit on to Hopple Street. As you cross the first intersection at Central Parkway, Hopple Street becomes Martin Luther King Drive. Follow Martin Luther King Drive up the hill to Clifton Avenue. (ML King Drive borders the north edge of the West Campus and Clifton Avenue borders the west edge of the West Campus.)
Turn right on Clifton and proceed for 1 mile.
The CRC is inside Blegen Library, which is located at the intersection of Clifton and Straight Street (between the Teacher’s College building and the Law building.)
The Blegen entrance level is the 4th floor, turn right up the grand staircase and CRC is on the next floor.

From the west via I-74
Take I-74 east to I-75 south.
Follow instructions 2 - 5 above.
From the north via I-71
From I-71 south, take the Taft Road exit (exit 3).The exit places you on Taft Road, a one-way street heading west.Taft Road becomes Calhoun Street as you near campus.Stay on Calhoun until it ends at Clifton Avenue.
Follow step 3 - 5 of the first directions.

From the south via I-71
Take I-71 north until it merges with I-75 just south of Florence, Ky.Stay on I-75 after you cross the Ohio River.
From the left lane on I-75, take the Hopple Street exit (Exit 3).
Follow step 2 - 5 from the first directions.
From the east via US 50
From US 50 west, turn right on Taft Road. Taft is a one-way street heading west. Taft becomes Calhoun Street as you near campus. Stay on Calhoun until it ends at Clifton Avenue.
Turn right on Clifton Avenue.
The CRC is inside Blegen Library, which is located at the intersection of Clifton and Straight Street (between the Teacher’s College building and the Law building.)
The Blegen entrance level is the 4th floor, turn right up the grand staircase and CRC is on the next floor.
Or go to http://www.uc.edu/directions/main.html.

Where do I park once I get to the UC campus?
Park along Clifton Avenue (metered parking) or Deaconess Parking Garage on Straight Street across from the Deaconess Hospital.
Rev. 11/22/05

Union Township Fire Station / Water Tower Tour
Friday, October 27; 10AM
860 Clough Pike Cincinnati, OH 45245
Corner of Clough and Glen Este-Withamsville Road
IMPORTANT: Clough Pike is closed at I-275 so most will need to enter from Glen Este-Withamsville
Geared towards ages 6 – 11 but anyone welcome
Free!!
Organizer: Denise K

Take a tour of new facility and hear about fire safety. The innovative building sits beneath the 2 million-gallon capacity water tower and consists of three floors. It is one of only 5 firestations in the entire country that sits under a watertower (ironically, 2 of the 4 other ones are also located in Ohio). The first floor houses the engine and a paramedic unit, firefighters' quarters comprise the second floor, and the third floor is the township fire department's administrative offices, as well as the new Union Township Television (UTTV) facility.

Hannah stayed home, but the rest of the crew headed out to check this place out!

What an absolutely awesome tour. Of all the fire station tours we have ever attended, this was by far the most informative and interactive. Our tourguide, Travis Brown, did an amazing job of showing us both the ambulance and the fire truck and even went step by step through how a fireman dresses to attend a fire! If you ever have a chance to tour this facility, see if Travis might be there to lead your tour!

The great thing about the tour was that it lent itself very well to the "First Aid in Action" 4-H project that the kids were working on. One requirement is to take a field trip related to the topics in the book (and a firestation certainly fits the bill!) and another section requires them to interview anemergencyy first aid worker ( asking 5 to 8 questions) and Travis was more than happy to oblige!

The questions included:

What does an ambulance carry?
Sled, backboard, stretcher, first aid kit, cardiac monitor, c-collars, oxygen, and a 2 person crew

What is in the first aid kit?
clipboard, c-collars, puke sucker (the kids LOVED that one), stethoscope, scissors strong enough to cut through anelectricall cord, blood pressure cuff, flashlight, glucometer, oxygen tubing, intubation kit, IV bags and kit, bandaids

How much does a fireman's outfit weigh?
70 lbs

How long will a tank of air last?
30 minutes under normal use (depending on lung capacity) but can be used for almost 2 hours of rescue breathing if a firefighter gets trapped.

How many calls does Union Township handle each year?
200,000 calls per year, so roughly 548 calls per day!

How many stations are their in Union Township?
4. One on Glen-Este Withiamsville (that we toured), two on Old St. Rt. 74, and one on St. Rt. 125 (the busiest)

How many of the people that work at that station are paramedics?
All but 2 who were grandfathered in when they added that requirement

Strangest animal you have ever rescued?
An alligator someone flushed down the toilet

Animal you get called the most about?
Bats. Yes, we will go and get them out of houses.

How heavy of a person can the 2 man crew carry?
500 lbs

How heavy of a person can the stretcher hold?
650 lbs

Heaviest person you have ever transported?
1300 lbs, the city had to makeaccommodationss to the man's house so they could pull right up to the front door because they were called their so many times. Took 10 to 11 guys to transport him.

How long are your shifts?
24 hours, every 3 days

How many guys are on a shift?
4 guys, giving us 2-2 person crews

Do you like your job?
Yes!

Leading Antibiotics are now FREE at your Meijer Pharmacy - No Strings Attached! http://www.meijer.com/pharmacy/antibiotics.asp

"Rising health care costs are having a dramatic impact on families across the country, especially here in the Midwest. Our free antibiotic program is the next step Meijer is taking to lead the industry toward improving the health of our customers. It is all about delivering higher standards."
-Mark Murray, Meijer president

The program covers leading, oral generic antibiotics with a special focus on the prescriptions most often filled for children.

The following are FREE with your doctor's prescription, regardless of insurance or co-pay:
Amoxicillin
Cephalexin
SMZ-TMP
Ciprofloxacin
Ampicillin
Penicillin
VK Erythromycin

Prescription must be picked up at store in person. Maximum 14 day supply at normal dosage. List may be subject to change. Not valid with any other offer.

OK, I am not a huge believer in all the antibiotics some doctors like to prescribe, but I believe that there is a time and a place for them. And if you are one of the many families with precription coverage, this might come in quite handy this winter. I posted this info here so that I could find it if I need it! Knock wood, we will stay healthy this winter!

More Halloween Crafts:

Some cheapy crafts that could be loads of fun!

cool oragami bat http://www.origami-club.com/en/halloween/bat/bat/index.htm
these are so cute, not sure if they are too hard for the kids though....you could make a host of them and hang them everywhere

Bat mobile http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11020

Cute printable decorations http://kidssoup.com/Halloween/Halloween.html. I lvoe the coloring pages at this site and can't wait to make the Frankenstein using the paper plates. Sophie is going to love this one!

Very very cute ghost:
Gauze Ghost
Mix white glue with water. Dip gauze sheets into glue/water mixture and hang over soda bottle (turned upside down) and let dry. Shape gauze into a ghostly figure. When dry, remove bottle and add black eyes and mouth cut from felt or craft paper. Hang from a string or display for a spooky decoration.

