Mid-November Blues

I suffer from an inability to get my schoolwork done at home somedays. Mom knows when these days roll around and wisely changes the scene of school. This week we enjoyed some time in the library on the SPC campus. I had a lot of vocabulary to finish up before the holiday break. For some reason this was always my last subject each week and I fell a little behind. I caught back up in one week of really hard work.

Dad finally came home from Washington State after a long business trip. We went to the airport to fetch him and enjoyed some wandering around and shuttle riding before he got in to the terminal. I was amazed how fast and smooth the new tram is at the long term parking area.

Tampa Bay Watch Field-trip

We had a fun time at Tampa Bay Watch for a field trip today. We got a long lecture on safety, behavior and expectations. I think they forget that usually homeschoolers are more civilized than some of the groups that come through. We went on a boat ride to collect some samples. We weren’t allowed to move and had to talk very quietly. The ride was about 30 minutes total and that was all we did. The crew did the nets and water samples.

We got back to shore and got to check out all of the samples that were found. We learned about all the samples and other facts.

Up next was the lab with the microscopes. This was cool to see the various microorganisms under the microscopes. They were able to project a microscope up on the screen so we could all see the items too. Finally we made our own organisms that could float int he water column. The team that took the longest to fall to the bottom was the winner. The design of my teammate and I didn’t win but we had fun trying.

October Madness

October seems to be a crazy time for us with all new activities getting ramped up for the year. We are back to our 4-H County Council meetings. B gave a fun talk about entomophagy and sustainable protein sources. We volunteered at the Florida Botanical Gardens Pumpkin Festival for 4-H. We helped set up the entire event, decorated, set up the carving stations, hauled tables and chairs, and then helped with the carving stations by collecting and cleaning up as people carved. Our archery club won 1st place with their scarecrow too!

We picked out some beautiful pumpkins at Publix this week and were eager to carve them. We kept them safely in the garage to keep them cool. I cut into mine and by the time I got about 1/2 the guts out it started to collapse, the entire bottom was rotten. SO we raced to Publix hoping there were still large pumpkins left. I found a weird long shaped one and knew just what to do. I changed my design from a dragon into a tarantula! We roasted pumpkin seeds for an evening snack when dad was away in Washington state. Dad missed Halloween too so we had Grandma Susie over and some friends to go trick-or-treating with in the neighborhood.

Preston stayed over on the weekend before Dad came home. We had a fun time at the house and park with Preston. The next day we dropped him home and we went to Eagle Lake Park for B to go to a SPC Honors college picnic. Mom and I wandered the trails and around the late while B hang with his college friends. We got back and they weren’t done so we watched the end of the contests and games and had a snack. It was a super fun event and I can’t wait to hopefully qualify for the honors program too!