Exploring Washington

Psalm 34

2010-01-18T13:33:00.000-08:00

Psalm 34
I will extol the LORD at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
My soul will boast in the LORD;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
Glorify the LORD with me;
let us exalt his name together.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking lies.
Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
A righteous man may have many troubles,
but the LORD delivers him from them all;
he protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.
Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
The LORD redeems his servants;
no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him.

Rockets In Science Class

2009-11-05T14:39:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Children's Worship Ministry

2009-10-25T17:03:00.000-07:00

One of the Songs Kyle is learning for Children's Worship Ministry

Happy Birthday Kyle!!!

2009-09-29T09:12:00.000-07:00

First day of our school year...

2009-08-24T16:35:00.001-07:00

Our first day of school was today and it was a success. I kept things light and simple. I think we will do that every Monday, especially since I'm going on no sleep all day due to working graveyard the night before.

I'm excited about what we have planned this year. You can check out our planned curriculum in the upper right side of this web page. I'm still working on filling it in and have found a few things that will need to be changed after our first day. I'm sure I'll be adjusting as we go along as well.

So back to blogging and hoping friends and family will follow along in all our fun adventures and learning experiences. I know we will be busy and my hope is to keep up the blogging at least two times during the week.

Taking a break...back in the Fall

2009-06-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

Taking a summer break from blogging. See you in the Fall :-)

Yakima Valley Photography

2009-02-14T19:23:00.000-08:00

My friend Debbie called and asked If I would like to shoot some photos with her today--a hobby we both enjoy. So we decided we would take some pictures of wineries around the Valley.
Below are some pictures from today. Our theme turned out to be "Old Barns"--Mostly

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Cooking with Kyle

2009-02-12T23:45:00.000-08:00

So...tonight I cooked up about 15 meals to put in the freezer, with Kyle's help. He put together the lasagnas for me--layering the noodles, meat sauce, cottage cheese, and moz cheese-- while I wrapped up the meat loaves and spaghetti for the freezer.

If you read my 25 things about me, you'll remember that I don't really like to cook--even though I LOVE to bake--So anyway...I sometimes will cook up a whole months worth of meals or half a month--just to get it over with.

Of course I lost my helper as it came time for clean up--Kyle disappeared at the computer desk in our dining room just around the corner from the kitchen sink. So I said, "Kyle, what cha doing?" He said, "Nothing" and continued at the desk a few minutes.

Pretty soon he comes up behind me and says mom I have something for you. He hands me a piece of paper folded about four times. I take my hands out of the dish water, dry them off and start unfolding this very colorful piece of art work he is looking so proud of.

I open it to find a picture of a big green and brown tree with a drawing of mom and Kyle hanging out--holding hands beside the tree-- and above in Kyle's handwriting- it says, "I love my mom"
Oh.....I was so touched and said thank you honey. He says, "You're welcome mom, and look mom--
I even made you skinnier than you really are!" He then smiles with his cute little face, hugs me and leaves me to continue with my cleanup.

So I think to myself....OK-WELL THEN...Thannnks, HONEY! Then couldn't help but giggle.

Elk Feeding

2009-02-07T13:58:00.000-08:00

This was really a fun day and the weather was beautiful. If you have children and haven't been to see the feeding of the Elk...you're missing out on great fun!
Follow the link below for more information...

http://www.nachesvalleychamber.com/info/elkfeeding.html

Make a Smilebox photobook

2009-01-23T17:59:00.001-08:00

Kyle was bored later this afternoon, so he decided to get out the camera and take pictures of his pets. He then put it all together in a lapbook.

2009-01-22T18:34:00.000-08:00

We belong to a group that studies one country each month. The children take turns picking the country and then at home throughout the month, each child completes a presentation to share with the group at a later gathering.

Last month we studied Austria; above is Kyle's presentation of Austria. It is completed on one board--front and back. The orange is front and the green is the back.

2009-01-22T07:09:00.000-08:00

I've been neglecting my blogs lately. Still very busy with homeschool and having fun with Kyle. I have some pictures I'll be adding here in a couple days when I can find some time.

