Moon-2009's brightest

The biggest and brightest moon of 2009 is tonight! 

ARTICLE

My photo, taken at about 6:00 p.m.

"The full moon will be 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter today."

"The moon will be brighest at 3.30 am on Sunday. This is because the Moon' orbit is an ellipse with one side 50,000 km closer to earth than the other side"

Yeah...I'm not willing to get up for that picture. :)

My photo, taken at about 6:00 p.m.

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Crayon Crafts: Crayon Necklaces

The girls like to send their penpals fun stuff for Valentine's Day (penpal moms....shh!  it's a surprise LOL).  I found a great craft in Wondertime Magazine that combines crayons and cookie cutters.   For our first batch, I lined a small glass pan with foil and baked it.  You can also use little foil cupcake liners in a muffin pan.  After melting the wax into liquid, carefully remove the glass or muffin pan with a steady hand from the oven and let it cool.  If you're not careful, the colors will really mix and won't show the fun swirls of color.

CRAYON NECKLACES(our Valentine's Day craft)

Materials:
Foil Muffin Cup liners OR a glass pan lined with foil OR silicone muffin pans or liners (we used heart shaped)
*Peeled crayon pieces (old nubs are good;  we used brand new crayons we purchased during the back to school sales--1 box was $.10).  
Small Cookie Cutters  (we used a heart, cow, pig and duck)
6 Inch wooden skewer(s) (to pierce holes to make a necklace)
Satin cord or ribbon
DIRECTIONS
1.  Heat the oven to 300 degrees F.
2.  Place foil liners in muffin tin OR line the glass dish with foil OR get out your silicon muffin pan or cupcake holders
3.  Fill each liner with crayon pieces (for the muffin tin or tin w/liners, about 3 to 4 crayons worth; for the small glass pan, fill the pan with a single layer of crayons, then add a second layer on top)
4.  Bake until just melted:  5 to 8 minutes for the muffin size, 10-15 minutes for the small glass pan
5.  Let cool until wax is still soft but no longer liquidy, 5 to 10 minutes.  It will take longer for the small glas span to cool (15 to 20 minutes).  If you start to cut when it is not hard enough, you get fingerprints in the crayons. 
6.   Remove foil liners from tin and gently peel out wax.   Press cookie cutters into wax and gently push out shape.  
*For the silicon muffin pan (or cups), poke the hole while still in the pan (be sure it goes all the way through) and let it completely cool in the pan (these are different because we already have our shapes, no need to use cookie cutters).
7.  Poke a skewer through each shape that was cut out, and leave it until wax is hard.  (we actually poked the hole and pulled the skewer out to cool, it seemed to work fine) 
8.  Once cool, thread a piece of ribbon or satin cord through the hole and tie a knot.  Make sure the ribbon is long enough to slip the necklace on and off.  We used neon color cording from a local craft store.  The holes are rather small, so cording used for beads works the best.
*A note about crayons:  Peeling Crayola crayons is difficult because they use a double heat and wrap process.  To make it easier, have a parent score down the length of the paper with a box cutter OR soak the crayons in water to loosen the paper; just be sure to paper towel try them before putting in the muffin tins.  Because of the current economy and the troubles with products from China, we used Crayola crayons, made in the USA.  (Of course, that doesn't guarantee the paraffin didn't come from China or some other country).

And because I like to get the "inside scoop" on creative recipes and crafts to decrease my trial and error time:
TIPS

• The smaller the size of the crayon piece, the more intricate colors.  Shave some of the crayon at the bottom (use a crayon or pencil sharpener for shavings) and then add small pieces of different colors for a better variety of color in the crayon.
• The foiled lined pan method created rather bumpy crayons.  The silicon pan method yielded really smooth crayons.
• Also, the smaller the size of the crayon pieces, the more evenly it will melt.  In a few of our's, we had a couple larger pieces and they didn't melt as well.

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And, of course, the added educational portion of our craft:

Video-How Stuff Works:  Crayola Crayons

Crayola Fun Facts:

-The crayola factory produces 650 crayons/minute and 14.2 million per day!

