TRYING

I know, I know - I have been horrible at keeping this updated. But thankfully my homeschooling friends (and the others that read this) are understanding enough to know I'm like that, patient enough to wait, and frankly have way more pressing matters in their life. lol

I am going to try to keep more up to date on here. Some of you are really good at it - daily even. I strive to be like you, ha ha. Keep checking back - you never know when I might hit a few days in a row.

Fly Boy - Lucky Boy!

When an opportunity falls in our lap we run with it - today one of us got to fly with it! That would be B. He got to actually fly in this plane!! My dad called and asked if B was free for a few hours. With 20 minutes notice, off B went for his first experience in a private plane. My dad's broker, took them up today. And they could not have asked for a more beautiful day to fly. They flew over our house, my parent's house, the lake house and many key Ann Arbor landmarks. The first thing B said when he got home, "I want to go again." All I could think was, 'next thing I'm going to have to pay for is flying lessons.' But really, it was so much fun to see his excitement. Not to mention, to see your child experience something you have never done - simply AMAZING!!! Thank you gramps!!!

Cirrus SR 22 - this is the 4 seater plane, B, and gramps - ready to go
Instrumentation - highest elevation about 3000 ft.

Grandma and gramps house - right at the end of the first green

Our house, but not for long!

Cottage

Big House - UofM football stadium

Art meets Shop

Here is where two things in the curriculum combine. B finally framed (shop part) his mosaic (art part). He made the frame out of molding and had to use his skill with a miter box to get the corners just right. His finished work is hanging in the den so we can enjoy it daily. Great work!

Early Chirstmas Influence

We got a little music in our curriculum today. Courtesy of gramps. He bought us tickets to the Michigan/Ohio CMI Concert Choir "Christmas in Color." We went to the Brighton Center for Performing Arts. It's a nice venue! The concert was LONG - 2 1/2 hrs long. The first half was very recognizable Christmas music with a little twist. Which it was nice to not hear the same old, same old. The choir was HUGE! At the beginning it was a little rough, but then things smoothed out. The second half was a lot about the true meaning of Christmas - so we got our religious ed lesson in too. Kind of a lot of preaching and praying for us, but opened the door for some discussion on the way home. You know, trying to provided a well rounded education for B comes in many forms.
If the concert was not enough to put us in the 'mood' for the upcoming holidays - the Michigan weather certainly would. Yes, we got measurable, packable snow today. YUCK, says the person who has to shovel. It was beautiful on the trees, but that's about the only good thing I can say about it. It made driving from the concert a hassle - since Michigan drivers seem to forget, every year, how to drive in this stuff. It was a slow go coming home!

Once home, B played outside with the dog. He was sledding on the driveway and throwing snowballs with the neighbors. Saturn is less than thrilled (he kind of feels about the snow like I do).

Measure Twice, Cut Once

After three Sunday mornings in the shop - the completed shelf project is DONE. This is counter balanced - so will only stand against the wall. But once against the wall it is amazing how strudy it is. Very cool project!

Counter sinking skills are much improved!

Project Complete

On Thursday, when B made this bud vase I said it needed to be finished. Well.....it's finished. Looks perfect, if you ask me :-)

Failure to Thrive

In every project that B tackles, there comes learning that he did not expect. His current litter of mice have all met the definition of "failure to thrive." The mother has abandoned the litter. As of this morning, 9 of the 12 pups have died. We do not know for sure the reason. At this point we are assuming because the pups nostrils never developed, therefore making it impossible for them to nurse and breath at the same time. Without nursing they could not grow, and without nursing we think the mother abandoned them. Another possibility is, most litters are only 6-8 pups, and this litter was unusually large at 12. It is possible that the mother can just not produce enough milk to sustain the babies, and once they started to die she abandoned the entire litter. Lastly we have considered the temperatures - which dropped into the 30s yesterday. But B rigged up a light on the cage to warm the air and pups have continued to die. B is trying to dropper feed the last 3 pups, in hopes that he can get them to feed and grow. Yes, he has moved them into the house for what he termed as "needing constant supervision."
Economically, since B is raising these mice for profit. This has been a good lesson in, don't always count your chickens before they hatch. Thankfully he doesn't have a customer waiting for this litter. He understands now that sometimes there will be profit lost to things that are out of his control. And that at some point he needs to start freezing the 'pinkies' (newborns). Had he done that with this litter, he would have 12 pinkies to sell vs. struggling to get 3 pups to the weaned stage. Yes, in very project there is learning!