FEARFEST at Kings Island

Open at 7:00PM until 12:00 Midnight. Some FearFest attractions will open at dark.

FearFest Friday Night: Buy this discount ticket in advance now and get in for just $19.99 on any of the following FearFest Friday Nights: 10/6, 10/13, 10/20, and 10/27. Hurry, limited-time offer will be dead and gone soon! http://www1.paramountparks.com/kingsisland/special/fearfest/index.html

FearFest...
all the fear you can handle and all in one place! Why drive all over town when you can get your fear fix in one place? FearFest at Kings Island is the most intense Halloween event around and the only place you'll find maddening haunted houses, chain link mazes, crazed clowns in 3D and frightening wooded trails!
13 total haunted attractions the most terrifying rides on the planet and now more monsters than ever before. FearFest...Don't say we didn't warn you! Fearfest included with park admission.

Hannah, Brett and 3 of their friends decided to head up to Fearfest! Another friend was supposed to be joining them, but her dad said it would be too scary so she had to stay home. The group had a blast and absolutely LOVED riding the rollercoasters in the dark (you would NEVER catch me doing that!). I ended up picking the kids up at 11 PM and we went and ate dinner at Skyline. I loved listening to them relive the evening, especially the story of Sarah getting asked to homecoming by the boy with the green spiked hair! I dropped the other kids off and finally ended up back home at about 1 AM. I am so grateful that my kids have wonderful friends to hang out with!

Toyota Driving Expectations:

Brett and Jay (rather reluctantly) attended this program sponsored by Toyota at Kings Island (in the parking lot). The program was 4 hours long and Brett really felt that it was worth his time and said he learned how to handle some behind the wheel situations that he hadn't encountered yet. He was really excited because he got to drive 3 brand new Toyotas, much smoother and quicker to respond than a 10 year old minivan!

http://www.toyotadrivingexpectations.com/

When: Friday, October 6; 10am
What:Maize at Turpin Farms 3295 Turpin Lane; Cincinnati, Ohio; 45244
Who:Everyone's invited.....toddlers, teens, parents, and grandparents!!
Cost: see && below
Organizer: Laura Riesenberg theriesenbergs@cinci.rr.com
Bring a picnic lunch and dress for the weather! Don't forget your camera!

Field Trip includes: Maze, hayride, petting zoo, cow train, hay dive, corn dive, a "hands on activity or craft" and a small "pie" pumpkin

Address for Turpin Farms is 3295 Turpin Lane; Cincinnati, Ohio; 45244
http://www.turpinfarms.com/

Admission: Adults: $6, Children 2-18 $4.50, Children under 2 Free, Parking Free

Driving Directions -
-From the North, take I-275 east to Route 32 west (exit 63A) towards Newtown.Follow Route 32 west for about 5.5 miles.Go through the Village of Newtown and turn left on Turpin Lane.
-From downtown Cincinnati (and KY), take Columbia Parkway (OH 50) east to the Beechmont Levee (OH 125) east. Go across the levee to the Route 32 exit. Follow Route 32 east for about 1.5 miles and turn right on Turpin Lane

I was a bit apprehensive as we headed to the farm. We have been going for the past 5 years and it seemed my RSVP list was much shorter than usual! But I fretted for nothing, turns out most people didn't realize they were supposed to RSVP and just showed up. We had close to 40 kids and about 15 adults. The kids had a GREAT time foraging through the maze and the little ones loved the haydive and corndive. The weather was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS, I couldn't have custom ordered better weather! Cade took a nasty fall of the top of the haydive (with the "help" of two other boys) and it really shook him up. No bruises by his back was really bothering him.

When we left, everyone picked out pumpkins. The one Jacob picked looks like a skull. Can't wait to see what they do with them when they paint them!

What: Pioneer Village Tour
When: Wednesday October 4 9:30 AM to 2 PM ARRIVE PROMPTLY!!!!
Where: Quaker Knoll Campground, Wilmington, Ohio
Cost: $5 per student, preschoolers and parents free BRING EXACT CHANGE!!!
RSVP: Laura Riesenberg (theriesenbergs@cinci.rr.com)
Other info: bring a picnic lunch, dress for the weather

Every culture in the world requires that young people learn their own history. History provides answers for the future by examining the problems of the past. In essence, it is the study of the problems of human life. Our challenge is to get our youth interested in history at all. When competing with electronic games and television, stories of the past can seem dry, at best.
For several years Frontier Resources has offered a school program designed to capture the interest of the student of Ohio history. The program makes maximum use of Hands-On and interactive learning. We have designed our ‘School Days’ to interest students in early Ohio history to reinforce your classroom efforts.

Frontier Resources is an organization that designs and presents programs to students all over the country. Our specialty is “hands-on history”. Our programs are designed to give your students a taste of the activities, both work and play, of children of early Ohio. These include, but are not limited to:
OXEN- An explanation of the importance of oxen to early America and how children were involved with them is followed by an opportunity for students to try their hand at driving oxen.
SPINNING- An introduction to the problem of cloth supply for the Ohio frontier family involves a chance for students to try to make a piece of yarn.
CHILDREN’S WORK- A view of the importance of children on the frontier while they work to shape a grindstone.
ONE ROOM SCHOOL- An introduction to early nineteenth century learning.
TOWN MEETING- Students experience frontier democracy by taking part in a town meeting and wrestling with a vital issue of the day.
CHILDREN’S GAMES- A look at entertainment on the frontier while students try an outdoor game of the 1800s.
INDENTURED SERVITUDE- Forty percent of the population of Colonial America arrived under terms of indenture. This station examines the lives of the children who found themselves so situated.

This year the program is moving from Caesar’s Creek Pioneer Village, Waynesville, Ohio to Quaker Knoll Campground,Wilmington, Ohio.
The program takes about 4 hours, running from 9:30 a.m. until 2:00 P.M. Cost is $5.00 per student, there is no cost for teachers and chaperones.
Here is a link to a blog about the village: http://frontier-resources.blogspot.com/

Best to mapquest this address from your location:
Quaker Knoll Campground is located at 675 Sprague Road, Wilmington, Ohio 45177, a lovely site on the north end of Cowen LakeState Park.

Directions:
Take OH-28 (Milford Exit off I-275)towards BLANCHESTER to LEFT onto OH-133 (according to mapquest this is about 16 or so miles). Go a little over 3 miles and stay STRAIGHT to go onto OH-730. Go a little over 6 miles and turn RIGHT onto SPRAGUE RD. Quaker Knoll is less than 1/2 mile down the road.

