A Quote to Start Things Off

""I'd love to go to Santa Fe at some point, Emmett said, but for the time being, I need to go to New York. The panhandler stopped laughing and adopted a more serious expression. Well. that's life in a nutshell, aint it. Lovin' to go to one place and havin' to go to another. Amor Towles in the Lincoln Highway.

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Pictures of Memories I

Pictures of Memories I
Snow kidding! These "kids" now range from 17 to 23
Showing posts with label Libraries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Libraries. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Timber-Lee closing and Trinity College and grad school going virtual only.


 Two places near and dear to me are ending their work as we know it in the coming months.  These places are Camp Timber-Lee in East Troy,  Wisconsin, and Trinity College in Deerfield, Illinois.  Both of these establishments have long histories, both recently celebrating a milestone.  In 2022 Trinity College celebrated its 125th anniversary and Timber-Lee celebrated its 75th.  If this were the Electric Company short, Letter Man, The villainous Spellbinder would take out his magic wand and change the first E to a  second L making milestone, millstone.  I'm not sure what to call the millstone. Perhaps it was  Covid, perhaps a change in the culture of education, perhaps a change in the paradigm of Christian camping; likely a combination of all 3.  But the millstone around Trinity International University whose umbrella is around both Camp Timberlee and Trinity has caused business as usual in the college's case and possibly business altogether to come crashing to a halt in the very near future.  

 I was never a student at Trinity, but I have visited their campus on multiple occasions over the past 40 years.  I have slept in their dorms, eaten in their cafeterias, and played frisbee in their courtyards.  I have attended classes, visited students, and borrowed materials from their library.  I even at one time had a Trinity library card. 

In 2016, Camp Timberlee was gifted by the Evangelical Free Church Association (EFCA)  to Trinity International University (TIU).  I have a long history with Camp Timber-Lee. I was baptized in their lake in 1986 at a church picnic. I did a polar plunge in the same lake in January 2020. My wife Amy and our children once attended a home school camp there and our family slept in one if their famous cabooses. I have visited friends who worked there on multiple occasions. I even flipped over a snapping turtle  who had was trapped on his back bicycling near their grounds while visiting a staff member. I was bicycling near the camp, I'm assuming the snapping turtle was a pedestrian. 

Over the past 15 years, I have chaperoned a half dozen or so arctic blast and winter X-treme trips with our church kids groups and youth groups which has included at least one of my children on each occasion. 3 of my favorite things to do at those winter retreats are


1. A trip to their nature center where there is always an obligatory snake pic taken of one of my children.


2. To spend hours playing gaga ball with students.



3. To spend hours playing nine-square with students.

There is a multitude of other things to do at Timber-Lee: Ropes course, rec room, x-country skiing, zip line, sledding, tubing, tobogganing, horseback riding, broomball, and karaoke, just to name a few.  Of course, camps are a lot of fun and make lasting memories.  But Timber-Lee was all about sharing the gospel and promoting Christian growth.  This spiritual aspect of their ministry is the main reason why so many people are shocked and saddened about its demise.    

When camps like these go under there is often talk of getting new funding and continuing the ministry.  Sometimes something comes out of it like the recent change of ownership of what used to be called Cedar Campus in the upper peninsula of Michigan.  Timber-Lee has a plethora of staff, campers, and alumni who would love to see the ministry continue to grow.

As for Trinity College the class of 2023 seems to be the last class as a residential college as they make the transition to distance learning only.  TIU sees this as a new beginning that fits with its global strategy.  I, for one, hope that is true, but need time to reflect on the past and what will surely be missed.  



Love,

Dave

  




Monday, July 6, 2020

The Library at Last

March 13, 2020 was a Friday.  It turned out to be a true Friday the 13th in the sense that something scary started occurring.  Friday March 13th was the day that many things in the U.S. started shutting down because of Covid 19.  For me it was a day of lasts.  It was one of the last days I worked at the movie theatre I used to work at.  It was the last day I subbed during the 2020 school year. It was the last day I went to a public indoor event (a college talent show, wher my daughter was reciting her poetry).  

During this time I've switched jobs, (although I still hope I can sub in the Fall.) jumped back into blogging, and navigated the new normal with help from God and my family.  Because of that and that I am a particularly resilient kind of guy  social distancing, face masks and zoom chats have been fairly easy to adapt to.  What's been difficult is LOL. LOL is no laughing matter, it stands for lack of libraries.  

