Archives for November 2007

Freaky Friday Foto

Freaky Friday Foto
Quick Facts About Aye-Aye:
The Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) is a strepsirrhine native to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth with a long, thin middle finger to fill the same ecological niche as a woodpecker. It is the world’s largest nocturnal primate, and is characterized by its unique method of finding food; it taps on trees to find grubs, then gnaws holes in the wood and inserts its elongated middle finger to pull the grubs out.

Dfaubentonia is the only genus in the family Daubentoniidae and infraorder Chiromyiformes. The Aye-aye is the only extant member of the genus (although it is currently an endangered species); a second species (Daubentonia robusta) was exterminated over the last few centuries.Source:Wikipedia

( i found this here)

1 Comment

Posted: November 30, 2007 by Julie |Category: Other Happenings | Tags:

Such a great suggestion:

I have to admit I’m a paper pusher. Homeschooling for us has always been on paper…lesson plans, school work, counting days etc. But this year God is getting me more and more organized. I bought the BusyBodyBook Planner and have used that faithfully. But knowing I’ll have two more grizzly bears at home next year has driven me deeper into the woods and onto a quest for better & better planning.
I asked the question earlier today about Lesson Plan Software and Amy Beth at My Smokey Mountian Homeschool had a great suggestion: Homeschool Tracker. I love it! The interface is great. It’s easy to navigate around and it appears to be a wonderful solution to all I will have to keep track of next school year. And the best part??? IT"S FREE!! I only have one at home now who is homeschooling but next year we’ll have a 4th grader, a 3rd grader and a 1st grader at home. Baby girl will be off to her K4 1/2 day class I’m sure she’ll love!
I tried a couple other lesson planning software packages today and Homeschool Tracker is by far my favorite! I hope this helps someone else out there on the road to better organization! And thanks Amy Beth!!
Julie

Question: Homeschool Lesson Plan Software

Does anyone out there use your computer for your lesson plans? I’m looking for software that I can enter my lesson plans into and then if something happens and we miss a day or a subject it will automatically forward things to the next day.
Any help???

2 Comments

Posted: November 29, 2007 by Julie |Category: Homeschooling | Tags:

I have a confession…

I’m a Dancing with the Stars junkie.
I was so sad with the winner last night. I like the guy who won but really wanted Mel and Max to win. And now what am I going to watch on Monday and Tuesday nights? There are very few shows I am willing to watch and Dancing with the Stars is one of them.
*Big Sigh*
(I’m really sad!)

3 Comments

Posted: November 28, 2007 by Julie |Category: Other Happenings | Tags:

What’s on your front porch? and Catchlighting, kinda!

I set off today to take some photos outside but none of my kids were willing to sit still for pictures that would allow me to practice Catchlighting so here’s what I came home with.

The array of skateboards on the front porch. This comes from having 3 very active boys:

At least the rain drop stayed still for me:

And here’s another bloom waiting for spring:

ADDITION: I finally got my oldest to pose some this afternoon and talked my cat into a grainy photo….but I did get some catchlights!!! I played around with the color in my son’s picture and liked it really soft. The catchlight isn’t at 10 or 2 o’clock but it’s there!

Fred stopped in the middle of grooming and I got a 10 o’clock catchlight. Although a bit grainy it was the best I could get on a shady screened in porch without a reflector.

3 Comments

Posted: November 27, 2007 by Julie |Category: Photography and Tips | Tags:

Learning to howl like a wolf?

Some of you may remember the Wolf Howl we attended at the Western NC Nature Center at the beginning of November. It was so wonderful. We learned about the difference between the red wolf, the gray wolf and the coyote. They had wolf pelts there for us to feel, a skull, something in a jar. (eek!) Then after a cool lecture, slide show and talk we ventured outside to see some real live wolves! We never got to see the red wolf but did get to see the grey wolf. They are huge. The Nature Center has one older female and two younger gray wolves. They would howl back at us as we raised our voices to the moon. Really cool!!! We learned that the gray wolf has the deepest howl, the red wolf a medium pitched howl and the coyote has a shrill high pitched howl.

Then we got to see a cougar. Purely by accident, I might add.

If you are ever in the mountains of NC….the Asheville area, the Western NC Nature Center is worth the trip!!

My best friend, Andrea and my daughter dressed as a wolf….

One of our slides. Can you believe how few red wolves there are???

2 Comments

Posted: November 20, 2007 by Julie |Category: Homeschooling | Tags:

Guess who came to a tea party?

"Cowboy" was the guest of honor at a tea party this morning. Grandma brought the tea set with her when she visited so tea is now a regular part of our mornings.
(And Tony Carter….no comments about the shirt from the peanut gallery!)

5 Comments

Posted: November 19, 2007 by Julie |Category: Happenings | Tags:

Not so Freaky Friday Foto

I’m not feeling my best today so coming up with a Freaky Friday Foto was just too much today. So here’s a Not So Freaky Friday Foto.

I started Click N Read Phonics with my 3rd grader this year to get him over some of his reading humps. Its great and I highly recommend it. Here he is working on the computer with it. You can find out more here.

2 Comments

Posted: November 16, 2007 by Julie |Category: Homeschooling | Tags:

So I'm told…

Some wise ole woman (who will remain nameless) told me this. "You know you have had four kids when you are out on a date with your husband, happily strolling through Dicks Sporting Goods without children, you suddenly sneeze and the next thing out of your mouth is "Honey, I’ll be in the restroom.""

What EVER happened to bladder control?????

A new "do"

I got to go to NC this weekend to visit my sister, her family and my mom and dad. My sister is a hairdresser and I was DESPERATELY due for a new "do". So here it is:

I’m the one your left, by the way. And the other beauty is my friend Andrea. My sister does her hair too.
IN HIM,
julie