-Since younger users of crayons may have a tendency to peel off a crayon label and ingest it, Binney & Smith uses a non-toxic cornstarch and water mixture for the glue that holds the label on the Crayola crayon. Before 1943, crayons were hand-wrapped by farmers in the winter months to supplement their income.

-Crayola crayons are produced from Paraffin.

Paraffin is the common name for the alkane hydrocarbons with the general formula C_nH_2n+2. Paraffin wax refers to the solids with n=20–40.  Paraffin wax, are from the heaviest molecules from C₂₀H₄₂ to C₄₀H_82.  Paraffin wax is mostly found as  a white, odorless, tasteless, waxy solid, with a typical melting point between about 47 °C to 64 °C ( 116.6°F to 147.2°F),  and having a density of around 0.9 g/cm3.  It is insoluble in water, but soluble in ether, benzene, and certain esters (it is non-polar).  Paraffin is unaffected by most common chemical reagents, but burns readily.   Petroleum is composed of saturated hydrocarbons and some aromatics and parrafin.

Our crayons come from petroleum (just like our gas).  Here's a diagram:

Click on the Picture to view full-sized

Hope you have some crayon fun!

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Road Trip: Arizona-Petrified Forest NP

My friend at Kathalog mentioned she loves to learn about the little-known places in the United States to visit. We've visited a few of these on our many road trips and I thought I'd share some here.

I posted about Meteor Crater in Winslow, AZ in my last post. We will work our way down I-40 and visit Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.

PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK

In March of 2007, we were on a road trip with our girls to visit my grandmother in Arizona. The girls were getting restless on day two, so we decided to stop at Petrified Forest National Park. It's a nice round-trip diversion with plenty to see and do. The entrance is off of I-40 near Holbrook from the West, and nearer to Navajo on the east; you can enter from one side of the park, drive through, and loop back to I-40 easily from the other end (see the map by clicking the link above).

It is beautiful throughout the park. The visitors center has some great information and just outside of the building is what can only be described as a petrified wood garden. After getting some great information, we drove from one end of the park to the other.

Petrification (from the National Parks Service Brochure):

Distant volcanoes to the west spewed
tons of ash into the atmosphere,
carried by the wind into this area
where it was incorporated into the river
sediments. Some logs were buried by
sediment before they could
decompose. Ground water dissolved
silica from the volcanic ash and carried
it into the logs. This solution formed
quartz crystals which filled hollows,
cracks, even the interior of the cells,
and sometimes replaced the cell walls.
The process could be so exact the
resulting fossils show many details of
the logs’ original surfaces and,
occasionally, the internal cell
structures. Traces of iron and other
minerals combined with quartz during
the petrification process, creating the
brilliant rainbow of colors. Within the
larger cracks and hollows the growth
of quartz crystals was not limited in
size and larger crystals of clear and
milky quartz, purple amethyst, and
yellow citrine formed.

A few fun facts from the National Parks Page:

• Petrified Forest National Park has one of the most diverse collections of prehistoric pottery fragments in the Southwest.
• The ecosystem at Petrified Forest National Park is not desert. It's one of the largest areas of intact grassland in the Southwest
• On clear days in the Southwest, especially on crisp, cold winter days, you can see landscape features almost 100 miles away!

Are you a homeschooler thinking of visiting the park? NPS offers free online curriculum help:

http://www.nps.gov/pefo/forteachers/curriculummaterials.htm

PRINT THE BROCHURES

If you are a homeschooler, road trips are such an amazing way to experience science, history and culture. The National Parks are also a great resource. Did you know you can buy a National Parks Annual Parks pass for $80? It gets you entrance into any National Park and other Federal areas for no additional fee. Are you aged 62 or over? You can get a pass for $10....LIFETIME. And all throughout the website are lesson plans for teachers.

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Road Trip: Arizona-Meteor Crater, Winslow, AZ

METEOR CRATER National Monument

On our way to Peoria, AZ we stopped to see the Meteor Crater in Winslow, AZ. It's a place we've passed no less than a couple dozen times in the last twenty years, but for some reason we've never stopped.

It's only 6 miles off Highway 40, just a short diversion from the road trip. The building built next to the crater is quite large and houses a decent sized museum dedicated to things falling from the sky.