I love libraries.  I have really missed ours (Gail Borden in Elgin, Illinois) being open during the stay at home order.  They have handled it greatly but I still missed them.  The first thing they did after closing was expand the amount of materials you could take out virtually using Hoopla.  In late May or Early June the drive through  opened and you were able to start checking out  mterials.  Today they reopened in person,  

When we went to Wisconsin last month we stopped in an open library and there was a 30 minute time limit and not much to do because we didn;t  have borrowing priviliges.  It felt good to be back at a library even for a half hour, but today felt more like coming home. 

Instead of lasts it was a day of covid-19 era firsts.  First time back at Gail Borden ,first time bugging  reference people, first time checking out books in person. , first time back at my bank  (my credit union is in the same building as the library), first time running into and talking with someone I knew while at the library, and first time using a library computer.  I even started this post while using it.  






Home Sweet Library


Quarantine Chic: Library Style

I must have told 8 employees of  the library how glad I was that they were open.  A kid in a candy store had absolutely nothing at me.  Now if you could borrow candy and then return it when you were finished, that would be similar. A library is an everlasting gobstopper for the soul. 
















Tuesday, April 14, 2015

L is for Library (Thing)


Today's letter is L.  I have documented over the years that our family loves libraries.  Here is a you tube video from another of my blogs Dave Out Loud.






For more A to Z Blogging click here.

Monday, August 6, 2012

What about the other 1010?




This summer our children participated in our local library's summer reading program.  This is always a big deal in our family.  Spider Droid made sure that he was the first one to sign up and also read very diligently and was the first one to finish.  As the summer went on, each of our children finished the program.  When the children finish they receive a free book of their choosing and several prizes from local businesses, like certificates for a free Frostee from Wendy's, and vouchers for free tickets to  a local minor league baseball team.

As you enter the childrens' section of the library you see this sign . . .

This picture was taken a day or two before the program ended, so I would imagine the final count would be pretty similar.

When I saw the sign, I asked myself the question, that serves as the title of this post,

What about the other 1,010?

I mentioned what the finishers got out of participating in the program.  But what did the non finishers get out of it?


Here is what I think . . .

Each child who participated the  program gained something from it.  Those who finished and even those who got 1/2 way stickers (which the poster did not mention) received something tangible.  But I think all participants received intangible rewards (some without even knowing it.)

I wonder how many of those 1,010 children result of entering the program.  I'd imagine the number quite high since only library materials can be used for the program and those materials must be read or listened to off of library grounds.  Now our family checks out 100's if not thousands of books each year.  But for some families, a library book is a special treat.  So if any of the 1,010 children took out a book for the only time all year this summer, that is a wonderful thing.

Since our library lets children from 0 to 12 participate in the summer reading program (there are separated programs for teens, and adults).  Some of the reading that is done over the summer is by parents and older siblings to younger children.  Any of the 1,010 who did not finish or the 632 that did, who were read to as a result of this program experienced something magical.

Another  thing that may have happened with a great number of participants in the program this year,  (regardless of whether they recorded finishing the  program) is they may have discovered a favorite author, book, genre, series, or subject this summer.  Some may have discovered the joy of reading.

Achievement and accomplishment are wonderful things.  I think that so much is achieved and accomplished when children or anyone reads or is read to for enjoyment.  I would say that the 1,642 children who participated, may not have all finished, but each one achieved.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Puppy;s Pets on Display - Epilogue

I mentioned at the beginning of last month that Puppy's pillow pets and Webkinz were on display at our local library.

Here are a few tidbits and pics from the experience.

Puppy was a little panic stricken concerned with the idea of leaving her pets at the library for the whole month. So to keep her from the psych ward help her I . . .

1. Let her keep some of her favorites at home.

2. Bought her a new Webkinz cardinal at Target after we set the display up


3. Let her visit her animals often including visiting her turtle George Washington on February 22nd, which is George Washington's birthday.

After the month was over while we were picking all the pillow pets and Webkinz up, the children's librarian called Puppy over. She told Puppy that about 6 months ago, a child had left a pillow pet behind at the library and never claimed it. Little Miss memory chip said she remembered seeing it at the desk in her visits to the library . The librarian continued, saying that since Puppy took such good care of her animals, they thought that she could give the orphaned pillow pet a good home.

Puppy was so pleased that she named the Pillow Pet after her self and takes her every where. 


George Washington and comapny
A Bird in the hand is worth 20 in the display case


Puppy II

Happy to be home.
Thanks again to the Dundee Township Public Library for their fine program.



Thursday, February 2, 2012

Friday Fragments

Fast Fragments.



Fragment 1: Amy and I will be out the door in a few minutes to work a Compassion table together at the Rock & Worship Roadshow Concert. I am looking forward to  time away from those snotty kids of mine spending some time ministering with my wife.

