Learning in the Sunshine State

About the Movie

Seminole is a native green anole. Speedy was a Cuban brown anole with two broken back legs. Katie is a young female brown anole. Then there’s Two-Tails, the brown anole with, well, two tails. He was found at the park and came home with us. They all live in our backyard. Our indoor lizard is Sarge, the Leopard Gecko.

Ever since he was a little tyke, Dennis has loved lizards. Apparently lizards also have an affinity for Dennis too. Or at least he doesn’t terrify them. He can catch a lizard and it will sit on his hand making no attempt at escape. In our part of Florida, we see native green anoles, Cuban brown anoles, and house geckos on a regular basis. He started catching them when he was about three and a half years old. He could spend all day catching, studying, and releasing lizards. Every now and then he discovers that one of his friends is also interested in lizards. They catch and observe lizards in each other’s yards as well as at parks and playgrounds.

A few months ago, Dennis decided he wanted to start a nature club, and managed to get a few friends to go along with it. The first thing on the club’s agenda was to make a lizard rehabilitation center. That’s how Speedy came to live in our yard. Alas, Speedy didn’t make it, but at least his last days weren’t too uncomfortable. Two-Tails and Katie are still doing fine.

Sarge came to be with us last summer, by more conventional means. Dennis had been asking if he could get a lizard for a pet. I did some research and found that Leopard Geckos are about the easiest for a kid to take care of, and make good “first reptile pets”.

I’m not sure where this love of lizards came from, but now Dennis is talking about how he can turn it into a career. He says he wants to be a lizard vet. He’s at an age where he can see how a love of something can become a career. We talked about possibilities such as a working at a zoo, in the wildlife field, or even as an owner of a pet shop that specializes in reptiles. No, he said. “I want to be a lizard vet and help pet lizards when they get sick.” Right. Okay.

Two-Tails

Sarge

In just 2 weeks I go back to the doctor. He’ll schedule a time for me to get the screws out of my ankle, but I’m also hoping he’ll say I can go ahead and put weight on it. There’s no pain to speak of (just a bit of an ache at the end of the day), so cabin fever is really getting bad. I did go to my niece’s baby shower on Sunday, which was my first social activity in a month. I’ve also been to the grocery store and I got to drive one of those motorized carts. Not a good idea. I knocked over a rack of produce bags when I ran into it! Bill and Dennis were kind enough not to act like they didn’t know me. Anyway, today’s Tuesday Ten is my personal pity party.

Ten Things I Miss Doing While I’m Convalescing

1. being able to just get in the car and go

2. easily getting in and out of all the rooms in the house

3. being able to burn an adequate amount of calories ( I dread finding out how much weight I’ve gained when this is all over.)

4. cooking (yes, I miss that)

5. cleaning (that too, strange as it sounds)

6. early morning nature walks in my backyard

7. walking the dog

8. gardening (it’s planting season here in Central Florida)

9. being able to stand up in the shower

10. going for bike rides

I was sixteen. There was only one pro football team in Florida. If you were a real Floridian, and a football fan, you were a Dolphins fan. It was the most exciting football year ever for Dolphin fans. Now we have three pro teams, but long-time die-hard Floridians are still Dolphins fans. We’re fans even when they have a laughing stock season, like they have for a number of years now (especially this year). But we hold on tightly to one thing. The Record. The Perfect Season. It still stands. The only team in history to go undefeated in the regular season, then go on to win the Super Bowl.

Dennis has been wanting to get this blog going for months now, but I just never got around to showing him how to post. After he finished a creation today, he decided it was time. It took a while to get the bugs out (thanks, Andrea), but Loads of Legos is now up and running. Yes, we know it’s officially Lego, not Legos, but he insisted that’s the name he wants.

He welcomes visitors and comments, but please be aware that I have comments set to moderated. I’ll view and approve comments as I get a chance.

Have a look at his first post on Loads of Legos

Not this woman. I write from my hospital room, having had surgery on my broken ankle this morning. It happened Monday afternoon…

I was walking out to the garage with several packages of meat to put in the freezer. Unknown to any of us, some mops had fallen over just on the other side of the door, and were lying on the floor. As I stepped into the garage I tripped over the mops, and down I went, chicken and all. I knew instantly that the pain was indicative of something serious, so I yelled for Bill. Thankfully he was home, because he was scheduled to work to second shift instead of his normal day. He called 911, and before long I was in an ambulance heading for the hospital. I honestly thought they’d tape my ankle, and send me home with instructions to take it easy.

Three hours after I arrived in ER, the doctor came in to tell me what he saw on the x-ray. I broke both my tibia and fibula, and would need surgery. I was admitted last night, and had surgery this morning. I can’t put weight on my foot for six weeks! After six weeks, I’ll still have to wear a boot, but will be able to take it off to drive short distances. No driving for six weeks. ARGH! I live in an area with no decent mass transit, so this means I’ll either have to depend on friends, or just stay home.

