Today is Aug. 9, 2012  We have had a busy summer thus far.  A little camping, swimming in the pool, a couple movies and of course some time with family.  We planted our garden in the Spring and have canned green beans, and hot peppers.  We won't have any corn this year.  What grew the neighboring cow ate.  Good thing we have plenty in the freezer.   The chickens we raised have been moved out to the chicken coop and James just built nesting boxes last night.  The hens have given us several small eggs.  The first I cracked open was a double yoke.   Riley has named her white chicken, Pecky.  She loves that chicken and is not afraid of it at all.  She will go in and grab it like she's been doing it for years.  She is only 3!!!  The older kids have helped so much with the chickens and garden.  They are growing up so fast.  I would like to slow the process down a little bit just so I can savor the moment.

We have cleared our land and are now waiting for the bank to finalize the paperwork.  We have dreamed of moving so our kids have a place to play for years now.  It is really exciting to know we are this close but yet still can't do anything about it.  I am learning patience.  Something James has plenty of.  ;)

The kids are still homeschooling and we started back this week.  I have planned and organized what I think we want to do all summer.  I pray that does not change once I get the books from the public school system.  I would like to think I have a better hold on it this year but we will see.  When the work gets a little tougher that is when we will see who cracks first.  I have to be stronger than Alex.  They both did very well this week which gives me hope we are off on the right path.

We have had a couple weeks of sickness.  First Douglas had viral pneumonia and was in the hospital for 2 days.  Then I had it and was sick for a week.  Now Riley has had it for over a week.   We were all on antibiotics, breathing treatments and told to rest.  Luckily rest is all you want to do with this.  I felt horrible and so have the little guys.  Emma has swollen tonsils but I don't think it is what the 3 of us have had.  So far Alex and James are ok.  But only time will tell.  This hasn't been the easiest virus to get over.

On a sad note we had to put our 14 yr old Boston Terrier, Maggie to sleep last Friday.  She was so old and feeble that it would have been selfish to keep her the way she was.  She was confused and no longer could navigate through our house or yard.  She would bump into the walls, cabinets, furniture and anything else that was out.  With 4 kids there is always something out.  I took her to the vet on a Wed and was given a small hope that it could be an old infection that was messing with her brain.  We brought her home and gave her the meds to see if it made a change.  It did not and we had to say our goodbyes to our dear Maggie.  Because we were sick and Riley had a fever, James stayed at home with the kids and I took her to the vet.  It was very sad but very peaceful.  She was scared but I saw relief on her face as soon as the meds went in. She wasn't scared anymore and she wasn't in pain.  I know in my heart we made the right choice for her but it still doesn't stop the tears.  It is hard to erase 13+ yrs of memories and love.  There will never be another dog like Maggie.  She will always be in our hearts.

Emma Sings

Emma is our singer  - she loves to do it and, thankfully, is quite good at it.  Here is her cover of To Make You Feel My Love.

Poetry - Part 2

Our first week of poetry work was very general, serving as an introduction and warm-up.  Week two focused on a few particular types of poetry and we applied them to other topics we've covered recently.  Specifically, we worked on clerihews, acrostics, limericks, and quatrains.

Clerihew
These are short poems about a specific person.  The rules are simple:

1. four lines
2. the person is named at the end of the first line
3. the second line rhymes with the first, and the third and fourth lines rhyme
4. make it funny

I asked the kids to write three clerihews about figures in Greek or Roman mythology.

Alex
There was an old satyr
Who lived in a crater
He played his own pipe
That made the fruit ripe

I once saw Zeus
Eating a goose
He was ten feet tall
Not short at all

His name was Poseidon
He sure liked ridin'
so he created the horse
but couldn't use the Force

Emma
There once was a god named Zeus
Who went to the store to buy hair mousse 
He bought a football as well
And then went back to the motel

I once saw Pan
He is half goat, half man
He looked kinda funny
But he didn’t have money

Have you heard about Athena
Who went to the arena
I know she is smart
So she won’t throw a dart

Daddy
I laughed at Zeus
When he rode a goose
Though lord of the sky he may be
I was safely out of reach while at sea

The mother of gods, Juno
Said hey Jupiter, did you know
I live quite a strange life
as both your sister and your wife

I saw a winged horse named Pegasus
His mother’s hair was toothed and venomous
The offspring of Poseidon and Medusa, of course
Strangely, he came out as a flier instead of a seahorse

Acrostic
These poems use the first letter of each line to spell out a word or phrase.  They don't have to rhyme but each line should describe or relate to the main idea being spelled down.

We each wrote two acrostics, one about a figure in Roman mythology and one about ourselves.

Alex
Awesome
Like a mountain goat
Extraordinary
Xtramath champion

Never giving up
Everlasting life
Powerful weapon is a trident
Talked about in lots of stories
Uranus’s brother
Not the eldest
Eternal power

Emma
A smart goddess
The goddess of wisdom
High school diploma is in her temple
Excels at school 
Not dumb 
Amazing intelligence  

Egg getter
Make-up artist 
Miss farm girl
Apple picker

Daddy
Just a simple guy
A lucky dad
Married to a wonderful woman
Enjoys the outdoors
So excited to be moving out of town

Military god
Anger
Revenge
Son of Jupiter

Limerick
A limerick has five lines with an AABBA rhyming pattern, it is funny, and the first line ends with the name of a person or place.  It also a very specific rhythm - lines 1,2, and 5 have three beats while lines 3 and 4 have two beats.