We have been Compassion sponsors for a few years now, I have not really blogged much about it before.  In the future, I will be blogging more about Compassion and their ministries around the world.  If you have any interest in finding out more about supporting a child through compassion, click here.

Fragment 2:  Our library has a serious backlog when it comes to use of the display case in the children's department.  It wasn't always this way.  Spider Droid and Bunny displayed their collections 1 or two months after signing up.  Puppy signed up last Spring, and was told that there wasn't a  month available to display her Pillow Pets and Webkinz until April 2013.

This Monday, we got a call from the director of the children's section of the library.  The  scheduled February presenter was no longer interested in displaying their collection.  (Keep in mind they probably signed up in 2009 or 2010).  Puppy was called in to be a last minute replacement.  I am not sure how she leap frogged the 13 people in front of her.  It may well be that since we are such fixtures at the library, they knew we could get the collection to them by the first.  Which we did.

Fragment 3: 

Last year Spider Droid and I had a blast at Monster Jam.  We are going to go again this year.  Tomorrow I will be posting a give-a-way here and on my FB   &  Twitter pages.  You can win 4 tickets to the Friday February 10th show in Rosemont, Illinois.  

Stay Tuned.

Those are my fragments and I am sticking to them.

For more Friday Fragments click here. 


Friday, January 27, 2012

Fragments of photos Ipod Edition



I am at a waiting room, cleaning out the pictures from my i-pod.  many of them were for blog posts that I haven't quite got to yet.  So here's a few fragments about them.

Photo Fragment 1



That's no majestic sunrise/sunset.  It's just a lamp post over spider droid working on snow board moves on his sled.

Picture Fragment 2


Many libraries offer a read to a dog program.  My oldest kids have done this.  But puppy, our resident dog lover never had before this.  Here she is reading to Samson, who is from a Sox fan family and paid a lot of attention to me because I was wearing my White Sox jacket.

Here she is in action . . . 





Photo Fragment 3


This pic is already on the blog.  I show it here to illustrate that it is generally not much of a problem to get all 3 kids to pose for a good photo.  But when you try to add an adult in, like when Amy and I took the kids to the Brookfield Zoo in late December, you get something like this.


Amy and Bunny look great.  Puppy and Spider Droid look goofy. 

Photo Fragment 4




I lived in Khabarovsk Russia for 2 years in the early  90's. Khababarosvsk is located  on the Amur River.  So when I'm at the zoo I always like to see the tigers and leopards that hail from that region.  Hers is  a picture of an Amur Leopard.  

Well that's enough fragments for one day.  For more fragments, join Friday Fragments at Half Past Kissing Time.

I do, however, have time for one more photo.




NEXT TIME: DARE TO DREAM

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

From my mouth to your eyes

This is kind of amazing for me. Here I am, laying down ready to sleep, and I think , "Hey, I haven't really posted on my blog for a while." So, I grab my new Christmas gift, an I pod touch and simply start talking. Cool. I've talked before, what's different about today? Well I'll tell you what's different, I am using the Dragon voice recognition app. It is typing everything I say.

The past few days since Christmas, we have gone on our annual library week. It has turned out to be more screaming and yelling week. This is really a problem for our family, because I love screaming but hate yelling and Amy loves yelling (and Cheetos) but can't stand screaming. The goal is more libraries tomorrow and Friday sans the screaming and without the yelling.

Typing not talking here. In the future, I will not broadcast (pun intended) what methodology I used to bring these posts to life.

Have not forgotten about HSBA spotlight. The winner this year of best encourager was the Home Scholar. The thing I like about this blog is that the encouragement found within is practical and pragmatic. Here is a sample post.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas, Libraries and More

Sunday's Cool
A Link Up and A Look Ahead




A Link Up

This week we started Library Week amid all the hustle and bustle of the Holiday Season.  I hope to utilize our home school blog more in the months to come and will post our library adventures there.  Here is the first installment

We interrupt this post with a Holiday Message

Hope you are having a wonderful Christmas.  We hosted our family today as there were few enough people coming to fit comfortably in our house.  With all the travelling we have been doing lately, it is nice to stay home and celebrate here.

A Look Ahead

This week in real life, we will be visiting loads of libraries,  and posting snippets here.  That won't start until Tuesday.  Tomorrow we will engage in a little excitement call Do Nothing Day.

You can read all about it next time.

Merry Christmas! 

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Six Word Saturday @ Show My Face Dot Com




Starting today, for the next week I will feature posts for all the meme's and carnivals I participate in, whether I have a horse in the race, or not.


I do have 6 words today they are . . .




Why I bring books to Library.




