Branching Out...

The one quality I love about my daughter is her persistence... The one quality I struggle with is HER PERSISTENCE! I know it will help her in the future.. But now it is a force to be reckoned with! That said, my Julia.. The future writer, vet, artist and now blogger, branched off into her own blog. She is almost 11! That was told to me time and time again! I asked her to take over the family blog but it just wasn't the same for her! She is passionate about critters.. Not the mundane tasks of a homeschooling life which is how she put it to me!
I laughed and chuckled at her drama and then I paused...how can I turn this into a learning moment?!?
The kid wants to write and so what if it is just about furry critters, some slimy creepy ones too I bet!
So, I don't know where the family blog is headed but allow me to introduce you to: Naturegirlscrittercorner .blogspot.com
If you can't find it let me know.. Actually let Julia know lol she is the techno wizard around here! Ha ha

From Uganda to Shaving Cream?

This is what I love about being homeschooled: one topic or activity can turn into a whole day of learning. Lately, in Social Studies Emerson and I have been learning about Uganda! Yesterday I got a great idea to go on a pretend Safari in the house with Blaise and Emerson. We researched native animals of Uganda and hid our stuffed animals all over the house. Then using binoculars we played hide and seek! Today my sister wrote in her journal all about elephants and facts she learned from her Almanac. This led to painting pictures with shaving cream! We added food coloring to my dad's shaving cream (Gillette) and Emerson painted a mural of an elephant. Benedict wants to do everything we do in school so we made him a poster and added safari animals on it! We hung it by the kitchen and mom is teaching him to say: lion, zebra, elephant and giraffe! He loves the giraffe! Some days I wonder what other kids are doing in school but I love how we do our work at home. I only wish Math could be more fun... I heard something about equivalent fractions and elephants?!? But I'm not buying it!

Halloween Riddles by Julia and Emerson

We made these up ourselves. Try to answer them!



           1. I am white on the top and yellow on the bottom. I am sweet to eat. what am I?

2. I am white and bony, I have no skin, so whats on the outside used to be in. What am I?

3. You cannot see me, I can float very high, but if you do see me, you might cry. What am I?


4. i have green hair, and a flying broom, So it'd be weird, if i rode a vacuum.
What am I?

5. i howl and screech, my teeth are like hooks , don't pet me, I'm not as cute as I look. Clue: Meeeow!! What am I?

6. if your looking for a house, don't come in here, because you might be filled with fear! What am I??

7. I have eight spindly legs and I am jet black, come onto my web, if you don't care about coming back. What am I?

8. I have a cape, and very sharp fangs, I am a lot like a mammal that flies at night.

What am I?

9. we like riddles, scary or not, and two rabbits is what we got! who are WE?

Would you Rather............?

Hi, It's Julia again. I have found some Halloween "would you rather"s.

Answer these in the comments please. Beware, they are not easy to answer!

Would you rather.............

1. dunk for apples or carve a jack-o-lantern??

2. Have a costume that is very amazing but uncomfortable or have a boring costume that is comfortable?

3. Get 20 of your favorite candies or get 50 of your least favorite kinds?

4.Have to sleep in a coffin or a giant pumpkin?

5. walk through a haunted house or a grave yard?

6. Have to eat 6 fish eyes or a small frog?? (Yuckk!)

7.  Help to design a haunted house or walk through one someone else has made themselves??

8. Go to a really great halloween party where you didn't know anybody or go to a kind of lame halloween party where you knew everyone?

9. Meet a vampire or be one?

10. Have to wear your costume until Thanksgiving or  have to wear a pumpkin on your head for the first three days of November even when you're sleeping!!






Answer as many as you like! Be sure to include the number. Hope you enjoyed them!

Another Post by me, Benedict, 1 year and 3 months

Yesterday, I posted about my P-L-A-Y-P-E-N, which i am now spelling out to avoid any more major crisis. Today i am simply telling you how my day has been going so far.

5:00 am: i woke up and tried to get Mama and Dada to wake up too, and it worked. Mission acomplished.

6:00 am: Woke up everyone else and invited them to a delicous breakfast(all except Julia who was still sleeping--guess my Super Baby powers didn't work for her).

7:00 am: i decided that i wanted to get dressed, so i dragged clothes into Mama's room and helped by conveniently taking of my diaper and attempting to get dressed myself.

8:00 am: Mama took her shower and then we started school, and then Mama put me in that.....thing. You know, the "P" word? Ends with "N", it's seven letters?

9:00 am: well, here I am.

So, now you have a perfect idea of what today was like. Ugh. I sure wish I could get out of this thing. Yep, I'm still here. Okay, fine, Mama took me out for half and hour or so.

Anyway...

Now, the moment you've ALL been waiting for;


Benedict the Great's Baby word translator!!


Mama: A wonderful person. Has everything you need. Good for sad moments.

Dada: Another wonderful person. Is funny. Good for when you need a nap.

Na-na:  Means many different things. This can mean Grandma, or sometimes it means that I'm hungry.

crying non-stop: Can mean that you need a diaper change, or want to get out of a place such as.... oh, maybe..... a P-L-A-Y-P-E-N.....

