Michelle/Melbrigða

Not to outdo Sandra's puddle moving http://sandradodd.com/puddle but I had a
wonderful experience this weekend. The kids had been begging to go to the
beach. I loathe the beach in the summer. It's hot and there is no shade
and it is crowded and since Ivan hit there is little parking and an itty
bitty bridge that gets backed up going through Gulf Breeze to get back
home. We all come back miserable and despite constant relathering sunburned
and waves knock us down. Quite frankly I didn't want to go to the beach. I
expressed how much we love the beach in the fall and winter when we can walk
alone for hours and not see anyone and collect shells and build castles and
not get sunburned but how much we hate the after-effects of going to the
beach. The kids said, "We just want to go to some water. It's been so hot
and the water at the beach sounds so cool." So I thought for a while and
asked if going to the river would be ok instead. "Sure!" So Sunday we
loaded up the car, picked up another unschooling friend and headed to the
river. It was everything the beach wasn't. It wasn't crowded, hot, nor
miserable. There were maybe 5 families at the sandbar we chose and we set
up a mini-camp. We had two other sandbars within wading distance and the
river was fairly low so almost all of us could easily get to them and the
two smaller ones were easy enough to piggyback over to them.

We drifted along with the current from the first sandbar to the third
several times and finally decided to rest and dig in the sand. A sand
castle was begun and quickly it turned into a huge trench as they tried to
connect the river to an indentation in the sand. Then Emily asked what it
would take to influence the flow of the river. Off they went moving as much
sand as they could from one location out into the river, slowly building up
a small dam. They figured out that they needed to make it wider as the
river kept moving the sand rather than the sand moving the river. They
worked on this intently for about an hour. All four kids and Dan (OK, maybe
5 kids :) ) while I sat and enjoyed the breeze that was so cool off the
river (which was down right cold when we first got there.) After a long
while they decided that they wanted to do something else, so three kids and
Dan took off to another part of the sandbar while Emily and I sat and
watched how long the river would over take their creation. We compared the
difference between a river's energy and the gulf's energy and how a
sandcastle or dam would not be a match for the gulf, but could influence a
river.

When we finally packed up, Dan realized that he had had his keys in his
pocket this whole time. Which also included the car alarm clicker.
Ooops!! I hadn't brought mine so we headed to the car. Opened it and
popped the hood to disconnect the alarm from the horn. We still couldn't go
anywhere because the alarm was still activated, just not sounding. Dan took
the clicker apart and we had a really wonderful discussion about why the
water effected the clicker and what we would need to do to get it to work
again. It took about half an hour to dry it out enough so that it would
work again. When we got back in the car Keon said, "Dad, you sure know a
lot about a lot. What school did you go to to learn all those things?" Dan
just smiled and said, "I didn't go to school. I just learned them because I
wanted to." Keon sighed and said, "I want to learn about a lot too. Guess
I won't go to school either."

I loved this weekend. It was just so much fun and we got to pick some of
our first fruits out of our garden. We watched a lot of movies and enjoyed
just hanging out with each other. No schedules, no appointments, no "have
to's."

--
Michelle
aka Melbrigða
http://eventualknitting.blogspot.com
[email protected] - Homeschooling for the Medieval Recreationist


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

>>"I want to learn about a lot too. Guess I won't go to school either.">>

I love it!

--
~Mary
http://zenmommasgarden.blogspot.com/

"The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the
green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly
alive."
~Thich Nhat Hanh