The reason I do this is because I am a chronic over-packer. I always bring along more things than I could possibly accomplish. Today, I brought 3 books that  I am supposed to be reviewing for this blog. I will probably not get to any of them, since that was not the purpose of this trip to the library. Come to think of it, neither was making this post, so I best be going. Before I do let me tell you about my HSBA featured blog. Today's category is . . .

Best Homeschool Methods Blog.

The winner was 1+1+1=1

Aside from the mathematically challenged title, this is an excellent blog which I generally carry around somewhere in my sidebar.  If you are looking for fun preschool home school ideas, this is definitely the blog for you. 

Click here for a sample post, and click here for more 6 Word Saturday.

Next Time: Santa comes early for Santo?

Monday, May 16, 2011

Monday Morning Paragraphy







Mondays can be a real jumble. You get up and you try to get everybody ready for a new week. But inwardly and outwardly can be something of a muddle. Last year I heard about a teaching tool called paragraphy @ http://www.byrdseed.com/. You write a paragraph. Paragraphy switches the order of the sentences. Your students then put the sentences in the correct order. Since Mondays can be a real jumble, I have decided to occasionally put a post through the paragraphy machine and let you you loyal readers try to make sense of it. This really isn't much different than my regular posts.







Today's installment will actually be a little piece I wrote about my current Monday jumble. I hope you enjoy.















  1. That's the plan any way.








  2. I hope to have Bunny work on some of her stuff before we go, some at the library and then we can all do some table activities when we get home.








  3. Mondays are not just for morning quarterbacks.








  4. Yes, I can say I knew him when.








  5. Generally our Mondays are spent at our home school co-op and Awana.








  6. The interview will be at the church where our co-op usually meets.








  7. Since they have both ended for the school year, our Monday's have become a regular school at the table day.








  8. Not sure what all we will do after the interview.








  9. This week is going to be a little different from our new routine.








  10. I am going to take the girls to a branch library near the church while the team meets with the reporter.







  11. Spider Droid's robotics team is going to be interviewed for a magazine article.






Next Time: The story behind the picture

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Home School "As You Wish"

There is something deeply wrong with my wife. This may surprise some of my readers. Not that you would be surprised to find that I am not married to a perfect person. It's just that I usually write the great things about her. But this thing is so wrong, it emanates from the soul of her being and taints every decision she will ever make.

Yes, my wife, (GASP) does not like the movie the Princess Bride. And the thing is I married her anyway. I just put the videocassette aside and waited until our progeny were born and then old enough to watch it. This coming of age happened last month, when Spider Droid and I watched it together. He absolutely loved it and soon Bunny girl devoured it also. They have only seen it twice and are still able to quote large portions of it to each other in the back of our mini van.

My wife remains apathetic to the film. She walked in while we were watching it New year's Eve and said "Billy Crystal is in The Princess Bride?" and I replied, "Billy Crystal is The Princess Bride", an homage to the line he had just spoken about Fezzik and the Brute Squad. Even though Crystal is in just the one scene his entire performance is one great quote after another, which is indeed a microcosm of the film. The entire movie is in Jeopardy speak, a potent quotable.

Which brings me to the purpose of this post, The Carnival of Homeschooling is celebrating it's 5th anniversary. The Carnival creator/maintainer/many other thing doer Henry Cate of Why Homeschool is hosting the extravaganza. And nothing gives you more vaganza than A Princess Bride themed edition. So check it out. Henry included my recent Library Week posting in the doings, so be sure to check that out as well.

I have to go back into the fire swamp now and start home schooling after a 2 week hiatus. The end of a hiatus is a Byeatus, but that's a post for another day. Until then, have fun storming the castle.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Library Story with alternat(or) ending



Yesterday we continued one of our favorite family traditions: Library Week.

We generally will visit a number of libraries and spend the day exploring what they have. Our visit to the North Shore suburb of Highland Park was fairly typical.

We found the building . . .
















We entered the building.




















We read and relaxed.

















We played Games





















We made friends.


















And more friends














We took in the sights near the library.
















From there things became more atypical. 5 minutes after this picture was taken our car battery died. A family visiting the same lake shore view as us stopped and gave us a jump. We could tell within seconds after the car restarted that there was still something wrong. We had no lights and our emergency beeper would not turn off.



We rode about 6 miles (this was in dusk) and pulled over into a gas station that also happened to have a service station. Our alternator had gone out.
An hour and a 1/2 and a good amount of our emergency savings reserve later, we were on our way home. Besides the alternator and the somewhat burned (although still eaten) crock pot meal (due to our lost 1.5 hours) this was a very typical day at the library. (Except for the kids waiting at the gas station, certain people were tired.)

