Yes I know this is totally gross but this kids are enjoying this project besides the stink.
On day 3 our fly eggs hatched and we now have hundreds of maggots. Flies lay anywhere from 2 to 21 blobs of eggs at a time, and each blob consists of about 130 eggs. That's a lot of maggots!
We now dumped our maggots into an big yogurt container put oil on the plastic wrap then put the yogurt lid on.
On day 4 we noticed our maggots are escaping and 1/2 of them seemed to have died. Nurturing then into flies maybe harder than I thought. We added some more rancid meet for our maggots to feast on and hopefully we will have some flies pupate in the next 2 days.
My daughter who is afraid of bugs is doing very well with this project and has enjoyed holding the maggots.
It is garbage day today and after my son cleaned up dog poo out of the yard he then put the poo in our can by the road and left the lid open all day. So guess what I found when I went to close the lid? Yup you guessed it, hundreds of flies swarming the poo bag. So I can almost Guarantee that we will have maggots in our can by the end of the very long holiday week.
On another non fly note we had to put our 5 month old English mastiff down due to Addison's disease. That was a tough lesson for the kids to learn. I did not enjoy explaining to them why their puppy died. We did on the other hand get another new puppy she is a Neapolitan mastiff/ English mastiff mix and is 6 weeks old. That helped ease the sadness a bit.
My husband went to a motivational business seminar this week that was awesome and shared with me some great tips. One I will share with you. A tip of truly successful people is list making.
You need to compose a list of 10 goals ...
(here is my list)
1. Organize and clean unfinished side of basement
2. Write a 50 state geography curriculum for next year
3, Exercise more
4. Do more research on colloidal silver and learn how to make my own colloidal silver solution
5. Do more work on either of my books I am writing
6. Work on science curriculum for next year
7. Work on my list of events I am organizing for my homeschool group next year
8. Organize school supplies
9. Organize my kids dressers
10.Research student loan consolidation help
Now look at your list pick the one that will help you the most right now...
I chose #2
Next make a list of all the steps you need to take to get that one thing done.
1. Print out a coloring page for each state.
2. Find a craft for each state
3. Organized order in which I will teach states
4. Get a large map that kids can color in each state they do or get some type of stickers to put on our big laminated map in the wall.
5. Organize all this info into a notebook or binder
Then when you finish move on to another item on your list. All successful people write lists to keep them on task and achieve their goals. So far it seems logical to do that. Now I have a better plan and a much more organized way to do things this really seems so simple but effective. My goal is to have this item, possible 2 done by next weeks wrap up.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Yummy Popcorn in a pot!
We stopped eating popcorn a long time ago because I didn't have an air popper and I refuse to use the microwave kind. I got brave last year and started popping popcorn in a pot. It is a lot easier than I thought Here is our recipe:
Will make 5 servings
1 big stock pot
1 cup of popping corn
1/2- 1 stick of butter
2-4 TBS of olive oil
1 TBS of coconut oil
Directions
pour olive oil in pot then add corn kernels shake pot side to side often then turn to medium heat and cover. Wait watch and sing ...
Popcorn, popcorn,
in the pot.
Popcorn popcorn
POP! POP! POP!
once you and the kids sing it enough it will start popping...
When the popcorn popping has slowed then take off heat and drizzle over your melted butter, melted coconut oil, then salt to taste. The coconut oil adds a hint of sweetness plus adds good fats.
This is my favorite recipe and the kids LOVE it as well.
For more info on benefits of coconut oil this is a GREAT read.
Will make 5 servings
1 big stock pot
1 cup of popping corn
1/2- 1 stick of butter
2-4 TBS of olive oil
1 TBS of coconut oil
Directions
pour olive oil in pot then add corn kernels shake pot side to side often then turn to medium heat and cover. Wait watch and sing ...
Popcorn, popcorn,
in the pot.
Popcorn popcorn
POP! POP! POP!
once you and the kids sing it enough it will start popping...
When the popcorn popping has slowed then take off heat and drizzle over your melted butter, melted coconut oil, then salt to taste. The coconut oil adds a hint of sweetness plus adds good fats.
This is my favorite recipe and the kids LOVE it as well.
For more info on benefits of coconut oil this is a GREAT read.
Monday, June 27, 2011
More on flies
FLIES
Our flies
Our flies are taking the bait. I am very surprised how BAD the meat smells and it's only been 2 days. I read that the flies eggs should hatch 3-7 days after they have been laid so hopefully soon. Sticking with our fly theme we sang some fly songs and made fly art.