-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Michelle/Melbrig�a" <pamperedmichelle@...>
> Not to outdo Sandra's puddle moving http://sandradodd.com/puddle but I had a
> wonderful experience this weekend. The kids had been begging to go to the
> beach. I loathe the beach in the summer. It's hot and there is no shade
> and it is crowded and since Ivan hit there is little parking and an itty
> bitty bridge that gets backed up going through Gulf Breeze to get back
> home. We all come back miserable and despite constant relathering sunburned
> and waves knock us down. Quite frankly I didn't want to go to the beach. I
> expressed how much we love the beach in the fall and winter when we can walk
> alone for hours and not see anyone and collect shells and build castles and
> not get sunburned but how much we hate the after-effects of going to the
> beach. The kids said, "We just want to go to some water. It's been so hot
> and the water at the beach sounds so cool." So I thought for a while and
> asked if going to the river would be ok instead. "Sure!" So Sunday we
> loaded up the car, picked up another unschooling friend and headed to the
> river. It was everything the beach wasn't. It wasn't crowded, hot, nor
> miserable. There were maybe 5 families at the sandbar we chose and we set
> up a mini-camp. We had two other sandbars within wading distance and the
> river was fairly low so almost all of us could easily get to them and the
> two smaller ones were easy enough to piggyback over to them.
>
> We drifted along with the current from the first sandbar to the third
> several times and finally decided to rest and dig in the sand. A sand
> castle was begun and quickly it turned into a huge trench as they tried to
> connect the river to an indentation in the sand. Then Emily asked what it
> would take to influence the flow of the river. Off they went moving as much
> sand as they could from one location out into the river, slowly building up
> a small dam. They figured out that they needed to make it wider as the
> river kept moving the sand rather than the sand moving the river. They
> worked on this intently for about an hour. All four kids and Dan (OK, maybe
> 5 kids :) ) while I sat and enjoyed the breeze that was so cool off the
> river (which was down right cold when we first got there.) After a long
> while they decided that they wanted to do something else, so three kids and
> Dan took off to another part of the sandbar while Emily and I sat and
> watched how long the river would over take their creation. We compared the
> difference between a river's energy and the gulf's energy and how a
> sandcastle or dam would not be a match for the gulf, but could influence a
> river.
>
> When we finally packed up, Dan realized that he had had his keys in his
> pocket this whole time. Which also included the car alarm clicker.
> Ooops!! I hadn't brought mine so we headed to the car. Opened it and
> popped the hood to disconnect the alarm from the horn. We still couldn't go
> anywhere because the alarm was still activated, just not sounding. Dan took
> the clicker apart and we had a really wonderful discussion about why the
> water effected the clicker and what we would need to do to get it to work
> again. It took about half an hour to dry it out enough so that it would
> work again. When we got back in the car Keon said, "Dad, you sure know a
> lot about a lot. What school did you go to to learn all those things?" Dan
> just smiled and said, "I didn't go to school. I just learned them because I
> wanted to." Keon sighed and said, "I want to learn about a lot too. Guess
> I won't go to school either."
>
> I loved this weekend. It was just so much fun and we got to pick some of
> our first fruits out of our garden. We watched a lot of movies and enjoyed
> just hanging out with each other. No schedules, no appointments, no "have
> to's."
>
> --
> Michelle
> aka Melbrig�a
> http://eventualknitting.blogspot.com
> [email protected] - Homeschooling for the Medieval Recreationist
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>

Rose

Oh what a beautiful weekend Michelle!! Don't ya love it!