2009-01-07T20:03:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about homeschooling is watching my son learn. When he was in Kindergarten I would drop him off and pick him up and left most of the responsibility of teaching to the Kindergarten teacher. I knew I was missing out and even though I would volunteer in class now and then-- I still felt disconnected in his learning process.

Today was a great day. I saw the exact moment today when Kyle understood a concept that we have been working on for the past week. He was struggling with this concept, just having a hard time grasping it. He got it today. We were both so excited, we gave high fives and danced around. He was confident and proud of himself for the rest of the day. I had to share.

Happy 2009

2009-01-01T00:48:00.000-08:00

Playing in the snow with friends

2008-12-29T11:55:00.000-08:00

Kyle's cute smile!

Winter is so much fun!

2008-12-17T00:58:00.000-08:00

We've been busy around our home this past week. We decided to have two Christmas trees this year. One downstairs and one upstairs. The one downstairs is decorated with our traditional ornaments we've collected over the years.

We thought it would be fun to decorate the tree upstairs with all homemade ornaments. So we've been making, baking, painting, & stringing....yes-- every ornament on the tree was made with care by the Gaulke's this year.

Check out our pictures below. Oh, by the way.....I'm STILL stringing popcorn. There's got to be a faster way to string popcorn--other than buying already strung popcorn. I did see on the Internet you can buy it-and it supposedly last for years. But then it wouldn't really be homemade would it?

The picture you'll see shows the tree only half way completed with our popcorn garland. My plan is to finish this week between all the rest of the baking I'll be doing. --It's all fun

Make a Smilebox photobook

Music...good for the spirit

2008-12-04T00:22:00.000-08:00

I've been having a great time with Kyle the last few days. I've been giving him piano lessons. I'm no pro that's for sure, and even though I haven't played since high school--I think I'll be able to get him started on the basics.

I remember playing the organ during church service when I was a teenager. I really can't believe I actually got up in front of all those people. I don't think I would do it now, I know I wouldn't do it now.

But I hope to encourage Kyle to grow in his music abilities. He does have talent and most of all loves music.

Later after he learns some piano, Tom will teach him guitar. I asked Kyle, "what do you want to learn, the piano or the guitar?" He said both. OK

2008-11-24T23:43:00.000-08:00

Our family just joined a homeschool group that get together once a month. We pick a country to study throughout the month and then when we meet at one of our homes. (this month was at our house)
The children give a presentation on what they learned. We had such a great time. It was our first time so we got to choose the country. We chose Ireland and decided to do a Lapbook on what we learned. This is, by the way our very fist Lapbook.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

2008-11-13T17:46:00.001-08:00

The beautiful colors and cool crisp days make Fall is our favorite season. We headed outside today to soak up the beautiful weather. Kyle and I grabbed a treasure bag and off we went hunting for treasures in a local park. We found all kinds of special treasures for our scrap book and captured many pictures. Check out our smile box below.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Boulder Cave National Recreation Trail

2008-11-03T07:34:00.000-08:00

Tom and Kyle visited Boulder Cave a few weekends ago. It's been one of our favorite places for a long time.

I remember taking Zaine and Aaron there several times throughout the years. It's a nice place to take your family for a small hike and a nice picnic.
The scenery is beautiful and the memories will last forever. Kyle was so excited when he came home because he said he saw a bat.

Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute, Ellensburg, Washington

2008-10-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

If you plan to be in the area, plan to visit the Ellensburg Chimpanzees. This summer I coordinated a Chimposium trip for our local homeschool group.

Wow! I came away from that experience with such a love for Chimpanzees and an appreciation for the Central Washington University research program.

We had a great time watching Tatu, Loulis, & Dar as they signed with us and each other. You couldn't help falling in love with them at first sight.

We learned how to approach them and respect their home invironment. We learned their signs and how they interact with each other.

One thing you'll read about Tatu is her favorite color is black. She LOVES the color black and associates the color black with other things she likes.