Thursday, December 2, 2010

One Last Christmas

Mommy's Idea


Friday Fragment time is as easys as 1-2-3, Episode 123, that is. I have decided to save the title fragment for last because if you are anything like me you will be bawling so much you won't be able to defragment any of the other sundry items.

The 2006 2007 t.v season was the last season that we were able to watch television the old fashioned way (via airwaves). Since then t.v. shows have only been seen on the television via d.v.d's on the computer via sites such as hulu.The 2006 2007 season was the first of four seasons for the show heroes. For whatever reason, I didn't see any part of the show in it's 4 year run. In the past 3 weeks I watched every episode of season 1 on dvd's borrowed from our local library.

I just borrowed season 2 today, so I must have liked Season 1. I did. But it was certainly much different than imagined. I was thinking kind of a super heroes among us light hearted romp.

Light hearted? Not so much. As I watched each episode I was reminded of one of my favorite lines from City Slickers : "Let's think back on what we've buried so far."

Lots of death, lots of blood, lots of gore. I always had to watch it away from my children. It is strangely compelling and does use excellent storytelling. But come on guys, tone it down on the crazy watchmaker dude!
***********************************************************************************
There are some things I can't tell you, but there be some exciting in our home school lives in the coming future. Some of the stuff will probably not pan out, but I will tell you all about it when I am more free to talk about it. One thing I can say now, that I will be posting far less this month as Amy and I are going to be working on some book ideas.
***********************************************************************************
This week I discovered the most amazing teaching tool of all time, The Dry Erase Board.

It's amazing! It's revolutionary. If it only sliced and diced vegetables, I'd hawk it on late night television.





Seriously, it rocks. I use the 1 pictured above on the wall. I use a smaller one at the table. All the kids love using them. I am going to buy 2 or 3 more tomorrow. I was telling the kids the night before I bought them, about the concept of the parking lot. You know, where you put ideas and questions that you are going to get too later. When I brought the boards home the first thing Spider Droid wanted to do was start a parking lot.
***********************************************************************************
I was on facebook today when I saw a link for the video below. I usually don't watch videos on facebook as I am usually too busy playing Farkle and Tetris. I made an exception for this one and was moved to tears.

The video and the song are a tribute to the Locke family from Washington, Il. whose son Dax died from Leukemia Dec 30, 2010.



To find out more about this family click here. The Family is trying to raise 1.6 million dollars to donate to the hospital that treated for their son. The money would run the hospital for 1 day. To donate go to Matthew Wests site.

***********************************************************************************


That's all I have for today, fragmentally speaking for more Friday Fragments head over to Half Past Kissing Time.

Next Time: Six Word Saturday, The Video

Friday, November 19, 2010

Fragments Of Libraries, Kefir ads and HSBA

It's Friday Fragment time at half past kissing time.



Here are my fragments . . .



I used to spend a lot of time using our local libraries computers. Now due to the miracle of wifi, and the fact that I have a laptop, I have been using my computer at the library. This Tuesday night I was at the library w/o my laptop and decided to write my blog from there. I was reminded of this annoying yet funny (to me) system issue they have. Each user has an hour to use their computer. When there are 15 minutes left a pop up comes up and tells you how much time is remaining. At 10 minuts es a new pop up comes up and asks if you want an additional 15 minutes (when there is not a que). You are warned again at 5 minutes and at 2 minutes you get a countdown clock. I know this because I have gone down to the last 10 seconds before.



What really gets me is when you finally click the log out button you get another pop-up that says are you sure you want to leave?



And I'm thinking aren't you the same computet r that's been kicking me out for the last 15 minutes, and now you want me to stay? It's crazy!



***********************************************************************************



Speaking of annoying. On the way home from the library I was listening to a radio commercial about Keat kefir. The ad said that a clinical study proved that kefir may improve digestive health.



You needed a clnical study for a maybe? Wasn't it a maybe before the study?

***********************************************************************************

The HSBA Awards voting ends very soon you can vote bt clicking here.

Here is what the first quarter of my ballot looks like

Best Home School Mom: Home Spun Juggling
Best Home School Dad: Home School Dad
Best Blog Design: Live The Adventure
Best Photos & Artistic Content Blog: 1+1+1=1
Best Crafts, Plans & Projects Blog: The Activity Mom
Best Family or Group Blog: The Homeschool Classroom
Best Encourager: Psalm 104:24
Best Current Events, Opinions or Politics Blog: Why Homeschool.
Best Homemaking or Recipe Blog: The Pioneer Woman.
Best Teen Blog: A Young Woman for God.

I have some errands to run but wilil fill in the rest of the ballot when I return. To return to Friday Fragments click here.

