Out goes the old and In comes the new

We are finally got a new pool.  We have worked our way up from a small eight foot in diameter Intex inflatable ring pool to a twenty-four foot in diameter Intex pool.  The Intex pools have served their purpose to beat the heat of summer in the south.  It was time  to finalize our pool needs with a 'real' above ground pool.

We chose to remain with an above ground pool for several reasons.  1.  The dog cannot 'accidentally'  get into the pool.  2.  Our septic system keeps us from having an inground pool close to the house.  3.  The kids cannot 'accidentally' fall into the pool.  4.  It is much easier to maintain.  5.  If we ever decide to move, it can come with us.


The men arrived to install the pool and leveled the existing pool area.  (We gave our old pool to friends.  It has a few more years of use, if not more.)  The crew scraped the ground and moved the old tarps.  The Intex pools always came with ground covers and I just piled one on top of the other.  This took better part of an afternoon.

The next day, they began laying out the channels for the walls and spreading sand.  They only worked half a day, due to an emergency call.

Finally, they were able to put up the walls and set the liner in place.  This was meticulously done.  Measuring and tapping the walls to the just perfect width.  Then measuring once more to check.  The sand was then groomed and the bottom leveled for the pool.  They didn't want to leave footprints or sagging holes.

Next, came the hanging of the liner.  Another meticulous job of smoothing out wrinkles and positioning everything just right.  I'm not sure if I would have had the patience!  They placed a vacuum hose between the wall of the pool and the liner to pull the liner tight.  One of the men was on his hands and knees smoothing out the wrinkles.  This must have taken thirty minutes or more!

We began adding water to the pool to get ready for the last phase of installation.  They needed enough water weight on the liner to make the cuts for the skimmer.  The pool took forever to fill with the hose.  A friend asked why I didn't call someone to fill it up.  Like a dummy, I didn't know there was a company that delivered water to fill pools.  Oh, well, now I do! 

At last, the pool is finished and we are ready for next swim season.  Hopefully, early spring we will add a deck around the pool and everything will be finished just in time for warm weather!

Stawberry Hill Field Trip

Oh, how we love going to Strawberry Hill!  So, when a fellow homeschooling mother set up a field trip to do a tour, we jumped at the opportunity.  A fun fall outing with a hayride, farm tour, corn maze, and ice cream treat awaited us.

We arrived early and milled around the farm stand.  A few peaches and summer vegetables remained, but the main draw was apples and pumpkins.  The children were all buzzing around trying to find the biggest pumpkin in the area.

Once, our group all arrived, we loaded onto the hay wagons.  We had a great turn out for the tour.  The flatbed 'wagon' was full and the ride began.  We learned about the farm and found out that over 2 million strawberries are planted each year.  The children were amazed.

We saw the irrigation pond and the bee hives.  Our guide discussed the importance of both these.

We made our way to a pasture that had a few cows and two donkeys.  The animals knew they would be fed and eagerly came up to the wagon.  Everyone had a great time feeding them.  Of course, the cow I fed didn't know it was to eat from the palm of my hand and kept running its tongue on the back of my out stretched hand.  Needless to say, I had a very slobbery hand.

We got to see a baby calf and watch it suck from a bottle.   Then we cheered on two mothers as they tried to catch a piglet in another pen.  That turned out to be much harder than it looked.  Finally, one was caught and the kids all got to pet it.

There was a nice playground area set up for the children.  Tire swings, petting pens for goats, roping area, and room to run.  What fun they had!

Our host presented a small lesson on how pumpkins grow and then the children were allowed to enter the pumpkin patch and pick out a small pumpkin to take home.  Of course, finding the 'right' pumpkin takes time!

After our stop at the playground and pumpkin patch, we loaded the wagon and headed back to the shed.  It was time to enter the corn maze.

The children loved it.  They ran here and there trying to find all the colors for their fingers.  It is absolutely amazing how much fun they have running through corn!

Once everyone found all the colors, they were hot and ready for ice cream.  We had a lovely time and can't wait to go back.