Cool Halloween crafts:

I can't wait to make some of these with the kids. Jay is always adament about not decorating for halloween until after his birthday (which was Sunday) so now all I have to do is gather supplies! The one thing all these crafts have in common is that they use gallon milk jugs. All of these crafts plus plenty more can be found at Family Fun's website: http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/specialfeature/halloween_ms_crafts/

Monster Jug Heads:
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=10744







Skeleton:
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11539












GIANT spooky spider: Can't wait to hang these guys from the trelises on either side of my porch!
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11283

Very cute recycled sweater bag

http://whipup.net/2006/05/24/30-minutes-to-a-recycled-sweater-bag/. These are just so cute. You could probably make it out of an old sweatshirt too. It would be a great basic craft to do with a group of beginning sewers!

Orionid Meteor Shower:

I grabbed that free Cincinnati Family magazine and saw that on Friday Oct 20, 2006 that there is a free orionid meteor shower viewing....ameteur astronomers will be conducting a public star gaze and meteor watch at Stonelick State Park, 2895 Lake Drive, Pleasant Plain. , dusk until dawn. (513) 321-5186

The girls have dance until 7:15 PM, but if the weather is nice and the sky clear, I think I will gather the troops and head out. I googled it to see what time you are supposed to be able to view it the easiest/best.

Here is what I found: In 2006 the Orionids are predicted to reach a peak of about twenty meteors per hour at 11 a.m. EDT on Saturday, October 21. The Orionid Meteor Shower generally lasts for about two days so one should expect to see Orionids also on the mornings of the 20th and the 22nd. As with all meteor showers, the Orionids are best observed between midnight and dawn from a clear, dark location with a good horizon. Fortunately, the Moon will be at new moon on the morning of October 22 so there will be no moonlight to interfere with observations of the fainter meteors. Look to the high in the east to find the meteors appearing to radiate out of the constellation of Orion the hunter. Binoculars or telescopes are not needed to observe meteors.

Now if the weather will just cooperate!

They clean up just fine!

Below are pictures I took of the kids before we headed out to Jay's mom's funeral (in mid August), I thought to snap a couple of pictures of the kids. Will would not cooperate so is therefor NOT in any of the pictures. This was just days after Brett had brain surgery, so he is looking a bit pale, but I still wanted to share.

From left to right: Brett (15), Grant (10), Cade (6) and Jacob (8)











From left to right: Emily (12), Hannah (14) and Sophie (4)

Test for Smart People.....I have determined that you qualify.

My dad send me this, and as much as his many forwarded messages frustrate me, this one made me laugh.

The following short quiz consists of 4 questions and will tell you whether you are qualified to be a professional. Scroll down for each answer. The questions are NOT that difficult. But don't scroll down UNTIL you have answered the question!

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?
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The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.

2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?
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Did you say, Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the refrigerator? Wrong Answer. Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions.

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend.... except one. Which animal does not attend?
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Correct Answer: The Elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator. You just put him in there. This tests your memory. Okay, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your true abilities.

4. There is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles, and you do not have a boat. How do you manage it?
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Correct Answer: You jump into the river and swim across. Have you not been listening? All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.

According to Anderson Consulting Worldwide, around 90% of the professionals they tested got all questions wrong, but many preschoolers got several correct answers. Anderson Consulting says this conclusively disproves the theory that most professionals have the brains of a four-year-old.

Send this out to frustrate all of your smart friends

COOL (or should I say HOT?) GIFT IDEA!

Dad has been having lots of trouble with swelling so I went online and looked up homemade heating pads and found two really neat ideas with the directions and link below. These are microwave heatable heating pads. I think they would make perfect christmas gifts or baby shower gifts.

Pit Pads: Filled with CHERRY PITS!
Square (9x9) excellent for shoulders, back, llegs, arms, hands and feet
Rectangle (6x17) excellent for wrapping around the nexk, ankles, knees and wrists

They sell the already made pads for $16.95 each at their website, but you can buy a 40 lb bag of PIT STUFF for $29.95 (enough to make about 20 bags). http://www.cherrypitstore.com/index.html. Seems like it would only take a couple of minutes to whip them up and they even give you the dimensions! Even a challenged sewer like myself should be able to figure that one out!

Rice bags: similiar idea, just filled with long grain white rice. http://www.quilt.com/MiscQuilting/RiceBags.html The lady at the health food store told me you can also just make these by using a tube sock and tying it off at the top! You can also add dried lavender, rosemary or whole spices (not ground) to add an aroma to your bag if you desire.

All you need is 100% cotton fabric and whatever filler (pits, rice) you chose. To make them "cute" you make a little pillow case to put them in. I plan to make one for my dad today to see how it works. Gonna work on a prototype (some directions recommend sewing a channel in the middle to help them keep their shape).

Heat between 90 seconds and 2 minutes, releases a warm, moist heat.

Birds of Prey Park Program

A mom in one of the homeschooling groups we are members of set up a park program on Birds of Prey. It is unusual for me to be the one attending a program and not the one setting it up. John, the naturalist at the park, even commented on how unusual it was! The woman who set up the program said that program was for children in grades 1-6 so since Em had girlscouts, it was just the 3 middle boys....Grant, Jacob and Cade. Of course their friend Chris joined us!

The program was great and they actually had 4 birds of prey for us to interact with....a redtailed hawk, 2 screech owls and a great horned owl. Not that being in the same room with 4 birds did much for my allergies!

Grant posed a question that John didn't know the answer to so we came home and looked it up on the internet.

The question: How fast does the great horned owl fly?

The answer: Up to 40 MPH

Here is the great link we used to find the answer:
http://www.naturenode.com/rebop/owl_great_horned.html

The boys were thrilled that after the program we stayed and played in the park for about an hour (we had to leave by 12:15 PM to go and pick up my dad). It was WEIRD that other than Deanne and Chris, none of the other families that attended the program stayed to play in the park. It was an absolutely beautiful, cool day. So sad that even the homeschooled kids don't get a change to enjoy the beautiful weather!

We survived!

Today from 3 PM to 4 PM Brett drove for the first time! Hard to believe that the child I gave birth to not even 16 years ago now only needs me to be his co-pilot. The lesson went really well and he managed to keep the minivan where it belonged at all times. We made a loop around our neighboring streets, many of which I had never ventured down before. I will admit that driving down the same 10 streets over and over again for an hour is a bit tedious, but with each "lap" I could see his confidence building!

Poor kid has had his temps since May and just now finally got behind the wheel. First the van needed brakes, then he started feeling sick and didn't want to go anywhere, then he spent the better part of August in the hospital and then his little brother broke the rearview mirror off. I finally managed to get it glued back on yesterday.

Hopefully this is just the first of many UNEVENTFUL driving lessons!

What our week looks like:

Another often posed question, and here is a sampling of one possible answer. Of course I didn't throw the 3 loads of laundry a day onto the schedule, maybe it would get done if I did! Right now, Will is the only one without anything on the schedule, so hopefully it doesn't get too much more hectic in years to come.