Our assignment was to write two each - one about Greek or Roman mythology and one about anything we want (I got carried away and did a few extra). 

Alex
There once was a man named George
He fell in the New River Gorge
He was  a kind fellow
When he had a marshmallow
Now he works in a forge

There is a god named Ares
He really likes his cherries
They’re a nice treat
Better than a beet
He likes many other berries

Emma
There once was a god named Zeus
Who wanted some apple juice  
He was the lord of the sky
But they brought him a pie
So he kicked them in the caboose

Do you know my friend Tim
He is really quite slim
He eats some grapes
He has knee scrapes
And his shirt has trim

Daddy
I once met a god named Hades
He had a three-headed dog with rabies
A girl’d have to be nuts
To live with that beast, Cerberus
Which might explain his trouble with the ladies

There once was a guy named Hercules
His huge muscles looked like deformities
The Hydra he killed
Indeed he was skilled
But he never learned to speak Portuguese

I once met a guy in Santa Clara
I thought I'd seen him before with Hera
He said his name was Bruce
But I knew it was Zeus
That man is as slick as aloe vera!

I have a new a girl named Aphrodite
She's hot but seems a bit flighty
I hear that she's wed
I should tell her to drop dead
Instead I have date with her on Friday

I’m married to a lady from Clay
When we met she had a Chevrolet
Now she’s all Toyota
Wouldn’t touch a Dodge Dakota
But she still drives me crazy everyday

Quatrain
These are simply four-line poems that follow a particular rhyming pattern.

I asked the kids to write a poem about volcanoes.  It should consist of four stanzas of quatrains in the following patterns: ABCC ABCC AABB ABCC.

Alex
Volcanoes are cool
and really neat
They’re so very hot
It feels like a pot

I like them so much
Their lava is red
I wish they were cold
or sometimes less bold

They are so pretty
and sometimes real gritty
But sometimes they’re nice
and covered in ice

Some are very tall
but others are so short
Some shoot lava that’s red
but many others are dead

Emma
Volcanoes are cool
They are like a lava pool
The lava is so hot
They can melt a pot

When the hot lava splashes out
If you’re hit you’re burnt no doubt 
So be careful all the time
and watch out for the red hot slime

Volcanoes are weird  
They are sometimes feared 
They are scary
and they erupt unwary

Volcanoes are very pretty
They are in Mexico city
When the crust gets a crack
the lava goes whack

Poetry - Part 1

We're currently doing some poetry in our homeschooling work.  Last week we covered the basics and used some unfinished poems to practice our rhyming and meter.  Here is what we came up with:

(Note: I found these starter poems somewhere on the Internet once upon a time but no longer recall where.  I did not write them myself.)


Our picnic was ruined
by too many ants.
At least I am grateful…

They weren't in my pants  (Emma)
No one wet their pants (Alex)
For my time in France (Daddy)

My brother’s a genius,
as smart as they come.
Without his computer though…

He is really quite dumb (Emma)
He's extremely dumb (Alex)
He's very hohum (Daddy)

Tomorrow we’re having a test
at the beginning of class.
I didn’t remember to study…

So i'm gonna have to pass (Emma)
So I'm crying tears of glass (Alex)
The conservation of mass (Daddy) 

I dreamed I was riding a zebra
with curly pink hair on his head.
And when I woke up in the morning…

It was making me some bread (Emma)
It was beside my big pink bed (Alex)
I was on my brother instead (Daddy)  

If I had a dollar
I know what I’d do.
I’d go the mall and…

Buy me a ball or two (Emma)
Murder it with you  (Alex)
go again. Deja vu? (Daddy)
Get a new tattoo (Daddy)
Practice my kung-fu (Daddy)
Drink a Mountain Dew (Daddy)


This week we're working on several different styles of poetry.  Stay tuned for more.

Everyday life

We've had a good week homeschooling.  We finished up our volcano and Greek Mythology projects.  I will post pictures as soon as I can find the time to get them off my camera.  The kids really had fun making the volcanoes and then erupting them.  It amazes me how much knowledge Alex has of Greek Mythology now.  Alex finished his math assignments on Tuesday!  First time ever he has finished early!  Hopefully we are figuring this out and he will start to love learning again.  Baby steps!  Well that is what I keep telling myself.  Emma went to Discovery at school this morning.  When I dropped her off there was a mother signing her son in late.  The reason was due to stomach issues.  When I picked her up an hour later there was a different boy being picked up due to stomach issues.  I jokingly asked her if she licked any doorknobs.  We laughed then used some hand sanitizer before leaving to run some errands.  On the way home she started crying that her stomach was hurting.  Now she has puked several times this evening.  She is playing on her laptop now but the night is still young.  I'm praying we all don't get this bug.  I have 2 cakes to decorate for the weekend.  I have been VERY careful to keep my hands clean and everyone out of the kitchen today but I still need to decorate them.

Welcome!!

Welcome to the Meadows Family blog.  This site will be used for Jennifer to share her thoughts, interests, and frustrations; for me to ramble about our garden, my guitar, or whatever else is on my mind; and for the kids (at least Alex and Emma for now) to offer up some of their homeschool projects and learn to interact with the great blue yonder.  We hope you enjoy your visit and come back again soon!