I suppose it's the homeschooling that is continually alerting me to the gaps in my own knowledge base, but the older I get, the more I realize how little I remember or know about science. When the kids ask questions, I ALWAYS have to say, "Let's go look that up."
So when I was browsing and found "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson, I had to pick it up. The book came out in 2003 and was on best seller lists, but I don't remember hearing about it. (In my defense, that was the year Meg was entering terrible toddlerhood and Lillie was born AND we started Timo on kindergarten, so I was just a little distracted.) I'm making it my crusade to tell everyone about this book now. Bryson has taken almost every branch of science and presents the major discoveries and theories in an understandable, fascinating way. Newton's Laws of Motion? Yup, makes sense. What DNA is? I got it. Theory of Relativity? Well, yeah, I see that now!
If only my high school science textbooks and teachers had been this interesting, I might have become a meteorologist after all. :)
Friday, September 4, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Oooh, twice in less than a month!
HA! I know, lame. Anyway....
I'm totally hating this weather. Call me a spoil sport, but September should still be hot and super sunny and have me fantasizing about putting in an in-ground pool in the backyard. It should NOT be cool and damp and kind of gray. We've had the windows open all week and no AC (which I won't complain about - my refund check from CDE is going to ROCK!) but come on - it's SEPTEMBER. The whole of August got away from me without me wanting to go to the beach once. NOT ONCE. I have to suffer through August to get the reward of the beach in September................Oh, I get it. We don't get to go to the beach this September, so I don't have to suffer. Well, okay. I'll quit complaining. (Don't hold your breath.)
I also have a terrible craving to clean the entire house, top to bottom. Like moving furniture and mopping under beds and washing walls kind of cleaning. However, I have three dirty children and a dirty dog and a husband who doesn't get enthusiastic about such cravings, and oh yeah, I'm supposed to educate said kids every day, which seriously cuts into my cleaning time. So instead of actually doing what is bugging me, I just have to let it bug me.
In good news, I have scrapbooked in the past month. Chris and I talked about how the kids want the computer whenever we'll let them have it, and the computer desk is where my scrapbooking supplies were, so we were constantly competing. We decided to rearrange shelves (I LOVE to rearrange) and moved my scrap stuff to the shelves behind my homeschool table, and moved curriculum that's not currently in use to the big shelves above the computer. It looks pretty, but I admit I've only done about 4 pages. Here's the only 8 1/2 X 11 I've done:
It was fun to dig through all my stuff and just throw a bunch of things on there. I'm having to seriously reconsider how I scrapbook, because I have begun to realize that if I stick to the formula and style I have been using, the kids will have to move into one bedroom so I'll have storage for all my scrapbooks. I don't think that will go over well, so I guess I'll have to be the one who compromises. Still thinking about this.
Okay, off to study Venus and Mercury!
I'm totally hating this weather. Call me a spoil sport, but September should still be hot and super sunny and have me fantasizing about putting in an in-ground pool in the backyard. It should NOT be cool and damp and kind of gray. We've had the windows open all week and no AC (which I won't complain about - my refund check from CDE is going to ROCK!) but come on - it's SEPTEMBER. The whole of August got away from me without me wanting to go to the beach once. NOT ONCE. I have to suffer through August to get the reward of the beach in September................Oh, I get it. We don't get to go to the beach this September, so I don't have to suffer. Well, okay. I'll quit complaining. (Don't hold your breath.)
I also have a terrible craving to clean the entire house, top to bottom. Like moving furniture and mopping under beds and washing walls kind of cleaning. However, I have three dirty children and a dirty dog and a husband who doesn't get enthusiastic about such cravings, and oh yeah, I'm supposed to educate said kids every day, which seriously cuts into my cleaning time. So instead of actually doing what is bugging me, I just have to let it bug me.
In good news, I have scrapbooked in the past month. Chris and I talked about how the kids want the computer whenever we'll let them have it, and the computer desk is where my scrapbooking supplies were, so we were constantly competing. We decided to rearrange shelves (I LOVE to rearrange) and moved my scrap stuff to the shelves behind my homeschool table, and moved curriculum that's not currently in use to the big shelves above the computer. It looks pretty, but I admit I've only done about 4 pages. Here's the only 8 1/2 X 11 I've done:
It was fun to dig through all my stuff and just throw a bunch of things on there. I'm having to seriously reconsider how I scrapbook, because I have begun to realize that if I stick to the formula and style I have been using, the kids will have to move into one bedroom so I'll have storage for all my scrapbooks. I don't think that will go over well, so I guess I'll have to be the one who compromises. Still thinking about this.
Okay, off to study Venus and Mercury!
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