Keith Time: Memories of The Funeral Part II

Thursday, November 4, 2010

HSD Rewind: Library Week

HSD Rewind

Originally Aired January 2009 (Edited for the second decade of the 21st century) We are taking somewhat of a fall break this week as we have 2 field trips, a birthday and a few doctor appointments scheduled for the week. Taking the week off from organized schooling reminded me of our Library Week tradition. Here is what I wrote about it in 2009:

Libraries are a staple in the Roller family. My across the street neighbor when I was growing up was the Elk Grove Village Public Library. We were never able to borrow sugar, but I could get a cook book out, if I wanted to. Now, many years later, while I don't live as close to one as I did, libraries are still near to my heart.

A couple times a year our family embarks on library week. We stop formal schooling for a week and visit at least 1 library each day.













Here are the kids at the main library in Madison, WI.

In all we hit 5 libraries in 2 states. Library Week works for us because:

1) Libraries are fun, inexpensive places to learn and relax.

2) While library week gives us a break from our regular classroom environment, it does give me many ideas for future studies.

3) A well planned library week allows us the opportunity to drop in on friends and family and to visit other towns and cities. This type of multi-task travelling is educational as well as economical.

Even though we home school, I think library week can work for any family regardless of their educational choices. Spring, Winter or Summer breaks make the perfect time for library week. This is actually when we have done most of ours, so as not to interfere with Awana, and co-ops. Even if you have no children or no children at home, visiting libraries with your spouse or significant other can make an excellent date night
.

Meanwhile back in 2010 . . .

this post is included in this weeks carnival of homeschooling hosteud at The Home Spun Life. There are many other great posts listed there. Be sure to check them out.

Keith Time: When I Heard Keith Was Sick
.

Monday, September 6, 2010

And the Winner is . . . Me, Not Cougars.

Labor Day 2010

If I made a list of things I really like, libraries, winning things, and minor league baseball would be pretty high on it. None of them would be as high as spending quality time with my family. But when I can spend quality time with my family that involves libraries, minor league baseball and winning ,that's what I call fun.
In fact you can even call it fun on a budget.

Let me explain. . .

Fun on a Budget is in a 3-way tie for 12th in the labels I used most in my first 300 posts. Fun on a budget is not really about saving money. It's about having fun without breaking the bank, but it's mostly about having fun.

Let's take today for example. This summer, all 3 of my children participated in a summer reading program at our local library. I have gone on an on in these pages about about how I feel about libraries. Summer reading programs may be the cream of the library crop. The reading program ended over a month a go and we are still reaping the benefits. Yesterday we used a restaurant coupon one of the kids earned and today all 3 kids used vouchers they earned for a ticket each to the final regular season game of our local minor league baseball team. Sure, Amy and I had to buy tickets but that only cost us $20.00 total. That's less money than I spent on parking at last Sunday's White Sox game. (Cougars parking was free.)



The thing I like most about minor league baseball is that it's basically a circus with a baseball game in between. The fans eat the peanuts rather than the elephants. Every 1/2 inning there is some cool event. Today was extra special since it was fan appreciation day. It seemed like they gave something away after every pitch.



Another thing I like about it is the cool teams names. I have seen Bees, Bombers, Chiefs, and Sand Gnats just to name a few. Today it was the Cougars vs. the Timber Rattlers. The home team Cougars who had already clinched the playoffs seem to phone it in, losing to the Rattlers 7 to nothing.



But all was not lost. In one of the every 1/2 inning fun events I mentioned earlier, they picked a random fan to participate in a game called true or false. Faithful readers know that they could not have picked a more random fan than yours truly, and pick me they certainly did.



The idea of the game is they say two statements about the Cougars. I was given a sign that said true on one side and false on the other. With the help of the audience, I have to choose if the statements are true or false. Now, this was my first game of the season so I wasn't exactly up on Cougars trivia. So I did what I did on more college exams than I would like to admit, I guessed.

And I scored about the same as I did on some of those exams, 50%. But instead of getting a fat juicy F, I was given a really cool Cougars cap. I collect baseball caps, so this was really really cool.



Libraries, Minor League baseball and winning things you collect are 3 examples of fun on a budget. I hope this blog post has given you some fun on a budget as well, as all it probably cost you was a few minutes of reading time.



Next Time: Bob Newhart Loves Dave and other Short Stories

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Frogs and Toads and Friends

As my loyal readers know our family loves libraries. One of the things I love most about them are the presentations they have for kids. This past Saturday Randy Korb, a wildlife educator and author came to our library with a live frog demonstration for kids. He brought in many samples of amphibians native to our area.