Monday:
Homeschool Co-op 9 AM to 12:30 for Em and Grant, until 3 PM for Brett
Open Gym (noon to 2 PM)
Dance for Em and Hannah (4:15-8:15 PM)
Football for Cade and Jacob (6-8 PM)

Tuesday:
Cat Scan for Brett (8 AM)
Girlscouts for Em (10-11:30 AM)
Park Program for Grant, Jacob, Cade and Sophie (10-11:30 AM)
Chemistry for Brett (11:30 AM-1:30 PM)
Get my dad from dialysis (12:30 PM)
Emily dance (6:15-7:15 PM)
Football for Cade, Jacob and Grant (6-8 PM)

Wednesday:
Granny's Garden (Em, Grant, Jacob, Cade, Sophie) 9-11 AM
Sewing for Em and Hannah 12-2 PM
Dance Sophie 4:15-5:15 Hannah 4:15 -6:15 PM
Religious ed class for Em, Grant and Jacob 7-8:15 PM

Thursday:
Dance for Em and Hannah 9 AM to 4 PM (they teach)
Get my dad from dialysis and take him to chemo (12:30-4 PM)
Football for Cade, Jacob and Grant (6-8)
Mom time (Crop at local church with my friend! 5 PM to 10 PM)

Friday:
Tour Cincinnati waterworks (9 AM)
Hannah babysit (10 AM-4 PM)
Em dance (3:15-7:15)
Sophie dance (6:15 -7:15)
Youth Football night at the Highschool- Cade, Jacob, Grant 7 PM

Saturday:
Grant football practice 9:30 AM -11 AM
Em and Hannah dance 10 AM-3:30 PM
Cade football game 12:30 PM
Jacob football game 3:00 PM
Mandatory Parent meeting for Nutcracker 2-3 PM
Teen bonfire with homeschool group 5 PM -11 PM

Sunday:
Church 8 AM
Sophie and Cade Sunday School 9:30 AM
Hannah and Em teach Sunday School 9:30 AM
Hannah and Em volunteer at Petsmart with animal shelter 12 PM-5 PM
Grant football game 12:30 PM

A fellow homeschooling mom posed a question to me in an email and I thought I would share the answer here.

How do you deal with family/friends who make you feel as if you constantly need to defend homeschooling?

My answer:
In a way, I guess we are really fortunate that my husband's family (including my MIL who passed away last month) has never questioned our choices. Occassionally they ask questions, but never anything like "what are you teaching" more like "they have a homeschool prom, that is so cool". I remember when we told his mom we would homeschool she said "oh, you will be good at that, you always read to those kids when they were young". She never passed any judgement on our decision (at least not to me or my husband or kids...she really wasn't the kind of woman to talk about you behind your back, if she had something to say, she said it).

My mom, on the other hand, tends to question more and is very critical of the fact that we won't send the kids back to school. She asks constantly if they are "going back to school" this year or if I have signed them up for classes. Then in the next sentence she tell me to go back to college and get my teaching degree/certificate and go and teach other kids because I am wasting my talents. I have never lied to her about our homeschooling, but I am also not straightforward with her either. She once asked how they know each year that they are where they should be and I said "mom, I either have to have them take a standardized test or have their work looked over by a certified teacher" so she now asks each spring if they passed to the next grade and I say "yes"...I never bother to add that the assessor I use doesn't ever look at their work and that he merely sits down with a group of parents and discusses our year with us. I suppose her fears may be calmed some as Brett goes off to college (in the next 2 to 3 years) or maybe not. When she asks if he will be ready, I often just answer "mom, they offer remedial courses at every college in this country. Obviously that means the kids coming out of highschool often aren't ready for college". She ususally shuts up.

My brother thinks I am smart to homeschool as he is a vice cop and thinks I am protecting the kids from the evils of school. He sees so many juvenile delinquints that he things I am smart to know where my kids are all the time and who they are with. He never expresses concern over what they are learning, but then again, he hated school and knows you only learn about things you have passion for.

I won't lie to you and say I never how doubts or fears. But the kids are happy, I am happy and for now that is enough! Annika is still so young and they have such a short time to be carefree!

In her next email she asks " do you sit every day with your kids and do school"?

My answer:

No, we do not sit down and do any formal schooling every day. Brett (16), Em (12) and Grant (10) take classes at a co-op on Mondays and I was thinking I may sit with Jacob (8), Cade (6) and Sophie (4) for about an hour on Monday and do something that resembles "academics" but then again maybe I won't. Emily, Grant, Jacob, Cade and Sophie all take a religion class at our church once a week (1 1/2 hours). Other than that, things are pretty unstructured here, but it appears to be working (we have used the same approach for 6 years). I see huge leaps in their cognitive development at times I least expect it. Grant (10) really struggled with reading and I honestly started to think I might need to get him a tutor and then I noticed that he really was reading, just not books....he could read and make food in the microwave, read the guide on TV to determine which sports team was playing, read to play computer games, read sports stats in the newspaper. Of course, one advantage of having a large family, as the older group grows, I can gauge the things that I did wrong (or should have worked more on) and implement it with the younger kids.

Since you are looking for some help in organizing things for your daughter, here are a couple web resources I have liked. Use them as you wish, my kids always have.....

My kids love this website:
http://www.starfall.com/

And this one has lots of printables and other forms:
http://www.donnayoung.org/ we liked her handwriting sheets. Sophie LOVES handwriting pages, the boys hate them, so have never done any.

And Jan Brett has a great site that you can use in conjunction with her wonderful children's books.... http://www.janbrett.com/ I personally love her coloring pages and crafts.

I think confidence does come with experience. Hopefully your family will come around some with time.

She made it!!!

Emily auditioned yesterday for the Cincinnati Ballet's The Nutcracker. They posted the results TODAY on their website (talk about a quick turn around)! She has been cast as a SOLDIER WITH RIFLE! Different role from last year, but still part of the battle scene. The parent meeting is this Saturday and hopefully we will find out which cast she is part of and which performances she will be part of. Especially good to know so we can buy tickets to see the school matinee which is only $10 a ticket versus the usually $30+ a ticket!

I am so ecstatic for her! It is such a big deal for her to be able to dance with a professional ballet company even if it is only for a couple of months. She dreams of someday being part of a ballet company.

She received a compliment a few weeks ago from one of the most talented dancers at our studio. This young lady told Emily that she thought she was one of the most beautiful dancers she had ever seen. Such a huge compliment coming from this young lady. Emily has been on cloud nine ever since!