Environmental Homeschool Day at the World of Energy

I have been wanting to take the children to Duke Power's World of Energy, but the drive is out of our way and we are always on the go.  Earlier this fall, someone posted a link to Environmental Day at the World of Energy for homeschoolers.  I decided that we were going and registered.  I did not take into consideration that we would just be returning from a long drive two days before, but that is life!

I woke the children up earlier than they are use to getting up.  We have become night owls and the early bird stuff is hard to get use to!  They stumbled around and got ready.  Twenty minutes down the road, I noticed both were sound asleep.  The drive is a good hour and a half.  So, I enjoyed the peace.

We finally arrived and the children were excited to see what events were taking place.  We confirmed our registration and made our way into the building and downstairs.  A coloring contest was taking place before the Fish Story.  Both children colored.  Little Man did a good job with his fish considering he loathes coloring.

 

We listened to the story of the water cycle.  It provided a wonderful review for the children.  After the water cycle, the Fish Story was read.  The reader asked various questions about pollution and the effect it has on our water and the animals in the water.  All the children were attentive and eager to answer questions.

Next, we headed up to the auditorium to learn about how the Cherokee Indians took care of the area.  It was a nice lesson centered around the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) and how the Cherokee did all these things when living on the land.  The children learned about the watershed in Oconee County and how it is very important to protect it. 

We went outdoors to visit the different displays.  A young man, probably 10 or 11 years of age, was demonstrating how runoff of waste, oil, dirt, etc. makes its way into streams, rivers, and lakes.  The children learned about various types of insects, while playing Bug Bingo.

We made our way to the Butterfly Garden.  Egee painted a bumble bee on a watering can and Little Man painted a toad house.  We then explored the garden area and learned about the plants in it and the insects it attracts. 

The children then played the Environmental Challenge Game.  They were asked a series of questions and when they got the right answer, they rolled the die and moved along the game board.  They had a wonderful time doing this and answered almost every question correctly.  It made for an excellent review.  Egee won the game, due to the fact Little Man kept landing on 'go back to start'!

Finally, we finished with the Tour of Energy in the World of Energy building.  This is very nice semi-interactive exhibit.  The children learned about the different ways to harness energy and convert it into usable power.  Although, we did not listen to every short video (Little Man was bored) they gained more knowledge than they previously had of how we obtain our electrical power.  (We will come back another day and learn more.)

I was surprised at the overall turn out to the event.  It was nicely done and if we had more time, we would have ventured down to the lake for a picnic.  Oh, well, this leaves us something to do the next time we make the long trek back to Oconee.

Paint It Up - Pumpkins!

One of our friends decided to have a little painting party at the local art shop Paint It Up.  We gladly accepted and enjoyed a morning filled with artsy fun!

Egee and I had painted once before with Ms. Ashlee.  We had a great time and loved how she guided us along in painting.  We really were looking forward to painting under her guidance again.  She did not disappoint us.  Her instruction was clear and it showed how much she loves to share in the painting process.  The boys did their own thing and she didn't mind.  She walked by and gave them tips and encouragement.  We had a wonderful time.

We had a blast painting and everyone's pumpkin painting turned out different.  Little Man even seemed to enjoy himself.  I never know how he is going to do when it comes to arts and crafts.  We can't wait until next month!

Tennessee State Native American PowWow 2014

We traveled back to the Nashville area with Hubby for his conference.  I was excited to see a PowWow was going to be taking place while we were there.  I have wanted to take the kids to another one and just haven't found one.

We went on educational day.  I had read reviews from previous years and almost decided not to attend on educational day, but we had nothing else planned and went.  The majority of vendors were already set up and ready to great all those that ventured out.

We went to the large center area set up for performances and dances.  A young man, Gareth Laffely, was on stage and preparing to play the flute.  His music was mesmerizing.  He had a wonderful stage presence and I thought he was probably in his early twenties.  Come to find out, he was only sixteen!  He wrote most of his songs by himself and was very articulate.  The crowd seemed very impressed.  Egee and I met him afterwards and we asked a few questions.  I found out he is homeschooled and pursues his passion in music.  He has only played the flute for three years and has won many awards.  We bought his cd and Little Man loves listening to it.  In fact, Little Man had to buy a flute!