Mr. Korb told the story of Blinky, a frog who got hit by a car. His grandson found him and brought it to him and now Blinky makes the rounds with Mr. Korb as an ambassador for frogs.









In addition to Blinky, There were salamanders,



newts,

small frogs,





and big frogs.


It was an informative presentation and very hands on. Sometimes it was even frogs on, as this video will attest.




Charlie and Emma loved every minute of the presentation. Especially when the show was over and they made a presentation of their own.


Next Time: Hitting 300

Randy Korb travels through the Midwest 3-4 times a year with his live frog & monarch butterfly presentations. Learn more about what he does at stcroixwildlife.org.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Carnival of Home Schooling: Library Week Edition


This is week 212 in the carnival of home schooling. If this was the carnival of home schooling for dogs it would be week 1,484.



Before I get started with the theme of this week, I thought this would be the best time to talk about the big news story going on right now. I certainly don't mean Leno vs. Conan. Laura presents 21 Ways For Your Children To Help Haitian Earthquake Victims posted at Practical Homeschooling.



Twice a year, our family embarks on library week. It is a week where we go to at least 1 library every day during the week. It serves our family as both a break in the academic year and also an opportunity to discover the various amenities and learning opportunities afforded at these libraries. In past years, we have crossed state lines to see how the other book lives. This year we kept it strictly in Illinois. Interspersed amongst the fine articles that I have assembled for you this week, I will tell you of our library travels during our Christmas break.

Our first home school article comes from Jenn who presents More Homeschooling (Plus Bonus Funny Interlude!) posted at Rational Jenn. She says: "As the needs of my kids (ages 7.5, 4.5, and 1.5) change and grow, things are getting harder to juggle in our homeschool! Yikes! "

Speaking of juggling, Cristina presents Home Spun comic strip #435 posted at Home Spun Juggling.

Not all schooling takes place indoors as Becky Johnston informs us in Animal Tracks posted at Wide Open Campus.

The outdoor learning continues, as Amber presents October Nature Walk posted at The Mommy Earth.



Day 1: St. Charles Public Library. I previously blogged about our trip there but for those who missed it is Emma's report of our time there:


Name of Library: St. Charles Library. St. Charles, IL.
Something I liked: I liked all the Animal Ark Books they had.
One thing I didn't like: They didn't have one of my favorite books, Bunnies in the Bathroom.
A book I read while I was there: 2 Minute Mysteries by Donald Sobol author of Encyclopedia Brown.

Dad asked me to ask the Librarian a question. Lucy said she would, so I followed her with my notebook.
Lucy: Knock Knock
Librarian: Who's There?
Lucy: Emma
Librarian: Emma Who?
Lucy: Emma Kayrene (My Middle Name)

Next up, we have Cindy who wanted to get into the nitty gritty world of the planning of her unit studies. This she has done with gusto in Unit Studies Revisited, an informative Q&A, posted at Our Journey Westward.

A good homeschooling book to add to your personal library is The Socialization Trap by Rick Boyer. Click here for my review. I thought of that book when I received a carnival submission from Molly Cook of Southern Spunk. It seems she wrote this piece in response to having had her fill of ignorance outside of the homeschooling circle. She had heard the socialization word one too many times and decided to set some people straight. Well, you go girl! Here she is with, Don't Go Hatin' On The Homeschoolers.

Molly is not the only one out there confronting stereotypes and misinformation. There seems to be a plethora of education "experts" out there essentially making up their own facts and bending those facts to meet their agenda. To that end, last week's host Alasandra presents Robin L. West takes a potshot at homeschooling posted at Alasandra's Homeschool Blog.



Elena LaVictoire weighs in on the Robin L. West issue with The Double Standard of Robin West - Author of The Harms of Homeschooling posted at My Domestic Church.

Day 2. Our library Journey continued to Lake Zurich, Illinois where we visited the Ela Public Library. Emma and Lucy had a play date with some girls from our church. Things we liked: We could use our library cards there and what we checked out would show up at our regular libraries website. They also had a cool super hero section that Charlie enjoyed.


Sebastian from Percival Blakeney Academy has submitted Egyptian Art Projects for Kids. It is an insightful post rounding up links on ancient Egypt.



Sandra Foyt presents A response to the New York homeschooler arrest case, describing our typical homeschool day, and arguing that there is no such thing as "no-schooling." in Homeschooling, Unschooling, But Not "No-Schooling" posted at On Living by Learning.


e-Mom presents Family Life: Top 100 Books for Kids posted at C h r y s a l i s. This is an excellent list. A great place to get a hold of those books would be your local library.


And speaking of libraries that brings us to day 3.