Rose

--- In [email protected], "Michelle/Melbrigða"
<pamperedmichelle@...> wrote:
>
> Not to outdo Sandra's puddle moving http://sandradodd.com/puddle
but I had a
> wonderful experience this weekend. The kids had been begging to
go to the
> beach. I loathe the beach in the summer. It's hot and there is
no shade
> and it is crowded and since Ivan hit there is little parking and
an itty
> bitty bridge that gets backed up going through Gulf Breeze to get
back
> home. We all come back miserable and despite constant relathering
sunburned
> and waves knock us down. Quite frankly I didn't want to go to the
beach. I
> expressed how much we love the beach in the fall and winter when
we can walk
> alone for hours and not see anyone and collect shells and build
castles and
> not get sunburned but how much we hate the after-effects of going
to the
> beach. The kids said, "We just want to go to some water. It's
been so hot
> and the water at the beach sounds so cool." So I thought for a
while and
> asked if going to the river would be ok instead. "Sure!" So
Sunday we
> loaded up the car, picked up another unschooling friend and headed
to the
> river. It was everything the beach wasn't. It wasn't crowded,
hot, nor
> miserable. There were maybe 5 families at the sandbar we chose
and we set
> up a mini-camp. We had two other sandbars within wading distance
and the
> river was fairly low so almost all of us could easily get to them
and the
> two smaller ones were easy enough to piggyback over to them.
>
> We drifted along with the current from the first sandbar to the
third
> several times and finally decided to rest and dig in the sand. A
sand
> castle was begun and quickly it turned into a huge trench as they
tried to
> connect the river to an indentation in the sand. Then Emily asked
what it
> would take to influence the flow of the river. Off they went
moving as much
> sand as they could from one location out into the river, slowly
building up
> a small dam. They figured out that they needed to make it wider
as the
> river kept moving the sand rather than the sand moving the river.
They
> worked on this intently for about an hour. All four kids and Dan
(OK, maybe
> 5 kids :) ) while I sat and enjoyed the breeze that was so cool
off the
> river (which was down right cold when we first got there.) After
a long
> while they decided that they wanted to do something else, so three
kids and
> Dan took off to another part of the sandbar while Emily and I sat
and
> watched how long the river would over take their creation. We
compared the
> difference between a river's energy and the gulf's energy and how a
> sandcastle or dam would not be a match for the gulf, but could
influence a
> river.
>
> When we finally packed up, Dan realized that he had had his keys
in his
> pocket this whole time. Which also included the car alarm clicker.
> Ooops!! I hadn't brought mine so we headed to the car. Opened it
and
> popped the hood to disconnect the alarm from the horn. We still
couldn't go
> anywhere because the alarm was still activated, just not
sounding. Dan took
> the clicker apart and we had a really wonderful discussion about
why the
> water effected the clicker and what we would need to do to get it
to work
> again. It took about half an hour to dry it out enough so that it
would
> work again. When we got back in the car Keon said, "Dad, you sure
know a
> lot about a lot. What school did you go to to learn all those
things?" Dan
> just smiled and said, "I didn't go to school. I just learned them
because I
> wanted to." Keon sighed and said, "I want to learn about a lot
too. Guess
> I won't go to school either."
>
> I loved this weekend. It was just so much fun and we got to pick
some of
> our first fruits out of our garden. We watched a lot of movies
and enjoyed
> just hanging out with each other. No schedules, no appointments,
no "have
> to's."
>
> --
> Michelle
> aka Melbrigða
> http://eventualknitting.blogspot.com
> [email protected] - Homeschooling for the Medieval
Recreationist
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Michelle/Melbrigða

On 6/6/06, Rose <rosejansen@...> wrote:
>
> Oh what a beautiful weekend Michelle!! Don't ya love it!
>
> Rose


Rose? Is this *the* Rose? Give us an update! OK, right, I should pick up
the phone and call you, but between civil engineering a river and answering
all the questions of the universe as well as solving world peace (if only in
my own home) I forget. I'll giveyou a ring in the morning (not early - I
promise!). Meanwhile update everyone on all your summer excitement.

Can't wait for our next get together!





--
Michelle
aka Melbrigða
http://eventualknitting.blogspot.com
[email protected] - Homeschooling for the Medieval Recreationist


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Ren Allen

When I first saw this post title, I thought it said "exploding
electrodes" which would have been very interesting also!!:)

~What school did you go to to learn all those
things?" Dan just smiled and said, "I didn't go to school. I just
learned them because I wanted to." Keon sighed and said, "I want to
learn about a lot too. Guess I won't go to school either."~

That is TOO cool! Sounds like Dan is realizing what an unschooler he
really is...finally.:) Awesome!

Ren
learninginfreedom.com