If she likes you she will actually sign "you black" Amazing!

I wish we had visited a year earlier to see Washoe, but she passed away October 30 2007. Visit Washoe's Tribute page.

Check out the Bees

2008-10-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things is photography-and I LOVE taking pictures of Bees

More Bee Pictures

2008-10-18T19:42:00.001-07:00

Bee Pictures

2008-10-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

I love taking pictures of Bees

Trip to Vancouver Washington

2008-10-14T16:06:00.000-07:00

An educational trip

2008-10-13T21:18:00.000-07:00

This was a fun weekend. We visited Vancouver WA., stopped at Fort Vancouver Historical Site, played at the large outside playground at Clark College--(the college I attended while we lived in Vancouver)---took some pictures of bees in their large garden.-
On the way home we passed through Oregon and visited Multnomah Falls and the Bonneville Fish Hatchery. It was a fun and educational weekend.

Click her for Fish Hatcheries in the Columbia River Gorge

Kyle's school room

2008-09-18T23:58:00.001-07:00

Learning Styles

2008-09-13T20:22:00.000-07:00

I’ve been focusing on my son’s learning style lately. I did this with my older boys as well and found it helpful in understanding how they take in information. My two youngest sons are pretty much exactly the same in most areas, from the foods they like, personality/temperament, and learning styles even though there is 10 years difference in their age.

They both are very quick to learn something and retain information well. Now as I home school my youngest I can see how he learns best. This has really been an eye opener for me in understanding him and how his brain works.

I have found their learning style to be mostly Tactile (kinesthetic.) Kinesthetic learners are those who learn through experiencing/doing things. For this reason, kinesthetic learners may become bored more quickly than other students while listening to a class lecture.

Kinesthetic learners like to experience the world and act out events. To remember a phone number, kinesthetic learners may remember the pattern of their fingers as they press the numbers.

Look over these traits to see if they sound familiar to you. You may be a kinesthetic learner if you are someone who:

• Is good at sports.
• Can’t sit still for long.
• Is not great at spelling.
• Does not have great handwriting.
• Likes science lab.
• Studies with loud music on.
• Likes adventure books, movies.
• Likes role playing.
• Takes breaks when studying.
• Builds models.
• Is involved in martial arts, dance.
• Is fidgety during lectures.

Kinesthetic Learners Can Benefit from:

• Studying in short blocks.
• Taking lab classes.
• Role playing.
• Taking field trips, visiting museums.
• Studying with others.
• Using memory games.
• Using flash cards to memorize.

Back to school

2008-09-12T13:16:00.000-07:00

My title is back to school.....The summer is over and now my favorite time of the year will soon be here. FALL!!! We are getting our routine down pretty well. This is my first year of homeschooling and I have to say I'm LOVING it.

We had a few adjustments to make in our curriculum. We started off with K12 curriculum (virtual academy) This program was too rigid for our style of learning. We are now with CVA (Columbia Virtual Academy) This is another program through the school district, but much more flexible in curriculum choice. I get to choose the curriculum I know will be the best fit for Kyle.

We still have our own teacher and log our hours everyday. The great thing about CVA is they'll pay for our PE, science class, art class, Karate and many more activities within the community. I love that we can still be in a class setting to get that exposure, but not all day.

Currently Kyle is in PE two times per week, art class one time per week and starting Karate this next week for the other two days of the week. These classes are in the afternoon after we finish our school work here at home. We start at 9:00 and finish at 12:00, with a few breaks in between.

Summer Days--What to do?

2008-07-01T07:56:00.000-07:00

Since my son has a little extra time now, I've been looking for some ways to keep him entertained. I have already set his schedule so that his mornings are filled with art in the park, swimming, activities with friends, and special field trips. But for the afternoons, I was looking for an alternative to watching TV, so I did a little research. These are the treasures I've found:

Are you familiar with iTunes?
If you own a computer or an mp3 player, you can take advantage of countless resources that both you and your kids will love all for FREE! All you have to do is download them through podcasting.