That's a picture of Charlie and me at the entrance of the Oak Park library. Oak park is a lovely Chicago suburb that actually feels more like downtown than a suburb. No offense to my friend Patti who grew up there, and has fond memories of the previous library building, this one has all the warmth of a bus depot. A children's section that is on tile rather than rugs did not add to that impression. They did have a very good selection of books to choose from. I also taught Charlie how to use a microfilm reader, which he was extremely keen on.

When I visit libraries I spend a lot of time with a kid and a book in my lap. Lapbooking is the subject of our next post, as Lynn presents Lapbooking Ideas posted at Eclectic Education - Homeschool Blogger.


Here is a quick family science experiment submitted by The Family which I give two big thumbs up. It is aptly titled Genetic traits of the thumb and posted at Once Upon a Family.


Michelle Dennis Evans presents an excellent work titled Freedom and Kids posted at Michelle D Evans.

One thing I have noticed about libraries, is that they often have good craft ideas especially around holidays. Libraries aren't the only ones with good holiday ideas. Here are some valentines day articles worth looking at . . .


Shannon Dodds demonstrates with Valentine Craft (sun catcher) posted at Mommyapolis.




HappyCampers presents Valentine's Day Homeschool Ideas posted at Reese's View Of The World.

Day 4





Johnsburg is a small town in Mchenry County in Illinois. It has a population of less than 7,000 people. Yet it boasts one of the finest libraries I have ever been to. For homeschoolers it is a special library. It houses a homeschool resource center with shelves of curriculum and other materials available for checkout. Homeschoolers can check out material for 6 weeks at a time and renew for an additional 6 weeks as long as there are no holds on the material. I am test driving an Abeka spelling book I checked out from there with Emma.

Since socialization gets brought into the home school discussion so often, I have decided to bring it into this week's carnival again. Janine Cate wrote a very insightful article on socialization based on a recent conversation she had. She says it comes down to what socialization means to you. I proudly present It depends on what you value posted at Why Homeschool.




Kathy says Read my review of the first Camp Club Girls book, a fun new book series for your tween girls. You can find Camp Club Girls and the Mystery at Discovery Lake posted at Homeschoolbuzz.com Reviews.



Misty shares a couple of tricks to make multiplying by 9 more fun. Check out (Library Pun Intended) Fun Multiplication Tips and Tricks – 9’s posted at Homeschool Bytes.

Katherine from No Fighting No Biting went out on the first non-frigid Saturday in a long time and took her big kids to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. She says the inspiration was worth the long lines. Read all about it in National Archives.


You know what else has archives? That's right, libraries. Let's get this fun over with and move on to day 5. Amy read on-line that Downers Grove library was having a game day so we decided to end our library week there. There were tunnels and little rooms for the kids to explore. Lucy played on a children's computer while Amy and the kids played games. Their favorite was a dice game called Shut the Box. We liked it so much we ordered one from amazon.


Speaking of Downers, very few downers are more depressing than thinking about the many terrorist acts that have been in the news lately. ChristineMM shares ideas about how to talk to young children and tweens who ask about news stories about terrorist attacks against American civilians. Take a peek at Thoughts about Parenting Kids in Times of Terrorism posted at The Thinking Mother.


We check out all manners of things out from our library. The main 2 staples are books and DVD's. With that in mind, Rachel Lynette presents Comparing the Book to the Movie posted at Minds in Bloom.



Linda Dobson revisits The Animal School saying it's a wonderful classic. It's posted at PARENT AT THE HELM.

Lynn presents 10 Ways Save Money on Homeschooling posted at Lynn's Gather Page. I just want to say that 3 of the 10 ways include using the library. Way to stay on theme Lynn!

Well we did it! We got through library week. 5 days, 5 libraries in 5 different counties. There were several things we did during library week that didn't involve going to the library. I'm sure we ate, shopped, I think we might even have bowled once. I didn't really go into detail about them here because I was focusing on the library part of library week.

In the same way, I received many submissions this week that had nothing to do with homeschooling. Some were fine articles, but I just didn't think they fit here, so I left them out. One exception to that was a fine article from Leah, The Danger of Parenting Books posted at Ingathered. It really described a perspective to parenting that I think is similar to my home school tale on it.
Next week's carnival is being hosted at Corn and Oil. Susan has a post this week entitled Don't burden the innocent. She says The public schools seem to be making attempts in several states to close in on homeschoolers by using truancy as their weapon of choice

Announcement: The library week carnival of homeschooling is closing in 5 lines. Please select from the articles above and then go on with your homeschooling Day. You can submit a post by clicking here.

Next Time: Looking forward to our trip to Washington DC.

A to Z 2023 Road Trip

#AtoZChallenge 2023 RoadTrip