I put tempra paint on plates and let the kids use fly swatters to splat and paint with on our easel. I would suggest doing this outside and having the kids wear paint clothes. They had so much fun swatting at their pretend flies and making art. After they were dry they drew a big fly on the paper.
5 and 3 yr. old happily swatting
finished art
Our flies
Our flies are taking the bait. I am very surprised how BAD the meat smells and it's only been 2 days. I read that the flies eggs should hatch 3-7 days after they have been laid so hopefully soon. Sticking with our fly theme we sang some fly songs and made fly art.
I put tempra paint on plates and let the kids use fly swatters to splat and paint with on our easel. I would suggest doing this outside and having the kids wear paint clothes. They had so much fun swatting at their pretend flies and making art. After they were dry they drew a big fly on the paper.
5 and 3 yr. old happily swatting
finished art
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Fly life cycle- part 1 growing maggots
I have been on the on going quest to rid my daughter of her bug phobia so we have been watching lots of videos on insects and reading lots of books. I figure that the more she understands that insects will not hurt her the less likely she will be scared of them. Next up on our bug journey is breeding flies. Yes, of course we could do butterflies but she is not afraid of those. Flies are gross but they breed easy, we have no problem growing them in our garbage can outside at least 2 times each summer! Lol! We tried mealworms last year with out success, so flies it is wish us luck!.
Step 1
Gather about 1 lb. Of meat scraps I chose beef so we could better see the eggs. Then put in a shallow container I chose a ziplock bag because all I use is glassware in the kitchen and I certainly will not want to wash the container and eat out of it again!
Step 2
Add some water to keep the meat moist, then poke some pretty big holes for the flies to get in and place the container in the sun it will need to be at least 90 degrees in the container for the maggots to thrive.Here is my daughter adding water to our meat
Here are some great bug and fly books:
ABC book with big bright realistic pictures of bugs with great descriptions it is one of my children's favorite books.
A great factual book about the life cycle of flies.
a great book the goes through letters of the alphabet while the fly is buzzing around different places causing a mess!
Fly activity:
We use this book above for letter recognitions and phonological awareness.
Use a white board or black board and draw letters on it then give children fly swatters to hit the correct letter that you say or letter sound. My kids LOVE this activity. Then wipe of the bug guts (the letter) with a tissue after the correct number was splattered.
Please follow us to see more fly activities and parts 2-4 of our fly life cycle.
Step 1
Gather about 1 lb. Of meat scraps I chose beef so we could better see the eggs. Then put in a shallow container I chose a ziplock bag because all I use is glassware in the kitchen and I certainly will not want to wash the container and eat out of it again!
Step 2
Add some water to keep the meat moist, then poke some pretty big holes for the flies to get in and place the container in the sun it will need to be at least 90 degrees in the container for the maggots to thrive.Here is my daughter adding water to our meat
Here are some great bug and fly books:
ABC book with big bright realistic pictures of bugs with great descriptions it is one of my children's favorite books.
A great factual book about the life cycle of flies.
a great book the goes through letters of the alphabet while the fly is buzzing around different places causing a mess!
Fly activity:
We use this book above for letter recognitions and phonological awareness.
Use a white board or black board and draw letters on it then give children fly swatters to hit the correct letter that you say or letter sound. My kids LOVE this activity. Then wipe of the bug guts (the letter) with a tissue after the correct number was splattered.
Please follow us to see more fly activities and parts 2-4 of our fly life cycle.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Homeschool mothers journal-1
In my life this week…
Trying to organize and write out curriculum to start up in the fall
Outside my window...
I see gray skies and light rain
In our homeschool this week…
My 10 year old went to his first pottery class. My little ones and I are still studying bugs.
Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
Our local metro parks is hosting a great park search. Each week 9 new clues are posted at 9 metro parks you have to go find them using your GPS or the hints. After you find the code word you enter it online, each week winners are drawn to win cool summer stuff. We just started this event and the kids are having so much fun so far we have done 3 of the nine parks.
Watching my oldest test for his purple belt in Tae Kwon Do
My favorite thing this week was…
The nice and cool weather we have been having this week. I hate the heat!
What I am wearing...
I am having a very comfy day due to the cooler weather. I have on black tie waist sweat pants and a blue tye dye shirt
Questions/thoughts I have…
Will I ever finish writing my book is my question running around in my head most.
Things I’m working on…
A state by state curriculum for next year for all my kids to learn state facts, geography and capitols.
