Learning in the Sunshine State

From 2004 -

Bubbles

Boys at the river.

The lagoon holds sea life to

catch, observe, release

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

I decided shortly before I broke my ankle that I would participate in Project Spectrum 3.0. I envisioned doing some of the paper crafts that I enjoy so much — maybe a card or two, or a scrapbook page. After my accident I was told I have to basically sit around for 6 weeks (no weight bearing). That would seem like the perfect opportunity to work on something, but I found it to be just the opposite. I have trouble getting into the room where I keep my supplies, and if I send Bill or Dennis then realize I forgot something, I feel bad asking them to keep going back for more items. Instead I dug into my photo collection. I love taking pictures, and am trying to improve my skills. I discovered that many of photos I’ve taken fit the Fire category that is the first element in PS3.0. Most of the pictures were taken before my fall, but there are a few recent ones. The link is to my flickr set, but there’s also a badge in the sidebar.

Fire Element Photos

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

Dennis tested for his red belt in Soo Bahk Do last week, and was awarded the belt yesterday.

Testing pics

Doing forms

Getting ready to break. Look at that dirty foot!

The broken board

After receiving his red belt.

Belts below Dan (black belt equivalent) are just awarded before class. Right after he received his belt, and another student received a stripe on his green belt, they began the class. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was sewing that green trim on his uniform. Now I have to take it off (tiny stitch by tiny stitch) and replace it with red trim.

He’s very excited about earning this belt. It now makes him a black belt candidate, and all classes from now on are supposed to be seen as black belt preparation. Congratulations, Kiddo!

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

I noticed that you have to go pretty far back to find a homeschool post, and since this is supposed to be my homeschool blog, I thought I’d make today’s ten school related. Official schoolwork is taking a backseat right now, though I hope to get us back into a schedule by next week. In the meantime, learning doesn’t stop.

Ten Ways to Learn Without School

1. Go with Mom and Dad to Mom’s doctor appointment and see her x-rays. (science)

2. Go geocaching with your 4H club. (geography, team work)

3. Read the Harry Potter books now that you’ve seen all the movies (he’s on #3). Talk about the differences. (contemporary literature)

4. Use a search engine to look up (game) values and rarity of certain Pokemon cards. (research skills, a little math)

5. Sign up for the St. Jude’s Math-a-thon fundraiser and enjoy the math CD they send. (math, obviously)

6. Watch any or all of the following shows: How it’s Made, Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, Modern Marvels, Beyond Tomorrow, The Most Extreme. (mostly science, a little history)

7. Take care of the house as well as a 10 year old can; fix breakfast and lunch, while mom is recuperating. (home ec., aka life skills, aka making your future wife happy)

8. Draw pictures of Mom’s walking boot and Frankenstein-ish staples. (art)

9. Dig in the backyard for worms and bugs. Use a field guide to identify the bugs. (nature study)

10. Build with Lego. (always educational in a variety of ways)

Only the parent of a Lego lover wouldn’t think it’s weird to wish a happy birthday to a plastic building brick. It’s the 50th anniversary of the Lego Brick. Can any of us with Lego loving kids imagine life without Legos? Even people at “the Google” know it’s a special day. Thank you Mr. Christansen. You were brilliant.

I set up a Lego blog for Dennis here at HSJ at his request. He wants to use it to share pictures of and stories about his Lego creations. We never seem to get around to getting him started though, so I’m going to post a few of his creations in honor of the Lego brick’s birthday.

I’ll link to my Flickr page and the Lego set. I’m pretty sure I can embed a slide show here, but I don’t have enough time to play around. My leg hurts and is telling me I need to elevate it. Here are some of Dennis’ Lego creations.

Play Well

Update: If you’re reading this after Januay 28, the Google link might not make sense. On the Lego brick’s birthday, the word Google was “built” out of Lego bricks.