I always knew I belong to a great homeschool support group, but am finding out just how wonderful everyone is. (It’s really just confirming my belief that this is the best homeschool group ever, and that they’re friends who can be counted on not just in fair weather). I’ve had numerous offers for food, housecleaning help, rides to the store, and taking Dennis to some of our group activities.

I’ll be counting on Dennis to help a lot too, and have faith in him that he’ll be good at it. He said yesterday that he’ll get out of doing school while I’m recuperating, but I pointed out that since we can’t go anywhere we’ll have plenty of time for extra school work. I was kidding of course.

The laptop is saving my sanity while I’m here in the hospital, and I suspect it will do the same at home. I do wish that if this had to happen, it would have happened in summer. This time of year is our most beautiful weather, and I’m going to miss out on a lot of great outdoor time. Oh, poor me.

I’ve been following Project Spectrum for the past two years, but have been hesitant to join. Even though Project Spectrum is a no pressure event, I knew I’d put pressure on myself. This year, I decided to just jump in, and will participate in Project Spectrum 3. Who can resist the elements?

If you haven’t yet followed the link, you might be wondering what I’m talking about. Project Spectrum is a celebration of color and creativity. I first heard about it from prariepoppins. Project Spectrum associates certain colors with certain months, and the challenge is to create something unique using those colors. It’s about using colors to inspire you, and creating something that inspires others. This year, the colors also relate to the four elements of fire, earth, air, and water.

The schedule is:

February/March - fire - orange, red, pink

April/May - earth - green, brown, metallics

June/July - air - gray, white, yellow

August/September - water - blue, black, purple

I have several ideas for each, and depending on my time, will choose one or all of them.

It’s Nothing Day. Take advantage of it if you can.

Yes, Tuesday’s almost over, but I was determined to start this today, otherwise I’d be forced to wait a whole week. So I’ll start with something easy. Links. Everybody has too many, but you can still use more. These are in no particular order.

1. Kitten War A perfect time waster, and who doesn’t love kittens? It never ends. You have to stop yourself.

2. KidsGardening! Nice resource for parents, teachers, scout leaders, and anyone who might be involved in, well, kids’ gardening.

3. gauche! Left-handed site. If you’re a lefty, you might recognize some of your own struggles. If you’re the parent of a lefty, you can find information on how to help your lefty child navigate a righty society. For instance, did you know there’s a such thing as true left handed scissors?

4. Lego Digital Designer Make digital Lego creations. This one’s for Dennis. He loves to point Lego fans here. It’s a free download, and a nice little application. Sometimes Dennis builds digitally first, then IRL, but usually he uses it to work out design problems in something he’s already started to build. Yes, you can upload your creations and buy the bricks, but he just uses it for digital building.

5. Babble A most addicting online Boggle-type game. I highly recommend going Pro if you decide you like the game.

6. Fruits & Veggies Matter Here’s an easy way to keep track of whether you get enough fruits and vegetables. You can find out the right amount for each member of your family based on age, gender, and physical activity level. This one is thanks to a friend on a mom’s list.

7. Cute Overload If you hate cute animal pictures, don’t go here. The name says it all. On the other hand, if you like cute animal pics, this is the place to go when you want to smile.

8. Left Out Knitter Yet another lefty site, this one for left handed knitters. If like me, you knit truly left handed (not Continental but from the right needle to the left), you will find you’re not alone. I can’t comment on the dvd because mine hasn’t arrived yet. Maybe there will be a review post in the future.

9. Canon 3D Papercraft Fun papercraft items in several categories (Buildings of the world, transportation, toys, good luck charms, just to name a few). We’ve done some as school projects and others just for fun.

10. Good Thing: T-Shirt Bag from Martha Stewart. A unique way to use old tee shirts and end up with a reusable bag. Not sure how sturdy they’d be for groceries, but I’m planning to use mine as a beach bag. After Dennis saw mine, he wanted to make one, so he went and found a too small Star Wars tee shirt. This is an easy project for kids. Hat tip to bigdreamer at The Denim Jumper.

So there you have it. My first Tuesday’s Ten.

I do not support Mike Huckabee or any other conservative or Republican for president. There is a belief by the general public that all homeschoolers are conservative Christians. Nothing could be further from the truth. Homeschoolers, like any other group, are all individuals. We are not of one mind. We are not sheeple. We are Protestant, Catholic, Pagan, Jewish, Muslim, Agnostic, Atheist, and New Agers. We are Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Green, Libertarian, and more. What we have in common is our belief that homeschooling is best for our children. We homeschool for different reasons, and for many of us it has nothing whatsoever to do with religion.

I also will go on record as stating that I have never, and will never, give money to Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). They do not speak for me in any way, they are involved in political actions that have nothing to do with homeschooling, and in some cases they’ve made things worse by getting involved in a state’s homeschool laws.

The next time you see “Homeschoolers for Huckabee” or for any other conservative candidate, please remember not to take it seriously. The progressive, liberal homeschoolers have been silent too long. No more. We are speaking out in ever greater numbers now. Thanks to Meg for the above button. And thanks to her for this link too, which will give you a small taste of the diversity of the homeschool community.