Recipe submissions needed

http://pancancookbook.homestead.com/index.html and click on submit recipes. A friend of mine is creating a cookbook to help offset a family members medical costs as he fights pancreatic cancer. As we watch the bill for our own son's recent hospitalization flood in, I can only hope that her efforts bring some relief to the family with their financial burden.

I plan to submit a couple of my fav0rite recipes. I hope you will take the time to do the same. And if you are someone who loves cookbooks, she is selling them for only $10, not a bad deal at all!

What: Reds Hall of Fame and Stadium tour plus "Build a Baseball Team" extra inning program
When: Friday, September 15, 2006 9 AM ARRIVE BY 8: 50 AM!
Cost: $6 for children, $7 for adults children under 3 are free
Organizer: Laura Riesenberg

Of course I got out of the house late. Miss Sophie needed a jacket and there wasn't one to be found anywhere. She finally ended up with a rain jacket, but it put us 15 minutes behind schedule. Not to fret...we made it to the Hall of Fame by 8:55 AM!

What an absolutely AWESOME time. The extra inning program was absolutely engaging and involved using math skills to build a team and stick to your budget. Each group was given an actual MLB team's budget (ajdusted for the fact that they were only buying 9 players and not the full roster a team would carry). The great thing was that none of the kids realized that they were sitting through a 90 minute lesson in math! The amazing thing was that the team with the lowest budget ended up with the best team (a little luck was involved, but I don't want to ruin that for anyone else who attends the program).

Following the program we toured the Hall of Fame. It is great, so hands on and engaging. We ate lunch and then were given a tour of Great American Ballpark. Will was EXTREMELY fussy as we went on the tour
and it just killed my back to carry him (I really need to bring a sling with me on outing like this as he is still small enough to sling but too heavy to just carry outright). It is so neat to see the places in the ballpark that you don't get to see on a regular visit.

The Reds season is almost over, but one of the moms is hoping to get a deal of tickets so we can attend the last day game of the season.

Here are the details:
Schedule: 9 AM- 10:45 AM "Build a Baseball Team Program"
10:45 AM-12:15 PM Tour of Hall of Fame
12:15 PM -12:45 PM Lunch (pack your own picnic lunch)
12:45 PM-1:30 PM Return to Hall of Fame
1:30 PM -2:45 PM Stadium tour

The Red's Hall of Fame and Museum is a Palace for the Fans! With the formation of the Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869, professional baseball and America's passion for the sport were born, and grew, right here in Cincinnati. Now, for the first time, the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum offers fans of the Reds, and of baseball, the first comprehensive look into the sport's heralded past. Nowhere else are fans able to see as complete of a collection of artifacts from the first professional baseball team and its rich history in the major leagues. And nowhere outside of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., are baseball fans treated to such an amazing visual history of the World Series and Opening Day. The Reds Hall of Fame, which opened to the public Sept. 25, 2004, is just west of Great American Ball Park, the home of the Cincinnati Reds, along Cincinnati's riverfront. The facility features more than 16,000 square feet of exhibit s

Our tour will begin with our EXTRA INNING PROGRAM:
Build a Baseball Team Geared towards 3rd - 8th grade (all ages welcome to participate!)We need your help! In this math-focused program, you must work with your fellow students to create the next championship baseball team. Using budgets and statistics from Major League Baseball, compare players' strengths, weaknesses and salaries to assemble a nine-man team. Then, present your team in a "press conference" and use math to figure out whose team is the best! Who would have thought the economics and mathematics of baseball could be this much fun?! 90 minutes in length

DIRECTIONS TO THE REDS HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM
The Reds Hall of Fame and Museum is located on the west side of Great American Ball Park along Main Street.

From I-75 southbound: -Take the Second Street exit on the left toward DOWNTOWN/RIVERFRONT.-Stay on Second Street heading EAST, and the ballpark will be on your right.

From U.S. Highway 50 eastbound:-Take the Second Street exit on the right toward DOWNTOWN/RIVERFRONT.-Stay on Second Street heading EAST, and the ballpark will be on your right.From I-71/I-75 northbound:-Take the Second Street exit on your right after crossing the Brent Spence Bridge.-Stay on Second Street heading EAST, and the ballpark will be on your right.

From I-71 southbound:-Take the Third Street exit on the left toward DOWNTOWN/RIVERFRONT.-Turn LEFT onto Walnut Street.-Turn LEFT onto Second Street.From U.S. Highway 50 westbound (Columbia Parkway):-Take the Sixth Street exit on the right.-Turn LEFT onto Sycamore Street.-Turn RIGHT onto Third Street.-Turn LEFT onto Walnut Street.-Turn LEFT onto Second Street.

From I-471 northbound:-Take the Third Street exit on your right after crossing the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge. -Take Third Street to Walnut Street. -Turn LEFT onto Walnut Street. -Turn LEFT onto Second Street.

PARKING FOR THE REDS HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUMThe parking garage underneath Great American Ball Park can be accessed from the Pete Rose Way entrance (at the corner of Pete Rose Way and Broadway) or the Mehring Way entrance (facing the Ohio River). Once inside the garage, follow the signs for the Hall of Fame and Museum to access the elevator and stairwell that leads to the Hall of Fame entrance. Parking is $4 per vehicle. Nearby parking is also available on Third Street (parking meters).

THE YEAR 1906

I got this off of one of the email lists I am on and I think this will boggle your mind, I know it did mine! The year is 1906. What a difference a century makes!

Here are some of the U.S. statistics for the Year 1906 ************************************
Average life expectancy was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more
heavily populated than California.

With a mere 1.4 million people, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour.

The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year .

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year,
and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at HOME .

Ninety percent of all U.S. doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!
Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which
were condemned in the press AND the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound.

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month,and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.

Five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30!!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't been invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two out of every 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.

There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A. !

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.

October topic: Unschooling Math: If you’re like me and went to public school, you grew up being taught math from a text book. Now, as an unschooling parent, how do you live math when you’ve been conditioned to think of math in school terms. How do you go from one to the other?

Teaching math has never been an issue in our house. Outside of my oldest son, none of the children have ever used a math text or taken a math course.

Sports have been my best friend for the boys to actively engage in calculating. Whether it is how many strikes make an out, how many outs end an inning, how many field goals you need to outscore one touchdown, how a strike out will change someone's batting average, or how many seconds are left in a game, sports just naturally lead to math awareness. When coupled with my children's very competitive nature, math awareness quickly becomes math ability and accurarcy. Bragging rights goes to the child with the highest batting average, highest winning percentage, best free throw percentage and you can only boast if you can figure it out.

