This past week was our annual family reunion in East Texas. We did not do formal curriculum while on vacation, but did learn quite a lot.
We attended my kids first professional baseball game.
The princess and I saw a large snapping turtle while on a walk with some other family members. A cousin explained to the Princess how to tell it is a snapping turtle. She also concluded that turtles can't be all that slow because it crossed the road in less than 5 minutes.
We dissected (kind of) mussels the kids found in the lake as the water was very low this year. We discovered that the inside shell does not stay pretty when exposed to the elements. Only freshly opened mussels had pretty inside shells.
For a little art experience, we painted the shells with acrylic paint. I explained to the kids why we used acrylic paint and not watercolors (weatherproofing).
At the annual fireworks display that our family puts on, we were reminded that fireworks contain sulfur by the smell of rotten eggs from some of them. They also create a soot that lands on everything. We were also reminded how dangerous they can be by the hole found in dad's shorts when he was done shooting them off.
Even modern children can survive outside with no AC for a whole week in July. We stayed in a tent, used an outhouse and outdoor shower. Movies were set up in the garage, but the kids did not go indoors all week.
It is important to stake down all ropes for the fly of the tent (ours got rained in because of this).
Even shaving cream for sensitive skin doesn't taste good and can burn the eyes.
Dissolve powdered laundry detergent in the washer before adding clothes. Dad learned this when he went to wash the bedding after the rain.
One week with all the cousins is about all my kids can take.
The Princess got a lesson on how septic systems work.
Always wear proper footwear. Foot injuries among family members included: wasp stings, splinters, stubbed toes, bee sting, mild cuts and scrapes from objects found in water.
Glow in the dark jewelry is great for keeping track of children.
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I just found you and was really just going to lurk a bit. But I had to comment on this. I love the way you find learning in everything. I need more prodding to find that kind of value in the day to day. I found myself chuckling as I wondered how your children "learned" some of these things. Mental pictures of some unfortunate mishap taking place to affect this "learning" experience that were probably not very funny at the time, kept popping into my head. But I have to say, I had to stop that train of thought when I came to the one about the septic systems. I didn't know if I should say a sympathetic "I'm sorry" or laugh hysterically. No, no, no...that one couldn't be funny!
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