I’m reading…
Divine by Blood by P.C. Cast
a great fastasy fiction novel series my friend gave me to week ago I am on book 3 and have been so absorbed in these books my late night homeschool planning has been pushed aside.
I’m cooking…
Currently I have carrot bread in the oven YUM!
I’m grateful for…
The big hugs and kisses my children share with me each day
A photo to share...
Saturday, June 18, 2011
guilt and worry...
No one ever told me before I had kids that guilt and worry would be emotions as strong as the instant love and bond you feel for your children.
The statement "ignorance is bliss" is so true. Through out my journey through parenthood my lifestyle has changed drastically I have met many great moms and researched topics thoroughly and have really turned into a tree hugging hippie. It's a good thing, but standing out from main stream society can be a bit more stressful. You now worry will you being so different that it may affect how other treat you and you children (insert worry and guilt here) but you know the choices you have made are for the health and longevity of your children (insert love here).
My eyes have been opened over the last 10 years on damage from chemicals, to food in our lives. We now live as natural as possible. We only clean using baking soda, vinigar, tree tree oil, grapfruit seed extract and a few other natural items. Since these are all non toxic we use a lot of these products to clear up illnesses. We just cleared up ringworm in 3 days using grapefruit seed extract. Our food intake has changed we avoid processed foods, refined sugars, and simple carbohydrates. This can be hard to do because it very much limits your foods and pretty much everything needs to be planning in advance, no more quick meals. I am not perfect and sometimes life get to busy and I have to resort to a quick food like chicken nuggets, I still choose the healthiest option ones ( hormone and antibiotic free ) but its still not good for you and when you know the damage it can cause and give it to your kids anyway (insert guilt here) you feel bad....
All parents carry around worry, guilt and love in their permanent suitcases they carry through life.
Some will worry if they can put food on the table this week.
Some will worry if there dad will not disappointed them this week
Some will worry if they put them in the right school
Some will worry if kids are being nice to them
Some will worry if their kids have friends
Some will worry about seeking out the right medical care for their children
Some will worry about toxins in the environment
The list could go on forever....
We are all parents all worrying and hoping that we make the right decisions and trying so hard to let go of the guilt of not being able to be perfect
The statement "ignorance is bliss" is so true. Through out my journey through parenthood my lifestyle has changed drastically I have met many great moms and researched topics thoroughly and have really turned into a tree hugging hippie. It's a good thing, but standing out from main stream society can be a bit more stressful. You now worry will you being so different that it may affect how other treat you and you children (insert worry and guilt here) but you know the choices you have made are for the health and longevity of your children (insert love here).
My eyes have been opened over the last 10 years on damage from chemicals, to food in our lives. We now live as natural as possible. We only clean using baking soda, vinigar, tree tree oil, grapfruit seed extract and a few other natural items. Since these are all non toxic we use a lot of these products to clear up illnesses. We just cleared up ringworm in 3 days using grapefruit seed extract. Our food intake has changed we avoid processed foods, refined sugars, and simple carbohydrates. This can be hard to do because it very much limits your foods and pretty much everything needs to be planning in advance, no more quick meals. I am not perfect and sometimes life get to busy and I have to resort to a quick food like chicken nuggets, I still choose the healthiest option ones ( hormone and antibiotic free ) but its still not good for you and when you know the damage it can cause and give it to your kids anyway (insert guilt here) you feel bad....
All parents carry around worry, guilt and love in their permanent suitcases they carry through life.
Some will worry if they can put food on the table this week.
Some will worry if there dad will not disappointed them this week
Some will worry if they put them in the right school
Some will worry if kids are being nice to them
Some will worry if their kids have friends
Some will worry about seeking out the right medical care for their children
Some will worry about toxins in the environment
The list could go on forever....
We are all parents all worrying and hoping that we make the right decisions and trying so hard to let go of the guilt of not being able to be perfect
Friday, June 17, 2011
15 things we did this week!
1. made butterfly waffles
2. Saw a baby elephant
3. Got ice cream off an ice cream truck
4. played in the sand
5. watched a video on honeybees
6. played with a BIG beetle outside and let it crawl all over us (trying to get my 5 year old less afraid of bugs)
7. spent an entire day outside and barfefoot
8. picked 25 lbs of strawberries
9. discoverd my Dads cancer is not Terminal (YAY)
10. played at the park with grandpa
11. had a picnic outside with all raw veggies!
12. played in the rain at the park
13. Took all the kids to see a movie at the theater
14. made a strawberry pie from scratch
15. kissed and hugged all my kiddos and thanked them for being so awesome!