History:

"Approximately 50,000 years ago, on a continuous plain extending for miles in the high desert plateau of Northern Arizona, out of the northeastern sky, a pinpoint of light grew rapidly into a brilliant fireball. This body was probably broken off from an asteroid during an ancient collision in the main asteroid belt (between the planets, Mars and Jupiter) some half billion years ago. Hurtling about 40,000 miles per hour, it was on a rendezvous course with earth. In seconds, it passed through the earth's atmosphere with little loss of velocity or mass."

"The result of these violent conditions was the excavation of a giant bowl shaped cavity. In less than a few seconds, a crater was carved into this once flat rocky plain. During its formation, over 175 million tons of limestone and sandstone were abruptly thrown out to form a continuous blanket of debris surrounding the crater for a distance of over a mile."

METEOR CRATER National Monument

OUR REVIEW: We didn't get much of a chance to really spend time in the museum, but it was pretty impressive. Lots of interactive exhibits explaining the phenomenom of debris from space and the differences. There is also an actual remnant of the meteor on display--a significant size.

The view of the crater is amazing and the private owners have successfully given the viewer a great perspective of the crater. It doesn't "seem" as big as it is, until you look through the various telescopes and see the 6 foot tall astronaut at the bottom, or the boiler, crane and a manhole that was explored. Of course, they seem tiny through the viewfinder and almost invisible to the naked eye, reinforcing the actual size of the crater.

In all honesty, we didnt' spend half the time there that we wanted. My four little ones, the oldest being 6.5 years old, were tired at 2 in the afternoon when we arrived and had little patience for exploring the museum. It was a little pricey, though for myself and my 4 kids it was only $22.00. If my girls were all 6 and over, it would have been $39.

It is definitely worth the stop; where else can you see where such an event has occured? Be sure to stop when you have time to properly explore the wealth of information offered at the museum.

FUN FACTS:

On August 8, 1964, a pair of commercial pilots in a Cessna 150 flew into the crater for a closer look but were unable to climb out due to downdrafts. They ended up circling the interior until their fuel was exhausted and crash-landed. They survived their ordeal and a small portion of the wreckage not removed from the crash site remains visible to this day-Wikipedia

• Featured in the movie Starman. In this, a large spherical shaped UFO hovers over the crater.
• Featured in the movie Damnation Alley. In this, it is featured as a nuclear blast crater.
• Featured in a montage on the cover of the Midnight Oil album Red Sails in the Sunset. The crater is superimposed several times over Sydney Harbor suggesting the aftermath of a nuclear strike.
• In the novel The Martian War, Dr. Moreau and Percival Lowell take a crashed Martian scout to see the crater. It reminds the Martian of its home.
• In the novel 3001: The Final Odyssey, Frank Poole views a computer-generated model of the crater, and remembers exploring it as a child.

FUN STUFF RELATED TO METEOR CRATER:

Have some 3D glasses? View THIS IMAGE

Barringer Meteorite Crater Official Site

Play the Crater GAME

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Dinosaur Dig

Materials Needed:
DINOSAUR FACT PAGE
Dinosaur Egg Recipe (below)
Mallet or Hammer, dry paint brush
Dinosaur Identification (Dinosaur Encyclopedia or internet resource)

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Our current science unit is Dinosaurs (chosen by Maisie). I love that we have the option of doing so many hands on activities and this was one I was really looking forward to.

First we had to make our dinosaur eggs. I found some little plastic dinosaur figures on sale at Target in the summer (2.48 for 12 dinosaurs) and used the following recipe to create an "egg" outer shell:

Dinosaur Eggs

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup flour
1 cup used coffee grinds
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup sand
1 cup water

small plastic dinosaurs

What you do:

1. Mix all dry ingredients together. Slowly add water and knead until the mixture is is moist--like bread dough. (In the recipe I used, it said to try and use less than a cup, but I had a hard time getting the mixture to moisten enough).

2.Form the dough around the plastic dinosaur to look like an egg.

Let dry for 4-5 days, or put in a 100-150 degree oven for a few hours.