VACATION AT LONG'S RETREAT LATHAM, OHIO:
Sunday, August 27, the adventure begins:

We waited until after Grant's football game to head out on our trip. We left Cincinnati shortly after 3 PM and after a short delay at Toys R Us (I was looking for a toy for Will but couldn't find it) we were on our way. The drive out to Long's Retreat was fairly uneventful. 50 miles out Rt. 32, make a left onto 41, go another 11 miles, hang a right on 124.....4 miles later you pull into Long's Retreat on the left. The cabin we rented was cute and clean and the kids were eager to explore. Because storms had blown through, the power was off in the park, but the sun was shining so we took in the beach and the splash area and came back and grilled out hamburgers, hotdogs, brats and metts.

It is strange, but neither mine or Deanne's cell phones seem to work. No signal, we both have different services and can't believe neither of us get coverage....no big deal, right? Why would we need a phone?????

The bed was HORRIBLY hard and also tended to squeak when you moved on it. I think I only slept a couple of hours total....too bad, because I really would have handled Monday better with a few more hours of shut eye.......


Monday, August 28:

I came out into the kitchen shortly before 7 AM. Brett, Hannah and Sarah were sleeping in the living room. I heard Brett, he tends to get nauseated at times and makes this raspy, gagging noise. I yelled in to him to take a deep breath. About 5 minutes later I hear a loud thud (like something falling) and Hannah SCREAMING......by the time I take the 10 steps to the living room, Brett is convulsing on the floor. I scream for Deanne and Sarah and I try to flip Brett over (not easy when dealing with an almost 200 lb teenager) as he had landed head first on the floor. Hannah RUNS out the door and tries to see if anyone in the nearby cabin has a radio or phone that works....no such luck.....Deanne takes off for the front office (which is closed and not scheduled to open until 8 AM) but fortunately the owner is pulling up at the same time she gets there. The is no such thing as 911 in this neck of the woods....she it told it will take 35 to 45 minutes for the lifesquad to get to us. I have NEVER been so scared in all my life. Brett was retracting horrible the whole time and I wasn't sure he was getting oxygen...all I could think was that my baby was going to die and there was nothing I could do to make it better. The seizure lasted somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes...I thought to send Sarah into the kitchen once Brett had stopped convulsing because I remembered from the hospital knowing the time/length was critical. He spent another few minutes unresponsive to verbal commands, but would moan and push my hand off his face. About ten minutes later he was talking to me, annoyed with my questions, but answering them. By the time the paramedics finally arrived, he was actually in the bathroom putting on clean clothes and going to the bathroom. The paramedics assessed him and say he is stable but that they can transport him to Pike County Hospital, but that there is no neurologist on staff. Upon further questioning, I learn they will actually have to call and "wake up" the doctor so he can meet us there. Scary thought! I opt to contact Children's and see what they think. Over the next 90 minutes, I confer with a neurosurgical resident, a neurologist and 3 different nurses and they agree that calling in a seizure med to the closest pharmacy, which is 30 miles away. We are given the critical care direct number (for the paramedics to call if they have to come back) and are told that if he seizes again to get him stablized and to come directly to Children's hospital (about 75 miles away). And, yes, I did take a picture of the ambulance for the scrapbook.....16 plus years of parenting, and my first ambulance call!

So Brett and I head to the pharmacy in Hillsboro. The directions are simple, go the 4 miles back down 124 and hang a right onto 41, follow it 20 miles into the center of town, turn right and the pharmacy will be on your left about 3 blocks up the road. During the drive, Brett and I came up with our own set of directions........go the 4 miles back down 124, hang a right onto 41...you will pass a dead skunk in the road, hold your breath...then you will pass American Flyers Gymnastics, in an old run down barn on your left hand side....when you see the dead cow lying on its side in the pasture, slow down to go into the hairpin turn...you will now see a sign for slow farm machinery, which will impede your speed. The horse and buggy sign will make you laugh and thank God that the buggy doesn't pull off the dirt road in front of you. When you finally see a painted sign for KFC, you will know you are getting close!

Luckily there are 2 pharmacies in Hillsboro, because the first one didn't have both meds we needed.....thankfully Jay had just deposited money into the checking account, because the almost $700 the meds set me back wasn't something I had on hand!

Oh, I forgot to mention...when Deanne drove down to call for help, her van died...so while I was off dealing with Brett, her van had to be towed the 45 minutes to the Toyota dealership in Portsmouth! Stranded in the middle of NOWHERE!

It rained...the kids played in the lake despite the rain and had a blast! It cleared up later in the afternoon.

Brett rested and hung out.

We had homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner and made s'mores for dessert! One of the stray kittens that hung out around the cabin singed its tail in the fire. Stupid cat!

The boys played wiffle ball in the yard.

We took the kids up to do the go carts and they had a BLAST!

I passed out with exhaustion around 10 PM! Prayed Tuesday would be a better day!

Tuesday, August 29:

Tuesday started out smoothly! Thank God, I don't think I could have handled any more drama!

We decided to spend the day hanging out....playing on the playground, going to the beach, playing putt-putt, doing the slides. Only bad thing was that Grant got stung by a bee!

The kids played on the playground across from the cabin.

Deanne and I both did laundry...we hadn't counted on it raining and the clothes being soaked, so we both needed to wash clothes so the boys had clean and dry things to wear! The laundry was clean but it was so funny....there were 5 washers and 3 of them had things written/scratched onto them......ALL THIS MACHINE DOES IS SPIN, WATER RUNS OUT THE BOTTOM OF MACHINE, THIS MACHINE DOESN'T FILL UP....luckily we only needed 2 machines!

We had chicken lasagna, garlic bread and salad for dinner! We made s'mores again.....have to love marshmallow, chocolate and graham crackers!

Wednesday, August 30:

We decided to take in Serpent Mound (the world's largest earthenworks) since it was mentioned in the "KIDS LOVE OHIO" book. We piled everyone into my passenger van and headed out. I had mapquested the directions before we went to Long's Retreat and tossed them in the car to follow......We decided that the directions should have come with disclaimers......

*Start out going SOUTHWEST on OH-124 (OK, this part is fine....)

*Turn LEFT onto OH-41 (again, this is OK)

*Turn RIGHT onto DUTCH THOMAS RD (now this is where it gets tricky...first it should mention that Dutch Thomas will sneak up on you and that the only other car of the road will be right on your bumper, forcing you to turn around in a small parking lot.....second it should mention that Dutch Thomas MIGHT be impassable for a large 15 passenger van and that you will need to pray that NOTHING comes the other way while you follow this road for 1/2 mile).

*Turn RIGHT onto PURCELL RD (#1 since when does mapquest take you on a GRAVEL ROAD...which, um, isn't even GRAVEL because all the gravel apparently washed out during the recent rains, leaving only a dirt rut to drive in and is barely wide enough for any vehicle and #2 BEWARE OF FLOCKS OF WILD TURKEY CROSSING THE ROAD and #3 for added thrill, reach hand out window and sharp bend in road, as the cattle are grazing so close to the road you can touch them)

*Turn RIGHT onto OH-73. End at 3850 State Route 73.