Some of the podcasts you may want to subscribed to:
* Bible Stories My Kids Love (Audio Podcast)
* Craft Magazine Podcast (Video Podcast)
* FamilyFun TV ( Video )
* FamilyLife Today with Dennis Rainey (Audio)
* Fun radio Presents Nick Jr's Once Upon A Bedtime (Audio)
* The Good Night Show (Video)
* James Dobson on Marriage/ Parenting (Audio)
* The Metropolitan Museum of Art Podcast (Audio)
* The Mighty Mommy's Quick and Dirty Tips for Practical Parenting (Audio)
* Super Why! PBS Kids (Video)
* Blue's Clues (Video)
* Dora the Explorer (Video)
* Sesame Street Podcast (Video)

Come back for more about podcasting.

Our friend Rosie

2008-06-27T22:12:00.000-07:00

Here is just one of the pictures we caught of Rosie.

Isn't she beautiful, we think so.

Kyle and I followed her around for awhile until she disappeared into the forest.

2008-06-26T22:14:00.000-07:00

I've created another SmileBox for you. I just love using SmileBox for creating fun photo memories. There are so many options and you can even add music. Don't forget to turn on your speakers.

Smilebox"

Our Trip to Leavenworth, Wa

2008-06-26T08:28:00.000-07:00

Check out the slide show below. You'll see some of the beautiful photos we captured on our trip in Leavenworth.

We stayed at Sleeping Lady Retreat. This place is awesome and we had so much fun. The cabins are great and the heated outside pool was a favorite of Kyle's.

You'll never guess what we saw while out at the pool......a deer. She was so pretty and not afraid to get close us. Kyle and I have snapped some great pictures of our friend. (the deer) We call her Rosie.

I will upload pictures of Rosi in my next post. But until then, check out these pictures of the beautiful scenery at Sleeping Lady Retreat.

Make a Smilebox photobook

Welcome

2008-05-22T09:23:00.000-07:00

As I was thinking this morning about the world we live in and all the wonderful breathtaking, spectacular places to visit, I found myself to be somewhat discouraged, as there are so many places I would love for my children to experience and see first hand.

Our reading lately has been centered around many of the "wonders" of the world. There are so many awesome places to learn about through the reading of books and will prepare us for a possible future trip. These places are so far away and costly it's not possible at this time to physically be there. For us, like many homeschooling families, the traveling budget can be somewhat limited.

The good news though is we have many beautiful "wonders" right here in Washington. My son and I were reading one of his library books this morning about places to visit in Washington and although I've always known of the vast opportunities of places here locally to learn from, and have experienced many of them, I wasn't aware there were so many I have not experienced. I especially didn't think to use them in a homeschool learning setting.

So for my homeschool planning this year I've decided to plan our curriculum around places we can visit here in Washington. I've decided to create a place of reference and resource for other homeschooling families right here on this blog. The places I'll be talking about are great field trip opportunities.

This is why I'm so excited about homeschooling this next year. As homeschooling parents we have the freedom to choose our children's curriculum and how they experience learning.
Homeschoolers have unlimited opportunities to make homeschooling a memorable experience for kids. Use the flexibility to your advantage and incorporate some fun.

Field trips can be utilized by an entire homeschool group or tailored just for a family. Depending on the type of field trip you are going to attend, you can plan a lesson around that "theme" to get your kids ready for what to expect. You will even find helpful information at the library or on-line that will be of benefit during the field trip. Not all field trips are tour-guided, so planning ahead is a great way to make the most of your time.
Possibilities for field trips include:

Museums
Park events
Zoos
Day trips to different cities or states
Airports
Farms
Native American reservations
Festivals and fairs
Historical landmarks

I will be discussing these and many more ideas for family and homeschooling field trips in the upcoming posts.

What better way to socialize and teach our children then to experience hands on activities. I know many homeschooling co-ops are already taking advantage of the great places here in Washington to teach their children about God, culture, geography, history, wildlife, science and so much more. Let's enjoy the journey together.