Our eggs never dried all the way inside, but it worked out perfectly for us as the outside of the egg was hard to crack (we had to use a heavy mallet), but the girls could get the dinosaurs out of the center because it was mushy.

I hid the eggs in the backyard in various areas, including the rocks. Each girl was responsible for finding two eggs, then cracking them open to reveal their dinosaurs. It was pretty cold, so the girls worked rather fast!

Once the dinosaurs were extracted, we went inside to determine which dinosaurs we found. With our big Dinosaur book and the internet, we named our dinosaurs. Maisie--our 6.5 year old--completed a dinosaur report page. Feel free to use it if you'd like, the file is linked above. Our plan is to create on of these reports for every dinosaur studied and put them in a binder. For further study, one can have the child rearrange the reports by different topics such as Food source (Herbivore/Carnivore), Geographic Location, or Time Period.

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Zoology Fun

I've been teaching a series of zoology classes at the zoo for the kids in our group. We are studying 3-4 animals each week inside the zoo. The kids get an animal reports sheet to complete (simpler for the younger age group, more in depth for the older). We talk about Physical Characteristics, habitat, Predator/Prey, Food source (omnivore, carnivore or herbivore), adaptations, reproduction, social structure and defenses and location/geography. Each week I also pick a subject to study further and something for the kids to take home--the first week we studied predator/prey in depth (Lion, African Wild Dog, Ostrich and Grevy's Zebra), the second week we talked about Adaptations (Giraffe, Polar Bear, Arctic Fox) and this week we studied Symbiosis (Mutualism, Commensalism, Parastism) and the Capybara, Howler Monkey, Seahorse and the Clownfish.

My DH starts work mid-day and works into the evening, so he's able to do these classes with us in the morning. Today he remarked that people seem to get irritated that we're "in the way" while I teach.

This got me pondering: Has the zoo become just a place to "see" animals? Like a movie? When I was little, I remember my mom & dad reading to me from the signs about their geography, habitat and other fun facts. I don't see that often anymore.

Today, in fact, I was teaching the kids about the capybara. I told them how it's the world's largest rodent. Another dad picked up on that and instead of finding out it's name answered his son, "it's the world's largest rodent, or something like that."

Of course, this could be a completely isolated incident. But my experiences at the zoo--mid-week in the summer--have left me with the impression that the zoo these days is not so much a learning place as it is a touring place.

I hope these summer lessons will get the kids to think about the animals themselves, their habitat and their lives and not just what ice cream is offered at the next stand.

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Is procrastination a genetic trait?

Let's hope not!

It's 12:10 a.m. and I'm just about to get to bed. "Why?" you might ask. I'm teaching my third zoology class at the zoo tomorrow for our homeschool group and I needed to get prepared. It's a biweekly class, so I've had two weeks to prepare for it.

Instead, I waited until about 8 p.m. tonight. I wouldn't have minded starting earlier today, but we had drama this morning (I'm the director), then a birthday party, home in time for an hour break, then cook dinner, work on coloring for the two younger girls and Maisie's penpal letters and bedtime.

I surely hope procrastination isn't inherited. Perhaps I can put up enough of a facade of having things done on time so that the girls won't procrastinate as I do. :-S I know, I'm dreaming.

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Stock Show Education

One of our favorite trips every year is to the Stock Show. It is a great chance for the kids to gain a better understanding of where our food comes from and what it takes to raise the livestock.

As a homeschooling family, we're very open about life and death and the cycle of all living things. Maisie asks very straight forward questions about how we get our food: Do we have to kill it? Why do we eat it? What food comes from a cow? We feel that the more factual we are about it--while adding the sensitivity of "waste not, want not" and to be gentle to the animals because that is the humane way--the more likely our children are to respect life.

Each year, we make a lapbook of the Stock Show. We haven't completed it yet this year, but I'll post when we do. If you're interested in making one with your kids there is a great free online guide where you can get just about anything you want to put in a lapbook:
http://www.nationalwestern.com/nwss/education/other_docs/handbook.pdf
Big Kudos to 4-H, Tom Fey and CSU for the information.

I love homeschooling!

Photos to come.