Once we got to Serpent Mound, we though we would be in store for a grand adventure, but there was a rinky dink museum, 2 extremely unfriendly employees and a paved trail around the earthenworks. The mound was cool in appearance, but not something I would ever bother to visit again!

We left Serpent Mound, retraced our path and headed back to Long's. We ate lunch and then headed to the beach. Sophie swam all the way out to the pier (with her life jacket on, of course) and actually JUMPED off the diving board into the 15 foot deep lake! She had an absolute ball!

Will got stung by a bee on his hand while at the beach...I wish I could figure out a way to keep the kids from getting stung!

At 3 PM, Deanne and I headed to Portsmouth to pick up her van. It took about 2 hours total, but it was WONDERFUL to see her van running again (we were worried about having to pack everyone into one van to get home and then having to drive over 2 hours to come and pick up her van). I was so tired driving back to Long's that I had to crack up the radio and jam to the static ridden songs on the radio...thankfully, I found a rock station after 2 Christian stations or I may have ended up in a ditch!

We had tacos for dinner and then took the kids down to the go-carts! After the go-carts, we explored the property off the side of the lake. The kids then picked out a treat from the camp store and we headed back to the cabin.

We hung out...the boys played baseball in the yard and the rest of us watched TV! We started packing up the van and settled in for our last night of our mini vacation!

Thursday, August 31:

Woke the kids at 7:10 AM and quickly finished packing up the van...by 7:30 AM we were on the road! Managed to get Emily to the dance studio by 9:15 AM for her ballet solo practice! Exhausted but full of fun, fond memories the boys, Sophie and I headed home....by 10 AM the van was unpacked and the first load of laundry tossed in the washer......by 11:30 AM I was off to pick up the girls from dance and to get my dad from dialysis and take him to chemo......no rest for the weary!

Poor Chris got stung on the back twice as we were packing up to leave. When I talked to Deanne it turns out the stinger was stuck in one of the stings all the way home. We have to figure out something to do about those bees! Hopefully they won't be as bad next time.

We plan to go again next year! Maybe even plan it as a "not back to school" retreat for our homeschool group. The prices were GREAT and the place was desserted, we had everything to ourselves...it would be such great fun to have more of our friends join us!

We are back!

We are back from our grand adventure, and oh what an adventure it was! I can't wait until I have time to sit down and type up everything that happened....to whet your appetite and to peak your curiosity, here is a link to the photo album...

http://photo.walgreens.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=9478935/a=9924176/t_=9924176

And a link to the place we stayed: http://www.longsretreat.com/

Off on retreat.....

The kids and I and our friends are heading away for a few days....we will return on Thursday, hopefully rested and rejuvenated...or at least full of exciting stories of our grand adventures......just what will 2 moms and 10 kids manage to do with themselves? Tune in late this week to find out!

What Type of Homeschooler Are You?

http://quizilla.com/users/guiltfree/quizzes/What%20Type%20of%20Homeschooler%20Are%20You

Have to love a quiz that gets it right...some of the questions are rather funny...and um, my dining room table is clean, because I cleaned it before I sat down on the computer and moved the 4 boxes of vintage pictures we "inherited" from my mother-in-law, the pile of mail, remanents of last night's dinner, the crayons, magnets, video of my in-laws wedding and bottle of cleaner....

My results: Salvador Dali Melting clocks are not a problem in your reality. You are an unschooler. You will tolerate a textbook, but only as a last resort. Mud is your friend. You prefer hands-on everything. If your school had an anthem, it would be Dont Worry, Be Happy.

2706 other people got this result!This quiz has been taken 29843 times.

Overdue update!

Brett had his shunt reinternalized last Monday. They released him from the hospital late Wednesday night. We have a follow up appointment tomorrow! Things seem to be going well, he is slowly building his energy and even went and played golf yesterday afternoon with his Dad and brothers....not even a week after having brain surgery!

Jay's mom passed away last Sunday (Aug 13) and her funeral was Friday. They delayed the funeral until Friday so that Brett would be home. His grandmother had wanted him to read the same reading at her funeral that he read 5 years ago at his grandfather's funeral. The service was absolutely beautiful.

Jay's sisters were going to pitch all the old family photos, so I took them. Emily and I have had so much fun looking through them and finding old newspaper clippings Mary (my MIL) saved. It will be great for the genealogy project that Emily is working on. I am thinking I might frame some of them and hang them up...Emily is going to make a scrapbook with a lot of them.

My dad is having a rough time with his chemo...he has broken out in a rash all over his torso and is also only producing about 2 tbsp of urine each day...haven't heard exactly what the means, but I suspect it isn't good! If you could remember him in your prayers, it would be appreciated!

Emily conned me into letting her foster a puppy from the animal rescue organization that she and Hannah volunteer with. He is an absolute cutie, but one forgets how much work a puppy is! He is only 9 weeks old and already a WHOOPING 20 lbs......he is supposedly a lab/boxer mix. but given the size of the boy's paws I have to wonder if there might not be mastif in him. Louie is very protective of him and it is so cute to watch them interact with each other. We take him back next Saturday and hopefully he will be adopted!

To add to our excitement, Sophie (4) swallowed a penny, so we are on poop patrol, waiting for her to pass it!

Thinking I will have good news to post in the near future...after all things have to get better right?

Someone shoot me....

The next time I ask a stupid question like "what else can go wrong?".

We woke up this morning to water FLOWING into the basement...apparently there was a hole right near where the line came into the house! Luckily we caught it before it flooded the basement and we were fortunate enough to have a drain within about 3 feet of the leak....so about 12 hours without water and the headache of waiting on a plumber when there were so many other things to attend to!

Would someone else like to volunteer to be God's comic relief for a while? I could sure use the break!

Dare I ask, what else can go wrong?

It has been one of those month's so far....and we are only on day what??? 10 I think......I will be so happy to never see a repeat of August 2006...

So far this month:

1) Brett is sitting in the hospital with his spinal fluid draining into a bag next to his head. He is having surgery again next Monday. He has been there since August 1st and will be there through next week....

2) Jay's mom (my MIL) is in the hospital dying. They don't expect her to make it another week. She has been battling non Hodgkins Lymphomia for the past 7 or so years and her body has finally given out. She is in organ failure.

3) The chemo is making dad very sick and he is losing weight. All his counts are low. But his spirits are good!

4) I have picked up some kind of sinus/throat/chest/head ache thing. It's it enough that I have to deal with my kid sick in the hospital, my MIL at death's door and tranporting my dad to dialysis and chemo.....apparently NOT.....I have to be sick too!