Ju: Means Julia. Babies can't exactly pronounce the L sound.

A-A-hh-A: This means that in an echoey place, like church, or in the public restroom at that store we always go to, it is fun to make this noise because it breaks the silence, and, possibly makes people annoyed. Thats even more fun than making the sound.

My Playpen- by Benedict, 1 year 3 months

Today I am writing this in my playpen. No comment. Playpens are horrible cages that trap innocent babies, like me, leaving them in a small, cramped space with absolutely no toys whatsoever. Okay, fine, they aren't that bad......they're  WORSE!!! It all started one day when a big box came in the mail. Mama opened it and took out a big white thing. The box was fun. I played peek-a-boo and pretended it was a car. Then, I fell asleep. When I woke back up, I was laying next to this big cage thing. Mama put me in it, and it was fun at first, until...... Okay, lets stop for a few minutes before we go on..................................................................................................................................
Alright, ready? Okay, good, now brace yourself for the next part....
 Mama left. She went into the kitchen. I was left alone. I cried and cried but she didn't listen. The End.


Well, okay, that was a little bit of exaggeration there. First of all, she did listen to me and made Juweea -or however you spell her name- get in and play with me. Second, its not the end. I am sitting in here now writing this. That's right all you grown-ups, ITS NOT OVER.   Yet.

One day I'll get out of this thing myself, or break it, or use my extremely cute face on others to persuade them to let the baby out.

Oops, gotta go, almost time for my after-breakfast snack.


(Oh and check out this hilarious picture!! Can you believe I looked like that? This was ages ago, and, I'm like, practically bald!!

Anyway though, I was just messing around on the I-pad!!)

Saint Francis

Today is yet another feast day, and that is a good thing. We had some animal crackers- get it? For saint Francis's feast day!!

We drew some pictures of our favorite animals, and I drew a cat, a dolphin, a fox, a rabbit, a rat, a hamster.... I really like all animals!!

Emerson: I drew a dolphin, a fox, a dog, my bunny Lily, a horse and a squirrel named Scrat.

Blaise: I drew a black bear, a blue bear, and a fish.

Saint Francis, pray for us, and our pets!

Feast of The Guardian Angels

Yesterday was Feast of The Guardian Angels. Today, we will celebrate it because we forgot. (Sorry, Guardian Angels!) There are many different kinds of angels, and this particular kind are called Guardian angels that guard and keep you safe! October has many feast days, so we'll keep you posted when we have another!

Prayer to Your Guardian Angel:

Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom His love commits me here; ever this day, be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

For some fun, find these words in the angel word search below.

Seraphim
Cherubim
Thrones
Dominations
Virtues
Powers
Principalities
Archangels
Angels
Saint Gabriel
Saint Raphael
Saint Michael

Soup!

Today's title may baffle you and make you curious to read on! Today our dear Nana is coming and is bringing ingredients for veggie soup. We will make delicious homemade soup and will have a lot of fun--and it even has an added bonus. We got some alphabet noodles to put in the soup so it will be vegetable alphabet soup!!! While it cooks, we'll do an art project. Because I am writing this before we do it, I have no idea what it is!! I am going to add pictures that I will take later on. Soups on!

Saint Therese

Today is Saint Therese the little flowers feast day. We are going to make licorice roses and read about her. I have many books and prayers to her. Here is how to make roses because that is the flower that symbolized her.


First you need a package of string licorice, the kind you can pull off that look like shoelaces.

Coil a large base and keep coiling smaller and smaller pieces on top. Then, use it to decorate a table or eat it right away! Yum!!!!


Prayer to Saint Therese


St. Therese, you who are called the Little Flower, pray that I may always live as a good child of God. May I always do the little things of life extra well for the love of God. St. Therese, you love flowers and you wanted to give to Jesus the flowers of many, many souls.

Now that you are in heaven, let fall upon earth a shower of roses by your prayers. Bring many more souls to Jesus. Pray to the mother of God for us that she will smile on her children here on earth. Amen.

P.S praying this prayer often in times when you need help is wonderful. When your prayer is answered, St. Therese will "send" you a rose. One time I prayed this prayer and my wonderful Grandma Connell sent me some pictures of Saint Therese and she didn't even know I had prayed to her!!

Saint Therese, pray for us!!!

Moving Fun

Moving has been pretty fun. Yesterday at our rental, Benedict was running around and playing with boxes while we unpacked. A vase, a permanent marker, even some tape can get into a baby's tiny hands. Finally, he fell asleep, but he soon woke up and went into action again. I am very excited for my new room because it means we are a little closer to moving into our actual house and I get a lot bigger room, hopefully and a big backyard and a pet rat! :) Today is more packing up and there are boxes in many places! We also went to the library and got an abundant supply of books because everything except furniture is packed, including my Legos and books in my bookshelf. Even though this is very tiring, I hope it's worth it!!