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Great day for schoolwork :)

Last night on the way to music class, my car lost power in the middle of the road :( Fortunately, it restarted and I got around the corner and into a neighborhood. The check engine light was on, so I called to see who could come help and dad was closest. He switched us cars so we could at least make it to the last half of music class (thank goodness!).

Today, he ran the code, found the problem and replaced a faulty sensor. The car is running great! But it's already 3 p.m. and we've missed Spanish, Kids' Club and Drama, unfortunately.

On the upside, though, we did manage to get a bunch of schoolwork done! We literally sat for 2 hours and did Science (finished up our weather chart and talked about the 5 senses; Maisie drew a picture of herself in her favorite weather: snow!), Writing (practicing numbers for Math), Math (we skipped ahead to lesson 9--place values tens and ones since the lessons were too boring for her), and now the kids are enjoying some cutting, pasting, and coloring time.

It's been a nice pleasant afternoon. I finished up some lesson plans and tomorrow we'll work on Geography, Writing Strands, and Art. I'm sad we missed our activities today, but relieved to get so much done.

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Welcome Fall! A Farewell to Summer

WELCOME FALL



Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. I look forward to the changing colors, cooler weather, Halloween, butternut squash, pumpkins, our annual trip to Anderson Farms and, most of all, how my spirit renews in Fall.

The nights have been cooler and I much look forward to the days being cool as well. Of course, yesterday was the official last day of summer and the temperature peaked at 1 degree under the record (low 80's) and today it is, again, supposed to peak at near 82. Not exactly Fall weather for me, but I'm trying to be patient!

The cooling weather makes me want to bake, clean and surround myself in pumpkin. I crave pumpkin bread, butternut squash soup, and cuddling with my girls reading a book. I'm hoping it makes me want to sew as well since I still have 3 butterfly costumes and a catepillar costume to make :)

FAREWELL SUMMER


Summer was very good to us. Though we didn't get to camp as much as we wished because of our pregnancy, we really enjoyed the times we did camp. We had family visit (and a whirlwind week of fun) as well as great times with friends from nearby and across the country. Although it was HOT--and at times miserable for me being pregnant--the summer was full of great memories.



This summer we visited the Sand Dunes, camped at Guanella Pass with friends, rode the Pike's Peak Cog Railway, Travelled over Trail Ridge Road, the kids went to Elitch's for the first time with family, we attended some great Science co-ops and other field trips, saw a Rockies game as a family, and I spent a glorious week in Florida relaxing with my best friend...what a summer!



Farewell Summer. Though I'm not sad to see you go this year, I will be looking forward to you again in March when I'm sick of the snow and cold.

Ahh, how sweet it is to have actual seasons!


FALL LEAVES


We decided to say farewell to summer by spending the day in the mountains on the official last day of summer. Guanella Pass is one of our favorite drives and picnic areas to view fall leaves because of the overwhelming number of Aspen Trees. The entire area is sprayed with gold this time of year and our timing couldn't have been better.



We started on the Grant side of the Pass...and the leaves were dry and falling off the trees without displaying much of a gold color. We were disappointed that the display wasn't as beautiful as previous years, but happy we were celebrating anyway.

The picnic areas were packed as expected on a Saturday. We did, however, find a great camping area in which to stop, eat lunch, and take some family photos.



We played next to the water for at least an additional hour and the girls loved it. Dani asked numerous times if we could camp and "where's the trailer?" I think we've made outdoor adventurers of our girls :)

A couple videos:





As we were descending down the other side of Guanella at about 4:30 p.m., we were grateful we were descending during a low traffic time. The potholes were deep and scattered and to avoid them, we participated in an intricate dance line of cars sashaying and swerving back and forth across the road.

At one point, we passed a local news channel truck. DH commented about it and I wondered if a news story would result. Here's the VIDEO of the road we travelled which appeared on 9news last night and this morning.HERE is the brief story from the website.

The story was a bit overdone! It's a mountain pass, for goodness sakes, and a good part of the road isn't even paved. That's one of the beauties of this road--anyone can drive it, but it helps give you the jeep off-road feel to the journey.