5) Today at the dance studio the acro instructor that Emily loves QUIT! Emily is hysterical calls me on the cell phone when I am out getting my dad from dialysis and just sobs into the phone. I couldn't even be here to comfort her. It will probably mean that she won't have an acro team to compete with this year. Like it isn't enough that her brother is in the hospital, her grandma is dying, and her grandpa is sick...she has to lose the one thing that gives her solace from all the rotten crap that is going on right now.

I know better than to wallow in self pity. I know it could be worse. My son will leave the hospital, while others we pass each day in the hallway, will not. My mother in law has lived a wonderful, full, long life (her 83rd birthday is next week) and has raised 10 great kids, has 31 grandkids, 2 grand daughter-in-laws and 4 great grandkids. Dad is still with us, over a year after his diagnosis with multiple myeloma and kidney failure. Losing acro will mean Emily can focus more energy on ballet.....but for right this minute I want to just feel sorry for myself, to scream from the rooftops "WHY????".

OK...done SCREAMING!

Have I mentioned how RICH our lives are? With Brett being sick we have seen the best in so many of our friends, and even strangers. I realize that there are so many people that care about us. We have been blessed to have families bring us dinner each night, cards and gifts come into the hospital daily to lift Brett's spirits, our dearest friends have kept assorted children and made sure that they feel safe and loved during this trying time.

SURGERY!

Monday, August 7, 2006 11 AM: We will be heading to the OR as soon as they has space ready for us. They did an ultrasound this morning and the pseudocyst has gotten larger over the weekend. They is also slightly more fluid in the ventricles. So we are heading to the OR. The plan is to externalize the shunt (where it will drain into a bag outside the body), get the cyst to reasorb, treat him with antibiotics and then go in and replace the shunt.

Monday, August 7, 2006 3PM: Brett is out of surgery. Amazingly, he is already saying that his abdomenial pain is down to a six (it was an eight prior to surgery), now how much of that is that the anesthesia is still in his system and how much of it is real pain relief is still left to be seen. Now we get to play the waiting game. The shunt is draining externally so he is pretty much stuck in the hospital bed for the next week (he can get up for about 30-45 minutes at a time and then needs to be in bed for awhile so the fluid doesn't build up in his head. Once they are certain the infection has cleared, they will go in and replace the shunt (we suspect next Monday). Continued prayers are appreciated.

The Prayer for Protection

A fellow homeschooling mom send this my way. I found it very comforting and plan to print it off and take it to Brett at the hospital. This is what she said:

This is a prayer that our congregation says at the end of every church service each week. It's called The Prayer for Protection. I find it to be very comforting, especially in times of stress. It may resonate with you also, and help to reassure you or Brett during these challenging days.Here it is:

The Light of God surrounds us.
The Love of God enfolds us.
The Power of God protects us.
The Presence of God watches over us.
Wherever we are, God is and all is well.

Brett update for Saturday, Aug 5, 2006:

They have found a combination of 3 drugs that have Brett feeling some pain relief! When I left the hospital tonight (around 8 PM) he was saying his head was only about a 5, although his stomach/abdomen was still a 7. BUT, he feels like being up and walking around and is sick of being in bed! He ate lunch and dinner plus some junkie snacks! Jay called around 10 PM and Brett was still awake and watching TV, a huge improvement over yesterday (Firday) when he slept probably 22 hours out of the day! I think it really helped his spirits today that one of his friends came down and spend some time hanging out with him! I don't think she realizes how much it meant to him to have her come down and spent part of her day at the hospital. She even brought him his favorite sandwich from Izzy's (a local deli).

Not sure if there will be an update tomorrow since the weekend docs are still on duty. I have a feeling we will be waiting to hear about surgery Monday when they do rounds around 9 AM (although the nurse did say something about her notes saying he was having surgery Monday). I am toying with taking the little guys to the zoo for a couple hours tomorrow (the zoo is 2 blocks from the hospital) and then taking them to visit Brett, I think some family time might just be what we all need, I just wonder if the hospital can handle the chaos!

Thanks for the prayers, I know they are helping!

Brett is in the hospital....

It all started Tuesday afternoon when my call to the neurosurgeon prompted them to tell us to go directly to the emergency room...we still have no answers...here are some of the details, pasted from emails I have been sending to friends....

Wednesday, August 2nd noon:
Brett was admitted through the ER last night to Cincinnati's Children's Hospital. He is undergoing tests right now that will determine if they need to do surgery. Brett has a VP shunt and they suspect that it may be malfunctioning. If they decide that it is malfunctioning, they will go in and revise it.....never a pleasant thought when they have to drill into your child's brain.Prayers are much appreciated.

Thursday, August 3rd 9 AM:
We are still in a holding pattern. There is no spinal fluid in the ventricles so they have to believe that the shunt is at least working to some degree. They are having an infectious disease guy come in to see why the lymph nodes in his abdomen are so tender (for those unfamiliar with shunts, Brett's shunt drains into his abdominal cavity). They are also supposed to be sending him to opthamalogy to see why there is atrophy in his optic nerve. They are trying new drugs for the head pain (Brett is saying it is an 8 out of 10) and the abdominal pain (7 out of 10) because the meds they have been giving him aren't working at all. Maybe we will have some answers by the end of the day, but I am not holding my breath. No surgery today unless something emerges rapidly and they feel it is life or death.

Continued prayers are appreciated.

Thursday, August 3rd 4 PM:
I am home right now...doing child care, laundry. etc while Jay does the "sit at the hospital and wait" thing.....Will senses the stress and wants to nurse nonstop, he just sits here and cries..."mama, boob, boob, mama" when I am not here! They have done more tests today but still haven't gotten back to Jay with anything definitive. The billing/financial aid lady came in and laughed when Jay told her there were 10 in our family....her charts only go up to a family of 8! Just another headache to sort out!

Waiting for consults with neurosurgery, general surgery, neurology, and opthamalogy....as typical they are moving at a snails pace. The new meds don't seem to be helping, but they only started them this morning so I don't want to say they definitely aren't right.

Thursday, August 3rd 4:15 PM: While typing this entry Jay called from the hospital. They are suspecting that Brett may have a pseudocyst (sp) in his abdominal cavity and that this pseudocyst is infected (causing the swollen lymph nodes and abdomenial pain) and that the infection is traveling up the shunt and causing the headaches (OK, I thought shunts were one way systems, but anywho...). If this is the case, they will do surgery, remove the shunt, drain the cyst, let the infection clear and then do surgery again to place a new shunt (at least this is how Jay understands what they told him). Sounds like we might be in store for a long hospital stay!

Still waiting on more tests and more doctors. Maybe we will get an answer today!

When I had to take Brett to the emergency room, I asked my friend Deanne to keep my little ones so I didn't have to take them with me. Nothing is worse than taking healthy, active kids to the ER and exposing them to every germ under the sun and then having to deal with them for hours on end while you wait. She took this pictures of the kids with her son Chris. I just thought the look on their faces was so sweet!