Apple Fest

Yesterday we went to the Applefest and we had some fun. I met my friend there who was running the doll booth. You are supposed to pick a certain amount of suckers and if there's a colored dot on the bottom you pick a doll or teddy bear. I won three times so I let Emerson and Blaise pick one too. Blaise went on the ferris wheel with dad and Emerson and I went on one by ourselves. Blaise and Emerson played some kiddie games and got some plastic toys. After that we ate some cotton candy. Yum!!

Fun With Antonyms

My mom told me I had to write a story using antonyms today...this is what I wrote:

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Hannah. She loved God more than she loved her toys. Her mother was going to have a little baby girl. Hannah was happy that she was going to be a big sister. Her mother went to the hospital to have her baby. Hannah followed behind with her father. They met in a room for her mom to rest in. Hannah was strong, but her mom was feeling weak. Hannah played while her mom rested. They played a true and false game. Her mom fell asleep, so while Hannah was awake her father and her took a walk around the hospital. Hannah saw little babies in big windows. Hannah moved rapid, but the babies moved slow. The nurses were kind, not mean. When Hannah came back there was her little baby sister. Her mom and dad named her Emily. Hannah gave Emily a welcome home present a stuffed turtle. Even though Hannah was older and Emily was younger they would be sisters forever.
I hope you like my story, now that I am eight my mom said I have to write more mature longer stories.
This one took me a long time, not a short time!
Emerson Taratuta, 8

Free-time

Emerson and I enjoy playing outside during recess. It is very fun and I ride my skateboard and Emerson goes on her roller skates. We love to roll around and have races and things. We play games like jump rope or make up our own. Benedict likes to watch us or play with his garden cart. We like to get our rabbits out on the harness or take my hamster outside. We also ride bikes, hula hoop, and last night we had leftover cupcakes outside for dessert.

14 months!!

Hi everyone it's me Benedict!! My 14 month day was yesterday and I got a haircut too. It was kind of scary because this lady had these shiny things she was cutting my hair with. Today is very chilly and it feels like fall (which I have no idea what that means). I wore a long sleeve shirt today, and some new socks and jeans. We had to catch up on school today because we didn't do it yesterday. Julia will draw a picture of a baby for her Art. Perfect for my 14 month-I-don't-know-the-correct-term-for-it-day. Well goodnight, mom is going to put me down for a nap.

Fun with Synonyms

Today is Thursday. It is boiling with the sun and heat. I turned on the sprinkler, a stream of water pushed out of the little holes. When it is a hot Summer day, if you look far out you can see heat waves.
By Emerson Rose

Not for the Squeamish

On Monday we went to a BBQ at a friends house. After we had dinner, we dissected a cows heart--and it was very fun! I was going to do it for my science, and they had access to a cow, so we learned a lot that day. We saw the valves and where the blood enters and goes out of the heart. This particular cow had a lot of fat around his heart and I said, "I guess that's normal for a cow."It was big, about the size of Benedict's head. It was really heavy too, and Emerson pointed out that a portion of it looked like raw meat! Their dog was circling the table--he probably thought it smelled good!!

Happy Birthday Emerson!!

I cannot believe I forgot to do a blog about Emerson's b-day!!!! We didn't invite anyone outside the family, it was just a small party. We had a lot of fun and this is what we did: First, we set up a scavenger hunt and she found her gifts. Then, we went to Confession, which is a great gift on anyone's birthday. After we went home and had a mini soda and pizza party and watched a movie. Today we went to church and went to the park afterwards. Then we picked up her cake--an Ice Age cake. It came with plastic figurines so Emerson played with them outside. Emerson's birthday may have not been big or fancy, but we sure had a lot of fun!!

Art Class

Me and Emerson are going to do art class together today! Once a month Emerson had to watch me go into art class and she announced she wanted to try it out. Normally I might be angry that she wanted to copy me but its different with art class. I don't mind if Emerson wants to do something I like, plus, her friend will be there too, so we both can have people our ages to talk to. This month is a dolphin lesson and we both love dolphins, so hey, it turned out perfectly. P.S(I don't know if you can do P.S's in blogs but oh well) Benedict is doing good today--- he wanted to do the blog but I had to tell everyone about this instead. Sorry Benedict, you can write something next time!



Emerson: Julia is a good sister and I like her a lot. I like dolphins and I want to learn how to draw them.

Benedict says Hi

Hi, its me Benedict. I haven't been feeling well, you know, a runny nose and sneezing once in a while, stuff like that. I have never did an entry though, but I wanted to try this out, on account when you don't feel so good, you do stuff because you are bored. Interesting things are going on today, and we are going to the library to get some new books--some for me too. I like to read my board books or have Mommy or Daddy or my sister Juju - I mean Julia, read them to me. Julia is a nice sister, and Blaise is a good brother too and he likes it when I give him hugs. Emerson likes pink, purple, and princesses. She has a room that has fun things. I love EVERYONE in my family. Sometimes I break things in my sister's room, and Emerson isn't angry, and she still loves me. Did you hear that I'm one years old? Oh, wait, I think Mom told you a while ago. I like cake. It tastes really yummy. Well, I think I must go now, I am very tired. Good by--ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz


by Benedict