The drive was completely worth dodging the potholes. The VIEW of the leaves on the other side of the pass was breathtaking. We appeared to have hit the peak of the season and there was GOLD everywhere! Unfortunately, the weather grew cloudy so the beautiful lighting near sunset turned to a dull gray, and although the pictures don't reflect the golden color near as well as our memories, I wouldn't have missed it for anything.

Once we got down the pass into Georgetown, we stopped at our favorite park. It's one of the best I've seen that is a city park and was built with Colorado Lottery Funds. It looks like one giant treehouse with slides, walkways, a climbing wall, low and high monkey bars, a 2-5 year old park with smaller sized slides and walkways, a train sandbox, a tire swing....and this doesn't describe it well enough to create a good picture. It was built with Colorado Lottery Funds and it's one of our favorite parks.





We didn't get there until dusk, but spent a good 45 minutes playing hard before driving home.

Today will be a quiet day at home, doing laundry and cleaning. The Bronco game is on today and the girls will be watching with daddy :) I will be watching it peripherally, but spending more time reorganizing, nesting, and planning out more lesson plans for the new curriculum we received.

Hope you are having a GREAT weekend as well!

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Elk Rut and Fall Leaves

Fall is my favorite time of the year and as a family, we take a few trips to the mountains to see the fall leaves, experience the changing weather, and see/hear the Elk Rut.

This year with a little one on the way, I'm concerned I may not get to experience as much of Fall as I want. Last weekend was early for all of the above and I'm so happy we got to experience it, but I'm hoping I get one more chance to go before this baby is born.



We had a barbeque in Rocky Mountain National Park with the girls. Ironically, it rained while we were trying to eat, so we ate in the car. As soon as we were done, it stopped raining ;) We did get to roast s'mores without getting wet, though. Moments later, we saw this rainbow.

The Elk have migrated to lower elevations. These Elk were taking advantage of the local golf course, which apparently the local police were trying to help protect. There were a ton of cars watching while a couple of the local law enforcement were attempting to run off this Elk Herd.

Ironically when we passed back through this town hours later, the Elk were still laying on the golf course and grazing :)


There were some magnificent Bulls in sight yesterday. This is one that was hanging out at the side of the road. I'm not sure where his herd was, but I'm sure not far behind. You can see he was pretty soaked in the rain.






We sat on the side of the road with MANY other families watching the herd. There was another Bull up in the trees that kept sneaking down to the herd. The Bull kept chasing him off, however, and we didn't get to see much of a confrontation.



We did get to hear some Elk calls/bugling.

This is my favorite of the bugles. This Bull was trying to keep his herd in order (the same Bull that was getting a little competition from another bull hanging out in the trees). If you watch closely, you can see the breath come out while he's bugling.

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Science Club-Insects

We had a great Science Club last week and learned about insects. The kids made antennae, made their own different proboscis and pretended to be a mosquito, butterfly, etc and learned the parts of the insect body. Maisie's favorite part was being a nurse ant and bringing food to the new babies :)

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WIldflowers

We went camping last weekend with two other families and on one of our hikes, we came across a beautiful field of wildflowers!! We were at the top of Guanella Pass (about 12,000 feet) hiking around with the kids and were amazed how beautiful the flowers were.



Lupinus caudatus "Wild Lupine"



Pink Indian Paintbrush



Yellow Indian Paintbrush



Ranunculus eschscholtzii "subalpine buttercup"



Sedum lanceolatum
"Yellow Stonecrop"



Wild Strawberries



The wild strawberries were growing all around the campsite and area. Only a few of the plants I saw were mature enough for strawberries.

The view from the top of the pass was also amazing:



The trail behind our campground revealed an area where people (likely boyscout campers) had erected tee-pees and small cabin structures. The kids each found a great walking stick in that area, as well.




Hope you're all having a beautiful summer as well!

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Science Club: Frogs

We had Science Club at Hudson Gardens today. We studied frogs--lifecycle, ecosystem and food sources. After a story about predators and prey, we searched the pond for frogs, tadpoles, and froglets as well as their food sources (dragonflies, worms, spiders, ants, etc). The kids had a great time searching the pond with the binoculars and there was an abundance of frogs! It was a little nervewracking with 3 little ones, but the only one who fell in was Dani....and she just got her feet wet :)

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