I introduced the children to Indian Fry Bread and they loved it.  We are going to have to make it at home now.

We browsed the different exhibits and marveled at the various arts and crafts.  The paintings were absolutely beautiful and the dream catchers just beckoned for us to buy.  Egee did buy a small dream catcher for her room.

We met a Cherokee Indian named Diamond and learned about his history.  He has a mobile exhibit to educate the public about the Native American people.  We learned about how all the parts from an animal are used by the Indians.  Diamond was a wealth of information and I could have spent all day just listening to him and asking questions.

Little Man was intrigued by the Indian Hoop Dancing.  We was amazed at the formations they made using the hoops.  I suspect, we will be buying large quantities of hula hoops for him to dance with in the future!

The kids had a great time and we hope to attend the event again!

Festival Season = Time to Dance!

Egee made competition team for dancing in June.  She started practicing for the fall festivals in July.  Needless to say, we had a busy summer full of dance.  We finally got to see her perform two Saturdays in a row and we are so proud of her and the other dancers.

Harvest Fest in our little town was her first performance.  The next weekend, she performed at the International Festival.  Both performances drew a large crowd of parents, families, friends, and festival spectators.

Her dance studio has 112 girls on competition and performance teams.  Each girl had to earn a spot on a team and commit to a year's worth of practices, rehearsals, performances, festivals, parades and competitions.  They showed us a bit of the what is yet to come in this performance season.

Each girl gave it her all and they were great.  Parents and teachers were proud of the girls.  I can't wait to see more!

Gracious, We Have Been Busy!

Lately, I haven't had time to blog.  We have been running in all different directions.  Between library classes, dance lessons, choir practices, extra rehearsals, and just every day life, I haven't had time to sit down and type!  So, here is a recap of all the library classes we have done. 

Straw Rocket Fun at Woodruff Library

We trekked down to Woodruff the other day.  The kids were delighted to make paper rockets using straws and launch them.  It was quite a novel idea.  We learned about thrust and trajectory.  Of course, trajectory for Little Man was to try and hit his sister with the rocket.  Thank goodness, they were light weight and made from construction paper!

 

Can You Walk on a Paper Cup?

The children were challenged by Mr. Jack at the Chesnee library to walk on paper cups.  This became a delight to figure out how much weight a paper cup could hold.  Of course, Mr. Jack explained how the shape of the object provided strength.  He connected it to bone structure and architectural structures.  He then made two groups and had them create a platform held up by paper cups for Little Man to walk across the room. 

After the groups built the movable platform, they were challenged to make a tall, yet strong tower from cups.  The groups worked for twenty minutes trying to build the 'best' structure.  Everyone seemed to have a different idea.  Some towers crashed and some held several books.  It was a fun day of engineering.

Catapult Fun in Landrum

The children made catapults with Ms. Lissell at the Landrum library.  They banded popsicle sticks together with rubber bands and attached a plastic spoon.  Soon, everyone was launching Ping-Pong balls through the air.  They had a contest to see who could launch the Ping-Pong ball the furthest.  I think they had more fun launching them at each other!

Book Tasting Feast

Ms. Jean introduced the children to the different genres of books during the Headquarters library program.  She explained a little about each type and wanted the children to sample a variety of books.  They had a 'menu' to fill out.  They chose different books and read a page or two in each book.  Then they filled out the menu to share with others. 

Duct Tape Survival

Egee went to the School of Thought Teen home school class this year.  They learned to make various objects using only duct tape.  Of course, she enjoyed it.  I see us buying more duct tape soon!

Where In the World Are You?

Little Man and his buddies learned more about geography this month at the Inman Library program.  They reviewed the continents and oceans; then they traveled to Romania.  He learned about Nadia Comaneci, Dracula, and Bucharest. 

Breakneck Teen Bistro

Egee continued learning new things to make in the microwave this month.  Ms. Sara taught the teens how to make burritos and a pudding cake.  Egee was more than happy to make a Mexican dish.  It must have been really good, because she didn't save me a bite to sample!  Oh, well, I guess she will have to fix it for lunch one day.

I believe that is all the library classes we have attended for the past month!  Now to just catch up on all the other stuff we have done.